Ristar revealed to be the flagman in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed

In the last All-Stars Racing title, fans pushed for NiGHTS and Ristar and ended up with NiGHTS making a cameo as the flagman and Ristar appearing alongside the track in the Death Egg DLC. Now, in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, NiGHTS moved his way up to the racing roster leaving the flagman spot open. Sumo Digital hinted that a flying character would take NiGHTS place, and fans speculated on a number of characters including Opa Opa. But in the end, thanks to a preview from ve3tro.com, Ristar has been confirmed as the game’s flagman.

You know the development team tried their best when the race starts and Ristar is cheerfully waving the flag. Each of the courses is a visual treat that will certainly make gamers smile. The various transformations that take place in real time make it even more exciting to look at.

Spot some classic SEGA arcade cabinets in the latest Wreck-It Ralph trailer

Wreck-It Ralph is becoming one of our best sources for SEGA in the Media. In the latest trailer for the movie, the opening scene features a shot of the arcade changing over the years. In blink and you’ll miss them cameos, three classic SEGA arcade cabinets appear and disappear in the arcade as time passes. Check out the intro to the trailer above and see what games you can spot. After the break, we’ll spoil them for you.

Rumor: Sonic The Fighters, Fighting Vipers, and VF2 coming to XBLA?

From Sonic Stadium comes a big rumor about a trio of Sega 3-D fighting games headed to XBLA. Sonic the Fighters, Fighting Vipers and Virtua Fighter 2. On this schedule page, you can see that these games are in the rumored section due to them being rated and with a screenshot included. It will be very interesting to see if this holds true. Could this be a new Sega Heritage 3-pack with fighting games as the theme? Hey Sega, how about finally unlocking Honey the Cat in Sonic Fighters and making her fully playable without a hack? Or better yet, how about “buy all three and unlock fighters Megamix”?! I know that would get me to buy them all.

Archie giving away $50,000 dollars worth of stuff at NYCC

If you are a fan of Sonic’s Archie comic book series run, you will want to attend two panels they are having later this week at the New York Comic Con. The first panel is on Friday and the second one will be on Saturday. There is limited seating, so make sure you show up early if you want one of the cool gift bags.

How limited? Friday’s panel will seat 200 people and Saturday will seat only 100. Check out the source link for more information.

Crazy Taxi coming October 2012 to iOS… with The Offspring?

SEGA has posted a short but sweet trailer announcing Crazy Taxi for iOS devices. When does it release? This month! What day? No idea, yet. What will the game contain? From the looks of things, the original game and if the teaser’s music is a hint, part of or the full original soundtrack. Crazy Taxi released to PSN and XBLA back in November 2010, but sadly the game was missing its heart: the rocking soundtrack featuring music from The Offspring and Bad Religion. Even if that sort of music isn’t your thing, you can’t deny that it is a very important part of the game. Crazy Taxi on iOS, with some of or all of the original music, could be a homerun for SEGA. When we learn more, we’ll share it. Hell, given Zaxxon Escape released to the App Store the same week it was announced, we very well could see Crazy Taxi as soon as this friday!

 

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed coming to iOS in 2013

Given the success of the first title on iOS, it was only a matter of time until SEGA and Sumo Digital revealed that an iOS version of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is in the works. According to Gareth Williams, design director at Sumo Digital, the game is “absolutely” hitting the App Store but not until “after Christmas”. What isn’t decided, however, is how they’ll sell it. At the moment, it’s either sell it for a few dollars and include in-app purchases or give it away for free and allow players to buy characters. Whatever payment method they pick, the first game sold over two million so the sequel is sure to be a success.

Review: Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit (XBLA/PSN/PC)

Before I jump into my review of Arkedo and SEGA’s brilliantly demented and gloriously fucked up Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit, I want you to take a good long look at the above image and see what you can spot. The torrents of blood that make up your health meter? The fact that your Loot chest has eyes and teeth? The demonic two-faced being that your headphone-wearing puffy-haired main character is taking out with his rocket launcher?

The fact of the matter is, Hell Yeah! has enough craziness for 10 games; its eagerly demented presentation plays a major role in what makes this XBLA/PSN/PC download title so unique and enjoyable. It may not prove to be everyone’s cup of tea, but if this is your thing, then you’re in for a wildly fun and surprisingly nostalgic (if you’ve been a SEGA fan for a while) journey through the colorful and insane depths of Hell.

Sega Funnies: “An O.O.C. Moment”

With the new Sonic Adventure 2 HD out for 360/PS3, I thought I’d show you a classic Sonic Eggs comic I wrote with art by Ame Musashi. I always thought it was funny that with all the drama going on in the main story, that the heroes and villains would take time to care and raise some random Chao while acting completely out of character. Full comic in the comment section. Enjoy!

SEGA teases new mobile game Sonic Jump, coming soon

The image and the headline are all we know for now, but based on the name and platform it looks like Sonic will soon be entering the run and jump genre. To be honest, I don’t know why SEGA hasn’t done this sooner. Sonic the Sketchhog and Nike had run and jump Sonic games, but both were free promos available to play for only a limited time. This time out, they might make some money on it. Either as a free game that relies on in-app purchases or an inexpensive one time purchase.

Edit: I just realized that Sonic Jump was in fact a mobile phone game released back in 2005, which played a bit like Doodle Jump (released in 2009). So this could either be a port or an updated version of the game. After the break, check out some original Sonic Jump gameplay.

Danica Patrick’s All-Stars Racing Transformed vehicle revealed

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed guest characters Danica Patrick and Wreck-It Ralph have their vehicles on display in two new promo photos. Danica’s images are the most interesting, as up until now we have yet to see anything of her in-game self. Danica’s car might look familiar, as it is based off the design of a fictional car she designed with Hot Wheels for a toy car. Ralph remains unchanged from when we saw him last at the Sonic Boom event. After the break, check out Ralph’s image.

Zaxxon Escape is out now for iOS and Google Play devices

That was fast! Just this past Tuesday, Zaxxon Escape was announced for smartphone devices, and only two days later the game has released! This has to be a world record in game announcing and releasing. SEGA has put together a launch trailer showing off the gameplay, and released some screens. You can download  the game on iPad and iPhone here or download the game for Google Play devices here. I’ve just downloaded it and will share my thoughts on it in an eventual review.

After the break, screens!

Ulala confirmed for All-Stars Racing Transformed, plus more screens and a new trailer!

What a day it has been for Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed reveals! First we learned about Sky Sanctuary being a track, then a batch of new screens release confirming the return of Ulala to the racer roster as well as what appears to be a The House of the Dead Curien Mansion track. Also, a new trailer entitled “Ways to Race” shows off the many game modes including world tour, multiplayer and missions, as well as our first look at what I assume is the Shinobi track. Great news for The House of the Dead fans: the franchise is also represented as a battle arena. Also, Sonic’s Starlight Carnival, Jet Set Radio and After Burner will have their own arenas.

After the break, screens featuring Ulala and the NiGHTS track!

Sky Sanctuary track to appear in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed

The micro site for Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed has updated, and with the update comes confirmation of a new track: Sky Sanctuary! Sky Sanctuary is, of course, the popular yet brief stage from Sonic & Knuckles in which the player raced towards the Death Egg through floating ruins. Given Transformed relying on flight, this choice makes perfect sense. The Sonic franchise now has four tracks appearing in the game: Death Egg, Seaside Hill, Starlight Carnival and Sky Sanctuary. No word on if we can expect more. Personally, I think four is a good number and the variety is excellent. If they had to add a fifth, I say give us a track from one of the Sonic Adventure games. Red Mountain, Ice Cap or Pyramid Cave would all be great picks. Now I just can’t wait to hear what Richard Jacques has up his sleeve for Sky Sanctuary stage music.

SEGA expanding on Hostess dating in Yakuza 5

I know that Yakuza franchise is known for beating the crap out of Japanese gangsters, but it is also known for its hostess mini-games. SEGA is bringing this back (don’t they always?) and expanding on it. In the past games conversations with the hostess where always in text. In Yakuza 5, they will have spoken lines with regional dialects and a new free action system should give players more realistic conversations as well.

If the hostess likes you, you can take her out on a date. This will actually allow you to walk around with her in town and take her places. The more you explore the cities, the more conversation starters you get. Dating will open up side stories for each character you play as, making it unique and expands on the game’s story. Check out more pictures by hitting the jump.

SEGA shows off its new arcade title, Dream Raiders

Above is an artist rendering of the arcade cabinet for SEGA’s new typhoon game, Dream Raiders. I know most of you where thinking this hopefully had something to do with NiGHTS into Dreams, but it doesn’t. Sorry.

The game is set to give players a ‘sense of speed’ by mimicking wind effects in real time as you play. This sort of thing is usually referred to as 4D, so this would be a 4D game. Though I doubt SEGA wants to use it to market it, seeing how most people find 3D to be a gimmick (which it mostly is). The game is running on RingWide arcade board. This is usually used for less graphically powered games. Hit the jump to see screenshots of the game! If you want to see video, SEGA is holding it hostage till they get 100 likes on the game’s Facebook page.