Last night, Iron Man 2 (the game) had its world premiere in the Marvel booth. The photo above is of the Marvel stage, and the game was played on those screens in the upper corners. There was a great crowd gathered to see the game for the first time.

Kyle, the Creative Director from SEGA Studios San Francisco, led the demo. Dean, the producer of the game, did the driving. The demo took about 15 minutes and we got to see lots of flying, shooting, melee, and the boss battle for the level.

The game has an all-new story (not tied to the movie) written by acclaimed comic book writer Matt Fraction. There are diverse play spaces and enemies, and great controls that let you fly indoors or out. You can choose what’s in your suit, and how you want to fight your enemies.

Kyle said that as producers and developers, it’s a lot easier when not tied to the movie storyline — they are freed up to do whatever they want.

We got a glimpse of some interior spaces, which are new to the franchise and add variety to the gameplay. Lots of people didn’t like that the last game only had exterior play, so they’ve added the interior spaces in this game.

As the fighting continued in the demo, Kyle said that at every point they were asking themselves “Why is this Iron Man’s problem?” because they didn’t want to put anything in the game that the cops or the Army could handle. This makes for a more exciting and challenging gameplay.

At the end, we got a glimpse of Crimson Dynamo, who a lot of fans also wished was in the first game. He’s in this one!

At the end of the demo, the Marvel team passed out some limited-edition posters to the crowd.

Then Matt Fraction came on stage to sign things for fans. Before he sat down to sign though, he took some time to get a close-up look at the suits on stage, and even took a few photos of them. It was cool to see him as interested in them as the fans in the crowd were.

Matt sat down and signed stuff for fans. There was a huge line that wrapped all the way around the Marvel booth!

That’s all for the premiere, but there’s a lot more to come. There will be several more demonstrations of Iron Man 2 on the Marvel stage, as well as in the Marvel booth and in the SEGA booth. This was my first time seeing the gameplay too, and I have to say that it’s looking really great.

Here we are, sunny San Diego for Comic-con! The weather is nice and we are getting accustomed to our home away from home for the next five days. So what have we done today? Well, we had a chance to go through the convention hall, see a bit of the area, do some fun out of office emails via phones and get ready for the main event this week!

The show officially kicks off tomorrow with the doors opening at 9 am, but tonight there was a preview night, a pre-show chance to check out some special unveilings and get your hands on some nice gear from the floor. Sega was there in force with the full community team (woo) and everyone who will be manning the booth during the next four days.

This is my first Comic-con, I missed out on the trek to New York earlier in the year. I’ve done one smaller fan focused convention, but this is nothing like I’ve ever seen. The closest I know is E3, which is a beast in and of itself, but Comic-con is a consumer show with massive crowds, or so I’m told. Looking at preview night, I was a bit taken aback by the masses of people walking through the space. Overheard by too many people to count: “This is the busiest Preview Night I’ve ever seen.” I’m anticipating the next few days to be absolutely slammed, and can’t wait to see it!

As you can see from the photos posted, the Sega Booth is equipped with four playable games including, Planet 51, Bleach: The 3rd Phantom, Bayonetta, and Iron Man 2. Fun stuff! Look out for some upcoming blogs about a few of those tonight, we are all hitting the laptops and doing some posts about the stuff we saw.

We are very excited about the upcoming release of Bleach: The 3rd Phantom for the Nintendo DS! In anticipation for this release, we are preparing a special contest that will surely excite the fans of the series and give you a shot at some special Bleach goods.

If this sounds good to you, then you are in the right place! Watch this page for more info on the upcoming contest and look out for more coverage of Bleach: The 3rd Phantom across our blogs from Comic-con!

The second English anime short for Infinite Space has arrived! This time, following the ever-cliche line at the opening, you’re in for a treat as just about everything starts exploding, Yuri busts out a katana, and what could very well be a pirate is heard doing voice work for one of the villains. Yarr!

Iron Man 2 is premiering at San Diego Comic Con this week! To kick the week off in style, here are some details about the upcoming game, and a brand new trailer!

Renowned comic book author Matt Fraction is creating the game’s all-new story,which will include familiar elements from both the movie and comic book universes. The new game will also have destructible environments, epic enemies, innovative hand-to-hand combat moves, and other features from the film and comic book. It will also feature enemies that aren’t in the movie, such as Crimson Dynamo.

The development team at SEGA Studios San Francisco has also paid close attention to the comments from fans and critics concerning the first Iron Man movie game. As a result of this feedback, Iron Man 2 will feature a greater focus on powerful hand-to-hand combat, as well as a completely redesigned control scheme, making it more fun for gamers to feel the power and strength of Iron Man.

“Iron Man 2 presented me with the opportunity to work with both SEGA and Marvel on creating something wholly unique, – a story that exists at the crossroads of the comics I write, the film universe I was lucky enough to be asked to contribute to, and a wholly immersive interactive experience like this game,” says Matt Fraction. “Writing a game presents an entirely new challenge, where the player engages with the world, with the big and small aspects of the place and characters. They’re a co-conspirator in the narrative. I hope it’s as exciting and challenging to play as it was to write.”

Iron Man 2 (the game) will be released in Spring 2010. The game will be available for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PSP, Wii, and Nintendo DS.

Enough talk! Let’s see the great new trailer.

We’ll be bringing you all the action from San Diego Comic Con 2009 right here in this blog, so stay tuned!

The SEGA community team is leaving for San Diego tomorrow morning! We’re excited to bring you all the action from San Diego Comic Con 2009. We’ve got lots of great stuff in store for you, whether you can attend or not.

If you are attending San Diego Comic Con, we want to see your best costumes! The community team will be at the SEGA booth to meet our fans, take some photos, and get pass out goodies to people dressed in SEGA costumes! We’ll be at the booth at the following times:

Thursday: 11am – 12pm and 4pm – 5pm

Friday: 11am – 12pm and 4pm – 5pm

Saturday: 11am – 12pm and 4pm – 5pm

Sunday: 11am – 12pm

Come to the SEGA booth at those times, and Ruby, Clumsy, and Kellie will be there to meet you! (We are not guaranteed to be at the booth except at those times, so make room in your schedule to come then!) If you come dressed in a SEGA-related costume, you’ll get a free “GAMER” T-shirt (limited to the first 250 people). We’ve got other, special prizes you can get in addition to the T-shirts. Ruby already did a fantastic job detailing the cosplay prizes and our trivia contest, so instead of repeating him, I’ll just link to his previous blog about it.

If you are not attending San Diego Comic Con, we’ve still got you covered. We’ll be blogging, tweeting, photographing, and video recording to bring you everything SEGA from the show floor.

Stay tuned!

Today we have some all new Alpha Protocol avatars to show off today, highlighting some of the characters you’ll encounter in our upcoming Espionage RPG. If you are on our forums and are looking for a new avatar to spruce up your postings, then you’ll find some good pics available for use here. Images are available in 90×90 and 150×150, suiting your posting habits on a variety of forums. Enjoy!

To grab the avatar, simply right click and ‘Save as’ or you can head into our Flickr set for Alpha Protocol and grab from there. Enjoy the new avatars and tell us what you think!

If you’re into rolling monkeys, you’ve hit the jackpot! Many people wondered what our jackpot site was about, and now you know — Super Monkey Ball Step & Roll.

AiAi and all his friends are stepping onto the Wii Balance Board™ in an all-new party game for the Wii™. Super Monkey Ball Step & Roll brings back everything you love about Super Monkey Ball and promises plenty of new surprises around every turn. Get ready for the next level of monkey madness as Super Monkey Ball Step & Roll rolls into your living rooms this Winter!

And would it be a Super Monkey Ball game without a cute trailer? I think not! So here you go…

If you’re into all things Super Monkey Ball, you can also become a fan on our brand new Facebook page for Super Monkey Ball.

We’re leaving for San Diego Comic Con in a few days, but we’ve scrambled to get your Free Stuff Friday giveaway together. If you aren’t able to come see us at Comic Con, don’t worry. You can still win cool SEGA stuff on Friday! Edward@SEGA is graciously taking over running this week’s giveaway, so please, be kind.

We’re having fun making videos for you all, and we’re glad you enjoy watching them. Here’s our new one, including great hand modeling work from Ruby.

On the Block

We’re happy to include a SEGA sticker along with each prize this week.

Item 1: NiGHTS PaPetch Figurine

This item was so popular during our last giveaway, that we have another one for you! If you weren’t our lucky winner last time, you have another chance! Watch the video to see what it looks like out of the box. Everyone is eligible to win this prize.

Congrats @Tinfoil for winning this one!

Item 2: Sonic Chronicles for Nintendo DS

Sonic Chronicles for your Nintendo DS. All are eligible to win this prize.

Congratulations @The_PRO_Ody for winning this prize!

Item 3: The Conduit skin for Nintendo Wii

Looking for a way to spruce up your Wii console? Look no further than this great set of Conduit-themed decals. You’ll be shooting in style! Everyone is eligible for this prize.

Congratulations @FlammableGoose for snagging this!

Item 4: GAMER T-Shirt, size XL

This is a navy blue t-shirt, size XL, with “GAMER” in SEGA font on the front, and a small SEGA logo on the back by the neck. We’re giving these shirts to SEGA cosplayers at Comic Con, but here’s your chance to get one even if you can’t make it to San Diego! Everyone is eligible to win.

Way to go @alexdou, winning this shirt!

Item 5: Crazy Taxi Polo Shirt

Bright yellow Crazy Taxi polo shirt, size L. (The tag says L, but it appears to be more of an XL.) Everyone is eligible to win.

Looking sharp — congrats @Fhuzzy!

Item 6: Sonic Gloves

Sonic gloves, new in package. (Sorry, the ones that Ruby used in the video already have a happy owner.) Everyone is eligible to win this prize.

Congratulations on your new gloves, @MetsGamer !

How it Works

1. You must be following us on Twitter to be eligible. (If you don’t have a Twitter account, you can create one by going to http://www.twitter.com and click the green “get started — join!” button in the center of the page.)
2. At random times on Friday, we will announce the prize we are giving away, and what number of response you need to be to win. Send us a direct message (DM) via Twitter and be that number to win the prize. (@ replies do not count as entries!)
3. All followers are eligible to win all prizes, unless a restriction is noted. Restrictions are usually due to the prize being region-locked. For example, US games that won’t work on UK gaming systems. There may also be age restrictions due to the rating of the game.
4. We will announce the winner on our Twitter feed once eligibility is confirmed.

Make Sure We’re Following You on Twitter

If you are currently following us on Twitter, please be sure that we are following you as well. You can do this by making sure that SEGA is in your “followers” list, or by going to DoesFollow and typing SEGA in the first blank, your Twitter username in the second, and pressing the “check” button. You can reverse this to be sure that you are following us. If you are following us, but we’re not following you, please send a message to @SEGA and we will follow you. This is important, because only people we follow can send us direct messages (DMs), and DMs are the only way to enter the giveaways.

How to Send Direct Messages on Twitter

There are a few ways to send us a Direct Message on Twitter. The easiest way is to go to our Twitter page and select “message” under the “Actions” heading in the side bar. If you do not see “message”, this means that we are not following you. Please send a message to @sega to let us know, and we will follow you. When you click “message” you will be taken to a window where you can type a message and press send.

You may also select the “direct messages” tab from your Twitter homepage, and select SEGA from the drop-down menu at the top of the page. Again, if you don’t see our name there, it’s probably because we’re not following you. Let us know, and we’ll follow you.

There are also many Twitter clients that you can use instead of using the website. These include TweetDeck, Twitteriffic, Tweetie, and Twhirl. Each of these programs works differently, so you’ll want to figure out how to send a direct message on the program you use. If you want to send us a test message, we’ll let you know if we received it or not.

Following Golden Axe, Sonic The Hedgehog, and Columns Deluxe, we’re happy to announce a new classic to be added to the Apple App store! Sega’s classic brawler, Streets of Rage, is now available on the iPhone and iPod Touch! The game runs as you’d expect, with all the classic characters, levels, and moves in place.

We hope you enjoy Streets of Rage on the go!  Tells us what you think, across the blogs, or on our forums!