Check out the trailer for “My Life with SEGA: Theater of the Eye” – set to release in 2015


 
My Life with SEGA’s A.J. Rosa is in the process of creating his third SEGA-inspired short film: Theater of the Eye! Like the previous My Life with SEGA shorts The Next Level and No Limits, Theater of the Eye‘s name comes from a SEGA ad campaign slogan. Unlike the previous shorts, which were inspired by gritty revenge flicks and buddy cop movies, Theater of the Eye takes inspiration from the Star Trek films and is set to feature A.J. commanding a crew onboard a giant SEGA Genesis. Erica Winter and Mickey Mac, of previous and upcoming 2-Man Scramble videos, are set to appear and A.J. hopes to feature cameos from other SEGA YouTube personalities and SEGAbits team members.

Be on the lookout for My Life with SEGA: Theater of the Eye in 2015, and in the meantime stay tuned to the SEGAbits YouTube Channel as more episodes of My Life with SEGA Season 3 are due to release soon. If you haven’t watched the Comix Zone premiere episode yet, make sure to check it out!

Box-art and Release Dates for Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric and Shattered Crystal Revealed

rise of lyric box thumbnail

We already knew that both Sonic Boom games will be coming out in this November, but now we know when exactly we can expect them to be in stores. In the US Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric will be released on November 18th, while Shattered Crystal will be out a week earlier on November 11th. We don’t know yet when the games will be released in Europe, but this post will be updated when we do.

Along with these dates SEGA released the box covers as well, both of which feature Sonic looking at the customer and doing something potentially threatening. The Wii U box has a Nintendo Network logo on it, meaning the game does have some sort of online functionality.

 

Take a SEGA game room collection tour with Barry the Nomad


 
I’ve been a SEGA collector and fan since 1991, with the first SEGA thing I ever owned being a SEGA Genesis with Sonic the Hedgehog included. Since then, I’ve collected games and consoles as they released, and I’ve gone back and picked up games and hardware that I’ve missed out on. The result of the past 23 years is my game room, which packs in nearly all the gaming stuff I own plus an assortment of DVDs, blu-rays, books, and other things. I’ll admit, my collection doesn’t come close to some of the ones I’ve seen, but still it’s mine and I’m proud of it. I’ve been putting off making a collection video for a while now, mainly because there was always something on the horizon that I planned to add to the game room and I wanted to wait until I had the latest addition before making a video. But this week I figured I had the time and the room had enough to show off as is, so I made the above 43 minute walkthrough. Check it out and please don’t judge me based on some of the DVDs I own.

We plan to have more Game Room Tour videos in the future, featuring other SEGAbits contributors showing off their collections, so stay tuned for more sweaty hands and close up views of old SEGA merchandise!

SEGA releases new Sonic Boom behind-the-scenes video and reveals non-player characters

No doubt in anticipation of San Diego Comic Con, SEGA has released a new behind-the-scenes video for Sonic Boom the TV series as well as a SEGA Blog post revealing the characters that will populate the video game and TV show universe. The new characters, seen after the break, will serve as NPCs for the games and supporting cast members for the TV show, although not all characters will make the jump from video games to television.

SEGA reveals their Comic Con plans – SEGAbits to report live from San Diego

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Another convention is on the horizon, and once again SEGAbits leaves no fan left behind as we’re set to invade San Diego Comic Con

SEGAbits writers nuckles87 and Shigs will be providing coverage from the event, attending panels and checking out SEGA’s video game offerings. On the panel side of things, we will be attending the Archie Comics panel for the new Sonic Boom comic book series as well as Blake J. Harris’s Console Wars panel featuring Tom Kalinske (Sega of America), Al Nilsen (Sega of America), Bill White (Nintendo of America), and Perrin Kaplan (Nintendo of America), as well as Julian Rosenberg, producer of the upcoming Console Wars documentary. If we’re lucky we might even get some one-on-one time with Blake, Tom, and Al!

SEGA Amusements’ Transformers Human Alliance heads to Japan


 
SEGA Amusements’ Transformers Human Alliance, which has been out in the West since early this year and had tests in the US and China before that, has officially made its way to Japan! SEGA of Japan recently launched an official website for the game, as well as the above preview video. The rail shooter, which also features the occasional QTE, should feel familiar to those who have played SEGA’s Let’s Go Jungle! and earlier SEGA arcade classics like Gunblade N.Y. and L.A. Machineguns.

Now, whether you live in the East or the West, you have no excuse not to check this game out!

SEGA and MJD Interactive bringing Alien: Isolation augmented reality game to San Diego Comic Con

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San Diego Comic Con is fast approaching, and SEGA has some unique plans for The Creative Assembly’s upcoming Alien: Isolation. In collaboration with MJD Interactive, SEGA will allow attendees to play a mobile game created to promote the upcoming first-person horror title. Players will use a motion tracker to keep track of a digital alien as the player traverses the convention. The end goal is to find a seven foot tall alien egg hidden somewhere at the event. SEGA is also teasing that things besides an alien and an egg will be hidden, waiting to be found. What happens once players find the giant egg? SEGAbits will be attending San Diego Comic Con, so when the event hits we’ll be sure to check this out and report back!

New Sonic soundtrack revealed: “Passion & Pride: Anthems with Attitude from the Sonic Adventure Era”

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A listing has popped up on Amazon Japan, revealing a new Sonic the Hedgehog soundtrack is to be released September 10th 2014.

According to the listing, “Passion & Pride: Anthems with Attitude from the Sonic Adventure Era,” is a commemorative release set to mark the 15th anniversary of Sonic Adventure for the SEGA Dreamcast.

As translated by Miles Wolf of Sonic Reikai, the album’s description reads:

In commemoration of the 15th anniversary of Sonic Adventure’s launch on North America, we have made an album with the character songs of this series. Because of all the request we received, it will include the instrumental versions of the themes. It’s a disc that any Sonic fan can’t miss.

This is pretty awesome news, as whilst Sonic Adventure 2’s character themes got instrumental releases as part of the Sonic Adventure 2: Cuts Unleashed soundtrack, Sonic Adventure’s vocal themes have never seen an official instrumental release.

The soundtrack comes on 2 discs, and costs ¥3,240, roughly $32 or £19. Currently, there is next to no other information, but we’ll be sure to update if any more information comes to light such as track listing. 

Are you going to pick up the soundtrack? Let us know!

Round Table: Is Comix Zone too hard?

RoundTable[Above art by SavinArtem via DeviantArt]

Welcome to another installment of our Round Table series. This one will be part of our Comix Zone week and will be looking at the questions asked by SEGA fans in the mid-90’s: Is Comix Zone too hard? There have been very few people I know that have beaten the game without using stuff like safe states or cheats. It is just one of those games that takes dedication and patience. Something most of us didn’t have much as a kid. Of course you can tell us your opinions in the comments.

Let’s get this discussion started!

Elysian Shadow developers tease stretch goals

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The guys behind the upcoming Dreamcast indie developed Elysian Shadows RPG have now teased their stretched goals for their upcoming game. We had a chance to talk to them on our podcast and I can tell you these guys are passionate about this project. Definitely a game I’m awaiting release.

Of course the game is also coming out on other platforms like: PC, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, and Ouya have been confirmed. But don’t worry, other consoles have now been added via their stretch goals. Their Kickstarter is set to kick off on August 1st. 

Classic SEGA Ads: So you want to live in a comic book?

SEGA of America’s nineties advertisement strategy can be summarized thusly: come up with the most batshit insane thing you can and run with it. Anyone looking for proof need look no further than this…thing they produced to sell Comix Zone. I kind of get what they were going for, since old comic books often have over-the-top, melodramatic dialogue and bizarre storylines, but this is more like a crazy depiction of some weird cult than anything to do with super hero comics. Unless there was a weird cult in Comix Zone, since I’ve never been able to get much further than the second level.

Looking back though, does that really matter? I don’t think so! This is a fun, quirky little ad that encapsulate SEGA’s attitude more so then the game it’s advertising. It wouldn’t have sold me on Comix Zone back in the day, but it certainly makes me miss what video game advertisement used to be like. I’ll take this over a slick trailer filled with review scores any day.

As a little bonus, I thought I’d also include a print advertisement for Comix Zone, seen in comics and magazines. It’s a little blander, sure, but it also gets to the heart of what the game is a bit more. Check it out after the break!

Comics to Cartridge: Comics that inspired Comix Zone

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[Sketch Turner drawn by RainDante]

It’s quite obvious that Comix Zone is a 16-bit video game tribute to the comic book medium. It takes several aspects from a variety of popular comics throughout history and uses them in its own way to create a unique world.  Here are some that I’ve noticed during play. Since the developers never talked about stories in comics that influenced them, some of these could only be coincidence.

Let’s have a look.

SEGA Channel Retro: CorvidDude’s Windy Valley Mod Interview Plus Abyss Odyssey Blind Playthrough

The live show is already over, but you can check out the archived stream above as well as more content below and after the jump!

This week’s live show on SEGA Channel Retro is a tour through the Windy Valley Beta Mod that was released recently for Sonic Adventure DX. We’ll also have CorvidDude, the author of the mod bringing his insight on restoring the level from the AutoDemo.

If you want to check out the mod for yourself, you can hop over to CorvidDude’s YouTube channel and check the links in the description of this video.

I’m joined by Overlord, GeneHF and OverlyEquippedin our little venture as we also check out the latest Sonic title, Sonic Jump Fever as well as catch up with Sonic Dash with Andronic. Also say hello to me as I try to roll eggs with Billy Hatcher in SEGA Superstars. Finally I take a blind look at Atlus and ACE Team’s latest offering, Abyss Odyssey.

Sonic Adventure DX: Windy Valley Restoration Mod with CorvidDude [Twitch] [YouTube]

Sonic Jump Fever, Sonic Dash, SEGA Superstars [Twitch]

Abyss Odyssey [Twitch] [YouTube]

Swingin’ Report Show #67: Mega-Bit Figures Inspired by SEGA Genesis Interview

This week on the Swingin’ Report Show podcast, Barry and George are joined by Nate Mitchell – head of Squid Kids Ink and creator of the So Analog line of figures featuring old entertainment media with eyes, arms, and legs. Nate’s latest project is Mega-Bit, a SEGA Genesis game cartridge inspired line of So Analog figures featuring officially licensed SEGA classics.

To make his SEGA toys a reality, Nate has created a Kickstarter with SEGA’s approval. Those who support the project receive some awesome incentives including limited edition figures featuring Sonic the Hedgehog, Golden Axe, Altered Beast, and Shinobi. Support Nate and his Mega-Bit toys today!

Following the interview, Barry and George share their thoughts on 3D Fantasy Zone II and Alien: Isolation‘s recently revealed DLC starring the cast of the original film.

[Download] [RSS] [iTunes] [Archive]

My Life with SEGA Season 3 begins with a pulpy SEGA Genesis classic – Comix Zone

My Life with SEGA is back, and in HD! That’s right, it’s retro gaming in high-definition.

In the season 3 premiere, I go back 18 years to re-experience a 16-bit piece of art, ripping through page after page of aliens and mutants in Comix Zone. Developed by Sega Technical Institute, this brawler from the mid 90’s was praised for it’s glorious presentation, but scolded for its late arrival and brief playthrough.

Now that Comix Zone is old enough to move out, how does it hold up today? Click it. Watch it. Love it. Damn! That sounds kinda’ dirty, doesn’t it? Oh well.

Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel!