[Ueda is on the left.]
Ryuta Ueda! Who is he you ask? Just a man that worked on games like Panzer Dragoon Saga, Jet Set Radio and the first 3 Yakuza games. Pretty much classy stuff.
Not only is he directing the project, he is also writing scenarios, doing the artwork and more (so teases his facebook page). So if you are a hardcore SEGA fan, this is a title you might want to keep a close eye on.
[Via: The Forums]
I’m still on the edge about voice commands in video games. The reason? They never work out and are just stupid concepts. Regardless of how I feel about this, Nagoshi’s newest title will have voice commands for squad members. If you have Kinect, you will be able to use that.
Oddly enough, Playstation Eye, which also has a microphone, has not been confirmed to be supported.
[Source: Joystiq]
Straight from E3 are a couple videos of SEGA’s survival horror Kinect game Rise of Nightmare that showcase a range of gameplay elements such as covering your ears to stop loud sounds and the various ways to interact with the world of the game. Check after the break for a longer video of the game. Rise of Nightmares is slated for an October launch.
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!
This is an exciting story and something we might see more of at E3; Yu Suzuki is working on a Kinect fighting game. The man that was behind Virtua Fighter! Yu Suzuki has joined Tokyo-based Premium Agency and they both announced their first title, which is Kinect-based. This means that it’s not a SEGA title, sadly.
How much hands on will Yu Suzuki have with the project? Unknown. He is being titled “Executive game producer” by the company, and has been said to be overseeing the project. So probably not too much involvement.
So what does this mean for Yu Suzuki and SEGA? I guess we will find out in the upcoming years.
[Source: MCV]
The design reminds me of the Condemned box art, but even better. It has a really dirty and creepy feel to it. I just hope the full retail release lives up to at least the awesomely designed box art.
The game is rumored to allow you to use your whole body to fight off the undead. Talk about burning calories!
[Via The Forum]
So let’s say you just got a Kinect unit and you really want to play Sonic Free Riders… Like now. You don’t want to drive to Wal-Mart or some other lame store full of lame people to stand in a lame line to purchase your lame game (oh snap).
Don’t worry, Microsoft and SEGA got you covered. Introducing Games on Demand. Basically you can purchase the game on the Xbox Live Marketplace and download it through the internet. This is the future my friends.
Game is being priced at $49.99. Yeah, pretty much full retail. Rethinking about visiting that lame store?
[Source: SEGAblog]
SEGA Europe continues to drop big cash on marketing their titles, this time it’s Virtua Tennis 4. The series will get online, print and TV ads during its European release April 29th. It will also be sponsored during Wimbledon. Those TV ads will start playing on April 25th on Channel 4, E4, Sky Sports, Sky, ITV2, and ITV4.
“With over a million pounds invested in marketing, this is our biggest spend on a Virtua Tennis title to date. Activity will create awareness at release, with a second execution to capitalize on grand slam fever during Wimbledon. The No.1 tennis series is releasing on what is a pretty significant date. For many, that will be the Royal Wedding, but for gamers it signifies the start of the gaming tennis season, and with the bank holiday a few extra hours of play. Virtua Tennis 4 is the only tennis game to include motion control functionality across all platforms.” – Anna Downing (SEGA’s senior product manager)
The article keeps on saying it’s the series’ 10th anniversary, but that is incorrect since the original was released on arcades in 1999 and the Dreamcast port came in 2000. Unless I’m missing something? So now that SEGA Europe stepped up, what will SEGA America do?
[Source: MCVUK]
The Weekly Five is back! And this time it’s personal. Okay, it’s not personal, but it may just be a tad controversial. KINECT! Did reading that make your blood boil? Did it make you think of things like “laggy”, “casual” and “the death of video games”? Well if it did, you need to wise up. The Kinect has been around for almost 6 months now, it sold more than 10 million sensors and the video game industry is far from dead. Kinect may not have reinvented the industry, but it hasn’t hurt it in the slightest.
What more, having owned a Kinect since launch and having played ten titles so far (four of them were demos) I can honestly say that things like “lag” and “recognition problems” are not due to hardware problems, but rather fall on the early software. I’ve found that lag has been nearly wiped out in the main Kinect Hub, and is not a problem in first party titles and second gen releases. As software updates occur, the problems that were hardly problems to begin with have become greatly diminished. Anyway, this sort of discussion can continue in our wonderful forums. My point was that the Kinect is now at a great place, both hardware and software-wise, to support some of SEGA’s great franchises. What sort of SEGA games would be perfect for Kinect?
Direct from SEGA comes the latest trailer for the awesome Virtua Tennis 4. This has got to be my favorite trailer, as it shows off my favorite mode: world tour. It looks like the game will follow a board game sort of layout, where you are given a certain number of spaces to move. Some spaces feature autograph signings, while others feature tournaments, mini-games and (according to interviews) random muggings!
Also featured is the character creation mode, which looks pretty deep. You can squash, stretch and tweak the player’s face to resemble your own. I just know I’m going to spend a good hour making the perfect doppelganger. Then I’ll stick myself in tie dyed rainbow shorts, and take on the world.
Want to demo the game before release? PS3 owners are in luck! Details after the break.
At least that is what the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) is saying, who gave it a 18-rated classification (much like ESRB). According to the source this is the first mature rated game on Kinect, so its an untapped market.
The only thing that is scaring me right now is how little we have seen about the game, usually we get some previews and trailers. We have seen a little teaser from when it was announced, no in-game stuff really or how it will play. If its true that its coming out June 15th, I hope its a decent title at least!
[Source: Gamerzines]
Oh ESRB, we love you and your constant game leaking. This time they are leaking Rise of Nightmares. What is the story about? You play an American tourist who has to rescue his wife from a crazy scientist. It already sounds House of the Dead like. Oh, did I mention it takes place in a mansion?
The game will play in first-person-view, players can use an assortment of weapons like chainsaws and hatchets to take down ‘zombie-like’ bad guys.
The game features decapitations and severed limbs. What about female nudity? According to the ESRB there is partial nudity (pasties!). Kinect, you wanted a Mature game? SEGA is here to deliver. Hit the jump to see the full ESRB summary.
[Source: Siliconera]
UPDATE: Europe can expect the game a week early, with the European release date announced as being April 29th, 2011.
Restring your racquets, Virtua Tennis 4 has a release date! SEGA has announced that Virtua Tennis 4 will be hitting the Wii, PS3 and 360 on May 10, 2011 in North America! Also, SEGA has released the cover art. Want to see the PS3 and Wii cover, as well as a press release?
The guys over at Eurogamer have grabbed a pretty good interview with Mie Kumagai, producer for Virtua Tennis 4. One of the important questions asked was why AM3 took the franchise back to Japan, when Virtua Tennis 2009 was done by Sumo Digital.
“The reason why it was taken back to Japan with the original studio was looking at Virtua Tennis 3 and 2009 and listening to fan reaction and user feedback, we felt for 4 there needed to be a lot of major changes in the game.
With that in mind, if you’re going to add a lot of new elements, if you’re going to change something quite a lot, to some respect you have to scrap what’s already there. We felt it was a task best done by the original team who understood the game the most, who understood the main concepts and goals of the game the most, and had the most experience. We could constructively scrap parts where we would need to update and think about what could be changed, what could be updated.
At the end of 2009, we felt almost every element in the game was exhausted. So we needed to bring a lot of new things on board. That’s why it was taken back to the original team in Japan.”– Mie Kumagai, Virtua Tennis 4 producer
I love Sumo Digital, but I’m very excited that the original team is back and trying to deliver a fresh game in the series. There is just so much you can do with tennis, I guess we will see the changes when the game launches in the spring.
Awesome, awesome, awesome news! Virtua Tennis 4 is coming to all home consoles! What more, the game will be Kinect compatible. You have no idea how freakin’ excited I am right now. Check out the press release after the break.