SEGA has released the second Sonic Mania Plus developer diary, in a series of two, this time featuring Sonic Team’s Takashi Iizuka and the Taxman himself Christian Whitehead. The video is a lively discussion about the genesis of Sonic Mania and the recently released Sonic Mania Plus, as well as a breakdown of the new modes and characters. You can check out the first part here.
SEGA has released part one of a two-part developer diary in anticipation of the upcoming Sonic Mania Plus, an enhanced physical release of last year’s Sonic Mania. The first part features Sonic Team creative director Kazuyuki Hoshino and Sonic Mania Plus art director Tom Fry discussing the inclusion of Mighty and Ray, the new aesthetics of Encore Mode and more.
It’s great to see Sonic Mania Plus getting behind-the-scenes videos and we can’t wait for the second part! You can pre-order the game today for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One via Amazon, and in turn support the site.
A new Shenmue 3 developer diary has finally hit for Kickstarter backers, and as seen above the game is indeed being made! Yeah yeah, I know, there was little doubt that the game is happening but I still have this suspicion that Yu Suzuki’s plan is to run off to a remote island with a luxury car. The latest video tells little but shows quite a bit. We see a developer working on a QTE arcade machine displaying Playstation buttons and arrows. We then see Ryo pushing something and then the player accessing the iconic in-game diary. A peek at a small village is given and the room appears to be littered with concept drawings of NPCs.
During a dialogue meeting, somebody is paging through the Japanese Shenmue 2 guide book and we see more NPC drawings on a white board. Quest test play shows off a messy room covered in dirt and debris. Ryo is seen from behind opening a cabinet and it is noted that all characters are tentative and are from older resources – so don’t judge the back of Ryo’s head! We then go to a meeting with Yu Suzuki where we see him talking with his staff and in the background there is a screen showing off what looks like Ryo outside and then a scene inside a small room with an arcade machine. We again see Ryo outside and a quick shot of a village at dusk with lights lit.
All in all, not much is revealed but it is very exciting to see the game being made! What did you think of this peek at Shenmue 3?
While working with the team at Hardlight Studios for the first time, Kenji Kanno wanted them to understand the roots of the game franchise in order for them to be more ambitious and keep the original concept true to the game. He also gives his opinion on the unique thing about smartphones is that you could start the game as a timewaster at first, but become sucked into it and get really addicted to the game.
Hardlight Studio’s Scott West explains that their company has a different audience and playstyle. So what they did with the game was to implement missions from pickup missions, daily challenges which are timed, regular missions, ranking missions and special missions. For more highlights from the video that are included in Crazy Taxi City Rush, be sure to hit the jump.
The newest Dev Diary for Alpha Protocol is easily the best yet, it seems as though the graphics have been much improved upon and it shows a lot of interesting gadgets and things you can pull off in game.
Alpha Protocol has been on and off my radar for ages a now but I can safely say this video is the one that has swayed me the most into the ‘WILL BUY’ group.
SEGA is doing a series of developer dairies with Nagoshi about Yakuza 3. Must be weird, since he is also promoting Yakuza 4 in Japan. Isn’t that sort of like, time travel? He talks about his influences and the Japanese way of telling stories.
I mean, not much new but I just enjoy watching Nagoshi speak, in a heterosexual way.
