If you have been waiting for an English demo of Binary Domain while all your friends gobbled up the Japanese demo on the first of the month, then your wait is almost over. You can expect the PS3 demo tomorrow (February 14) and the Xbox 360 one on Wednesday (February 15).
Binary Domain comes out in North America on February 28th, 2012. Are you ready?
Another year, another Toy Fair. That means more Sonic toys from Jazwares! Unlike last year, which revealed a LOAD of 20th anniversary figures, this year is rather light despite the many figures and plush dolls crowding the booth. The first thing you’ll notice is that they’ll be removing the 20th anniversary logo and will be replacing it with a standard gold ring and Sonic logo. There are a few repackagings of existing items, such as the classic 3″ figures in a four pack. The new additions to the line, seen for the first time in these photos include:
• Metal Sonic plush doll – seen above
• Modern PVC figure set including Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Amy and Metal – seen above in front of the classic PVC set
• Chaotix figure 3-pack featuring Charmy, Vector and Espio – seen after the break
We’ve already heard rumors that Sumo Digital are working on some sort of Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing title, but we were uncertain if it was a sequel or simply a port of the original to the Wii U, 3DS and Vita. At the New York Toy Fair, toys for the original title were on display and a booth attendent confirmed that SEGA is making a sequel with new characters and vehicles. So it seems at the very least, it could be an enhanced port of the original. Sort of like Daytona USA: Championship Circuit Edition or Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution. Or it could be a full-on sequel with new racers joining the original roster and a selection of new tracks. I’m hoping the latter is true, and that it releases for all HD consoles including the Wii U.
Last January I shared five things I hoped to see in a potential sequel, and my list still stands. I would love to see Sumo put 100% of their concentrations into a kick-ass HD game, without having to think about a downgraded Wii or 3DS port. I’d also love to see a larger track selection and of course more cult favorite characters including a larger Saturn presence.
Over at the official SEGA of America forums, a fan brought up the ultimate question. Are we going to suffer through throwbacks the whole time like episode one? Good news, Sonic 4 brand manager Ken Balough says that no, we won’t. He confirms that only one of the zones is a genuine throwback.
Also there is going to be a nice unveiling later this month. Now, he does admit that fans will call anything a throwback, only because it’s a similar environment. Read his full response after the jump.
It seems that OnLive users will finally have some SEGA love coming their way. Matt Jensen, the community manager for Onlive, has announced on their podcast that Dreamcast Collection will be coming out on their service. If you forgot, the package will include four Dreamcast titles:
New year and we are starting fresh this year with a new podcast. Catch up on your SEGA news and enjoy some off topic discussions with George, Sharky and Barry the Nomad. We discuss SEGA’s new studio, lay offs and a new second podcast? Hit the jump to read our outline on all the specific topics we cover.
SEGA has released a launch trailer for the 3DS version of the latest Mario and Sonic mashup, and it looks like fans of past iterations will get more of the same here. If nothing else, this installment looks to make use of many of the 3DS’ features, and the visuals are a major step up from past handheld Mario and Sonic Olympics games.
There’s something that genuinely interests me about the Adventure Mode, which, as the trailer shows off, features Bowser and Eggman working together on some sort of master plan. That said, having played the demo, this game just isn’t for me. But for fans of mini game compilations, this might actually be a better buy than the Wii version released last year.
SEGA returns with another Concept Art Friday, releasing to their blog today more art from the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2. This week they’re showing off another baddie, one who goes by the name of Chop Chop. Unlike past Episode 2 badniks, this is an enemy taken directly from Sonic the Hedgehog 2. After the break, the other piece of concept art revealed.
When I was a kid, most of my free time involved the three S’s: SEGA, Star Wars and The Simpsons. Sometimes, though very rarely, these things would mix. Simpsons games would appear on the Genesis, The Simpsons would parody Star Wars and Sonic 2 would feature the Death Star inspired Death Egg. Despite all this intermingling of my favorite media properties, I never was able to play a Star Wars game on my SEGA Genesis due to Nintendo getting all the games. I recall seeing the Super Star Wars Trilogy in magazines and thinking “why can’t the Genesis get those!?”. As time went on, Star Wars games began to appear on SEGA consoles, and in 1999 I finally owned a console that would receive some of these games. Now, in 2012, I’ve amassed most of the SEGA consoles and all of the Star Wars games. With The Phantom Menace 3D hitting theaters this weekend, I thought it would be fitting to look back at five of my favorite Star Wars games that appeared on SEGA consoles. Do they still hold up? Let’s find out!
With Binary Domain set to launch at the end of this month, SEGA’s has released this new trailer showing the mulitplayer mode off for the first time since mentioning it late last year. The trailer shows off the two forces players can take control of: either the resistence fighters or the elite government soldiers as they go head to head in several modes. Also showcased towards the end of the trailer is the game’s very own horde mode, where players will take control of humans as they try to take down armies of robots. Binary Domain is set to release 16th February in Japan, 24th February in Europe and Australia and 28th February for the United States on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.
If there is one thing that the Mario & Sonic fanchise knows how to do, it’s advertise. They have some of the best commercials in the industry, and watching these two new ads makes me want to get up and buy the game. I have actually played the demo and it was pretty decent. I’m not super into mini games, but these titles just keep getting better and better.
Who knows, maybe one day SEGA and Nintendo will wise up and drop the Olympic license? I can dream, can’t I? Hit the jump for the second ad.
SEGA seems to be pushing the Shining series as much as possible, so much so that they tweeted an announcement on their Shining Blade twitter account. What was it? Well, a hint on the next Shining game will be inside of Shining Blade’s package.
So what is the announcement? We don’t know, we will have to wait till the game comes out on March 15th in Japan. If it was Capcom, i’d wager it was the announcement of “Ultimate Shining Blade”.
Aliens: Colonial Marines just seems like one of those titles that will never come up. We have been covering the game for more than a year, we were promised a spring release date but it seems to have been delayed to fall. No problems, here is a very early look at the box art. Now you know what to look for on those scary game shelves.
Sonic Stadium’s Summer of Sonic site is up and open. Nothing much is new, but they are asking fans to suggest stuff to improve the yearly summer event. If you have had some super cool SEGA ideas, you might want to tell them.
Summer of Sonic 2012 will take place on July 7th. Location isn’t announced and can’t get tickets yet. If anything changes we will keep you updated.
Are you a cat lover? So are lots of Japanese people it seems. Did you know in Japan they have such a thing as ‘Cat Cafes’? In Black Panther 2, you will be looking for Tsukahara who runs the fighting tournaments, but before you can enter he will force you to find his 102 cats. Pictured above is the new mission revealed by SEGA.
Talking about collecting, you can also collect sexy cards that if you put together in the right order create a sexy lady. That’s right, cats and wank materiel in one game? It does have it all.