*TSSZ News posted 12 new screenshots for both the XBOX 360 and Wii versions of Sonic the Hedgehog 4 -episode I.
*Thinking of pre-ordering Vanquish?
Take a look at this impressive offer by Play.com.
*Eurogamer reviewed Phantasy Star Portable 2 and rated it 7/10.
*SEGA Japan is about to produce multiple Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity
t-shirts. They’re available from next month (from HERE, good luck with that) and will cost roughly ¥3,000 (~$30).
*Apart from Super Monkey Ball, SEGA currently has SIX games in development for the Nintendo 3DS. One of them will be a Sonic game (unsurprisingly), another goes by the mysterious name of Rika-Chan and possibly has something to do with a popular dress-up doll.
SEGA’s first Nintendo 3DS game was unveiled today.
‘LONDON & SAN FRANCISCO (29th September, 2010) – SEGA® Europe Ltd. and SEGA® of America, Inc. today announced that the legendary Super Monkey Ball series has evolved and is coming exclusively to the Nintendo 3DS™ in 2011.
Developed by SEGA Studio Japan, Super Monkey Ball™ for Nintendo 3DS™* offers a whole new level of interactivity and fun, whilst completely immersing you in the world of your favourite monkeys – AiAi, MeeMee, GonGon and Baby – as they truly come alive in front of your eyes.’
Full press release HERE. The first batch of screenshots can be found HERE.
*Is Sonic the Hedgehog 4 -episode I just two weeks away!? A recent Tweet by Microsoft’s UK PR Dominic Carey seems to suggest this.
*More Sonic the Hedgehog 4 -episode I news. The game’s prices are confirmed:
-XBLA - 1200 MS points
-PSN - €12,99
-Wii - 1500 points
*With S4 -episode I around the corner, SEGA’s Brand Manager Ken Balough thought it was time to update us on -episode II.
*Famitsu magazine was the first to review Vanquish. So, is it any good? With scores of 9/9/9/8, the answer seems ‘yes!’.
*Three sites reviewed Phantasy Star Portable 2: GameZone and PALGN both rated the game 7/10, while the Digital Chumps were slightly less enthousiastic: 5.8/10.
*Our friends at SegaOnline posted multiple videos of SEGA’s latest Arcade games from the AM Show. Check them out HERE.
*Want to help SEGA win the ‘Action game of the Year’, ‘Sports game of the Year’, ‘Strategy game of the Year’ or ‘Ultimate Game of the Year’ award?
Cast your Golden Joystick Awards vote HERE.
Courtesy of Chart-Track.
This week’s entries in the Full price Top 40:
No entries this week. Boo!
This week’s entries in the Budget price Top 40:
[#10](+2) SEGA Mega Drive Ultimate Collection
[#20](+6) Aliens vs Predator
[#30](-8) Football Manager 2010
*Amazon posted a picture of the European special edition. It will come with several bonus action figures. (thanks: Gamefront)
*SEGA Europe added a new gameplay trailer
(simply called ‘Gameplay trailer #2′) to their Youtube channel.
*Despite all the comparison being made between Sonic Colors and the daytime stages of Sonic Unleashed–and its portable counterpart being juxtaposed to Sonic Rush–Sega of America’s Keith Dwyer doesn’t necessarily want you to see it that way:
“The game is not intended to be a sequel to Unleashed or “Unleashed Lite,” but rather key elements of Unleashed form the framework for the type of gameplay experience we were looking for,” Dwyer said. “Sonic Colors then is its own game with its own story, themes and features and the one feature that locks that in is the Color Powers.” [Full news story by TSSZ News HERE]
==
’till next week!
‘Football Manager 2011 will allow gamers to publish achievements and goals to social networking sites such as Twitter, Sports Interactive’s announced.’
Full news story HERE.
*SEGA Europe posted some Yakuza 4 screenshots.
Go check them out HERE.
*TSSZ News posted 16 new screenshots of the Starlight Carnival stage
from Sonic Colo(u)rs.
*Some final Sonic Adventure ratings:
-Sonic Adventure (XBLA) -6/10 (GameStyle)
-Sonic Adventure (XBLA) -2/5 (GamePro)
-Sonic Adventure (XBLA) -7/10 (The Gamers Temple)
-Sonic Adventure (XBLA/PSN) -5/10 (VideoGamer)
-Sonic Adventure (PSN) -5.5/10 (ZTGameDomain)
Block People! That’s right, that lovable brick stacking arcade game is
back and an early trailer can be found HERE. (thanks: SegaOnline).
*Eurogamer posted a Sonic Free Riders (Kinect) ‘hands-on’. Read it HERE.
*‘SEGA apologises for Yakuza 3 cuts’. Bit late to please some -frankly- moaning fans, really.
*Sonic Adventure hits PSN. Check out the update by SEGA USA.
*Famitsu magazine reviewed K-On! After School Live!! (PSP) and rated it 8/8/8/8.
*Our friends at SegaOnline have been very busy, check out some of their latest updates:
-Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity [Story Trailer]
-New Vanquish footage from the TGS
-Exclusive Yakuza of the End videos from the TGS
-Exclusive Sonic Colo(u)rs footage from the TGS
-Exclusive Valkyria Chronicles 3 footage from the TGS
Courtesy of Chart-Track.
This week’s entries in the Full price Top 40:
[#36](+3) Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing
This week’s entries in the Budget price Top 40:
[#12](-) SEGA Mega Drive Ultimate Collection
[#22](+11) Football Manager 2010
[#26](-6) Aliens vs Predator
Two games had their release date confirmed:
-Football Manager 2011 (PC/MAC/PSP, Europe) -November 5
-Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity (PSP, Japan) -February 24, 2011
==
’till next week!
*PlatinumGames annouced a second Vanquish demo called the ‘Vanquish Challenge Mode Demo’. More information can be found HERE.
*According to PlatinumGames’s Hideki Kamiya a Bayonetta sequel is likely. Responding to a fan asking if there will be a Bayonetta 2 over Twitter, Kamiya wrote in English, “I believe so.”
*TSSZ News posted 20 new Sonic Colo(u)rs screenshots, straight from the Tokyo Game Show. They’re from both the Wii and DS versions.
*Another site reviewed Sonic Adventure (XBLA/PSN).
GameZone wasn’t quite so harsh on the good ol’ Hedgehog: 7/10.
*1UP talked to Treasure president Masato Maegawa about Radiant Silvergun and the company’s future releases on XBLA.
*A PAL packshot of Sonic Free Riders (Kinect) was added to the product’s listing on Amazon. Will this become the official cover?
*Only annouced yesterday, we can now post a list of some of
Phantasy Star Online 2 ’s features (many thanks to Shougai PSO):
- “Action” and “RPG” re-connected
- Increased variety of client orders
- Map functions changing in real time
- User-created story
- New interface for environmental interactions
- Global support
- Thorough racial balances
- Full-user participation events
- Seasonal changes
- New chat system
- New mail functions
- Drastic item synthesis overhaul
- Even wider variety of ways to raise your character
- New direction of event scenes
- Approach from NPCs
- Silhouette changes by add-ons
- New photon arts
- Community support content
- Additional customizations when you create your character
- Category-based weapon training system
- Implementation of asynchronous communication
- New party system
- Consideration of enemy cooperation
- Limitless content
- New approach to the game client
- Implementation of a new “life work”
- Daily surprises
- “Trump card” system
- Mutual interaction functionality for new and veteran users
*Yesterday we had Valkyria Chronicles 3, today it’s Phantasy Star Online 2! Read all about the return of this classic Dreamcast game HERE.
*More news of size: Radiant Silvergun is due for release on XBLA. This news was Tweeted by Microsoft’s Major Nelson. A trailer can be found HERE.
*Another news fact by Major Nelson: SEGA just announced a game called ‘Rise of Nightmares’ for Kinect:
‘LONDON & SAN FRANCISCO (16th September, 2010) – SEGA Europe Ltd. and SEGA of America Inc today announced that Rise of Nightmares will be released globally in 2011 exclusively on Kinect for Xbox 360.
Rise of Nightmares offers a spine-tingling horror experience which uses the innovative new controls of Kinect to give players the ultimate fright. Using their whole body the player will experience fear and tension as never before in this first person horror adventure.
Rise of Nightmares will be available on Kinect for Xbox 360 in 2011. For more information about Rise of Nightmares, please go to http://www.riseofnightmares.com/ ‘
*Yesterday we had the scans, today the trailer: Ryu ga Gotoku: Of the End.
*SEGA USA posted several new screenshots of Sonic Free Riders (Kinect).
*It’s only been a ‘rumour’ up to now (although everybody knew it would happen eventually), now it’s official: Valkyria Chronicles 3: Unrecorded Chronicles. Gamefront posted six scans.
* IGN and 1UP were the first two sites to review Sonic Adventure (XBLA) and rated it 3.5/10 and D- respectively. Ahem.
*Gamefront also posted five scans with many new screenshots of Ryu ga Gotoku: Of The End (Yakuza 5).
*A whopping 38 new screenshots of Vanquish can be found HERE.
*Famitsu magazine reviewed Kurohyou: Ryu ga Gotoku Shinshou and awarded it with solid 9/9/9/9 ratings.
*Want that copy of Sonic the Hedgehog, Let’s Tap or Girl’s Garden autographed? Well, Yuji Naka will attend the London Games Festival in November..
*SegaOnline reposted two trailers by SEGA Japan: Sonic Adventure (XBLA) and Crazy Taxi (XBLA).
*XBOX360Achievements posted the full list of Sonic Adventure achievements. There’s a total of 15 achievements worth 250GS(!).
*SEGA Europe posted some more details of that limited edition of Vanquish. Apparently, it will also be available in the UK via Zavvi, while French customers will be able to obtain the set from Game.
*SEGA Japan added several new trailers from the Tokyo Game Show to their Youtube channel, our friends at SegaOnline posted an overview.
*Some final ratings of Gunblade NY / L.A. Machineguns Arcade Hits pack & Valkyria Chronicles 2:
-Gunblade NY / L.A. Machineguns Arcade Hits pack - 6/10 (N-Europe)
-Gunblade NY / L.A. Machineguns Arcade Hits pack - B- (GameShark)
-Gunblade NY / L.A. Machineguns Arcade Hits pack - 8/10 (Game Vortex)
-Valkyria Chronicles 2 -7.9/10 (GamingExcellence)
-Valkyria Chronicles 2 -8.8/10 (NZGamer)
-Valkyria Chronicles 2 -9/10 (PlayStation Lifestyle)
Due to a change of direction for ELSPA (now known as UKIE) we will no longer be able to publish a full overview of the UK chart. Monday’s update will only include the SEGA titles found in ‘Full price Top 40′ and ‘Budget price Top 40′.
This week’s entries in the Full price Top 40:
[#32](+1) Sonic Classic Collection
[#37](-6) Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing
This week’s entries in the Budget price Top 40:
[#8](-) SEGA Mega Drive Ultimate Collection
[#13](-4) Aliens vs Predator
[#16](-4) Football Manager 2010
..and TSSZ News posted some screenshots.
==
’till next week!
*Our friends at SegaOnline posted pictures of the AM Show 2010. Go check them out HERE.
*More SEGA games to hit the iPhone: Altered Beast (..), Gunstar Heroes (good) & Chu Chu Rocket (excellent!). For more information and some screenshots take a look HERE.
*SEGA USA posted a trailer and a load of concept art of Shogun 2: Total War.
*Yakuza 5 is now officially called ‘Yakuza of the End’ and Gamefront posted the first batch of screenshots.
*TSSZ News posted 5 new Sonic Colo(u)rs (Wii) screenshots and 8 new screenshots of the DS version.
*Sonic the Hedgehog 4 -episode I back in action: check out this new Lost Labyrinth trailer.
*Eurogamer posted a Virtua Tennis 4 ‘hands-on’. They seem pretty enthousiastic, let’s hope it stays like that.
*SEGA Europe has released a large selection of new screens for its SEGA Mega Drive compilation for the PC.
*If you’re living in France, you might be interested to know a special limited edition of Vanquish will be released over there. It will contain the game (obviously) and a statue of the game’s main character.
*SEGA Japan’s Tokyo Game Show website is now operating on full force complete with an updated ‘on show’ games list;
-Vanquish (XBOX 360/PlayStation 3)
-Virtual-On Force (XBOX 360)
-Sonic Colours (Wii/DS)
-Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity (PSP)
-Kurohyou: Ryu ga Gotoku Shinshou (PSP)
-Shining Hearts (PSP)
-K-On After School Live!! (PSP)
-Sonic the Hedgehog 4 -episode I (XBOX 360 / PlayStation 3 / Wii)
-Sonic Adventure (XBLA)
-Crazy Taxi (XBLA)
-Power Smash 4 (Virtua Tennis 4, Playstation 3)
-Sonic Free Riders (XBOX 360)
-Yakuza of the End (PlayStation 3)
It ain’t unlikely we’ll see a couple of ’surprise releases’, either.
..and to celebrate that fact multiple websites ‘did’ something:
*DC Emulation posted two interviews from the homebrew scene; one with SenileTeam, another with NG: Dev.Team.
*Remember the intriguing story of the unreleased BETA’s of THIEF 2 and System Shock 2 someone found on his dev-kit? Well, he ’set them free’ today. (Screenshots HERE)
*A round-up of other ’mentions’ on the net:
-Platform Nation
-CntrlAltKill
-SnapBuzz
-InnerChildGamer
-IronStar
Some new review scores came in:
*Gunblade NY & L.A. Machineguns Arcade Hits Pack -7/10 (Nintendo Life)
*Gunblade NY & L.A. Machineguns Arcade Hits Pack -B (Gaming Age)
*Gunblade NY & L.A. Machineguns Arcade Hits Pack -3.5/5 (PixlBit)
*Gunblade NY & L.A. Machineguns Arcade Hits Pack -2/5 (Digital Spy)
*Gunblade NY & L.A. Machineguns Arcade Hits Pack -6.7/10 (Pure Nintendo)
*Kurohyou: Ryu ga Gotoku Shinshou -8.5/8/8/8 (Dengeki PS)
*Valkyria Chronicles 2 -9/10 (IGN)
*Valkyria Chronicles 2 -8/10 (GamesTM magazine)
*Valkyria Chronicles 2 -4.5/5 (GameSpy)