Latest Posts

Get a sneak peek at Codemasters and SEGA’s upcoming arcade racer “Showdown”

by

segashowdown
 
Via Arcade Heroes comes early information on an upcoming arcade racer from Codemasters and SEGA Amusements titled Showdown. An Arcade Heroes reader spotted the game during a location test at a local arcade and snapped several photos of the game. The cabinet shares many similarities with GRID Racing, a previous collaboration between Codemasters and SEGA Amusements. It is speculated that this is an arcade port of the 2012 Codemasters game DiRT: Showdown. It looks like the game will have two styles of play: “Wild Racing” and “Demolition”. Also, the game features the ability to enter numeric codes on a keypad to unlock bonus content. The IAAPA trade show is just around the corner, so we’ll likely have more news on this game soon!

1 Comment

Taxman and Stealth celebrate Sonic & Knuckles’ 20th anniversary with a Sonic 3 & Knuckles proof of concept

by

Today marks the 20th anniversary of SEGA’s Sonic & Knuckles, and to celebrate, Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 remastered developer Christian Whitehead shared a proof of concept prototype from the Taxman & Stealth personal vaults featuring Sonic 3 & Knuckles running on the Retro Engine. Of course, this is presented unofficially, so don’t jump to the conclusion that a Sonic 3 & Knuckles remastered is on the way anytime soon. Still, awesome to see that they’ve done work on the much requested title, even in an unofficial capacity. The Taxman himself shared this link in Sonic Retro’s forums, stating that “this isn’t an official announcement of any Sega project, nor to we intend to work on this as a fan-project. It’s simply a proof of concept from our vaults that has been kept to our chests for some time.”

You can learn more about the technical side of the project in Stealth’s latest blog post!

2 Comments

Son releases tribute video to remember his SEGA-loving father

by


The above video comes from the ‘SEGA Channel’, a fan ran YouTube channel. This is a tribute to the uploader’s dad, who was a SEGA Genesis fan. He liked the Genesis so much that he made a home video trying to get his New York relatives to jump to the next level.

This video was released around September 1991, meaning that the SEGA Genesis was ramping up to being the number one sold console in the United States. Esposito, who made the tribute video to his father, who has since passed away. Thanks to Esposito for giving us a nostalgic look back to the early 90’s and sharing a personal moments he shared with his father. An entertaining video, must see.

No Comments

Sonic & SEGA Fan Jam 2014 Prices and Event Details are here!

by

fanjam
 
The wait is now over! Our Sonic & SEGA Fan Jam 2014 event prices and details are finally here! The prices for the event for non members of The Guild Hall will be $25 (recommended for those who live out of town from Savannah), $20 for Guild Hall members, and $5 for children under age 12 to experience the full extent of the Fan Jam event as we will have numerous of Sonic & SEGA titles playable along with special guests of the SEGA Community and SEGA fan films made by talented filmmakers.

We will also have tournaments based on the 3 featured games and cosplay contest for everyone to get a chance to win some awesome prizes such as signed copies of Sonic Boom by the producers at SEGA, Hatsune Miku Manga, and more! Sonic & SEGA Fan Jam 2014 will take place at The Guild Hall in Savannah, Ga on Saturday on November 22nd at 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM. For more info on Fan Jam 2014, be sure to follow our event page here and The Guild Hall on Facebook. Hit the jump to see the cool stuff to be featured in Fan Jam 2014!

Continue Reading ➜

1 Comment

SEGA and Relic reveal Company of Heroes 2: Ardennes Assault pre-order incentives

by


 
SEGA and Relic Entertainment have released a new trailer and have revealed pre-order incentives for Company of Heroes 2: Ardennes Assault, which is due for release on November 18th, 2014 for Windows PC digital download platforms. The content consists of an all-new company known as the “Fox” Company, a band of Rangers led by Captain Monte Durante which sits alongside the game’s existing three Companies. Check out the trailer above, and read the full press release after the break!

Continue Reading ➜

No Comments

“Hi☆sCool! Seha Girls” anime Episode 2 released, Impressions

by

1888480_735038386545121_713317907667407001_n
 
The next episode of the Hi☆sCool! Seha Girls anime has been released, and can be found over on Crunchyroll!

This episode sees the girls enter the world of Virtua Fighter, in which they are tasked with winning a whopping 100 matches to win Credit Medals! Each of them are given one Virtua Fighter move each, and must work together to win credits; as for whether they do work together, well you’ll just have to watch!

One thing I will say is that this episode certainly keeps up the fanservice with cameo appearances, and there’s even a sly dig at the palette-swapped bad guys of beat-em-ups past. And I know a certain SEGAbits contributor is going to be very happy to see the final opponent, who even gets the privilege of a speaking role!

It great to see the series continues to impress, and I’m excited to see what antics to Girls get into in the next episode!

See the episode here! 

8 Comments

My Life with SEGA both loves and fears Alien: Isolation for Playstation 3

by

On the latest episode of My Life with SEGA, rather than stepping back in time, we’re going to check out the newest title from SEGA and The Creative Assembly – Alien: Isolation. Developed in-house and released last week to PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC, Alien: Isolation takes a different approach when it comes to what players have come to expect from Alien franchise video games. For starters, it’s not a first person shooter! Instead, The Creative Assembly have cooked up a first person survival horror game that is very much in line with the tone of the original Alien film directed by Ridley Scott. How does SEGA’s latest Alien outing fare? Check out the video to find out!

Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel.

No Comments

SEGA Tunes: Wacky Races’ “Scarecrow Creek” and “Tombstone Pass” (SEGA Dreamcast)

by

Today marks the 15th anniversary of SEGA’s Dreamcast console in Europe, and seeing as we’re in the midst of Halloween season, what better way to celebrate both than with some creepy music from a UK developed Dreamcast classic! Wacky Races is a kart racer based on the late 60s Hanna-Barbera cartoon of the same name. Developed by Infogrames Sheffield House, formerly known as Gremlin Interactive, Wacky Races could be seen as a precursor to Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing. Sumo Digital, developer of the All-Stars Racing titles, was formed in 2003 by the former management of Infogrames Sheffield following its closure. Sumo Digital even used lessons learned in Wacky Races when developing their SEGA racing titles as revealed in a 2012 interview held by Sonic Retro with Executive Producer at Sumo Digital Steve Lycett:

Sonic Retro: The announcer is an element that people really loved or hated. I personally felt it was a welcome element to give the game some personality. What was the decision to include the announcer?

Steve Lycett: Wacky Races also featured an announcer type system that would call out for each specific character. The announcer came about for two reasons. Trav had seen SEGA Race TV and loved the concept of an announcer who commented the race, plus we wanted to make the player feel like there was more going off than they could see.

So you get this chatter that someone at the back is making a move up the field, or someone just had a really bad crash, and although it was happening and you couldn’t see it, it made it feel like it mattered. Plus… we’d done a similar thing a long time before making Wacky Races on the Dreamcast and PS2 in our previous guise as Gremlin/Infogrames Sheffield House. So we knew it could be made to work…!

Continue Reading ➜

2 Comments

Go behind-the-scenes with the Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal development team

by

SEGA has uploaded a new behind-the-scenes video to the Sonic the Hedgehog YouTube account, taking fans behind-the-scenes with the Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal development team. Shattered Crystal, the Nintendo 3DS Sonic Boom title, is unique in that it is the first fully original handheld Sonic title since 2008’s Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood.

While Sonic Colors, Sonic Generations, and Sonic Lost World on the 3DS were pared down versions of what home consoles had (albeit with unique stages and layouts), Shattered Crystal is a separate title from Wii U’s Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric with a unique story, stages, and an exclusive character named Sticks the Badger. In the above video, Sanzaru Games, Inc. delves into how they’ve collaborated with Sonic Team and Big Red Button, as well as how the 3DS and Wii U titles will connect.

Yeah, they even have a sports tape gag at the end.

No Comments

SEGA in the Charts: Alien: Isolation debuts in 2nd behind FIFA 15 in the UK

by

6f85cc46_alien_isolation_fanart_kopfstoff_2
 
How about some good news for a Monday? Via VGChartz and SEGAbits forum member Nirmugen comes news that Alien: Isolation launched in the second position on the UK charts, behind FIFA 15 which remains the best-selling game in the UK for three weeks running. Given soccer’s football’s appeal in the UK, it’s quite impressive that a SEGA title managed to chart so highly – especially after speculation that Aliens: Colonial Marines may have tainted the public’s interest in the Alien franchise. However, it should be noted that despite the quality of Aliens: Colonial Marines [watch and/or read our review], the game still managed to surge back into the charts as early as January 2014.

3 Comments

How to unlock Oculus Rift support for Alien Isolation

by

Alien-Isolation
SEGA demoed Alien Isolation at E3 running on the Oculus Rift, then after stated that the game wasn’t going to ship with Oculus Rift support. This was partly true considering that the game that shipped didn’t have a selectable  Oculus Rift mode, but the code is still in the game. Here is how to unlock it.

1. Find the Alien Isolation DATA folder.
2. Open ENGINE_SETTINGS.XML
3. Edit the stereo options to the following:

<Setting name="Stereo Mode">
    <Quality name="Rift"   precedence="4"/>
    <Quality name="Off"   precedence="4"/>
</Setting>

Now set the Oculus Rift to ‘extended mode’ and in the Oculus config utility make sure you pause the service. Boot the game up and it should work. More information can be found in this detailed Reddit thread.

1 Comment

SEGAbits Plays Episode #4: Alien: Isolation

by

SEGAbits Plays returns with a brand new game from SEGA and The Creative Assembly, Alien: Isolation! In this episode, George takes Barry into outer space where Amanda Ripley uses whatever she has at her disposal to duck, dodge, and fight a lone xenomorph. A killer alien isn’t the only enemy out there, as George and Barry encounter dangling electrical wires, annoying old bald men, and trigger happy humans.

Alien: Isolation is out now on PC, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel.

No Comments

SEGA in the Media: The Price is Right for a Sega-Vision in 1977!

by

Way back in 2011, we featured an article on the Sega-Vision, a big screen projection TV sold to consumers in 1977. While a post I made at SEGA Memories detailed patent drawings from 1976, and our post in 2011 featured the commercial, today we have another bit from the Sega-Vision’s past! Courtesy of a reader named Matthew, I was linked to a YouTube upload of a full episode of The Price is Right taped on June 29, 1977, and guess what item appears? If you guessed the Sega-Vision, you’d be right – or is that the “Seega-Vision”? Unfortunately for our lucky contestant, she wasn’t so right. In fact, she was wrong and lost the item when it came to guessing the retail price. Thankfully, as SEGA fans we finally get to know the retail price of a Sega-Vision in 1977: $1,895.

2 Comments

Bayonetta 2 demo is up on the eShop right now

by

Nintendo Europe just suddenly released this new Bayonetta 2 trailer on their Youtube channel that ends with a neat bit of info: a demo will be put on the eShop at 2 PM UK time on October 9th. It also so happens to be just past that time, meaning that the demo should be up on the eShop right now. At least if you live in Europe, where the eShop has updated already.

The demo hasn’t been announced yet for the US, but chances are that it’ll be available there as well whenever the eShop updates in that region. The demo will take up 725MB of your Wii U’s space. As for the full game, it will be out in Europe and the US just a mere two weeks from now on October 24th.

Update: The demo has now been uploaded to the US eShop as well.

1 Comment

Hatsune Miku was on David Letterman

by

Hatsune Miku performed “Sharing the World” live on David Letterman on October 8th on national TV. Sharing the World is the theme song of Miku Expo in both Los Angeles and New York. If you aren’t aware, SEGA produces the CGI that is used at the Miku performances.

The CGI on the David Letterman stage seems to be lower quality then normal but is probably due to lack of space. The Miku concerts are 3D holographics and getting the detail used at the big events probably requires a lot of equipment. Not as simple as having one 2D display which doesn’t require complex technology.

If you have never seen a live Miku Conference before I have included a video of one after the jump. Hatsune Miku Project Diva F 2nd comes out November 18th for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. In 2015 Hatsune Miku Project Mirai DX comes out for the Nintendo 3DS. Great music games, you should definitely check out the demos on PSN for Project Diva F if you haven’t.

Continue Reading ➜

4 Comments