Sonic Spinball Ride and Sonic’s new voice!

As you may know a well know theme park in the UK, Alton Towers has a new ride based around Sonic the Hedgehog! The ride is called Sonic Spinball, no relation to the video game of the same name. The ride is similar to a roller coaster but the seats actually spin in a round-a-bout style motion as it goes around for maximum vomit inducing fun.

Sonic himself can often be seen walking around the grounds of Alton Park and having pictures taken with fans. There is also a Sonic UFO catcher on the video with Sonic toys inside.

But most interesting of all, when they go into the Sonic branded room (that is now open to the public) when you open the door Sonic says a few phrases… With Sonic’s new Voice Actor Roger Craig Smith. Give it a listen at the 01:33 mark on this video.

I’m afraid I don’t know who took this video but it’s very interesting so well done who ever it was!

Vote for the next Yakuza hostess models

So I hear you like walking the streets punching wayward youth in the face and looking at boobs? Who doesn’t? Well good news for all of us! There’s more Yakuza on the way in the form of Yakuza 5 aka ‘That one with Goro playable‘ and with Yakuza comes hostesses to harass. (Apart from in Yakuza 3 lol.)

It’s that time again, Voting time! Sega have picked 16 of the most creepy beautiful looking girls Japan has to offer. It’s up to us mouth breathing, neck bearded internet nerds to pick which one we’re least likely to sleep with.

Check them out and vote HERE!
Alternatively you can see full body shots and info in English HERE!

[Thanks Suzuki Yu]

Phantasy Star Universe: Guardians Advanced Content and Ambition of the Illuminus out now and FREE!

A new (and FREE) expansion pack for Phantasy Star Universe on Xbox 360 has just been released for download, and not only that, but SEGA has seen fit to give away Ambition of the Illuminus (formerly 800 points) away as well to celebrate!

The Guardians content will offer players new missions, new weapons and new customisation options, breathing some new life into the online game. The expansions can be downloaded from the XBLA Marketplace site, or from your 360 console.

Kazuma to star alongside Majima in Yakuza game

 

SEGA have recently revealed that Kazuma Kiryu will indeed be starring alongside Goro Majima for the new Yakuza title and carrying on the theme with weapons, Kazuma comes equipped with a large new gun. Not much has been revealed about the game from Nagoshi in the latest Famitsu magazine. On the announcement of Kazuma Kiryu, Toshihiro Nagoshi said;

It’s said that if Kiryu doesn’t appear, Yakuza cannot begin. However, when we revealed Majima as the first main character, in addition to the reaction of ‘You can use Majima this time!’ it was widely said that ‘Kiryu is gone!’ and ‘It’s a game exclusively with Majima,’ so we wanted to quickly get out information about Kiryu’s appearance as well. Please wait just a bit more for the next update.

No doubt that guns will now be playing a bigger part in the series than ever before but in what capacity remains to be seen, before weapons have been largely ineffective in brawls in the game so a massive overhaul on the typical gameplay seems to be on the cards as Nagoshi hinted in an earlier interview. Tokyo Game Show should present fans of the series with a better idea of what to look forward to in this latest installment.

[Source: Andriasang]

The Creative Assembly developing new major console game

The team behind famed Total War series, The Creative Assembly, have announced that SEGA have green lighted a new major title that will be SEGA’s largest current budget title in internal development outside of Japan. Outside of the announcement, very little is known of the title but one could take this as one of the major titles Hayes spoke of. Speaking of the announcement, the Creative Assembly’s website read;

SEGA greenlight major console investment

SEGA have okayed The Creative Assembly to develop a major new console title. Currently in prototyping stage the title and genre are secret but will constitute SEGA’s largest current budget in internal development outside of Japan. Using technology and tools developed over the last two years the team will now grow substantially. Studio Director Tim Heaton said ‘The Creative Assembly are known for Total War and we are privileged to have a skilled large team working to deliver Shogun 2: Total War. However we have moved forward with our console team and spent a lot of time developing an infrastructure that works for them and during that process developed an incredibly strong demo. It is great that we are getting the perfect backing from SEGA – we have the time and the resources to deliver an awesome game’.

Recent major console titles from The Creative Assembly include both Viking: The Battle for Asgard and the critically panned Stormrise. One can only hope that, now suited with a large scale budget, the team can push on further onto consoles and produced a critically acclaimed title for SEGA.

[Source: The Creative Assembly]

SEGA Not to Attend Comic-Con

A week out from Comic-Con, SEGA is still not listed on Comic-Con’s website as an exhibitor. Now we know why. Kellie Parker, SEGA’s Community Manager, has given us the final word on their attendance:

Unfortunately, SEGA will not have a booth at Comic Con.

Kellie

This means, that, regrettably, we won’t be covering any SEGA games during the event. I was hoping to get some proper hands on time with Conduit 2’s single player during the event, to make up for our inability to cover it during E3, since the single player mode was for press only.

Idolmaster teaming up with Project Diva 2nd

Namco Bandai and SEGA have announced that in Hatsune Miku: Project Diva 2nd you will be able to download Idolmaster songs and costumes. SEGA have said they have 2 Idolmaster songs ready, but did not say which ones.

The DLC will be released in the fall, Project Diva 2nd goes on sell in the end of the month. To find out more about the costumes, I suggest you hit up the source link.

[Source: AndriaSang]

Pre-order Valkyria Chronicles 2, get free DLC


We know that Valkyria Chronicles 2 has had DLC made in Japan, if you pre-order your game now, you will get two free DLC missions.

• Exercise vs. Class E – An exterminatory war exercise against rival class E using all the areas of Leanbluff Forest. Destroy all enemies in each area to win this challenge.
• Exercise vs. Class F – A defense exercise against rival class F. Break through their stonewalling defense and take over their encampment to win this mission.

The DLC is for both Europe and America, in America the promo is being ran by Gamestop. The game hits America on August 31st and Europe on September 3rd.

Big Sonic news is new Sonic voice cast


The rumor is correct, the big Sonic news that SEGA has just announced is that Roger Craig Smith will be taking the role of Sonic the Hedgehog. You might remember his voice talent as Chris Redfield (Resident Evil 5), Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Assassin’s Creed 2) and Siegfried Schtauffen (Soulcalibur IV).

He was also the voice for Ted Ustinov, Vyse Inglebard, Johann Oswald Wisen and others in Valkyria Chronicles. That game had good voices, no? Just to make the announcement bigger, they also announced the new voice actors for Tails. Kate Higgins will play tails, she did voices for Naomi and RinRin in MadWorld. Also a ton of voices in Valkyria Chronicles.

It has been confirmed that Mike Pollock will stay as Eggman. Mike Pollock has been voicing Eggman since 2005, after the death of Deem Bristow. Almost every voice actor for the game characters has changed, but we have only seen Sonic and Tails as of yet.

[Source: SEGA]

Vanquish: This is gonna be fun trailer

Here is the latest trailer for Vanquish, in this trailer it just has gameplay with some techno soundtrack in the background. Its amazing seeing how much is going on screen at once and frame rate stays solid.

The game will be out in October worldwide, pre-order it at some stores to receive free DLC weapon pack.

Nagoshi speaks his mind about 3DS

Nagoshi isn’t afraid of saying what he thinks. He has stated that since the Nintendo Wii, Nintendo has pursued their video game consoles to be more toys than entertainment machines. He has suggested that he wants to pitch a few games for the newest handheld. Hopefully the new games aren’t Yakuza related.

“If future portable game machines demand that both social aspects and immersion be satisfied for when you play multiplayer and single player for instance, 3DS firmly answers these with Wi-Fi and 3D. I’d like to make a variety of proposals.”

Well, I guess its not that bad of a comment. Though, DS also had Wifi. Has Nagoshi used that? Read what other developers had to say over at andriasang.