Monthly Archives

September 2012

Game News

Here’s a Bit of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed’s Soundtrack

Destructoid has gotten their hands on some samples from the soundtrack of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. Unlike the previous All-Stars Racing game, which only had a compilation of songs from past SEGA games, this sequel will have remixes by Richard Jacques. Yes, the very same Richard Jacques that did the music for Sonic 3D: Flickies Island and Sonic R. Destructoid has a longer written preview for the music in All-Stars Racing Transformed, but if you just want to listen to the samples you can do so below.

First up is a remix of Splash Wave from Outrun:

Than there’s a mash-up of Hideki Naganuma’s That’s Enough and Richard Jacques’ own track Everybody Jump Around, both from Jet Set Radio:

And last but not least, a remix of the Golden Axe theme:

Game News

Japan-Only Sonic Adventure 2 Trailer Builds Hype, Shows Oddities

In less than a week, the seas part and Sonic Adventure 2 arrives on XBLA and PSN to save the series from the current complaint of the time period. Since its reveal at Sonic Boom 2012 in July, very little has been seen of the game, aside from a one-level demo for PAX Prime attendees.

While this trailer hasn’t made its way to Western shores just yet, we can grab our first substantive looks of gameplay, as well as a few oddities. Off the bat, some will notice that some scenes are depicted in 16:9 display and others in regular 4:3, black bars and all. We’re not exactly sure what’s up with the inconsistency, but it may be a sign that work was still in progress or some cutscenes cannot be modified without camera clipping issues cropping up, or in the case of CGI scenes, being re-rendered entirely.

Otherwise, the trailer offers little new in details. Expanded multiplayer and Chao Karate will be added in through separate Battle DLC, and while the game has some improved texture work in places, it also gives it a strange diluted look to it. Overall, this is Sonic Adventure 2 as you truly imagined it.

Game News, Sega Retro

Aliens Colonial Marines Impressions from Gearbox Community Day 2012

 

Gearbox’s Community Day 2012 happened recently which gave the general public another chance of checking out Aliens Colonial Maries before its release next year. On their showfloor were two different multiplayer game modes; Escape (Previously seen at PAX,) and Team Deathmatch (Previously seen at E3 and Gamestop’s Managers Conference.) All of which running on PC hardware with Xbox 360 game controllers. There was also this Borderlands 2 nonsense going on there. Something about a launch party? Its now available in stores and popular digital services? Adam Sessler? Whatever. We’re talking Aliens here.

You’ll also find a small image gallery pertaining to the Video Game History Museum as they were also on the floor showing off old video game memorabilia which showcased old pre-order bonuses, prototype hardware, prototype games, clothing and more. All this and more can be found after the jump.

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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.

Animation

Sonic Desperately Tries to Look Cool on Wreck-It Ralph Poster (UPDATE: more posters)

Disney recently released a new trailer of Wreck-It Ralph, which features Sonic desperately trying to look cool by doing an old pose he did for Sonic 2006. Eggman appears on the poster as well along with other characters like Qbert, Zangief, M. Bison and Qbert. You can click on the poster on the left for a bigger version.

Sonic appears in the new trailer as well. You can see that one here. He only appears of like one second so blink and you might miss him. He also appears in a different scene in the Japanese trailer for an even shorter amount of time. He appears at about the 0:36 timestamp. In the scene it looks like he joined a party with a bunch of characters from the fictional game the main character of the movie comes from, Fix-It Felix Jr. You can see Wreck-It Ralph in theaters from November 2nd.

UPDATE: Disney has released four more posters for the movie, with one of them having Sonic front and center and another one with Eggman standing behind M. Bison. Another one of the posters also has that rhino boss from Altered Beast, so that’s neat. Also, yes Sonic does actually look kinda cool in the new poster, but my point that he is desperately trying to do so still stands! You can see the new posters in the gallery below.

 

 

 

Game News

Sonic Adventure 2, NiGHTS Release Dates and Prices Confirmed

Mark your calendars: the HD ports of Sonic Adventure 2 and NiGHTS into Dreams will be coming your way in early October. PSN users can expect to pick up Sonic Adventure 2 and NiGHTS on Oct. 2 for $9.99 each while XBLA users can get their turn on Oct. 5 for 800 Microsoft Points.

On top of that, SA2’s Battle DLC, which adds more multiplayer maps, characters, and Chao Karate, will be available on release for an extra $2.99/240MSP. Those who purchase NiGHTS will get access to the original Christmas NiGHTS extra content at no additional cost. It’s unknown if this will include the Sonic portion of the game, but all signs from the PS2 port of NiGHTS point to very unlikely.

[Source: SEGA]

Game News

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed Wii U Gameplay

Games Radar has uploaded a video showing the Wii U version of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. The video keeps up with the tradition that 90% of all people playing Sonic demos on camera suck. The course shown in the video is a new Seaside Hill track, a location which already had three courses in Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing.

The player notes some issues with the version like that looking at the screen on the Wii U Gamepad is distracting and more importantly, that the framerate has trouble keeping up it at 30fps. Of course this is a work-in-progress build, so this will probably be fixed in the final version. (hopefully) The Wii U version will be available on the launch of the Wii U, which is November 18th in the US and November 30th in Europe.

Game News

Bayonetta 2 Coming Exclusively to Wii U

Nintendo announced at their press conference earlier today that Bayonetta 2 will be coming exclusively for the Wii U. Surprisingly the game will not be published by SEGA, but by Nintendo. SEGA will instead act as an advisor on the project. It’s also the company that owns the franchise, so it’s a bit hard to not put their logo on the game.

The director of the first game, Hideki Kamiya, will only be a supervisor for this sequel. This is because he is already busy directing another upcoming game by Platinum published by Nintendo, The Wonderful 101. Instead, the game will be directed by Yusuke Hashimoto, who was the producer of the original Bayonetta.

Game News

Sonic Adventure 2 Achievements Revealed

Ever wanted to shamelessly show off to everyone just how awesome you are at Sonic Adventure 2 but, outside of pictures or maybe videos, never could? Luckily, the modern day way of showing off your e-richard has you covered.

While there aren’t any outrageous undertakings to note like raising up the ever difficult (and horrifically time consuming) to obtain “God Chao” or proceeding through Hero and Last Story without ever getting Knuckles’ air mask (which no doubt some of you have done on pure accident), the worst the game offers the player is to complete every mission with an A Rank.

It’s all fun and games until you need to not hit cars or walls in a glorified rocket powered shopping trolley.

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Game News, Game Secrets, Merchandise, Sega Retro

[Updated] Pre-Order for Valkyria Chronicles 3 Artbook Available on Amazon.com

Good on Udon. Outside of the select music  tracks featured in the Humble Music Bundle a couple of months back, they’re set on releasing the corresponding artbook for Valkyria Chronicles 3 in the US and is now taking pre-orders on Amazon.com. Despite the fact that, well, we never got the game it represents. While it may seem rather ridiculous to see this artbook for sale, it is a possibility for Sega to try and test the waters for a US release of the game. Furthermore, it may see a new light yet through digital distribution on the Playstation Network for Playstation Portable or Playstation Vita owners due to Sega’s revised business strategy.

Or we could just be getting the artbook and piracy is still rampant on Sony devices. Such a harsh reality. On the plus side, there’ll be plenty of character biographies and story summaries to avoid all that pesky gameplay. The book’s release is set for December 2012.

[Source: Amazon.com, Cheap Ass Gamer, Udon Entertainment]

UPDATE! Udon Entertainment’s front page has nine images to showcase the English version of the artbook.You can also see them in the gallery below.

 

 

 

 

 

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