SEGA released the first Mario & Sonic Olympic crossover around Holiday 2007. It sold a ton, but reviews weren’t so positive. Now we are at the third title in the series, this one being called Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Has SEGA gotten the message and finally delivered a great game? You know what they say, 3rd time’s the charm.
A new week and a new episode of the Swingin’ Report Show. This week George, Sharky and Barry the Nomad talk about Akria Yuki in Dead or Alive 5, salvia and much more. So sit back, enjoy the ride. We have also fixed our RSS feed, you can follow the new one below. We are also submitting the new RSS to iTunes, you shouldn’t have to do anything if you are already subscribed. Hit the jump for the show notes.
Phantasy Star franchise mastermind Sakai has announced today that Phantasy Star Online 2 is coming to Playstation Vita, in 2013. Yeah, sucks that we have to wait that long. Look at it this way, in the US we will probably wait a lot longer, since the game isn’t even announced here yet.
So the video above might not impress you graphically, but keep in mind the game is only 10% complete. That means that the 3D models, shading and other effects are set to the lowest setting. The good thing? The Vita version will play on the same servers, use the same data as the PC version. So you can buy both and pick the game up on the Vita while you ride a bus. Technology, you gotta love it.
Continuing the Jet Set Radio hype, this week’s Weekly Five will be taking a look at three regional versions of Jet Set/Grind Radio. Those unacquainted with the US, European and Japanese versions of Jet Set Radio may be thinking: “whats the big deal? A ton of Dreamcast titles were released in three regions.” Well, unlike most Dreamcast games, Jet Set Radio had rather notable differences between regional releases. Each version features unique graffiti tags, unique songs, different stages, different character names and voices and even different titles. Of the three, which is the best? That’s what we’ll try to decide today, by comparing five aspects of the games and choosing a winner! Let’s begin.
That’s right, just announced for the iTunes market is Miku Flick, a mobile video game staring Hatsune Miku. Seems in this game, instead of timing your taps with the music, you actually click on the correct lyric while Miku sings. Meaning this will be nearly impossible for people that don’t speak Japanese to play.
Miku Flick is coming out March 9th and will cost you 1,200 yen ($15) on iTunes. Wait, hold on that isn’t all. This game is only playable on the following devices: iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod Touch (4th Gen), iPad and iPad2. This is a Japanese only release, no plans announce to bring this to America or European market.
Who said that the Japanese can’t appreciate bad taste in fashion and being a patriot? Can’t love this country built on freedom? *waves American flag*
In all seriousness, above is the pre-order trailer for Yakuza: Dead Souls. Which happens to be out March 13th, did you know that? I didn’t. Been too busy playing Binary Domain to notice. Pre-order DLC is exclusive to GameStop stores.
Well, I predicted that this game was going to fail and it seems that SEGA also predicted it. It was supposed to be out this past Tuesday and it went missing in action. Now, all of a sudden SEGA says on twitter (as a reply, mind you) that it’s coming out tomorrow. Wow. No blog post? Press release? Alright.
@ShaunNorton @sega Is Crush 3D a GameStop exclusive now? Also, when is it coming out?
@nron10 @ShaunNorton Out tomorrow exclusively at GameStop for $19.99!
I guess it isn’t all bad, since the game is going to be $19.99 instead of the usual $39.99. At least you save 50%!
House of the Dead III was originally released for the arcades back in 2002. A year later it got a port on Xbox, then one for Wii as part of a HOTD two-pack in 2008. Now we have the latest port of the game on PSN. How does this port stack up compared to the last two? Is it worth your hard earned cash? Hit the jump and find out!
What?! I don’t und-…wh-WHY?!!
Okay, before I freak out some more, let me clarify. The Australian Clarifications Board has rated Sonic Blast and Sonic Labyrinth (the game that most people see as the WORST Sonic game of all time) for the 3DS Virtual Console. Now, I can’t say much about Sonic Blast because I haven’t played it. But from video I’ve seen and reviews it’s gotten it doesn’t look too hot. Then there’s Sonic Labyrinth. A game where Dr. Robotnik’s big idea to stop Sonic…is to steal his shoes. It’s the Sonic game where Sonic is SLOOOOW! Sega, these are the kind of Sonic games you bury like E.T. carts and never mention again. It’s the equivalent of Nintendo putting those horrible CDi games on the Wii. These kind of games only hurt his reputation and give the haters more fuel.
Sonic Blast and Sonic Labyrinth should be available later this year on the 3DS Virtual Console for the morbidly curious.
We already know that SEGA was teaming up with Namco-Bandai and Capcom to develop a 3DS game. What will be in the game? We don’t know. They are very tight lipped at the moment. The teaser site they created has now been updated. Even though we haven’t posted about the teaser site, all it is right now is a flash site with petri dishes of each publisher. When you click on a petri dish you get to see 5 chromosomes for each publisher. Each has a unique color.
[SEGA’s chromosomes from the teaser site]
Could the unique color chromosomes be hinting at something? Maybe what ‘retro’ characters are going to be used? Capcom and Namco-Bandai have teamed up on the PS2 before and what they released was Namco x Capcom. A Tactical RPG hybrid game. That one didn’t fare too well in Japan with Famitsu giving it 28/40. What do you guys think?
It was announced a few days ago that Dead or Alive 5 would be adding Virtua Fighter‘s Akira Yuki to their roster. According to the latest Famitsu interview with Team Ninja boss Yousuke Hayashi, he actually had to fight for SEGA to approve Akria as a guest character. So this means that the team went out of their way to make this happen. Team Ninja isn’t the only big developer that have wanted Virtua Fighter cross-over. Namco have also talked in interviews of their desires of doing a Virtua Fighter x Tekken title.
He says since they went through all this trouble of bringing Akira on board, that he won’t be the only character announced. Yousuke Hayashi doesn’t go into details if he even means the other planned crossover characters are SEGA related at all, but we all know that DOA has a tag-teamed style gameplay. Don’t be surprise if they announce a couple of other Virtua Fighter characters to join the roster.
Oh, for Virtua Fighter fans, Yousuke Hayashi says that Akira gameplay is mostly unchanged from VF5. At least you know some combos going into Dead or Alive 5. But guess what? Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown is set to hit PSN and XBLA arcade. That title has all the Virtua Fighter characters. That one wins.
[Above: Original PSP version of the game ]
If you have not heard of the PSP Remastered thing that Sony announced last year, they basically enhance the visuals and sound of PSP games and put them on PS3. One of the first games announced was Monster Hunter Portable 3rd and it looks like a nice upgrade.
So now SEGA is jumping on the train and announced their first title for the PSP remastered program. K-On! After School Live!! HD Ver. Yep, not a Valkyria Chronicles game, something that PS3 fans have been wanting for a long time. Why give us that, you guys want some HD underage anime girls.
The game is set to be released in early summer. Will support stereoscopic 3D, multiplayer via Adhoc Party and game-sharing with the original PSP title.
SEGA announced that they where working on Yakuza Kizuna, a game for the popular GREE social gaming platform in Japan. Today SEGA Japan has released the first details and screens of the game.
The game will be a card battling game where you have to build your collection of character cards by battling and using synthesis. You will have to create alliances with other plays and work together to defeat bosses and other powerful opponents. Yakuza Kizuna takes place in good old Kamurocho.
The title will be released on March 26th, only on iPhone/iPod Touch and Android. Basic play is free. Even though its Japan only (so far) it looks fairly simple to play. SEGA should port this to America to promote Yakuza: Dead Souls!
This contest is for two PS3 copies of Binary Domain and 2 limited edition Binary Domain backpacks. How do you enter? Tell us in the comment section what your favorite SEGA robot is. That simple. On Friday we will pick 2 winners.
This contest is worldwide. Please do not comment more than once. Make sure you use a valid e-mail address when commenting so we can contact you.
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CONTEST OVER: The contest is over and the two winners have been e-mailed. Thanks for entering!
SEGA has announced a iPhone sequel to the popular Samurai Bloodshow. This new title is called Alexandria Bloodshow and is set 3,000 years in the past. In this title you will take command of Egyptian or Greek armies and battle around Aegean. The iOS app is due to be released this spring.
If you never played the older title, Samurai Bloodshow, it is now on sale for 99 cents. Lucky you.