An overview of next month’s releases:
[Europe]
*Football Manager Handheld 2009 (PSP, PC, MAC)
*Sonic Unleashed (Xbox 360, PS2, PS3, Wii)
[USA]
*Sonic Unleashed (PS2, Wii)
*Valkyria Chronicles (PS3)
*Worldwide Soccer Manager 2009 (PC/MAC)
[Japan]
*Fushigi no Dungeon: Fuurai no Shiren DS 2 - Sabaku no Majou (DS)
*Kaite Oboeru: Dora-Gana (DS)
*Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan! -SEGA the Best (PS3)
*Saka-Tsuku DS: Touch and Direct (DS)
*Shiseido Beauty Solution Kaihatsu Center Kanshuu: Project Beauty (DS)
*Sonic Unleashed (Wii)
*Power Smash 3 -SEGA the Best (PS3)
SEGA announced that they are to publish High Voltage Software’s Wii shooter The Conduit in Spring 2009. The Conduit garnered several awards at this years E3 and certainly seems to be one of the better third party Wii releases around, so this is good news for SEGA.
Full story HERE
No re-entries in the all-format top 10 but Mario & Sonic at the Olympics moves up three places to claim the #6 spot in the Wii chart and moves up one place in the DS chart (#8).
The budget entries: Sonic Rivals 2 remains at #8 in the PSP budget chart,
The Golden Compass drops one place to #5 in the PS2 chart and the usual PC budget entries (Football Manager 2008 #4, Medieval II: Total War #10) complete this week’s UK chart overview.
..in Japan, that is. Despite being released for the PS2 next month in both the USA and Europe, SEGA Japan have yet to confirm a Japanese release. Are SEGA abandoning the PS2? Probably not, since Thunderforce VI is just around the corner. Oh and the little known fact that the PS2 still outsells the PS3 in Japan..
*Sonic World Adventure Official site
SEGA Europe added the 2nd part to the Sonic Unleashed dev diary. (You can read the first part HERE). The main things Yoshihisa (the game’s project leader) talks about are the new gameplay mechanics and the new ‘Hedgehog’ engine. Included are a couple of development screenshots, which show you exactly why the new Sonic stages look so good.
So, Golden Axe: Beast Rider might have left you with a bitter taste but fret not; Valkyria Chronicles is here to save the day.
Review scores so far:
Eurogamer: 8/10
Gameplayer: 8.5/10
RPGFan: 8.8/10
Official PlayStation Magazine (US): 9/10
RPGLand: 10/10
PlayStation World: 8/10
SEGA will be releasing Valkyria Chronicles in Europe on 31st October. The US release date should be roughly the same.
SEGA Japan recently published Culdcept DS, a portable version of the classic board/card game (based on the 1997 Saturn version, it seems). In its first week on sale it sold 48,100 units, which earned SEGA a fifth place in the all-format top 10.
Let’s hope it finds its way to the USA and Europe sometime soon!
Happen to live in Japan? Near Osaka? If so, you’re in luck as SEGA planned another ‘SEGA new soft advance experience’ (an event with software previews in other words) on November 1st in Namba LABI Gate.
Entrance is free and people will be able to sample a variety of upcoming games like 428, Bleach, Samba de Amigo, Sonic World Adventure, Lets Tap (all Wii) and Phantasy Star Zero and Blazer Drive (A manga based action adventure game) for the DS.
As predicted on this site a few weeks ago Mario & Sonic made its re-appearance in the charts. In this case; the Wii and DS charts at #9 for both.
On the budget part: The Golden Compass remains at #4 in the PS2 chart, while in the PC chart Football Mananger 2008 is finally unthroned by World of Warcraft and moves to #2. Medieval II: Total War remains at #5. Surprise entry of the week houses in the PSP budget chart: Sonic Rivals 2 at #8.
Lets see how Golden Axe: Beast Rider does next week..
SEGA’s press release:
SONIC TOP DOG HEDGEHOG
A bright blue, spiky-haired, lightening-fast hedgehog has beaten not-so-Super Mario, cyber-babe Lara Croft and giant ape Donkey Kong to the title of the nation’s favourite video-game character.
Over 500 UK gamers voted in the poll to mark the launch of London Games Festival, which is expected to attract over 100,000 computer games fans to the capital this week.
Ahead of his appearance at the Festival, Sonic the Hedgehog, the official mascot of computer giant SEGA, was crowned the most popular video-game character of all time collecting nearly a quarter of all votes (24 per cent). Super Mario and Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft came second and third gaining 21 per cent and 16 per cent of the vote respectively.
The UK’s top ten most popular video games characters are as follows:
1. Sonic the Hedgehog (24 per cent)
2. Super Mario (21 per cent)
3. Lara Croft (Tomb Raider) (16 per cent)
4. Donkey Kong (11 per cent)
5. Pac Man (10 per cent)
6. Link (The Legend of Zelda) (5 per cent)
7. Max Payne (4 per cent)
8. Pikachu (Pokemon) (3 per cent)
9. Niko Belic (Grand Theft Auto series) (2 per cent)
10. Blanka (Street Fighter) (1 per cent)
* Other (3 per cent)
Not sure if a mere 500 voters count for anything, but hey.
Always wanted to know if the Battle maps will be bigger in Empire: Total War? Curious about how all the nations will look? Interested in what new character traits will be included?
Well, the Empire: Total War FAQ was updated and answers all of these questions.
..and they’re not very favorable. A short list;
*Eurogamer: 3/10
*Gamedaily: 7/10
*Gamepro: 2/5
*Official Xbox Magazine: 4/10
*Team Xbox: 6.8/10
*IGN: 3.2/10
Let’s hope SEGA get their act together sometime..
The official website for Sonic Unleashed was launched today. Highlight of the site are two new videos.
http://www.sonic-unleashed.com/
Source: SEGA USA
After its success in Japan, the good news reached us Phantasy Star Portable (for PSP) will be coming to Europe. Its planned release will be Spring 2009. The USA version will be released March 2009.
More info HERE
Sadly, Samba de Amigo dropped out of the Wii top 10. Quite unbelievable when ‘ not quite classic material, really’ Carnival Funfair games and Big Beach sports are able to. Still, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood -despite a drop of three places to #6- remains in the DS chart.
On the budget part; The Golden Compass (PS2) gains another two places to #4 while the usual two-up Football Manager (#1) and Medieval II: Total War (#5) bring in some money from the PC budget chart.
A disappointing week perhaps, but considering the lack of recent releases not really something a big surprise. ’till next week!
..you might wonder. Well, take a look at the interview that 1UP published. Gearbox president and CEO Randy Pitchford talks about Aliens as well as the recently released Samba de Amigo.
Sonic Unleashed producer Akinori Nishiyama quoted;
“There’s always the possibility. Whether it would be viable remains to be seen, but having a new game — or even a remake of the GBA games, which we now can’t use [thanks to the DSi] — would certainly be possible. One of our ideas has been that on older consoles, you may have had only 16 colors. One thing we could do is make a game like Mega Man 9; do a new Sonic, but in an old style”
Source: 1UP.
Alpha Protocol, the upcoming modern spy RPG from Obsidian Entertainment and SEGA is now up on the internet for your clicking enjoyment. The site contains screens, game info, and will see a trailer arriving very soon.
Source: SEGA USA
Dengeki online uploaded a lenghty report from SEGA’s Tokyo Game Show booth. Sonic World Adventure (Known as Sonic Unleashed over here, naturally), Let’s Tap, 428, Phantasy Star 0 and 7th Dragon were all there.
SEGA’s booth at TGS2008
Short but sweet; PS3 owners can now download a playable Valkyria Chronicles demo (580MB) from the PlayStation store. Get downloading!
Thanks to Gamed for the news