The Sonic 4 website was updated today with a brand new piece of concept art from the game! With it, we’ve revealed another badnik from the first zone – a fan favorite, these guys like nothing more than jumping up from bridges and making you lose all your rings. But that’s nothing a well timed jump can’t stop, right?

You can check out the Concept Art exclusively on the website – just click the picture above, or this link to take a look!

+++ U.S.C.M. Database Entry: BG-386 +++
A humid, temperate planet, located in system WY-BG-3 at a 1.229 parsec, 0.3g deflection from the Kalahari Freight Corridor.

Designation BG-3 (star), 8 (8th planet), 6 (terra index) has now become synonymous with the ‘Freya’s Prospect’ colony, owned and run by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation.

Four months ago Karl Bishop Weyland closed Freya’s Prospect to pan-corporate
enterprise, reneging on several co-development agreements. Filed flight plans show increased Weyland-Yutani traffic over the past 3 months.
Manifests have not been made available to U.S.C.M. Traffic Control.
+++ End File BG-386 +++

Rounding out our blogs on the three species within Aliens vs Predator is the Colonial Marines. At first glance, the Marines might look to be underpowered or at a severe disadvantage when facing the likes of Aliens and Predators. Any experienced Marine will tell you otherwise, as they have the gear, tech, and range to best any opponent on the battlefield.

Stick Together Team

Outside of Deathmatch, a lone Marine is a dead Marine. Stick to groups or pairs and always stay in constant communication about your whereabouts and the location of your enemies. If you need to reload or heal, be sure to alert your teammate to give you some covering fire. When fighting in close quarters or in hairy situations, hug a wall or play back to back to prevent Stealth Kills from Aliens or Predators.

Marine Weapons

A well equipped Marine is a formidable foe; learn and memorize the location of key weapons in every multiplayer map to guarantee success. From the Pulse Rifle to the Smartgun, the Marine’s primary advantage in AvP is in the use of ranged weapons to attack oncoming foes. In close range, you can opt to use the Shotgun or Flamethrower.

VP78 Pistol
Your standard issue pistol is your last resort in any firefight. You have unlimited ammo with the pistol, but you’ll want to use your shots carefully to get kills in tight situations. The pistol can be fired in single round shots or in burst fire modes. Burst fire is especially useful in close quarters and single is best used at longer range.

ZX-76 Shotgun
An excellent close range weapon, the Shotgun is even more devastating when using the double barrel secondary fire mode. The shotgun is excellently paired with the Pulse Rifle to finish off any enemy that’s made his way to melee range. Pick your shots carefully, the reload times are long and the clip size is small.

M41A/2 Pulse Rifle
The M41A/2 Pulse Rifle is the standard issue, multi-purpose firearm for all United States Colonial Marines. With a hundred round clip and a secondary fire grenade launcher, the Pulse Rifle is one of your best weapons against all enemies in AvP. Luckily, Marines

M59/B Smartgun
The Smartgun is a massive heavy-fire support weapon carried using a gyroscopic harness. The weapon has a special fire mode that tracks targets, making it the perfect weapon against a fast moving alien, or a cloaked predator. The Smartgun uses two equipment slots, so be wary once ammo is running low – you’ll need to find a replacement to continue the fight.

M260b Flamethrower
A replacement for the aging M240 flame thrower, the M260b utilizes several improvements. Standard fire remains perfect for neutralizing massed or fast-moving targets. Secondary fire allows you to spray fuel for subsequent ignition, allowing the user to create a temporary wall of flame.

M42C Scoped Rifle
The M42C Rifle is a powerful scoped rifle and can down any enemy with a few well placed shots. Ammo is fairly light for the M42C, so line up your shots carefully and be prepared to switch to a shorter ranged weapon should the target get close for the kill.

Marine Equipment

A Marine is more than his arsenal, to stay alive you’ll need to use all your abilities. Heals, blocks, and the Motion Tracker will keep you alive to kill again, and again, and again. Use these tools well…

If it Moves, Shoot it
In navigating the environment of AvP, in Singleplayer or Multiplayer, you’ll have to master the Motion Tracker if you want to survive. The Tracker is the Marine’s best friend and worst enemy. Both hostiles and friendlies can be spotted on the motion tracker or heard as an audible when in proximity. A fellow Marines will show up as an X on your Motion Tracker, and hostiles as larger circles. The challenge in using the Motion Tracker effectively is keeping your eyes on the environment and the Tracker to line up shots, spot hidden or stealthy enemies, and strike back.

Melee Combat
While your weapons will serve you well for ranged combat, they can also prove to be effective melee combat weapons during close encounters. Use them to shield against incoming attacks to open up melee attack counters that stun your foes. Both Aliens and Predators are melee focused, so be quick to disrupt their heavy attacks with a light melee attack and be prepared to block when they get too close.

Stimpacks
A Marine’s health bar consists of thee bars that can recharge over time. Once a bar is lost due to damage, it will not return unless you heal. Depending on the battle, Marines may walk away with battle injuries and need a quick heal to continue the fight. A Stimpack will heal the Marine to full, but will also leave you defenseless for a short period of time. Before using a Stimpack, examine your surroundings and alert your teammates.

This Valentine’s Day, why not snuggle up with a fine selection of Sega’s delectable downloadable games on the PlayStation Network — take your pick from the bundles below and watch the savings start to grow.

This limited-time promotion begins today (February 11th) and runs through til February 18th. Check out the information below on the great deals we have available, and look for the special Bundles of Love thumbnail graphics below when you’re at the PlayStation Network store!

Driving Me Crazy

Celebrate this Valentine’s Day with an adrenaline fueled duo that’s bound to drive you crazy. Skid through city streets looking for fares in Crazy Taxi: Farewars and while you’re at it, make sure you wreak motorized mayhem in Full Auto 2: Battlelines. So what are you waiting for? Blow out the candles, scratch the romantic evening for two, and get it on with this action packed downloadable bundle and save $12, only on the PSP and PSP Go.

Set My Pulse Racing

Get ready to set your pulse racing with an exquisitely hot downloadable offer for your PSP and PSP Go. Sonic Rivals 1 and 2 get cozy together for a limited time only to bring you one very swanky package which comes to you for a cool $29.99 – a savings of $16! On your mark, get set, spin.

Love Conquers All

What better way to show your love this Valentine’s Day than by commanding a dedicated squad of militia-men to repel an evil enemy invasion from your beloved homeland. As an added perk, lieutenant, you might just have a sexy officer you can get romantically engaged with. Celebrate this ménage a trios of mission packs for Valkyria Chronicles for the low price of $9.99 – a savings of $5! Just remember, that Love conquers all.

Unleash My Desire

What better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day than with a beautiful adventure around the world with the world’s fastest hedgehog in his latest adventure – Sonic Unleashed. Right now you can get six extra downloadable add-ons for $11.99 – a savings of $6! So what are you waiting for? Unleash your desires.

At our PR event last week, I had a chance to sit down with Matt Fraction, who writes The Invincible Iron Man comics and co-wrote the story for the upcoming Iron Man 2 game. I gathered up questions from Twitter, Facebook, and right here on the blog, added some of my own, and put them to Matt. We asked, he answered!

Q: Ins0mnia from Twitter asks: What connection is there for you from comics to games? How did you get involved in writing the story for Iron Man 2?

Matt: I play games when I should be writing comics. Comics are my job, and writing Iron Man is part of that job. I had some involvement in consulting on the Iron Man sequel, and I think when SEGA was getting the story going with the Iron Man 2 game, they talked to Marvel and Marvel suggested having me be part of the writing team on it. The writing of the Iron Man comics is what got me to the movie stuff, and I suspect that’s what got me to the game stuff too.

Q: jibajaw from Twitter asks: What was the first home arcade game you ever played? What was the last game you’ve played?

Matt: The first would have been Combat on the 2600. The last game I played would have been before I came to New York and was either Bayonetta or Darksiders, I can’t remember which.

Q: What did you think of Bayonetta?

Matt: I think it’s effing crazy! I love it. It’s like somebody took God of War and decided to make it not make any sense. I love it. It’s so very foreign and so very alien. It’s ridiculous and bezerk and entertaining. And I have a short attention span, so that works out well for me.

Q: Are there any classic SEGA games that you’re really fond of?

Matt: I played lots of SEGA games over the years! I have fond memories of Sonic. In fact, the songs still get stuck in my head from time to time. SEGA is a long and storied brand.

Q: What can you do differently in games that you can’t do in comics? Now that you’ve done both, which do you prefer?

Matt: They are both different. They each have their strengths, and I like doing both very much. I would really like to continue doing both. In games, you can move the camera and do a lot with audio. There are a lot more cinematic grammar in game writing than there is in comics. You take some stuff away from the viewer or reader, but you give them back a lot of stuff, too. Just being able to spin a camera through a room was a big thing. There’s a lot of stuff you can do with cinematics that comics don’t allow for – motion and sound are the most basic, but that opens up an entire new realm of storytelling tools.

Q: slimsammy from Twitter asks: Was your transition from the different universes of iron man difficult? Seeing as the ComicBook version of him has more depth.

Matt: It wasn’t, probably because I had practice with the movie stuff. I was looking to create a parallel experience. My primary concern was character issues, keeping Tony Tony and Pepper Pepper. I have a pretty limber imagination when it comes to comic continuity and parallel worlds. It was pretty easy, all things considered. I just kept my eye on the ball and hoped for the best.

Q: DJ Fob Fresh from the SEGA blog asks: Is the story strictly from the upcoming movie or will we see any other comic book story arcs in the video game?

Matt: It’s a parallel experience to the comic and the movie. There’s stuff from both, but there’s a lot of stuff in the game that hasn’t been in the comic or the movie. It’s not “play the film”… it’s a different world. But it is a parallel narrative. You’ll be on familiar ground even if the chronology is different. But it’s not an alienating thing if you’re a fan of the books or the films. It’s pretty easy to get right into it.

Q: TDSpidey616 from Twitter asks: Is the Iron Man Annual drawn by David Aja still in the works as well as using the Mandarin?

Matt: It is still in the works, but it will not be David Aja, to my great regret. Life gets in the way of schedules, and David and I will have to rendezvous on something else later. I don’t know that they’ve announced the artist yet or if I’m allowed to. It’s going to be two parts actually, so it’s not just an annual. It will be a two-part thing. And yes, it’s about the Mandarin.

Q: DJ Fob Fresh from the SEGA blog asks: Any notable hero/ villian cameos? Are there going to be any post-Civil War, Death of Captian America missions in there?

Matt: Yes, there are cameos. No death of Captain America stuff.

Q: Miles DX from the SEGA blog asks: My name is Jeremy, I’m currently attending SCAD (Savannah School of Art and Design) in hopes of becoming a comic book penicler.  In a comic script, does every panel have to start with a description of the type of scene, for example, wide shot, close up, establishing shot? Or as long as you describe the scene you can leave it up the the penciler to decide what type of shot the draw the panel as?

Matt: It’s a learning curve. I always try to write specifically for the guys I’m working with. I will write more tightly controlled as I start, and then as we get familiar with each other, opening it up. If I have a specific shot in mind, I’ll call it. When I feel like I know how I need to write for an artist, it gets shorthanded. I just write what I think the beats are and let the artist find the shot. So you don’t have to, but everybody is different and there is no right or wrong. What you need is a writer that knows how to write for you and to get the best out of you. If that’s somebody who calls shots, great. But you’re the visual storyteller and you should have the freedom to tell the best story that you can. It’s all collaborative. You have to figure out how you work together and understand that it’s a process, not a system. It’s going to evolve and change as you evolve and change.

Q: Miles DX from the SEGA blog continues: Also, in a comic script, what is the average amount need to descibe the scene? I know you need to describe the scene as best you can so the penciler knows what to draw, but what is the recommended amount to write without going overboard?

Matt: There’s no overboard. Alan Moore writes three page descriptions for a single panel. I’ve taught a class a couple of times and I start off by reading the script for chapter 1 page 1 of “From Hell”, which is a shot of two guys on the beach and it’s literally three pages of text. And then I read page 1 panel 1 from a Garth Ennis “Punisher” story that’s also two guys on a beach, and it’s one sentence long. There’s no right answer to that.

Q: Miles DX from the SEGA blog continues: What is Marvel’s standards when it comes to storyboards? What I mean is what are the required dimensions for the storyboard, and are they mostly done on computers? If they are done on computers do you use tablets?

Matt: That stuff I don’t know. Find C.B. Cebulski on the internet – he’s Marvel’s art submissions guy. That’s not my department. I do know that the Marvel guys go down to SCAD once or twice a year to headhunt to look for kids and teach seminars and stuff. You should find those guys when they come down. But the art stuff is outside of my wheelhouse, ultimately.

Q: Tony from Twitter: How long are you planning on being on Invincible Ironman?

Matt: Until they pry it away from me. I have an end in mind, and I’m just shy of the halfway point to that. Conditions change, and if I can keep going after that, great. But maybe something comes up and I have to leave or want to leave, who knows. For now, they will have to pry it from my cold, dead hands. I’m having the time of my life doing it.

Q: Ins0mnia from Twitter: Do you have anyone to look up to?

Matt: Absolutely. Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez, Grant Morrison, Ellis, Brubaker, Jason Aaron, Jonathan Hickman, and more. I’m very fortunate that I get to be friends with people that I’m a fan of. Comics have never been better than they are right now. I read a ton of them for inspiration, and just because I’m a fan.

Q: What inspires you?

Matt: Everything. Absolutely everything, every day of my life. Stuff comes from everywhere.

Q: helloimandrew from Twitter: Can you  name any other boss in the game, and will there be armors to unlock?

Matt: I can name different bosses in the game, but I won’t. Yes, there will be different armors to unlock. Some of the easter eggs will be performance-based. So the better you play, the cooler Tony’s closet gets.

Q: What tips can you give for aspiring comic writers?

Matt: Write every day. Find artists to work with and produce stuff. Learn by doing. I had to write a whole bunch of bad pages before I felt secure enough to show professionals what I was doing. And even still, I write bad pages all the time. I think you have to allow yourself to fail, allow yourself to suck. When you do that, you give yourself the freedom to get better. I wish I had learned this way sooner than I did, but if it’s what you want to do, it’s not a hobby or a game, it’s not something you do when you’re bored. It’s a craft. You need to work on it every single day, and suck every single day until you start getting better. It took me a long time to learn that being a writer is more than just thinking “gosh, I’d like to be a writer”.  You have to treat it like a job. If you treat it like a job, you’ll be treated like a professional.