Shinji Mikami, Vanquish interview.
Here is an interview with Shinji Mikami from the E3 show floor. Mikami is the man behind such great games as Resident Evil 4, God Hand and Dino Crisis. Vanquish looks set to be every bit as good.
E3
Sonic Colours gameplay video!
And it looks really, really good!
Graphically, What I can tell from the off-screen video anyway, it looks fantastic for a Wii game. In fact it looks great period. It’s full of colour and detail… The unrealistic art direction looks like a world a blue hedgehog belongs in! (For once.)
But graphics and art direction aside the game looks fun! At the start I was a little worried, the 3D section could use work, it’s looking a bit sparse and linear but as soon as it went to 2.5D I was in my element. Colour me excited. (lol pun)
I also heard a rumour that Sonic doesn’t talk… Which would be a god send.
The Conduit 2 to have melee weapons; will utilize Wii Motion Plus
Alright, so I had a nice chat with Jeremiah Cauthorn, the weapons designer for the Conduit 2. I was asking him about how the Wii Motion Plus will be used. Apparently, aside from tracking your movements off screen, it’s also going to be used for melee weapons! He couldn’t give me an further details, but regardless, it looks like that’s going to be part of the Conduit 2 experience.
We will have a preview of the Conduit 2, as well a video interview with Cauthorn, up tomorrow.
Sonic Colours Interview with Takashi Iizuka
Our man at E3, Nuckles87 scored a pretty nice interview today with Takashi Iizuka. As we are teamed up with Sonic Stadium for this the SS guys get first dibs on any Sonic related news… Which is fair enough as we’ll be getting all of the other, better Sega news exclusive to bits.
Here is some choice parts of the interview:
SS – Is this game made with just children in mind, or more for a general audience?
Iizuka – Of course, we are putting in kid friendly elements, but it’s not just for kids. The are some challenging elements put in as well.
SS – What is the length of the game, in hours?
Iizuka – The game’s still in development, but in previous Sonic games, there would be act 1 and act 2 of 1 zone. In this case, for each of these worlds there are several stages. Also, once you get more color powers from other worlds, you can go back to older levels and find new paths to access. It also depends on how dedicated you are to finding all the items in the game.
and
SS – Last question, any chance of a new NiGHTS or Burning Rangers game?
Iizuka – (Laughs) We can’t talk about that right now.
Make sure you read the rest of the interview HERE!
SEGA bringing Super Monkey Ball and Sonic to 3DS
There is a list of titles for 3DS floating around, showing all the games that publishers will be releasing for the new Nintendo handheld. SEGA has listed two titles, one just called Sonic (not final name) and the other Super Monkey Ball (not final name).
I’m not shocked, Super Monkey Ball is always used on new devices like iPhone and Banana Blitz was a launch title for the Nintendo Wii. Sonic obviously sells well on a Nintendo system and Sonic will also be a launch title on Kinect.
[Thanks Suzuki Yu]
Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s new game called Child of Eden
Above is the trailer for Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s Child of Eden, billed as the spiritual successor for Rez. The game will be heading for both PS3 and Xbox 360. The game is being published by Ubisoft, so we won’t be covering the game from now on. But it is good to see that Mizuguchi is still kicking, can’t wait to play it.
Sonic 4 Pre-E3 Video Interview
[click above image to visit the Gamespot video page]
SEGA’s Associate Digital Brand Manager Ken Balough sat down with Gamespot to tell us what to expect from Sonic 4 at E3. As an added bonus, we get a good amount of footage featuring the still in progress tweaked physics. Now supernerds can spend the whole weekend doing a frame by frame analysis of the altered physics!
Here are a few highlights from the video:
- All of Splash Hill Zone will be playable at E3
- Motion controls for the special stages will be optional
- iPod is getting two exclusive levels (could the mine cart be moving?)
- Sonic 4 technically has 16 stages (4 Zones with 3 Acts each plus 1 boss battle per Zone = 16)
I think I actually DO see a difference in the physics, way to go SEGA!
Aliens: Colonial Marines and Valkyria Chronicles 2 confirmed for E3
As I recall, Sharky predicted that the next Aliens game would be at E3. Well, seems he was right. It’s just been confirmed by GameSpot’s E3 Showfloor map that the game, along with Valkyria Chronicles 2, will indeed be available at SEGA’s booth.
And this is indeed good news for all of you, because we’ll be able to tell how awesome (or….not) the games are!
In other E3 news, it looks like my assistant, who was going to help me take videos, photos, and write previews, will be able to attend the event. Won’t be confirmed until we get down there, but if he can get in, Bits will have another new staff member to welcome!
SEGABITS heading to E3, courtesy of The Sonic Stadium!
Alright, so some of you may be wondering why I suddenly started doing updates for SEGAbits. Is it because they are the awesomenest SEGA fan site in the world? Why of course! But beyond that, it’s because I was recently offered the chance to go to E3 on for the awesomenest Sonic website in the world, The Sonic Stadium! Being more of a SEGA fan then just a Sonic fan, I thought it would be a waste to go to the show without providing my SEGA chums with some coverage from the floor coverage!
So, what can we expect from this? Well, hands on previews, obviously (Vanquish and any surprise games being at the top of my list, currently). You can expect off screen videos and photos as well, as well as impressions for the 3DS, Move, and Natal (as well as a comparison between the latter too). Finally, we’re also looking to get some interviews with Platinum Games and High Voltage software, if everything goes well.
Of course, for all Sonic related coverage, you’ll need to head over to Sonic Stadium. Since I am going to E3 for both websites, the two sites will providing joint coverage of everything SEGA related at the show. We’ll be sure to let you know whenever something new is posted over at TSS!
Finally, I would like to send out a HUGE thanks to Kellie, Aaron, and all the other awesome people over at Sega of America for making this possible. It is this sort of dedication to the fan community that makes SEGA such a special company, and one of the many reasons why I consider them one of the best companies in the history of gaming. We at SEGAbits really appreciate this chance.
Shogun 2 Total War for E3?
Sega and the Creative Assembly have been hinting at a new Total War game with a teaser count down on their home page HERE. However this is no ordinary count down! In true Total War style instead of counting down in mere days to announcement it is counting down in historically important dates. The date is currently at 1751 but is almost certain to drop further considering the latest news we have heard.
Creative Assembly first hinted to IGN that the next game would be ‘back to basics’ this made it quite apparent that we would be dealing with a sequel. Having had a sequel to Medieval 2 only recently, this leaves Rome: Total War and Shogun: Total War.
And if Turkish site ‘Oyungezer‘ is to believed it will be Shogun Total War we see at E3 2010. The site claims to have been penciled in by Sega Europe for a 2:30pm appointment to talk about Shogun 2: Total War.
While I would take this as a rumour for now, it was either this or the other and now the scales seem to point to this!
Creative Assembly to announce new Total War at E3
We have known that Creative Assembly have been looking around for some people to do a sports title. This puzzled and made everyone ask themselves, what the creators of Total War have been up to. The studio apparently told EuroGamer it was going create a 2012 Olympic title. Not shocking I guess.
But what is more shocking is that they have e-mailed and teased that they will be at E3, with a new Total War game. They say the game is PC-only and will take the series “back to basics.”
[Source: IGN via The Forums]
E3 around the corner, start your Shenmue 3 rumors
If you have been a SEGA fan for a long time, you know that around this time you will hear a ton of outlandish E3 rumors. Seems that time again, spanish site Meristation.com (once again) is saying Shenmue 3 will be at E3. They did this last year! So its no doubt they are doing it again this year, only its a Playstation Move exclusive now. Also it will use Unreal 3 tech.
Just posting this to not get anyone excited. Most of this stuff is posted to get hits. The site has a history of misinformation.
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.
Rumor: Yu Suzuki to show Playstation Move game at E3?
I think we have all asked ourselves, what happen to Yu Suzuki? It has been a long time since the man has released a video game. But according to a tipster at Go Fanboy, it seems that he might make his return at E3, showing off a new Playstation Move title.
According to the tipster, it will be a 1 vs. 1 combat game. He also stated that “Yu wants this to be about real human interaction and competition.” This could just be a Playstation 3 port of Psy-Phi or maybe something new?
[Thanks: Orta]