Lego Dimensions: Sonic the Hedgehog level pack gameplay footage hits the web

Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment producer Doug Heder was on the YouTube Gaming show to reveal some gameplay of the upcoming Lego Dimensions: Sonic the Hedgehog level pack. The show is hosted by Geoff Keighley, who seemed to launch a bunch of questions, most of which we already knew the answers to. We know this show is mean’t to be aimed at more ‘mainstream’ audience,so its nice to see what the level pack has to offer and it having a large exposure. When pressed about more character figures, Doug Heder said there are ‘a lot of unlockable characters’ in the game. Those named here include Knuckles, Tails, Shadow, and Big the Cat. Obviously this isn’t as great as having their own stand alone figure and stories, but who knows about the future.

The producer Doug Heder does say that they put a lot of love and effort into recreating the feel of the game,that Sonic the Hedgehog fans would appreciate it. I have to say they did a great job from what I’m seeing. The Lego Dimensions: Sonic the Hedgehog level pack releases on Novemeber 18th, 2016 and will retail for $29.99 USD. So let us know in the comments, are you excited to play the Lego Dimensions: Sonic the Hedgehog level pack?

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See the new Sonic Mania stage Mirage Saloon Zone and Tails & Knuckles in action

SEGA has granted YouTube channel Kinda Funny Games the exclusive reveal of a new Sonic Mania stage, Mirage Saloon Zone, as well as our first look at Tails and Knuckles in action as well as the Sonic & Tails mode. Interestingly, the new zone is very reminiscent of Desert Dazzle, a scrapped original zone that Taxman had planned to include in the remaster of Sonic CD. There are several easter eggs and fun visuals that can be spotted in the new zone, including a Fang the Sniper wanted poster and pinball flippers that resemble bird heads. We also get a look at the CRT filter which, to be honest, I’m not that big a fan of.

Give the video a watch and in the comments below, sound off on the new zone!

The SEGA Five: SEGA published games that deserve more attention

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If you discuss Streets of Rage, Super Monkey Ball, or even anything Sonic, chances are you can hear that 90’s jingle of retro goodness (SEGAAAAAAAAAAA!). The company helped create some wonderful games and franchises and are still going strong to this day. That being said, most of the games published by SEGA are sometimes often forgot about and usually sit on store shelves to collect dust and/or be pauper’s pennies.

While I haven’t played every single game SEGA has helped publish, some of those games stick out to me in a very unique and interesting way. And SEGA, being the quirky company they are, brought me wonderful memories and breathes a one-of-a-kind charm to those certain games. So in no particular order (with the first one being my favorite out of the five), here are some games that rightfully deserve more attention than they get!

Motorsport Manager releasing to PC on November 10th

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Back in mid May of this year it was announced that SEGA would be publishing Playsport Games’ Motorsport Manager to PC, Mac and Linux internationally in late 2016. Initially, a September timeframe was given, but now the official date has been announced to be November 10th, based on a Tweet from the developer. Motorsport Manager joins SEGA’s family of management games, complete with a faceless male mascot. The game features a racing management simulation in which players hire drivers, build cars and view the resulting races.

 

Strike Harbinger and Henshin Engine teams announce character crossover collaboration

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HitSparks Games, the team behind Strike Harbinger, a Space Harrier and Phantasy Star inspired game heading to PC, consoles and arcades in 2017, have just announced a character collaboration with the Henshin Engine team. Henshin Engine is a new 2D action platformer developed for PC Engine/TG-16 and PC/Steam which is nearing its Kickstarter goal. Of note to SEGA fans, Henshin Engine has a Dreamcast stretch goal as well as the possibility of appearing on SEGA CD and/or SEGA Genesis.

The collaboration promises to make Strike Harbinger‘s Valiya Iriss playable in Henshin Engine via a cute pixelated version of the character, and the star of Henshin Engine Yuki Shirokawa will appear in the Strike Harbinger universe. It’s always cool to see teams collaborating and crossing over their characters, so it will be really exciting to see the result of this.

You can check out Henshin Engine on Kickstarter and learn more about Strike Harbinger on their official site. Strike Harbinger made its debut at the Galloping Ghost Arcade during SEGA Week, and yours truly had the honor of being the first member of the general public to play it. For my first impressions, check out our SEGA News Bits video and give a listen to our developer interview.

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“Long lost” Sonic Mania Collector’s Edition infomercial released

The Sonic the Hedgehog social media team has just unearthed a long lost infomercial for the upcoming Sonic Mania Collector’s Edition! Created as an homage to the classic Sonic the Hedgehog 2 ad, the Sonic Mania Collector’s Edition ad shows off the bonus items found inside the Spring 2017 release including the statue of Sonic standing on a Genesis/Mega Drive, the metallic game code card and the game cartridge that contains a gold ring. The ad also notes that the box can hold ANY tacklebox. Keep your eyes peeled for cameos from Kazuyuki Hoshino, Takashi Iizuka (in shirt form) and Aaron Webber (congrats!).

Pre-order the Sonic Mania Collector’s Edition today, available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

SEGA News Bits: Sonic Mania Collector’s Edition Announced – Reaction

Hot on the heels of the announcement of a Sonic Mania Collector’s Edition for PS4, Xbox One, and PC, Barry and George share their excitement and opinions on the set in a new SEGA News Bits. What’s included? What’s not? Will fans in Europe be seeing it? These questions and more are discussed! The elephant in the room – that being the lack of a physical disc release – is also discussed. What are your thoughts on the  Sonic Mania Collector’s Edition? Which platform are you going for? Sound off in the comments below.

If you enjoy our SEGA News Bits segments and want to encourage more of them, make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Persona 5 collaborating with Phantasy Star Online 2

Atlus has revealed during their latest NicoNico Livestream that their upcoming JRPG Persona 5 will be collaborating with not only Phantasy Star Online 2 but also Dragon’s Dogma and Lord of Vermilion Re:3.

The collaboration with Dragon’s Dogma Online seems to be the big collaboration since it will be part of the campaign. This tie-in will be released sometime during the fall, where players will get Persona 5 equipment and limited-time collaboration event. Vermilion Re:3‘s collaboration will take place during this winter, details on that will be arriving at a later date. As far as SEGA’s Phantasy Star Online 2 tie-in, that will be out this winter and is set to feature character costumes, hairstyles, accessories and even more Persona 5 collaboration items. For now you can see the nifty trailer, but sadly not much footage is shown on the Phantasy Star Online 2 tie-in.

Persona 5 hits Japan on September 15, 2016 for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3. The game will release in North America and Europe on February 14, 2017.

[Source: Siliconera]

Retro Community Day on Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed Today at 11PM UTC

Play Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed with the Sonic Retro & SEGAbits community! We’ll be playing the PC version on Steam and livestream it. It’s not too late to send a friend invite to us (SEGA Channel Retro) to come play. We’ll pool together 9 players and play for two rounds, then we will restart the room to let more people play. You may get a chance to play with us more than once! Be sure to run Transformed to make it easier to get you spotted, but we’ll try to make sure everyone gets to play with us at least once!

Retro Community Day Returns with Sonic Transformed on PC this Saturday

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Once upon a time, Sonic Retro hosted the Retro Community Day where everyone came to play games with us and the community and just be our general goofy selves.This weekend we’re bringing it back with Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed on PC/Steam this Saturday at 5PM Central. Send your friend request on Steam to my (Bartman3010) account, which I conveniently named SEGA Channel Retro and watch for an invite to come play with us! We’ll be livestreaming the event to record my great feats. Or is that me getting horribly beaten? In any case, send in your requests early and come see us this weekend!

SEGA says Shenmue 1 & 2 HD remakes have their full attention

Shenmue_HD_remasters_Sega_comment[1]SEGA Europe’s boss Jurgen Post has recently talked about the possibilities of doing Shenmue 1 & 2 HD remakes and ressured the fanbase that they have been looking into renewing licensing to do the remakes correctly.

This is what SEGA Europe said about the Shenmue 1 & 2 HD remakes:

“There is definitely a desire [to go back to our classic games], Even online, people are constantly talking about products they would like to see come back, and Shenmue 1 and 2  are probably in the top two places. We are looking into it. It is an old IP, it is a beloved IP – and not just by consumers, but also within Sega, we have people saying that if we could do Shenmue 1 and 2 all over again, we’d definitely go for it. The issue is that it is a big game. It is a project from many years ago. If we are to do it, we’d want to do a fantastic conversion to the current platforms, and there are a lot of licences in the game, which were cleared many years ago, so we will need to renegotiate those contracts. We are looking into it. We haven’t given it a green light, but it has our full attention.” – Jurgen Post, President and COO of SEGA Europe

This whole licensing issues from old games have plagued SEGA in the past when they ported over Crazy Taxi on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, omitting the iconic soundtrack due to SEGA not wanting to pay the licenses for the old tracks. This lead fans to getting upset and ever since then SEGA has made an effort to gather all the licenses when remaking or porting games. The last big examples include Castle of Illusions (which, now expiring license is making them pull it from shops) and Jet Set Radio.

What are your thoughts? Does Shenmue 1 & 2 HD remakes seem like a reality now? Jurgen Post has been teasing the return of classic franchises for awhile now, do you really think SEGA Europe actually have something up their sleeves?

[Source: MCVUK]

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Latest Shenmue III Update is a Developer Room Video


The latest Shenmue III update that dropped this morning gave us a quick video of inside Ys Net’s Dev Room for the game.

In the video, we first see a developer animating a rather familiar QTE scene. The event in question, which features Ryu Hazuki hopping on stones to cross a stream, occurred in the epilogue of Shenmue II. It’s revealed that the team wanted to create the event for the third game, which brings us to a possibility of the entire last act of Shenmue II being playable again in the new engine.

The team member moves the scene’s camera around and discusses a future meeting with Yu Suzuki about cooler angles to use for the event.

The second part of the video takes us to another developer working on a scene situated on a mountain. An avalanche occurs and Ryu must run for his life as boulders of all sizes fly down towards him.

As the documentary ends, we see a few shots of devs at work and, finally, a quick glimpse of Yu Suzuki smiling.

The short film is titled Development Report Vol. 1, so hopefully this is the start of a new series of videos that Ys Net releases with some of the monthly Shenmue III updates moving forward.

Toejam and Earl: Back in the Groove gets new trailer, publisher, and screenshots.

It’s been pretty smooth sailing for classic pseudo-SEGA game revival Toejam and Earl: Back in the Groove, since its Kickstarter announcement all the way up to its “soon” release. And for those excited for the game, the good news keeps piling up! Just today, a new trailer was revealed by Adult Swim, announcing the game’s release window and its publisher, Adult Swim Games, known for quirky titles like Jazzpunk and Robot Unicorn Attack. While Adult Swim doesn’t exactly come to mind when I think of TJ and E, the match-up does at least make some sense if you think about it.

In addition, the crew have released several batches of screenshots on their Facebook, and a Steam page has gone up with even more shots. Unfortunately, those looking to get in on the funky rogue-like action will have to wait until 2017 to get their hands on the game for both PC and consoles. Hopefully the wait won’t be too long, and you can at least keep yourself busy with the screenshots below the jump.

SEGA News Bits: Virtua Fighter Trademark Renewed & What That Means

Welcome to another episode of the SEGA News Bits, this time we will be discussing SEGA renewing their Virtua Fighter trademark and what that actually means. We discuss the often fan requested Virtua Fighter 6, we talk about life of the franchise after the release of Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown and if there is even a market for a brand new VF game. So sit back, turn up the volume and lets have a virtua discussion about Virtua Fighter.

Like always if you like our SEGA News Bits segments and want to throw us some love, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel.

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Monster Boy’s GamesCom Demo Looks Fantastic

Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom, which is a spiritual successor to the Wonder Boy games and is being released by Atelier Games and FDG Entertainment. The game had a pretty nice demo at Gamescom, sadly we didn’t make it but this video will show you all the Monster Boy goodness we missed out on playing. I’ll be honest, there is something about the game’s art style that just doesn’t sit 100% right with me and I can’t put my finger on it. Not saying the game looks terrible, just preferences in art style. Maybe its something i’ll grow to like once I start playing it myself.

Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is set for release later this year on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. Want to know more about the game? Check out our podcast with Monster Boy director Fabien Demeulenaere. What you think about this game? Let us know in the comments below.

[Via: Siliconera]