Nintendo and SEGA have announced a worldwide partnership for the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. This will mean that the next 3 Sonic titles will be completely exclusive to Nintendo platforms. This also includes an unannounced title.
President and COO of SEGA of America, John Cheng has said:
“Sonic the Hedgehog has proven incredibly successful on Nintendo platforms and we are pleased to continue our long-standing relationship with Nintendo. As we initiate this new exclusive partnership with the next three titles we believe that Wii U(TM) and Nintendo 3DS(TM) are ideal platforms to showcase the evolution of the Sonic brand.”
SEGA and Gearbox Software have commented on the lawsuit being filed against them for misrepresenting Aliens: Colonial Marines in pre-release trailers.
SEGA have said, “Sega cannot comment on specifics of ongoing litigation. But we are confident that the lawsuit is without merit and we will defend it vigorously.”
Gearbox have said, “Attempting to wring a class action lawsuit out of a demonstration is beyond meritless. We continue to support the game, and will defend the rights of entertainers to share their works-in-progress without fear of frivolous litigation.”
A lawsuit has been filed against SEGA and Gearbox Software for misrepresenting Aliens: Colonial Marines to customers.
The case has been filed by Edelson LLC on behalf of Damion Perrine. The claim reads:
“Each of the ‘actual gameplay’ demonstrations purported to show consumers exactly what they would be buying: a cutting edge video game with very specific features and qualities.
Unfortunately for their fans, defendants never told anyone – consumers, industry critics, reviewers, or reporters – that their ‘actual gameplay’ demonstration advertising campaign bore little resemblance to the retail product that would eventually be sold to a large community of unwitting purchasers.”
Japanese Android and iOS game Fire should Light a Match is a simple little game where you strike matches against matchboxes. The trick is not to strike items that aren’t matches which include things like pencils and cigarettes.
The App is extremely popular in Japan and through a series of QR codes you can download SEGA-themed backgrounds which feature Dreamcasts, Mega Drives and SEGA Saturns.
The app is not region protected and can be obtained worldwide via these links: iOS Version Android Version
A European trailer for Project X Zone has gone live. Project X Zone is a crossover RPG featuring characters from Capcom, Namco and of course SEGA games. Valkyria Chronicles and Sakura Wars characters feature in the trailer:
Project X Zone launches on July 5th for Nintendo 3DS.
The Game Developers Conference is well under way in San Francisco and this year it is hosting a Video Game History Museum. YouTube channel GameSparkChannel has been kind enough to film a little tour of the SEGA section of the museum which you can see below:
Some key members of SEGA’s staff have shared their thoughts regarding Sony’s Playstation 4 announcement and the opportunities the new technology can offer them. Check out the comments below:
SEGA Chief Communications Officer, Toshihiro Nagoshi
— “I genuinely felt that the specs, namely the high image quality, that enable the development of high quality products, are amazing. I’ve been in this field for 23 years, and back in the past, the current specs would have been considered a fantasy. But at the same time, there are a lot of hurdles that need to be overcome to expand that fantasy to its limit, so there is a certain tenseness that keeps me from simply being overjoyed. I’m also aware that users want to see that fantasy taken to the limit.”
— “I’m looking forward to the functions and services that stimulate the ‘user community’ and share game enjoyment. The ‘online’ component of games has been a standard for a while now, but I’m looking forward to services that utilize that component to dynamically cultivate user connectivity.”
— “To sum it up in a single phrase, it’d be ‘a great emotional experience shared by many people.’ It used to be the norm in all areas that the bigger the numbers, the worse it looks, and the better it looks, the smaller the numbers—the question now will be how to escape that dilemma? I’m going to give it my best.”
SEGA Section Manager, Masayoshi Yokoyama
— “Personally, I was expecting a Sony group home appliance substation sort of expansion, so it felt like an evolution of ‘gaming hardware’ in a good way. There are a lot of features that tickle my creative fancy as a game developer, so I’m quite excited.”
— “My primary interest is the controller. I believe the controller is a user’s biggest direct interface with [a console's] ‘quality.’ With previous game consoles that were released, after a time, what you tend to think of is the tactile sensation of the controller in your hands and the feeling of gameplay. That feeling is stored in your brain along with the memories of fun games. The new controller has the most appealing form and specs I’ve seen since the original PlayStation, so I’m very excited about it.”
— “Looking at the new functions, I believe we’ve truly entered the new age of ‘bi-directional media.’ In Japan, TV and other ‘passive’ media are still the majority, but with the emergence of the PS4, I think the possibility of new genres like a change from ‘viewed’ to ‘movable’ TV would be interesting. I’m thinking of such possibilities.”
After a controversial decision by SEGA to remove certain Shining Force-related videos from YouTube, SEGA have back-pedalled on their decision.
Brand manager Aaron “RubyEclipse” Webber has released the following statement:
“Thank you to all of our fans for waiting while we worked hard to get this issue solved. While SEGA may need to remove videos in rare cases, we’re happy to confirm that there are no further plans to remove Shining Force videos uploaded to Youtube by users living in North American and European territories. Additionally, if you live in these territories and your video was removed, please get in touch with us at communityteam@sega.com so that we can look into it for you.”
Yakuza director and chief creative officer of SEGA Toshihiro Nagoshi has sat down for a fascinating interview with Famitsu to discuss SEGA’s future, the success of Phantasy Star Online 2′s Japanese launch and the company’s purchase of Relic Entertainment.
Key points include:
- Regarding SEGA’s future; “To be honest, we still need to solidify our footing and our performance as a company, but given the frenetic cycles we deal with nowadays, if we worried solely about that right now, we wouldn’t have a stable future in three or five years.”
- Regarding the success of PSO2′s Japanese launch; “I think it comes down to the talents of the PSO2 team, and how they convinced the company to go that way. I see possibilities with F2P across the industry; it all depends on what you do with it, but it took this team to show us what we could accomplish with this property.”
- Regarding the purchase of Relic Entertainment; “Sega already has The Creative Assembly, which is great at making RTS’, and so we’re becoming one of the best in the world at this genre now. So this purchase was part of our strategy for tackling this genre as well.”
SEGA of Japan have teamed up with ebten to launch a range of SEGA NOTE PCs. The laptops are themed around 3 SEGA consoles with an additional SEGA-themed laptop. The 3 consoles are Mega Drive, Saturn and Dreamcast which you can see in the above image.
As the laptops are Japan exclusive they will probably be very expensive to import. Regardless, here’s the Japanese retail prices:
SEGA: 99,750 yen or £680.26 Mega Drive: 131,250 yen or £894.96 Saturn: 162,750 yen or £1,109.75 Dreamcast: 194,250 yen or £1,324.47
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SEGADriven is a website run by SEGA fans and for SEGA fans. We run this website purely as a hobby and any media linked directly to SEGA is done in an unofficial manner with no harm intended. SEGADriven was founded by Lewis "Sonic Yoda" Clark in December 2008.
Gearbox and SEGA Respond to Colonial Marines Lawsuit
Friday, May 3rd, 2013SEGA and Gearbox Software have commented on the lawsuit being filed against them for misrepresenting Aliens: Colonial Marines in pre-release trailers.
SEGA have said, “Sega cannot comment on specifics of ongoing litigation. But we are confident that the lawsuit is without merit and we will defend it vigorously.”
Gearbox have said, “Attempting to wring a class action lawsuit out of a demonstration is beyond meritless. We continue to support the game, and will defend the rights of entertainers to share their works-in-progress without fear of frivolous litigation.”
[Source: SPOnG]
Tags: aliens: colonial marines, comment, gearbox software, lawsuit, pc, ps3, sega, xbox 360
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