Halloween is incoming and we’ve got a costume idea that will ace your costume parties and work events – Bayonetta. Don’t get discouraged, creating a Bayonetta costume might be difficult, but we’ve got some handy tips about all the things that make Bayonetta costume a crowd pleaser. Everything from her hair, her attitude, and her signature weapons, the website gives you a deeper look into all the details of Bayonetta.

Another good source of information is in our media and of course from our events, featuring our Bayonetta model at E3 or Comicon. The costume is definitely one of the more difficult to pull off, but I’m sure after examining the photos we’ve taken, you’ll have a much better idea of what you’ll need to pull it off. Best of all, with a solid Bayonetta costume, you’ll surely turn some heads this halloween!  Check out the site, and do send us photos of your own Bayonetta costumes and ideas…

We’ve got some great stuff for you this week! A bunch of games, some cool Sonic gear, and accessories from your wrist to your shoulder. Let’s get on with the video!

On the Block

Item 1: 2 Nights Wristbands

Congrats to our winner, @dcevo!

Item 2: Bleach: The 3rd Phantom (Nintendo DS)

Item 3: 2 Phantasy Star Zero Inflatable Rappies

Item 4: Wacky World of Sports (Nintendo Wii)

(Only available to people in US, Canada, Mexico and Latin America)

Item 5: Virtua Tennis 2009 (Xbox 360)

(Only available to people in US, Canada, Mexico and Latin America)

Item 6: Virtua Tennis 2009 (PS3)

Item 7: Sonic the Hedgehog chain wallet

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.

Continuing with our parade of updates in honor of the release of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, I’m pleased to announce that our website has been updated! I won’t give you any spoilers (you’ll have to check out the site yourself to see/find everything), but here are some areas to look closely in!

Snow Spirits

We’ve added more Snow Spirits to the site. If you collect all 12, you can unlock some special rewards! You’ll have to look all around the site to find them all. There’s a counter in the upper right corner of the site that tells you how many you have so far.

Videos

All of the latest videos, including today’s launch trailer, are available on the site. You can see every video we’ve released for the game all in one spot!

Events and Characters

See all the events and characters in both versions of the game!

Check out the website for all the information you need on Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games!

We recently re-launched PlaySEGA! In addition to the great web-based flash games we had before, you can now play original Genesis games for free online. Games like Streets of Rage, Revenge of Shinobi, Gunstar Heroes and Shining force are all available now, and we’re adding new games every week.

In addition to the great games, we also have two level editors available — one for Stuntmaster Motorcross, and the other for Sonic the Hedgehog. You can create your own levels and share them with the community to show off your game design skills.

While there’s lots of stuff you can play for free, the best stuff comes with a VIP membership. To celebrate the re-launch and thank all of our fans, we have some special offers for you!

Free Access to all VIP Games and Level Editors for 10 days!

If you want to test out our VIP access, we’re giving away FREE 10 day trials! These extended trials include VIP games and level editors that aren’t included in our regular free trial. To register for your special 10 day VIP trial, go to http://www.playsega.com/promo and register for an account on the site.

15% Discount

Once you’ve tried VIP access and loved it (as I’m sure  you will), we’ll give you 15% off your first month’s bill! Just enter code “segafans” when you are upgrading to a full membership, and you’ll be set!

Have a great time with PlaySEGA!

As part of our ongoing celebration for the launch of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, here’s some more details about the DS Adventure Tour Mode and some fun facts about the game.

In adventure tour mode, you can save the Olympic Winter Games. Bowser and Dr. Eggman have melted all the snow and kidnapped the snow spirits to stop the Olympic Winter Games being held. It’s up to Mario & Sonic and company to save the day! You do this by participating in Olympic events (missions) to find the snow spirits. Adventure Tours are also full of mini-games where characters can participate in other activities. If you get stuck, don’t worry — help can be found in the form of Omochaos & Shy Guys.

Did you know these fascinating facts about Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games™?

* All the venues Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games™ are based on the REAL Olympic venues in Vancouver and Whistler!

* The Olympic Winter Games Vancouver will be the 23rd Olympic Winter Games!

* Mario & Sonic made their debut at the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008!

* The first Mario & Sonic Olympic game sold over 10, 000, 000 copies worldwide on both Wii™ & Nintendo DS™!

Join Mario & Sonic at the Nintendo World Store in New York City this Saturday (October 17th) from Noon – 3pm ET. You’ll be able to play both the Wii and DS versions of the game, and compete in a tournament on the Wii version. The tournament will run every hour on the hour, starting at noon and ending at 3pm. Each hour, prizes will be given away to the players with the best scores/times.

The Mario & Sonic characters will be there as well, so be sure to bring your cameras!

The Nintendo World Store is located at 10 Rockefeller Plaza, New York NY 10020.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games for the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS is on sale today in stores across the US and Canada. As part of our celebration, we have some new videos for you — a launch trailer, and three television commercials that are airing now.

Here is the Opening Ceremonies Launch Trailer:

The first TV spot is CG and contains footage from both the Wii and DS.

Next is a live action commercial called “Security” — this one is for the Wii.

And finally, the “Security” commercial for the DS.

Happy Mario & Sonic day! We’ve got more goodness coming up later today and all this week, so stay tuned!