James Rolfe looks back on the SNES vs. Genesis war

Cinemassacre’s James Rolfe, also known as The Angry Video Game Nerd, has posted up part one of a multi-part retrospective of the SEGA vs. Nintendo wars of the 90’s. It’s really a great watch, with James looking back on his childhood self and having a laugh at his Nintendo fanboy arguments against SEGA. Now, an older and wiser James reminisces about the classic “Genesis Does What Nintendon’t” campaign, gives SEGA a lot of love and promises a proper console vs. console video in part two. Check it out!

Let’s evaluate the Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed track roster, shall we?

Three months until the release of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, and there is still a lot we don’t know. What racers have we yet to see? How does the vehicle mod system work? Is Cream the Rabbit somewhere in the game? Thankfully, we’re not completely in the dark, as Sumo Digital and SEGA have revealed quite a bit since the game’s announcement. I thought I’d write up a short article collecting all we know of the game’s track roster. What has been announced, what has yet to be announced and what SEGA eras are getting represented? After the break, we’ll answer those questions! But not the one about Cream, sorry.

SEGA confirmed to be at LAUNCH event this year

The full title of the event is “LAUNCH: Future Gaming & Digital Conference 2012”. Basically the two day event will get industry people to talk about launching a project in the gaming industry. So if you are intrested in breaking into the gaming industry, check it out. Others at the event include Microsoft, Codemasters and Activision. Hit the jump for the full press release.

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed gameplay trailer reveals After Burner track and more!

Today SEGA has released a brand new trailer for Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed and it’s a must watch for any SEGA fan. Not only does the game looks pretty darn sweet, but it also confirms a few more tracks including an After Burner track named “Carrier Zone” where you race around air craft carriers, a track based on Starlight Carnival of Sonic Colours fame named “Galactic Parade” and a Samba de Amigo stage based on a movie studio named “Samba Studios”. But most exciting of all, for me, is that there is a track based on Skies of Arcadia, entitled “Rogues Landing”. Consider my timbers well and truly shivered! Names for previously revealed tracks have also been named: NiGHTS will race through “Dream Valley” and the special/bonus edition of the game will feature OutRun’s “OutRun Bay”.

See if you can spot anything I’ve missed, and after the break check out the first screen of the Seaside Hill track named “Ocean View.

Aliens: Colonial Marines “Get your name in the game” contest

“Free hugs!”

Gearbox is continuing the contest they started at PAX East earlier this year with “Aliens Colonial Marines – Name in the Game Contest”. It’s pretty simple actually. Just E-Mail the community team, mention the contest in the subject header and tell them what name you’d like to have in the game. The contest ends on august 24, so there’s still some time. Full details from the Sega blog in the comment section.

Eat at McDonalds, get a chance to win Sega E-Store money, games or Sonic comic

Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce and stop the presses!

In “late because I didn’t hear about it until now” news, McDonalds has been having a “Win USA wins, you win!” contest going on. It appears one of the many prizes you could win is $10 in Sega E-Store money. After checking the official contest site, it looks like you also have a chance at the two Sega London 2012 games (including Mario and Sonic) along with a Sonic comic about the Olympics. Appearently with an exclusive cover. Better get a move on, as the final events are this Sunday! Man, I wished I’d have known sooner.

So the good news is, you may win some Sega money! The bad news is, you have to eat at McDonalds. XP

Jet Set Radio HD gets a price “tag” and release dates!

YES!! @#$*ing finally!

Today, the Sega blogs have finally given us both the long-awaited release dates and price for Jet Set Radio HD. This digitally distributed darling will arrive on September 18th for PSN and the 19th for LIVE and Steam. Better news for those with Playstation Plus, you’ll be getting it a week early on September 11th. As promised, all 3 dates are technically still “summer” (although, I don’t know a single kid who won’t be in school by then). Those waiting for the Vita version will have to wait just a little bit longer as it arrives on October 16th. All versions will arrive at a super-cheap price of $9.99 (I’d have totally paid double that, but don’t tell Sega). No word yet on the iOS and mobile versions. Press release details at the comment link.

Hell Yeah! – Pimp It Up Trailer

In other Hell Yeah related news here is a brand new trailer. As the title suggests this trailer focuses on the customization featured in Hell Yeah which includes pimping your drill and wearing masks. We’re not yet sure if those customizations effect the gameplay or if they are just aesthetic changes. We’ll get back to you on that.

Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit gets priced and dated

The SEGA Blog has revealed the price and release date of Arkedo Studio’s digital title Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit, published by SEGA. The game will be available to download in North America on September 25 for PlayStation Network, September 26 on Xbox LIVE Arcade, and October 3 for PC digital download for $14.99/1200MSP/$14.99 respectively. In Europe, the game will be available for all three platforms on October 3 for 1200MSP/£9.99/€12.99/AUD$19.95.

After the break, check out the new trailer and “box art”.

Sumo Digital: We’ve revealed all the Sonic characters we’re going to reveal

Sumo Digital’s Steve Lycett shared a bit of good news (or bad news, depending on who you are) at the official SEGA forums regarding additional Sonic characters as playable racers in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. Steve aka S0L said:

*Dons flameproof suit*

I don’t consider this a deconfirm, but we’ve revealed all the Sonic characters we’re going to reveal that are considered playable.

*Waits for fire to start*

This means that the playable racing roster will be containing no more than seven Sonic characters: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Eggman, Metal Sonic and Shadow. Interestingly, none of the characters are from post-2001. Also, the roster contains the complete Sonic Drift roster, a near complete Sonic Drift 2 roster (replacing Fang for Shadow) and a near complete Sonic R roster (Tails Doll, Metal Knuckles and Egg Robo are absent and Super Sonic appears as Sonic’s All-Star Move). Steve’s mention of “all the Sonic characters we’re going to reveal that are considered playable” seems to imply we might see other characters by way of NPCs, stickers and vehicle upgrades. Fingers crossed for an Omochao paint scheme. Fans of Big the Cat will notice his absence, but think of it this way: the loss of Big makes the first All-Stars Racing game all the more special.

Wait! Don’t update Sonic 4 Episode 1 iOS yet!

Those with iOS devices like the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch know all about the tempting little update notification that appears on the App Store icon. That little red number stating the number of apps with new updates is often a treat. Perhaps some bugs have been fixed, or new stages have been added to your favorite games. Well in the case of Sonic 4 Episode 1, the latest update deletes the players progress! So before you read on, make sure you’re not about to press that “UPDATE” button for the game, at least if you’re playing on iPod Touch and iPhone. The update itself seems to fix some bugs and improve stability, though I haven’t noticed any difference outside of a Sonic 4 Episode 2 ad that popped up the first time I opened the app. I haven’t seen the ad since, so it may be a one time thing. I did lose my progress, but I knew full well I might and updated anyway for the sake of this article. SEGA has yet to comment on the update, but hopefully an update to the update brings back the save file or a revised update appears that saves those who have yet to download the update. More updates on the update when we’re… updated.

Taiko Drum Master to be a playable arcade unit in Yakuza 5

SEGA loves adding real world brand collaborations in the Yakuza series. This time around SEGA is collaborating with Namco Bandai to have their game Taiko Drum Master appear as a playable arcade unit in Yakuza 5.

The arcade unit will allow you to select from a handful of songs, including Mappy Ondo, Nijiiro Yumeiro and Shinsekai Yori. This was announced on this week’s Famitsu as a part of looking back at ten years of Taiko Drum Master. The issue also included a picture of our tan hero Toshihiro Nagoshi playing a Taiko arcade unit. So rare.

Check out Hatsune Miku Project Diva F’s opening CGI video

Above is the CG video that will greet you when you turn out your copy of Hatsune Miku Project Diva F on your Playstation Vita. That is, if you are going to import the title since and since no Hatsune Miku game has been released out of Japan (not counting Miku Flick) I wouldn’t hold my breath.