Busy, busy week for all of us here in the SEGA community, so I want to wrap things up before heading out for the weekend.

First things first — don’t miss Clumsy’s post below about the Hulk site going live.  He (and a lot of other people) worked hard on that site and it looks great, so please drop by and take a look at how the game is coming along.

Secondly, Viking: Battle For Asgard is now in stores.  I got to play the beta version for a while here in the office on a (gasp!) non-high-def TV, and was left wanting a lot more from the visuals — not because of the game, but because of the television.  I’m looking forward to firing up my retail copy at home this weekend on my 50″ HDTV, and lopping off some heads.

Also, Universe At War has shipped for the Xbox 360.  Ultimately, 360 gamers will be able to match up against PC gamers on this title, but that functionality is still coming in a title update that will hit Xbox LIVE servers in the middle of next month.  If you’re an RTS fan, you should definitely give this game a look.

With March coming to an end, many of our recent titles are now out the door, and it’s time to take a look at what’s coming up.  Two big projects I’ve been working on include:

* Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm:  Our media lab has just completed production on the first video interview I shot with the HTF creators several weeks ago and I will be releasing that to the community next week.  This will be the first appearance of SegaDawg’s ugly mug in a video podcast, so be nice.  Watch this space for the video URL at some point in the next seven days.

* Space Siege: Similarly, we’re doing production on some Space Siege footage and our first interview video, complete with gameplay footage, is about ready to go.  This title is shipping this summer, and in the coming weeks we’ll have a lot more info on it, including a new section of the website, more screens, and video podcasts and other footage.

On a more personal note, with Friday afternoon here, I’m looking forward to the weekend.  Aside from playing some Viking, I’ll probably catch some of the NCAA basketball action and watch the next episode of the John Adams series on HBO Sunday night.  I also have to swing by the store and pick up the new album by Counting Crows… just to name-drop, I actually got to visit them in the studio last year, chat with a couple of the band guys and watch Adam (the lead singer) and the producer piece together one of his vocal tracks.  Hard to believe it was almost a year ago and the album is only coming out now.

(Hears chorus of “Gee, SegaDawg, you’re sooooooooo cool.” Yes, yes, I know.)

Have a great weekend, all!

Our Incredible Hulk website is now live! The site shows off some great art from the game and has some info about the upcoming game. Be sure to check back for updated content releases.

I’m pretty stoked on how the site came together, this is the second full micro-site I’ve worked on following the change over from game master to community, and it’s been a lot of fun. Micro-sites are a whole new animal, and very different from working on the Phantasy Star Universe and PSOBB websites. I’d love to get your feedback on what you like, what you don’t, and what you’d like to see!

http://incrediblehulkthegame.marvel.com

We just got word that both Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk games will be featured this Friday on Spike TV’s Game Trailer TV with Geoff Keighley! For Iron Man, the show will feature some in-depth behind-the-scenes footage of the development team working on the game.

Not to be outdone, the new Incredible Hulk video game will debut with an exclusive trailer! Incredible Hulk fans are in for a treat, as the game is looking fantastic, the detail is really incredible.

Show times may vary by region, so check your local listings.

In addition to our big announcement for the Race to Name event, the Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood website has been updated to include some information about the game, as well as some screenshots!

http://www.sega.com/gamesite/sonicchronicles/us/

Everyone in the office is really excited to see the game come together, and we’re hoping you enjoy the site updates as well.

Thanks to everyone who participated in our Race to Name event! We’ve had a week of voting and we’re happy to announce the final name is: The Zoah.

Everyone here at SEGA of America thanks the Sonic community for their input and hoped you enjoyed this special event! We’re extremely happy with the way everything went and really excited to see the name added to the final game.

SEGA of Europe spent a lot of time pulling this event together, and their brand manager would like to offer some kind words to all participants:

I would like to say a big thank you to everyone that participated in the Sonic Chronicles: A Race To Name competition and to all those who voted for their favorite name.

We received thousands of votes for this unique competition and there was some fantastic support taking place across many sites throughout Europe. We look forward to implementing ‘The Zoah’ into the game and congratulations to the winners, SEGA Nerds, especially since they beat an entry from Bioware!

We will continue to keep you updated with the latest news on Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. Look out very soon for developments to the game’s product site as we reveal more features and screenshots.
Thank you again!

Michele – Sonic Chronicles SOE Brand Manager

IT’S THE ZOAH
Sonic Chronicles Competition Winner Announced

LONDON (18th March, 2008) – SEGA Europe Ltd. today confirmed that the recent competition, A Race To Name, where Sonic The Hedgehog fans could vote upon names for a new race selected by key Sonic fansites, and European gaming websites, finally has a winner. After thousands of votes were cast, it became clear that it was going to be a closely fought race between The Zoah, The Gravitus and The Dusk. Fans were hastily casting votes right up until the last minute but in the end only a handful of votes separated the contenders, and like all competitions it could only have one winner with The Zoah prevailing as the fan-favourite.

Congratulations to www.seganerds.com who originally suggested The Zoah which will now be included in the forthcoming, hotly tipped, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood™ for the Nintendo DS™ system. The Zoah will be featured as a new enemy race for Sonic The Hedgehog to pit his wits against in 2008.

Developed by industry admired story-telling specialists, BioWare, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood is an RPG adventure set to take the DS by storm this Autumn.

For more information about BioWare please visit www.bioware.com

A heads up to all Iron Man fans looking for information about the upcoming game — yesterday we launched a full micro-site! I’m a big fan of how the site turned out; every time I load it up I feel like I’m at an arcade, the sound is just fantastic.

http://ironmanthegame.marvel.com/index.php

The site has some great information about the game, such as a detailed features list and some quality screenshots. We also have a bunch of site updates leading up to the game release on April 29^th, so be sure to check back and see the changes.

SEGA Superstars Tennis is now available on Xbox 360®, Playstation®2, PLAYSTATION®3, and Nintendo DS™ platforms. If you haven’t picked up the game, and are still wondering if it’s right for you, you’ll be happy to know we’ve updated our Website and have some information about a playable DEMO for Xbox 360® Marketplace and PLAYSTATION®Network.

Website Updates!
Our SEGA Superstars Tennis website has seen a whirlwind of updates in the past week. If you are still wondering how much of your favorite SEGA mascots made it into the mix, you can check out our Characters section. Sixteen characters are featured and include full profiles, helpful for those that may not know who Gilius Thunderhead is (though, you should!).

http://www.sega.com/gamesite/segasuperstarstennis/us/

We also had a ton of movies added to the website, including Court videos showing off flybys of the stages. I’ve said this before, but it’s just great to see the Samba or Scrap Brain worlds in full high-resolution 3D. Along with Court videos, we also added some Mini-game movies to show off some of the wacky stuff you can get into. Personal favorites are Chu-Chu Rocket and Jet Set Radio.

Demo Information
I’ve received word that SEGA Superstars Tennis will be released in full playable demo form on both Playstation®Network and Xbox 360® Marketplace. Featured in the demo are four playable characters (Shadow, AiAi, Sonic, Amigo), one Match Play zone in Sonic Green Hills Zone, and one unlockable Mini-game (you’ll have to find this on your own!).

The Playstation 3 demo is already available and can be played immediately. Xbox 360 players will have to wait a bit to get their hands on the game, but I’m told it will release on March 25^th!

For more information on the Playstation 3 Demo, check out:
http://www.us.playstation.com/PS3/Store#id=blus-30123&topid=40075

It’s finally here! House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return — the long-awaited compilation for the Wii shipped last week! Time to set the ol’ Wii Zapper on ‘kill’ and blast some nasty undead baddies.

In conjunction with the launch of the game, a special Hints and Tips site launched to help provide some pointers to work your way the biologically reanimated enemies that lie ahead. It’s a pretty handy guide if you are new to the series, or an old diehard that could use a refresher course in tactical domination.

If you haven’t had a chance to check out the House of the Dead yet, there is a trailer up on the site now you can check out as well.

For folks like myself that are into the old arcade style shooters (Operation Wolf with zombies? Sweet!) this is a pretty cool addition to the collection. Seems like the Wii is a great platform on which to re-release old arcade favorites such as House of the Dead utilizing the Wii Zapper and the motion sensitive controller. Any other old arcade standards you guys wish would return on the Wii?

Hi gang!

Been a while since my last post — sorry, things have been pretty hectic around the SEGA offices as of late.  We’ve had a few games ship in the past couple weeks, and SEGA Superstars Tennis ships tomorrow.  Things will start to quiet down a little come April, but we still have Viking: Battle for Asgard and the Xbox 360 version of Universe At War to get out the door before month’s end.

I wanted to alert you to a couple of things to kick off this week: first off, Virtua Fighter 5 has been added to the official World Cyber Games lineup!  Our killer fighting game joins other top titles like Halo 3, PGR4 and Guitar Hero III on the Xbox 360 lineup, so we’re in pretty good company.  Check out more about the World Cyber Games here:

http://us.worldcybergames.com/sp/web/us.asp

Also, our own Randy “Beef” Stukes went on G4 TV last week to talk about Viking, and showed absolutely no shame in exhibiting his, ahem, “unique” handlebar moustache.  Sadly, one of the links on the G4 site refers to him as “Atari’s Randy Stukes,” but we can assure you that for better or for worse, he’s one of our own.  Watch the video to see RandyBeef talk about Viking‘s gameplay (cut and paste into your browser):

http://www.g4tv.com/xplay/previews/20773/Hands_On_Viking_Battle_for_Asgard.html

That’s all for right now, but we’ll have more good stuff coming your way later this week.  Until then, let us know what you think of RandyBeef’s moustache and we’ll pass along the comments to him.

-SegaDawg

Condemned 2: Bloodshot is out for Xbox 360 today and will be available March 18 for PLAYSTATION 3! In addition to the Xbox 360 launch today, we’re rolling out some updates to www.condemnedgame.com that will help you get ready for the game.

Right off the bat, you’ll notice a brand new trailer on the home page. I’m not sure if the video has made the rounds to the bigger press sites, it’s certainly the first I’ve seen of it, and it looks great. Featured in the trailer are great closeups of characters, and the detail is fantastic. That’s not all, we’ve also added a few more movies to the Media section. You can check out the recent TV spot, as well as some bone crunching environmental finishing moves.

Also in the update are some character bios and a section outlining some of the weapons and forensic tools you’ll be using throughout the game. These sections should be pretty self explanatory, and I found some pretty good info within the character section while we were creating the pages. Lastly, we’ve opened the Downloads area and have a selection of creepy wallpapers and AIM/Forum icons.

We’re all really happy to see the website get updated and can’t wait to hear feedback from the Condemned fans. And for those still on the fence, you can check out a DEMO for both Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION3 when it releases very soon. Once we have confirmation on the launch date, we’ll post it here so everyone knows when they can grab it!

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to meet Ethan and see what trouble I can get into…