Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed: SEGA has given Sumo Digital “approval for a specific character”

In late November, Sumo Digital Executive Producer Steve Lycett made SEGA fans an offer they couldn’t refuse. If the fans could pull together and organize a legitimate character poll, complete with accurate tracking and strong numbers, Steve would present the data to SEGA in hopes of character DLC for Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. Steve stressed that this was not a promise that there would be DLC, however a recent update from Steve on the SEGA forums (going by his handle “S0L”) implies that things are moving forward on DLC and a character has been chosen by SEGA. In Steve’s words:

Actually… We got approval for a specific character this morning. But that’s all I can say right now… 😛

Details and speculation after the break.

Samurai and Dragons Sega All-Stars Pack Revealed!


I see stars, so many stars this week with the release of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. However this isn’t the last of the All-Stars this year. Samurai and Dragons official website updated with the information on the “Sega All-Stars Pack” The card pack features a full cast of characters from various Sega franchises from over the years such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Virtua Fighter, Jet Set Radio, Sakura Wars, Shenmue and many more. You can use these set of cards in battle against your enemies. The Sega All-Stars Pack will be released next week in Japan on November 28, 2012. Sega West, can we get this game too? Read more to see the awesome card gallery

Hell Yeah! DLC releases today, adds Shenmue, Jet Set Radio and more!

Shenmue, Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Kid Chameleon, Fantasy Zone and more appear as customizable hats and vehicles in one half of the DLC being released today for Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit. The other half of the DLC being released today adds fifty new challenges to the game, totaling over three hours of gameplay. SEGA has released a trailer showing off all this awesome new content. Do you own the game? Give this stuff a download ASAP. Do you not own the game? Well what the hell are you waiting for?

Hell Yeah! DLC coming October 23rd, features numerous SEGA cameos

We’ve been seeing a LOT of SEGA cameos and crossovers this year: All-Stars Racing, Project X Zone, Samurai and Dragons, Yakuza in Border Break and now Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit! DLC. SEGA has just announced DLC that will be available on October 23 in North America and October 24 in Europe on XBLA, PSN, and PC Digital Download. The Pimp My Rabbit pack ($2.99 /240MSP /£1.99 /€2.49 /AUD$4.25) will offer over 50 masks for Ash and 11 driller skins with appearances from SEGA franchises including Jet Set Radio, Super Monkey Ball and Crazy Taxi. One screen shows off a sweet Shinobi mask and driller skin combo. Another DLC pack will be The Virtual Rabbit Missions ($4.99 /400MSP /£3.69 / €4.49 /AUD$7.75) which adds 50 new challenges totaling over three hours of gameplay. They missed a trick in calling it “Virtua Rabbit”.

After the break, check out additional screens of the DLC!

XBOX Avatars and Vita Features revealed for All-Stars Racing Transformed

More details have emerged for Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, this time concerning the Playstation 3, Vita and XBOX 360 versions. Sony’s new Vita product page for the game reveals that the handheld version will support motion steering and will allow players to fire weapons and activate All-Star moves via the touchscreen. The Playstation 3 product page confirms that the game will not support 3D. As for the 360 version, the product page confirms that Avatars will return as a part of the roster and that the game will support DLC. DLC support is also confirmed on the Vita and PS3 pages. All three versions will support up to eight players online. Also of note to 360 owners, Steve Lycett has told fans that Banjo-Kazooie will not be returning. After the break, lovely screens from the 360 version!

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First PSO2 Update Trailer & Info

The first major update to PSO2 titled ‘Wake Up Big Machines: Update Number 1’ is already close to release! Update Number 1 will include ‘The Underground Mine’ a new adventure field, clothes, new enemies, two new bosses, new quests, interrupt events and client orders and will release on July 18th.

Personally I hope all of this content is already included in the default English release of PSO2. That way the base game has more content from day one and we won’t already be months behind the Japanese.

Make sure to check out that trailer, it’s awesome!

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Sonic pops up in Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz via DLC


Sonic the Hedgehog
will be turning 21 years old in a few days, what best way to celebrate his birthday in Japan than giving users a free Sonic DLC pack? The DLC pack is for Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz on the Playstation Vita, so far this DLC has only been announced for Japan since the game isn’t really out in the west yet.

The only thing this free piece of downloadable content really gives you is a model of Sonic, as an object that you can use to in stage creation mode. That means that when you share your banana-fied courses of mass destruction, you can now put a happy looking Sonic giving the player a wag of his finger. No, not that finger, keep it PG.

 

Play Total War Battles and get free DLC for Shogun 2

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.

Free Japanese Binary Domain DLC on Xbox 360 is region free


So if you didn’t know, Japanese consumers have been treated to free DLC for Binary Domain. We English speakers haven’t received such luxury. But you know what? I really want this DLC, since it lets you play as Yakuza characters in mulitplayer. Sadly, I own the Playstation 3 version and I tried downloading the DLC from the Japanese PSN store.  Guess what? Nothing.

 
Though the Xbox 360 version will work with the Japanese DLC. Isn’t it ironic that it doesn’t work on the Playstation 3 after they boasted so much about it being region free?  Thanks to Sanus, who wrote about the Xbox 360 DLC being region free. The DLC adds Goro Majima as the ‘Crusher’ class with a shotgun, Shun Akiyama as the ‘Gunner’ with a submachine gun, and Ryuji Goda is the ‘Defender’ with a heavy machinegun. Kazuma Kiryu sadly isn’t free DLC, it was a pre-order bonus in Japan. More screenshots of the DLC can be found here.

Yakuza: Dead Souls pre-order trailer is all about the American spirit

Who said that the Japanese can’t appreciate bad taste in fashion and being a patriot? Can’t love this country built on freedom? *waves American flag*

In all seriousness, above is the pre-order trailer for Yakuza: Dead Souls. Which happens to be out March 13th, did you know that? I didn’t. Been too busy playing Binary Domain to notice. Pre-order DLC is exclusive to GameStop stores.

DLC of Christmas Past: A Tree in Station Square

If you caught our latest podcast, you may have heard the moment when AAUK said that he begged for the special Christmas DLC to be included in the XBLA/PSN rerelease of Sonic Adventure. Sadly, it was not, so the only way to experience an early example of DLC is to boot up your Dreamcast with a copy of Sonic Adventure and the Christmas data on your VMU.

The file was originally available for download from December 17th to the 28th in 1999, and when players entered Station Square they were greeted by two Christmas trees complete with Sonic and Chao decorations. If you touched the tree, the music would change to the acapella version of “Dreams Dreams” from Christmas NiGHTS. The best place to get the VMU file and more is at Blue Swirl, where you can burn an application allowing you to use hundreds of VMU files. Enjoy!

Renegade Ops vehicle pack coming to PSN next week


If you bought Renegade Ops back in September, as part of Sony’s PLAY Program, you should be getting messages on your PSN about the upcoming Vehicle Pack add-on.

I assume this vehicle pack will later be released on Xbox Live and for the rest of the PSN users that didn’t buy Renegade Ops the first week it was out. But as of right now, no news.

GameStop Sonic Generations Pre-Order Bonuses Revealed!

So, you say you’re pumped for Sonic Generations, but think it’s too far off for any real reason to place a pre-order this instant? Think again! United States gaming store GameStop is offering digital content for those who pre-order Sonic Generations! You can see what they’re offering for yourself right here. XBOX 360 owners who pre-order will receive a DLC mini-game pinball stage based on Sonic 2’s Casino Night Zone. Think of it as being like Sonic Adventure’s pinball stage. Also included is a Super Sonic avatar costume, basically confirming Super Sonic in Generations, and an exclusive theme for your 360’s menu. PlayStation 3 owners also receive the Casino Night Zone pinball stage and a theme for their PS3 menu.

Still no word on a birthday pack or special packaging, but we’ll keep you posted. In other news, the full stage and boss list as well as a load of other info on the game has leaked due to fans digging through the recently released demo assets. I’ll abstain from mentioning any of the leaked content, as SEGA has yet to officially reveal it, but it’s out there on the Internet.

Check out Yakuza: Of the End DLC

The first DLC for SEGA’s recently released Yakuza: Of the End has been announced. Japanese members can go directly to PSN to download three free costumes which range from; Shun Akiyama in a detective outfit, Goro Majima in a pirate outfit and Ryuji Goda sporting a commando look. Click after the break to see some more screenshots of the DLC in action.