A Sonic Playground – Built in One Day

Over 200 volunteers from SEGA, KaBoom! and Youth Uprising built a playground in Oakland, CA in just one day.

What better way to celebrate Sonics 20th anniversary than to build a playground? I think this is such an awesome idea and further cements in my mind that Sega are one of the best videogame companies out there and in fact goes a long way to show videogames aren’t all bad like the media likes to make it seem! As strange as it may sound I think it can be easy to forget that videogames are just as much for kids as they are for us adults that never grew up.

Good on you Sega!

Celebrate the Dreamcast’s 12th Birthday With Us!

Since 2009, It has become a yearly tradition for me to throw a Dreamcast birthday party by way of Dreamcast gaming, a live stream, chit chat, drinking and pizza. This year will be no different from last year: Starting at 11am Eastern Standard Time (5pm GMT) on Friday, September 9th, I’ll be kicking off the party at twitch.tv/dreamroom. We’ll play a ton of games, chat, reminisce and celebrate the 12th anniversary of the Dreamcast’s American launch. We’ll check out the original launch titles, play some wacky imports, go on a Dobuita shopping spree and I even have a few surprises.

So mark your calendars and keep your eyes on The Dreamcast Junkyard and SEGAbits as the big day nears!

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Sonic Anniversary Trailer – Through the Ages

A trailer which shows some of Sonics greatest highlights through the 20 years since his creation, most of the worst offenders in the series were tastefully left off of this video although Sonic 06 managed to sneak its way in there. Interestingly Sonic 4 was not included but thankfully Sonic Colours was, awesome!

Very excited for Sonic Generations, do us proud Sega!

Puyo Puyo 20th Anniversary – Trailer

This year isn’t just Sonics 20th birthday! No, this year is also the 20th anniversary of one of the best if not the very best ‘falling blocks’ puzzle game ever, Puyo Puyo! To celebrate, Sega is releasing a Puyo Puyo 20th Anniversary game for the Nintendo DS which will feature 20 years of Puyo Puyo game modes and characters.

These modes are from fan favourites like Puyo Puyo Sun, Tsu and Puyo Pop Fever amongst others. Returning characters range from the early days right up to Puyo Puyo 7. The Puyo Puyo 20th Anniversary game features coop and competitive wireless gameplay for up to 8 players!

If nothing else, the trailer is worth a watch simply for that man in the ball… Good stuff Japan!

Sonic 20th Anniversary – Japanese Commercial

The blue rat’s 20th Anniversary is picking up speed in Japan and Sega have released a commercial to get the ball rolling. The commercial highlights just a few of the promotions for Sonic this year, including a mention of Sonic Colours, Sega’s arcade/theme park Joyopolis (possibly holding some kind of events), Sonic plush UFO catchers and of course Sonic Generations!

Looks like Sega’s going all out for the 20th anniversary of our favourite blue Hedgehog! May it be a good one!

Round Table: Our favorite SEGA Xbox 360 & XBLA games


You might not know this, but this month, the Xbox 360 turns 5 years old. That is half a decade that the machine has invaded our homes. Sure, it was a rough start, but now Microsoft is a big player in the home console business, selling (so far) about 45 million units.

But what SEGA games are worth getting on the console? We, the SEGAbits staff, give you our favorites. You give us your favorites in the comment section!

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How Dreamcast changed the video game world


On September 9th, 1999 SEGA let loose its white dream machine upon the United States. This new console was called the Dreamcast and was advertised as a highly advance console. It even carried the slogan “It’s thinking”.

It has been 11 years since the day it hit store shelves in North America and we now see how it effected the games industry.

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SEGA Saturn surprise launch announcement anniversary

Oh, SEGA,  just to 1up Sony you guys decided to launch your console early. 15 years ago today, SEGA CEO Tom Kalinske stood in front of the press and announced that the SEGA Saturn would launch early do to “high consumer demand”. The announcement was made at the first ever E3.

“Many Americans have gone to the extent of paying $ 800 and more for Sega Saturn units from Japan,” Kalinske explained. “We’ve decided to bring the product to market earlier than scheduled to meet the high consumer demand, to refine our marketing strategy over the summer, prior to the important fall season, and to get a headstart on the competition.”

The SEGA Saturn launched at the price of $399.99 for the stand alone version and $499.99 with Virtua Fighter (also came with a disc that showed other titles).

Hit the jump to read SEGA’s press release from 1995. It is like going back in time.