Renegade Ops Accolades Trailer

Sega just wanted to remind you how good Renegade Ops was, so they made this accolades trailer! Pretty sure this is exactly the same footage as another trailer just with quotes spliced into it… But hey, why not? It does a good job of showing off what Renegade Ops is all about, driving around and blowing stuff up!

It’s a brilliantly fun game that reminds me of classic top down shooters of the 90’s like Jackle and Desert Strike except in beautiful HD graphics, online play and four player co-op. If you haven’t already got it, go treat yourself it’s on PSN, XBLA and Steam and its well worth it.

Check out this Sonic sleeve tattoo

@RossDixon4 tweeted us a picture of his Sonic sleeve. When I usually see Sonic related tattoos I get pretty disapointed, it seems that the artist always seems to screw up the design. This one is pretty well done and I like this Sonic design. This is some dedication right here, a whole sleeve? Well done! Would you ever get a Sonic or SEGA related tattoo?

DLC of Christmas Past: A Tree in Station Square

If you caught our latest podcast, you may have heard the moment when AAUK said that he begged for the special Christmas DLC to be included in the XBLA/PSN rerelease of Sonic Adventure. Sadly, it was not, so the only way to experience an early example of DLC is to boot up your Dreamcast with a copy of Sonic Adventure and the Christmas data on your VMU.

The file was originally available for download from December 17th to the 28th in 1999, and when players entered Station Square they were greeted by two Christmas trees complete with Sonic and Chao decorations. If you touched the tree, the music would change to the acapella version of “Dreams Dreams” from Christmas NiGHTS. The best place to get the VMU file and more is at Blue Swirl, where you can burn an application allowing you to use hundreds of VMU files. Enjoy!

Samurai & Dragons gets first gameplay trailer

SEGA has just released the first trailer for their up and coming Playstation Vita exclusive, Samurai & Dragons which is being produced by famed SEGA developer Masayoshi Kikuchi. The trailer features the 4 play co-op that will be half the title, as players will go through various dungeons and fight minotaurs, the undead and as you may have guessed, dragons. The other half of the title will be the town building aspect, which you will be able to expand after hunting for resources in the dungeons in the world and by beating bosses. So far there is no release date announced for Western audience or in the game’s native Japan.

[Thanks to Pao for the tip!]

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Swingin’ Report Show #25: The Incredible Christmas Episode

This week we are turning up the Christmas light, so get yourself a hot brew and listen to this extended special episode of the Swingin’ Report Show. This week we got me, Sharky and Barry ranting. We also got Sonic Wreck’s Kevin Eva as a special guest, who also used to do Summer of Sonic and worked at SEGA Europe. If that isn’t enough to get you excited, we will also be giving four lucky listeners a copy of Sonic CD for Xbox Live Arcade. Listen in for details.

[Download] [Archive] [iTunes]

Five Great Santas in SEGA History

Consider this a SEGAbits exclusive: Santa is real! Yes, as it turns out the annual gift giver is the real deal. All those Santas we see at malls? They’re just the middle men. They’re the guys that report to the real Santa. How about all those variations we see of Santa in the media? This is a marketing effort on the real Santa’s part to keep his image alive. Proof of this exists everywhere, but today I thought I’d highlight five notable Santas in SEGA history. After the break, we reveal our Claus.

SEGA delays Anarchy Reigns to July 2012

Following hot on the heels of Konami’s recent announcement that Platinum Games would be taking over the development of the next Metal Gear game, we now have information on a delay for the studio’s other project, Anarchy Reigns.

The beat-em-up, which had already been delayed until January, has been pushed further back to July. The semi-sequel to MadWorld will now release on July 3 in North America, and on the 5th and 6th in Australia and Europe, respectively. SEGA West’s Gary Knight has said that the delay will be to increase the scale of the game, teasing that 1 vs 1 and 2 vs 2 fighters will become “a thing of the past.”

No word yet on whether Anarchy Reigns will be seeing a similar delay in Japan.

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New Rhythm Thief Trailer Released at Jump Festa

So you may have seen Sharky gushing over Rhythm Thief’s homages to Samba and Space Channel 5 earlier. Turns out they also released a video!

I have to say this game surprises me. I’ve seen plenty of original SEGA IP launched on handhelds come and go without really being worth talking about, but this one actually looks pretty cool. The animation is absolutely beautiful too. Rhythm Thief will be joining a slew of other 3DS game when it launches early next year worldwide.

Rhythm Thief – Has Samba de Amigo and Space Channel 5 Games!

I was pretty excited about Rhythm Thief for the Nintendo 3DS when it was announced and the more I’ve seen of it the more it looks like another fantastic Sega IP. But this little update is probably the most exciting thing I’ve seen so far; A throw back to both Space Channel 5 and Samba de Amigo- two of the best rhythm games ever made! (In my opinion…)

I’m totally sold on this game now, it looks amazing! Now throw in that Hatsune Miku character and grab yourself an easy 200k more sales Sega.

Hit the jump to see the Samba de Amigo gameplay, and another game play video.

Sonic CD on Android getting lots of one star ratings

I wake up this morning from a hazy slumber to go straight to the Android market to see if Sonic CD was uploaded. Expecting near perfect scores for the game, I get shocked to see so many one stars rating from users. It seems that a ton of people are angry due to three factors:

  • Most can’t download the additional 270mb of data required. Some are saying that the server got hit too hard.
  • You can’t install additional data to a SD card. It has to be on the phone memory. This is easily fixable and has been fixed for ChuChuRocket in the last update (another Android SEGA game).
  • Doesn’t seem to work with the Nexus Prime, the new ‘Google’ branded Android phone released today.

Come on SEGA, fix your damn servers. There is a reason why you have 63 one star ratings and 69 five star ratings. I have a feeling if the servers worked and people would be able to download their data, that it wouldn’t have gotten such low scores, even if you couldn’t install to SD or work on Nexus Prime. If it makes you feel better, its getting near perfect scores on Apple’s iTunes stores because people can actually download the game.

Sonic CD is out, it’s cheap and it’s really, really good!

SEGA have done something fantastic today, something you don’t see big publishers doing very often. They have chosen to reach out to the community and nabbed themselves Christian Whitehead aka ‘Taxman’ and his quite marvelous ‘Retro Engine’. It’s my understanding that Whitehead has been developing his ‘Retro Engine’ for quite some time now and gained a name for himself in the Sonic Community, and I can see why. His re-master release of Sonic CD for XBLA, PSN, iOS, Android, Windows Phone and of course PC is really, really good!

Unlike Backbone’s rather poor and often botched efforts at updating SEGA classics, Christian Whitehead’s ‘Retro Engine’ has given us Sonic CD locked at 60fps on every platform, both Euro/Japan and US sound tracks, new features, playable Tails, a choice of filters and modes, achievements and more… It really boasts the lot!

Hit the jump to find out why I think SEGA should snap up Whitehead and his engine!

Binary Domain gets PowerUp extras if you pre-order

SEGA has announced a new pre-order bonus that will stack with their last pre-order bonus at Gamestop, this one is called the Dan Marshall Pack. This one will give you unique enhancements for the character Dan, including a enhanced Sowsar-17 Smod Type G assault rifle and three bonus skills. Unlike the last pre-order though, you have to be a PowerUp member at Gamestop.

How to get this bonus:

I personally hate in-game pre-order exclusives and now it seems Gamestop is doing pre-order exclusives to Powerup members. Super rage. If you want to pre-order, you can do so here.

SEGA makes Kazuma in Virtua Tennis 4 on Vita


SEGA showed off some of Virtua Tennis 4’s create a character mode. Sure, we already played the mode on the console releases so we should know how it works. But SEGA is showing off new things you will be able to do when the portable title comes out. They showed off by make Yakuza’s Kazuma Kiryu and Black Panther’s Tatsuya Ukyo. You can see them both above.

Shown above, the Vita’s camera will be able to scan a human or picture’s face to re-create in the game. So you could take sexy looking Kazuma, put his face in the game. Pretty neat right? You can also take pictures with your 3D character you created, so you can create yourself and then take a photo side by side thanks to Vita’s argumentative reality camera. Hit the jump to see all the photos.

Sonic CD Release Date, Price and Launch Trailer!

You heard it right. Sonic CD releases tomorrow for XBOX LIVE worldwide at 400 MS Points, on PSN in Europe/Australia for $5 American and on iOS for $1.99. Android too, but price unknown. PSN America gets it one week later for $5. Sega has released a trailer for the launch. Here’s what was said in a press release sent via E-Mail….

“Sonic’s 20th Anniversary has been a banner year for him – as well as for everyone at SEGA. Gamers around the world are rediscovering their love of Sonic through his adventures, new and old. Whether you’re a long-time hedgehog aficionado looking to enjoy a favorite moment from Sonic’s past, or a brand-new player who wants to join in on the fun, there’s no better place to start than with one of Sonic’s most celebrated games, Sonic CD.”

All I gotta say is…5 bucks?!! DAAAANG That’s way cheaper than I was expecting. May buy it for both my console and iPhone.