Famitsu confused by new Mega Drive hardware

New, cheap Mega Drive hardware is relatively well-known in the West. You can buy a tiny, officially-licenced Mega Drive that plays your old cartridges (to a degree) or a handheld device, both of which have many built-in games.

This concept seems to have confused Famitsu, who saw the products at this year's E3. Here is a poorly translated version of the article, entitled "New Mega Drive model announced secretly at E3?":

"At the American game show E3, there are many suspicious-looking games and peripherals. Since E3 has reduced in size, some things have had to be scaled down. We saw a miscellaneous booth in the far end of the hall, which smelt rather fishy. It was called "Innovative Accessories" (a Californian manufacturer), and it had many hidden treasures! One of these was a miniature version of the Mega Drive, called the "Firebox".

The Mega Drive has Sonic and Knuckles, Alex Kidd and another 20 titles built-in. It also supports wireless controllers, and is SD card adapter compatible (unknown specification). It is expected to be released in July for $49.99. There is another Firebox console, this time portable with the same 20 games included.

The employee explained that both are officially-licenced Sega products, with the logo printed on the box. One might want one as a gift if they live in America.

In addition to the Firebox consoles, there was a "Super MD". This portable games machine can play the original Mega Drive cartridges, although the only test cartridge was Virtua Fighter 2. The start screen is familiar, you select a character, and then you are shocked. It's Virtua Fighter 2, but in 2D! This version was actually released in North America, and is also available on the Wii's Virtual Console.

Looking back, there was also a Puyo Puyo 5-in-1 cartridge. The Sega logo was nowhere to be seen, so we asked the employee why: "This product, and the software itself, is not officially licenced". Oh.

E3 is the world's largest games exhibition, and the space is very limited. The search for these small exhibits is the best part of E3."

Clearly Virtua Fighter 2 was never released on the Mega Drive in Japan - the reporter seemed very shocked by the fact it was 2D! At least the floor has a convincing 3D effect. The consoles seemed to shock the reporter as well. Do these things not get released in Japan?


Ah, the wonders of E3. You'd think these smaller booths would be scared to show unlicenced products when the actual company is just around the corner!

[Source: Famitsu]

Sonic Unleashed mobile trailer released

A trailer for the mobile version of Sonic Unleashed was released yesterday at E3. The game is being ported to mobile phones by Gameloft, a Paris-based company founded by the owners of Ubisoft.

The game is completely 2D; even the free-roaming werehog stages are side-scrolling. The graphics are quite impressive, and are in a similar style to Sonic Rush. Unfortunately, probably due to the limitations of mobile phones, there are no parallax effects.

The game has an expected release date of this month in PAL regions. At the moment it looks very promising - perhaps an enhanced console version could be released in the future!

You can view the trailer below. See some screenshots of the game here.

[Source: IGN]

Gameplay video of Seaside Hill released

A gameplay video for the Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing circuit Seaside Hill has been released on GameTrailers. We have previously seen a video of the Billy Hatcher circuit, but this is one of the first of Seaside Hill, which featured in the original announcement screenshots.

The game refers to the track as "Forgotten Falls", but the game's announcer clearly says "it's race time from the sunny home of racing, Seaside Hill!". The announcer can be heard throughout the race, commentating on the events à la Sonic Riders. The track features classic Sonic enemies such as Crabmeat and Choppers from Green Hill Zone, and placeholder (I hope) Crush 40 music.

The developer in the video says that the final game will have "over 20" power-ups and "over 20" characters. He says we will be "pleasantly surprised" with the final character line-up, which goes back to some of Sega's classic franchises. There will also be "over 20" environments with a lot of variety.

All of the unique vehicles the characters drive have different statistics, for example flying characters (Tails and Eggman) will not be affected by grass unlike the characters closer to the ground. Each character has their own taunts and moves, much like Power Drift, with some people spotting Sonic apparently giving "the finger" or doing a Michael Jackson grab (!).

Boosts can be triggered by the shoe power-up, speed pads and doing tricks in the air. "Star Moves" allow the characters to speed up - we have previously seen Sonic turning into his Super form, and AiAi speeding in his Monkey Ball in this particular video.

The developer says some surprises will be announced over the coming months, with no hints as to what those could be. Forklifts? Maybe.

More All-Stars Racing info emerges

Thanks to E3, a lot more information has emerged concerning the upcoming kart game Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing. More screenshots have been released, as well as a gameplay video.

The confirmed characters so far, according to Wikipedia, are:

• Sonic
  
• Tails
• Eggman
• Amy
• Shadow
• Big
• AiAi
• Amigo
• Ulala
• Billy Hatcher
• NiGHTS

In the screenshots we have seen Shadow, who is riding his motorbike; and Big, who is riding a tiny bicycle. Ulala, Billy Hatcher and NiGHTS are yet to be seen.

Joining the Seaside Hill circuit is a Billy Hatcher-themed ice level, complete with giant eggs. The tracks seem rather large with multiple routes, shortcuts and jumps. The gameplay video showed drifting and banked turns.

Also seen in the gameplay video was Sonic's "Star Move", where he turned into Super Sonic and sped towards pole position. Each character will have their own signature move relevant to them, such as Amy's Piko-Piko Hammer, and Shadow will probably "Chaos Control" to the front.

Power-ups seen in the video were speed shoes, shields, fish missiles (?), mines, and Chaos Emeralds (which trigger a "Star Move").

Aside from the E3 discoveries, many people in the community were concerned that the game would be download-only on the PS3, due to being listed only for PlayStation Network on the official website. This has now been changed to just PlayStation 3, and the PSN logo has been removed from the bottom of the page. It can probably be assumed that the game will come out on disc after all.

Hopefully more gameplay videos will surface from E3, as well as more character and circuit confirmations! Anyway, below is the gameplay video courtesy of GameKyo. See the new screenshots over on TSSZNews.

E3 2009 floor plans released

The floor plans for this year's E3 Expo have just been released. The event is running from June 2-4 at the LA Convention Centre, and is expected to be a return to the larger shows of the 1990s.

South Hall

The "big three" companies have been separated this year, with Sony and Nintendo taking up most of the West Hall and Microsoft having a mid-sized stand in the South Hall. The latter is where Sega's stand will be, next to EA, Konami and MTV.

Second Level

There are stands on the second level of the building, with Sega being next to Square Enix and opposite LucasArts.

Here are Sega's confirmed games so far:

• Alpha Protocol
• Bayonetta
• Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
• Planet 51
• The Conduit
• Vancouver 2010

This year looks set to be one of the biggest and best E3 expos ever, similar to how it was before the 2007 restructure. I can't wait to find out what the big announcements will be, but I'll just have to wait until June!

[Source: Kotaku]

Sega at E3 2009, no Dreamcast 2!

Sega have recently revealed their E3 2009 line-up, firmly assuring us that there will be no hardware announcements whatsoever. This comes after recent speculation of a Dreamcast revival, sparked by ThinkGeek's Dreamcast sell-out and Sega's major company restructuring.

Here is Sega's (rather boring) confirmed software:

• Alpha Protocol
• Bayonetta
• Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
• Planet 51
• The Conduit
• Vancouver 2010

These details were confirmed on Sega's Twitter page, as was the statement outlining no future hardware plans. Here is what they said:

"We're a 3rd Party publisher now; as much as people would like a Dreamcast 2 we won't be returning to the hardware market."

There are more rumours about Sega's hardware future, stemming from their latest arcade hardware being applicable to home consoles according to the trademark application.

A return to the hardware market is what most Sega fans, including me, desperately want. If there is an announcement, expect it on 09/09/09!

[Source: Sega's Twitter]

Sega of America: E3 felt "a bit soulless"

Recently Sega of America president Simon Jeffery stated that E3 2008 felt "a bit soulless". The past two E3s have been strictly low-key affairs, with no public access. However, it was announced this week that next year's E3 would be a return to those of yore. It will again be a massive event held earlier in the year, but will only be open to those in the industry and will have half the number of attendees as E3 2006.

But these changes are welcome news to some games companies, including Sega. "Sega is pleased to see some spectacle return to E3," said Jeffery in an email. "[E3] should once again become the annual focal point for the industry, without becoming an out of control arms race".

E3 will be held on June 2nd-4th 2008.