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    Sega swag up for grabs this Friday (includes MadWorld, NiGHTS stuff)

    May 7, 2009 - 11:45am


    Prepare thy selves, Twitter fiends, as @SEGA is giving away goodies as part of its #FreeStuffFriday. The items up for the taking are:

    • MadWorld Wii decal set, soundtrack CD and poster signed by the PlatinumGames team.
    • OutRun Online Arcade t-shirt (size large) and free game code.
    • Bleach Kon plushie and Nintendo DS stylus.
    • Nights: Journey of Dreams soundtrack CD sampler, wristband and a SEGA sweet.
    • Football Manager "Gameplay > Polygons" t-shirt (size large) and a SEGA lip balm.
    • A grow-your-own venus fly trap plant and a SEGA lip balm.

    To win the items, Twitter users need to follow @SEGA, which will follow them in return. During Friday, the account will announce the package, along with a "special code phrase." The first follower to direct-message the phrase will win the pack. Sounds simple enough ... unless the "fail whale" shows up.

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    Virtua Tennis 2009 lobbed into June

    May 7, 2009 - 11:44am

    Sega announced today via its message board that Virtua Tennis 2009 will miss its original May launch date. We previously speculated about just such a delay, noting that retailers had the title scheduled for June 2. According to Sega blogger RubyEclipse, "I believe the focus is on polishing up the Wii version, so I'm down for that as it means a better game in the end."Later in the message board thread, RubyEclipse says, "Right now the goal is still June 2nd," but suggests that a further delay of a week or two is possible. That would mean that the Wii version would come out at the same time as the MotionPlus peripheral, and not a week before as currently planned.
    [Via GoNintendo]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

    Activision finally confirms Guitar Hero: Van Halen

    May 7, 2009 - 11:15am


    Those Van Halen boys are likely happy today, as it marks the end of their need for silence regarding their long-rumored video game: Guitar Hero: Van Halen. Activision has confirmed to Joystiq that the title is in development and will release sometime during the second half of this year. Activision could not confirm any songs, and only said the game will contain Van Halen's "greatest hits," as well as guest acts such as Queen, Weezer, blink-182, The Offspring, Queens of the Stone Age, and more. We've put in word to Activision to clarify if the game will be all David Lee Roth, or if fans will also get some Sammy Hagar and some Gary Cherone love. Well, okay, maybe not Gary Cherone. Nobody liked that guy.Update: Activision's Senior Vice President of Global Brand Management (whew!) told us, "Oh this is definitely Van Halen, not Van Hagar," which is a plus since David Lee Roth is back with the band and they just finished a successful tour. There's a very slim chance that the rockers might show up at E3, so keep your eyes and ears peeled.Permalink | Email this | Comments

    Activision announces Guitar Hero 5, Band Hero and DJ Hero for fall

    May 7, 2009 - 10:16am


    Activision continues to "exploit" its Guitar Hero franchise this year with three new full titles coming this autumn. The newly announced Guitar Hero 5 will offer "the ability to drop in and out of songs and change band members, instruments and difficulty levels on the fly." The press release contains no other details regarding the game, but you can bet it'll be pretty similar to Guitar Hero: World Tour.Band Hero is the second of Activision's Hero trifecta for this fall. Don't be confused, Band Hero is completely separate from Guitar Hero. Except it's very similar -- it's Activision's attempt at a family-oriented Guitar Hero game, rated E10+, and will be facing off against Harmonix's Lego Rock Band later this year. Finally, DJ Hero is something we've been hearing a lot of murmurs about for a while. It will feature "diverse music genres including hip-hop, R&B, Motown, electronica and dance" and will include the turntable controller, images of which we posted earlier. Apparently the title "transforms players into DJs who rule the club scene by creating original mixes of popular songs and music from the world's most exciting artists and DJs." We have to wonder, does the world need this many heroes?Permalink | Email this | Comments

    Pachter sees potential in EA Sports Active, dismisses Spore

    May 7, 2009 - 10:15am


    Wedbush Morgan diva analyst extraordinaire Michael Pachter, the man who finds the idea of Apple buying Electronic Arts "retarded," is confident about EA's gaming lineup -- particularly on the Wii -- and is raising the company's stock expectation to $27 (currently $20). Using the royal We, His Analytical Lordship was particularly impressed by EA Sports Active and Tiger Woods, which He sees becoming "blockbusters" on the Wii.Of course, Pachter can't show his love without asserting his authority with a beating. Warhammer and Spore were graciously cut with love by the soothsayer. He remains skeptical about Warhammer Online's potential, stating that with 300,000 subscribers the game is probably only making about $10 million in profit (which didn't save many staff members) and estimates the game would break even in operating cost if it dips to about 250,000 subscribers. Pachter also isn't confident about EA's attempts to turn Spore into a franchise, noting that that the game "sold about as well as a typical SpongeBob game." Yeah, that's got to sting a little.Update: Pachter let us know he writes his reports with Edward Woo. So, our loving crack about the royal We wasn't accurate. There goes our image of Pachter in full Elizabeth I garb. So sad.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

    Renders of DJ Hero controller

    May 7, 2009 - 9:42am

    click for high-res gallery
    The Twitter account @DJHero has posted what are allegedly the first images of the DJ Hero controller. We are currently following up with Activision to confirm the authenticity of the account and the images. In the meantime, feel free to give opinions on the design.Update: Although we've yet to receive official word from Activision, a recent press release from Activision's UK PR firm included the images. Second pic after the break or in the gallery below.
    [Via GamerTagRadio]

    Continue reading Renders of DJ Hero controller

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    Nintendo reports fiscal year sales of 1.83 trillion yen

    May 7, 2009 - 7:31am


    Though we normally reserve the word "trillion" for flippant exaggeration, we believe its use is quite serious in Nintendo's fiscal report, explaining how it fared during the year ended March 31, 2009. In a few words: very well. In a few figures?1.83 trillion yen ($18.55 billion), 555 billion yen ($5.63 billion) and 279 billion yen ($2.83 billion). That would be sales, operating profit and then net profit, all marking increases over last year's results. Indeed, Nintendo states that sales rose by 9.9 percent, with operating profit up 14 percent and net profit up 8.5 percent. During the period, 26 million Wii units are said to have been sold, trumped by an impressive 31 million DS systems -- the combined software units for both platforms totalled 401 million units (almost a 50/50 split!).As for the coming fiscal year, Nintendo predicts to shift another 26 million Wiis (along with 220 million pieces of software), 30 million DS units and a further 180 million units of DS software. The only bad news in all of this is that we're unable to travel back in time and show this information to our past, post-N64 selves.Permalink | Email this | Comments

    Check out The Conduit's packaging, and the game as well

    May 6, 2009 - 6:05pm

    Sega released a bunch of cool media for The Conduit, including this new trailer, titled "Trouble in the Metro." It's somewhat debatable as to what causes more trouble in this game's version of the Washington, D.C. Metro system: all the alien guys running around, or the player character discharging a bunch of weapons in there.Sega also released images of the special edition boxes for both the UK and North America. Sega has yet to announce anything about the UK special edition, but we feel pretty confident in saying that there will be a hint book included. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

    Infinite Space's Star Trek-inspired battles

    May 6, 2009 - 5:00pm

    This is the perfect week for Platinum Games and Sega to show off the first ship-to-ship battle footage from Infinite Space, visible after the post break. The Star Trek reboot movie comes out this week, and this game might as well be the JRPG take on Trek. The bottom screen shows the view from the captain's chair, and the top screen is basically a feed of your ship's viewscreen, providing a look at the enemy ship facing you down. A few other quick battle clips are available in the "Star Ship" section of the official site. The game comes out next month in Japan, so we expect to start having more footage show up on screen soon!
    [Via Siliconera]

    Continue reading Infinite Space's Star Trek-inspired battles

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    Prepare for Sadness: Nibris showing something at E3

    May 6, 2009 - 3:45pm

    Sadness "developer" Nibris sent out a message to its YouTube channel's subscribers, indicating that something related to the developer will be shown at E3 this year. Note that the message doesn't specify the vaporous Sadness game, or that a game will be shown at all -- merely an "update." Which means that even in the unlikely event that Nibris shows up and displays something, it could still be disappointing.Nibris is still holding to a Fall 2009 date for Sadness, so it's quite likely that this "update" is intended to be related to the mythical horror game. We hope Sadness actually does show up -- we'd love to add the day the game becomes real to our timeline (which we posted in 2007).Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments