SEGA has had some highly rated games released on the PSP, sadly mostly everyone outside of Japan has decided to ignore the platform. Sony recently announced the ‘PSP Remasters’ series. Games from PSP ported over and enhanced on the Playstation 3.
One of the first games to get this treatment has been Monster Hunter Freedom 3, which looks great. I decided to put together 5 games that deserve the PSP Remasters treatment.
Thanks to the conclusion of Wimbledon over the previous weekend, two tennis games saw a jump in the charts and it was SEGA’s Virtua Tennis 4 that triumphed over rival Top Spin 4. It has been reported by a NeoGAF member, using some calculations provided by Chart-Track, that Virtua Tennis 4’s combined sales last week was no more than 9,300. Whilst not as impressive as Djokovic was against Nadal, it is none the less a good number of sales in this time of year as the British market is often sluggish during June. Expect to see Virtua Tennis 4 in the British charts for a few more weeks to come.
[ Source: Chart-Track and NeoGAF]
Happy Birthday, Sonic. I think it is fair to say that many of us can thank the blue hedgehog for who we are today (in a sense). I know that part of the reason I work on this site has something to do with the blue blur’s influence on my early life, and when I look at how many comments we get on Sonic articles compared to most other Sega games it’s evident that there is still a lot of passion for the character 20 years on.
My first Sonic game was Sonic the Hedgehog, the original Sonic game. I got it as a pack in with my Sega Mega Drive and I was hooked right from the start. For me, it took what Mario was doing and made it faster and gave it some attitude; it was like a roller coaster and I’ve stuck with the character through the years. Whilst Sonic went through a really rough patch where even I stopped playing his games, I’m happy to report that I absolutely loved Sonic Colours and as I type this, I’m playing the Sonic Generations timed demo which, despite a few hiccups, I’m enjoying quite a bit.
Sonic Generations demo impressions after the jump:
[Update: According to the fine fellows at Destructoid, the demo will allow you to play both as modern and classic Sonic.]
For those eager to try out the demo for the latest Sonic game, you will not have to wait much longer. The EU Playstation blog has confirmed that the Sonic Generations demo will be online from tomorrow, which just so happens to be the birthday of Sonic the Hedgehog, so for those all eager to try out the physics and control in the latest Sonic title, the wait is almost over.
But it does not stop there, for a duration of 20 days only, PSN members can purchase the 20th Anniversery Bundle from the 23rd of June which will include the following; Sonic the Hedgehog 1 and 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 (Along with dynamic theme) and Sonic Adventure DX (With DX add-on) all for £13.99/€17.99, a decent price for a good amount of games.
[Source: EU Playstation Blog]
Yakuza of the end is getting Patriotic DLC. Look at Kazuma Kiryu sport that sexy American flag as a shirt. America, fuck yeah. That is not all though, this fourth free pack will also feature a pirate themed Majima and even a Rambo Ryuji Goda.
Check out the pictures below. Come on SEGA America, how can you not port this game over now?
[Source: Destructoid]
SEGA already released a Virtua Tennis 4 demo right before PSN went down. That demo didn’t have Move support, they promised that in the upcoming months they would release a Move demo for the game. Now its been months, they plan on delivering today.
SEGA has released two demos on PSN and a mini game on Playstation Home. I hope the game sells enough on PS3 to make up for the exclusive content. (including 2 players, 2 mini games being exclusive).
[Source: Playstation.Blog]
The new trailer for SEGA’s squad based third person shooter, Binary Domain, has been released. In this trailer, we are shown the basic storyline of Binary Domain; as machines have started to blend in human society, to the point that they are carrying out terrorist attacks, a group of soldiers are dispatched to protect mankind from the machines. The trailer does not only focus on story and has moments of gameplay, ranging from battling giant bosses to your characters being cornered in a room with a horde of robots incoming as well as showing some of the locations the player will be visiting. Binary Domain is slated for February 2012.
[Thanks to Pao for the tip!]
The first DLC for SEGA’s recently released Yakuza: Of the End has been announced. Japanese members can go directly to PSN to download three free costumes which range from; Shun Akiyama in a detective outfit, Goro Majima in a pirate outfit and Ryuji Goda sporting a commando look. Click after the break to see some more screenshots of the DLC in action.
Last week in Japan saw the release of the third spinoff title in the Yakuza series after its original delay way back in late March. With the Japanese market struggling for software sales, Yakuza: Of the End has helped lift the market somewhat, although the majority of the Japanese market remains dead. Continue to read on to see how well Kazuma’s latest adventure did.
The guys over at Siliconera had a chance to ask Iizuka if Sonic Team is planning a follow up to Sonic 4: Episode 1, in which he responded:
“We named Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1, so there will be an episode 2. Since this year is the 20th anniversary of Sonic we wanted to focus on Sonic Generations. We don’t have a release date or anything.But, we can tell you it will be in the near future.”” – Takashi Iizuka
Near future? Iizuka and his love for time traveling plots. In all seriousness, it seems that Sonic Generations is getting the physics for cassic Sonic right. Would be interested if the physics being used in Generations will be used in Episode 2.
SEGA have been on the ropes with the development of Colonial Marines. Everyone thought it was a dead project but it is back. But will it be a shitty cash-in like other SEGA license games or a good product? Mike Hayes reassures you that they are trying to deliver a top quality product.
“As a general point, when you have a great licence, the amount you need to spend on marketing is significantly less. So the two balance each other out. But that’s independent of how much money you invest in the game, because we know how well tie-in licence games have gone recently, we have to create a game that stands on its own two feet. This is a quality-first approach.” – Mike Hayes, President of SEGA West
Another concerning factor is that Gear Box Software’s newest game, Duke Nukem Forever isn’t doing that great with the critics and seems to have disappointed fans that have waited 10+ years for the release of the game.
[Source:MCV]
Destructoid snagged a pretty informative interview with Brian Martel, Chief Creative Officer at Gearbox Software. In the interview they discuss key elements of the game itself (obviously) such as drop in/drop out Co-op gameplay and new Xeno types like ‘The Crusher’. They also discuss working with such talent as Ridley Scott.
Finally the attention turned to Nintendo’s new console the ‘Wii U’ and the ways it could enhance the Aliens: Colonial Marines experience. The interviewer suggests this might be the most compelling possible use of the Wii-U he has heard so far and I tend to agree. I haven’t see anything that makes me want to rush out and pick up Nintendo’s new console yet, no not even that Zelda tech demo! However the idea of using the controller screen to view the motion tracker, security cameras, hacking mini games or say, my own idea; to see through allies’ head cams would be totally awesome, even more so when they get killed and it snaps to static.
P.S Why does everyone rag on Alien3 like it was a terrible movie? It wasn’t a classic but as far as horror movies go it was pretty cool! Alien Resurrection on the other hand…
You know you all want to play Sonic Generations and now it’s been confirmed by Takashi Iizuka at the Sonic Boom fan event that that there will be a demo.
I think we all expected a demo and I assume the demo will be the Green Hill Zone stage with classic and modern gameplay. Whatever stage they choose, it will be awesome.
[Via: Sonic Stadium]
So this is pretty awesome, GameSpot snagged a nice long interview with ‘new guy’ (yeah, I’ll learn your name in due time… When you live up to Aaron and Ken!) and the game director Hiroshi Miyamoto.
You can see the entire walkthrough of Green Hill Zone and City Escape in both modern and classic gameplay. It looks pretty great! Part one is above and hit the jump to see part 2!