SEGA

Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Switch, Videos | 8 Comments

SEGA is giving fans another taste of Sonic Forces’ music with the main theme “Fist Bump”. We’ve heard this track slightly before, but vocals are now included. Listen to the music below.

Vocals and lyrics were done by Douglas Robb (Hoobastank). It was composed and arranged by Tomoya Ohtani. Finally, strings were arranged by Takahito Eguchi.

More: SEGA, Sonic Forces

Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 30 Comments

Sonic Mania is a pretty big deal. It’s the first true 2D Sonic game in a very long time.

According to Sonic Team’s Takashi Iizuka, the reception and reaction to Sonic Mania following launch will help SEGA determine the future direction of the franchise. Iizuka almost views the game as a gamble since the team is unsure if “it’ll be accepted positively in the market.”

Iizuka’s full words are as follows:

“[laughs] In the past two decades Sonic games have been trying to target a broader audience from kids to adults. And Forces has that same idea, so that means a wider range of characters that we know children like. Even if other fans may not be quite as keen.

But for Mania it’s kind of like a new approach. To target specifically 2D fans. So we don’t know whether it’ll be accepted positively in the market. We’ll find out after the game’s released, and we can figure out the direction of future titles after seeing the reaction.”

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More: Headcannon, PagodaWest Games, SEGA, Sonic Mania, Tantalus

Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 1 Comment

Naoto Ohshima is best known as the original designer for Sonic. Although he’s no longer with SEGA, Ohshima certainly hasn’t forgotten the franchise. And in celebration of Sonic Mania’s launch next month, he’s drawn up some special art, which we have above.

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More: Headcannon, PagodaWest Games, SEGA, Sonic Mania, Tantalus

Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 3 Comments

A new Sonic Forces interview has gone up on Nintendo UK’s website. Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka and producer Shun Nakamura participated in the discussion.

We have some highlights from the interview below. Iizuka and Nakamura spoke about how Sonic Forces isn’t a sequel to Sonic Generations, the custom character system, appealing to all types of players with this game and Mania, and fans comparing New Donk City from Super Mario Odyssey to Sonic Adventure.

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More: interview, SEGA, Shun Nakamura, Sonic Forces, Takashi Iizuka, top

Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 11 Comments

Sonic Mania has a neat little feature that you may not be aware of. When playing alone, if you hold ↑ and press Jump twice, Tails will carry you.

This actually wasn’t in previous Sonic Mania builds, and it was only added in recently. One tester even filed it as a bug, but of course it’s actually just a feature in the game.

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More: Headcannon, PagodaWest Games, SEGA, Sonic Mania, Tantalus

Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 12 Comments

SEGA has two new Sonic games launching this year. Sonic Mania is set for August, followed by Sonic Forces this holiday.

Even though SEGA is bringing out a pair of Sonic titles within just a few months of each other, the company doesn’t view that as an issue. SEGA of Europe vice president John Clark told GamesBeat that there isn’t any concern about splitting the market. Clark believes that Mania could attract the core Sonic fans while Forces has the potential for a broader appeal.

Clark said:

“It’s like asking, ‘Will a Sonic fan only buy one Sonic game?’ We think they both occupy different audiences. Initially we wanted to appeal to the core fan. We want to deliver a strong experience that’s going to immediately give such strong and instant gratification, if you like, from accessing it. And then we want to appeal to a broader audience, which is where Forces comes into it. But who’d have thought that this retro-looking game, developed by Christian Whitehead and the team he’s put together, a community developer, and then Sonic Team developing Sonic Forces — that, for us, is a real step change. It’s something we wouldn’t have expected to see, say, 10 years ago. That, in itself, was very exciting for us, and hopefully for fans as well.”

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More: interview, John Clark, SEGA, Sonic Forces, Sonic Mania

Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 43 Comments

Sonic Forces was finally playable at E3 2017 this week. Multiple versions of the game were playable, including Switch.

Sonic Forces seems to hold up pretty well on Nintendo’s console. However, SEGA did make one technical compromise. While other versions will be 60 frames per second, it’ll drop to 30 on Switch.

It’s possible that things may change before the final game ships. Still, a raise to 60 FPS may not be possible.

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More: SEGA, Sonic Forces

Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 4 Comments

SEGA is celebrating Sonic’s 26th anniversary with a special announcement for Sonic Mania. In partnership with Data Discs, a Sonic Mania Vinyl Album will be released.

Here’s what you can expect:

“Featuring select tracks by Sonic Mania composer Tee Lopes, as well as exclusive new gatefold art featuring Sonic, Tails, & Knuckles exploring the lush vistas of Green Hill Zone Act 2, the Vinyl album is a must-have for any fan or Sonic music aficionado, and a gorgeous addition to any Sonic collection.”

Fans can pick up the Vinyl in three variations: Sonic Blue, Classic Black and a Limited Edition version. Pre-orders will be held at data-discs.com in late July.

Source: SEGA PR

More: Headcannon, PagodaWest Games, SEGA, Sonic Mania, Tantalus

Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, News, Wii U eShop | 8 Comments

Something you may have seen in today’s Nintendo Downloads report was the new Sonic eShop sale. We had prices and the lineup of games for Europe, but now we have the same for North America. Also, while it was mentioned in the Nintendo Download PR, 3DS themes have also been discounted in the states.

In any case, we’ve rounded everything up for both North America and Europe. All sales prices are listed below.

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More: sale, SEGA, Sonic the Hedgehog

Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 16 Comments

SEGA Forever, a growing collection of classic games, was announced for mobile today. The catalog will expand in the months and years ahead, with each game offering new elements like leaderboards.

What’s interesting about SEGA Forever is that it’s being handled almost entirely with Unity. This was an intentional move, as SEGA Networks’ chief marketing officer Mike Evans told GamesIndustry that doing so “enables us to take this content to other platforms”. Evans even specifically mentions Switch in his remarks.

He said:

“About 90% of the games so far are in Unity. The reason we chose Unity as middleware is it enables us to take this content to other platforms as well. So my first focus is mobile. It’s a huge project and what I really want to do is get mobile right. After this, there are options: we can look at desktop, Facebook, we could even take these games to consoles like Switch.”

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More: interview, Mike Evans, SEGA, SEGA Forever