It’s Monday, everyone! Take a long stretch, get out those yawns, and then let us know who your favorite Tennis player is – did we mentioned the free swag for doing so?

With VT2009 in stores, we’ve teamed up with BuzzFocus to offer you all some rare Virtua Tennis swag, including a VT and SEGA branded jacket! There’s already almost 100 entries – so get yours in before July 5th for a chance to score some of that oh-so-green Virtua Tennis merchandise!

To enter just click here or on the image above. Get to posting, and good luck everyone!

The first downloadable content for Empire: Total War is available today via Steam for $3.49. Elite Units of the West
Features 14 new unit types for different playable factions, this downloadable content will add an extra layer to the already in-depth offering that is Empire: Total War.

In addition to the DLC, we’ve also released a new patch for the game, bringing us to version 1.3. The update includes the implementation of multi-threading, which will significantly benefit players that use multi-core processors. In addition to this, the update greatly improves performance on single core machines. For the full list of updates and features in 1.3, go to the Total War blog.

The game may still be a ways off here, but some pretty cool news regarding the upcoming Infinite Space - Gamasutra reported earlier that the game sold through 38,000 units last week, placing it at the #1 spot for those seven days. Good news for Japan!

Bad guy on the left, good guy on the right.

Here in the states, the release date for the game is also getting closer by the month. We’ll have more news and info for Infinite Space here on the SEGA Blogs as it arrives!

Whta do you guys think are the most interesting parts of Infinite Space? After so much Skies of Arcadia, the fully customizable crew roster seems like a great return of one of my favorite game elements.  (Of course, the cutscenes and the Japanese anime look pretty sweet too.)

That’s all from this end before we head out – have a great weekend everyone!

Let’s Tap shipped to stores this week, and the press reviews and previews have started to come in. This is just the first batch — there are plenty more to come! But I know that lots of people like to wait for reviews of a game before deciding to pick it up, so here we go!

Game Pro gives Let’s Tap 4/5 Stars!

Will Herring delivers the verdict (emphasis mine):

When I finally sat in on a few rounds of Tap Runner, I’ll admit — I was automatically intrigued. Interesting control mechanics meet surprisingly solid game design in this fun, if simple title.

MTV: “The Game of the Week”

In MTV’s Multiplayer blog, Russ Frushtick says:

Definitely the party game of the week and a perfect fit for folks that don’t want to throw down for plastic drums.

San Francisco Chronicle: “Simple and Intuitive”

In the Technology Chronicles blog on SF Gate (website of the San Francisco Chronicle), Ryan Kim says:

I tried playing some Tap Runner recently. You just tap in rhythm to get your runner moving and then apply hard taps to jump. You can play with up to 4 people. The game play is simple but it evokes memories of older fun games like Track and Field, which allowed you to delight in a flurry of taps. This particular mini-game is really about competing against a friend or two.

The game is an interesting twist on the Wii and shows how simple and intuitive game play can be had with a little creativity.

I’ll post more reviews as they come in. Happy Friday!

Today another gem from SEGA’s past is now available for your handheld enjoyment across the iPhone and iPod Touch. That’s right, Golden Axe is now up on the App Store, allowing you to reach back into your past and put the full arcade experience right in the palm of your hand; minus all the lines, noise, and pesky token machines.

The game, as you’d expect, is the full version of Golden Axe with a few additions for the iPhone and iPod Touch. If you’ve played Sonic the Hedgehog on iPhone, then you’ll recognize it can be played in both full screen and windowed view modes, depending on your preference. In full screen mode, your thumbs take up a portion of the screen and you have the option to use the accelerometer instead of the D-Pad to navigate about the map.  A nice touch, and while it took a bit to get used to, soon I was dashing with ease.

Golden Axe is available on the App Store for $4.99 and can be grabbed right now! Head on over and pick it up. If you do, come back and let us know what you think!

This cool video uses Let’s Tap’s Visualizer mode to create a music video for Dark Side of the Moon. It’s an interesting and creative use of the game, and I think it was a great song selection.

What other songs would be great for a Visualizer video? If you make or see other videos like this, please link them in the comments.

This video was made by @rickmears and posted to Squid TV.

Let’s Tap! is shipping today, and to celebrate I challenged an old Let’s Tap! rival of mine to settle the score once and for all. His name is Aaron Palacios (you also heard him in Episode 1 of the SEGA Podcast), and we’ve been going head to head since we first started recording gameplay footage for the original US trailers.  So, without further ado, let’s get to it!

Just before the Tap Off begins – Aaron P. is on the left, I’m on the right wearing the Conduit T-shirt. we bust out some Wii boxes and pop in a copy of the game. First up on the menu is Rhythm Tap – the song: 365 Children. Also, there’s a really cool Sonic Heroes Plaque/Tile in the right hand corner of this picture – on it is a ton of different fan art we got for the game. (It was created when the game broke 1,000,000 copies.)

Round 1 was close, but Community came out on top…

Can’t Tap Fast? You need a blue orb texter tin to tap on! We had a few of these sitting around from earlier PSU days, so Aaron P. grabbed one to up his game a bit.

Not to be outdone, I grabbed an (unopened) SEGA Pico box nearby. Take that, Blue Orb.

Let me just say that this part was a mistake. I completely failed the third round because the poor Master System wasn’t picking up the vibrations, and I didn’t have the heart to hit it hard.

I’m sorry, Master System. We still love you.

A heated moment in Round 4. Unfortunately, the Xbox 360 doesn’t serve as a good Let’s Tap! tapping device. (It’s almost like the Wii and the 360 don’t get along, or something.)

Meanwhile, Aaron P. was rocking it up on an empty PS3 box. With our own little homage to the console wars in motion, Aaron P. ended up winning two straight rounds in Tap Runner – I blame the Mega Drive and X360′s hard cases.

The tiebreaker! Away goes the 360, and out comes a matted cover of NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams. This is a shot of us in a very close match, our tap runners just moments apart from victory.

In the end, the final score was:

• Community – 3 Wins
• PR – 2 Wins

An excellent Tap Off and some very special thanks to Aaron P. for accepting the challenge! I hope that all you guys reading have just as much fun as we did tapping on random objects – and don’t be afraid to throw down the gauntlet to your own siblings and friends!

We’re also curious to hear what you guys will be tapping on when your copy of Let’s Tap! arrives, so let us know in the blog comments below!

We’ve got a double shot of Prope and Yuji Naka today! In addition to Let’s Tap shipping out to retailers, we’re also announcing Let’s Catch! Let’s Catch is the second title from Yuji Naka’s Prope studio, and it’s available today for download from the Nintendo Channel store.

In Let’s Catch, players will experience a new twist on the game of catch in six different single and multiplayer modes to play. Excelling through good timing and hand-eye coordination, players will find themselves playing games that range from having players pass a bomb to other players before it explodes, test players’ ability to catch a fast ball, challenge players’ throwing accuracy and more.

Check out our trailer to see it in action!

For more screenshots, check out our Flickr set.

Let’s Tap is shipping to retailers today, and should be in stores by the end of the week! I had a chance to play this game last weekend, and my personal favorites are the Tap Runner, Rhythm Tap, and Silent Blocks games. In case you missed our videos about Let’s Tap gameplay, here they are. What are you most looking forward to?

As the last of the E3 coverage comes in, the Awards for the ‘Best of’ categories are all being revealed – and Bayonetta isn’t the only one with some new medals!

All in all, Alpha Protocol now has four shiny new trophies to tout, including:

• Best Role-Playing Game – Gaming Excellence
• Best Multi-Platform Game – Gaming Excellence
• Best PC Game – MTV
• Best RPG – MTV

As Gaming Excellence put it:

…the deep character and equipment customization options, as well as the dynamically branching conversation systems, set this game above almost all other games shown at E3 this year.

Nicely done, AP! We’ll have lots more news from the Alpha Protocol front soon, and if you haven’t already, be sure to check out the very nifty website here!