Sonic Adventure Coming To Xbox Live Arcade?

SEGA fan site SEGAOnline has got a photo of a Sonic Adventure listing on the Xbox 360’s Xbox Live Arcade, most likely from the developers/testers network. Continue reading Sonic Adventure Coming To Xbox Live Arcade?

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XGN Interview Sumo Digital’s Craig Duncan and Steve Lycett Clears Up Confusion Star Confusion

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anxlgQ-L66M[/youtube]

UPDATE: We’ve gotten word from Steve Lycett over at the SSMB under his S0L tag that the Confusion Star is an item and not an All Stars move after all. Steve also respons to the discussion of how review scores may turn out.

Well some proper depressing reading on here tonight…

Whatever the game scores at review, personally I will be proud of what we’ve achieved. I feel this is still the most accomplished game we’ve done at Sumo, especially given it’s an original game!

The weapon you are all talking about above is the Confusion Star. This is one of the standard weapons, you zap the AI and they’ll spin out, you cop it, and WOAH, watch the screen spin upside down!

I like to save it up, them fire it for maximum effect when someone is about to do a chicane

I’m sure Craig will be pleased to hear you are hanging on his every word


S0L

/UPDATE END

XGN caught up with Sumo Digital’s Craig Duncan recently to discuss Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing. Nothing much is revealed that we didn’t already know apart from the name of one of the items which is seen below targeting Amy in the Banjo-Kazooie & Avatars revelation trailer.

The item is called the Confusion Star which turns the victim’s screen upside down for a short time and causes all sorts of madness by making the controls inverted.

Craig also explains the difference between this game and Mario Kart, how this game plays like more of a racer than Mario Kart does with it’s faster speed and it’s different drifting component.

We’ll keep you up to date with Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing as we draw closer to its release next month.

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Capcom Takes A Dig At SEGA’s M&S Marketing

Capcom are causing all sorts of a ruckus in the gaming media. First they complain about poor sales for Resident Evil Darkside Chronicle and say,

“The Wii console is very much a family commitment [and] rates relatively low. So for us, Capcom, the future is the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.”

then they quickly correct themselves with the below statement.

“Further to comments made in a recent article on French website Gamekult, Capcom would like to confirm its commitment as a multi-platform developer and publisher of interactive software.”

NOW it seems Capcom are a little jealous of SEGA’s Wii success from their Mario & Sonic marketing strategy with Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games and Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games.

“In 2010, you won’t see as many Wii games from Capcom, but the ones we release will be much larger, event-size games. I also expect to see the market dominated more and more by Nintendo releases with fewer games from the major third parties, like EA, Activision, and Ubisoft. Instead, it’s a case of the third-party publishers trying to figure out how they can make a return on their investment and maintain profitability. (said in a joking manner) Maybe the secret is for all of us just to adopt a Sega model — and just stick Mario into every game we make.” – Chris Kramer, Capcom senior director of communications and community

Very sly stab there, one has to wonder what SEGA would say if they were to react.

Source: Gamasutra via GoNintendo

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SEGA Europe & Australia Reveal ASR Release Date

SEGA Europe and SEGA Australia have just revealed on their product page’s for Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing that the game will be revealed on all 5 platforms PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, DS and PC Friday 26th February 2010. Continue reading SEGA Europe & Australia Reveal ASR Release Date

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Needlemouse Trailer Developer Saw No Game

SEGA has been very secretive about its upcoming game, code named Project Needlemouse. Until now all we know is that it’s set for 2010, in 2D and is an Action/Adventure game. Well, according to a statement posted 4 months ago over at Vimeo from the trailer’s developer Integrated Alchemy –

SEGA came to Integrated Alchemy Media without a game, without a title, without a logo, without a character, and with a challenge: Make fans of Sonic the Hedgehog excited about his return in the game you’re not going to show. We had one week. But we also had Trevor Gavin, Ryan Berkey and Vadan Less This 30 second teaser got 100,000 views in its first 48 hours and the mission was a total success.

It really does seem like SEGA wants to keep every minute detail of the game secret. For fear of one of its classic leaks, perhaps? The act of silence is working wonders on the fanbase, who are speculating all manner of things on blogs – while the SSMB’s Project Needlemouse topic has stretched to nearly 3000 posts. All on the back of that trailer. Nice work.

Let us know what you think of this development in the comments.

Thanks to The Sniper over at the SSMB for the heads up.

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New Sonic DS Merchandise

Mad Catz, a company well known for creating gaming accessories over the years look to have acquired a Sonic license agreement with SEGA for DS accessories. The accessories are even tagged with SEGA’s modern Sonic The Hedgehog logo. Among the accessories being produced are plastic DS shells, wallet thingies and those trendy fad DS socks. They’ll be hitting shops soon but no date has been revealed yet.

Source: Kotaku

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Sonic The Cupcake

A site called Steel Head Studios have posted up pictures of 100 different cupcakes all with various board game, electronic toys and video game characters/references. One of them is the above Sonic the Hedgehog cupcake. The site has made a guessing game of each picture by hiding the franchise name it’s from before you then run your mouse cursor over the ? mark to reveal the answer.

Pretty good cake baking skills, I think I’d feel bad for eating such an awesome cake.

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ASR DS Supports DS Rumble Pak

UPDATE: We’ve just found out via Kombo.com that Amazon.com are selling the DS Rumble Pak seperately. /END UPDATE

Steve Lycett under his S0L tag over at the SSMB has revealed that the Nintendo DS version will support the DS Rumble Pak. Good news for original DS and DS Lite owners who love force feedback.

Yep – both SST and ASR support the DS Rumble pack


S0L

For those not in the know, the DS Rumble Pak is an official accessory bundled with Metroid Prime Pinball in the U.S. and Actionloop in Europe that allows compatible games to give rumble feedback though none of those games require the accessory to play them. A smaller version to fit DS Lite better than the official Nintendo one was made in Japan by a company called Ewin. It’s a good option for your games if you have it/can get it.

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ASR Dev Diary #2

The second part of the Sonic & SEGA All Stars Raing Developer Diary with Sumo Digital’s Steve Lycett has been posted over at the Sonic City Blognik.

In this entry Steve Lycett talk’s about his trip to Japan with his team to visit SEGA Japan and discuss a certain character with AM3 that Sumo Digital would like to include in the game. The character get’s permitted although Steve can’t reveal what character it is yet.

Steve also confirms the previously stated 20 character total that retailers started listing a month or so back –

We end the day on a high with one character approved ā€“ and I finally drop into bed in the hotel after nearly 24 hours of travel, thinking 1 downā€¦ 19 to goā€¦

AM3 made Crazy Taxi and Ghost Squad so could we be seeing a character from either of those franchises join Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing? With Crazy Taxi being a driving game then a character from that franchise would be perfect.

That’s all the ASR info from the diary entry though the rest of it is a good read too about Steve’s comical experience with a bottle of Coke right in SEGA Japan’s building and identity problems before being allowed into SEGA’s office’s.

Iinformation coming in the next entry is teased too –

Who else did I get to meet? Did we get any turned down/ What exactly is it like in Sonic Teams officesā€¦ Iā€™ve got to keep you waiting as Iā€™m out of space ā€“ till next time!

Check the entry with more pics out over at the Sonic City Blognik.

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Rumour: New Sonic Spinball Game Coming To Wii?

UK online retailer Simply Games are listing a new Sonic The Hedgehog Spinball title for Nintendo Wii, but what’s odd about it is they list Capcom rather than SEGA as publisher. This fresh listing has conveniently come in at a time when SEGA and Alton Towers have teamed up for a new Sonic Spinball theme park ride. A statement below from a staff member at the park claims SEGA are planning a Sonic relaunch of some kind.

Dear ā€¦.

Happy New Year

Apologies for the delay in getting back to you but I have been on holiday. I am sure that you will have picked up press reports by now relating to Spinball Whizzer and the fact that we are in partnership with Sega resulting in a retheme to the ride to coincide with the relaunch of Sonic. We hope that the retheme will be complete for our February half-term opening.

Kind regards

So, could SEGA be planning a relaunch for Sonic Spinball on Wii? We’ll let you know if any more info comes in, but for now take this with a grain of salt, especially as retailers make mistakes with their listings all the time.

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Steve Lycett Clears Up ASR Nintendo Channel Info

Steve Lycett under his S0L tag has revealed that Nintendo’s Wii Nintendo Channel hasn’t just made a mistake about the Gamecube Controller support but they are also mis-informed about a couple of other things.

The Channel’s product page for Wii states the game supports Wii Connect 24 and the product page for DS states the game supports 2-6 player multiplayer. Steve informs us in a post at the SSMB that both of those statements are incorrect and the DS version supports 4 players locally and online.

Steve also reveals Mii support has been there since the beginning and Craig Duncan’s previous statement was incorrect and too early. The statement couldn’t be cleared up or the cat would have been out of the bag before the announcement was due.

Liking the Mii’s then

They’ve always been in though – we didn’t add them due to fan pressure. Craig was misquoted about them not being in – but I couldn’t really say anything about it as – well then the car would have been well and truly out of the bag

On the Nintendo Channel question…

Wii version doesn’t support Wii Connect 24 – not sure where they’ve got that from.

DS is only 4 player multiplayer (local and online) not 6. They’re right about the rest


S0L

Link

As Steve states in the above post, everything else on the Nintendo Channel is true.
So new information now confirmed we have –

Wii:
Mii support (which has now been officially confirmed today a day later by SEGA/Sumo Digital)

DS:
2-4 players multiplayer(locally and online)
Single Card Download-play Multiplayer
Multi Card Multiplayer

Editor’s note: Since the Nintendo Channel information have now been cleared up, we’ve binned yesterday’s article regarding those updates.

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Mii’s Confirmed For ASR


Look’s like despite being wrong about Gamecube Controller support Nintendo’s Wii Nintendo Channel was at least right about Mii support being in the Wii version of Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing.

SEGA of America and SEGA Europe have just confirmed the feature over at their blogs with two screenshots. The Mii’s look to have their own vehicle similar to how Xbox 360 Avatar’s will have their own vehicle too. The All-Star Move for Mii’s also look’s the same as the Avatar move too where your friend’s Mii’s will come to your aid and give you a boost of speed and power.

Thanks to bolt7 for the heads up.

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ASR: Ulala confirmed by ESRB? No GC Controller Support Says S0L

A couple of previews stated Ulala will be in Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing and when the ESRB said the game will have ‘Mild Suggestive Themes’ we just knew the lady would be in but now the ESRB have added more fuel to the fire with their PC, Wii and PS3 report.

Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing

Platform: Windows PC, PlayStation 3, Wii

Rating: Everyone

Content descriptors: Cartoon Violence, Comic Mischief, Mild Suggestive Themes

Rating summary:
This is a racing game in which players use Sonic the Hedgehog and other SEGA characters to race on tracks taken from the SEGA universe. Players drive, drift, and “slipstream” their way through whimsical tracks while avoiding moving obstacles and other drivers. Players can receive “power-ups” during the race, allowing them to attack other racers in numerous waysā€”running at supersonic speed to knock them over, jabbing them with a hammer, crushing them with a giant egg, etc. Opponent vehicles usually spin out of control, pop up in the air, or fall off the racetrack when hit, though a vehicle does explode in a fiery burst during an introductory cutscene. One of the female racers wears a short skirt with a laser gun that clings to her thigh; she taunts opponents by gyrating her hips and blowing a kiss.

Link

Thanks to NinMicroSega for the heads up!

Steve Lycett of Sumo Digital under his S0L tag has also replied to our report about Nintendo’s Wii Nintendo Channel stating that the Wii version of Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing will support the Gamecube Controller and Mii’s.

Don’t think I’m allowed to comment on the Mii thing for a few more hours

Certainly no GameCube controller support in there. We did look into it after a load of requests on the official Sega forum, but it just doesn’t fit into the way we do the controllers on the Wii (which is all nice and automatic, rather than reams of menu’s).


S0L

Link

Look’s like Nintendo got the wrong end of the stick on that one but we’ll have to wait and see on the Mii support front which according to S0L’s post won’t be long now.

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De-confirmed: No Custom Vehicles Option In ASR

UPDATE:
We’ve just gotten word from Steve Lycett under his S0L tag that the staff behind the ASR Facebook page have got the wrong end of the stick, there is in in fact no custom vehicle option in the game.

That Custom Vehicle comment is a cock-up by whoever does the Facebook page, I can absolutely confirm that the game doesn’t support that feature, you’ll be seeing that vanish shortly. I’ll let AAUK double confirm this.

Beleive me, it would be a cool feature, but it’d take us another two years to add it!


S0L

Link
/END UPDATE

SEGA have revealed via the Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing Facebook page that players will be able to make their own custom vehicles in the game but no details are revealed as to what extent you can customize or whether the feature is available on all five platforms.

We’ll update you when more information is made available.

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ASR Wheel Europe Only, Dev Diary #2 Due This Week and Europe Release 26th Feb?

Remember the Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing themed Wii Wheel revealed at ShopTo.net that we reported about? Well SEGA Online Community Manager ArchangelUK has revealed today on the Sonic City Blognik that the peripheral will only see a release in European territorys and will give more details on how you can get it soon. ArchangelUK also reveals that the second part of the Developer Diary will be released this week so expect a report from us on that.

GAME and their other store Gamestation’s websites have updated their listed release date of 2010 to 26th February 2010 today, this is in no way official until SEGA reveals a date but normally this close to release they are normally on the spot. This date is also very different to the March 26th date most retailers have been speculating for months now. Most U.S. retailers are listing a 23rd February release date so if this 26th Feb date is right then we in Europe won’t have long to wait after the U.S.

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Tesco Name Sonic 2nd Top Games Character For 2010

It seems supermarket giant Tesco are trying to get in with the cool gaming crowd with their new flashy entertainment website they recently implemented, so they’ve come up with their top 10 game characters for 2010 but wait hasn’t the year only just started? In their efforts to get in our cool gaming crowd they fail miserably on the Halo and Zelda front. Check out their top 10 list below –

1: Mario
2: Sonic
3: Soap McTavish
4: Bayonetta
5: Big Daddy
6: AiAi
7: Nathan Drake
8: Zelda (I think they mean Link here going by their pic)
9: Halo (No we’re not kidding, they really have put that)
10: Rabbids

Link

So, yet again Mario beats Sonic in a list but at least Sonic beat some pretty popular characters but with the hilarious mistake’s on that list we can’t give Tesco much credit as they don’t even seem to know what they’re talking about.

Let us know what you think of Tesco’s effort at gaming coolness and wether you want them in or out of our cool gaming crowd in the comments.

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ASR: New Wii & DS Screenshots and Artwork

Wiiz.fr have posted up some new screenshots for the Wii & DS versions of Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing, they’ve also grabbed some new artwork in which we can now see Big’s bike is themed around his best friend Froggy. Check them out below –

Wiiz also have some hi-res versions of the Wii & DS box arts. The Wii box art has been updated with the Wii Wheel logo.

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9 New Xbox 360/PS3 ASR Screenshots

Three new screenshots for Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing have appeared on Toys R Us’s U.S. website, nothing new is revealed but we do get another good look at Alex Kidd and Amigo’s All Star Moves which see Amigo gather his fellow racers in to a conga line and Alex Kidd jump into his little helicopter. We’ll bring you more news in the run up to release as it’s revealed.

Toys R Us

Objectif SEGA

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Confirmed: Sonic X-treme Character Chaz Found

SSMB member MarcelloF was checking out Sonic X-treme stuff on the Spriters Resource website and found a character called Chaz’s sprites there that were ripped from the game. If the character is an animal it has no obvious similarity to any species, it look’s like a cross between an armadillo and a badger if you ask me. Continue reading Confirmed: Sonic X-treme Character Chaz Found

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Sonic ’06 Macarena

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8b7zW93a6s[/youtube]

Hate or love Sonic ’06 you’ll find something humorous in sonic00yea’s video with a Macarena twist to the game’s cutscenes. The part of the song about not worrying about the female singer’s boyfriend playing to a scene of Amy all over Silver when she mistakes him for Sonic is very funny indeed.

Enjoy!

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Game Reactor Interview Steve Lycett About Ryo Hazuki And Balance In ASR

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuCTTPm-a2w&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

As seen above Game Reactor have had a recent interview with Steve Lycett of Sumo Digital about their upcoming racer Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing. In the interview Steve is asked about Ryo Hazuki’s coming to be which he reveals to be from the obvious demand from the fans. Steve is also asked about balance in regards to the mighty All Star Moves and shortcuts which Steve rests assured are very balanced and definitely not game breaking.

Source: Game Reactor’s YouTube Channel

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Pre-order ASR Wii @ ShopTo & Get ASR Wii Wheel

ShopTo.net have uploaded a new picture to their Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing Wii version product page. The new picture contains the game and what look’s like a Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing themed Wii Wheel peripheral. The peripheral has the game’s logo and SEGA’s logo making it look pretty official.

No info is given on the product page about the peripheral so there’s no telling wether this comes as standard, wether it’s a ShopTo exclusive or not or even wether it’s for pre-orders only.

Least the price hasn’t gone up and there’s no seperate listing for this bundle so we can at least guess that this peripheral is a free gift. We’ve had a look around many other retailers websites and can’t see this peripheral so for now at least it’s a ShopTo exclusive but it wouldn’t be surprising if the wheel comes as standard like with many racing games on Wii such as Mario Kart Wii and F1 2009.

Source: ShopTo.net

Thanks to Hero of Legend for the higher res pic.

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Gamespot @ SEGA Update. Sonic Related Interview Coming

We have been keeping you up to date on the Gamespot @ SEGA event and as promised Gamespot have begun posting up their interviews at the event. Currently they have posted interviews with the Yakuza 3 and Infinite Space developers but they inform that more is on the way in the coming week including an interview with “an exclusive interview with Sega head of consumer business Naoya Tsurumi to talk things House of Sonic.”

We’ll keep an eye out and let you know as soon as the interview hits their website and write up any interesting information that may come from it.

At the top right of Gamespot’s SEGA event page a piece of Sonic art can be spotted that is actually fan art by awesome SSMB member ENVY16. Way to use Google Gamespot, needs more credit to ENVY16 though.

Source: Gamespot

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Newcomer: Sonic The Snowhog

Ever seen a Snowman with as cool an attitude as Sonic? Neither had I until SonikkuForever sent us some pictures of a Sonic snowman he made.
Continue reading Newcomer: Sonic The Snowhog

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Steve Lycett Details ‘Rubber Banding’ In ASR

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2tIFj97M6c[/youtube]

Steve Lycett under his S0L nickname has responded to rubber banding discussion’s over at the SEGA forums by detailing how it all works in Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing.

Here’s Steve’s response –

You can enable catch-up for human players (in Multiplayer that is, both online and split-screen), but the aim is for the weapons and All-Stars to do the movement through the pack.

Or you can turn it off – and see who is actually better at racing šŸ˜›


S0L

So, very good news for gamers who hate ‘rubber banding’ in multi-player games like Mario Kart and should make for some interesting race’s online. No word on single player but the way Steve says “in multiplayer that is,” we can assume it is in single player, we’ll let you know if we hear any different.

Meanwhile, are you happy with Sumo Digital’s decision to make this optional in multiplayer? Let us know in the comments.

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ShopTo Wants Banjo-Kazooie In Wii ASR

ShopTo.net don’t seem very pleased with the recent announcement of Banjo-Kazooie being an Xbox 360 exclusive, they’d rather the bear and bird come back to the Nintendo side and be included in the Wii version of Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing. The site has even left the Xbox 360 box art blank compared to the other 3 box arts out of protest.

But seriously how did they make an error like that with the box arts?

EDIT:
Seems ShopTo have fixed the error now but it was still funny none the less.
Xbox 360
Wii

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UK ASR Box Art Revealed Including PC & Amazon UK Selling Bentley Jones MP3’s

UPDATE: PC box art revealed.

Amazon’s UK site has revealed the final UK box art for Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing which looks to be matching the U.S. box art including the Xbox 360 version’s ‘With Banjo-Kazooie’ sub title. ShopTo.net have also revealed the PC box art.

(Click to enlarge)

Also worth noting on Amazon’s UK site is that they are now selling Bentley Jones new songs from his So Much More… album in MP3 format as an album and individually, those who prefer CD’s are out of luck. As far as I’m aware this is the first time a UK retailer is selling any of Bentley Jones songs so this is very good news for Bentley Jones and the fans. Hopefully we’ll see more UK retailers follow suit.

Source: Amazon UK

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SEGA Holding 40% Off Mega Sale on PSN(U.S. Only) And Wii V.C.

SEGA of America and SEGA Europe are having a 40% Off Mega Sale in the spirit of the holidays on PlayStation Network(U.S. only) and on Wii Virtual Console. Wether it’s classic games, PSP games or DLC SEGA have got you covered.

There’s no mention on the SEGA Europe blogs or the PlayStation Store Update on the PlayStation Europe blog of a PSN sale in Europe so we’re left to assume the sale is only on the U.S. PSN. If we hear any different we’ll update this article and let you know.

Playstation Network (U.S. Only) –
PS3:
Sonic Unleashed Apatos & Shamar Adventure Pack
Sonic Unleashed Chun-nan Adventure Pack
Sonic Unleashed Empire City & Adabat Adventure Pack
Sonic Unleashed Holoska Adventure Pack
Sonic Unleashed Mazuri Adventure Pack
Sonic Unleashed Spagonia Adventure Pack
SONIC: Very Hard Shadow Missions
SONIC: Very Hard Silver Missions
SONIC: Very Hard Sonic Missions
Valkyria Chronicles Edyā€™s Mission ā€œEnter the Edy Detachmentā€
Valkyria Chronicles Hard EX Mode
Valkyria Chronicles Selveriaā€™s Mission ā€œBehind Her Blue Flameā€

PSP:
Alien Syndrome
Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars
Crush
Full Auto 2: Battlelines
Gunstar Heroes
Iron Man
Sega Genesis Collection
Sonic Rivals
Sonic Rivals 2
Super Monkey Ball Adventure

—————————–

Wii Virtual Console(All regions):
Sonic The Hedgehog
Sonic The Hedgehog 2
Sonic The Hedgehog 3
Gunstar Heroes
Toe Jam & Earl
Puyo Puyo 2
Shining Force
Golden Axe
Altered Beast
Streets Of Rage 2

Sources:
SEGA Europe Blog & Sonic City Blognik

SEGA of America Blog(Wii V.C.)
SEGA of America Blog(PSN)

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Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection Joins Platinum Hits Range

With last week’s news of Sonic Unleashed hitting the Xbox 360 Platinum Hits and Classics ranges it looks like SEGA fans have another game to celebrate hitting Platinum Hits status with Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection joining the range. There’s no evidence as yet of the European version titled SEGA Mega Drive Ultimate Collection joining the Classics range but we’ll keep an eye out.

With this news we can safely say there are still alot of fans of classic SEGA titles out there and now any fans who were holding out can now go pick the collection up pretty cheap in the budget Platinum Hits range.

Source: Xbox.com

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New Christmas Themed ASR Trailer

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n87VS0RB3J8[/youtube]

As a Christmas present to all fans of upcoming racer Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing, SEGA Europe have released the above trailer. It show’s more footage of the Billy Hatcher Blizzard Castle track to someone singing a SEGA themed version of the classic carol Twelve Days Of Christmas. Nothing new is revealed in the trailer before anyone asks.

Source: Sonic City Blognik

Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing is on track for an Early 2010 release.

P.S. Yes the pun was intended.

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ASR not enough? How about Sonic & Shadow Modnation Racers?

Modnation Sonic Modnation Shadow
(Click to enlarge)

Own a PS3? Annoyed that the Xbox 360 version of Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing get’s Avatar support and Banjo-Kazooie? Well, relax as some lucky fan’s who have got to try out the PS3 exclusive title Modnation Racers beta test have made Sonic and Shadow models to race with among many other video game characters. Check them out here.

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SOA & SOE Issue Press Release’s For ASR B-K & Avatars. Feb 2010 Release In U.S.

Banjo-Kazooie art

SEGA of America and SEGA Europe have issued a press release regarding yesterdays official announcement of Banjo-Kazooie and Avatar’s presence in the Xbox 360 version of Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing. An high quality trailer has also been released on SEGA Europe’s website. SEGA of America have also uploaded the U.S. version of the trailer to their YouTube account.

LONDON & SAN FRANCISCO (18 December, 2009) ā€“ SEGAĀ® Europe Ltd., SEGAĀ® of America, Inc. and Microsoft today announced an exciting new partnership for Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racingā„¢. For the first time ever in a racing game for the Xbox 360Ā® video game and entertainment system, you will be able to jump in to the game in the form of your Avatar and race against your favourite Sonic & SEGA characters. In yet another addition to the character roster and exclusive to the Xbox 360 version, Banjo and Kazooie will make a welcome return to the console and take to the starting grid in their Bolt Bucket all terrain vehicle!

Working closely with the Rare Studio to bring the popular characters to life, Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing sees Banjo and Kazooie taking their place on the starting grid alongside classic SEGA characters such as Sonic, AiAi, Amy, Knuckles and Ryo Hazuki. As well as mastering the drift system to get the best out of the tracks, and picking up weapons such as Sonic speed boots and homing rockets along the way, Banjo and his faithful sidekick Kazooie will be able to unleash their own unique All-Star move in a bid to cross the finish line in pole position!

Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing will also be the first racing game for the Xbox 360 to feature fully playable Avatars. Have you ever pictured yourself speeding around the lush green hills of Sonicā€™s Seaside Hill Zone? Or wondered how youā€™d look rolling around the levels of Super Monkey Ball? Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing will allow your Avatar to hop in to the All-Stars Racing ā€œAvacarā€ and put your pedal to the metal around SEGA world inspired tracks! If you find yourself towards the back of the race, or taking hits from everyoneā€™s weapons, itā€™s your friends that will come to your rescue in the Avatar All-Star move, with recognisable faces from your Xbox LIVE Friends List offering a helping hand!

ā€œWeā€™re very excited to see Banjo and Kazooie back on the screen racing against these great SEGA charactersā€ said Shintaro Kanaoya, Head of Business Strategy and Development at Rare. ā€œWeā€™re also very proud to see the Xbox 360 Avatars, which were conceived of and developed at Rare, incorporated into the game and allowing players to put themselves in the driving seat. The project has been an excellent collaboration between Rare and SEGA, and weā€™re looking forward to its retail release and tearing around the tracks!ā€

David Gosen, Vice President, Xbox EMEA says ā€œAvatar characters are fast becoming integral to gaming for the Xbox 360 owner. We are therefore really excited to be bringing them to life as fully playable in this world exclusive. Itā€™s even more thrilling to be launching this activity with such a big title especially when it heralds the return of Banjo & Kazooie to the platform.ā€

ā€œHaving characters as big as Banjo and Kazooie in the Xbox 360 version of game is huge for Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing,ā€ commented Gary Knight, European Marketing Director, SEGA Europe Ltd. ā€œSEGA are proud to have been able to work with such an acclaimed development team as Rare and to go one step further by being one of the first publishers to put truly playable Avatars in a game, really cements SEGAā€™s commitment to working with first party partners, bringing the best possible content for individual platforms.ā€

Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing sees Sonic and friends speed around tracks set in medieval castle ramparts, lush rainforests and bustling cities, all taken from the visually rich and varied universes of Sonic and SEGA. Are you gonna be faster than Sonic?

Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing featuring Banjo Kazooie will be in stores Early 2010.

The U.S. version of the Press Release (revealed via the SEGA of America blog with the Banjo-Kazooie artwork) ends a little differently –

Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing featuring Banjo Kazooie will be in stores Feb 2010.

Let’s hope a European release month/date is revealed soon.

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Nintendo Power Preview Wii & DS ASR

Nintendo Power have previewed the Wii & DS versions of Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing and have also received a few new screenshots of both versions. Nintendo Power re-affirm their earlier confirmation of a Space Channel 5 character presence in the game, no specific character is mentioned but our bets are on Ulala the star of that series. No new information is revealed unfortunately but its always nice to have a look at how the game is looking on the Wii & DS with so much attention always on the HD versions.

Check out the article below(Click thumbnail to enlarge).
Thanks to Emerl over at the SSMB for the scan.

np250sasasr

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Four New ASR Screenshots

18th Dec Screen 1

With the official unveiling of Avatar’s and Banjo-Kazooie’s appearances in Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing some new screenshots have been revealed of those characters in the game. One interesting tidbit in the screenshot showing the Avatar’s All-Star move is the updated HUD that has a tracking bar instead of a map indicating how far you and your opponents are from the finish line. Wether this will be used instead of a map or as a seperate option to maps we can only guess until we receive confirmation from SEGA/Sumo Digital.

Check out the other three screenshots below (Click the thumbnails to enlarge)
18th Dec Screen 2 18th Dec Screen 3 18th Dec Screen 4

Sources:
Official Xbox UK site
MundoRare

Thanks to NinMicroSega over at the SSMB for the non-Silverlight link.

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Gamespot Check Out SEGA Tokyo HQ

SEGA Japan 6

You may remember last week when we informed you that Gamespot were after user questions for their visit to SEGA’s Tokyo HQ, well they have returned and shared some photo’s from SEGA’s foyer.
Continue reading Gamespot Check Out SEGA Tokyo HQ

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New ASR Trailer Now On Xbox Live and YouTube

Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing banner

UPDATE: Now on YouTube –
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fdhHMlxsj4[/youtube]

A new trailer for Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing featuring Banjo-Kazooie has just hit Xbox Live on Xbox 3660. The trailer weighs in at 72.12MB.

The trailer is now available via the Marketplace on the official Xbox web site too.

The trailer reveals your Xbox 360 Avatars are playable in the game for a more custom experience. The trailer also lays to rest any hope fans had for exclusive characters in the other versions of the game with the voice-over confirming “Exclusive Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing characters only on Xbox 360.”

Examining the trailer:
– Shadow’s All-Star Move is, you guessed it Super Shadow!
– The Avatar’s All-Star Move gathers your friends Avatar’s to lift your vehicle and run while carrying your car to give you what looks to be a comical boost in speed while bashing through opponents.
– A track that looks like Dino Mountain from Billy Hatcher is shown.
– A Tokyo type city track is also shown, possibly representing Yakuza, Shenmue or Jet Set/Grind Radio.
– Banjo-Kazooie’s vehicle’s license plate says BANJO for anyone interested.
– Final Fortress from Sonic Heroes also appears as a new track.
– Banjo Kazooie’s All-Star Move has Kazooie peck Banjo’s head then get out her magical wrench from Nuts & Bolts to throw Jiggies behind them to attack their opponents.
– Amy is shown attacking Tails with a giant blue ball item.
– Banjo Kazooie’s vehicle has the Rare logo as a hood ornament.
– The trailer’s description reveals Banjo-Kazooie’s vehicle to be named the ‘Bolt Bucket’ Jeep and the Avatar’s vehicle to be called the ‘Avacar’.
– The UK official Xbox site is now displaying the same box art as the U.S. with Banjo Kazooie on the front so that’s the UK Xbox 360 box art confirmed.

The desert track shown is from Super Monkey Ball. If you pause the trailer at the part where Banjo stands up and waves at everyone behind him to the left you can see a giant stone wheel with AiAi and Mee-Mee’s faces on with a picture of a banana. The track also has banana peel obstacles too. Super Monkey Ball character statues can also be seen at the end of the trailer.

Steve Lycett from Sumo Digital under his nickname S0L has confirmed via the SSMB that the Tokyo track is from the Jet Set Radio games.

Steve also assures fans that Bajo-Kazooie are on the disc and not downloadable content.

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