Never would have thought that SEGA of Japan would be the ones to give us our first real footage of Sonic Adventure 2 HD in action, but here it is! The footage shows off single player, split screen, CG cutscenes (which are their original 4:3 aspect ratio, thankfully not stretched or cropped) as well as Chao, Battle DLC and footage from the bonus documentary. Having seen the Jet Set Radio doc, I am now really looking forward to the ones included with Sonic Adventure 2 and NiGHTS. And is it just me, or is everything better with a bunch of Japanese words superimposed over it?
This week, AJ looks back on a SEGA classic: Virtua Fighter for the 32X.
Virtua Fighter; an arcade smash in 1993, thanks to its incredible 3D polygon-based fighters – incredible in 1993, that is – and realistic gameplay. It has spawned numerous sequels, spin-offs, not to mention an animated series….
This week, I’m reviewing the game that started it all. Does this sucker have enough fight left in it? Get in the ring and find out, bitch!
I’m there with many of you getting excited about Phantasy Star Online 2 on the Vita. I mean, it’s an awesome idea, take the PC game on the go without a big laptop? Awesome idea. Almost as awesome as a console version *nudge nudge SEGA*. So how is cross-play going to work between the PC and Vita?
SEGA will set up ships, some of the ships will be PC only (ships = servers) and on the Vita they will have their own ships only for Vita owners. But don’t worry, there will be several ships that will allow users to play with PC and Vita users. Nice to see this option.
Just like the PC version, the Vita game will be free-to-play. Not only that, it will also be a free download. Only downside is that you WILL HAVE TO BE ONLINE TO PLAY. No offline mode at all.
Another downside is that you will only be able to have one account per memory card. So if you want to share a Vita with someone, you will have to save up money for a new memory card.
They have also suggested that the Playstation Vita version will be getting a beta. Sounds exciting. Now release the game in the West, come on!
Platinum Games developed an instant classic on the Xbox 360, one which received great reviews. The Playstation 3 version on the other hand wasn’t received so kindly. According to Atsushi Inaba, that port was their biggest failure. Not bad, considering that they didn’t develop the port and it was done by an in-house team over at SEGA.
“The biggest failure for Platinum so far, the one that really sticks in my mind, is that port. At the time we didn’t really know how to develop on PS3 all that well, and whether we could have done it… is irrelevant: we made the decision that we couldn’t. But looking back on the result, and especially what ended up being released to users, I regard that as our biggest failure. One thing I will say is that it wasn’t a failure for nothing. We learned that we needed to take responsibility for everything. So on Vanquish we developed both versions in-house. We learned, so it wasn’t a pointless failure, but it was a failure nonetheless.” – Atsushi Inaba
Some people out there are excited about the Wii U, those people should get a bit more excited now that we know SEGA Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed will be one of the launch titles for the Wii U come November 18th. Another SEGA game to hit the console is Aliens: Colonial Marines, which will come out in the launch window. Meaning don’t bet on playing it day one.
If you want to see all the ‘titles’ announced by Nintendo, hit the jump. So who is buying a Wii U?
SEGA has released an epic trailer for Total War: ROME II showing some pretty amazing in-game footage. Ships! Shouting! Giant statue heads! Elephants!
For the first in-game look at the next title in the award-winning series, The Creative Assembly present a glimpse of the epic warfare and phenomenal detail players can expect when Total War™: ROME II arrives in 2013.
The year is 146BC, brilliant tactician Scipio Aemilianus is dispatched by Rome to break the three-year-long siege of Carthage, an unforgivable blight on the glory of the growing Empire. Ruthless determination and an almost suicidal amphibious assault is required, but the young consul is uncomfortably aware that the price of victory may be much higher than the senate realizes.
If you haven’t been paying attention, HELL YEAH! is out now, and you should go buy it. Enjoy the launch trailer of this crazy unique looking game from Arkedo that Takashi Iizuka helped make better. HELL YEAH! is available on PS3, Steam(PC), and XBLA.
While it isn’t making its way to Western gamers (yet), SEGA has announced that the free-to-play browser-based card-battling strategy game Valkyria Duel is heading to Android and iOS. The game has been playable on PC’s for a while, but SEGA and developer NHN Japan promise that the iOS and Android versions will allow players to play the game both at home and on-the-go, with data shared between platforms. Those aren’t lofty promises, so I could see the game delivering on that. Hopefully with the shift to mobile devices, SEGA West will localize the game and give it a release. We’ll have to wait and see.
Thanks to Aki At for the heads up. After the break, screens of the game in action.
From the Tokyo Game Show comes a crazy bit of crossover news. While showing off the iOS Border Break game, Gun Front Gale, and the arcade game Border Break Union (version 3.0 of the game), SEGA announced that a number of Yakuza characters will cameo in the arcade version of the game. It seems, however, that it has yet to be revealed just how the characters will be worked in. Only illustrations and the promise of cameos were revealed. As for version 3.0, 10 player co-op will be possible and the game will hit Japanese arcades on October 11th. Click here for more photos from the event.
Could another Ecco the Dolphin game be in the works? The designer of the original SEGA Genesis titles, Ed Annunziata, is pushing for a new title and so far signs are looking good! Scott Foe, a consultant on mobile and social games who worked with SEGA during the Dreamcast years, got Annunziata a meeting with SEGA to discuss reviving the franchise. Annunziata tweeted:
Ecco fans, I need you to follow & tweethank @scottfoe, he convinced SEGA to meet with me now chances of a new Ecco the Dolphin x100!
If that news wasn’t good enough, Annunziata later tweeted: “Spencer is on board! (puttn’ the band back together!) :)”. Annunziata is referring to Spencer Nilsen, the man who composed the beautiful music for the original SEGA CD and Genesis games, as well as the American Sonic CD soundtrack. Could it truly be happening? A new Ecco game? While SEGA is being very careful when it comes to big budget disc releases, releasing another 2D Ecco title as a digital download is surely doable. Just look at Sonic 4, and another Ecco isn’t so crazy in that realm. Better yet, get Christian Whitehead to work on rereleases of the first two titles to accompany a new game. While we all speculate, enjoy some Ecco music after the break. Thanks to ROJM for the tip!
While in-game screens of Project X Zone, the SEGA/Capcom/Namco Bandai crossover, don’t really wow, the opening to the game is certainly impressive. Entirely animated, the intro features dozens of recognizable video game characters including several notable SEGA all-stars. Rather than spoiling the cameos, I’ll let you watch it and in the comments share your favorite SEGA icons who appear. Thanks to Kori-Maru for the tip!
Though it likely won’t come as a surprise to many, doubt has been cast on the prospect of Project X Zone getting a release in Western territories.
Even with its roster of popular characters from SEGA/Namco/Capcom franchises, the 3DS crossover title has “niche Japanese game” written all over it, and like clockwork, with that comes the typical struggle for an international release.
After being flooded with angry Twitter responses following comments that a Western release seemed unlikely, Katsuhiro Harada has tweeted to assure fans that he has, if nothing else, been pushing for the game’s localization.
While not the most promising sign, it’s at least nice to hear that someone from within Namco Japan is listening to the voices of Western fans. Project X Zone will see release in Japan on October 11th.
Much hullabaloo has been made about Bayonetta 2 being a Wii U exclusive. Comments have ranged from fans cheering that the game is getting a sequel months after rumors circulated that the game had been canceled, to disinterest or disappointment from fans who don’t want to buy another platform for just one game they really wanted, to finally and most famously, immature and over the top Twitter rage from fans screaming of betrayal and thievery.
Well as it turns out, Platinum Games did not “betray” anyone, nor did Nintendo steal the game from other platforms. In an interview with video game website Polygon, Platinum Games executive director Atsushi Inaba explained in no uncertain terms how critical Nintendo’s involvement was to Bayonetta 2’s existence.
“Would Bayonetta 2 not exist without Nintendo? The answer is yes.”
In the interview, Inaba goes on to say that the game’s core game play won’t be affected by the move from Xbox 360 and PS3 to Wii U, “We create the basic framework of our games on the PC, so even though the hardware changes it doesn’t influence the creation of our games. We’ve already developed our own engine to work with multiple platforms.” In the interview, Inaba goes on to discuss the Wii U platform and SEGA’s handling of Anarchy Reigns, among other things. Click the source below to read all about it.
Update: Nintendo producers are also involved with Bayonetta 2’s production, as revealed by Hideki Kamiya on Twitter.
On September 9th, 2011, the My Life With SEGA series began with the video review of the SEGA Genesis game Technocop. Since then, the series has grown, both in quality and in viewership, and is now a welcomed member of the SEGAbits family. To celebrate the one year anniversary of the series, AJ presents the first episode of the series and we here at SEGAbits present you with a contest: win a digital download code for Jet Set Radio on XBOX Live Arcade.
How to enter:Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel and comment on the video. It’ll help your chances if you actually comment on the video and don’t just say stuff like “I want JSR!” and “Gimme gimme gimme!”. One winner will be chosen at random on Monday. Good luck and enjoy the video!
The PS Vita version of the latest Phantasy Star Online adventure is being demoed at TGS, and you can check out the footage here, courtesy of GameTrailers.
The PC version of the game will be hitting Western shores in early 2013. The Vita version has yet to be announced for a Western release.
