Kuju Entertainment and Sega team up again on Wii
Posted by George. Filed under George, Nintendo Wii. Tagged with Crush, Headstrong Games, Zoe Mode.
After Sega decided not to advertise the brilliant game Crush by Zoë Mode, I’m surprised that Kuju is still working with Sega. It seems this time their development team Headstrong Games will be working on an untitled Wii action game. They are the studio that worked on Battalion Wars 2, so we should expect a good game.
I can’t get mad about good teams working at Sega, just wish they would advertise their games more.
[Thanks Aki-At Source Develop Mag]
[Image: Kuju and Sega]
Zoe Mode to open London studio
Posted by Graham. Filed under Europe, G, News. Tagged with Crush, Zoe Mode.
This isn’t Sega news per-se, but it is related to Sega.
As every Sega Nerd should know that Zoe Mode is the company responsible for the most excellent, and horrifically underrated, CRUSH on the PSP (which is still my favourite PSP game by far).
Zoe Mode, formerly Kuju-Brighton (and based in Brighton), has been expanding it’s staff since the name change, and they are planning on moving to new, bigger offices in Brighton, plus also starting up a new London studio.
“Since we re-branded last year we have had an enormous interest in the studio from both publishers and new recruits,” Zoë Mode boss Ed Daly explained to Develop.
“Following on from our huge growth in Brighton where we are now approaching 150 staff, we felt the time was right to open a second studio. This will enable us to take on more projects and staff without losing the intimate company culture that is so central to our approach.”
Sega nominated for Develop Awards
Posted by George. Filed under George. Tagged with Crush.
Develop Awards are handed out to the best UK based developers and publishers. Sega had a bunch of UK talent this year, so being nominated for awards was expected. Sega Nerds fan favorite developer, Sumo Digital is nominated for two awards! Both are for Sega Superstar Tennis, “Best use of License” and “Audio Accomplishment.” Audio accomplishment has some stiff competiton with Grand Theft Audio 4, Heavenly Sword, and Singstar (what?!).
Creative Assembly get nominated for “Best New IP” for the game Viking: Battle for Asgard. Sega themselves are nominated for the publishing “Hero Award.” The competition happens to be Nintendo, Lucasarts, Codemasters, Gamecock and 1C & 505 Games. Also for all ten of you that picked up Crush, the developer Zoë Mode has been nominated for “Business Developer.”
The winners should be announced tonight, make sure to check back and find out the winners.
[Update: Bit of a mix up there. The awards ceremony will be held on 30th July, in Brighton (UK), and the winners will be announced on the night. Best not to hold your breath for Sega to win... because you'll be holding it for a month and any medical expert will tell you that's impossible. So, July 30th/31st we should have the results for you]
[Image from developmag]
[Via the forums Source Sumo Digital]
Sega Deals: Crush for $15 at Amazon
Posted by Nathan. Filed under Nathan, News, North America, Sony PSP. Tagged with Crush, Sega Deals.
Critically acclaimed, criminally underlooked and completely fun to play. That’s Zoe Mode’s Crush for PSP in one sentence.
In case you missed it the first time around, now’s your chance to purchase one of the most innovative handheld titles this generation for a price so low it’s practically stealing from a blind, deaf and paralyzed person. And then beating him afterwards.
All you Sega nerds and PSP fanboys out there better make sure to buy Crush at Amazon for $15. Hey, it’s almost as cheap as a gallon of gas, and it’ll entertain you for even longer.
In case you don’t want to take my word for it, here’s the Sega Nerds review as well as all our previous coverage. And don’t forget that Crush won a Develop Award for “New Handheld IP” last year.
New Years Nerdaway - Winners!
Posted by Graham. Filed under G, Japan, Microsoft Xbox 360, News, Nintendo DS, PC, Retro, Sonic, Sony PSP. Tagged with Condemned, Crazy Taxi, Crush, Exclusive, Fan Stuff, Giveaways, Handheld, House of the Dead, Medieval Total War, Nerdaway, NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams, Saturn, Sonic Rush, Super Monkey Ball, Total War, Virtua Fighter 5, Virtua Tennis.
Its been like 2 weeks since the contest finished - and I’m the douche who forgot to post up the results sooner. I hold my hands up - Im sorry.
But fret no more, here are the winners of the great prizes!
Finally! The New Years Nerdaway!
Posted by Graham. Filed under G, Japan, Microsoft Xbox 360, News, Nintendo DS, PC, Retro, Sonic, Sony PSP. Tagged with Condemned, Crazy Taxi, Crush, Giveaways, Handheld, House of the Dead, Imports, Medieval Total War, Nerdaway, NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams, Peripheral, Saturn, Sega Genesis Collection, Sonic Rush, Super Monkey Ball, Total War, Virtua Fighter 5, Virtua Tennis.
Finally it is here! Apologies we had planned to hold it sooner, but… well I won’t fob you off with any excuses, it was held off, it’s here now. That is what matters!
Previously we had teased you with the outline of prizes we had on offer, and now I give you the rules, regulations and (most importantly) the questions, with which you will need to win.
Rules: We have 4 seperate bundles of prizes to give away. Each bundle has a question to go with it. All you need do is choose which of the prizes bundles you would like to try and win, and answer the corresponding question, and then send your answer(s) to us (contact info coming up).
You can enter to win as many of the bundles you want to, however, we will pick the winners for each bundle in order (starting with 4, ending with 1), and should your name be chosen for Bundle 4, you will not be eligeble for any of the other bundles.
So if you really want to win Bundle 1, it could be wise not to enter for all 4 bundles, in case you ‘accidentally’ win a different bundle. But, then again, if you just want to win some Sega gaming goodies, then go ahead and enter for all the bundles!
The full list of prizes and questions coming up after the jump.
Sega Nerds New Years nerdaway
Posted by Graham. Filed under G, Japan, Microsoft Xbox 360, News, Nintendo DS, PC, Retro, Sonic, Sony PSP. Tagged with Condemned, Crazy Taxi, Crush, Exclusive, Fan Stuff, Full Auto, Giveaways, Handheld, House of the Dead, Imports, Medieval Total War, Nerdaway, NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Peripheral, Saturn, Sega Genesis Collection, Sega Nerds, Sonic Rush, Super Monkey Ball, Total War, Virtua Fighter 5, Virtua Tennis.
That’s right my fine nerdians, we here at Sega Nerds, want you to kick start your new year with a bang!
Which is why we are going to be giving away a butt load of Sega games, for your enjoyment.
Our New Years contest will see 4 lucky winners, walking away with a bundle of goodies, plus 2 runners-up prizes to be had. That’s 6 winners overall!
What you see in the picture above, is the entire goodie bag, but those prizes will be split down into 4 seperate (but very good) prize bundles, which go as follows;
- Bundle 4: Hand-held - a selection of DS and PSP games.
- Bundle 3: Sega PC games.
- Bundle 2: Xbox 360 games.
- Bundle 1: Saturn games, plus a signed (by Iizuka-san) NiGHTs Journey of Dreams poster.
We shall be starting the contest very soon, when we shall give you the full details of how to win these prizes!
Happy New Year everyone!
Sega is a publishing hero
Posted by Nathan. Filed under Europe, Nathan, News, Sony PSP. Tagged with Crush.
The fifth annual Develop Awards have been handed out, and a couple of them are relevant to Sega and Sega nerds! The European awards ceremony has many categories, and winners are decided by industry experts.
British developer Zoe Mode took home the “New Handheld IP” award for the excellent PSP game Crush. Very well-deserved, if I might say so myself. Congratulations!
Sega itself won an award for being a “Publishing Hero.” God knows what that actually means, but it can’t be a bad thing, right?
[Via Kotaku]
Interview: Paul Mottram, Zoë Mode senior producer
Posted by Chris. Filed under Chris, Interviews, News, Sony PSP. Tagged with Crush.
Now I understand why the Crush developers wanted their name changed from the boring Kujo Brighton to the humorously curious Zoë Mode. Only people who are insanely crazy yet remarkably brilliant would do such a thing.
After playing Crush for a few minutes, it’s crystal clear the guys and gals at Zoë Mode know how to make a great game. And as reviewers and gamers are still buzzing over the release of the amazing puzzler, Zoë Mode’s senior producer Paul Mottram took a break from his busy schedule to answer a few questions the Sega Nerds just had to ask.
Sega Nerds: Crush is such a unique and innovative puzzler. How did the idea to create such a game come about?
Paul Mottram: For years, we’ve wanted to make a game where you could switch between 2D and 3D and effectively lose a dimension, an idea which originated from some drunken nights out, the work of M. C. Escher and a desire to try and do something more original.
It was initially a concern as when you have an idea like this you start asking yourself “Why hasn’t it been done before? It’s so obvious. We must have missed something.†It took us a while to figure out how we could restrain such a powerful mechanic and come up with a set of rules which meant we didn’t have to create levels that were not just tens of simple platforms spread all over the place.
Crush nominated for best new handheld IP award
Posted by Chris. Filed under Chris. Tagged with Crush.
It looks like all the great things reviewers have said about Sega’s wacky new puzzler Crush hasn’t fallen on deaf ears as it’s been nominated for the Best New Handheld/Mobile IP award for 2007 at the Develop Industry Awards ceremony in the UK.
Crush is up against Zendoku, B-Boy, Galaxy on Fire and Thrillville. If I was a betting man, I’d say it will “crush” the competition (Heh heh, cleverness).
The awards ceremony won’t take place until July 25 when the Develop Conference and Expo kicks off in Brighton, so you ample time to play this kick-ass game before it goes all mainstream by winning awards out the wazoo.
Then, you’ll have your bratty nephew always calling your house asking to play the game, what level you’re on, how can he can defeat the damn cockroaches, if there’s any l33t cheats and so on and so forth until you want to crush his f**cking skull to pieces!
Whoa … wow, I have problems.
[Via Gamasutra]
