SEGA in the Media: Game Gear in the Bronx

While most SEGA fans don’t have to go far for a glimpse of something SEGA (just look over at your game shelf or under your tv), spotting something SEGA on television or in a movie is far more difficult. In the past we’ve spotted Virtua Tennis 2009 on the Inbetweeners and a MadWorld poster on Weeds. Today we’re heading to the Bronx, where a certain Jackie Chan had quite the rumble. I think the movie was called The Spy Next Door. No wait, it was Rumble in the Bronx.

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Check It Out! SEGASHIRO PODCAST - 3DS and NGP Round Table Edition!

Fellow SEGA Network website SEGASHIRO recently released a great podcast focusing on modern SEGA handheld gaming. The SEGASHIRO writers talk about everything from SEGA's upcoming handheld titles for the PSP2 and 3DS to their SEGA handheld game dream releases. it's a great listen, so CHECK IT OUT here.

Until the next gen handhelds release, I'll be playing Snatcher on my Caanoo. Heck, I'll even be playing it after they release.

Shinobi III and Virtua Fighter 2 Genesis release on iOS

I think it should be assumed by now that SEGA will be continually releasing Genesis games to iOS devices from here on out, It seems we're getting one or two a month. Think of it as the "Genesis Game of the Month Club". The latest two games to hit the device are Shinobi III and Virtua Fighter 2 Genesis, priced at $2.99 and $1.99 respectively. Early reviews cite spotty controls, TouchArcade goes into detail as to why the controls for Shinobi III are so difficult:

Like other Sega iOS releases running in their emulator, there is both a full screen and a windowed view. The fullscreen mode, with its larger image, is the most desirable play mode, I would say, but it suffers from the fixed arrangement of the onscreen D-pad and three action buttons; very often a thumb on either completely obscures your character, making gameplay highly awkward. This can be avoided by using the windowed view which renders the game at it's native resolution (fullscreen is a scale-up, not the other way around) with D-pad and buttons below, but on a screen with a pixel density as high as any iPhone or iPod touch device, it's a strain to behold. It's possible that an option to reposition the touch points would help matters but, frankly, I can't imagine an arrangement that would be truly acceptable. As is, the gameplay will leave you longing for your old Genesis.

At this point, I think SEGA should stick to releasing RPGs and slower paced games to the Genesis emulator. Shining Force was extremely fun on my iPod Touch, running smoothly and retaining the graphics and sounds of the console versions. Meanwhile, faster games like Sonic 2 have trouble on the emulator and suffer from imprecise touch controls. Here's hoping the complete Phantasy Star and Shining Force series make it to iOS before faster paced action games hurt SEGA's App Store cred.

Aaron Webber: Say My Name, Say My Name

To thank those who bought multiple versions of Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1, Ken Balough (Digital Brand Manager, Sonic 4) and Aaron Webber (Community Manager, Sonic 4) issued a little thank you video. As a nice surprise, they revealed that the public thanking would not be limited to those who bought three or more versions of the game. Instead, they would thank every single person who put their name into True Blue initiative. At 1:35 you’ll see and hear Aaron Webber saying my name as he looks deeply into the camera. No doubt hoping that I heard his thanks. Well Aaron, your thanks has been heard. And in return I say: thank you too!

I know Aaron and Ken got some (okay, a LOT) of flack from the community for asking fans to buy more than one copy, but c’mon guys, do you really blame them for telling people to buy a product produced by a company that they work for? How dare they! On top of that, the whole thing was optional and was effortless to get in on. It only took a forum post. Considering I had already planned to get the iPhone and 360 versions, putting my name in was no trouble at all.

Indie game Pier Solar offers up a white SEGA Nomad

Pier Solar, and indie RPG developed for the Genesis and Mega Drive, is offering up a unique prize in their photo contest: a custom white SEGA Nomad! Owners of the game are encouraged to photograph their copy of the game, as well as any of the included goodies (stickers, poster, etc) in the craziest situation and location that they can think of. My ideal crazy location: Miyamoto playing the game (while crying) sitting atop the Great Pyramid of Giza.

You can order the game, necessary to enter the contest, as well as view the contest details at the official Pier Solar website.

Another Sonic Title Joins the iOS Family

Sadly, it ain't Sonic CD, Sonic 3 or Sonic and Knuckles. Rather, SEGA has released Sonic Spinball for iOS devices. If I sound unenthusiastic about it, I apologize. It's just that I would much rather see the aforementioned Sonic games be released first and that I recently got into the handheld emulation scene via the Caanoo and see no point in spending $2.99 on a game when I can play a superior version for free.

Despite this, I should point out two cool aspects to Sonic Spinball for the iPhone: The app icon is pretty sweet, featuring artwork from the Japanese Mega Drive box, and that the game offers up two soundtracks: the US version and the slightly different Japanese version. Pretty cool! Also, SEGA has released Altered Beast for $2.99. If you have fond memories of Toxic Caves and and rising from graves, check these out.

Waahoo! The Caanoo!

 

Back in 2009, South Korean company Game Park Holdings released the awesome GP2X Wiz handheld video game console. The Wiz was awesome for a number of reasons, but the cheif reason was that it was an open-source device, meaning anybody could develop just about anything for it. While the system does have a number of original developed games, such as the great Wind & Water Puzzle Battles (also available on the SEGA Dreamcast), there is also a massive scene of console emulators that make the device a home entertainemnet system on-the-go. Imagine having everything from the earliest home computers through to the SEGA CD and 32X on one handheld, and then imagine just about every handheld through to the GBA as well. Awesome.



In August of this year, Game Park Holdings returned with an upgrade to the Wiz, the Caanoo. The Caanoo offered a larger, better touch screen, an improved control pad, increased RAM and Wi-fi support. Even better, the Caanoo was priced the same as the Wiz. So after months of waiting, Christmas has finally arrived (almost) and I caved and bought myself a Caanoo! While I don't have it yet, I look forward to adding it to the Nomad Junkyard family of handhelds (which also includes the Game Gear, iPod Touch, GBA and obviously the Nomad). Maybe I'll even review it?