Much like their “Life with Archie” magazine, Archie is planning a quarterly magazine dedicated to Sonic “Sonic Super Special”. Similar to the UK’s “Sonic the Comic”, it will be mostly made of reprints of some of the bigger Sonic stories from the comics (although the UK version had new stories in theirs), but with some extra and articles included. The first issue arrives in late October. Press release after the clickity-click.
From vg247.com comes information from SEGA CEO Mike Hayes concerning Sonic the Hedgehog 4. Remember that game? Regarding information on Episode 2:
Information on Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 will arrive “very soon,” Sega West CEO Mike Hayes has told VG247. Hayes couldn’t comment further when asked how far out “soon” was, adding that we should “look out for that one.”
My guess is once Sonic Generations arrives, after November 1st, or perhaps on September 9th? Remember, that was when the first Sonic 4 episode was announced as “Project Needlemouse”. Speaking of the first episode, Hayes shares a great bit of news for SEGA fans who like it when the company makes big money:
“It did very well and it continues to do well,” Hayes told us in a phone interview this afternoon.
“Particularly when it gets a little shot in the arm with some promotion or some price activity, sales are quite phenomenal. Its downloaded clearly over a million units, so its sold particularly well and continues to sell.”
Over a million is pretty impressive, though I have to wonder how many “copies” the game sold when it initially launched before the first sales began. Regardless, Sonic 4 Episode 1 looks like quite a financial success. Here’s hoping Episode 2 fixes the problems found in the first episode and sells another million and more!
[Source: vg247]
If only my granny was… No actually I’d hate that.
Well Sega certainly is pushing this game an interesting way.They seem to be taking the anti-casual route, which is a similar strategy to the one they used to push games like MadWorld and House of the Dead: Overkill on the Wii. I know that this is just a marketing strategy but I can’t help giving a little smile of agreement; I’m generally not a fan of motion controls at all, but they are made far worse by the over saturation of dancing and mini games aimed at the casual crowd.
As for Rise of Nightmares, it looks like a fun little game. I see it as a bit of a tongue in cheek distraction more than something compelling but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I do hope the humour from the trailers carries across to the game itself.
Rise of Nightmares is exclusive to Kinect and will release on the 6th of September in North America (the 9th in Europe).
Sega and Platinum Games are having another burst of character reveals lately. Today’s character is Oinkie, a morbidly obese bloke with a stumpy little snout of a nose and of course belly physics, like a pig… Geddit? His special move seems to involve him turning into a green scaly thing. Totally in keeping with the pig theme right? (Not sure what kind of pigs they have over there in Japan.)
Personally I’m still holding out hope for a Bayonetta and Sam Giddion reveal! That would be pretty sweet!
Anarchy Reigns will release on Xbox360 and PS3 in January 2012.
Sega have released another gameplay clip of 7th Dragon 2020 on the 7th Dragon youtube channel. This clip shows off another random battle segment. I quite liked that one move with the demonic eyeballs! I’m a sucker for old-school style JRPGs so I’ll be keeping my giant demonic eye on this one.
[Above is the game themed soft case and headphones]
SEGA’s next entry in their 7th Dragon series is called 7th Dragon 2020, and will be on the PSP instead of the DS this time around. If you are one who knows how to read Japanese, you might want to consider importing this game, looks pretty fun.
But what does the limited edition come with?
How much will this pretty package set you back? 8,820 yen ($115). Pretty penny indeed. Game is released in Japan on October 27th. No plans to bring it over to America.
[Source: Siliconera]
THQ today announced that they will be closing two of its Australian studios, resulting in close to 200 people losing their jobs.
SEGA, who has been hiring recently for their Australian studios, have two positions open. Art Director and a Senior Engine Programmer are what they are looking for, but the studio has confirmed that they are talking to SEGA Executives about getting more positions filled.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of yet another great Australian developer, and are sorry to see THQ’s studios close their doors after so many years of game development. We will be speaking to the SEGA executives to explore our short term hiring strategy to reflect the sudden influx of talent in Australia. We hope to be able to announce the potential for taking on more staff soon.” – Marcus Fielding, Studio Director at SEGA Studios Australia
SEGA now owns the largest studio in Brisbane, SEGA Studios Australia. Now lets see if all the new talent will mean an amazing title!
[Source: MCV]
Check it out, two brand new characters have been revealed for Platinum Games’ and Segas’ next new IP, Anarchy Reigns, an online beat’em’up reminiscent of Spike out or even Powerstone.
One of the most interesting things about this game is by far the character designs; usually in games where there are many characters, like fighters and brawlers, you see a lot of less-than-impressive character designs but in Anarchy Reigns there are some really awesome designs which could easily pass for protagonists for their own games.
Above is ‘Durga’ who seems to fall somewhere between comic relief and crazed bad guy. He also has guns on his knees! Hit the jump to check out ‘Garuda’, another great character, a cross between a ‘SHMUP’ ship and a transformer.
SEGA has released just under 6 minutes worth of footage for their Playstation Vita version of Virtua Tennis 4, and the title still looks as good as its console version. The trailer only showcases some match footage and tries to show how the touchscreen function will work in the newest Virtua Tennis title.
[Source: TheSixthAxis]
Rise of Nightmare’s achievements hit the web, some of the achievements being creeper “Watcher” and others being typically what you expected “Iron Fist.”
There is one issue though, most of the big achievements are locked, so we won’t be able to see them till the game releases. Hit the jump to see the achievements.
Sony just announced a new ‘annual’ program they will be launching called “PSN Play”. Basically if you pre-order a ‘PSN Play’ title, you will receive a free PSN theme. If you purchase the title before a date (this time around it’s September 19th) you will get a free piece of DLC for that game.
But, if you get all of the ‘PSN Play’ titles, you will get a free unreleased game. This time around if you buy all four titles above by September 19th, you will get Payday: The Heist for free. If you have Playstation Plus, you get 20% off on top of that. Do want. Renegade Ops is out September 13th on PSN.
[Source: Playstation.Blog]
SEGA Australia has a new junior product manager. Khiet Chu, who has 3 years of experience. He’s previously worked with Corporate Express Ltd as product coordinator.
“We are pleased to have Khiet on board and his passion for gaming and previous work experience will make him a strong addition to our team.” – Neroli Baird, marketing manager at SEGA Australia
It is good to see SEGA expand, especially in countries like Australia. Let’s hope they get more studios.
[Source: MCV]
You got it! From Gameswelt.de, and uploaded to Youtube by a Sonic fan (I can only assume) comes the first gameplay footage of Chemical Plant Zone, in both classic and modern flavors. Oh yeah, that means Chemical Plant music remix! These are only snippets of the stage acts, so those weary of full act spoilers don’t need to worry too much.
Thanks to forum user ezodagrom for the heads up!
[Source: Gameswelt.de]
Here is the first gameplay clips of 7th Dragon 2020 for the PSP. 7th Dragon 2020 is a the sequel to 7th Dragon which was released on the Nintendo DS last year. Unlike 7th Dragon, 7th Dragon 2020 is fully animated in 3D and it looks a lot better for it.
Whilst the first game was set in a semi-present sort of otherworldly universe 2020 will be set in the near future, the year 2020 to be precise! The aim of the game is simple, explore a large open world map, find and kill all 7 dragons that inhabit it… Of course it’s always easier said then done.
The 7th Dragon games are being produced by Rieko Kodama who has worked on a number of great Sega JRPGs including Phantasy Star and Skies of Arcadia.
Hit the jump for the character creation video.
I think any gamer who has played or seen Valkyria will attest to the fact that the games unique water colors art style was one of the main draws for the game. I first remember when I saw screen shots of the game I was baffled as to whether they wear concept arts or in game screen shots it wasn’t until I saw the game in motion till I realised this was actually in game.
Anyway SEGA released an Art Book showcasing the beautiful art of the game with the developers and artistis discussing as well. Additionally the art book shows art that didn’t make it in the game such as the swim suit costume for Silveria (cause no art book is complete without objectifying the characters).
So this art book was released a few years back in Japan but Udon has just released a translated copy.
Check out some of the pages from the book at Kotaku.