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Swingin’ Report Show #25: The Incredible Christmas Episode

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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]

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Five Great Santas in SEGA History

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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.

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SEGA delays Anarchy Reigns to July 2012

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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

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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.

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

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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.

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Sonic CD on Android getting lots of one star ratings

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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.

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

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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!

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Yakuza: Dead Souls trailer – how to kill zombies

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If there is one thing I’m an expert at, its knowing how to kill zombies. I have studied the art since I was a mere child, watching Lucio Fulci and George A. Romero  zombie flicks. Now I get to test my skill in the new upcoming Yakuza: Dead Souls games. I’m ready, are you?

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Binary Domain gets PowerUp extras if you pre-order

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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.

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SEGA makes Kazuma in Virtua Tennis 4 on Vita

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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.

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Sonic CD Release Date, Price and Launch Trailer!

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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.

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Retro Review: Christmas NiGHTS

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Anybody who recognizes the Christmas season has their traditions. Some go to church, some pig out on honey-glazed ham and others have their list of “must watch” tv shows and movies. But very few have a “must play” Christmas video game. Christmas themed games are out there, but most are so horrible that they would only hurt one’s holiday mood (never ever play Elf Bowling or Dreamcast’s The Grinch). Leave it to SEGA to fill that empty void of quality Christmas games with the NiGHTS into Dreams demo Christmas NiGHTS. But is this much talked about Saturn release a holiday classic? Or is it simply an overly glorified demo disc?

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US Government is likely to kill the internet this week

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The US Government is going to vote on SOPA this week and it’s likely to pass! In case you forgot, ████ ████ is, it’s █████████ a law that will kill the ████████ as you ████ it. No ████ SEGAbits, no ████ ███████, no ████ ████████, no ████ ███████. You ████ to act now if you ████ in the US. You ████ to ███████ ████████ █████ now!

Uncensor This

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Binary Domain to feature over 4 hours of cutscenes

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The British Board of Film Classifiction has revealed that SEGA’s up and coming third person shooter Binary Domain is going to feature 255 minutes (4 hours and 15 minutes) of cutscenes. It has not been made clear if the figure includes in-game cutscenes or if certain cutscenes are dependent on player’s trust levels with other characters.

However it would not be out of the ordinary for a game directed by SEGA’s famed Toshihiro Nagoshi, whose Ryu Ga Gotoku/Yakuza series features more than several hours of cutscenes. It is interesting to note that Binary Domain could possibly have a longer duration in cutscenes alone than certain shooters have in their main campaign.

Thanks for the tip Suzuki Yu!

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Crush3D – Story Trailer

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Here’s the story trailer for Crush3D, a remake of Crush for the PSP, now on the 3DS. The game seems to have had many changes since the first release on the PSP. The game boasts a new art direction, the story seems to be slightly different and there appears to even be some new levels in the mix.

Crush was met with much praise from critics when it released on the PSP but didn’t fair as well sales wise, let’s hope it can find a better reception on the 3DS because it was a cracking game!

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