Sega Nerds

Captain S 9: Zombies Ate My Homeroom

Posted by Chris. Filed under Chris. Tagged with Captain S.

The Captain S season is winding down, and if you didn’t listen to this week’s Nerdcast, which featured Brett and Devon from the show, you’d know that this may be it for our beloved Sega hero.

In this week’s episode, it looks to be the bleakest yet for our rag-tag cast of misfits. Game Genie has crossed over to the real world and has turned nearly the entire high school into zombies, including one of our favorite characters!

Will Captain S succeed once again against overwhelming odds? Why don’t you have a sit down and check it out.

Megadrive controller for your Wii

Posted by Graham. Filed under G, News, Nintendo Wii. Tagged with Fan Stuff, Modding.

 

One complaint that comes from Virtual Console players is that the Wiimote is a tad too thin to play your old classics for long periods of time.  Sure it is a nice idea, and an easy way to play the games.  But now with Sega (and the other companies) releasing some truly top reto titles on the Virtual Console, such as Streets of Rage 2, Shining in the Darkness, TJ & Earl Panic on Funkotron, many gamers are starting to think - ”Isn’t there a better way?”  Well now it seems there is! 

Someone over at cre.ations.net, known as ’emptyset‘, has come up with a rather decent idea.  If you are playing Megadrive/Genesis titles on your Wii, why not use the official controller?  Well that’s just what he has done.

I was inspired by his hack, and went out and learned to program and use PIC microcontrollers so that I could play the Sega games I enjoyed so much as a child on the Wii’s virtual console with the controller they were designed for. This project is the fruit of my labors, allowing you to use your old Sega genesis controller with the wireless receiver designed by Mark Feldman.

He has managed to create a wireless controller that works with the Wii and can play all those lovely Virtual Console titles, with the ease and comfort of the Megadrive controller.  The article shows you how to make one, and is full of technical jargon that I know nothing about.  So if you are electronically minded and fancy a go at making it that little bit easier to play Streets of Rage on your Wii then check out the full article here.

[Source: Cre.ations.net]

Exclusive Interview: Cryptic Allusion reveals its new Dreamcast title

Posted by Graham. Filed under G, Interviews, News, Retro. Tagged with Dreamcast, Exclusive, Fan Stuff, Sega Nerds.

So Sega has announced it’s pretty much pulling the plug on all things Dreamcast. No more games (mentioned a few years ago now), GD-Roms or console repairs. But does that stop developers from creating new games for our beloved system? Hell no!

Homebrew developer Cryptic Allusion has recently announced it’s releasing a new Dreamcast title before the year is out, which is sure to get a fair few Dreamcast lovers excited.

Now, you may have heard of Cryptic Allusion, which any self-respecting Sega Nerd very well should. It’s a very small development company considered to be homebrew, but it has, in fact, released a commercial Dreamcast game before called Feet of Fury, which was sold at such great online stores as Lik-Sang.com (RIP) and PlayAsia.com.

Well, the Dreamcast developer has come to once again bless our favourite 128-bit console with the love of a newborn child game called Donk, and we have the first exclusive interview with the two main men behind the company.

And without further ado, I bring you - Dan Potter and Roddy Toomim and our exclusive interview.

Woman names daughter YujiNaka, humanity fails again

Posted by Chris. Filed under Chris. Tagged with Fan Stuff.

About five years ago, Acclaim thought up one of the silliest marketing moves ever - they’d pay parents a $10,000 savings bond to officially name their new-born child “Turok” for a year.

I can see the incentive in publicly humiliating yourself and your offspring if you’d actually benefit from it monetarily, but would anyone go so far as to do something even dumber for free? Yes … yes someone would and did.

A sonic-cult.com forum goer by the name of “s0nicfreak” named her newborn daughter YujiNaka Amber, after famed Sega developer Yuji Naka. Although this is probably her most idiotic move yet, it doesn’t end there. Apparently, she’s also tried to auction her used panties on the forum and ran a torrent site that was shut down by the MPAA. It seems like her “genious” never ends.

Poor kid.

[Via Sonic Cult forums]

New weapons! New clothes! New enemies!

Posted by Nathan. Filed under Nathan, News. Tagged with Phantasy Star Universe.

New screenshots! Sega of America has released the first “official” screenshots from the sequel to Phantasy Star Universe: Ambition of Illuminus, which currently does not have a release date for is set to release this fall in North America and Europe.

Click the thumbnails to view the screenshots in their glorious original resolution.

It seems that these screenshots are only a small sampling of a larger batch that Sega of Japan released recently. So for you eager Sega nerds that can’t get enough PSU screenshot action, head here to see even more!

[Update] Additionally, Sega also officially announced the expansion:

Sega of America, Inc. and Sega Europe Ltd. today announced that Phantasy Star Universe: Ambition of the Illuminus, will be available for download on the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, and in stores for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system and PCs in Fall 2007.

Phantasy Star Universe: Ambition of the Illuminus will be available on the Xbox 360 for download via Xbox Live, and in stores on the PlayStation 2 system and PC. With a GUARDIANS License, gamers can experience the new customizable and highly interactive features online. Players can purchase a GUARDIANS License for Xbox 360, PlayStation 2 system and PC online for $9.99 a month. The GUARDIANS License is also available at a discounted rate of $49.99 for six months of online play on the PlayStation 2 system and PC. Sony Computer Entertainment America takes no responsibility for this offer.

Sega Nerdcast 6: Wrath of the Nerds

Posted by Chris. Filed under Chris, G, Nathan. Tagged with Sega Nerdcast.

Welcome to another grand edition of the Sega Nerdcast. This week we have a couple of special guests in Brett and Devon from The New Adventures of Captain S. Well, Devon chimes in intermittently throughout the show when he can find the time to tear himself away from a grueling session of Sonic 3.

However, there are a few hiccups later on in the show, but I guess that’s what happens when you have a podcast that spans four separate locations, three of which are thousands of miles away from each other. I’d like to think, though, that this show was just too damn hot for the intertubes, and we overloaded the internet.

As always, we walk you through the latest Sega news that has hit the wire, we review Sonic 3, argue over which Sonic game is the best and really show just how damn geeky nerdy we are!

Enjoy!

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Be sure to click the jump to read the show notes to find out more about the Nerdcast!

Sega talks in depth about Marvel licenses

Posted by Graham. Filed under G, Microsoft Xbox 360, News, Nintendo Wii, PC, Sony PlayStation 3.

There has been plenty of talk and speculation over the new Sega-Marvel game deals, and it left a lot of concerned fans worrying. Recently Sega tried to put our minds at ease by talking with CVG, about their new deals and speaking specifically about how they realise that many licensed games in the past have been poorly received and they are hoping it won’t be the case this time.

That not being enough, Sega have now done a full blown interview with GameSpot, delving deep into the deal between Sega and Marvel specifically. Have a good read, it’s quite interesting and may put your minds at ease;

GS: Totally. OK, I’ll put this gently. A lot of movie license games have not been very well received. How do you guys plan on avoiding the pitfalls of the classic, watered-down movie adaptation?

SS: Yeah, a lot of those problems are inherent in the system, I think. I can’t imagine somebody wanting to build a bad game on purpose. But typically, it’s a situation where they acquire a license too late and can’t put a lot of time and energy into making it a great game. They’re kind of cranking something out in six months, and the technology really isn’t there to fully articulate what was going on in the movie.

The reputation of movie games is sometimes deserved, but also sometimes isn’t deserved. We talked about Ultimate Destruction–that was a very well-reviewed game that didn’t sell all that well. And I think the anticipation around the new Spidey movie and the new Spidey game is quite high. So it’s clear that players want great games. And it’s up to Sega and Marvel to create a great movie and articulate that with a great game.

But perhaps we should all stop worrying and bitching, and realise that Sega have a great history of gaming behind them (shh don’t mention Sonic ‘06) and they are one of the few companies that ever managed to make good licensed games, back in the Megadrive days. Let’s just see what they come up with before we complain.

For a read of the full interview check out GameSpot now.

[Source: gamespot.com]

Guilty Gear X2 Accent Core. On Wii, Officially!!

Posted by Ryan. Filed under News, Nintendo Wii, Ryan.

A wile ago we reported a rumour that Guilty Gear Accent Core may be making its way to the Nintendo Wii. Well today its official! Did you ever doubt us? .. No you didn’t.

If you didn’t already know Guilty Gear is a 2D fighter from developers Arc Systems Works, It could be compared to games such as Street Fighter 2 or King of Fighters only with much slicker animations and more frantic gameplay. Guilty Gear Accent core, the version which is heading to Wii is an upgrade of ‘Guilty Gear X2 reloaded: The Midnight Carnival (what a mouthful) and it will be out on the Wii in Japan on 26.07.07

Your probably thinking, How the hell is a 2D fighter going to work on the Wii? Well the control functions with either Wiimote and Nunchuk or with the Classic Controller. Block maneuvers and special attacks are pulled off by depressing the key and shaking the controller.

Get ready for some real fighting on the Wii, not just that pansy-ass Smash Bros nonsence..
Oh I’ve done it now! For details on a Westen release date stay tuned.

[Thanks to Joe Musashi, Super Sega Nerd]

Forget Nintendo Wii, Sega Genesis makes for the best workout!

Posted by Graham. Filed under G, News, Nintendo Wii, Video. Tagged with Fan Stuff.

 

Yes that’s right, the Sega Genesis (or Megadrive for all us cool European and Japanese types).  Not the system itself per-se, but rather the addition of the Sega Activator.

For anyone that doesn’t know, the peripheral was to be used in place of the standard control pad.  The player would lay out the several peieces of the Activator to form an octagon on the floor, then the player would stand inside the octagon.  The Activator sent beams of Infra-red light up onto the ceiling and the player would use their arms and legs to break said beams, in which would translate into (what would be) the depression of a button on a standard controller.  So instead of simply pressing the C button, one would have to punch or kick at a specific angle.  Sounds pretty complicated huh?  Well it was, often games would be much harder to control, and because of this the Activator was deemed generally usless by the gaming public and shoved cleanly to one side and forgotten about….

Forgotten about until today that is!  With the hype of the Nintendo Wii, and it’s ’claim’ to be able to give the gamer some exercise whilst they wave the Wiimote around like a loon, some fitness fanatics have taken it to the next step and tried to incorporate the Wii into a daily fitness routine.

But, one personal trainer, by the name of Leonard Duffy, has taken the idea of ‘gaming exercise’ even further.  We all know the Wiimote only really exercises our arms, but not really much else.  The Sega Activator caused (read: forced) the players to use all four limbs and got gamers moving their whole bodies around, and Leonard Duffy has created a whole new work out specifically for the Sega Activator.

Fitnessgear101 gave an interview with Leonard recently, about his new training scheme and just why he wanted to incorporate the Activator into it, and it’s quite an interesting read;

Mr. Duffy:  It really is the best gaming controller out there – and it totally compliments a workout.  When you look at the other options available, like the Wii, the Sega Activator is the only one that gets your whole body moving, and it doesn’t require holding a controller that could possibly slip out of your hand and break your television.

FG101:  Dance Dance Revolution gets your whole body moving.

Mr. Duffy:  Dance Dance Revolution gets your feet moving.  The activator makes use of hands and feet through punching and kicking.  Not just stepping on one or 2 pads when an arrow lines up with another one.  The activator was made to play with games like Eternal Champions, Mortal Kombat and Comix Zone.  Those are manly fighting games that true gamers want to play.

 Anyone who still doesn’t know quite what the activator is just watch this video….

Sega pencil dates in their diary

Posted by Graham. Filed under G, Microsoft Xbox 360, News, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, PC, Sony PSP, Sony PlayStation 3. Tagged with Alien Syndrome, Crazy Taxi, Crush, NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams, Puyo Puyo, The Club.

Sega Europe have revealed a few release dates for some of their upcoming titles for the Sony PSP, Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii.  While the dates are not set in stone as of yet, we should expect/hope to see the games hit stores around these times.

‘Confirmed’ dates:

• CRUSH  -  May 25th  -  PSP
• SEGA Presents Touch Darts  -  June 22nd  -  DS
• Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars  -  June 29th  -  PSP
• Alien Syndrome  -  June/TBC  -  Wii/PSP

Of course we (should) know that there are plenty more Sega titles confirmed for release this year.  These few are just the ones we should expect within the next couple of months, and the majrority of other titles we should see later in the year and are yet to have their dates confirmed.

Highly notable games include;

• NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams  -  Wii
• Sega Rally Revo  -  Xbox 360/PS3/PC
• The Club  -  Xbox 360/PS3
• Sonic and Mario Olympics  -  Wii/DS
• Sonic Rush Adventure  -  DS
• Puyo Puyo  -  Wii

Plus many more titles have been revealed over last couple of months.  It’s going to be a very exciting year for Sega, and for all us loyal Sega Nerds.

[Source: SegaEurope via Vagusnet.com]