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.
SEGA just released a trailer showcasing the three upcoming digital re-releases of Jet Set Radio, NiGHTS Into Dreams and Sonic Adventure 2, which are all being released under the SEGA Heritage label. The video shows that all games will also feature video interviews with it’s developers.
It also confirms that Sonic Adventure 2 and NiGHTS Into Dreamswill be coming to Steam, Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network in October. According to the Xbox Live leak back from June the Sonic Adventure 2 port will be released on October 3rd, 2012, so it’s somewhat safe to assume that it will be released then.
Greetings from the show floor. Or rather, from the couch in the house of a great friend as I wearily type out this information as I get up. Been out and about at the Penny Arcade Expo, and I’m ready to bang out some tidbits from the show floor while sipping from my pipe mug courtesy of $35 and fangamer.net. What follows is some general news as well as game impressions from some of the games on the show floor as well as a small sampling of pictures I took. Lets also not forget…
Retro Community Meet-Up Reminder
Hey now, Seattle is NOT that cold. Plus the community meet up is later today at noon. Don’t forget the details and come check in with other community members and staff. That goes for you too, ShadeVortex.
With Gamescom and PAX Prime nearing more news about what will be shown at the events starts trickling in. Like SEGA has officially announced the games they’ll be showing at PAX, which includes the Sonic Adventure 2 re-release, Phantasy Star Online 2, The Cave, an unannounced digital title (which is a new IP) and more. Here is their full line-up:
SEGA will showcase their games at booths 242 and 252 at PAX in Seattle, Washington, from August 31 through September 2, 2012. SEGA also confirmed along with THQ that they’ll be showing their games at Gamescom, which is in Germany, Cologne from August 15th through August 19th, even though both previously said that they won’t be at attending the event. Their games will be shown at the Koch Media and Saturn stands. Also, according to El33tonline SEGA will hold a press conference on August 16th at Gamescom, though it isn’t listed with the rest of the press dates so whether or not the conference will actually happen isn’t certain.
While the re-release of Sonic Adventure 2 has only been officially announced for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 at the moment, it seems obvious enough that it will be coming to PC as well. After all, every other Dreamcast re-release so far has been released on PC as well and the upcoming ports of Jet Set Radio and NiGHTS Into Dreamswill be available on the platform too. Now the ESRB listing has shows that you will be able to get SA2 on digital download services like Steam in it’s listing of the game.
Unlike the Dreamcast and Gamecube versions of the game, this version has gotten a rating of E10+. This is presumably because the rating didn’t exist yet when the game was originally released for those consoles. The reasons listed for the rating are “Mild Cartoon Violence” and “Mild Lyrics”. Apparently kiddies shouldn’t be listening to Unknown From M.E..
For the past few years, Sega has struggled to keep important information on upcoming titles from leaking to the public before an official announcement – and by “struggled”, I mean “failed spectacularly”. Sonic Unleashed saw promotional images as well as an early video of Savannah Citadel find their way to the public before the game was even announced; Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I leaked in its entirety prior to release, and the negative reaction to the game at the time led to a six month delay; Sonic Generations had its entire roster of levels, bosses, and characters revealed months in advance; even Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II was accidentally released several weeks early on Steam.
And so the cycle has continued with the upcoming high-definition remaster of the Dreamcast’s swan song, Sonic Adventure 2. Waaay back in April, we reported that the title had been spotted in a massive leaked list of upcoming Xbox Live Arcade titles. A month later, Major Nelson of Xbox Live pseudo-fame accidentally posted that Avatar items based on the game were due for release. And finally, just last month, Microsoft themselves posted an official listing for the game on Xbox.com, complete with screenshots, box art, and a release date of October 3, 2012. At this point, presumably Sega realized that keeping the game a secret any longer would be utterly futile, so Ken Balough and the Sega of America superteam took to the stage at Sonic Boom on Friday to show the first official trailer for the upcoming Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network rerelease, poking a bit of self-deprecating fun at the company’s inability to keep a secret. Oh, and apologies in advance for the overly-enthusiastic crowd.
At this point this isn’teven news, but it’s been (pretty much) confirmed that Sonic Adventure 2 is indeed coming to Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network. Just not by Sega, a page for the game has been set up on Xbox Live with 10 screenshots showing the game in widescreen. This means either someone at Microsoft messed up and that Sega is going to announce it really really soon, or just that someone at Microsoft messed up. The last of these screenshots shows the circle button of a Dualshock controller, so if you thought that this was going to be an Xbox Live exclusive for some reason there’s your confirmation that it isn’t. And seeing how all Dreamcast ports by Sega for XBLA and PSN have also been released on Steam, it can be expected that the game will be released on that as well.
There are some more details on the Xbox Live page for this HD re-release. It’ll have online leaderboards and there will also be some sort of DLC. Bets are on that they are going to sell the extra content from the Gamecube version for five bucks. The current release date is October 3rd, 2012, meaning you’ll have plenty of time to look for those nostalgia goggles you must have lying around somewhere. You can find the screenshots after the jump.
Microsoft’s community manager Larry Hyb (aka Major Nelson) has posted a schedule showing what to expect on Xbox Live this and next week. One listing that may be of interest to Sonic fans is the addition of Sonic Adventure 2 Avatar items coming to the Xbox Live Marketplace on June 5th. At the moment there are no details on what the Avatar items are, so we’ll have to wait to see if a Shadow costume will be added to the creepy Sonic costumes available on Xbox Live.
After much fan demand, Sega has begun releasing several of their Sonic series soundtracks on to Apple’s iTunes service. Most of these albums, though recently released, aren’t too easy to track down and import for those looking to legally own the music, never mind worrying about bootlegs.
It should be noted that the 20th Anniversary album for the two Adventure titles aren’t as all encompassing as their original releases, which may turn some fans off. However, this is the best chance short of importing to show support for the musicians that worked hard to keep series’ reputation for good music alive and well.
A list with games that are coming to Xbox Live Arcade popped up on the popular gaming forum NeoGAF yesterday. While it contains games that were already announced such as Battleblock Theater and Sonic 4 Episode II, a bunch of unannounced games are included as well. Among these is Sonic Adventure 2, a game either fondly or not so fondly remembered by Sonic fans. This was posted by a forum member with only 8 posts with no information on where it came from though. Besides that, it also includes cancelled games like Bonk: Brink of Extinction and Saints Row Moneyshot, so there’s barely any credibility to this.
Or at least there wasn’t until Harmonix (the developer behind the Rock Band franchise) revealed Rock Band Blitz later on the same day, a game included on the very same list. Meaning there’s actually a possibility that the it is real and that Sonic Adventure 2 may be coming to XBLA, or was at least once in development. Other unannounced SEGA titles that may be coming to Xbox Live are more Vintage Collections with Golden Axe and Streets of Rage. The full list can be found after the jump.
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.
