SEGA and Creative Assembly’s Total War series keeps looking prettier and prettier, so fans are always wondering if they will have to upgrade their PC rigs to play the newest entry to the franchise. Well, the wait is over. Can I get a drum roll?
Obsidian recently talked to Eurogamer about their canceled RPG, Aliens: Crucible and some of the mechanics it would have had in the full version. Obsidian had a pretty cool idea about building a stronghold that seemed to be one of the main features in the game.
“If you’re dealing with a ship repair mechanic who may have no combat experience whatsoever, that obviously would serve a vital function in surviving in this predicament. So it’s more of a third-person, two companions with you survival game, but it had a lot of the RPG trappings in terms of you could set up your own stronghold and base and build that up over time, explore more of the environment, figure out how you get all of the resources and stuff to survive.”– Chris Avellone, Obsidian’s creative director
The game was in development for over three years, till it was finally canned in 2009. Chris says that SEGA told them that they had to “take a step back and carefully consider the type of game we want to release”. Yet they still released that awful Aliens: Colonial Marines. According to Chris it wasn’t that bad, SEGA paid for them to build their own engine and even though the game got canceled they had that to walk away with. So yeah, great way to manage your money, SEGA. No wonder you are at the position that Nintendo has to fund Bayonetta 2.
What about Alpha Protocol 2?
This week on the Swingin’ Report Show we have a sort of crossover, Nuckles87 and Shigs from our other podcast; Sonic Talk join in to talk about their experience at E3. We talk about all the SEGA games, new consoles and our favorite games at E3 2013. Listen in and tell us what you think.
Relic Entertainment and SEGA showed off its E3 single player campaign, but what about us at home? Well if you download the open beta, not only will you get to try out the multiplayer game. You will also not get to play that E3 single player campign demo! For free.
Not a bad way to promote the game, if I say so myself. Go ahead and install the open beta here. Enjoy.
If you are considering picking up Company of Heroes 2, due to all the rave the first game got about its multiplayer modes. You are now in luck, the game has entered open beta. You can get on and play through steam.
“We’ve added new match-making servers, implemented a significant amount of Closed Beta feedback and fixed more bugs, compatibility and performance issues than I can count. The team will continue to read comments and feedback in our official forums and participate in regular playtests with the community. We’ll be patching the beta frequently and getting into a good rhythm for our post launch support cycle. Please keep the comments and suggestions coming – we do care and are listening!” – Greg Wilson, Company of Heroes 2 producer
Check out the steam post about the news here. Good luck!
We posted before about how SEGA picked up publishing rights to Neoact’s DOTA clone called Chaos Heroes Online. It seems that SEGA isn’t afraid of using its franchise’s to get people on the new game, since they have announced new bonus characters Alicia Melchiott and Selvaria Bles from Valkyria Chronicles. There are alternative ‘bikini’ costumes, but those will be bought by in-game cash. Talk about literally whoring out your characters. Hit the jump and check out the game footage along with a ton of screens.
While we’ve already seen a whole bunch of neat stuff from Total War: Rome 2, there have been no details for when people can actually play the game. So today SEGA revealed on their blog that the global release date is September 3rd, 2013 for both digital stores like Steam and retail.
Of course, a game launch wouldn’t be complete without some pre-order DLC, which the above video shows off. This DLC is called the Greek States Culture Pack and will feature three new factions: Epirus, Athens and Sparta. This will be available on Steam on the same day as the full game for those who pre-order it. SEGA also revealed a pricey Collector’s Edition for the game, hit the jump to see what it includes.
TimeGates Studios, who where previously known for their Section 8 games and now for co-developing the controversial Aliens: Colonial Marines has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Texas Southern Bankruptcy court yesterday.
The guys over at Polygon obtained the court papers, which stated that the developer is in debt to more than 50 creditors and owed total liabilities ranging from $10-$50 million dollars. Their top creditors include Epic Games (Unreal Engine), Agora Games (online game service), and DJ2 Entertainment. Funny enough, a local pizza shop was listed in the documents, which TimeGate owes $34.80. Wow, are these developers all in the 7th grade that they can’t pay a $35 dollar bill?
I guess life isn’t good for TimeGates Studios and the recent class action lawsuit isn’t going to help them. Weird seeing them lose all this money and still announce a game last month.
Above is ten minutes of narrated gameplay. This video is showing an ambush, watch as the Romans are chased out.
The above battle is based on a real battle where Germanic tribes happen to ambush and slaughter three Roman legions. Total War: Rome 2 is set to come out later this year.
SEGA has announced Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing Transformed for Intel Ultrabook, the Ultrabook is a tablet/laptop hybrid. So Sumo Digital went in there and coded features to make use of the Ultrabook’s unique features like touch controls and ‘amazing’ tilt function.
“We tailored the game for the Ultrabook range to ensure we made the most of the hardware. We’ve specifically designed the user interface so touch can be used throughout. You can select modes, decide which track to play, and check out all the vehicles with a simple touch of your finger.” – Steve Lycett, Executive Producer at Sumo Digital
This is basically the PC version with tilt and touch controls added in. I hope for SEGA and Sumo Digital’s sake they don’t force Intel Ultrabook owners to re-buy the game to use these features, I hope its built into the old version of the PC game. Wasn’t there just an update a few weeks ago? Could have been in there.
Its crazy how popular Hatsune Miku is in Japan. The vocaloid goddess herself will ‘guest star’ in Capcom’s Monster Hunter Frontier G and will do the opening music for the intro to 7th Dragon 2020-II from SEGA. She also did the for the last 7th Dragon game, properly titled 7th Dragon 2020. One thing that always excited me about the 7th Dragon franchise was that they are being produced by SEGA’s legendary Rieko Kodama.
As for the Monster Hunter cameo, she isn’t really in the game. What they do have is a costume so you can dress your character up like Hatsune Miku herself. If you didn’t know, Monster Hunter Frontier G is a online enabled Monster Hunter game for 360 and PC that requires a monthly payment to play.
SEGA and Relic are teaming up with ‘participating retailers’ worldwide and offering up some pre-order bonus DLC. The DLC is titled ‘Theatre of War‘ episode, which will be a mini campaign of sorts. It will also come with multiplayer vehicle skins and two additional commanders for each multiplayer army.
Besides that, if you pre-order now you get access the the beta (which started on April 2nd). Hit the jump to read the full press release.
We posted last month that SEGA announced the first expansion pack to Phantasy Star Online 2, titled Code Episode 2. Satoshi Sakai stated that they will show footage during their live Nico Nico broadcast on April 9th (which happens to be my birthday, thank you Sakai!).
He also talked about a new update that is hitting the Playstation Vita later this month. This update will allow players to customize the controls in the game and chat adjustments.
So what about us Phantasy Star fans in the west? Well, SEGA’s last update was that it was delayed and didn’t give a release date…
Things have not been too hot in the video game industry lately. Over the course of the last three months we’ve seen THQ close its doors, LucasArts shuttered by Disney, and Hell Yeah! developer Arkedo cease video game development. Today unfortunately brings another name to the list: SEGA Studios Australia. SEGA has announced that the studio will be shutting down later this year.
Formerly known as Creative Assembly Australia, they were responsible for the critically acclaimed Medieval II: Total War. Besides their Total War video game they created Stormrise and London 2012.
We at SEGAbits wish the developers all the best in their future endeavors.
For those stuck on the Apple ecosystem and wanting to play Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing (not Transformed), the wait ends tomorrow. The game will come out exclusivly on the Mac App Store and will haveonline multiplayer using Apple’s own Game Center. The game will cost fans $24.99 (£17.49, €21.99).
Hit the jump for the press release and see you on the racing tracks!