SEGA Says "Happy 20th Sonic" with All-Stars Racing iOS!

 First off: Happy 20th Birthday Sonic! I had to say it.

Secondly, SEGA said "happy birthday" in their own way by offering up a new iOS Sonic game. Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing has released for all iOS devices and is at a reduced birthday price of $1.99! After the festivities die down, the app will be $4.99. I downloaded the game this morning, and to my delight it plays on the first generation iPod Touch, meaning every iOS device will be able to play the game!

The game kicks off with the full CG intro as seen in the console version of the game. From there, you're presented with a slick menu featuring high quality menu music as heard in the console versions. So no downgraded Nintendo DS music to be found. Very nice. Menu options include: single player, multiplayer, shopping, achievements, leaderboards, OpenFeint (a mobile social gaming network that tracks scores, achievements and saves ones game to "the cloud"), licence and options. Single player features grand prix, single race, time trial and missions. So expect to see every single player mode from the console versions in this mobile version.

That isn't to say that the game is 1:1 with the console versions. Tracks and characters are derived from the Nintendo DS version of the game, however graphics have been improved and sounds match those from the home console versions. The character roster has been cut down to ten: Sonic, Tails, Eggman, Aiai, Billy, Amigo, Beat, the Chu Chus, B.D. Joe and Ryo. While I was sad to see certain characters not appearing in the game, it's still a rather solid cast and great for a $2 game. At least Ryo is still there!

 Tracks have also been trimmed, with only twelve appearing. Sonic's casino tracks are absent, as are a number of other tracks. However, considering many tracks in SASASR are in similar environments, there isn't much lost in that regard. You sill see the curian mansion, Amigo's crazy world, Billy's hot and cold environments, the GG's turf and Eggman's fleet. You just won't see any casino track.

 The game controls well for an iOS title. Players are given the choice of tilting the device like a wheel or controlling the left and right steering with a slider. I've yet to master the controls, but I have gone from placing last to placing third within 15 minutes so there is hope for me yet.

I'll hold off on saying more, as I'd like to officially review the title next week, but suffice to say things are looking very very good for the title and it is a must download for Sonic fans, racing fans and plain ol' SEGA fans. I mean, it's only $2!

Again, Happy Birthday Sonic!

Post-E3: SEGA's Handheld Releases

Another E3, another great assortment of portable SEGA games! On display, but not the most talked about game at SEGA's booth, was Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing for iOS devices. From live coverage, I gathered that the game will be available for all iOS devices (here's hoping it even plays on the first gen iPod Touch), it will release sometime in the summer and it will be a cool $4.99. The game looks to be an enhanced port of the Nintendo DS release, however the game will only contain 10 of the 20 racers found in the original release of the game. Still, for the price I can live with having only half the roster. At least Ryo made the cut



While I don't typically cover DS or 3DS games, I should mention Sonic Generations and Shinobi. Both games were available to demo at E3, and in my opinion both are looking great! Sonic Generations is getting some slack for not being as graphically amazing as it could be, however the game is still a ways off so things could improve. Also, one has to wonder if development shifted from the DS to the 3DS as the HD versions of Generations started development in 2008. Well before the 3DS existed. As long as the game is fun, I look forward to giving it a spin.

Shinobi 3DS is definitly a game to watch. Being the first new title in the series since 2002, Shinobi (the fourth game to share this title) brings back the 2D gameplay of the original Genesis games, infuses a bit of the PS2 visual style and has a look of its own. The game is a prequel to the first Shinobi, starring Joe's father Jiro Musashi. I'm loving this bit, as Jiro is both a new character but also has a firm connection to Joe himself. We've already played as Joe's son Hayate, so why not play as his dad? Early impressions have been positive, and the game is said to have a load of bonus content. Expect Shinobi to release Sepetember, 2011.

Finally we've got the big new handheld from Sony, and I have to admit, as much as I am not a fan of the PSP, I really do like the look of the Vita. Good control layout, cool functions, backwards compatibility and great price. I probably won't be getting one this year, but between this and the 3DS, I'm leaning towards the Vita. If only it had a better name...

Apple's new iOS5, anything else new?

It was the Apple's WorldWide Developer Conference (WWDC) yesterday. There were no new consumer hardware introduced as some have expected, but there were 3 main things. No iPhone 4S or iPhone 5 that was rumored to be announced. The 3 things were the OSX Lion, iOS5 and iCloud. I'm not going to talk about OSX Lion as I do not own a Mac (but I am surprised at the $29 upgrade price!). I'm going to talk mainly about the new iOS 5 and some of its main new features that they have added.
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2013 Calendar template for Adobe Illustrator

Previously I have posted an entry about trying to download a Calendar template for Adobe Illustrator CS2. I have found that many of them are either not suitable for starting out your own design from scratch or it is for higher versions of Adobe Illustrator. I know that many like me are searching for calendar templates for their new projects and probably do not have the latest Illustrator versions to open the available templates out there.

Advertise here

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Restoring from a backup for iPhone, jailbreak or not!

Here's a myth that most people believe, "You cannot backup or restore a jailbroken iPhone". The fact is, you can. And yours truly have done it a million times (over exaggerated of course). I personally do not use AptBackup, PKGBackup or any Cydia apps to help me backup my apps' settings and data. iTunes can do all that for you. What does that mean? It means that not only are you able to backup your iPhone's settings, the legitimate apps and its data (and settings), but you will be able to also backup your Cydia apps' settings. I will tell you how...
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Too Many Games Convention 2011

THE NOMAD ON-THE-GO

Over the weekend I had a chance to attend the Too Many Games convention in Oaks, PA. The convention touted guests including the ScrewAttack guys, the Angry Video Game Nerd and even that woman who played Rom's wife Leeta on Star Trek DS9. The convention was also said to be filled with vendor tables, selling more used games and hardware than one would usually see in one place. So, having been to the convention, how did it go? Read on to find out!

Hey look! ScrewAttack guys in the upper right.

I reached the convention at 3pm on Saturday, having brought along two friends of mine. We all had our missions for the day. My one friend was dead set of finding The Misadventures of Tron Bonne for the Playstation. His girlfriend was intent on finding a used Dreamcast and a few games (good for her!). I, meanwhile, had a laundry list of SEGA games to find.

I swear I saw this same cabinet two years ago.

James Rolfe (aka the Angry Video Game Nerd) had just started his AVGN episode screening as we arrived. While there were seats, it was a choice between sitting for the next 2 hours or shopping. I had the itch to buy games, so I went with shopping. Thankfully, with the AVGN screening going on, the vendor area was quite empty. About half the room was made up of used game tables, and half of those were quite impressive. One vendor offered up only sealed games, and he had a large amount of Dreamcast titles. However, a good portion of the games were quite common and there were multiple copies of each. So, want Phantasy Star Online? He has twenty of them!

The tables I spent most of my time at were the ones with piles of Saturn, SEGA CD and Dreamcast games. I've nearly given up on buying Genesis, Game Gear and Master System games, due to the fact that the cases take up so much space (with the exception of Game Gear games) and that I can emulate any title perfectly on my GP2X Caanoo handheld. Currently, the Saturn and SEGA CD are my focus as there are a number of great and bizzare games that I've yet to own for those systems. I still am on the hunt for Dreamcast games, however there are only around thirty that I really want and out of those, most are rare and expensive. So the chances of finding them in a bargain bin are next to none.

Having just bought a Wii, I was excited to find both House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return and Ghost Squad for $10 each. Funny, I feel no need to buy Super Mario Galaxy and yet a SEGA lightgun game will get my heart racing. I also found a SEGA CD 32X game titled Corpse Killer. Corpse Killer was one of those awful fmv games that had an enhanced release for those who had both the SEGA CD and the 32X. As I have both successfully hooked up, I figured "what the hell" and bought a near mint copy of the game for $4. The way I see it, if you have a working SEGA CD and 32X and were able to hook the thing up, Corpse Killer is your reward. Now I just need to get my hands on Night Trap.

Oh yeah, I bought a VMU too. Can never have enough of those!

At the same vendor table, I found Virtual On for the Saturn and picked that up for $8. Finally, I hit the ScrewAttack table and picked up all four volumes of AVGN for $50, a great deal! Usually these go for $20 each online. Whatever the price, I'm happy to support James and his work. I'm really looking forward to his AVGN movie.

James assisting a cameraman

Before leaving to get some dinner, we walked past the massive autograph line for James. Since the line was way too long, we decided to walk ahead and catch a glimpse of James. It looked like he was about to be filmed for something, and had to use his camera skills to assist the cameraman. Cool to see him in person and pick up his DVDs, maybe I'll get an autograph at some point in the future.

Overall it was a brief, but fun afternoon! Picked up a bunch of great games (all SEGA, I'm such a fanboy) and saw some internet celebs. My friend found Tron Bonne, but it was going for $80 (ouch!), so he passed on it. His girlfriend fared much better. She found a used Dreamcast, controller and memory card for $20 plus picked up Jet Grind Radio (after I begged her to pick it up) and Phantasy Star Online Ver. 2. I told her that it would be quite boring offline, but she seemed to not care. Oh well, as long as she had fun.

Oh yeah, and we met a demon:

SEGA App News Roundup!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Boy what a crazy week it has been. Royal wedding and bin Laden's death! But that's not the focus of this blog. No, dear readers, today I'm here to round up some SEGA App Store news! Let's begin.

Streets of Rage 3 Kicks the Crap Out of iOS

SEGA completes the Streets of Rage trilogy on the iOS platform with the release of Streets of Rage 3, now available at the iTunes Store for $2.99. As stated many times before on this blog, the SEGA Genesis emulator isn't the best, however the slower moving the game, the better the results. So RPGs like Shining Force are great, while fast paced games like Sonic 2 are not too good. The Streets of Rage games fall inbetween these, and thus is a good but not amazing port of the game. Still, reviews are reasonable and it sounds as though the game is fully playable and fun. What more, there is bluetooth peer-to-peer multiplayer support. So you can kick ass wirelessly with a friend.

Sonic Marches to the Beat of a Different Drummer

SEGA has teamed up with Namco to release a Sonic download pack for the tapping drum game Taiko no Tatsujin Plus. The app and the pack is Japan only, and features Sonic characters from Sonic 4 Episode 1 marching across the screen as players tap along with tunes from Sonic 4. Sounds very... odd. Which is just what I'd expect from a Japanese game.

[Source: SEGASHIRO]

Fast Striker Strikes the iOS

Indie Dreamcast shmup Fast Striker, released late 2010, has arrived on iOS devices thanks to NG:DEV.TEAM. The port looks to contain everything found in the Dreamcast version, along with updates including a portrait screen mode, online rankings, direct controls (I assume moving your finger about the screen to guide the ship, a very effective control method in my opinion) and a visable player hitzone. Check out the trailer below: