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Rumor: Anonymous Gearbox developer claims Gearbox lied to SEGA, SEGA temporarily canceled the project

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Destructoid has done a pretty awesome job covering the clusterfuck that is Aliens: Colonial Marines. Now they have learned, courtesy of a former Gearbox developer that spoke to them only under the condition of anonymity, that Gearbox not only lied to SEGA but that this lie lead to the project temporarily being canceled.

“Gearbox was taking people off the project to put them on Borderlands 1. This was before the big art style change happened on Borderlands. Our team was getting smaller by the month, making it very difficult to get the game made. Ironically several of the team members were ex-3D Realms people who were saying [paraphrasing] ‘Finally, we’re going to Gearbox to make Aliens, and we’re going to ship a fucking game!’ Hah.

At some point in 2008, SEGA temporarily pulled the plug on the game. They caught wind of Gearbox shifting resources (despite still collecting milestone checks as if the team were full size) and lying to SEGA AND 2K about the number of people working on each project. This led to the round of layoffs at Gearbox in late 2008.” -Anonymous former Gearbox developer

It should be noted that due to the developer’s anonymity, this should be regarded as a rumor. Though if this is to be believed, the next question one has to ask is…why did SEGA pick the project back up? While this is pure conjecture on my part, I would surmise that the resurrection of this project had everything to do with the financial success SEGA saw with Aliens vs. Predator, released in 2010. The following year, Aliens: Colonial Marines made its debut at E3 and…well, we know the rest, don’t we?

I would suggest reading the entire article over at Destructoid.

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New Sonic toys revealed at New York Toy Fair 2013

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The super Sonic fans over at The Sonic Stadium have come across a bevy of photos from the Jazwares booth at the 2013 New York Toy Fair. Jazwares, who has the license for Sonic toys, has a few new items planned for release this year. While nowhere near as big as the 20th anniversary line of toys, some of the new toys are pretty cool. Spotted in the photos are Sonic branded disc shooters, Sonic and Shadow masks, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed figures of Shadow and Sonic with their vehicles in jet form, mini-figures of various All-Stars Racing Transformed vehicles, a life-size ring that lights up when held, and plushes of Metal Sonic, Silver and Super Sonic. To see more images, check out the article over at The Sonic Stadium!

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Phantasy Star Online 2 for Vita gets Japanese release date

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Still no word on if this will be heading to the West, but SEGA will officially be releasing the PS Vita version of the popular Phantasy Star Online 2 in Japan on February 28th. Like the PC version, it will be a free to play download title, though a retail edition will also be available. Those opting to buy the physical copy will be awarded with additional items and costumes.

Phantasy Star Online 2 will also come bundled with a new Ice Silver PS Vita, which will see a Japanese release on the 28th of February as well.

A Western release of the PC version, meanwhile, is still vaguely scheduled for “early 2013” with no word on plans for a Western Vita release.

We’ll keep you posted.

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Aliens: Colonial Marines enters the UK at #1 on the charts

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Say what you want about Aliens: Colonial Marines, just to allow some people from the UK to overhear you. Aliens: Colonial Marines debuted at number one in the UK charts, beating out Dead Space 3. This is one of the rare moments that SEGA gets number one on charts, I just wish it was a game that was actually good or that I wanted to see more of. Like Binary Domain or Rhythm Thief.

This isn’t surprising since Aliens vs Predator (the SEGA published one) also did really well. Actually it did better than this one and is the most successful Aliens game in UK history. Now imagine if SEGA released an actual triple A Aliens game? Well, might happen since Creative Assembly (Total War franchise) has been working on an Aliens game for awhile. Hit the jump to see the UK charts ending on February 16th.

Continue Reading ➜

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Vanquish goes free for Playstation Plus subscribers. Valkyria Chronicles 2 for $9.99

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Sam Gideon will be sliding into many PS3 hard drives as Platinum Games fast-paced shooter Vanquish goes free tomorrow for Playstation Plus subscribers.Sony announced the game joining it’s instant game collection earlier today. Better have a good size hard drive, as this game is 11.6 Gigs in size.

Those of you looking for other Playstation discounts, Sega dropped the price on several PSP games including Valkyria Chronicles 2 for $9.99, Sonic Rivals 1 & 2 for $6.99, Crazy Taxi for $4.99 and more.

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Segabits at Round 1 Arcade

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Hey folks, do you remember the newspost we put up about the Hatsune Miku game being tested near L.A. a few days ago? Well, it just happens to be at the closest mall near me. So, I set out and got some video.

It’s not just for Project Diva though, Round 1 is an AWESOME arcade. It’s a Japanese owned arcade franchise and it only has two arcades so far. Both in So Cal. They got Karaoke, Bowling, those Japanese photo booths, sit down fighting cabinets, tons of UFO catchers and most important, the newest video arcade games. This includes pretty much every light gun and racer game Sega’s made in the past ten years. It’s great for import Japanese games as well. From Initial D, Namco’s Mario Kart Arcade, Taiko Drum Master to many rhythm games including of course, Project Diva. Think Dave and Busters with a very Japanese flavor but with just some cafeteria food instead of a full restaurant.

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Updated: SEGA employee takes to Reddit, says SEGA’s money funded the Borderlands franchise

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EDIT: Aki-at has corrected us, the employee on reddit worked at SEGA, not Gearbox. Though what he says sounds about the same as the Gearbox employee that took to Reddit a few days ago. 

We had a post a few days ago about a Gearbox Worker spilling his guts on the development of Aliens: Colonial Marines. Now we have another one and this time, he is verified. Meaning he sent proper verification that he works at Gearbox Software to the moderators. So what did he say that was interesting?

“Gearbox didnt care about the game, they spent the money from acm on the borderlands games. Look at the release of borderlands and when aliens was anounced, they had the other companies like timegate do the work. When they got the game back timegate had done a terrible job. When it came into sega it was shit basicaly. Gearbox only cared about fixing ‘progression blockers’ (things that stop a player from getting through a level) or crashes” – soetester

The first and easiest is that all that money SEGA pumped through them was actually used to develop Borderlands. Do I see a lawsuit coming? Well, I think something happen since if you go to the Reddit page, his account was deleted. No worries, screenshot of his answers after the break.

Continue Reading ➜

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SEGA’s Code of Joker gameplay footage recorded at JAEPO 2013

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There was a lot of excitement about Code of Joker when little was known. Many users wanted it to be a new console game that would come out in the west. In the end it turned out to be a digital card arcade game that will probably only come out in Japan. Doesn’t mean we can’t see what it plays like. SEGA showed off the game at JAEPO 2013, here is someone playing it at the event.

I know that SEGA has done other digital card arcade games and they have done well, I just don’t know why they always have to change the IP every few years. Maybe Japanese people are attracted to new IPs?

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Speed Run: Fan beats Golden Axe in 9 minutes and 27 seconds

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Do you like speed runs? Do you like SEGA games? You will love this speed run of the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive version of Golden Axe by  Jason ‘honorableJay’ Feeney. I’m a bit confused as to why it is picking up attention now, since he completed the deed last year. Regardless, I haven’t seen it and it brings a nostalgia factor.

What is your favorite speed run of a SEGA game? How fast can you beat Golden Axe?

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Aliens: Colonial Marines mods add DirectX 10 lighting effects, sharper texture filtering and much more

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The PC community is great, always striving to make their games look better even if the developers are incompetent.  Right now there are two mod packs that are making this game look ‘less crap’ than it did before. The first one is the DirectX 10 mod packs that add some better lighting effects and soften those shadows. The SweetFX mod gives you a sharper texture filter, deeper color saturation and stronger shadows.

Sadly, the game will still suck. But at least it will be prettier to look at it sucking now.

 

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Hatsune Miku Project DIVA Arcade is being tested in a Los Angeles shopping center

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This isn’t the first time that SEGA Japan (which seems to be the one doing the testing) has teased their Hatsune Miku games to American audiences. This last E3, they had Hatsune Miku Project Diva f for display at Sony’s booth. Sadly the game never was localized.

Seems this time around that SEGA is testing to see if there is an interest in Hatsune Miku Project DIVA Arcade, which is being tested right now through March 18th in the Puente Hills Mall. The game has an online pass fee thing, which you get free for doing a survey. It costs four credits to play.

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Want to see more images of the SEGA Note PC, and a learn a few more details?

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Courtesy of Eurogamer comes a few new photos of the SEGA Note PC, and this time they aren’t just mock-ups! On display is the general blue SEGA branded laptop, both in use and being carried. We also get a peek at the desktop, which features a snazzy Dreamcast themed wallpaper. According to Eurogamer, while the laptops will probably not include SEGA emulators or games, they will include SEGA Windows themes and SEGA music pre-loaded onto the laptop. A full list of the specs can be found here, and after the break check out a gallery of new images.

Continue Reading ➜

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VideoGamer compares Aliens: Colonial Marines final build to last year’s demo

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VideoGamer has dug up demo footage of Aliens: Colonial Marines, apparently from a demo shown off last year, and compares it scene-for-scene with what we ended up with in the final product. The results are fairly shocking; the graphics, resolution, and the presentation itself are significantly better in this demo in almost every conceivable aspect.

It’s hard to say where development went so wrong on what will likely (and unfortunately) be SEGA’s biggest game this year, but this video speaks for itself.

One day maybe we’ll learn the full story…

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