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PlayStation Network

Miscellaneous

Poncho is out now on PC and PlayStation 4


It’s always great to see people on our forums get so far as to work on commercial games. One example of this is Poncho by Delve Entertainment, which was released today on PC and PlayStation 4. Matthew Weekes, a member of our forums who worked on Freedom Planet, was the lead pixel artist for this game. Aside from him, it was designed by Danny Hayes and Jack Odell, who also did the programming and music respectively.
The game’s main twist is it’s an open world where you can choose your own path, and switch between multiple layers like in Mutant Mudds. Originally the game was going to be funded through Kickstarter, but after the crowdfunding campaign failed they still managed get funding from publisher Rising Star Games.
You can buy it now on Steam for PC, or on PlayStation Network for PS4 for $14.99/€14.99/£10.99. The game will also be released on Wii U and PlayStation Vita sometime in the future.

Podcasts

Vidya Retro Highlights: Sonic 4 Episode II Co-op Run

YouTube: [Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4]

Twitch: [Link] [Uncut]

Ever wondered what its like to play Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode II online with a friend? Me and Guess_Who, (With GeneHF and Retro user AndrewRoks1998 also providing commentary!) play through the game despite the struggles, frustration, and desyncs that got in our way in this Vidya Retro highlight. You can watch the misadventures segmented on YouTube or on Twitch in 60 frames per second.

Game News, Sega Retro

Some of SEGA’s PSP Games Get Permanent Price Cuts on PSN (US Only)

sonicrivalspsp

SEGA has sliced the prices of some of their old PSP games on PSN permanently. Here’s a list of the games with their original and slashed prices:

Alien Syndrome: $9.99………$4.99
Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars$9.99………$4.99
Crush: $9.99………$6.99
Sonic Rivals$9.99………$6.99
Sonic Rivals 2$9.99………$6.99
Super Monkey Ball Adventure: $9.99………$4.99
Valkyria Chronicles II$19.99………$9.99

These price cuts do not apply to Europe (at least not yet). Because these games are being sold on PSN they can also be played on the Playstation Vita.

[Source: SEGA Blog]

Game News, Sega Retro

The Cave Finally Has a Release Date: Next Week

SEGA seemingly finally remembered that they hadn’t announced a specific release for The Cave yet even though they said that it’d be out this month, so now they have: it’ll be out January 22nd on Playstation Network and the Wii U eShop, January 23rd for Xbox Live Arcade and PC and Mac through Steam. It’ll cost $14.99 in the US, £9.99 in the UK and €12.99 in the rest of Europe.

What SEGA hasn’t mentioned in their PR is that it will also be available on Linux through Steamplay, making this the first game published by SEGA to be released on the OS.

[Via Ron Gilbert’s Twitter and SEGA Blog]

Game News, Sega Retro

NiGHTS is out on Steam Today and Transformed for Vita in the US Tomorrow

Why not kill two birds with one stone? Sega released the Steam (PC) version of their Sega Heritage version of NiGHTS into Dreams today. This also features the update seen on the console versions that adds 24 points of analog control for the same price as their other Heritage Releases. You can also have a glimpse of the original versions of these games on our Youtube channel. Also this week is the release of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed for Playstation Vita in US stores and the Playstation Store on the Sony Network on the 18th for $29.99

Perhaps we should make this a regular feature for Sonic & Sega releases. We’d have like a list of the games with info pages attached to look something like this…

 

Game News, Sega Retro

New Trailer for Ron Gilbert/Double Fine’s The Cave

SEGA and Double Fine just released a new trailer for The Cave. For those who don’t know what this game is, The Cave is an upcoming puzzle platformer by Ron Gilbert (The Secret of Monkey Island, Maniac Mansion) and Double Fine Productions (Psychonauts, Brütal Legend) that’s being published by SEGA. It’s going to be a lot like those old point and click adventure games, except with a lot less pointing and clicking and more moving left and right and jumping. You have to choose from three of seven characters at the start of the game, all of which have their own quirks. This new trailer showcases four of these characters, and another upcoming trailer will showcase the rest of them. The game can also be played with up to three players in local co-op.

This is a seperate project from Double Fine’s upcoming crowd-funded point and click adventure game Double Fine Adventure, though Ron Gilbert is working on that game as well. The Cave comes out January 2013 on Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network, the Wii U eShop and Steam.

Reviews, Sega Retro

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed: The Retro Review

The developers at Sumo Digital have tuned up their old car, shoved a jalapeno up the tailpipe, changed the belts, look, whatever generic trope you want to indicate for the existence of Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed. You know, that Sonic and Sega racing game? They made another one of those.

Without a doubt, it’s a better game than the predecessor. It’s more of everything: more vehicles, more characters, better physics, more track variety, and so on. It also does what it can to give character/item based racers the competitive edge that the genre has difficulty in reaching. On the other hand, the game has mishaps and hiccups that occur more often than it should which can cause the game to be a frustrating experience, especially in some of the game’s more heated situations.

Continue Reading

Arcade Games, Game News, Game Secrets, Uncategorized

Sonic the Fighters Coming to XBLA/PSN, With New Playable Characters and Online Play

Confirming rumors that have been circulating for some time now, Sega today announced the Model2 Collection, a digital collection of five classic Sega titles originally developed for their Model2 arcade hardware. Among those titles is Sonic the Fighters, a somewhat obscure Sonic-themed fighting game built on the Fighting Vipers engine and previously rereleased as part of Sonic Gems Collection. Most interesting to note is that this new release appears to include several characters not previously playable in the game, such as Metal Sonic and Eggman (who were previously bosses), as well as Honey the Cat – a character based on Candy (known as Honey in Japan) from Fighting Vipers. Retro aficionados will know that Honey was actually buried in the data for the original arcade release but not playable without hacking the game, so to see Sega put in the effort to make her (and the boss characters) playable is truly refreshing after some of their more lackluster porting efforts in the past. The Japanese site for the Model2 Collection also makes mention of online play, which could be a big selling point for this rerelease as well. Currently there’s been no information about an overseas release, but Sonic the Fighters is due to hit Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network this fall in Japan. See the trailer after the break. Continue Reading

Reviews, Uncategorized

Sonic Adventure 2 (XBLA/PSN): The Retro Review

(SPOILER WARNING: This review contains unmarked spoilers. The game is over a decade old and well-known amongst our readers, so we deemed it unnecessary to refrain from spoilers. If you’ve never played the game before, you’ve been warned.)

In a franchise like Sonic that has been on such a rollercoaster of quality for the past twenty years, Sonic Adventure 2 somehow sticks out in the franchise as possibly the most polarizing game in the series. To one part of the fanbase, it’s the pinnacle of Sonic. Because it was the first major Sonic title on a Nintendo platform, many people cite SA2 as their introduction to the franchise. And yet to others, the game symbolizes the start of everything that nearly killed the franchise forever. So as I review Sega’s recent digital rerelease of Sonic Adventure 2 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, I feel it’s necessary to frame the game in context.

Outside of the broader fanbase context, I – like many others – have my own personal relationship with SA2. I was but a wee child when it first came out for the Dreamcast in 2001, and I spent a frightening number of hours engrossed in the game. It wasn’t my first exposure to the series; that title goes to Sonic 2 on the Genesis, whose predecessor and sequels received a similarly obsessive amount of my attention. In fact, the sole reason I asked for a Dreamcast for Christmas in 2000 was so that I could play the original Adventure. So, being the fanatic little child I was, Sonic Adventure 2 earned a special, fuzzy, nostalgiatastic place in my heart. The question, then, is: eleven years later, can it keep it? Continue Reading

Uncategorized

Retro Stream – Sega Heritage Collection

Watch live video from vidyaretro on www.twitch.tv

Later today the Retro crew are going to be hosting a Sega Heritage Collection showcase. We’ve been in contact with Ben K. as to when we can show the games off, and he was kind to let us know that we can go ahead and show off all three games as of this week.

We’ll be taking a look at Nights into Dreams, Jet Set Radio and Sonic Adventure 2. You can expect our fond recollections of all three games and an exploration of each game’s features before their release date. Well, except for Jet Set Radio, you can get that now on Playstation Network, Xbox Live Arcade and Steam. But if you’re still on the fence about any of these titles, be sure to check out our livestream later today at 4PM. You can also check back here for a direct link to the feed as well.