Rise of Nightmares hits UK on June 15th?


At least that is what the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) is saying, who gave it a 18-rated classification (much like ESRB). According to the source this is the first mature rated game on Kinect, so its an untapped market.

The only thing that is scaring me right now is how little we have seen about the game, usually we get some previews and trailers. We have seen a little teaser from when it was announced, no in-game stuff really or how it will play. If its true that its coming out June 15th, I hope its a decent title at least!

[Source: Gamerzines]

SEGA Toys announces Sky Tree Homestar

Sky Tree Homestar

SEGA Toys is at it again, releasing some cool things, and a bunch of very odd ones, like the recently announced “Toylet”. This one falls under the “cool” category (or nerdy, depending on how much you enjoy staring at the stars.).

With only four AAA batteries, even someone half way across the world can stare up at Tokyo’s skyline with this device. The projector shows one of the tallest buildings in the world, the Tokyo Sky Tree, and a few constellations, including the Big Dipper and Orion. And it can be yours for only about $70.

[Source: InventorSpot.com]

Sonic facebook to have “something big” on April 7th


SEGA is now teasing people that Sonic’s Facebook is going to have something big, most likely on April 7th. Check out the tweets in their uncut glory below.

“There’s something big coming this week to the Sonic Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/sonic”

“Sonic’s 20th Anniversary is this year, but SEGA start celebrating on 7th April and you’ll only find out how on the Sonic Facebook page!”

So what could this be? We will find out in 48 hours, no need to have a panic attack. Could this be a Sonic social game to make old school fans even more mad? We can only dream.

Captain America: Super Solider hands on

Who knew that one of SEGA’s own movie license games would be getting rave reviews? Surely not us…er..anyone, really. But Captain America is seemingly exciting the masses. Destructoid’s new hands on/interview/wrap up thing details how awesome the game plays and the cinematic experience it gives through cut scenes and the fluidity of everything progressing. Check it out, it sure looks good and actually worth playing. It’ll probably sell as well as Iron man, if not better, which probably means a sequel. But promise me this, SEGA, if you do another Captain America game after this, make it good, not like the Iron Man games, or how Thor is looking. Please?

[Source: Destructoid]

Spiral Knights – Launch Trailer

Check out the launch trailer for Spiral Knights!

Sega published and Three Rings developed Spiral Knights is out of beta and available now to everyone! The game is completely free to install and play. While the game does adopt a in game shop system where you pay real money it is entirely possible to play the game for free.

If you were ever a fan of Phantasy Star Online, then I suggest giving Spiral Knights a try. The game features real time combat and is easy to pick up and play. You can go from the log in screen to knee deep in battle with four companions in less than a minute! The enemies are inventive and the sound track deserves a special mention. It also has a unique system were you personally can effect the lay out of the levels!

The game is available to play on pretty much every operating system including Windows, Mac OS and Linux

If you want to try it out and you really have no excuse not to, you can get started at www.spiralknights.com

SEGA releasing a new console named SEGAone? Nope

I’m surprised that I have to do this, but since this website is leading people to believe that SEGA has a new console, I have to actually do this. The site even made it to the front page of N4G.

First of all, the Sonic Adventure 3 logo is using the Japanese Sonic Unleashed logo. Actually the whole thing looks really badly photoshopped. But also if you look at who registered the domain, its not SEGA. Its someone who lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. Oops.

Don’t fall for stupid shit like this.

[Update] I wasn’t going to post the name of the person who registered it. But it seems he is a writer for the website “GameplayToday.” Here he is, with all his Starship Trooper love.

He updated the thread telling people that it will be his “SEGA site” and confirm the obvious, that its fake. Sorry, but if you are going to make a SEGA blog or site, don’t start off by using lies to promote it. [/update]

Segagaga translation project hopes to finish translation job this year

I was following this project for awhile, all the way back when I started writing for SEGA Nerds. In a new interview with RacketBoy, the team states they are 1/3rds of the way done with raw translation. Yes, far ways off. But they said that they are picking up steam now and hope to finish translating before the year ends.

“We hope to have the text translated within the year. Unfortunately, the largest obstacles to a completed patch might lie beyond the realm of translation and wordsmithing. We still need assistance working through some coding problems that will create the localization patch.”

That is all well and dandy, but they will still need to come up with a way to patch the text into the game. The team wants you, the user to play the game the way it was intended, on the Dreamcast. They say they will most likely patch it into a back up.

I for one I’m excited about this and can’t wait to take down Dogma!

[Source: Racketboy]

Rumor: Sonic Anniversary to be Titled “Sonic Generations”

As with any rumor, take this with a pinch of salt, don’t shoot the messenger, etc.

The Sonic fan community is buzzing with word that the upcoming 2011 Sonic game, usually referred to as Sonic Anniversary, will officially be titled “Sonic Generations”. The rumor started when Spanish Sonic website Sonic Paradise reported that a magazine by the name of Hobby Consolas let slip that the upcoming Sonic game will be titled Sonic Generations and will be headed to the 360 (and though not stated, probably the PS3 as well).

To add to the rumor, Sonic Paradise reports that intermediary company EuroDNS SA., the company that had registered the web domains for Sonic 4 and Anarchy Reigns for SEGA, have registered the domain sonicgenerations.com and sonic-generations.com. Currently the sites link to nothing, but I did check their registrants and it’s true! The Sonic Generations domain is registered to the same folks who registered the Sonic 4 domain.

I’d say it’s an apt title. Video games are always grouped by generation, and in his 20 year history Sonic has been through many generations. With the game being rumored to feature 3D recreations of past classic levels, “Generations” fits.

[Source: Sonic Paradise, image created by Sonic Stadium member Hogfather]

Streets of Rage Remake released after 8 years

[Promotional image showing original vs. remake]

Fan made remake of Streets of Rage has finally been released by the team that has been working on it for the past 8 years. I remember a long time ago, maybe around 2004, I was looking at the site excited for the release.

Now we are in 2011 and can now play it. The final product is massive with over 93 stages in story mode. You can download it below.

Download Here (218 MB)
[Windows only]

[Source: Project Page]

Virtua Tennis 4 getting two move bundles

The people over at Amazon France have leaked two move bundles before SEGA got a chance to announce it. The first bundle is the Playstation Eye Camera, Virtua Tennis 4, Move Controller and plastic tennis racket for the sweet price of 99.95 euros.

The second bundle is the same, but also has a 320gb Playstation 3 added to the mix. This one is going to cost you 379.95 euros. No idea if any other country is getting a taste of these sweet bundles, I guess the French just love their tennis a bit more than everyone else.

[Source: Playstation Lifestyle]

Review: Yakuza 4

I remember reading about the first Yakuza game (Ryū ga Gotoku in Japan) way back in 2005. I was super excited to find out that SEGA was going to bring it over. Since then the series has seen significant growth, spawning three direct sequels and three spin offs. When the original failed to catch on in the west, there was a lot of doubt that the franchise would ever come to the west again. Now we are all the way to the fourth main entry for the series. It’s great that SEGA has continued to bring the series over to the west despite the failure of the first game, but four entries in has Kazuma Kiryu finally worn out his welcome? Read on to find out.

PlatinumGames “saddened” by current Japanese gaming industry

PlatinumGames President and CEO Tatsuya Minami recently wrote a blog post that can be seen at their website, and it’s clear that he’s not too thrilled at the moment with the Japanese gaming industry.

His problems with the current state of game development, especially in Japan, stems from what he sees as a lack of original content being created as franchises grow “ever longer.” He’s saddened by what he sees as too few Japanese developers creating games with “new” at their core, and Japanese games are, as a result, failing to achieve worldwide acclaim; in short, Minami says, Japanese developers have lost their vigor.

Going forward, the CEO promises that PlatinumGames will continue to strive to provide fresh and original content to a worldwide audience, and hopes that they will inspire other Japanese developers to do the same.

“At PlatinumGames, we strive to be the face of Japanese game studios on the worldwide stage. We want our contributions to not only be towards the games industry as a whole, but also be contributions towards our homeland of Japan. That is the principle that will guide our company into the future.

We aim to bring happiness to gamers worldwide. We seek to ignite a Japanese games revival. And our troops will have the highest morale.

We’re in this fight for the long haul.”

Tatsuya Minami
President and CEO
PlatinumGames Inc.
Spring 2011

To check out the full post, hit up their website.

SEGA Sequel Saturdays: Yakuza 5

Hey guys, hope everyone in Internetland enjoyed their April Fools day! Welcome to Episode 11 of SEGA Sequel Saturdays. This week I’ll be expressing my thoughts on the (inevitable) sequel to a game that just released, Yakuza 4. SEGAbits’ official review will be up soon, but you can read my own opinion on Yakuza 4 at my blog, here. I feel that Yakuza 4’s a fun game with lots and lots to do and some great storytelling, but at the same time, its formula is really beginning to show its age. I don’t think Yakuza 5 is even worth announcing if we’re not going to be getting some big changes and updates, and here’s what I think they should be.