SEGA and Creative Assembly’s Total War series keeps looking prettier and prettier, so fans are always wondering if they will have to upgrade their PC rigs to play the newest entry to the franchise. Well, the wait is over. Can I get a drum roll?
The SEGA Blog has revealed the next three Game Gear titles fans can expect to find in the Nintendo 3DS eShop. This week sees the release of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic Labyrinth, and the RPG Crystal Warriors. Personal opinion on these titles? Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is perhaps my least favorite of the Game Gear Sonic platformers. Maybe it was the lack of Tails, or the bland first stage, or the overly difficult bosses (thanks to a zoomed in screen). Sonic Labyrinth is… an interesting Sonic spin-off. Playing similar to Sonic 3D Blast, due to being isometric, the game finds Sonic stripped of his speed thanks to Dr. Eggman replacing his iconic sneakers with “Slow-Down Boots”. As such, the game is more of a puzzle game. If a slow Sonic with clunky controls is for you, then check this one out. Crystal Warriors is probably the title to check out this week, as it is quite a fun strategy RPG. As a bonus, SEGA has included the ability to play the game over local multiplayer – assuming both players have a copy of the game.
SEGA promises that more Game Gear titles are on the way for the eShop, so stay tuned! Or bookmark this page. However “stay tuned” translates into internet usage.
Hero Bank is the latest project by Yakuza Team head Toshihiro Nagoshi (Yakuza, Super Monkey Ball), a 3DS RPG. Above is toilet paper that SEGA will be giving out as part of a swag bag at the ‘Next Generation World Hobby Fair’. Yes, toilet paper, what a way to set expectations for your upcoming game by giving people paper to wipe their ass.
The package also comes with a poster, stickers, Yen notepad, and a handy bag. Check out the photos below.
Obsidian recently talked to Eurogamer about their canceled RPG, Aliens: Crucible and some of the mechanics it would have had in the full version. Obsidian had a pretty cool idea about building a stronghold that seemed to be one of the main features in the game.
“If you’re dealing with a ship repair mechanic who may have no combat experience whatsoever, that obviously would serve a vital function in surviving in this predicament. So it’s more of a third-person, two companions with you survival game, but it had a lot of the RPG trappings in terms of you could set up your own stronghold and base and build that up over time, explore more of the environment, figure out how you get all of the resources and stuff to survive.”– Chris Avellone, Obsidian’s creative director
The game was in development for over three years, till it was finally canned in 2009. Chris says that SEGA told them that they had to “take a step back and carefully consider the type of game we want to release”. Yet they still released that awful Aliens: Colonial Marines. According to Chris it wasn’t that bad, SEGA paid for them to build their own engine and even though the game got canceled they had that to walk away with. So yeah, great way to manage your money, SEGA. No wonder you are at the position that Nintendo has to fund Bayonetta 2.
What about Alpha Protocol 2?
Conan O’Brien went to this year’s E3 to check out the console war, what he didn’t expect was that there would be gorgeous women there. This eventually lead him to fall in love with Bayonetta, who he calls Sarah Palin from the future.
Seems this is the closest thing we will be getting to Conan actually having a SEGA published game on his show. Sad. Would have been pretty cool if he played Sonic Lost World.
In an interview with Nintendo News Report, Sonic Team’s Takashi Iizuka confirms that Sonic Lost World will have online multiplayer on the 3DS, but not on the Wii U.
“We’ll have different multiplayer modes on both Wii U and 3DS. On the Wii U, there’s booth cooperative and versus multiplayer. In cooperative play, Sonic will be using the Wii U GamePad and someone can be supporting Sonic in co-op with the Wii Remote. In versus mode, one player will be playing on the TV screen and the other player will be racing using the GamePad so you don’t have to have split screen. You both have your own screen and can race each other. The Wii U multiplayer is not on the Internet. It’s basically everyone sitting on the same couch. The 3DS for the first time we’re having 4-player versus racing over Wi-Fi and the Internet.” – Takashi Iizuka
Pretty intersting. What are your guys thoughts on the lack of online multiplayer on the console version? Does this effect your purchase? Do you even care about multiplayer in a Sonic game?
Seems that SEGA is making their ads more comedy focused when they are advertising their game on the Wii U, which I think I like. This ad really made me laugh and honestly, Yakuza games aren’t all serious business.
Just remember, don’t tell the hostess in the game how much you love them when your wife is standing right behind you.
According to the rating PEGI, SEGA is planning a 3D port of its famous Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master video game. This game is considered by many to be the best Shinobi game, so 3DS owners should be happy when it finally releases.
SEGA has been releasing a ton of 3D ports lately, including Ecco the Dolphin and Sonic the Hedgehog.
Over the weekend a group of Shenmue fans came across an article I wrote over two years ago. In the article, I named five things I believed SEGA fans should stop doing, and one of these things was spamming SEGA’s Facebook page for titles like Shenmue 3. I love the Shenmue franchise and consider myself to be a huge fan. I read and reread every Shenmue article I could get my hands on in anticipation of the first game’s release, and bought it on day one. When the sequel was announced to be only available in Europe and Japan, with US fans having to wait nearly a year for an Xbox port, I learned how to play imported games and bought the European version on the week of release. Since then, I’ve debated with fans over what a third title would contain, bought Shenmue merch whenever the chance arrived, and even joined in on the infamous mass capsule toy mailings.
In a video that is sure to make Sonic fans smile, we see Sonic (actually a guy in a costume) celebrating his 22nd birthday at Tokyo Joypolis in Japan. Surrounded by SEGA staff, Sonic received a birthday cake complete with candles and blew them out with the assistance of Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka. The stage featured some snazzy graphics including assets from the upcoming Sonic Lost World, as well as a dancing strawberry cake. No doubt following the event, Sonic and Iizuka hit the club while Jun Senoue tried to convince the DJ to play some of his music. Good times.
This week on the Swingin’ Report Show we have a sort of crossover, Nuckles87 and Shigs from our other podcast; Sonic Talk join in to talk about their experience at E3. We talk about all the SEGA games, new consoles and our favorite games at E3 2013. Listen in and tell us what you think.
Sorry about not doing a transcript, but my time has been very limited as of late. So I either put this up as a YouTube video, or delay it a few more days. I felt it was getting too close to release date and needed to go up right away. Here I talk with Company of Heroes 2 lead animator Brett Pascal, talking everything about the game, the move to Sega and what has happened to some of their other IP’s. Enjoy!
Company of Heroes 2 will be out this Tuesday, June 25.
The hilarious Sonic the Hedgehog parody comic “Not Enough Rings” has turned up on Kickstarter to fund a physical book release of the series. We’ve backed it! Why don’t you do the same? Creator Veronica Vera describes the series best: “We know video game webcomics are a dime a dozen. Especially Sonic ones! But in all our years on the internet, we never came across the comic we wanted. No sprite recolors, no tribal Echidna warriors, definitely no werehogs — just a real comic retelling of the remarkable games we grew up playing.”
For just $25, fans get a slick looking copy of the book, featuring comics covering every stage from Sonic 1 through to Sonic 3 & Knuckles. As a special perk to buyers, many of the Sonic 3 & Knuckles comics will release in the book long before appearing on their website. Other goodies include a barrel of death t-shirt, signed copies of the book, original art, and more! So what are you waiting for? Spin dash over to their Kickstarter page and help them out.
Attention to our SEGABits readers of Georgia!
My friends and I, along with my local GameStop, are teaming up to throw a launch party for the upcoming crossover RPG game of the century: Project X Zone. The game features numerous SEGA, Capcom, and Namco Bandai franchises! To celebrate this crossover, I want to invite you the launch party for the Western release of the game! Come and play games developed by Namco Bandai Games, Capcom, and SEGA that are represented in Project X Zone such as Tekken, Virtua Fighter, Street Fighter, Sakura Wars, Megaman X and more. If you would like to come in cosplay as your favorite character from Namco, Capcom, or SEGA, we will gladly take pictures and send them to the companies community pages. It’s $5 dollars to get in and receive a random raffle ticket to win a free copy of Project X Zone. The party will be held at the Applebees Restaurant near 1120 Abercorn St Savannah, GA 31419 on June 26th at 5:30pm-11:30pm. Combining your attacks is the key to victory! Hit the jump for more details.
David Cage was working on his game Indigo Prophecy around the same time Shenmue was releasing. If you played Indigo Prophecy or any of Quantum Dreams games, you will notice they used Quick Time Events (QTE) quite a lot. This technic in video games was popularized by SEGA’s Shenmue.
In this interview with both David Cage (Heavy Rain director) and Yu Suzuki talk to Game Informer about storytelling. Its awesome watching Yu Suzuki explain what he tried to capture with Shenmue and what David Cage tries to capture with his games.
Also really like the part where Yu Suzuki took pictures of David Cage’s new game Beyond: Two Souls, because he found it interesting and wanted to look up more information on the game when he got home.