SEGA released some big hits in the beginning of the year, but so far hasn’t really set the charts on fire during the last few months.
But SEGA expects to do big numbers this Fall. New SEGA Europe boss, Jurgen Post, spoke about the latest SEGA titles and their expectations. SEGA wants to have a 10% attach rate for Sonic Free Riders, he says the game’s success will depend on its hardware (Kinect).
Stop, I’m not talking about roms and emulators. I’m talking about the released that SEGA did. Would you want to get them, legally, for free? One game a month?
Well SEGA has teamed up with GamersGate, to give you, the SEGA fan, free Genesis/Mega Drive games. Isn’t that nice? Basically every Tuesday of a new month, SEGA will post a redemption code via their Facebook discussion board. Code will last 24 hours, they will put codes for 3 days. First game up is Space Harrier II. First give away starts October 5th.
For more details, check out the SEGA Europe Blog.
Forgive me for not thinking of a cat and mouse pun for the headline. Via SEGA’s e-newsletter comes an official word on when we can expect the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch to get Chu Chu fever: late October! Considering the iDevice’s are getting Sonic 4 next week, October will be a big month for SEGA on the App Store. Pricing hasn’t been announced yet, but $7.99 to $9.99 seem to be the magic numbers for other new App Store releases from SEGA.
[Source: SEGA Pass]
The newest trailer for Vanquish is up, this one called “Enemies”. If you haven’t guessed it yet, shows off some of the enemies you will be fighting when the game ships to retailers.
If that wasn’t enough, the first review of PLAY UK is out. They gave the game a 93/100, stating “Vanquish is about as good as action gaming can get.”
The release date is also revealed in this trailer. October 7th for iPhone App store. October 11th for WiiWare. October 12th for PlayStation Network. October 13th for XBLA.
[Update: Now with more YouTube and less GameSpot embedded player]
Things have been good for SEGA’s profits this last year. First, SEGA reported a profit on it’s third quarter statement back in February. Then, in August, SEGA reported 7 billion yen in profit for it’s first quarter of it’s 2010-2011 fiscal year. All of this great news has resulted in SEGA’s stock price hitting it’s highest price since 2007, where it’s stayed close to ever since.
The good times keep on coming. While video game giants like Nintendo continue to lower their own fiscal year forecast, SEGA has now raised it’s overall sales forecast for its entire fiscal year, ending March 31st 2011, from $400 billion yen ($4.7 billion) to $410 billion yen ($4.9 billion). The profit guidance forecast has gone up from 22 billion yen ($264 million), to 36.5 billion yen ($437 million). This rise in revenue and profits has been brought on by strong sales SEGA Sammy’s Pachinko/Pachislot division, which is now expected to sell 660,000 units, up from the originally anticipated sales of 620,000 units.
Valkyria Chronicles II is still getting stuff released for it in Japan, soon it will get its 8th book released. This one is called “Valkyria Chronicles: Royal Academy Gallian Artworks World” or along those lines.
The book is set to hit Japan on October 8th and be priced at 3,570 yen. The cover art is done by Raita Honjou.
[Source: Valkyria Portal]
As if we didn’t know already, SEGA has officially announced that Sonic Free Riders will release on November 4th (US) and November 10th (Europe) for the launch of the 360’s Kinect. SEGA has also launched the official English language website which includes a bit of new art, several locked sections and a unique navigation method in which you can use a web cam to navigate the site. I tried it at work and I looked like a fool, but it worked rather well.
[Source: SEGA’s Tweet]
Sakura Wars will be having its long awaited (according to their site) live comback. There will be 4 shows, spanning 3 days. The party starts on December 10th and ends on the 12th.
The show is going to be entitled: “Sakura Taisen: Pari Hanigumi Live 2010 – Sparking Stars – Pretty Flowers”. It is hard to get a translation out of google. I guess its good to know that Sakura Wars name is still being used, but what about a new game?
[Source: Sakura Wars blog]
Someone sent this in to the boys over at UK:R, a patent issued on February 10, 2009. That is like almost going to be two years ago. Why is SEGA making weird controllers that look like a offspring from the NiGHTS Saturn controller?
I wonder what it is for? You can go tot he patent site and check out over 30 photos with detailed descriptions. Most likely has to do with an arcade machine, but I will accept a new console.
I think I have just found the best deal of all time!
For a limited time only, if you pre-order Vanquish from PLAY.com not only will you get the fancy special edition game sleeve but you’ll get Bayonetta completely free. Unfortunately for those amongst us that are not in Europe this deal is not open to you, sorry. The deal is Europe only I’m afriad.
Now if you haven’t already got Bayonetta then slap yourself on the wrist. Bayonetta is fantastic… Vanquish is shaping up to be just as addictive and just as fun. So this deal is a must for those of you with no Bayonetta to show for yourself. Hell, this deal is so good it’s pretty much a must for everyone.
So, some of you may have noticed that the screenshots for Super Monkey Ball’s 3DS entry don’t look so hot. They look bad even, which is odd considering the brief snippet of the game seen in the 3DS’s software line up video looked rather nice. In response to the criticism of the screenshots on the SEGA Forum, SEGA Rep Julian Mehlfeld, under his forum name “Clumsyorchid”, had this to say:
Not sure why the screens went out at that resolution to be honest, the game doesn’t really look like that as evidenced in the video:
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/nc…ndo-3ds/705394
(skip to 1:45)
Shame is all assets go out without the 3D component – but the game looks good, no worries there.
So it seems the screenshots look the way they do due to being blown up way past their intended resolution. Mehlfeld intends to look into issue to ensure it doesn’t happen again in the future.
SEGA has revealed that they are planning to release six 3DS titles for their 2011 fiscal year (ending on March 2012). Out of the 6 titles, we know two of them, Super Monkey Ball and a Sonic title.
Since there are four titles that we know nothing about (not that we know much about the Sonic title, other than its a Sonic game), what do you think they will be?
Mike Hayes has stated they would like to do a House of the Dead and Aliens vs. Predator game on 3DS…
[Source: AndriaSang]
SEGA hits back in the charts in style, although the release is of the new Yakuza spinoff for the PSP is dwarfed thanks to the new Pokemon. Despite this, the new game records one of SEGA’s biggest first week’s this year, although how well did it do to previous Yakuza titles and the other spinoff in the series, Kenzan! Read on to find out more.
Here are a few new facts we know about the upcoming Super Monkey Ball 3DS (not final title). It is confirmed that the game is being developed by SEGA Studio Japan. The new game will have ‘brand new compelling gameplay choices’, sounds sexy. Nagoshi (or his super busy team at least) is even working on the title it seems.
Here is the negative, it says you will have a choice between the 3DS’ motion sensor or slide pad (The slide pad means the new analog pad).
There is also a few seconds of footage, in a new Nintendo trailer.
Hit jump for press release and more screens…
