A sequel to Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing has been confirmed. The next game in the series is named Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (note the exclusion of ‘SEGA’ from the title) and it will be released on X-Box 360. No other word on release platforms is available at this time but Playstation 3 will likely be considered seeing how the first one was also released on that platform.
New features confirmed for the game are:
Gliding and water-based racing
Terrain that changes as the race goes on
Panzer Dragoon and Super Monkey Ball themed courses
Richard Jacques has contributed to the soundtrack
New characters include Vyse from Skies of Arcadia and Gilius Thunderhead from Golden Axe
Sonic 2 HD, the promising HD fan remake of Sonic 2 has been officially cancelled as per a message left by Vincent (the project leader) on the project’s official Facebook. Reasons for this are mainly pinned on ex-lead developer LOst who wouldn’t provide the rest of the team with a DRM free version of the game and is solely responsible for the inclusion of the DirectInput bug which made users believe they’d downloaded a keylogger. He is also the only person holding what would be the source code for the game so production cannot continue without his involvement.
DRAMA.
Never-the-less, it’s sad to see the project go as the alpha demo was an impressive piece of work by what is essentially a bunch of bedroom coders. 2 members of the team (scanline99 and Cerulean Nights) have moved on to other independent work in hopes of furthering their game-developing careers and we wish them all the best for the future.
In what is possibly the most bizarre in-game bonus we’ve ever seen, SEGA has revealed an ‘adult map’ for Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz on PS Vita.
The map is based around Yuki Kawamura; a Japanese glamour model which obviously means you can use her breasts as ramps. Yes, you read that right. See below for the hard evidence (no pun intended):
This map is only available to those who pre-order the first print run of the game in Japan and will unlikely be making an appearance on Western shores.
Here’s an additional trailer that also features Yuki Kawamura promoting the game:
Binary Domain will be getting a PC release very soon. Digital copies will launch on April 27th while boxed copies will launch on May 18th.
Pre-order from Steam and you’ll also receive the Multiplayer Pack which includes a Ninja class , Outside High-rise map and extra sniper rifle and handgun weapon types. This will set you back £30.
Hopefully the game gets a second wind with this PC release as the console release failed to set the world alight even though it received positive reviews from most major game-sites.
House of the Dead 4 is finally coming to home consoles with the release of the Playstation Network port which also includes PS Move support. Check out the launch trailer below:
Well I am very excited now! Anyone who knows me personally will know that I’m a bit of a sucker for Vocaloid but up until this point I’ve had to satisfy myself with CDs as I don’t own a PSP to play the Project Diva games. Well Next Hatsune Miku Project Diva appears to be getting a release on PS Vita AND PS3 which means I can import it for PS3 and finally play a Project Diva game! Wooooo!
Anyway, enough about my silly fanboy obsessions; check out the new trailer which shows off what the PS Vita version looks like:
The game is being developed by the same team behind Project Diva Arcade. The PS Vita version launches this Summer in Japan while the PS3 version is slated for a 2013 release.
Project X Zone, the upcoming SEGA, Capcom and Namco Bandai joint RPG venture now has screenshots. Among the SEGA characters now confirmed are Ulala from Space Channel 5, Space Harrier from, well… Space Harrier and Opa-Opa from Fantasy Zone (yes!). Check out the screens below courtesy of Sonic Wrecks and gaze at some amazing sprite-work:
The collaborative game that SEGA, Capcom and Namco Bandai have been working on for the 3DS is called Project X Zone and it will be a strategic RPG.
The characters in the game fight in pairs. A list of characters from each company has also been revealed by Weekly Famitsu:
Capcom
Ryu and Ken (Street Fighter), X and Zero (Mega Man), Demitri and Dante (Darkstalkers and Devil May Cry), Chris and Jill (Resident Evil).
SEGA
Shinguji Sakura and Ogami Ichiro (Sakura Wars), Pai and Akira (Virtua Fighter), Kurt and Riela (Valkyria Chronicles), Ulala and Touma (Space Channel 5 and Shining Force EXA).
Namco Bandai
Sanger Somvold (Super Robot Wars), Jin and Ling Xiaoyu (Tekken), Kos-Mos and T-elos (Xenosaga), Yurie and Estel (Tales of Vesperia), Kaito and Black Rose (.hack).
The project is being lead by Namco Bandai’s own Kensuke Tsukanaka. There is no news of a Western release at this time but the game is due for a Japanese release later this year.
Members of Sonic Retro have discovered that the keylogger found in Sonic 2 HD’s code is not harmful to anyone who downloaded the game.
Lead programmer LOst has also been fired from the team after “several allegations from team members that LOst held the project hostage through the inclusion of DRM, public feedback of a bloated engine running an otherwise simplistic game, and other behind the scenes issues.”
Anyone who downloaded the recently featured Sonic 2 HD needs to get rid of it fast as it was discovered recently that it contains a keylogger which could have potetntially bad consequences if you regularly enter passwords and personal information in secure websites. Here’s the full details from Sonic Retro:
“Earlier today, I was contacted by a professional antivirus employee who was interested in why Sonic 2 HD consistently popped up as a threat by multiple antivirus software programs and did some investigation. His results showed that a keylogger is part of the Sonic 2 HD software. After receiving this notification, we conducted our own independent tests and found that there is indeed a keylogging program as part of the Sonic 2 HD alpha software.
I want to emphasize that at this time, we have found no evidence that the software has been “phoning home” any data—only that we have found the capability exists.
Because this vulnerability has been found, we are strongly advising that the software be removed. You will need to delete the files included with the Sonic 2 HD zip, as well as the registry keys hooked at HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/NakaSMK (if you are unfamiliar on how to do this, go to Start->Run.., type regedit, follow the folder path, and then delete the NakaSMK folder.)
We will have more information on the situation as it evolves.”
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