Sonic 2 is now available as the Xbox Live Arcade Deal of the Week!

Available for a staggeringly low 240 points, Sonic 2 will have its price cut from now through December 4th. The discount is available for all Xbox Live members who are signed into their Gold Accounts, and is a 40% drop from the normal game price of 400 points!

The download of Sonic 2 emulates the “lock-on” technology of the Genesis Sonic games — that means that if you have the original Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic 3, or Sonic & Knuckles the games will detect each other and work together, unlocking special bonuses, including the ability to play as Knuckles in Sonic 2 and Sonic 3.

Sonic 2 introduced the spin-dash and Super Sonic to the Sonic the Hedgehog mythology. This is your chance to own one of the premier titles in console gaming history for virtually nothing!

The Deal of the Week is available only to Xbox Live Gold members.

Also, stay tuned to the Sonic Facebook and SEGA Twitter feeds for giveaways of Xbox Live Arcade game codes all this week!

Check these links to purchase the games on XBLA:

Sonic & Knuckles

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (40% Off starting November 30th)

Sonic the Hedgehog 3

If you signed up for a 3 month VIP subscription on PlaySEGA, you’ve either already received your limited edition controller, or you will be receiving it soon. We got ours into the office a few days ago, and I’ve been playing games with it to see how different it is from the keyboard. (I know, my job is hard. )

First, let’s get some basics out of the way. The controller only works on VIP games, and the description of the game on the website will indicate if you can use the controller with it or not. The controller has a USB plug on the end and works on both PC and Mac (with Snow Leopard). (I don’t have a Linux machine to test it on, but would be interested in knowing how it works.) I’m told that the games (and therefore the controller) don’t work on Macs running an OS older than Snow Leopard, but our development team is working on it. The controller has two shoulder buttons, the d-pad, a start button, and six buttons on the right side.

The controller itself is plug and play — you don’t need to install any drivers or software for it. However, you will need to do some setup on your game before you get to playing.

First, plug in your controller, then select your game. I selected Sonic Spinball. Once the game is loaded, go to the Menu button in the upper left corner of the game screen. Go down to Controller Setup and select the controller from the drop down menu. Then click the button right below the drop down marked “Player 1 – Setup” and it will ask you to press the button you want to use for A, B, C, etc. This requires a bit of setup, but you can set the buttons however you want them. For example, I found it more natural to use the shoulder buttons for the right and left flippers in Spinball, but I might want a different configuration for Streets of Rage. This allows you to set the buttons how you want them. This is just one reason that I like the controller better than using a keyboard and/or mouse.

If you want one of the limited-edition controllers, you’re in luck! You get one free with a 3 month VIP membership for PlaySEGA. Your membership allows you access to all of the VIP games (including many Genesis games) and the level editors for Sonic and Stuntmaster Motocross. If you haven’t signed up yet, you can do so here, and your controller will be on its way to you!

Do you think you could best an Olympic athlete? Maybe not at ski jumping or swimming, but perhaps and picking up tennis balls or drawing smiley faces?

In the International Olympic Committee’s The Best of Us Challenge, Olympic athletes are challenging YOU to compete against them in some truly unique events. You can go to The Best of Us website to see all the challenges and submit your own video. You could win lots of cool prizes, including a trip for 2 to the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

The challenge is running until February 28th, so get out your video camera and respond to the athletes’ challenges!

Last week, we heard some very cool news.

When it comes to Wii games, everyone here knows there’s really nothing more violent than the black, white, and red brutality of MADWORLD. From the stylistic graphics to the fantastic beats, MADWORLD rocked reviews from both press and the people alike when it released earlier this year.

Now, the game has been nominated as one of four contenders for VGA’s  Best Wii games of 2009, and it’s up to fan votes to decide the winner! We need your help to shine the spotlight back onto Jack, and to give MADWORLD that second wind that the game most definitely deserves!

To vote, either click the button up top or just click right here, and then cast your vote for Varrigan City’s biggest antihero.  The voting is literally MADWORLD versus three Nintendo games, so we’re quite proud of our short-but-sweet candidate that the crew over at Platinum Games put together. Voting ends in just over 18 days, so we’ve got just over two weeks to spread the word!

In the event that MADWORLD does end up winning… besides one heck of a party, expect a whole lot of free, awesome swag, including one of those super rare MADWORLD Hoodies (see above!), going out to our community as a special thank you!

From Valkyria Chronicles to Phantasy Star Zero, we’ve seen the passion that many SEGA fans have – and as one among you, I know that we can pull off feats that will continue to make all the higher-ups ask questions. We’ve done it before – now let’s give them one more feat to talk about.

NOTE: Sega of Europe is conducting the giveaway this week. They will start around Noon pacific (1pm mountain, 2pm central, 3pm eastern). Big thanks to them for covering so we can enjoy our break!

On the Block

Mario & Sonic Prize Pack

1. Mario & Sonic poster

2. Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games – DS version

Phantasy Star Zero prize pack

1. Inflatable rappy

2. PSZ rappy shirt (winner chooses size S-XL)

Bleach prize pack

1. Bleach pins

2. Bleach card game

3. Bleach wrist band

4. Bleach patch

5. Bleach keychain

Planet 51 pack

1. Lem toy

2. 1 game (winner chooses platform: DS, Wii, X360, PS3)

Planet 51 pack 2

1. Chuck toy

2. 1 game (winner chooses platform: DS, Wii, X360, PS3)

Valkyria pack

1. Eleanor figurine

2. Foam grenade

Sonic Bag

Canvas Sonic-branded cross-body bag

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.

Looking for that special something to bring to your Thanksgiving meal next week? Forget the wine and the green bean casserole… how about a special Thanksgiving card with cute monkeys on it! All you have to do is download the card, fold it, write a message, and give it! It’s way simpler than trying to read Grandma’s handwritten recipes.

You can download the card in PDF format or in JPG format from our Flickr.

Just in case you need some help figuring out how to fold the card, here’s how.

Step 1: Download and print out the card. I printed it in black and white for this demonstration, but if you can print in color, you should!

Step 2: Lay the printout on the table.

Step 3: Fold the paper horizontally so that the Thanksgiving scene is on one side and AiAi and the Super Monkey Ball Step & Roll logo is on the other.

Step 4: Turn the card over to the Thanksgiving scene and write your message in the blank spot on the left side.

Step 5: Fold in half vertically so AiAi is on one side and the logo is on the other.

AiAi is on the front of the card, and the logo is on the back.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sonic The Hedgehog 2 is going on sale November 30th as part of the Xbox 360’s Deal of the Week! Microsoft is so excited about Sonic 2 that it’s slashing the price from 400 points to a staggeringly low 240 points. For all you non-Math Majors that’s a 40% savings. With all that left over cash you’ll have enough points to buy that much coveted Avatar item you’ve been eying.

As an added perk to our most hardcore fans, we’ll be hosting free giveaways from November 30th until December 4th – so keep checking back for chances to win.

Don’t forget to download Sonic and Knuckles™ with Lock-On technology, which unlocks bonus content in Sonic The Hedgehog 2 and 3.

Deal of the Week pricing is available for Xbox Live Gold members only.

Check these links to purchase the games on XBLA:

Sonic & Knuckles

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (40% Off starting November 30th)

Sonic the Hedgehog 3

Hello from SEGA!

As promised, Monday is here and we’ve got new details about our first ever Play With SEGA! Event, this time featuring Phantasy Star Zero! First up, the event details:

Event Details:

• Who: Anyone with a copy of Phantasy Star Zero and internet access!
• When: Tuesday, Nov. 17th, from 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM Pacific time!
• Where: That magical place we call the internet.

How to sign up for the event

• First, check to make sure you can attend and will be free at the time the event begins tomorrow!
• Second, take a look at the open brackets (We have different difficulties up for different players) and figure out who you’d ideally like to play with!
• Once you’re decided, post here on the blogs with your PSZ name, your friend code, and the party you’d like to jump in! Please also provide an alternate party, just in case your first choice gets filled!

Parties will fill up on a first-come, first-served basis, so be sure to get your comments in fast! We will be posting our SEGA Friend codes here on this blog on Tuesday, so be sure to check back often to see if you made the list, and if so, to add the others who will be in your group!

The Event Attendee List

Party 1:

• Aaron – 1204 9290 9672 (Ruby – PSZ Community Manager) – Hard Difficulty
  
• Andy – 2149 8265 1760
• Snafu – 2622 2722 7853
• Kakeru – 1634 4282 2368

Party 2

• Clumsyorchid – 2922 9084 5300 (SEGA Community Manager) - Hard Difficulty
• Dax – 2278 6735 7235
• Ifrian – 2708 1698 4313
• Kairi – 2450 4720 9801

Party 3:

• Edward – 2794 0782 0537 (PSU Community Manager) – Normal Difficulty
  
• Azier – 3781 9145 5404
• GldSonic – 0947-2386-8936
• Ana – 1419-6800-2154

Party 4:

• Kellie – 4640 9139 0822 (SEGA Community Manager) – Normal Difficulty
• Rondo – 4898-6037-0203
• Link – 3051-7690-1481
• Akaimizu – 0818 3842 4440

Party 5:

• Updated: Jeremy – 4597 9645 0166 (Lead PSU Tester) – Normal Difficulty
  
• Teraku – 5414 0060 4028
• Gspawn – 0302 9893 4434
• feiticeira – 0990 1903 9486

Party 6:

• Elvin - 1161 9906 3495 (PSZ PR Manager) – Normal Difficulty ***NOTE: This party will be starting between 4:10 and 4:20 Pacific.****
  
• Skjoldr – 4855 6552 4481
• Fin – 2837 0267 8476
• Zephton – 4168 4653 3612

Party 7:

• Rich – 1290 8395 5554 (SEGA Web Producer) – Normal Difficulty
• Bakuryuu – 1333 7834 4520
• Para – 2922-9259-4324
• Orion – 1462-6294-4164

Party 8:

• Rob – 4340-2460-2253 (SEGA Customer Service Manager) – Normal Difficulty
  
• Mitts – 0818 3844 1229
• Yamishi – 4469 1070 0456
• Rayzidd – 0904-2838-2526

Party 9:

• Aaron P. – 3696 0213 5856 (PR Coordinator) – Normal Difficulty
  
• Koriko – 2235 7237 2931
• GHNeko – 0174-1395-9244
• Gemel – 3008-8179-4031

Party 10

• Updated: Ruby – Round II @ 5:00 PM! – 1204 9290 9672
• Dragna – 4898-6079-8079
• Misaki Ki – 5328-1029-8367
• Blazinblue – 3481 2643 2333

Party 11

• Evan – 2665 2290 9523 (SEGA Customer Support) – Normal Difficulty
  
• Taco – 2020-9756-8325
• Nilam – 4254 3625 7390
• Dan – 0861-3370-4070

Party 12

• Marj – 4640 9140 4621 (SEGA Web Producer) – Normal Difficulty
  
• Hamblsto – 0045-2904-6901
• Rath – 3524 2142 8715
• Kireek – 1849-1768-2477

Party 13

• Jackie – 4340 2663 3595 (SEGA Web Producer) – Normal Difficulty
  
• Sair – 2751-1200-8137
• Zabrio – 4812 7043 2145
• Zach – 3094-7173-2025

There’s a whopper of an update for Super Monkey Ball Step & Roll today! First, we’ve got a load of new screens for you. They feature Jam as well as some of the different levels and mini-games in the game. I’ve sprinkled a few of them throughout this blog, but you can see all of them on our Flickr page.

We also have a new gameplay trailer for you.

To help you get ready for Thanksgiving, we’ve also got some new Super Monkey Ball wallpapers for your computer. We have the wallpaper in 4 sizes: 800×600, 1024×768, 1280×1024, and 1600×1200. Just pick the right size for your resolution and click to download from our Flickr page.

Finally, we’ve got the first dev diary for the game, written by Toshihiro Nagoshi.

Developer Diary #1

Hi Everyone,

I’m Toshihiro Nagoshi, creator of the Super Monkey Ball franchise and the loveable characters, AiAi, MeMe, BeBe and GonGon, that you all know so well! Today I’m going to give you some background information as you may or may not know about me, and also give you some insight into the creation of the games and my role throughout the history of this franchise!

I majored in Film Studies while I was in college and wanted to work in the film industry. At the time, it was really tough to enter that field, so I joined a games company instead. I had always wanted a career in entertainment so entering into the video games industry was the natural progression since it allowed me the chance to have a creative outlet, and of course I like playing video games, so it all worked out. This year, I am celebrating 20 amazing years with SEGA!

I enjoy creating games as well as playing games. The Mario series is my favorite of all time and I’m currently playing Dragon Quest and some PC puzzle games. I’m a hardcore gamer but also enjoy playing casual games.

During my time here at SEGA, I have been able to work on some amazing games from DAYTONA USA, SPIKEOUT, F-ZERO, YAKUZA,  the Virtua series, and of course the Super Monkey Ball games.  Even though, I am now supervising the overall Research & Development for Consumer Games within SEGA, I will continue to work passionately on games.  I am still actively involved in the most current Monkey Ball game, Super Monkey Ball Step & Roll.

We imagined the original idea for Super Monkey Ball when we were trying to create a game that anyone could enjoy immediately after inserting a coin in an arcade machine without having to read the instructions since many of the arcade games back then were becoming overly complicated to satisfy hardcore fans. I came up with the original game concept. At first, the idea was just to use a plain ball but we faced two problems with the design; the first being that the design of the ball was too inorganic and cold and wouldn’t be appealing and the other was that it was too hard to feel the sense of direction out of a plain ball.

We tried to cope with these issues by adding an illustration on the ball surface but the problems still remained. So instead, we placed a character inside the ball as a test and then discovered that this unique combination worked very well.  We didn’t come up with the monkey character right away but went through numerous trials and revisions before we decided on those final characters you see today. A lot of people ask me how the monkeys get into the ball, unfortunately, that‘s a secret! You will have to use your imagination!

Bringing the original Super Monkey Ball arcade game to the GameCube really revolutionized the way Monkey Ball could be played and elevated the game to new heights. The arcade version was  well received but wasn’t an instant hit but we were very confident about the game and its appeal. When the GameCube launched, it provided us with a great opportunity to re-create this game for users at home. The rest is video game history!

We were aware that the design of the original arcade game is different from how the game is known today and have made changes to balance the gameplay aspect since the original version was ported straight from the arcade version which could be difficult for casual gamers to play. Now, we’re creating Super Monkey Ball Step & Roll on the Wii, with the addition of Wii Balance Board support which offers a new layer to the gameplay element that can be easily picked up and played and fun for family and friends. We hope the fans will enjoy this new iteration of the series.

Super Monkey Ball Step & Roll will be in stores in North America on February 9th, 2010.

That’s all for your Super Monkey Ball Step & Roll mega-update! Don’t forget to visit the website — http://www.supermonkeyballstepandroll.com — as well as our Facebook page where you can become a fan of Super Monkey Ball.

Do you like what the SEGA community team has done in the last year? If so, please take a moment and nominate us for the Mashable Open Web Awards. These awards cover major innovations in web technology and achievements in Social Media. We’ve already seen many of our fans nominating us, which is just thrilling. But we can’t win without your help!

You can vote once per day in each category until 11:59 PM Pacific on Sunday, November 15th. Here are the categories that we’re eligible for:

Best Brand Use of Facebook

Best Brand Use of Twitter

Best Brand Use of YouTube

Best Corporate Blog

Best Facebook Fan Page

We seem to be strongest in the Best Use of Twitter category so far, but we’d love to be nominated in all the categories! Please help us spread the word and get people voting.

Thanks to all the fans for your support!