Sega, Universomo team up to deliver mobile games, rule world
Posted by Chris. Filed under Chris, News.
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Sega and Universomo have signed a deal for the European mobile game developer to bring two of Sega’s franchises to mobile systems this spring.
If you’re not familiar with Universomo, they’re the guys who produced mobile version of LEGO Star Wars 2 and Destroy All Humans! last year, and they’re also developing 300: The Mobile Game.
“Besides opening of our US branch, the deal with Sega is definitely one of the main Universomo highlights of 2007! There are not many companies with such a long and bold history in the gaming business like Sega,” said Atte Kotiranta, Managing Director of Universomo USA.
Glenn Wissner, Senior Producer for Sega of America said, “Universomo really understands Sega product and have been excellent in keeping to original designs while also adding their own spin and taking our well known brands to a new level of quality. They meet their objectives and often exceed our expectation in the areas of game design, playability and art direction. I look forward to working with Universomo on future games and would highly recommend them as a mobile game developer.”
Hmmm, I don’t know whether to be happy or disturbed by Sega’s recent trend of licensing out its intellectual properties to third-party companies. I guess these guys can’t do any worse than some of the things Sega has done to its own franchises though.
Sega unveils Golden Compass
Posted by Nathan. Filed under Microsoft Xbox 360, Nathan, News, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, PC, Sony PSP, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3.
Sega of America and Sega Europe today revealed the first details about the videogame adaptation of The Golden Compass, an upcoming New Line Cinema movie based on the book by Philip Pullman. Shiny Entertainment, best known for developing videogames based on The Matrix movies, will develop The Golden Compass for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and PC. A2M will develop the the Nintendo DS version.
Players will assume the roles of a young girl named Lyra and her daemon Pantalaimon (Pan). Lyra is out to rescue a friend kidnapped by a mysterious organization known as The Gobblers, and she will visit 13 different environments in her adventure, including some that you won’t see in the movie.
The Golden Compass is the first book in the very popular “His Dark Materials” trilogy, with the series of books having sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. The first film, set for theaters this December 7, 2007, stars Daniel Craig (James Bond in the recent Casino Royale) and Nicole Kidman, with Chris Weitz directing. The game is scheduled for release shortly before the movie hits theaters.
The game adaptation was originally announced in September of 2006.
Master System next in line to hit Virtual Console?
Posted by Chris. Filed under Chris, News, Nintendo Wii, Virtual Console.
The Rumor Reporter is now reporting Sega is about to release Master System games on the Wii’s Virtual Console. However, this is the same guy who earlier predicted we’d see Sega Saturn games on the VC, and that still hasn’t come to pass, so I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you.
In addition, he also said Sega and Treasure are developing entirely new games exclusively for the Virtual Console.
If either of these rumors are true, it’s pretty damn awesome. While I definitely will be picking up a few Master System games, I’d love to see what kinds of things Sega could do with developing games specifically for the Virtual Console. Get to work, Sega!
Ecco II: Sentinels of the Universe surfaces
Posted by Chris. Filed under Chris, News. Tagged with Dreamcast, Emulation, Homebrew.
There are some cancelled Dreamcast games that we knew about and there had to be many that we didn’t. Add Ecco II: Sentinels of the Universe in the latter category.
In a recent eBay auction, seller Stingerhu posted an auction for a Dreamcast development kit that had a disc with the pre-alpha Ecco II code in it. He did say there are some playable levels, but he didn’t sell the code in the auction. However, I have a feeling we’ll be seeing this code popping up on eBay pretty soon.
You can see the original auction here.
[Thanks Blek]
The Escapist on Sega
Posted by Ryan. Filed under News, Ryan.
Issue 85 of the online magazine ‘Escapist’ is all about Sega! And it’s not completely crap either; in fact, it’s damn pretty good. Imagine that! It covers subjects like the Dreamcast’s life span, OutRun, Shenmue, Yakuza, and Sonic. I recommend you give it a good read - it’s stacked with nostalgia. The OutRun part will bring a tear to your eye, even if it’s not your memory, it’s very touching, in a Sega-like way. The Shenmue/Yakuza bit is pretty damn good read as well. In fact, it’s all good, so get reading!
Review: Sonic and the Secret Rings
Posted by Nathan. Filed under Nathan, Nintendo Wii, Review, Sonic. Tagged with Sonic and the Secret Rings.
Sonic and the Secret Rings, the latest entry in the venerable Sonic the Hedgehog game series, attempts to retool a formula that has become bogged down with unnecessary features, by amputating large chunks of the glut. The most recent Sonic the Hedgehog for Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3 was almost universally criticized for failing to repair what previous efforts had also gotten wrong: Excessive alternate characters, annoying control issues, and hindering level design. With Secret Rings‘ release for Nintendo Wii it seems that, at least on the surface, Sega has taken notice of the complaints. Sonic himself is the only playable character in the main game, and the Wii remote offers a radically new method of control. Does the end result live up to the promise?
Sega Nerdcast 1: The Beginning
Posted by Chris. Filed under Uncategorized. Tagged with Sega Nerdcast.
Yeah, that’s right, now all you Sega Nerds have your very own podcast, ingeniously dubbed the Sega Nerdcast. Some companies pay millions for such creativity as that. Now you can get your Sega Nerds fix while on the go … and be bored to death by our ramblings at the same time!
In the Sega Nerdcast, we’ll touch on Sega news throughout the week, interview the beautiful people in the Sega community, review games and chat about life in general. Oh yeah, we’ll also eventually reveal the secrets of the Mayans, so be sure to keep listening!
Also, be sure to listen to the Sega Nerdcast to find out how you can win a free copy of Sonic and the Secret Rings! We’ll announce the winner on next week’s Sega Nerdcast.
After you’ve listened, please let us know what you thought of the show. Yes, we know we suck hardcore, but we still want to know what you think. And if you find it in your heart, could you please Digg us? If you don’t have a Digg account, you can register here.
Direct download - 48 minutes @ 45 mb
Listen on iTunes | Review us on iTunes
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Unfortunately due to a snafu, we can’t offer you guys streaming audio this week, but we’ll make sure to include it from now on. Hopefully, it won’t be too big of a deal and you can all enjoy the Nerdcast.
Virtua Fighter vs Tekken?
Posted by Ryan. Filed under News, Ryan.
In an interview with IGN, Tekken director Haruki Suzaki was questioned about the possibility of a VF vs Tekken game this is what was said:
IGN: On a totally unrelated note, SEGA’s Katsuhiro Harada and yourself acknowledged several years ago that a “Tekken vs. Virtua Fighter” game was something you’d like to do one day. What are the chances of us ever seeing that?
Suzaki: I had the opportunity to speak with the director of Virtual Fighter on many occasions in the past and actually talk of collaboration came up again recently. Being from the same industry, this is something we definitely would like to try at least once. Looking at it from another perspective, we began to realize that it would actually be more difficult to make this happen than we first thought. More than anything, we believe this decision greatly lies in our fans. So, we would actually like to ask for our fans’ opinion on this.
[EDITOR'S NOTE: What a great idea! Send your requests for a Tekken vs. Virtua Fighter game to this address. We'll pass them to on to Namco and SEGA immediately.]
Now I don’t know about you lot, But I don’t REALLY care for a VF vs Tekken.. I think that would pollute the great series of VF with utter crap.
HERES THE INTERVIEW FOR ANYONE WHO LIKES CRAPPY GAMES!
Find out how Shining Force EXA was made
Posted by Chris. Filed under Chris, Sony PlayStation 2, Video. Tagged with Shining Force.
Sega has released a new video today showing the making of Shining Force EXA. In the video, you’ll find how Sega created the characters and injected life into them.
Shining Force EXA is set to release in North America March 20. However with Sega’s recent track record with delaying games, who knows when we’ll get our hands on it?
Bizarre talks The Club
Posted by Ryan. Filed under Microsoft Xbox 360, News, Ryan, Sony PlayStation 3.
Bizarre Creations, Developers of Sega’s new 3rd person shooter The Club have been talking about some of the features of the games engine on their website. There isn’t much for me to say on the matter, they pretty much have it all covered on their site. I will say that its an interesting read for anyone who’s interested in The Club and wondering what its going to play like. The Club will be on the Xbox360 and PS3 sometime this year.