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Celebrating the Sega Mega Drive in Australia

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On this day [November 30] in 1990, Sega’s 16-bit beast arrived on our shores, which was about 2 years after Japan got theirs, but it was always better late than never back in those days!

Coming from the days of playing games on the Commodore 64 and Atari ST, the Mega Drive felt like we had a genuine arcade system in our bedroom! The Mega Drive was our first day one purchase (the N64 was the other) in 1990, which we paid $399 with the pack-in Altered Beast game. We also couldn’t resist buying Golden Axe on that day too. We still remember unpacking and playing it that day – our mind was completely blown!

Sega stamped their authority with their 16-bit powerhouse, and as history would record it, their most successful console ever. The Mega Drive was the catalyst for converting a generation of micro computing enthusiasts into console gamers, we should know, as we were one of them. Our transition from 8-bit (C64) and 16-bit (Atari ST) computing was quite stark – and as soon as we got our Mega Drive and whacked in the pack-in Altered Beast and then Golden Axe games, we honestly thought we had Sega’s arcade games in our bedroom. We were instantly smitten, and alas, that also rang the death knell on our playing days on the micros.

What were your earliest memories of Sega’s 16-bit beauty? Hit us up on Twitter or Facebook and join in the conversation.



Retro Inspired Covers of Modern Sega Games

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Just in case you have been visiting Mars and just came back to this planet, SEGA is celebrating their 60th Anniversary this year.

Amongst their celebrations, they have designed a heap of retro inspired alternate covers of modern Sega games, like Alien Isolation and Persona 4 on the Genesis / Mega Drive, Puyo Puyo Tetris on the Dreamcast, Valkyria Chronicles on Sega Saturn, Yakuza 0 on Game Gear, and many many more.

Check out the rest of the cool retro inspired alternate Sega game covers here.

image source: Sega 60th Anniversary

 

The secret(s) of Monkey Island will be revealed on October 30 when Video Game Source Project deconstructs a beloved classic

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The Video Game History Foundation (VGHF), a nonprofit that brings old video games back to life by preserving, celebrating, and teaching their history, has recently unveiled the Video Game Source Project, an effort to save and study source code and related development materials before the stories around these games’ creation are lost forever.

“For a video game historian, an archaeological dig through source material is the next best thing to time travel,” said Frank Cifaldi, founder and co-director of the VGHF. “Unfortunately for us, most of that material — especially from our earliest days — has been lost forever. The Video Game Source Project will help us surface more of this material and normalize its use as an educational tool.”

To jump-start this initiative, the VGHF is putting out a call to developers, publishers, and anyone else in possession of source code, documentation, concept art, demo builds, or other materials that can help tell a game’s origin story. Donated materials will be maintained in the VGHF’s Northern California archives and made available to video game historians.

The first games to benefit from the Video Game Source Project will be Lucasfilm Games’ legendary point-and-click adventure The Secret of Monkey Island, which celebrates its 30 year anniversary this month, and its sequel Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge.

The VGHF’s staff and volunteers have spent the past several months studying the Monkey Island games’ source code, uncovering unshipped secrets, and even reconstructing cut rooms and cinematics. Much of this content will be shown for the first time on October 30 when Ron Gilbert, the creator of Monkey Island and of the SCUMM game engine, joins Cifaldi for a livestreamed “fireside chat” and Q&A. Tickets for “The Secrets of Monkey Island” are available for $10 with sales benefitting the VGHF.

“Monkey Island is a special game to me and the creation of the SCUMM system is a large part of that. Looking at the source always jogs my memory and now gives me a chance to answer questions people didn’t even know to ask,” says Ron Gilbert. “As a developer, I see real value in preserving and learning from the work that we never imagined people in the future would care about. I’m glad the Video Game History Foundation is making this a priority while there’s still time to salvage history that’s becoming scarcer by the day.”

Beyond Monkey Island, members of the VGHF are currently studying source material from a beloved 16-bit RPG, abandoned Sega hardware from the 1990s, and a never-before-seen follow-up to a legendary arcade game. Historical analysis and content related to these games and others will be unveiled in the coming months. The VGHF has also established an advisory committee of developers, publishers, academics, and historians to tackle the problems related to source conservation and to encourage industry participation.

To learn more about the Video Game Source Project and sign up to receive email updates, visit the Video Game History Foundation website.

image source: VGHF

Sonic Statue in Japan Countryside is Restored!

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Earlier in August of this year, there were reports of a Sonic statue in the middle of the Japanese countryside that had been restored to its former glory, but no one knew who restored it and how the heck the statue of Sonic surfing got there in the first place!

According to this Polygon article, the mysterious case had been somewhat solved, with this TheGamingBeaver video stating that they had found a report from a Japanese TV station that was just as curious about the statue’s origins as we all were. It was stated that the statue originated at SegaWorld, and was then sold at auction after it was remodelled. The buyer, Mr. Kadeo, happened to live up a dirt road behind the statue, and the report says that he placed it there as a signpost to direct guests to his place of residence.

The mystery still continues, as there has been no confirmation that Mr. Kadeo was behind the restoration. If he wasn’t, then we wonder if a larger entity (surely not SEGA?!) had played a role in restoring their mascot!

Restored to his former glory!Story source: Polygon / Image source: Twitter

 

HIGH SCORE – A New Netflix Docuseries Tracing The History of Classic Video Games

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If you have Netflix, then mark August 19th on your calendar to watch HIGH SCORE, a new 6 part documentary series tracing the history of classic video games.

Narrated by the voice of our favourite video game plumber, Charles Martinet, this docuseries traces the history of classic video games, featuring insights from the innovators who brought these worlds and characters to life.

We have watched a plethora of documentaries on the history of video games, so we expect to hear some of the same stories, but that isn’t a bad thing at all. With Netflix behind this documentary, we are assured of high production value!

We can’t wait to watch this to get our nostalgia hit! Get Ready!


source: Netflix

 

Iconic SEGA Akihabara Building 2 To Close Soon

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It looks like we will never cross this one off our bucket list 🙁

SEGA’s Building 2 (formerly known as SEGA GiGo / Akihabara GiGo) is set to close on August 30th. Building No. 2 opened on the southern edge of Akihabara in October 2003, becoming a favourite for arcade video game enthusiasts and gaming nostalgia-seeking peeps.

It would seem that the current world health crisis has hit the Electronic Town quite hard, with a big downturn in visitor numbers. SEGA hasn’t as yet provided any formal reason for the impending closure, except for this post and the sign below, which reads (translation by SoraNews24):

image source: Arcade Otaku via Twitter

“Notice of Closure

Thank you for your continued patronage.

We are sorry to announce that this branch, Sega Akihabara Building 2, will be closing.

Our last day of operations will be Sunday, August 30.

The entire staff wishes to express, from the bottom of our hearts, our sincere gratitude at the loving support you have given our establishment for so many years.”

If you have visited SEGA’s Building No. 2, we would love to hear your stories (and see some pics), so please share them with us on Twitter or Facebook!

image source: That Damn Pixel / header image: Google

 

Building Miniature SEGA Arcade Machines

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The amount of talent and knowledge some people have is beyond comprehension. One particular person got our attention on Twitter, gaug888. gaug888’s miniature Sega arcade machine creations are beyond amazing! Not only are they faithful miniature recreations of their bigger arcade brethren, they also play the arcade video games they are based on – totally mind blowing!

The meticulous level of detail of these miniature creations are off the charts. We reckon Yu Suzuki would be quite impressed too!

PS: If you want to check out the complete and documented log of gaug888’s miniature creations, head to Togetter now.

image source: gaug888 via Togetter

 

SEGA Announces the Game Gear Micro

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Do you remember us gushing last week with the news that SEGA may re-enter the console market? If you recall, we speculated on some pretty cool console concepts that SEGA may have brought to us SEGA starved fans.

Well, it seems that the wait is over! SEGA has blindsided us by announcing their Game Gear Micro, harking back to their popular 90s handheld, the Game Gear. The Game Gear Micro will be 40% smaller than the original and will come in four colour variations, each one with their own four pre-loaded games.

The list of games per Game Gear Micro variant:

  • Game Gear Micro (Black): Sonic The Hedgehog, Puyo Puyo, OutRun, Royal Stone
  • Game Gear Micro (Blue): Sonic & Tales, Gunstar Heroes, Sylvan Tale, Baku Baku Animal
  • Game Gear Micro (Yellow): Shining Force Gaiden, Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya, Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict, Nazopuyo Aruru no Rou
  • Game Gear Micro (Red): The GG Shinobi, Columns, Megami Tensei Gaiden: Last Bible, Megami Tensei Gaiden: Last Bible Special

Oh yeah, in addition to these four coloured variants, there will also be a Game Gear Micro Smoke a limited edition unit which can be added to a framed display to showcase the 5 variants (as part of the Deluxe (DX) pack from the Sega Store). If you are a SEGA collector, you may want to jump onto this!

Specifications:

  • Body size : Width 80 mm x Height 43 mm x Depth 20 mm
  • Screen size : 1.15 inches (240×180 pixel)
  • Audio output : Monaural speaker, 3.5 mm stereo headphone jack
  • Power supply : 2 AAA batteries (sold separately), USB micro terminal power supply

image source: Sega 60th Anniversary

The four Game Gear Micro variants will be released on October 6 (coinciding with the original Game Gear’s 30th anniversary) via Amazon (JP), Rakuten Books and the Sega Store with a suggested retail price of ~AU$70. If you don’t have the means to pre-order from these sites, then keep an eye on Play Asia, as they will have them available soon!

Sega Celebrates its 60th Anniversary with a New Console, Maybe

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Well, well, well, the internet went into a mini meltdown with the news circulating that maybe, and this is a big MAYBE, Sega will reveal a new console next week! If this news is true, then we honestly can’t wait, and neither can our Dreamcast – it needs a rest!

Just in case you think we’ve gone bonkers in self isolation, the news broke this week that Japanese digital technology journalist Zenji Nishikawa had hinted at a “huge scoop” during a YouTube live stream. Zenji’s news is set to be published in the June 4 issue of Weekly Famitsu, so mark that date in your diary.

We wish!
source: nerdbacon

For those of you (and us) that want to know what Zenji said, here is the English translation (via Gematsu):

“My column in next week’s issue of Famitsu is crazy. I got a huge scoop… It’s a world premiere article. And an exclusive. It may not be Nikkei or Weekly Bunshun, but if you want to know if it’s a scoop that big…it totally is! It’s a scoop from a game company that everyone loves. An insane scoop. Last year, Wired got the exclusive story on PlayStation 5, right? Other media didn’t. It’s that level of a scoop. I interviewed a certain company’s executive and technical staff, it’s really revolutionary… really, it’s a revolution.

It’ll be in Famitsu next Thursday. I already sent in my manuscript, so the proofs are being made now. It’s a scoop on a level that when the story comes out, other media will make a fuss to the company like, “Why didn’t you let us cover it?” Maybe people will say, “Who was the first to break that story?,” “It was Zenji Nishikawa, right?” It’s a scoop as major as the PlayStation 5 scoop. I just wanted to say that in advance.

I can’t say [anything more] here, but it’s OK for me to tease it (laughs). I was told that it’s OK to do so at various meetings. It’s being talked about in other places. Just not by the media. It’ll rile up the games industry.”

So there you have it folks. Lots of details to speculate on, so we have our fingers crossed that Sega do re-enter the hardware realm to shake things up (and run some cool ads like they used to)!

We Wish Mk II
source: NationStates

source: Sega 60th Anniversary