E3 Day 2 Update

 

Hi guys! Apologies for the lack of updates yesterday. We were so busy playing games and setting up interviews, charging cameras and running to and from the media lounge…we didn’t actually have much time to write. Hope you enjoyed Jason’s take on Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed!

I am currently in the midst of writing previews for Aliens: Colonial Marines and Hell Yeah!, the latter I ended up spending about thirty minutes playing…to which you’ll know why when you read the preview. Sonic Stadium visitors will, unfortunately, not be getting much content this year, due to the sheer lack of actual material to write about. We have gotten an interview with All-Stars Racing producer Joe Neate, though, as well as a full rotational look at the new ASR branded car, which will hopefully be going up later today. My Hell Yeah! preview will also be going up on Sonic Stadium, so you guys can read about another SEGA platformer that doesn’t star Sonic.

SEGAbits will, of course, be receiving previews for every game on the show floor. We also managed to score a last minute interview with Gearbox and their new Aliens game, which you can expect to see on the site Friday. There will likely be other interviews as well, but nothing that I can confirm.

*UPDATE: It’s Danica Patrick* Could the Hornet be SEGA’s celebrity guest?

Update 2: Sumo Digital producer S0L has said the following over at The Sonic Stadium forums:

You know, when they (SEGA) pitched us the idea we went ‘The fans will go wild…’ I think they didn’t get what we meant from that though

End of the day she hasn’t replaced any SEGA characters, she’s an extra and we’re very happy with the vehicle design we’ve done for her, which incidentally isn’t the one you might think it is

UPDATE: Game Trailers just revealed that Nascar driver Danica Patrick will be in All-Stars Racing Transformed. Remember her from that one SEGA game? Wait, she’s not a SEGA character. But she is racing in a SEGA branded racer which will be revealed at SEGA’s E3 booth. Danica and her SEGA branded Nascar will, in turn, be in the game. I’ll admit, it’s really freakin’ weird, but it does feel very much like when Pepsiman appeared in AM2’s Fighting Vipers. Which is a good, if not odd, thing.

SEGA Blog has posted up some booth pics, including a massive car shaped thing right in the center of the Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed booth. Doesn’t appear to be Sonic’s car, I can only imagine a custom made Speed Star would cost a load. But it could very well be the Hornet. Daytona USA’s star racer joining the All-Star roster? What do you think is under there? We’ll know in one hour. There is a small chance that Segata Sanshiro can take the form of a car, and he’s silently waiting to burst out from beneath the sheet to put the Wii U in a headlock.

Platinum Games announces a new game at E3, published by Nintendo

Above is the trailer for the new Platinum Games title P-100 (working title), this new game will be published by Nintendo. So why am I posting this here? I think this proves that Platinum Games is basically stepping away from SEGA as a publisher. If you didn’t know, Platinum Games only had a 3 game contract with SEGA. After they finished they still wanted to work with SEGA, but seeing as how SEGA West screwed up their Anarchy Reigns release schedule, that seems a bit hard to do now.

The trailer for the new title is up above, it has a very odd art style from Platinum Games, especially keeping in mind that it’s directed by Hideki Kamiya, who headed Bayonetta, but it seems rather fun. I hope for Nintendo’s sake this is a downloadable title, because I doubt many will pay full retail price for this game. When Platinum Games started they talked about how they wanted to do their own IP and type games. Seems that this new title and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance prove that even artist have to eat.

What do you guys think about the situation, do you guys think Platinum Games is ready to move on?

SEGA Memories: SEGA’s amazing E3 2000 floor show

I’ll come right out and say it: I’m not too excited for this year’s E3. Why? Well, for starters, no SEGA press show. Of course, there has been no SEGA press show for many years so that’s an old complaint. But as the years have passed, it feels like SEGA has done less and less in terms of spectacle at E3. No press shows, as mentioned, no big reveals and most importantly: no awesome floor shows. That’s why this week’s Monday Memories article exists, to take you back to 2000 when SEGA had a floor show worthy of Disneyland.

*UPDATE* Rumor: SEGA shutting down SEGA Europe, last console game to be shown at E3

UPDATE: Community Manager at Sega of America Clumsyorchild and Studio director at Sports Interactive Miles Jacobson are tweeting that these rumors are false.

Wow. It’s that time of year; E3 is around the corner, and that means it’s time to see some  rumors. This one doesn’t sound too outrageous due to all the lay offs that happened a few months back. Not only that, SEGA Europe doesn’t have community managers. Does this mean SEGA Europe will be shutting down and that SEGA will stop making retail games? The rumor states that SEGA will focus on mobile and tablet games. It also says their last big AAA title will be announced at E3, and will be the Creative Assembly’s unannounced Alien game.

Aliens: Colonial Marines – E3 Demo Footage

When Aliens: Colonial Marines was shown to the press behind closed doors at E3 2011 it seemed to be very well received. Now the rest of us unworthy peons can finally all see why. Narrated by Gearbox’s Randy Pitchford here is a walkthrough of Aliens: Colonial Marines second missions as shown at E3.

Any Aliens fan can tell you that the guys at Gearbox have gone above and beyond to recreate the world and atmosphere of the Aliens movie. With online drop-in Co-Op for up to 4 players I hope for some intence fire-fights with my friends.

I think the game looks beautiful, the graphics are great and the atmosphere seems authentic. If I have one small complaint it would be with the fire and muzzle flash effects looking a bit dated and the tracer bullets looking a bit bulky and cartoonish. Otherwise, everything looks superb and I can’t wait to get my hands on it!

From this first look Aliens: Colonial Marines looks as though it’s shaping up to be something special, fingers crossed!

Swingin’ Report Show #9: Post E3 2011 special


E3 has come and gone, now we sit back and talk about all those games they showed. We talk about the big 3 and if they impressed us, talk about 3rd party booths and of course, the awesome games SEGA had to show. Takashi Iizuka, why do you laugh at the Game Gear?

[audio:http://www.segabits.com/wp-content/uploads/swingin_report_show_9.mp3]

[Download] [Archive]

Anarchy Reigns – Video Walkthrough

Here is a walkthrough for Sega and Platinum Games’ next title ‘Anarchy Reigns’. Anarchy Reigns is an online brawler starring many characters from the black, white, and red ultra violent Wii game MadWorld.

The spots of lag from the last time the game was shown seem to have cleared up and it appears to be running pretty smoothly.

Rise of Nightmares – E3 2011 Teaser

So here’s another teaser trailer for Rise of Nightmares, Segas’ next game for Kinect. As you may have guessed by now, Rise of Nightmares is going to be horror themed.

From the little we know about the game, you must make your way through a castle filled with zombies and other nasty things to find your girlfriend.

You do so in first person, dispatching enemies with brutal melee weapons Condemned style.

Come on Sega, show us some gameplay please!

Sega Announces E3 2011 Line Up

Sega have today announced their E3 2011 line up and it’s pretty packed! With some really exciting games like Binary Domain, Guardian Heroes, Aliens: Colonial Marines, Renegade Ops, Crush3D and Sonic Generations, not to mention Platinum Games’ Anarchy Reigns already announced, is it too much to ask for some surprises too?

I’m still holding out hope for Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown to console, Valkyria Chronicles 3 to West and any kind of news on Phantasy Star Online 2!

But with or without those games it’s quite a good line up for new and old Sega fans, hit the jump for the full list. I’m personally very excited about Aliens and Binary Domain!

SegaBits writers Nuckles87 and Shigs will be presant at E3 2011 and reporting feedback on all of these games and more!

PLAY Magazine: “Huge fighting franchise” to return at E3

There have been rumors flying around last year about Virtua Fighter 5 returning to consoles again, with all the arcade upgrades. Play Magazine teased that they will be covering a return of a huge fighting franchise. The last game came to consoles in 2007, so it’s been about 4 years. That is a lifetime in the console market.

Other big fighting games ruled out: Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom, King of Fighters, Tekken, SoulCalibur, and Mortal Kombat.

Game it could be: Virtua Fighter, Killer Instinct, Bloody Rawr, or Guilty Gear.

The games that I listed in ‘ruled out’ are franchises that have announced new titles recently. Virtua Figher hasn’t had one, Killer Instinct has been rumored and Arc System recently got the rights back to Guilty Gear. But is Guilty Gear that big of a franchise?

What do you think?

[Source: Thatvideogameblog]

Binary Domain to be playable at E3

SEGA and Microsoft had a retail meeting on Friday, in Japan. One of the things that leaked out from the meeting was the confirmation that Binary Domain would have a playable build at E3.

Will the game live up to our hype? We shall see, since we will be at E3 this year writing up articles about games you care about. Hey SEGA, how about hooking us up with an interview with Nagoshi?

[Source: Andriasang]