That time of year is upon us once again – Summer of Sonic, the Sonic the Hedgehog fan convention in the UK, held its 6th show this weekend just gone; back in London again following a brief visit to Brighton last year. This year the event boasted as guests Takashi Iizuka, Jun Senoue, and Kazuyuki Hoshino; with a playable build of the upcoming new title Sonic Lost World available. So let’s dive in, shall we?
Note: The above video is actually from Project Diva F, which you will be able to play in English this August! It’s quite a fun a game, so if you haven’t tried the demo yet get it on PSN. There is no footage or screens of Project Diva F 2nd, yet.
Project Diva f 2nd has been announced in Famitsu for PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 3 for release in Spring 2014. Japan only for now of course. Songs confirmed to be in the game so far are “Colorful X Melody”, “Romeo and Cinderella”, and “Akatsuki Arrival”. Does anyone plan on importing it? or Maybe a better question would be are you looking forward to Project Diva F English version out this August?
Time to transfer your titles to digital and save some money while doing it! Both PSN and X-Box LIVE have big savings on some of your favorite Sega titles. On PSN, you get the “Sonic Master Collection”. It’s 7 Sonic titles and their DLC for $29.99. This includes Sonic Adventures 1 & 2, Sonic CD, Sonic 1 & 2 and Sonic 4 Episodes 1 & 2.
But X-Box LIVE has even bigger sales! Get Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Generations, Sega Superstar Tennis or Condemned for only $9.99! Sonic 4 Episodes 1 & 2 are 400 points ($4.99) each while Space Channel 5 Part 2, Sega Bass fishing, Guardian Heroes, Sonic 1, 2, 3 and Knuckles plus Sonic CD are a mere 160 Points ($2) each. Sonic Adventure 1 also comes in at 160 points while Sonic Adventure 2 is 400 points. Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown, Crazy Taxi, NiGHTS, Daytona USA HD and Jet Set Radio Come in at 400 points. Also, check out The Cave and Renegade Ops coming in at 600 and 320 points respectively. There’s big savings on the DLC as well, so hurry up and don’t miss out!
Despite what Nintendo of Germany’s press release said last week, SEGA has confirmed to IGN’s Richard George that the third Sonic game will not be arriving this year. This means that the third game in Nintendo’s three game deal may be more than a digital title or a spin off. It also means that this exclusive deal won’t be ending for a little while. Will Nintendo fans be getting another main Sonic title next year? Guess we’ll just have to wait and see!
The guys over at Epic Scents think that gamers like me and you want to smell like video game characters, so last year they teamed up with Capcom to bring a Mega Man scent to the masses. As you can tell, Mega Man was sadly not busy doing games, so it all worked out.
Now Epic Scents wants to team up with SEGA to create some scents based on SEGA brands. They are expected to launch in this year, it seems. Hit the jump to read the PR statement. What SEGA brand do you want to smell like?
According to Sonic Stadium, it was confirmed in a Nintendo Germany press release yesterday that the third Sonic title in the SEGA/Nintendo partnership will be coming this year. According to TSS, the press release said:
Today, they (Sega) revealed further details of the second of three titles, which the two companies will release exclusively on Wii U and 3DS. All three games will be released this year.
Three Sonic titles arriving in a single year? Provided they are all new releases, this could be the largest number of Sonic titles slated for a single year since 2010. What kind of game could this third release be? It is unlikely to be another platforming adventure and a sequel to the All Stars franchise so soon after the last entry seems extremely unlikely. SEGA’s announced SKUs for the Wii U does leave room for one more packaged title provided SEGA is publishing, but it could very well be a digital title. Perhaps Nintendo fans will finally get their taste of Sonic 4 Episode 2, or maybe even an all new digital title.
We will just have to see. Hopefully, more will be revealed as we get closer to E3.
Reported on SEGAbits in 2011, BBC Earth partnered with SEGA to create a unique visitor experience that would fuse nature with technology and offer an entirely new multi-sensory adventure that revolves around our planet. Developed by SEGA’s Facility Business, the trailer for Orbi shows mother nature at her finest, featuring immersive animal and nature footage. The video also shows off what the layout of the attraction will look like once Orbi opens.
I’m not going to lie, this is pretty innovative for SEGA to do. If you have any thoughts on Orbi, leave a comment below.
Above is the map of the South Hall from this year’s E3. Check out all the publishers. SEGA is sitting pretty up there with Activision Blizzard and Square-Enix. As you can see their booth is going to be pretty big, bigger than Capcom and Konami’s (who even have a new Metal Gear to show).
The odd thing is that SEGA hasn’t really been teasing too many games. I guess they do have heavy hitters coming like Company of Heroes 2, Total War: Rome 2 and of course Sonic Lost World. Who knows, we might even get new surprises on the Xbox One and Playstation 4! You can discuss SEGA’s booth with fans via our forum.
Deefy on our forums has done some sluthin’ and found out that Sega of Japan has registered the trademark “Sonic Lost World”. Meanwhile, TSSZ discovered that Sega of Europe has registered the domain soniclostworlds.com. So which is it? Lost World or Lost Worlds? Is this a new, Next gen game? An iOS mobile title? A new chapter in the Storybook series? With E3 right around the corner, we should hear more about this title very soon.
Capcom-Unity in collabration with Namco Bandai Games and SEGA West are hosting a fan art contest for Project X Zone, which is set be released on June 25 in the US and July in Europe, to have your favorite Capcom character dressed as another character from Namco or SEGA. Will someone draw Jin from Cyberbots in Ogami Ichiro’s outfit from Sakura Wars, Frank in Bruno Dillenger’s attire from Die Hard Arcade (Dynamite Deka in Japan), or go all out drawing Felicia with Sonic the Hedgehog’s gloves and shoes? The possibities are endless! The contest runs from today through Friday May 31, 9pm PST and Capcom-Unity will pick up to 3 winners for the limited edition of Project X Zone. There’s also another contest if anyone is attending MCM Expo this year for cosplaying as one of the cover characters in Project X Zone.
For much of the last 6 years, SEGA’s stock price has been known as a “penny stock”, or a stock traded below five dollars a share. In recent months, however, this has begun to change. The stock price has been soaring, finishing on a new fifty-two week high every week, if not every few days. Today, SEGA’s stock price has reached its highest point in six and a half years, closing at exactly $7.
Now, keep in mind that a stock price typically says very little about a company’s health. From my very limited experience, I find it says more about investor confidence then anything else, not just in a company but in the stock market in general. Nevertheless, I’m sure SEGA’s recent fiscal report, an improved forecast and promises to pay out dividends have not hurt their stock price’s speedy rise. It should be interesting to see where it goes from here.
Just a few short days after a class-action lawsuit filing in the California court system claiming that SEGA and Gearbox released and sold Aliens: Colonial Marines to the public under the pretense of false advertising, the two companies have responded by unsurprisingly dismissing it .
“SEGA cannot comment on specifics of ongoing litigation, but we are confident that the lawsuit is without merit and we will defend it vigorously,” the publisher said.
Gearbox, however, wasn’t quite so soft of the wording, defending its use of unlabeled demonstration walkthroughs.
“Attempting to wring a class action lawsuit out of a demonstration is beyond meritless. We continue to support the game, and will defend the rights of entertainers to share their works-in-progress without fear of frivolous litigation.”
As it stands, there’s little doubt that due to the very focused nature of the lawsuit that this whole scenario will ultimately end up just being withdrawn or thrown out by a judge. The damage has likely been done in the eyes of players however in terms of the public relations perception, more so for the developer Gearbox than Sega.
The response comes after news that co-developer Timegate Studios has filed for bankruptcy.
[Via Kotaku]
Aliens: Colonial Marines drew ire from gaming fans due to its shoddy gameplay and overall lackluster production. The quality, or lack thereof, was so substantial that a lawsuit was filed in a Californian court on Apr. 30 by law firm Edelson LLC at the behest of Damion Perrine for false advertising.
Within the lawsuit, Perrine claims that builds shown off at events such as PAX and E3 were in no way indicative of how the final product would ultimately turn out. The suit further claims that the enforcement press embargoes, which were lifted the very morning of the game’s release, meant that game media could not alert early adopters of the disparity in quality between the demos and the final. It finally claims damages for players who pre-ordered the game or purchased the game on launch.
Did you know if you pre-order Project X Zone, you will get the limited edition version for free? Yep, the first printing run of Project X Zone comes in a neat case, soundtrack, mini-art book, and a mini-poster to hang on your man cave.
Not sure if this is a Gamestop exclusive, but it was the only site that I found the ‘limited edition’ version. Amazon hasn’t even updated the release date (since it was delayed or have box art up).
Above is the newest teaser image from the unannounced SEGA Japan game. The game is supposed to come out on the Playstation 3 and the Playstation Vita. According to the Famitsu leak this week, the game is going to be a new entry in the “Let’s make a soccer team!” franchise that SEGA has in Japan.
Seems to me that this was a huge disappointment. But hey, did you know the last game in 2006 was developed by Smilebit?