SEGA has sliced the prices of some of their old PSP games on PSN permanently. Here’s a list of the games with their original and slashed prices:
Alien Syndrome:
$9.99………$4.99
Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars:$9.99………$4.99
Crush:$9.99………$6.99
Sonic Rivals:$9.99………$6.99
Sonic Rivals 2:$9.99………$6.99
Super Monkey Ball Adventure:$9.99………$4.99
Valkyria Chronicles II:$19.99………$9.99
These price cuts do not apply to Europe (at least not yet). Because these games are being sold on PSN they can also be played on the Playstation Vita.
[Source: SEGA Blog]
Why not kill two birds with one stone? Sega released the Steam (PC) version of their Sega Heritage version of NiGHTS into Dreams today. This also features the update seen on the console versions that adds 24 points of analog control for the same price as their other Heritage Releases. You can also have a glimpse of the original versions of these games on our Youtube channel. Also this week is the release of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed for Playstation Vita in US stores and the Playstation Store on the Sony Network on the 18th for $29.99
Perhaps we should make this a regular feature for Sonic & Sega releases. We’d have like a list of the games with info pages attached to look something like this…
Street dates being broken is nothing new when it comes to videogames. Pretty much every game ever gets sold too early by stores somewhere on the world, but it’s not often that it gets sold too early on it’s platform’s online store. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed was meant to come out this Friday in Europe, but Sony accidentally sold the game too early on the Playstation store. Some normal retailers are of course probably already selling the game, but it’s still entertaining to see Sony sell it early as well. I managed to buy the game before it was pulled from the store and took some screenshots.
So how does it compare to the console versions? Graphically it doesn’t really look as nice, which is to be expected since while the Vita is the most powerful gaming handheld on the current market, it’s not a Playstation 3. Still, the game looks a bit lackluster even when compared to other Vita games, mostly because of the lack of any shader effects. The framerate can also go down a bit at times, though not too much to be bothersome and the resolution is native. Also, the amount of participants in a race has been toned down from ten to eight, which again is to be expected. All of the content from the console versions is in this version, so if you don’t mind there being no shaders this should still make for a good portable version. One issue I noticed that should be easy to patch is that the d-pad doesn’t work during flying segments or all-star moves, it also cannot be used to fire power-ups backwards. The left control stick can still be used to do all of these things though.
Greetings from the show floor. Or rather, from the couch in the house of a great friend as I wearily type out this information as I get up. Been out and about at the Penny Arcade Expo, and I’m ready to bang out some tidbits from the show floor while sipping from my pipe mug courtesy of $35 and fangamer.net. What follows is some general news as well as game impressions from some of the games on the show floor as well as a small sampling of pictures I took. Lets also not forget…
Retro Community Meet-Up Reminder
Hey now, Seattle is NOT that cold. Plus the community meet up is later today at noon. Don’t forget the details and come check in with other community members and staff. That goes for you too, ShadeVortex.
With Gamescom starting in a couple of days SEGA has released a new trailer for Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed just before the event actually starts. This trailer reveals various new tracks based on After Burner, Skies of Arcadia, Samba De Amigo and Starlight Carnival from Sonic Colours. There are also a couple of new screenshots, one which shows that Sumo Digital’s favorite Sonic zone, Seaside Hill from Sonic Heroes will once again be represented in their latest game.
IGN also put up a preview of the Wii U version revealing some of the exclusive features that iteration of the game will have, all of them using the new Gamepad. The screen on the Gamepad will show additional info like the current order the racers are in, a mini-map and close-ups of the power-up you’re using hitting it’s target. The Gamepad can also be used as a steering wheel by tilting it left and right and there are various mini-games where one player is using the Gamepad’s screen and other players are using Classic or Pro Controllers. One such mini-game is ‘Super Monkey Ball Arena’, where the player with the Gamepad controls AiAi trying to squash the other players with the ball he is walking around in.
[Source: IGN]
It’s been unclear when the Jet Set Radio port and Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Death Rabbit will actually be released. So far both games have had the “Summer 2012″ date attached to them, but now SEGA has announced more specific release dates for the two titles. Hell Yeah! will be released in North America on September 25th for Playstation Network, September 26th for Xbox Live Arcade and October 3rd for Steam. In Europe the game will be released for all platforms on October 3rd, the price is 1200 Microsoft Points/$14.99/£9.99/€12.99/AUD$19.95. SEGA also released a new trailer (seen above) showcasing the various ways you can “pimp up” the main character of the game, the Dead Rabbit.
Jet Set Radio will arrive a bit sooner on most platforms and will technically still be released during the summer. Playstation Plus users on PS3 will be able to buy the game from September 11th, while non-Plus PSN users will be able to buy it from September 18th. On Xbox Live Arcade and Steam the game will be released on September 19th and on Playstation Vita the game will be available from October 16th. The price on all platforms is $9.99/800 Microsoft Points.
From Comic Con comes a new trailer for Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed showing at least part of the opening cinematic of the game. The trailer primarily features Sonic characters along with a bunch of recycled voice clips, though Vyse from Skies of Arcadia, Gillius from Golden Axe and AiAi from Super Monkey Ball do appear as well as some of the dragons from Panzer Dragoon. The end of the trailer shows the release date of the game, which is November 20th, 2012 in the US and November 16th in Europe.
The box art of the game has also been revealed. Non-Sonic SEGA characters take a backseat on this cover, with Sonic literally appearing five times to show how his vehicle transforms from a boat into a plane into a car. If you squint you might be able to see AiAi flying around in the background. Aside from the lack of other SEGA characters it’s not a bad cover though. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed will be coming to Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Playstation Vita, 3DS, Wii U and on PC download services like Steam.
[Source: SEGA Blog]
Sega’s no-shows at E3 such as Anarchy Reigns, the Valkyria Chronicles series and Phantasy Star Online 2 sure has fans a bit weary of what the publisher intends to bring from it’s library in Japan. However, of all games to be shown off at E3, and so quietly is the Playstation Vita version of Project Diva f. Or as it’s been renamed to at E3, Hatsune Miku.
You know, Hatsune Miku, the vocaloid singer whose quite popular in Japan. However, nothing has been officially announced, in fact, no publisher details have been officially revealed. But it is implied that Sega will post photos of people playing the demo at E3 on their blogs, and they are the official publishers of the Project Diva series in Japan, so their involvement should come as no surprise. It’s more than you can say for something like the Sakura Wars series.
For those at the Los Angeles convention, it is currently being shown off at Sony’s E3 booth, and to those who are interested in a US release are encouraged to bug Sega about it, liberally.
As for me? There sure are some catchy songs, but much like My Little Pony fans rub me the wrong way to the point that I don’t want to show interest in the show, the same could be said for Hatsune Miku. Still an interesting and commemorable move by Sega.
[Sources: Hatsune Miku English facebook Page]