360 Gamer rates Sonic Adventure XBLA port

SEGA might not have revealed Sonic Adventure for XBLA, but it seems that 360 Gamer magazine has already done a review for the title. They say that the port has no extras and its basically Sonic Adventure DX on your 360.

If you wanted to know, they gave the game a 5 out of 10, stating “really hasn’t aged well.” Oh well, I guess we can skip this one.

[Source: Destructoid]

ESRB gives out more Sonic 4 info


“Like this, but in 3-D”

The ESRB has let some tiny bits of info slipped about Sonic 4, problem is that it just sounds like classic Sonic, which sounds very good.

This is a side-scrolling adventure game in which players zoom through themed levels, collect gold rings, and jump on tiny robot enemies. Players earn points for collecting “power-ups” and freeing tiny animals that are trapped in the robots.

During boss battles at the end of levels, players may encounter an arch nemesis in a mechanical device that gets charred and emits some flames when damaged.

Freeing tiny animals? Sounds good to me.

[Source: Sixthaxis]

Aliens: Colonial Marines back in development

After the success of Aliens vs Predator, it is not very shocking to hear that Aliens: Colonial Marines is back in development. But we have gotten it confirmed by Gearbox Software boss Randy Pitchfork.

“We have an Aliens game with Sega and 20th Century Fox which we’re really excited about, It’s the thing I’ve been stealing from all my career. Now I’m really working on it, but we’ve been quiet about that so far.”

We expect to hear more about this title in the upcoming months or possibly closer to E3. We hope that this time around, it is actually released! Maybe they can even get that Aliens RPG back in development?

[Source: MCVUK]

Valkyria Chronicles’ latest DLC missing English voices

If you have played Valkyria Chronicles and its last 3 DLCs, you would know that they feature English (and optional Japanese) voice overs. It seems that the choice is now gone in the latest DLC titled The Challenge of the Edy.

Why did SEGA take out the English voice overs? Most likely to cut cost. Seems that SEGA is really penny pinching now-a-days. I wonder if Valkyria Chronicles 2 will be Japanese only?

Yakuza 3 – Locations trailer

SEGA’s newest trailer for Yakuza 3 shows us the two locations you get to explore in and beat down any punks who come your way. Featuring Okinawa, as from Yakuza 3, Kazuma and Haruka’s permenant home address as well as Tokyo, the home of the Tojo Clan and several characters from Kazuma’s past.

Yakuza 4 demo hitting March 5th and new minigame announced

Eager fans of the Yakuza series will soon get a chance to try out a segment of Shun Akiyama’s (Picture up top on the far left) story and several minigames in Yakuza 4, with the demo being announced for March 5th. But if you feel you want to take down punks with the Dragon of Dojima or want to try out the two new characters, there is a battle mode also available to try out all four characters. In a bit of older news, SEGA announced a new minigame “Let’s Make a Fighter” a play on SEGA’s “Let’s Make a X” sports series in Japan. You get to train fighters as Saejima (The long haired and big assassin) and help them try to make it all the way to the top, if they can become one of the top fighters in the tournament, you get to use them in tag team tournament battles, sounds good!

[Source: Andriasang for Yakuza 4 demo announcement] & [Source: Andriasang for Let’s Make a Fighter announcement]

Alpha Protocol trailer “A Man Alone” and release date announced

It seems we may finally get a solid date for SEGA’s latest RPG developed by Obsidian. Schedule for release way back in 2009 and delayed, if my memory serves me right, upto three times, SEGA has finally penciled in a date, May 27th and May 28th for Australia and Europe respectively and a slightly later date of June 1st for North America. In the mean time we get to enjoy a snazzy new trailer that shows a little more about the world and the events occurring in Alpha Protocol.

 [Source: IGN]

SEGA explains missing Yakuza 3 content


SEGA has posted that they will be ‘up front’ about the missing content on their blog today, explaining why the content was cut. Basically, either it would be cut or Yakuza 3 won’t be release:

“Ultimately, the choice that had to be made was either no Yakuza 3 in the west, or a version of the game that was almost exactly the same, but with a little less trivia.”

SEGA confirms that the hostess sections are missing and “history trivia”, which I assume they mean the AnswerXAnswer arcade machine sections.

After Burner Climax achievements revealed


I bet you can’t wait to get your hands on the XBLA/PSN port of After Burner Climax? I can’t either, but it seems SEGA has been pretty hush hush about the port.

Well we have a small update, the achievement list for the upcoming game has made it online and you can read it here. As for trophies, they will be the same.

[Thanks: Orta]

Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing Launch Trailer

No longer must we endure a world with out Sega & Sonic All Star Racing, It is almost upon us!

So in the mean time, here is the launch trailer for Sega All Star Racing!

The game has already released in the US and it hits the stores in Europe this Friday, (Feb 26th) I can’t wait to get my hands on it!

Also, be sure too check out IGNs Video Review!

Sega Australia reveals ‘Welcome to Violence’

One year after the excellent ‘Bang Bang Box’ edition of The House of the Dead: Overkill, the good people at Sega Australia have revealed another excellent bundle for the Wii. ‘Welcome to Violence’ contains the games Madworld, The House of the Dead: Overkill and The Conduit. All three games have recieved a warm reception from critics and will satisfy any Wii owner suffering from a bit of the old bloodlust. It all comes presented in a nifty Drive in Cinema/Grindhouse case too!

The price for the compilation is only AUD $109.95, a very nice price considering that major retailers are selling the individual games for between $50 and $80 each! If you don’t have these games yet, now is a great time to check them out!

[Source: www.vooks.net]

Retro Review: Shining Force III Trilogy

Shining Force III is a game that had many Saturn owners wishing that they could speak fluent Japanese. Considered to be one of, if not the best game on Sega Saturn, only one third of the full story ever saw an English translation. While most fans will already know this, the Shining Force III that most westerners are familiar with is only a fraction of an intricate trilogy of games, a true epic in every sense of the word. Three different scenarios, three different stories, all intertwining and combining to form an intricate, sprawling story and game. Recently however, thanks to the hard work of some very dedicated and skilled fans, almost every part of every game has been translated finally allowing the game’s English speaking fan base to enjoy the game as it was intended. So, how does it hold up over a decade later?

Sonic 4.1: Eggman’s checkered ball [Update]


[EDIT: SEGA has asked us to remove the picture in question. You can read the rest of the story about the photo below]

This screen was posted via our forums by our residential troll. I was not going to post it up at first, but the screen does look real. Thoughts?

[Update] It is real, according to Tweaker from Sonic Retro, the image was posted in a IRC room and not suppose to be shown to the public. Of course, Kogen then decided to post that image on our forums, thus creating this post. [/Update]

New Resonance of Fate themes


SEGA has released some new Resonance of Fate themes in  Japan, first up are the PS3 ones. Sadly, they are not dynamic themes, just premium. Meaning it has a static wallpaper and custom icons. There are 2 versions, one called A-Type that features 1 out of the 5 characters from the game and its own icons that have a sort of broken glass look. B-Type is all Reanbell and that theme is shown above.

Hit the jump to see the rest of the themes, including the Xbox 360 premium themes.

Rebellion wants to do AvP follow-up


Jason Kingsley, CEO of Rebellion, has stated that Aliens vs Predator has been a huge success for the company, so much so that they are already in talks with SEGA to do a follow-up game.  This doesn’t mean support for the newly release title is over, they are still planning some DLC.

“We’re also in discussions with Sega about ongoing support for AvP, and also about a sequel to the game,” – Jason Kingsley

Hopefully if SEGA is going to publish another AvP game, that they don’t forget about Aliens: Colonial Marines.

[Source: Gamerzines]