Pre-order Castle of Illusion HD on PSN and get the original game for free

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SEGA has finally announced the released date for Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse, it will be released worldwide on September 3rd, 2013 for PSN and September 4th on Xbox Live/PC digital download. The game will cost you $14.99.

But wait, if you pre-order the game via Playstation Network (USA only) from August 20th (in 3 days!) to September 2nd you will get the original SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive version for free, a free dynamic theme and three avatars. You don’t even have to wait, right when you pre-order you will be able to play the Genesis game. Pretty sweet deal.

So what platform are you getting this game on?

Banjo- Kazooie composer creating the soundtrack for Castle of Illusion HD

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SEGA and Disney are teaming up to bring Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse HD to all major platforms, the remake will even have a new soundtrack for what it seems. They are teaming up with Grant Kirkhope who is best known for his soundtrack in Rare games like Bajo-Kazooie, Perfect Dark and Golden Eye. Mr. Kirkhope tweeted the following a few days ago.

‘Should hopefully finish my final piece for “Castle of Illusion HD starring Mickey Mouse” tonight!!!’ – Via Grant Kirkhope’s twitter.

So new graphics, new box art and new soundtrack? Hows that for a remake?

Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse digital boxart leaks

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XBLA watchdog Lifelower has tweeted a leaked image of the digital cover art for Disney’s Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse. Castle of Illusion’s rerelease has been known of since early March, when the game was rated by a Brazilian ratings board. Interestingly, the digital cover art is brand new. Could we expect a remastering of the classic SEGA game? Or did Disney and SEGA simply opt for swanky new art for the original game? Given the recent DuckTales announcement from Capcom, it isn’t crazy to speculate the former. Castle of Illusion is expected to release to Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii U, and Playstation Vita. Release date is unknown at this time.

Hell Yeah! developer shuts down their studio

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Arkedo studio, the French team behind Hell Yeah! are now out of business according to their blog. They basically stated they won’t be developing anymore games due to the fact that they don’t have anymore employees due to not having enough money. Seems that Hell Yeah! cost the developers too much to make. They also stated that they have two little games completed and might release them later on.

The founders said they are moving on, one of them wants to enter publishing while the other wants to start a new mini-studio. It really sucks when developers go out of business, hopefully SEGA will take some of the employees and start a small digital studio. I mean, why not? I’m sure SEGA liked working together, no? Your thoughts?

The Cave launch trailer arrives

Just in case you haven’t yet seen it, SEGA and Double Fine put out a trailer a couple days ago in support of The Cave’s recent launch. Anyone pick this game up yet? Comment below.

The Cave is an adventure game from the mind of Ron Gilbert (Monkey Island) and is now available on PSN, Wii U eShop, XBLA, and Steam for $14.99 (or 1200 MSP).

SEGA reveals release dates and price for The Cave

Last year, SEGA announced that they’d be teaming up with Double Fine Productions (Psychonauts) and Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert to publish their latest digital title, The Cave. It’s a platformer with a large cast of characters, one that looks to meld a quirky sense of humor with gorgeously dark art direction. Coming from these developers, it’s definitely one to keep an eye on.

Release dates and prices below;

Playstation Network: January 22nd ($14.99)
Wii U eShop: January 22nd ($14.99)
Xbox LIVE Arcade: January 23rd (1200 MSP)
Steam: January 23rd ($14.99)

Keep it locked to SEGAbits for more on The Cave as it nears its release.

The Cave’s new character trailer got me interested

Above is the trailer for SEGA and Double Fine’s new game, The Cave. This is the second character trailer, if you missed the first one, you can see it here. This one introduces some of the characters you will be able to play as when the game comes out next month. I’m really liking the time traveling character. Which one tickles your feathers?

NiGHTS into Dreams on PSN and XBLA Patch – Available Now

Somewhat out of the blue Sega has today announced that they’ve released a patch for NiGHTS into Dreams for PSN and XBLA. The patch includes adjusted controls to allow analog input in 24 directions, which will allow for greater control of our favourite purple jester. Not only that but the speed of the drill-dash move has been aligned with the speed of the Saturn original version.

Best of all the patch is available right now, go and download it Nightopians!

Vm anO

MODEL 2 COLLECTION: AM2 Fighters now available on PSN & XBLA

Today is a great day to be a SEGA arcade lover of the 90’s. The three legendary AM2 fighters that ran on the MODEL 2 hardware is now available on Playstation Network and Xbox Live Arcade for only $4.99 (400 MSP) each. Also, for those who are wondering about an option to change the screen size, there is an option to do that under “Settings” from 4:3 to full. I’ve just played it this morning and they are all way better than the original ports from the Sega Ages 2500 line and Gems Collection. Hope they sell well because I want some of that The House of the Dead and Dynamite Cop on my home console. Anyone up for some matches this weekend?

SEGA’s releasing 3 fighting game ports: Virtua Fighter 2, Fighting Vipers and Sonic the Fighters this week

SEGA will be releasing three Model 2 fighting games this week: Virtua Fighter 2Fighting Vipers and Sonic the Fighters. All three are ports are of retro titles, a couple of them can be considered ‘classics’. Sonic the Fighters is probably not known well enough to be a classic, but that doesn’t make it a bad game. In the United States the titles drop tomorrow on PSN and Wednesday on XBLA. Which games will you be getting?

Sonic the Fighters Achievements Revealed

The achievements for the HD rerelease of Sonic the Fighters have been revealed, and they seem rather easy to attain. I’m sure plenty of folks would get all the achievements within minutes. There are a total of 12 achievements to earn, and all together are worth 400 gamerscore points. I wish there was a Super Sonic achievement to make it a bit more challenging. Hit the jump to see the achievements.

Fighting Vipers XBLA Achievements Revealed

Xbox360achievements.org has uploaded the entire achievement set for the upcoming rerelease of the AM2 fighter, Fighting Vipers as part of the MODEL 2 Collection. No word of Virtua Fighter 2 and Sonic the Fighters achievements. The achievements seems to be too easy. Other than that, I can’t wait to get my hands on it! Round One! Let the Action Begin!

Hell Yeah! DLC coming October 23rd, features numerous SEGA cameos

We’ve been seeing a LOT of SEGA cameos and crossovers this year: All-Stars Racing, Project X Zone, Samurai and Dragons, Yakuza in Border Break and now Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit! DLC. SEGA has just announced DLC that will be available on October 23 in North America and October 24 in Europe on XBLA, PSN, and PC Digital Download. The Pimp My Rabbit pack ($2.99 /240MSP /£1.99 /€2.49 /AUD$4.25) will offer over 50 masks for Ash and 11 driller skins with appearances from SEGA franchises including Jet Set Radio, Super Monkey Ball and Crazy Taxi. One screen shows off a sweet Shinobi mask and driller skin combo. Another DLC pack will be The Virtual Rabbit Missions ($4.99 /400MSP /£3.69 / €4.49 /AUD$7.75) which adds 50 new challenges totaling over three hours of gameplay. They missed a trick in calling it “Virtua Rabbit”.

After the break, check out additional screens of the DLC!

Review: Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit (XBLA/PSN/PC)

Before I jump into my review of Arkedo and SEGA’s brilliantly demented and gloriously fucked up Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit, I want you to take a good long look at the above image and see what you can spot. The torrents of blood that make up your health meter? The fact that your Loot chest has eyes and teeth? The demonic two-faced being that your headphone-wearing puffy-haired main character is taking out with his rocket launcher?

The fact of the matter is, Hell Yeah! has enough craziness for 10 games; its eagerly demented presentation plays a major role in what makes this XBLA/PSN/PC download title so unique and enjoyable. It may not prove to be everyone’s cup of tea, but if this is your thing, then you’re in for a wildly fun and surprisingly nostalgic (if you’ve been a SEGA fan for a while) journey through the colorful and insane depths of Hell.