SEGA Studios Australia

Former SEGA employee portfolio reveals Crazy Taxi 4 pitch

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Crazy-Taxi-4
The classy people over at Sonic Stadium have found images from a portfolio of a former SEGA Studios Australia employee Brooke Luder that revealed a Crazy Taxi 4 pitch and the fact that Sonic Classic Collection on the Nintendo DS was originally going to have more games than it did. What games didn’t make the final product? Sonic Spinball, Sonic 3D Blast (aka Sonic 3D Flickies’ Island) and Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine. Sprites from Sonic Spinball and Sonic 3D Blast still made the game’s credit roll at the end.

Also part of her portfolio was a pitch made by the team to SEGA for a Crazy Taxi 4. She created the concept art you see on the header image, showing a passenger jumping from one Taxi to another. We could speculate that this was part of some gameplay mechanic that was pitched by SEGA Studios Australia for a new game.

Another pitched concept that SEGA Studios Australia was part of was a London 2012 Olympic game, but that isn’t as interesting. To see what was on her portfolio, hit the jump.

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SEGA Studios Australia Shuts Down

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SEGAStudiosAus

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.

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SEGA Australia lays off 37 people

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If you guys recall, SEGA was hiring and opening studios in SEGA Australia like they were giving them away. Their SEGA Australia team sadly didn’t deliver hits, releasing the low selling Stormrise. SEGA is restructuring SEGA Australia to focus on digital releases.

“The rise of digital gaming provides an opportunity to align the studio with a rapidly growing market at a time when the games industry is undergoing a significant transition. To this end, we can confirm that SSA has signed a multi-product deal focussing across the digital marketplace. We have commenced development on these titles and will announce more details in the near future. As part of this focus on digital avenues, there is a requirement to re-structure the studio resources accordingly and regrettably, we are announcing the loss of 37 staff. The decision to downsize was not taken lightly but this strategic re-structure will ensure we have a more effective and agile team that will enable us to quickly adapt to consumer needs and deliver strong content across multiple digital platforms. We thank those team members affected for their contributions and wish them well in their future endeavours.” – SEGA to Kotaku

SEGA Studios Australia is the developer doing the upcoming London 2012 Olympic Games. They stated that the development on that title is nearing completion. The studio has signed a mutli-product deal that will mean releasing games for a digital marketplace. The details and titles are yet to be revealed.

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SEGA is interested hiring recently fired THQ employees

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THQ today announced that they will be closing two of its Australian studios, resulting in close to 200 people losing their jobs.
SEGA, who has been hiring recently for their Australian studios, have two positions open. Art Director and a Senior Engine Programmer are what they are looking for, but the studio has confirmed that they are talking to SEGA Executives about getting more positions filled.

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of yet another great Australian developer, and are sorry to see THQ’s studios close their doors after so many years of game development. We will be speaking to the SEGA executives to explore our short term hiring strategy to reflect the sudden influx of talent in Australia. We hope to be able to announce the potential for taking on more staff soon.” – Marcus Fielding, Studio Director at SEGA Studios Australia

SEGA now owns the largest studio in Brisbane, SEGA Studios Australia. Now lets see if all the new talent will mean an amazing title!

[Source: MCV]

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SEGA officially announces London 2012 Olympic game

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This is no secret that SEGA was planning a realistic London 2012 Olympic sports game. I mean, they already announced their Mario & Sonic title, it was just a matter of time.

As for this title, it is being developed by SEGA’s new Australia studio which is rightfully named SEGA Studios Australia. Good luck to them and hit the jump to read the press release.

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SEGA Studios Australia working on multiplatform sports title

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[Pictured: SEGA Studios Australia’s Kim Sellentin]

GameSauce recently had a behind the scenes look at SEGA’s Kim Sellentin’s job over at SEGA Studios Australia, where she produces titles. I always thought the only studio SEGA had in Australia was Creative Assembly branch that did Stormrise. Regardless, in the new article it confirmed that the team is doing a multiplatform sports title.

This means it will be on consoles, unless they mean ‘Mac & PC’ as multiplatform. We will have to see what sport they take on, just hope it isn’t something like Kinect Sports or something.

[Source: GameSauce]

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