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Dutch composer Junkie XL to score Sonic the Hedgehog movie

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It looks like the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog movie by Paramount Pictures has landed a pretty big composer, introducing Tom Holkenborg aka Junkie XL who has composed music on films such as Mad Max: Fury Road, Batman v. Superman, Deadpool, Alita: Battle Angel, and a ton more. He confirmed that he was composing on the Sonic the Hedgehog movie in a recent interview with Film Music Magazine. Pretty funny because Junkie XL actually turned down composing Deadpool 2 because director Tim Miller left, if you ddidn’t know Tim Miller is a producer for the Sonic the Hedgehog film and one of the main people behind the project.

I think its crazy that the film is less than a year away and they barely revealed who is working on the soundtrack. We still haven’t seen what the new Sonic the Hedgehog design is going to look like! Its going to be very interesting few months as they continue to promote this movie. So far its not looking great but who knows, in a few months we might be super excited to see the film. Maybe. What are your thoughts on Junkie XL composing the soundtrack for Sonic the Hedgehog (the movie)?

[Source: Film Music Magazine]

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SEGA News Bits: Sonic Mania Developers Open New Game Studio Evening Star

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It was recently announced that much of the team behind Sonic Mania have formed their own studio! On this SEGA News Bits, George and Barry run through the staff, talk about what this could mean for the future of the 2D Sonic brand, and what original games we’d like to see.

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ToeJam and Earl Collector’s Edition Goes Live on Friday

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Don’t adjust your dial-up modem! ToeJam and Earl are “Back in the Groove” in their newest title in almost 17 years. With plenty of funky music and smooth gameplay, the duo also comes with a limited Collector’s Edition thanks to the folks of Limited Run. Along with a physical copy of the game (PS4 or Switch) you also get:

– Themed packaging based on the game’s aesthetics
– Map puzzle board (with 25 possible maps)
– 6 enamel pins (ToeJam, Earl, Latisha, Lewanda, 2 mystery bond box earthlings)
– 10 pin stands for setting up your own level
– Environment cutout standees
– Cassette soundtrack + download code of the game
– A cool and funky 18×24 poster

There are up to 6 possible earthling pins with additional blind boxes sold separately.

And for $69.99 that is not a bad deal, considering the game will probably be $30 upon release. The pre-order goes live on Friday February 15, 2019, with Batch 1 @10am and Batch 2 @ 6pm EST. Considering the love and hype around the series, I have no doubt that this game will be a smash hit. But the orders will go quick, so be ready to boogie on over to the website when they go live! For more updates and info, check the Limited Run twitter and website. And congratulations Greg; here’s to you!!!

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Retro Fighters Launches Pre-Orders and Kickstarter for SEGA Controllers

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The modern retro accessory manufacturer Retro Fighters famous for the Brawler 64, a modern two-prong controller for the Nintendo 64 previously funded through Kickstarter, are now looking to release controllers for Mega Drive, Genesis and Saturn for pre-order as well as looking for funds for their Dreamcast controller via Kickstarter.

Featured on their website is the 2 in 1 controller designed for use on Mega Drive/Genesis and Saturn platforms named the BrawlerGen. Featuring six face buttons and an analog control stick supporting all platforms, a ‘Mode’ button for supported Mega Drive and Genesis games and two shoulder buttons for Saturn. The two handed design mimics the ergonomic form seen in modern controllers while supporting features necessary for all platforms. Bypassing crowdfunding, the controller is available with an MSRP of $39.99 for pre-order on their website with a launch date set for the 10th of June this year.

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Sonic Mania developers forms a new game studio Evening Star

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The developers behind Sonic Mania, and it’s follow up Sonic Mania Plus has formed a new game development studio called Evening Star. The new studio, based in Los Angles, Melbourne and London, consist of talented people behind Sonic Mania. Executive producer Dave Padilla serves as Evening Star’s CEO, Christian Whitehead is the creative director and lead engine architect, Tom Fry is the art director, Hunter Bridges is the technical and audio director, and Brad Flick is the design director. Here is a brief description of the game studio from their website.

“Evening Star is a boutique game studio founded in late 2018. Headquartered in Los Angeles, with operations in Melbourne and London, Evening Star’s mission is designing fresh, fun games which will stand the test of time.

For Evening Star, being a “boutique” game studio has a specific meaning. Every member pursues a goal to make their own great games. By encouraging strong technical foundations in every discipline, members are given a voice and latitude to impact games in unique ways. By reinvigorating gaming history’s more cunning techniques, the team boldly explores directions long since left behind. With that driving approach, and a proprietary engine and tool set, Evening Star has developed an innovative workflow which minimizes the barriers between ideas and execution.

Creating games that shine bright… Evening Star casts a light into the future.”

Seeing that most of the developers of Sonic Mania team coming together again may see the likelihood of a successor to Sonic Mania stronger or perhaps more unique games from Evening Star. What are your thoughts on this announcement? Give us your thoughts on the comments below.

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New Yakuza 0 PC patch removes Denuvo DRM and adds other fixes

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SEGA has just released a new (beta) patch for Yakuza 0, this patch removes the controversial Denuvo DRM. The beta patch was posted by SEGA over on the Steam forums where he goes more into on what the patch fixes. Of course this is a beta patch, it might still have bugs, so if you are a regular user you might want to wait for SEGA and other users to test how it runs.

Here are some other highlights:

  • Fix shaders and shadows on skin tone
  • Improved Ultrawide display support
  • Target monitor output for multi monitor setups

It seems that the biggest update will be the removal of Denuvo, which wasn’t confirmed by SEGA’s developers but by a user. It is nice to see SEGA continue to support their PC games with consistent updates. I just wish SEGA would do this more for console games, especially the Sonic the Hedgehog titles which always seem to ship with a lot of issues.

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ChuChu Rocket! might be making its return to mobile

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ChuChu Rocket! is one of those little oddball titles from SEGA that I feel was a great game that just didn’t get the recognition it deserved. Originally released to the SEGA Dreamcast, the game was puzzle game that could be played in a variety of ways. One style was a Bomberman-style battle between multiple players where cats (KapuKapus) and mice (ChuChus) ran about the screen and the goal was to direct the most ChuChus into your rocket. The other style was a single player experience where KapuKapus and ChuChus released and you had to place arrows into the right places to satisfy the puzzle’s requirements. Players could also create their own puzzles.

The game saw release on the GameBoy Advance as well as a 2010 iOS and Android version. Call it blasphemy, but I always thought the handheld versions were the better way to play, especially on a tablet, as it made a lot more sense to tap the screen to place arrows rather than dragging a cursor with your thumbstick.

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Team Sonic Racing mobile release revealed

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When Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed released, it hit nearly every platform under the sun. The upcoming Team Sonic Racing, meanwhile, was seemingly holding back as the team at Sumo Digital focused on one version of the game. However a recent Facebook ad that several fans have encountered, including Twitter user Radiant Emerald who we’re citing, features screenshots of a mobile version of Team Sonic Racing. Little is revealed outside of three screens and an app icon.

It makes sense that SEGA would want a mobile version of the game, as it has been the norm with the previous All-Stars Racing games as well as Sonic Forces which saw a Sonic Dash style game. The question is, will this mobile version be a direct port of the game right down to all the tracks and racers? Or could we be seeing a stripped down version, potentially on rails like Sonic Dash? We should know more, potentially during the Sonic panel at SXSW which will be held on March 16, 2019.

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Ecco the Dolphin creator wants to make new Ecco, Mr. Bones and Three Dirty Dwarves entries on Nintendo Switch

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Ecco the Dolphin creator Ed Annuziata has a new game coming out called Space War Arena for the Nintendo Switch. If you kept up on Ed’s social media, he has had meetings at Nintendo these last few years and this has lead to people assuming (more like hoping) was working on a new Ecco related dolphin game for the Nintendo Switch, but its actually a new IP! In a interview with Nintendo Life, Ed Annuziata talks about returning to work on some of his past titles including Ecco the Dolphin, Mr. Bones and Tiny Tank:

“One of the OCD characteristics of my personality is I never give up! When I was trying to convince Sega about Ecco the Dolphin it took me years to get them to bite. There are some challenges I need to overcome but eventually, there will be a new Ecco!

Also, I am trying to find a way to port our Saturn game, Three Dirty Dwarves, to the Switch. I think that’s an excellent game for the platform. Also, if I have it my way, modern versions of Mr. Bones (Saturn) and Tiny Tank (PS1) are heading over to the Switch someday!”

Its a pretty interesting interview and its awesome to see a creator of some of my favorite video games still doing new work. I’d be totally excited to play a brand new entry into the Mr. Bones and Three Dirty Dwarves franchises. Who’d of thought that we would be saying that in 2019?

 

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Take a behind the scenes look of Making of the Music for Team Sonic Racing – Part 1

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The Sonic the Hedgehog social media page has uploaded a new video showcasing a behind the scenes look of the music being composed for Team Sonic Racing featuring Sonic the Hedgehog music veteran, Jun Senoue and many other musicians. The video features sample tunes of many tracks such as Boo’s House, Frozen Junkyard, Market Street, and Green Light Ride.

As this is part 1 of Making of the Music for Team Sonic Racing, it would be cool to see Tee Lopes and Hyper Potions at work on video for part 2. Like the music for Team Sonic Racing? Let us know on the comments below.

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SEGA News Bits: SEGA and CAPCOM Beat EA in Publisher Rankings

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Metacritic’s ninth annual game publisher rankings revealed some good news for SEGA fans! Our favorite publisher placed second, beating out heavy weights like EA. On this SEGA News Bits, we discuss the top three and what they did to deserve their spots.

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Shenmue III officially reveals English voice cast

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The Shenmue III Kickstarter has sent out its 96th update, this time discussing the English voice overs that the game will receive. As we already know, Corey Marshall is reprising his role as Ryo Hazuki while Ling Shenhua will be played by new comer Brianna Knickerbocker who is said to have stunned people with her great performance.

We also got a behind the scenes video with the voice actors, Yu Suzuki and sound director Takayuki Nakamura in the LA studio. My main issue is how odd the audio is synced and how there is little to no information in this video. Which has been a common theme with these updates.Also seems like so few people to voice a game like Shenmue III, we even have Katana, Corey Marshall’s daughter making her voice performance debut. Should be a interesting product when Shenmue III releases later this year.

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SEGA places second in Metacritic’s game publisher rankings

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2018 certainly felt like a great year for SEGA and ATLUS games, and the recently released list of game publisher rankings by Metacritic solidifies it. While SEGA placed 3rd in 2017’s list, 2018’s list sees SEGA moving up a spot to second!

Sega landed in our top 3 for the third time in four years (with the exception coming in a year when Sega failed to release enough games to qualify for our “major” publishers group). That’s especially impressive given that Sega released more distinct titles than all but one other publisher in 2018. Note that all of Sega’s averages and totals include games published by Atlus, a recently acquired Sega subsidiary that (as of 2018) now shares top-level management with the parent company.

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