Review: Sonic the Hedgehog 4 – Episode 1 (iPhone)

After a staggering two years of waiting, 2D Sonic gameplay has finally returned to the handheld world! What? Oh, you’re probably used to the usual Sonic 4 article intro recounting the 16 year wait fans had to endure before seeing the return of a 2D Sonic to home consoles. Well, such is not the case with Sonic in the portable world. Ever since 2D Sonic left Angel Island, he had found a new home on handheld gaming devices. Between 1994 and 2010, Sonic fans have been treated to more than ten 2D adventures. It is probably due to this fact that the iPhone version of Sonic 4 hasn’t been receiving the same level of enthusiasm and attention as its big brother console versions have.

SEGA de-listing Sonic games with low scores


Can you erase history? SEGA seems like they want to, deleting their lower scoring Sonic games from history. How do they judge if a game is ‘low scoring’? Metacritic.

“Any Sonic game with an average Metacritic has been de-listed. We have to do this and increase the value of the brand. This will be very important when more big Sonic releases arrive in the future.” – Jurgen Post, SEGA’s Senior Vice President of EMEA

Jurgen says they want to keep the number of Sonic titles on shelves lower, only to the best available games. That way users won’t get confused seeing 10 or more Sonic titles on the shelves.

Sounds reasonable. So if you want to get brand new copies of Sonic & The Black Knight or Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, you should go and get them now. Actually don’t, use that money to get Sonic 4.

[Thanks: ROJM]

New Shenmue Game Announced…For a PC Social Game Service

Yes, the title says it all: a new Shenmue game. However, it’s not for consoles, nor is it even being released on a disc: it’s going to be a premier title for Yahoo’s new “Mobage Service”,  a Japanese PC Social Game Service. The new game, Shenmue City, will be debuting this winter on the service.

The new service, which has been in beta since September 21st, just launched today, and it currently has over 100 titles lined up for release, including games from Tecmo Koei and EA. You can visit the site here.

Source: andriasang

First Captain America: Super Solider trailer

The first Captain America: Super Solider trailer is out and  we can finally have a look at the gameplay. It is pretty obvious that the brawling aspect of the game was highly influenced by Batman: Arkham Asylum .

Something also shown in the trailer is a small section of platforming, which is good. Means variety of gameplay. Sure the graphics aren’t really going to impress anyone, but if the game is fun, that is fine by me.

[Thanks: CosmicCastaway]

Vanquish – Weapons Trailer

“Your enemies are many, your weapons are too. Take them out with flair, guile, skill, with no mercy!”

Boy, does this game look really good or what?!
I don’t think there is much left to say about this game other than ‘day one!’

I really love the outcome of the Sega and Platinum deal. So far Platinum has made the kind of games that got me into Sega in the first place. Fast paces, different, addictive and unashamed to acknowledge they are games not ’Interactive movies’. I hope the deal continues.

Release Date: 10/19/2010

Platinum Games working on big multiplayer title

In a new interview with NowGamer, Platinum Game’s Atsushi Inaba says they are working on  a big multiplayer title. This is all that is said regarding the title.

“We haven’t officially announced it yet, but we have a big multiplayer title that we’re working on right now. There are many different projects running internally, but please look out for the announcement.” – Atsushi Inaba

Other things in the interview, Inaba says he does not regret the games that he created at Clover studios, which most turned out to be finical failures. This is a good, they were great games that weren’t marketed correctly. Read the rest of the interview here.

[Thanks: STORM!]

Skies of Arcadia Dreamcast mod is amazing


Just like most women, this mod looks better in the dark. Why? Because it has pretty lights.

The mod is all done by hand, making me envious that I don’t have the artistic talent (or drive) to make something this awesome.

[Source: Kotaku]

Typing of the Dead is back


[Ah, we meet again.]

SEGA is going to bring back Typing of the Dead, with the help of Rakuten’s job placement assistance site Minna no Shuushoku Katsudou Nikki. Just like the original, you have to fend off zombie attacks by typing the words on screen. Only this time the words are changing.

SEGA surveyed Minna no Shuushoku Katsudou Nikki members and collected over 3,000 words that related to hunting jobs, these are the words that are used to fend off zombies in one of the game’s 4 modes, rightfully named “Job Hunting Mode.”

The game comes out tomorrow (October 7th) on PC, at the low price of ¥2,300 (about $28 USD). SEGA West, where the hell is my Steam version?

Captain America video game details and screens


You may recall our little reveal that a Captain America game was being developed for the Wii by High Voltage Software awhile back. Well now, the game has been officially revealed, and the developer for the other versions has been brought to light.

The upcoming Captain America movie tie-in video game, Captain America: Super Soldier , is being developed by Next Level (Punch Out!!! and Spider-Man: Friend or Foe) .

The video game will take place before the upcoming movie, Captain America: First Avenger. The game will be written by Christos Gage, who did Avengers: The Initiative and is also currently doing Avengers Academy. If you haven’t guessed it, the game (and film) will take place during World War II.

The game is set to come out next year for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PSP, Wii, and DS.

Bayonetta 2 waiting for the right time

Atsushi Inaba, Platinum Games co-founder, has told the guys at Eurogamer that he would “would love” to do Bayonetta 2. He also stated that it will be done “when the time is right”.

“There is no concrete plan or schedule that we can talk about, It’s not like Kamiya said, ‘Okay, we’re going to make this.’ But Bayonetta is definitely a special IP for us. We loved creating that game. We think it was a really good game. We would love to make a sequel to it when the time is right. That’s all we can say.” – Atsushi Inaba

Kamiya also talked about the sequel via twitter, stating that he believes we would be seeing Bayonetta again. Sounds like everyone wants a new game. Lets get it cracking.

Sonic 4 world map revealed

A YouTube video of the latest build of Sonic 4 shows off the game’s world map. A picture can be seen above. Looks pretty nice, right?

He tries to play the latest build without using homing attack, but does use it once, to break a rock. Game comes out in  about a week, who is buying?

[Source: TSS]

Mister Wilson’s Jet Set single


Terek (Ter-Rek) Wilson, known by his rap name Mister Wilson, is a New Jersey rapper/battle rapper. Above is a video of him having a rap battle with a rapper named Cypher.

Mr. Wilson is a huge SEGA fan, since the age of 3 and even bears a tattoo of Sonic on his left arm. He has released his first single, called Jet Set and it uses a sample of ‘Fly like a Butterfly’ from JSRF. The track here is the experimental version and is currently being remade with producer Calvin the Genius.

[Download: Jet Set by Mister Wilson] [His Youtube] [Follow him on Twitter]

If any other SEGA fans want to share their music, art or anything SEGA related, contact us.