SEGA News

All-Stars Racing Transformed gameplay footage appears on PS Access

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The UK PSN exclusive show Playstation Access showcased snippets of new footage from Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. The footage is exclusive to UK PSN users on their consoles. But hey, at least if you don’t have a PS3 and don’t live in the UK, you can now see the footage! If you do live in the UK and have access to PSN, make sure to turn on your PS3 and check the footage out. You can definitely see the influence Bizarre Creations racing game Blur had on All-Stars Racing Transformed in the neon boosters and weapons. Transformations appear seamless and the final shot of the dragons is awesome.

Thanks to The Sonic Stadium’s Ashthedragon and Rawrdom for uploading the footage.

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Knuckles, Shadow, a new track and more join All-Stars Racing iOS in a big new update!

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Perfectly timed to coincide with All-Stars Racing Transformed debut comes a massive update to SEGA’s Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing for the iOS. The game has often been cited as being a big success, making a number of critics’ best games lists and it even made it into a iPod Touch commercial. So it only makes sense that SEGA and Sumo Digital would continue to update it. The update adds: Knuckles and Shadow as playable racers, a new track – Samba de Amigo’s mountainside Sun Fair track, a new home screen icon, Airplay-out mode, HDMI-out mode, iCloud saving, character faces on the minimap (originally racers were shown as anonymous red dots, now you’ll see that Beat is trailing you), Game Center profile pics on the minimap in multiplayer and many other improvements and bug fixes. I’ve explored the game some and found another unmentioned update, the ability to buy SEGA miles via in-app purchases. Very clever way to get a bit of money out of customers, SEGA. It should be noted that Knuckles, Shadow and the new track need to be purchased with SEGA miles. They are not unlocked once you update the app.

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Interview with Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed Producer Joe Neate

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I sit down with Joe Neate, Producer for Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed, to have a talk with him about the game. Will All Stars be usable online? Will there be more online modes? Will there be a larger number of franchises represented? Find that out and more in the video interview above.

This isn’t the entire story, though. For a more Sonic centric interview, check out Nuckles87’s interview over at Sonic Stadium!

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Check out some All-Stars Racing Transformed concept art!

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Yesterday it was the announcement, preview and podcast. Today: concept art! Thanks to French gaming site console-toi.fr comes a collection of artworks from the Panzer Dragoon and Monkey Ball tracks. They also released a few new screens including a look at the back of B.D. Joe’s vehicle in flight. Fun fact: some screens have a “ASN” label. This refers to the game’s internal name “All-Stars Next”. Check out the concept art, and new screens, after the break!

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EuroGamer Provides Loads of Additional SASRT Details

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Eurogamer has a preview of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed that I highly recommend you read. It’s very well written and pretty effectively illustrates the struggles many arcade racer developers are having today, and how much of a unique case the success of the original Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing is.

The article also has loads of new info, which I’ve reported below:

The game has 27 characters. This is 7 more than the last game, not counting console specific characters.

A WiiU release cannot be confirmed or denied. I personally am quite confident we’ll see it at E3, but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

The development team has been expanded, taking in people from two recently closed British game development studios that specialize in arcade racing titles: Bizarre Creations, the people responsible for Project Gotham Racing, The Club, and Blur, as well as people from Black Rock, creators of Split/Second. Gareth Wilson, whom we met at the press event in San Francisco, is one of those people. He came from Bizarre Creations and has games like Project Gotham 2-4 as well as Blur under his belt.

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Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed races to consoles this fall!

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Today, Sega has officially announced that Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed is coming to PS3, 360, Vita, 3DS and other consoles this fall. The “Transformed” subtitle refers to the fact that your vehicle transforms into other modes depending on what kind of track you’re racing onto. This includes the traditional road track, a water/river track that changes your vehicles into a watercraft, or the not-so friendly skies where your vehicle turns into a plane for some air combat racing. There are 16 brand new and unique courses to race on and several classic Sega IP’s will make their first appearance in this game. This goes from a glorious Panzer Dragoon track to Vyse from Skies of Arcadia as a new racer.

Both me and Nuckles87 got to check out the game last week in San Fransisco. You can check his hands-on over at Sonic Stadium or just stay here and check out my own preview.  On top of that, we got me, Nuckles87 and Sven Joscylene from Sonic Stadium and Spong on a brand-new Sonic Talk later today for a one-hour special all about the game AND a video interview with Sumo Digital’s own Joe Neat tomorrow. Do we love you guys or what?! Not enough? Click the link to check out screenshots of the game! Our coverage is gonna set your heart racing!

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SEGA West boss Mike Hayes set to part ways this summer

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Announced this morning is that SEGA Europe and America CEO Mike Hayes is set to leave the company in the coming summer. Hayes has been CEO of SEGA Europe for 8 years and took on responsibility from Simon Jeffrey as CEO of SEGA America when the former LucasArts CEO was relieved of his duties. Hayes’ own personal ambition now is set to be on non-exec roles within and outside of the industry. Speaking to MVC, Naoya Tsurumi released the following statement;

“Mike has achieved a huge amount during his time at Sega and we thank him for the amazing things he has accomplished. Mike is a great character and very passionate about the industry, he helped steer the extraordinary growth of Sega and has built an exceptional team of professionals that will stand us in good stead for the future.”

Mike Hayes is set to leave the company having helped established a stronghold in Europe and the successful purchase of both critically acclaimed and commercially successful studios Sports Interactive and The Creative Assembly. Though towards the end of his tenure, he seemed to have provided mixed success for SEGA, Hayes’ contribution should see him leave with a good legacy at SEGA Europe. Jurgen Post, SEGA Europe’s current COO, is set to succeed Hayes although at this time, it is unclear if he is set to become CEO of both SEGA Europe and America, or if the roles will once again be split.

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Yukie Kawamura dons a bikini and bounces on a ball to promote Monkey Ball Vita

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http://youtu.be/4uchUmgqYK4

Earlier this month we reported on one of the more…interesting features that SEGA has planned for their upcoming Vita Monkey Ball game: the ability to roll your balls down the body of a Japanese supermodel.

As you can see, SEGA of Japan’s promoting the hell out of tits…erm, this, with model Yukie Kawamura starring in their commercials. Oh, and they show a little bit of the game too.

Whether this will sell copies of Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz in Japan remains to be seen, but as far as the likelihood of Kawamura’s level and this type of promotion making its way to the West….probably not a snowball’s chance in hell.

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The Anarchy Reigns roster expands to include a trio of sister assassins

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That’s Fei Rin, one of three new characters revealed this past week for PlatinumGames’ upcoming brawler, Anarchy Reigns. As reported by Andriasang with info from Famitsu, Fei Rin’s set to star alongside her similarly deadly sisters, Rin Rin and Ai Rin, videos and pics of whom can be seen after the jump. Though Sega West sure isn’t acting like it, Anarchy Reigns is, as far as I know, still scheduled for a Western release this July.

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Next Hatsune Miku coming with a PS Vita skin

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Are you a fan of the Hatsune Miku games from SEGA? If so, you might be interested in this. SEGA Japan has announced that Next Hatsune Miku Project Diva will come with a PlayStation Vita skin.

The game comes out August 30th, so you still have time to decide.

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New Project X Zone screens shows off Resonance of Fate characters

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Famitsu.com has updated with a ton of new screenshots showing off the newly announced characters for Project X Zone. If you missed the announcement it has been confirmed that Resonance of Fate‘s Leanne and Zephyr would be appearing as a pair in the upcoming 3DS game. Click here if you never heard of Project X Zone.

To see all the screenshots released, hit the jump. Enjoy!

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SEGA to start location testing for Initial D7 next month

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SEGA is getting set to start testing their long time racing series Initial D, this one titled Initial D Arcade Stage 7 AA X. Some people think this is a SEGA franchise but it is actually a licensed game based on the manga by Shuichi Shigeno.
Even though some of the titles in the franchise have made it over to America, I wouldn’t hold my breath for this one only because of all the cut backs at SEGA. But if you live in Japan you will be able to test the game next month in select locations. The Japanese game page for the title does give details on new things including a new tag mode, revival courses from Initial D Arcade Stage Ver. 3, a new boost and more.

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Play Total War Battles and get free DLC for Shogun 2

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SEGA is going to be smart and cross promote the iOS game, Total War Battles: Shogun with the high selling PC title Total War: Shogun 2. So how are they going to do this? If you finish the campaign in the mobile game you will unlock a key-code, which will unlock the Sendai Clan Pack for Total War: Shogun 2 on PC (via Steam).

Sendai will give you +10 diplomatic relations and a 2-turn reduction time surrendering castles, -1 resistance to occupation and lastly -3 unhappiness from other allegiances.  Not bad for it sort of being free, if you buy the mobile version.

Also the iOS game is getting a skirmish mode update soon. This will let you choose a difficulty level and get right into a battle, you will be able to complete the full campaign and use new legendary units. This is for people that don’t want the story in the way of their bloodshed.

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SEGA bringing Fist of the North Star slot machine game to Playstation 3

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I was not aware that SEGA had the license to Fist of the North Star, but it seems they do and for their first (Actually they released some PS2 games and also a 2D fighter last generation) title with the license they want to do a port of Sammy’s First of the North Star slot machine.  SEGA is getting ready to release “Fist of the North Star Pachislot” in Japan May 31st.

The game will feature a production mode and let you see in-game art and watch Kenshiro punch the screen if you are into that. I’m a Fist of the North Star fan and this seems like a rip off compared to the game that Koei released.

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