Sega Nerds

G-Spot: Is making Golden Axe: Beast Rider a bad idea?

Posted by Graham. Filed under G, Microsoft Xbox 360, Multi-platform, News, Nintendo Wii, Retro, Sony PlayStation 2. Tagged with G-Spot, Golden Axe, Master System, MegaDrive, Saturn, XBLA.

There comes a time in every Sega Nerd’s life when you have to question what Sega is doing with their classic franchises.  This could be something as basic as “Why haven’t they made a new game of X, Y or Z.”  [X, Y and Z of course being Shenmue, Skies of Arcadia and Panzer Dragoon Saga ;o) ]

Or it could be the question - “Is releasing a new game of *blank* actually a good idea, or will it ruin the franchise?”  

It happened with NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams, some people ended up loving the game and others berate it for not being similar enough to or as good as the original.

In this case, game *Blank* is Golden Axe: Beast Rider.

There has been a bit of rift amongst gamers and Sega Nerds with the upcoming Golden Axe game.  It all first came about, when it was announced that the game would only feature Tyris Flare as a playable character, and none of the other main characters which made the series famous.

But I think people should sit down and have a look back at just what the Golden Axe series actually entails.

G-Spot: Fixing Sonic - part 2 - Back to basics

Posted by Graham. Filed under G, News, Sonic. Tagged with Exclusive, Fan Sites, Fan Stuff, G-Spot.

Recently I wrote a feature in direct response to an article on Wired Blog, Game|Life, as to why Sega should not kill off Sonic, but rather should kill off (or just stop using) all the random extra characters from the Sonic universe in Sonic games.

Now I bring you part 2 of the feature, and look at ideas, that Sega could look at, which should help Sonic become one of the great video game characters again.

G-Spot: Fixing Sonic - part 1 - Why Sonic should not die

Posted by Graham. Filed under G, News, Sonic. Tagged with Exclusive, Fan Sites, Fan Stuff, G-Spot.

Recently a controversial article featured on the Game|Life website emerged.  The article, entitled “Sonic the Hedgehog Must Die,” was written after the news of Sonic Unleashed was announced, and the writer went into detail as to why Sega should just kill off Sonic, rather than subject fans to any further shoddy Sonic games.

This subject was recently touched upon in our latest Nerdcast, but now it is time to delve deeper, and clean out Sonic’s dirty laundry.  Watch out for soiled Y-Fronts.

G-Spot: Has Sonic really gone bad?

Posted by Graham. Filed under G, Sonic, Video. Tagged with Fan Stuff, G-Spot.

 

It’s nothing new to hear people bashing Sonic, especially in some of his latest gaming forays, but how about someone defending him?

Ok here is the thing, I was reading a thread in our forums, on which some people carelessly threw out some derogatory remarks about a few recent Sonic titles.  Well that’s fair enough, it’s their opinion.  But it also saddens me how the good name of Sonic has been dragged through the mud in recent years, so much so that people can casually put Sonic and other characters down so easily.

Now I won’t be so damn foolish to go out and say that every Sonic game has been a small pot of gold.  I won’t even say that I particuarly like every Sonic game, I know that there are a few bad apples in the barrel.

But I think that Sonic and Sega have been harshly critisised, for only a small percentage of bad games, in what is otherwise a top franchise.

I think everyone should step back and take a good look at the vast collection of Sonic games and see just how many have been truly bad.

G-Spot: What do you mean, you’ve never played Crazy Taxi with the Fishing controller?!

Posted by Graham. Filed under G, Retro. Tagged with Crazy Taxi, Dreamcast, Fan Stuff, G-Spot, Peripheral.

 

Yeah that’s right, the fishing controller.  The unique Dreamcast fishing controller may have been designed for play with Sega Bass Fishing, Sega Bass Fishing 2 and Sega Marine Fishing, but what many people don’t realise is that one can also use it for play on other Dreamcast games.

In fact, the controller can be used with any Dreamcast game!  However, due to the fishing controller having fewer buttons than the normal Dreamcast controllers, not all games are truly playable- as they require the use of most of the buttons to play normally.  But one game (well two if count the sequel) that played very well with the controller was Crazy Taxi.

The simple, yet brilliant, arcade title needs but a few buttons to control the game effectively.  As a result, using the fishing controller makes the game even more ‘crazy’.

G-Spot: No Wii Virtua Tennis a mistake?

Posted by Graham. Filed under Nintendo Wii. Tagged with Exclusive, G-Spot.

Sega has always been well known for its brilliant sports titles on all systems, and they found huge success and world-wide acclaim in the form of Virtua Tennis in the Arcades and on the Dreamcast.

So it isn’t surprising that so many people, including myself, have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Virtua Tennis 3.

Since Virtua Tennis 3 was first revealed to be in development, the game was originally said to be for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. But more recently, Sega has revealed that the game will also be appearing on the PSP. All good things I say.

The 360 and PS3 players get to see some high-definition Tim Henman volleys (Hey, I’m British - I’m always going to be backing the home team!). Whilst the more outdoor going gamers get to play some fantastic tennis on the go, anywhere without the need for carrying anything bigger than a pencil case - with the PSP version.

It is here though that one must beg the question: “Why not the Wii?”

G-Spot: Sega and the ‘Last-Gen Fiasco’

Posted by Graham. Filed under Arcade, Nintendo Wii. Tagged with Dreamcast, Exclusive, G-Spot, Super Monkey Ball.

 

 

Since the demise of the Dreamcast - personally what I (and many others) would call the most underrated system ever made- Sega have been in the press for all the wrong reasons.

Starting with the ill-fated Dreamcast, the machine was great and has some truly great games, but due to several bad moves on Sega’s part and (of course) lack of funds, Sega really couldn’t compete against the bigger wallets of Sony and Microsoft (I would argue the Game Cube was never really a big threat). The Xbox had the power, plus the money and Sony had the good name -from their previous system, along with some strong franchises. Critics would say the Dreamcast had no chance, and fans were angered by Sega’s sudden ‘collapse’ on the system front- especially when so many top titles were due for launch (Half Life, Black & White -anyone?)

But I do not want to talk about the dear old Dreamcast. I want to talk about Sega games, on all platforms from the last generation….