Sega Nerds

Sonic the Hedgehog lands on iPhone

Posted by Graham. Filed under G, News, Retro, Sonic, iPhone/iPod. Tagged with Download, Genesis, Mega Drive, Sonic the Hedgehog, Touch Screen.

A little while ago we reported that Sega was planning to release the original Mega Drive/Genesis version of Sonic the Hedgehog on the iPhone/iPod Touch.  At the time of the report we didn’t have a specific date for the game’s release, but it seems the release date has passed and the game is now available to download.

Not being trendy enough to own an iPhone or iPod Touch I have not been able to actually check the game out, but fortunately TouchArcade have been able to get hands on with it.

[Edit] Apple waves goodbye to GABO!

Posted by Graham. Filed under G, Japan, News, Nintendo DS, iPhone/iPod. Tagged with Gabo, Seaman, Yoot Saito.

Joystiq is reporting It is being reported that GABO!, has been canned by Apple.  The spiritual sequel in the Seaman series being developed exclusively for the iPhone was given the axe after Apple claimed it contained “unpleasant gameplay.”

According to Joystiq Kotaku, the game’s developer (and creator of Seaman) Yoot Saito broke the news on his personal blog.  The Google translator doesn’t seem to want to translate the blog into English, so I’m going to have to trust Joystiq Kotaku on this one.

Anyway, pretty annoying for all Seaman lovers (take that expression as you will), as GABO! was looking to be quite an interesting title for the iPhone.  What were the people at Apple expecting exactly?  I’d love to know what was added to the game that was so “unpleasant” it had to be canned - especially when we are in a world with GTAs, Condemneds and Manhunts.

But there could be some light at the end of the tunnel.  Yoot Saito (apparently) also states how his team were originally looking at making a Seaman DS title, before making GABO!.  So hopefully, now that Apple has given them the push, they can go back to that project and we can all enjoy some more Seaman.

[Edits: Translation was originally done by Kotaku, not Joystiq, and the story was originally broken by Offworld, (again) not Joystiq]

[Source: Kotaku and Offworld Via Joystiq]
[Special Thanks: Sega Uranus]

Marc Cellucci discusses canceled RPG for the Dreamcast’s VMU

Posted by George. Filed under George, Retro, iPhone/iPod. Tagged with Canceled, Dreamcast, interview, RPG, VMU.

You remember the VMU, visual memory unit, for the Sega Dreamcast? It hasn’t been that long has it? It might not be as amazing as it was back in 1999, but it was mind blowing to me back then. It was like a little game inside a bigger game! What if someone told you that you could play a full RPG on that thing?  Marc Cellucci has left Sega, but in a recent interview with Siliconera he talks about his canceled RPG:

“The one I think I can mention is one I was working on in the Sega.com days — it was an RPG for the VMU. It was a side project being done by about three of us, and we had a full world map, scrolling engine, and game design all fleshed out, when the plug got pulled from on high. In retrospect, they were probably right… I don’t see a VMU RPG changing the fate of the Dreamcast! We still wanted to make it, though.”

Marc Cellucci started his job at Sega doing web work for Dreamcast Network, then started writing for Segasports.com, Sega.com and SegaNet. After this he went to Japan to study Japanese for a couple of years, got a job at marketing. But he went back to Sega, got a Job with AM3 arcade division and worked on the successful Dinosaur King franchise.

What does he do now? He has his own company called Mission One and they’re bringing a Pachinko game to the iPhone. The game is called Sho Chiku Bai and the music is composed by Norihiko Hibino. (worked on Metal Gear Solid series and upcoming Ninja Blade)

[Source Siliconera]

Seaman creator to make spinoff for iPhone

Posted by Graham. Filed under G, Japan, News, Video, iPhone/iPod. Tagged with Gabo, Seaman, Yoot Saito.

It seems the creator of the cult Dreamcast classic (and a game I am yet to play), Seaman and (for the PS2) Seaman 2, Yoot Saito is creating a quasi-spinoff of the series on the iPhone, entitled Gabo.

Not many details have come out yet, but the game appears to be using a similar character to that of Seaman 2, a caveman/monkey person and instead of talking to the ’seaman,’ players use the iPhone’s touch screen to interact with it.

I’m not sure if this game is actually being published or developed by any Sega team though.  The news originallly came from Yoot’s own personal blog, in the form of some truly awful broken English translation.

It seems the game will be released in Japan first, but Yoot confirms that there are plans for a worldwide release.  Hurrah!

One last thing to do: “Gabo, Gabo! GABO!”  (Simpsons fans should appreciate that).

[Source: Yoot.com Via Joystiq]

Sega Europe gives away iPod Nanos in two Samba De Amigo contests

Posted by Graham. Filed under Europe, G, News, Nintendo Wii, iPhone/iPod. Tagged with Contest, Gearbox, Samba De Amigo.

That’s right, Sega Europe has launched not one, not three, but two contests to help celebrate the release of Samba De Amigo.

The first contest is being held on the official European Samba sites (minus Italy, for some reason).  Entrants need to answer a multiple choice question, regarding gaming’s favourite simian percussionist to win a funky, little iPod Nano.

Sega adds a little more shine to their Monkey Balls, on the iPhone

Posted by Graham. Filed under G, News, iPhone/iPod. Tagged with Super Monkey Ball.

Even though Sega has seen huge success from Super Monkey Ball on the iPhone, there have been some (pretty serious) complaints regarding the game’s playability.

Apparently the iPhones tilting function was not quite ‘right’ for the game, and players would complain that finding the dead zone in the game was too difficult.  The dead zone (in case you don’t know) is the position that players would need to hold the iPhone which would stop their Monkey’s moving on screen - which is an essential thing for Monkey Ball games.

Well it seems that Sega has listened to the complaints, and released a new patch for the game.  The dead zone is now found at a 45 degree angle - which should be suitable for most gamers.

But, not all is good news.  Apparently there have been reports that the new patch can delete save files.  So if you are already near the end of the game (without the patch), then you might want to try and complete it first.

However, as none of the staff here at Sega Nerds is rich enough to own an iPhone, we cannot confirm of deny these reports.  Sorry.

[Source: MTV]
[Image from IntoMobile]

Super Monkey Ball a Super Hit on iPhone

Posted by Nathan. Filed under Nathan, News, iPhone/iPod. Tagged with Super Monkey Ball.

It’s been just over a month since the release of the iPhone 3G and the launch of Apple’s Applications store. As you may recall, Sega released a portable version of the popular Super Monkey Ball franchise on the new service, capitalizing on the iPhone’s “Dreamcast quality” capabilities and tilt-sensitive accelerometer. The game quickly became one of the top sellers in the iTunes App store, and now we have some harder stats to see just how well it’s been selling.

iPhone App Stats, first 30 days

Total Downloads: 60 million
Total Revenues: $30 million
Sales Going To Top Ten Apps: $9 million
Sales of Super Monkey Ball: $3 million

As you can see, at $9.99 per download, Super Monkey Ball sold approximately 300,000 copies in 30 days, which comes to an average of 10,000 purchases per day. Not bad at all! And since developers get to take 70% of the revenue generated from their app’s sales, that’s over $2.1 million in Sega’s pocket. With that kind of success, you can expect either a sequel or perhaps some newly ported franchises to make their way onto the iPhone soon.

[via The Wall Street Journal]

Hackers could have Sega’s Monkeys by their balls

Posted by Graham. Filed under G, News, iPhone/iPod. Tagged with Super Monkey Ball.

Well it was inevitable, it seems that some hackers have cracked the iPhone’s “Fairplay DRM,” and it a certain top-selling iTunes App by Sega is the main dish on the menu.

Super Monkey Ball is now being offered as a free, pirated download by HackLabs.

MegaCD classic RPG hits the iPhone

Posted by Graham. Filed under G, News, iPhone/iPod.

Quite surprisingly a RPG game has appeared on the iTunes store.  But it’s not a new game, it’s an old classic from the Mega/Sega CD, Vay.

Vay was originally released on the MegaCD in 1994, by SIMs, and boasted some great animated cutscenes, a top soundtrack (thanks to the CD-based software), plus well over 40 Hours of gameplay (apparently) - which was pretty incredible back in those days.  Remember this was on a 16-bit system.

The game has been re-released on the iPhone, by SoMoGa, keeping the game pretty much the same as the original, but with some new graphics for battles, writing style and menu systems designed with the iPhone in mind - as the screenshots below show.

~MegaCD~                    ~iPhone~

   

   

For more details on the new version, check out the official site.  Or for information on the original, check out Moby Games.

The game is out on the iTunes store now for $4.99.

[Source: TouchArcade]
[Images from TouchArcade and Moby Games]

Simon Jeffery: iPhone “playing Dreamcast quality games”

Posted by Graham. Filed under G, News, iPhone/iPod. Tagged with Dreamcast.

From what we have seen of Super Monkey Ball on the iPhone, it looks very good.  But would you say it looks as good as a Dreamcast game?

Well Simon Jeffery, Sega of America President, seems to think so.

In a recent interview with Kotaku, Simon talks about the company’s joy with how the iPhone turned out, and how well it runs games, especially compared to other phones:

“It’s everything that the N-Gage wasn’t as a gaming device,” he said. “Why people play those crappy games on their mobile phones, I’ll never understand. But the iPhone changes that completely. You’re playing Dreamcast quality games on this tiny little device. It’s pretty impressive.

What could this mean for the future of Sega game releases?  Well Simon might have given Sega’s next move away, as he continued the interview…