SEGA Started "Dating" The PlatinumGames Guys as Soon As There Were Signs of Problems

Another Mario Sonic Collaboration in the Works?

Speaking with SEGA of America president Simon Jeffery earlier this week, he was pretty excited about how well Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games has been selling.

Worldwide SEGA has sold about 10 million copies and, as Jeffery pointed out, the upcoming Olympics will likely provide a boost to sales of the game when they kick off.

Will there be another Mario and Sonic collaboration? Jeffery was being coy about the details, but he's certainly all for it.

"We would be delighted to do another game with Mario and Sonic," he said.

After wowing the assembled press during the demo of Devil May Cry challenger Bayonetta, the folks at PlatinumGames pulled out a demo of another of their upcoming titles, MadWorld. MadWorld places you in the role of Jack, a brutal killer with a chainsaw for an arm. Varrigan city has been taken over by a mysterious organization known as "The Organizers", who are pitting the city's citizens against a series of mysterious foes in a deadly TV show called Death Watch. Jack must tear his way through hordes of enemies, killing them in creative and humorous ways, earning points to unlock powerups and mini-games as he progresses. Designer Shigenori Nishikawa's plan is to make the violence so over the top that it's humorous, and from what I saw he seems to be succeeding, to a point.

Up until my visit to Sega at E3 this week, all I had seen of Obsidian Entertainment's spy thriller action RPG Alpha Protocol was a few screenshots. Yesterday I got a chance to see a demo of the game in action, and I can safely say that fans of BioWare's space epic Mass Effect should be extremely pleased. In fact, had the Obsidian folks at the demo not denied it, one could easily assume the two games were using the exact same engine, with a few tweaks in place to freshen things up a bit.

Oooo, so very close. I sat in on a presentation of Sonic Unleashed at the Sega booth today, and things look pretty much as I feared when I first heard about the game. On one hand you have the daylight gameplay, which features Sonic racing across levels inspired by real-world locations such as Greece and China, alterating between the 3D platforming we know from Sonic Adventure and the 2D perspective from classic Sonic titles.

The sense of speed in the daylight sections is completely amazing. The Sega rep informed us that once Sonic fills up his ring power and boosts he can reach the real-world equivalent of 300 miles per hour. Watching Sonic speed through the levels made my hands ache to get my hands on the controller.

Then the evening comes.

Dante is a pansy. Bayonetta could completely kick his ass. Star of her own eponymous game, the fruit of the partnership between Sega and PlatinumGames, Bayonetta takes the over-the-top melee and shooting combat of the Devil May Cry series and cranks things up to completely ridiculous levels with amazing results.

Bayonetta herself is a sultry, scantily clad witch with long dark hair and glasses. From the way her hips sway when she walks and her poses during special moves you might think she was a pushover, but the twin revolvers in her hands AND on her feet speak differently, and even should those fail, she has some really killer hair.

Madworld E3 Trailer

When this trailer warns you it contains scenes of extreme violence, it's not kidding around. This is the most gruesome thing we've seen all week. And yet, at the same time, easily one of the most entertaining.

Sega: The iPhone is as Powerful as the Dreamcast

Speaking with SEGA of America president Simon Jeffery earlier today he noted that the iPhone is about as powerful as the publisher's console the Dreamcast. Jeffery said the company is delighted with how their iPhone version of Super Monkey Ball has been received by the phones many owners and detailed how the developer plans to take advantage of what he calls an upcoming and potentially major new platform for gaming.

No, Valkyria Chronicles Isn't Coming To PSP

When Sony showed off Sega's Valkyria Chronicles as part of its upcoming PSP line-up, alongside titles like Resistance: Retribution and LocoRoco 2, we thought.... "Wait. Valkyria Chronicles? For the PSP?!" It was, inarguably, the best looking PSP game on display.

The reason for that is that Valkyria Chronicles is a PlayStation 3 title. Chalk its appearance at Sony's E3 media briefing up to a massive blunder on Sony's part. Sega president Simon Jeffery sounded none too pleased about the flub when we talked to him earlier today and hinted that Sony was on the receiving of serious tongue-lashing from the publisher. Oops!

Sega: No Plans For Shenmue III, Seaman 2

Talking with Sega of America president Simon Jeffery today, we asked the inevitable question — Is Sega ever going to release Shenmue III? The Yu Suzuki helmed adventure that saw two releases on the Dreamcast and Xbox has yet to see its epically planned story fully resolved. Unfortunately, the fate of Ryo Hazuki and another taste of "Full Reactive Eyes Entertainment" will have to wait.

"There are no plans for [Shenmue III] right now," Jeffery told us. Despite being one of the most requested Sega "fanboy" titles, it certainly didn't sound like the publisher has much interest in or resources dedicated to the project.

Jeffery was at least less final on Shenmue III's fate than he was on a North American release of Seaman 2. We asked about the still unpublished PlayStation 2 oddball's Western release, to which Jeffery flat-out said "No."

Yakuza 2 Gets American Release Date

Try to look past the setting and the visual themes, which are being done for the 1132th and 2319th time this year respectively. Focus instead on the fact this is being made by Creative Assembly. Yeah. The Total War guys.

Oh Sega. Here we were, getting all optimistic about Sonic Unleashed, to the point where we'd even dropped the long-necessary "oh, but it's Sega, it's Sonic, it'll suck" mantra. And then you go and release this. It's not the gameplay we're worried about (since the trailer doesn't feature any), but the tone. We thought it had been made explicitly clear that there were to be no more humans!

The development team behind the excellent Total War RTS series is making the jump to consoles, as Sega announces Stormrise, a console RTS for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Set in a post-apocalyptic future (because pre-apocalyptic is boring), the story of Stormrise revolves around two warring factions, the highly-technical Echelon who survived the apocalypse by hibernating, and the more primitive tribal society of the Sai. The gameplay has you controlling troops from the front line rather than from a lofty position overhead, with the ability to command units not only on the ground, but in the air, across rooftops, and even undeground to achieve their goals.

“The Creative Assembly have proven their general leadership in developing RTS games through the award winning ‘Total War’ series on PC”, commented Gary Knight, European Marketing Director, SEGA Europe. “However, Stormrise has been built from the ground up specifically for high def consoles to provide a more intense, frenetic style of game that, coupled with the all new control mechanic, will revolutionize the way RTS games are played.”

This definitely sounds like the type of console RTS I could sink my teeth into. Hit the jump for the second of the two announcement screens.

A Decade Later, We Get New Thunder Force Game

Finally! We get another Thunder Force scrolling shooter. The last time we saw a Thunder Force game was ten years ago when Thunder Force VI was ported to the PlayStation. Back in 2000, a Dreamcast version of Thunder Force VI was rumored to be in development, but when the Dreamcast cashed out, so did Thunder Force VI, it seems. But since last month, the website for the game's developer has been touting a new Thunder Force and, whaddaya know, this week's Famitsu announces the game. It's on the PS2 and will be out October 30th in Japan.

New THUNDERFORCE Coming Soon! [TecnoSoft]

As foretold, here are the first screens of zombie love, zombie bowling, zombie rock and roll, zombie sumo, zombie apple picking Ai sareru yori ai shitai: House of the Dead EX. The game looks more causal and more crazy. It's jammed pack with mini-games that are controlled by the gun and the foot pedal — mini games, and that's not in a pejorative sense! This series spin-off looks fun and totally fitting for arcade play. We approve, SEGA, we really do.

SEGA PRIVATE SHOW 2008 -SUMMER [IT Media]

The House Of The Dead EX Is All About Zombie Love And Mini-Games

Zombie romance, zombie bowling, zombie rock and roll — all key components of the next The House of the Dead. At least, that's what we can glean from Sega's whacked out promo flyer for The House of the Dead EX, a more comedic, more casual spin-off for the light gun series that brings with a foot pedal a la Time Crisis and a whole mess of crazy. Looks like some of the games in The House of the Dead EX will require just the gun, with others, like bat-thing riding requiring the use of the pedal.

Honestly, we have no idea what's going on here yet, but we like Sega has tossed on an off-kilter anime style to the whole thing. We actually liked the cel-shaded The House of the Dead III and were crushed when Sega nixed it for a more photorealistic look.

Sega is showing off the new arcade light-gun shooter at the Sega Private Show in Japan and we're anxiously awaiting more details.

House of the Dead EX [AM-net]

More On Yakuza 3 And Its Idyllic Summer Getaway