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“Et tu, badniks?” – Eggman betrayed in Japanese Sonic Lost World trailer

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A new trailer for Sonic Lost World has hit the web courtesy of SEGA of Japan. Well, the trailer is actually more of an extended cutscene from the game. In the cutscene, we see The Deadly Six turning iconic badniks against Eggman and his Sonic Colors henchmen Orbot and Cubot (yup! they’re back!). Sonic appears just in time to stop the badniks and save Tails. The cutscene is well animated and looks to be the critical point in the story where Eggman will be forced to side with Sonic. It should be noted that the stage the cutscene takes place in is Desert Ruins, which is the third Zone in the game.

Update: Today’s Nintendo Direct also shows off the connectivity between the 3DS and Wii U versions. Using the 3DS, players create helpful RC vehicles which can then be sent to the Wii U version, where the vehicle is controlled by a second player. See this footage after the break!

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SEGA Tunes: OutRun 2’s Splash Wave

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Nothing screams summer fun like driving a Ferrari along the coast of some random tropical paradise, with a pretty girl at your side and rocking guitar music filling the air. Outrun 2, having all of these things, is pretty much SEGA’s definitive summer game. Splash Wave is one of my favorite tunes in the game because it perfectly matches the atmosphere Outrun 2. It starts out fast and frantic but quickly slows down with a lazier, more relaxing beat. As fast and frantic as Outrun 2’s game play can be, you are still a dude driving a Ferrari through some of the most picturesque scenery in gaming and Splash Wave aides that feeling beautifully by alternating between the exciting synth and the slower, lazier guitar.

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Summer of Sonic 2013 – Sonic Lost World Impressions

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Summer of Sonic features an in-development game to play every year, usually for the first time to the public outside big industry shows like E3. This year, we got Sonic Lost World, on both Wii U and 3DS, making its debut in the United Kingdom.

First, a quick summary of what was on show. The rep told us this was the Comic-Con build, so for the few Americans in the audience who were there, we played the same game you did. There were three Wii U demo pods and six 3DSes running. On the Wii U game there were 4 levels available to play: Windy Hill, Desert Ruins 1 (styled with a small letter S shoe-horned in between the s and the e on the title card to make Dessert – a pun on the fact it’s a candy/sweets level), Desert Ruins 2 (an auto-run level through honey combs) and Frozen Factory (the Sonic 2-styled casino level). On the 3DS, there were 3 available choices – a Windy Hill tutorial level, Windy Hill 1 and Desert Ruins 2 (here, an Egyptian-themed puzzle level with moving around of blocks & balls). We tried to play as much as possible, bearing in mind that because of queue lengths there was a limit of one level per person. Those of you who recall back to Summer of Sonic 2010 may remember we did a look at Sonic Colours‘ debut – this time we have opinions on the game not just from myself but several Sonic Retro forum members, so read on to see what we thought!

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Company of Heroes 2 removed from store shelves in Russia

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It seems that SEGA’s new RTS, Company of Heroes 2, will no longer occupy store shelves in Russia as its publisher over there 1C-Softclub has bowed to pressure from press to remove the game from store shelves.

It seems people in Russia are taking great offense to how the game portrayed the Allied Forces in Company of Heroes (first one) as brave and honest, but the sequel, which focuses on the Russian forces, decided to use ‘offensive’ stereotypes. Relic on the other hand stand by the game, stating that it’s historically accurate, and that they used eye-witness testimony when they made the game’s story mode.

Seems that they even have a 17,000 signature petition wanting to remove the game from Steam. My opinion? As much as I hate developers showing how ‘great’ American soldiers are and how ‘every axis power is evil’ or ‘brutal’ compared to us, I have to say they are taking way too much offense to this. If you don’t like what the game offers, don’t buy it. But don’t go and force everyone not to experience it because it offends you.

Your thoughts? 

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Summer of Sonic 2013 – The Metal Sonic Edition

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SOS
 
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?

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Total War: Rome II joins the PC version of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed

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Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed’s PC roster has expanded, with the addition of Willemus, a Roman soldier from the upcoming Total War: Rome II. Owners of the racing game spotted the new character in a free update that just recently rolled out. Willemus joins other PC exclusive characters which include General Winter of Company of Heroes 2, the Football Manager from Football Manager, Shogun of Total War: Shogun 2, and the Team Fortress 2 trio. While I find the PC characters to be pretty cool, it would be awesome if SEGA gave the same level of love to the console versions of the game. After the break, check out photos of Willemus in action.

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SEGA-Sammy is trying to buy Atlus’ parent company

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If you guys didn’t know, Atlus’ parent company, Index Corporation is in a finical mess. The company is in over $2.4 billion yen in debt and is also being investigated for fraud. The company recently talked about selling assets, but now it seems that they might just be bought out whole.

Bloomberg reports that 20 companies are in the race to buy Index, one of those companies is SEGA-Sammy Holdings who is leading the pack. It seems that bids have exceeded the $150 million everyone thought Index was worth, the current bid is at $200 million! It is said that bidding will be narrowed down by next week and if all goes well we will find out what company gets Index and their assets.

But lets say that SEGA does buy Atlus, would that be a great thing for gamers? I mean, I love SEGA and I love Atlus games, but Atlus always brought obscure games over from Japan for Wesetern audiences. Without them we wouldn’t have Demon Souls or even the recent Dragon Crown, while SEGA seems more hesitant to bring over titles (Yakuza 5, Valkyria Chronicles 3 and more). What are your thoughts?

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SEGA-Sammy’s net income up 400% from last year

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Its crazy knowing that filtering your content can do so much good for your company, especially SEGA’s recent financial results for the first quarter of its 2014 fiscal year. SEGA-Sammy’s operating income for the quarter ended on June 30th and totaled 16.1 billion yen ($163.85 million), 197.7 percent higher than the same time last year. Net income came in at a (for SEGA-Sammy) staggering 12.9 billion yen ($131.6 million), which is a 408.8 percent increase year-over-year.

SEGA-Sammy totally improved their consumer business segment, which includes those video games you loved published by SEGA and its Japanese pachislot/pachinko machine division. Panchislot/pachinko branch of the company saw a increase of revenue of 138.5%, totaling 18.7 billion yen ($190.2 million).

According to SEGA-Sammy’s press release, their latest RTS game (which they got by buying the team/their franchises from THQ for 26 million) Company of Heroes 2 sold a staggering 380,000 copies. I know most of you will see this and say it isn’t over a million units so it is a failure, but you have to know that this report is from June 30th, the game launched on June 25th. The only other major SEGA retail title outside of Company of Heroes 2, was the Playstation Portable Japan only title 7th Dragon 2020-2. SEGA’s publishing side saw a year-over-year decrease of 9.7 percent, selling 1.21 million units.

SEGA also reported favorable performance of their digital games on Windows PC, Playstation Vita and mobile devices. SEGA-Sammy state that Phantasy Star Online 2 (Japan only for now) helped bring the operating income of the consumer division up to 39 million yen (approximately $396,000).

It should be a good year for SEGA with Total War: Rome II, Football Manager 2014 and Sonic Lost Worlds around the corner.

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SEGAbits Visits SEGA of America, Inc. in Sunny San Francisco – Part 2

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Quick recap: a few weeks back I paid a visit to SEGA of America’s headquarters. In part 1, we explored the area where the offices are located, entered the office building lobby, got on an elevator, and entered SEGA’s lobby. In part 2, we’re going to explore the SEGA office lobby, taking a look at all the cool bits of SEGA history on display! Join me, as I venture inside SEGA of America.

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SEGA Tunes: “Door into Summer” from Knuckles Chaotix

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I’ve always thought of SEGA as the video game company of the summer. Many of their most memorable games start off in bright and sunny tropical paradises with endless blue skies. Stuff like Daytona USA, After Burner, Out Run, NiGHTS into Dreams, Sonic the Hedgehog and Ristar invoke the spirit of summer like few other games do.

I’ll be featuring a few of “songs of the summer” over the next month or so. Hope you enjoy them! Figured I’d start with something I’ve wanted to put up for a little while: Knuckles Chaotix’s “Door into Summer”. It not only has an appropriate name, but also has a nice, memorable tune.

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ESRB rates Sonic Lost World E10+ for ‘aggressive language’

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SonicLostWorldE10
The ESRB has finally posted its rating for Sonic Lost World and it decided that the game is rated E 10+, for ‘aggressive language’.  Before you freak out, its not that big of a deal, check out some of the lines they consider ‘aggressive’ below.

Rating Summary: In this action platformer, players control Sonic the Hedgehog as he attempts to stop an evil villain’s plans. As players zoom through fantastical landscapes, they collect items (e.g., gold rings and power-ups), avoid hazards, and use spin attacks to defeat robotic enemies; enemies break apart amid colorful explosions. During gameplay, characters sometimes use aggressive language (e.g., “You’re going home in a box,” ‘I’m going to skin you alive,’ and ‘I long for death’s cold embrace.’). Cutscenes also depict laser fire and explosions, as well as dialogue that references violence (e.g., “I’ll get fat from eating your black hearts,” “One second you’re contemplating genocide,” and “As long as I can still strangle a Zeti, my hands are fine.”).

What are your thoughts?

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15 minutes of Castle of Illusion gameplay

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Game Informer have gotten their hands on a review copy of the upcoming Castle of Illusion remake and were allowed to put up a video of them playing through the first world. Along with the gameplay we also got some new details including that we can expect the game in early September and that the voice of Sully from the Uncharted series, Richard McGonagle is narrating the game. Sadly this video doesn’t feature the redone soundtrack by Grant Kirkhope.

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