Epic Mickey Power of Illusion is truly a Castle of Illusion sequel

As this Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion only has a loose SEGA connection, and is neither developed nor published by SEGA, consider this our only article on the game.

While SEGA did not feature prominently at last night’s Nintendo 3DS E3 Software Showcase, aside from a mention of Rhythm Thief, SEGA got an indirect mention when Warren Spector and Peter Ong of DreamRift took the stage. Ong shared his love for Castle of Illusion, stating that for a time as a child he played the full game once a day. His love for the Genesis classic carried over to his pitch to Junction Point Studios for how he and his studio would develop a 3DS Epic Mickey game. The end result is much less Epic Mickey inspired, and much more Castle of Illusion inspired. In fact, the trailer states “a beloved hero returns to a castle of illusion” and Castle of Illusion sound effects return including the item collection and jump sounds. The mushroom enemies from Castle of Illusion’s first stage make an appearance, hearts are used for health and paint replaces apples as a projectile attack. You can even butt bounce on enemies heads. Essentially it is a full-on sequel. One off bit was the mention of Mizrabel of Castle of Illusion returning as the main villain, yet Sleeping Beauty’s Maleficent was shown. So either they goofed and mistook one villainess for another, or figured they’d use a more recognizable evil witch for the new game. Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion releases this Fall.

Rhythm Thief not cancelled! Demo arriving this summer

Though it was only given a brief mention at Nintendo’s 3DS-specific E3 press conference, it serves as confirmation that SEGA’s Rhythm Thief is indeed still going to see release in North America. A demo will be released this summer, which hopefully indicates a release date in the very near future.

The well-received rhythm game is already available in Europe and Japan.

First My Life With SEGA episode online, learn how to win Virtua Fighter 5 for free!

Hey guys, the first SEGAbits episode of “My Life With SEGA” is now up on our YouTube channel. The My Life With SEGA YouTube series will look back at SEGA games we grew up with and review them. This episode is part 2 of A.J’s Italian Stallion game playing marathon. Check out part 1 here.

“Hey, I’m A.J. Rosa and this is My Life with SEGA. The mayhem continues with the Italian Stallion: Part Duex! Today, I’m reviewing Judge Dredd for the Sega Genesis and Demolition Man for Genesis and Sega CD.”

Want to win a free copy of Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown? Of course you do! We will be giving away four copies of the game, two on XBLA and two on PSN. What do you have to do? Subscribe to our YouTube channel and comment on the video. Winners will be chosen randomly on Friday. Contest is open world wide. Have fun, if you like the series please share. Want to suggest a game for A.J to do a video of? Contact us.

SEGA puts Hardlight studio’s first game on hold


Seems that there is bad news for SEGA’s new studio Hardlight. Last time we found out that the title won’t just be on Playstation Vita but also iOS. Now the project is on hold, according to Tom Jubert’s list of projects he is working on. He changed the status to ‘on hold’, which means development has seized for now.

Sort of makes sense, I think their game would have been a pretty cool surprise game to show off at E3.

*UPDATE: Altered Beast and HotD cameos added* Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph trailer hits, check out Eggman’s cameo!

For those living under a rock, Disney has been working on a CG animated feature called “Wreck-It Ralph” which is essentially “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” with video game characters. For quite some time we’ve known that Eggman had a cameo, but it wasn’t until today that we got to see Eggman in action. He doesn’t say much, if anything, but he’s there. Try and spot other SEGA characters in the Game Central Station scene. I’d assume Eggman, being in his modern design, crawled out of the Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing arcade machine. The movie hits this fall.

After the break, another SEGA baddie spotted!

E3 Day 2 Update

 

Hi guys! Apologies for the lack of updates yesterday. We were so busy playing games and setting up interviews, charging cameras and running to and from the media lounge…we didn’t actually have much time to write. Hope you enjoyed Jason’s take on Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed!

I am currently in the midst of writing previews for Aliens: Colonial Marines and Hell Yeah!, the latter I ended up spending about thirty minutes playing…to which you’ll know why when you read the preview. Sonic Stadium visitors will, unfortunately, not be getting much content this year, due to the sheer lack of actual material to write about. We have gotten an interview with All-Stars Racing producer Joe Neate, though, as well as a full rotational look at the new ASR branded car, which will hopefully be going up later today. My Hell Yeah! preview will also be going up on Sonic Stadium, so you guys can read about another SEGA platformer that doesn’t star Sonic.

SEGAbits will, of course, be receiving previews for every game on the show floor. We also managed to score a last minute interview with Gearbox and their new Aliens game, which you can expect to see on the site Friday. There will likely be other interviews as well, but nothing that I can confirm.

Seven minutes in Hell – Check out Sonic racing through Adder’s Lair

Check out this gameplay demo of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed from SEGA’s E3 booth. Clocking in at just over seven minutes, the demo shows off a complete race through the Golden Axe track Adder’s Lair. Sonic is the selected character, and while he doesn’t pull off an All-Star move, he does use some new weapons including snowballs and some sort of catchers mitt. You’ll notice that outside of the three transformations, the track itself also transforms via in-game events. There are also a number of alternate routes. And was that a dragon I saw?

After the break, a quick impressions video from ScrewAttack with a bit more footage.

Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F for Vita shows up at Sony’s booth


We finished telling you the other day that Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F was getting a white Playstation Vita bundle, seems that the vocaloid has more news up her sleeve for American gamers. It seems that the Vita game is being shown at Sony’s booth this year, but was re-titled to simply “Hatsune Miku” which makes sense. This is what SEGA Japan tweeted:

” A tech demo booth is set up with the game, but it’s still in Japanese. They’re excited to see the surprised reactions from fans touring the expo.”

It is sort of weird that SEGA West completely ignores the title, but SEGA Japan knows very well that its at E3 and at the Sony booth. No news if the game is actually going to come out in America or if Sony just wanted it on the show room floor to show off some of the Vita’s features. Maybe SEGA Japan is testing reaction from the public?

Live from the SEGA E3 Booth


Hi guys, I’m writing this from the SEGA booth right now. Nothing too newsworthy, but I thought I’d give you guys an update on what’s going down.

Aliens: Colonial Marines is playable for the first time without having to wait in a massive line. It’s still multiplayer only, and I can still only play marines, but you can bet it’ll be written about here.

Joe Musashi is playable in the ASR demo as well, and we also have Jet Set Radio lanyards!

Finally, someone from the Monkey Ball team is at the booth, and it’s not Toshihiro Nagoshi. Does the name Jun Tokuhara ring any bells? He’s been with the series since the beginning, and he is here now for the Vita entry.

*UPDATE: It’s Danica Patrick* Could the Hornet be SEGA’s celebrity guest?

Update 2: Sumo Digital producer S0L has said the following over at The Sonic Stadium forums:

You know, when they (SEGA) pitched us the idea we went ‘The fans will go wild…’ I think they didn’t get what we meant from that though

End of the day she hasn’t replaced any SEGA characters, she’s an extra and we’re very happy with the vehicle design we’ve done for her, which incidentally isn’t the one you might think it is

UPDATE: Game Trailers just revealed that Nascar driver Danica Patrick will be in All-Stars Racing Transformed. Remember her from that one SEGA game? Wait, she’s not a SEGA character. But she is racing in a SEGA branded racer which will be revealed at SEGA’s E3 booth. Danica and her SEGA branded Nascar will, in turn, be in the game. I’ll admit, it’s really freakin’ weird, but it does feel very much like when Pepsiman appeared in AM2’s Fighting Vipers. Which is a good, if not odd, thing.

SEGA Blog has posted up some booth pics, including a massive car shaped thing right in the center of the Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed booth. Doesn’t appear to be Sonic’s car, I can only imagine a custom made Speed Star would cost a load. But it could very well be the Hornet. Daytona USA’s star racer joining the All-Star roster? What do you think is under there? We’ll know in one hour. There is a small chance that Segata Sanshiro can take the form of a car, and he’s silently waiting to burst out from beneath the sheet to put the Wii U in a headlock.

SEGA Tunes: Sonic Adventure 2’s “Won’t Stop, Just Go!”

If there’s anything just about every Sonic game has going for it, it’s the soundtrack, and Sonic Adventure 2 was no exception. In fact, this game probably contained some of the most iconic songs in the franchise’s history, featuring songs every Sonic fan knows Live and Learn, City Escape, and I Am the Eggman. Cheesy lyrics and all, Sonic Adventure 2’s soundtrack has had an impact on the Sonic fanbase like no other game in the franchise, at least since the end of the Genesis era. Beyond the well-known stuff, however, is a treasure trove of superb, lesser known tracks.

Like today’s song, “Won’t Stop, Just Go!” which was the theme for Green Forest. Green Forest was one of the fastest, most exhilarating stages in Sonic Adventure 2. Unlike many of the other stages in SA2, this level focused first and foremost on delivering a rush to the player as they raised against the clock to escape Prison Island before it exploded. This track perfectly complimented the quickened pace, standing in stark contrast to some of the slower tracks later on in the game.

Platinum Games announces a new game at E3, published by Nintendo

Above is the trailer for the new Platinum Games title P-100 (working title), this new game will be published by Nintendo. So why am I posting this here? I think this proves that Platinum Games is basically stepping away from SEGA as a publisher. If you didn’t know, Platinum Games only had a 3 game contract with SEGA. After they finished they still wanted to work with SEGA, but seeing as how SEGA West screwed up their Anarchy Reigns release schedule, that seems a bit hard to do now.

The trailer for the new title is up above, it has a very odd art style from Platinum Games, especially keeping in mind that it’s directed by Hideki Kamiya, who headed Bayonetta, but it seems rather fun. I hope for Nintendo’s sake this is a downloadable title, because I doubt many will pay full retail price for this game. When Platinum Games started they talked about how they wanted to do their own IP and type games. Seems that this new title and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance prove that even artist have to eat.

What do you guys think about the situation, do you guys think Platinum Games is ready to move on?

Pretend you won a contest and download All-Stars Racing iOS for free

To celebrate Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed’s E3 appearance, and perhaps today’s mystery announcement, SEGA has temporarily marked the iOS version of Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing down to free. If you have an iOS device, or you just have an App Store account, you can download the game for free right now. I highly recommend it, as it is the best racer on the iOS platform in my opinion. And like I said, even if you don’t have an iOS device, download it now and the free download will forever be linked to your account, assuring you a free download whenever you get an iOS device.