Sonic R released on this day back in 1997 over the pond, and to commemorate it, SEGA Forever have pulled off something very special – a brand new piece of artwork based on the game, from Sonic the Comic’s Richard Elson!
It’s a beautiful tribute; no surprise, as Elson’s stuff is always gorgeous. The art has a sort-of blend of his own Sonic the Comic style and the more style-guide accurate Classic Sonic art, to make something really special! It’s lovely to see something for the Sonic the Comic fans in audience, and hopefully this acknowledgment could lead to more down the road, as we’d be very much down for reprints!
When Tracker isn’t playing SEGA games, he’s talking about SEGA games. Or drawing about SEGA games. Or all of the above. You can also catch him over on Twitter.
The next retrospective from SEGA Forever has arrived, and this time it’s all about The House of the Dead!
The video focuses mainly on the original arcade series, running from The House of the Dead all the way up to the most recent game in the original canon, Scarlet Dawn. That said, a nod is given to Overkill and even Pinball of the Dead; and they even give some love to The Typing of the Dead II, a great game that flew under the radar compared to its predecessor.
Each title also has the list of platforms it’s available on listed alongside it; very handy for those looking to shoot some mutants at home. We’re really loving this series, and we can’t wait to see what gets the retrospective treatment next!
When Tracker isn’t playing SEGA games, he’s talking about SEGA games. Or drawing about SEGA games. Or all of the above. You can also catch him over on Twitter.
There’s been a lot of celebration around SEGA lately, what with their 60th Anniversary and all; but sadly, it’s not all been cause for partying. SEGA has published extraordinary losses from its amusements division (thanks to COVID-19), leading them to outright sell off the majority of their arcade business to Genda Inc (formerly Midas Entertainment). SEGA will still be producing arcade games, and their arcade centres will still be plastered with the SEGA logo, but those centres are Genda’s now.
That’s not all though, as it’s now emerged that SEGA have asked 650 employees to “voluntarily retire”. Supposedly those who accept the offer to retire by February 2021 will receive a “payment of extraordinary retirement allowances and reemployment support”. SEGA’s executives are also getting hit by the changes, though not nearly as severely as those losing their jobs; instead, the company’s Senior Executive Vice President and Senior Vice President will have 20% and 10% taken out of their monthly salaries respectively… which isn’t exactly much for the salaries they’re probably on. The Representative Director will see a slightly more substantial cut of 30%.
It’s been a rough year for businesses across the world this year, and given their presence in Japan’s arcade scene, it’s not surprising that SEGA got hit hard; but the layoffs are disappointing news all the same. It’s also very likely that SEGA’s mooted ‘Fog Gaming’ concept may not be going ahead anymore, but time will tell if Genda choose to adopt that instead.
When Tracker isn’t playing SEGA games, he’s talking about SEGA games. Or drawing about SEGA games. Or all of the above. You can also catch him over on Twitter.
Tags: arcade, japan, Layoffs Posted in News | Comments Off on SEGA Request 650 Employees To Retire “Voluntarily”, Cut Salaries of Executives By Up To 30%
Archipel Caravan, responsible for a slew of documentaries on Japanese video game creators, have published a new, 20 minute long interview with beloved SEGA composer and vocalist, Takenobu Mitsuyoshi.
The interview goes through how he got his start at SEGA, and what pushed him to join in the first place; as well as how the vocal aspect of Daytona USA came to be (we have Ridge Racer to thank, apparently!). It’s genuinely fascinating, and it feels surprisingly rare that we get to see a down-to-earth interview like this with Mitsuyoshi-san. Of course, once the music starts he’s just as excitable as ever, and in turn it’s a lot of fun to watch.
Archipel’s previous videos have included interviews with Saori Kobayashi of Panzer Dragoon, and Toshihiro Nagoshi of… well, a lot of things, including Yakuza, Daytona USA and Super Monkey Ball. Their stuff is well worth a watch, and this latest interview is no exception.
When Tracker isn’t playing SEGA games, he’s talking about SEGA games. Or drawing about SEGA games. Or all of the above. You can also catch him over on Twitter.
Just like Crazy Taxi a few weeks ago, SEGA has published another retrospective for its 60th Anniversary; this time covering the beloved (that might be an understatement) Dreamcast IP Jet Set Radio.
As always there’s some cool facts sprinkled throughout the video, such as how the Game Boy Advance version of JSR later had its engine repurposed for other games. There’s even a short section on De La Jet Set Radio, the second Japanese release that served as an ‘international’ edition, as was common at the time. And there is of course a section on Jet Set Radio Future, the Xbox sequel; as always, it leaves us hoping for a port down the road. Perhaps someday…
On the whole, it’s a great watch as usual; we can’t wait to see what series is up next on the retrospective block!
When Tracker isn’t playing SEGA games, he’s talking about SEGA games. Or drawing about SEGA games. Or all of the above. You can also catch him over on Twitter.
SEGA has launched two new combo packs for the Nintendo Switch in North America, both including a selection of Sonic games – or at the very least, games featuring Sonic.
One pack gives you the sublime Sonic Mania (seemingly without the Plus DLC, oddly) and Team Sonic Racing. There’s also a pack that pairs up Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD (which featured Classic Sonic as an unlockable character) and Sonic Forces.
The packs are available for $39.99 each. The PR we received doesn’t mention a European release (seeing as this comes straight from SEGA of America’s Sonic PR), but given previous packs have released on our shores we’d expect these will be showing up too.
When Tracker isn’t playing SEGA games, he’s talking about SEGA games. Or drawing about SEGA games. Or all of the above. You can also catch him over on Twitter.
This one doesn’t have any ground-breaking discoveries from SEGA’s archives, but it does serve as a pretty great way to familiarise yourself with the mainline entries in SEGA’s beloved cab-em-up series. It also provides a good excuse to listen to “All I Want”, though to be fair we never need an ‘excuse’ to listen to that song.
SEGA Forever’s also promised there’s more Retrospectives on the way as part of a series, so we’ll let you know when more go up.
When Tracker isn’t playing SEGA games, he’s talking about SEGA games. Or drawing about SEGA games. Or all of the above. You can also catch him over on Twitter.
Sonic has found his way into yet another game, and this time it’s the summer’s smash-hit battle royale – Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, from British studio Mediatonic.
Revealed via a Mediatonic vs SEGA Europe livestream to mark SEGA’s 60th Anniversary, from this Wednesday you’ll be able to buy a costume of Sonic for your adorable Fall Guy bean. It doesn’t come in cheap though; you need 10 crowns for both halves of the costume (5 crowns for each half), and the main way of getting crowns is by being the last Fall Guy standing in a set of matches – which is far, far easier said than done. Fortunately Fall Guys’s recent Season 2 update has made it easier to accrue crowns by just playing the game, regardless of your victory tally, so any Sonic fans after this should probably get started on levelling up sooner rather than later.
The official PR is as follows:
Get ready for a supersonic brawl! SEGA® has teamed up with Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout developer Mediatonic to bring a Sonic the Hedgehog-inspired costume to the highly popular battle royale platformer’s Season 2 content.
Available starting Wednesday, October 14, Sonic fans can get their Fall Guys beans prepared for battle with a look modeled after the iconic hedgehog himself. The Sonic the Hedgehog costume is available for purchase in Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout Season 2 for 10 crowns.
Fall Guys is currently available on PC via Steam and Playstation 4.
When Tracker isn’t playing SEGA games, he’s talking about SEGA games. Or drawing about SEGA games. Or all of the above. You can also catch him over on Twitter.
Taito have revealed the various editions of the upcoming Darius: Cozmic Revelation bundle, which includes G-Darius HD and Darius Burst Another Chronicle EX+ for Playstation 4 and Nintendo Switch. It wouldn’t be a modern Taito re-release if there weren’t a bunch of extremely confusing differences across each version though, and none are more important here than the ‘Famitsu DX Pack’.
The ebten store version of the Famitsu DX Pack will include a physical cartridge version of ‘Darius Extra Version’, a Mega Drive port of Darius. If that sounds familiar, it’s because said port was actually included on the Mega Drive Mini!
Meanwhile, anyone who pre-orders the game from midnight October 13th to midnight October 15th (a 48 hour period) via Amazon will get a special ‘Prime Day’ bonus – a download code for the Mega Drive version of Darius that you can use on Nintendo Switch or Playstation 4. It’s currently not clear whether this will be released separately down the road, but looking at Taito’s history of locking entire games within collections behind pre-orders bonuses, we wouldn’t exactly hold our breath.
Sadly, Strictly Limited’s Western physical release makes no mention of the Mega Drive version in either download code or physical form; but we’ll update if this suddenly changes.
Darius Cozmic Revelation will be released February 25th 2021 in Japan. Strictly Limited’s version is expected to ship in June or July.
When Tracker isn’t playing SEGA games, he’s talking about SEGA games. Or drawing about SEGA games. Or all of the above. You can also catch him over on Twitter.
UPDATE: Romain Mahut of GameBlog has reported confirmation that owners of the physical version of Yakuza: Like a Dragon on Playstation 4 will also be eligible for the free upgrade. Original article continues below.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon will come to the Playstation 5 on March 2nd 2021. Alongside this announcement, the first footage of the game running on PS5 has been released, and it certainly looks quite nice!
In addition, owners of Yakuza: Like a Dragon’s digital PS4 version will be able to get the PS5 version for free once it releases. This is similar to the situation on Microsoft’s platforms, where Like a Dragon will support Xbox Smart Delivery.
Also announced is that Yakuza: Like a Dragon will now launch on November 10th across all platforms, via Gematsu. Previously the game was slated for November 10th on Xbox Series X/S and November 13th on other platforms.
When Tracker isn’t playing SEGA games, he’s talking about SEGA games. Or drawing about SEGA games. Or all of the above. You can also catch him over on Twitter.
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