We’re collecting questions for Joe Amaro at Jazwares about the making of Sonic toys like these. If you have a question for Joe, leave it in the comments!

Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing fans! Many of you asked about the toys that we gave away during our last Free Stuff Friday, and that our European friends are giving away this week. Now that the game is out, I’ve got some great news for you…  these sweet toys are on sale now exclusively at Toys ‘R’ Us! There are three of them — Sonic, Shadow, and Knuckles. They are 3 inch toys that are removable from their 5 inch vehicles. They are on sale for $14.99 each.

I’m lucky enough to have a few of these toys to give away during Free Stuff Friday, so keep your eyes peeled for these in an upcoming giveaway.

You Ask, They Answer

So what goes into making these toys, anyway? Joe Amaro at Jazwares is the one to ask! He’s in charge of all the Sonic toys made by Jazwares, from concept to production. He even visits the factories that make the toys to ensure that they are being made correctly! Joe’s worked on Mortal Kombat, Viewtiful Joe, Astro Boy, Planet 51, Percy Jackson, and A-Team as well, so he has quite a background. I’ll soon be doing a Q&A with Joe about everything related to the Sonic toys that Jazwares makes, and I want to add your questions. Ask Joe what you want to know about Sonic toys, and check the blog in a week or two for the full Q&A!

Napoleon Total War is now available! Head on over to your favorite retailer or pick up a copy on Steam. The game features a ton of improvements over Empire: Total War and includes a number of requested features, such as campaign multiplayer and improved battle AI. To help get you pumped for the release, we have our final community trailer featuring a 2v2 battle narrated by Kieran Brigden. Enjoy!

All the characters in Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing

Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing is in stores today! To celebrate, we’ve got a launch trailer for you.

I’ve been playing the game a lot, and I can tell you that it’s totally fun. But if you don’t want to take it from me, here are some links to articles from people who played it last week at our preview event:

GameZone Preview – “The game is a visual treat”

GameZone interview with game producer Omar Woodley

The Kartel (SEGA Nerds) interview with Omar Woodley and brand manager Dan Gallardo

Looking forward to hearing what you all think of the game! I have to say, I’m pretty fond of Ryo and the Shibuya Downtown track.

We have a special promotion straight from the good folks at Brady Games; a 20% discount on the Aliens vs. Predator strategy guide! This one-of-a-kind strategy guide provides you with everything you need to get the most out of Aliens vs. Predator. To redeem, visit www.bradygames.com and order your copy of the Aliens vs. Predator Official Strategy Guide, enter coupon code BGAVP20, and receive a 20% discount on your purchase! Good luck and see you online!

The funniest video we’ve seen all day.

Props to DoctorEggman over at the Sonic Stadium for creating it!

It’s been a long time coming, but we’ve got great news for fans of Valkyria Chronicles! The long-awaited fourth DLC Pack, “The Challenges of the Edy Detachment”, is coming to your PS3 - next week!

The DLC features six different missions, all involving a challenge issued from the members of Edy’s Detachment. Jann will smother you with details on how to take on a slew of tanks at once in the Lancer mission, Marina will coldly cue you for a stealthy sniper shootout – until she sees a remarkably cute fox, at least – and Edy herself will brief you on an epic shocktrooper fight of massive proportions.

All in all, the six missions include challenging goals based on mastering the following classes:

• Scout
• Shocktrooper
• Lancer
• Engineer
• Sniper
• Tank

In addition, you aren’t limited to only using members of Edy’s Detachment! You can field any of your personal favorites from Squad 7 that you’d like to use.

The DLC will go live next Thursday, February 25th! Before then, just as with the first three batches of DLC, expect a special blog spotlight or two that will go into even more detail about what the upcoming DLC is all about!

Not a bad way to kick-start the weekend, right?

Happy Friday, Valkyria Fans!

SEGA has received reports that a small amount of facehuggers in Aliens vs. Predator™ Hunter Edition Packs (both PS3 and Xbox 360) are experiencing issues with damaged tails in North America. In response to these reports, SEGA of America has set up a system by which gamers that have received a facehugger with a damaged tail can obtain a replacement free of charge.

SEGA is solely responsible for replacing the damaged facehuggers. We would like to ask for gamers to NOT go to the original retailer where they purchased Aliens vs. Predator from for a replacement.

In order to make this replacement process as efficient as possible we ask that gamers go to www.sega.com/facehugger and follow the detailed instructions on the webpage or call 1-800-USA-SEGA to register themselves for a replacement facehugger. Once again there will be no charge of any kind for obtaining a replacement facehugger.

SEGA would like to apologize for any inconvenience this may cause our fans. We ask for their patience as we work quickly to replace the damaged facehuggers.

As part of an interesting advertising promotion for Aliens vs Predator, I recently found myself in Las Vegas to participate in the UFC #109 fight. Random? Perhaps, but after the weekend, I can’t think of a better fit for Aliens vs Predator.

In Las Vegas, no one can hear you scream …

The weekend could not be more appropriate than staying at the Luxor, essentially a giant pyramid. A perfect setting for Aliens vs. predator and a great introduction into the size and scope of Las Vegas, complete with larger than life Egyptian themed statues and hieroglyphic markings. If you strip out all that casino stuff, you could end up with a mighty fine Aliens vs Predator map full of places to ambush, wall crawl, and sneak around in.

We found this machine while wandering the casino floor, nice!

Pre Fight Meet and Greet

While running around Vegas has it’s own appeal, the real weekend fun kicked off on Saturday in preparation for UFC 109. If you aren’t familiar, the Ultimate Fighting Championship has been around since 1993 and started as a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) competition to award the title based on purely your fighting style and skill. Unlike other fighting leagues, the original UFC had less strict rules, such as no specific weight classes for fighters. They’ve since readjusted to have some tighter rules, weight classes, somewhat padded gloves, and a much bigger distribution through cable and internet.

Our trip to the UFC 109 event kicked off in a very special way. Right before the fight we met with some of the fighters and had a some Aliens vs Predator time, nice. When we arrived in our room, we were treated to the Bayonetta logo from the UFC 108 mat, complete with blood splatter. Epic. The good people at UFC actually cut the mat from the event and dropped it into a beautiful frame. I can’t wait until we get this into our lobby; the detail is amazing and is actually hand drawn and not a reprint – one of a kind.

We were then greeted by former Light Heavyweight champion, Rashad Evans. This was quite a treat, Rashad is a really nice guy and was happy to get some hands on time with Aliens vs. Predator. As pointed out by our PR man Denny, Rashad was completely unassuming considering he’d be able to snap us like a twig without much effort. Rashad was really genuine and a good guy, we had fun talking briefly before jumping into some Aliens vs Predator.

Being an established fighter, Rashad took to the Predator quite quickly and was dropping aliens with trophy kills, light and heavy attacks. Unfortunately, our time was brief and we were moving on to the main event. Big thanks to Rashad for coming out and meeting our teams and giving us a really unique look at the UFC event.

I will Break You …

Official program with AvP and a pre-fight warmup…

Next we grouped up to catch the UFC 109 fight and see what it’s like to watch a MMA fight. I’m not going to go into the play by play of how it all went down, I’ll leave that up to the news sites that covered the event, but I will give a sense of the atmosphere – which was awesome. Our seats were really great, and gave us a chance to view the fighters as they walked in, and a good view of the ring. While a lot of attention was spent looking at the jumbo-trons, mainly because of the expert camera angles, there’s definitely something to be said for being at an event of this type. Hearing a punch connect or being a part of the stadium wide, “Ooooooooooh” is a thrill. And there were plenty of “Ooooooh”s to go around.

Sega!

After watching the fight, I cannot think of a better fit for Aliens vs Predator than to be associated with the UFC or any MMA fight. Being a mixed martial arts tournament from the start should give you a bit of an indication of where I’m going with this, but the real difference is in the way Aliens vs Predator actually plays out. If you’ve played the full release or the Demo, then you know that the game is largely based around the melee system. No matter the situation, be it Marine vs Alien, Predator vs Alien, or any combination there of, the combat system can be intense, disorienting, and incredibly exhilarating – all of the things I watched happen at the UFC 109 event, many times over.

Massive AvP trailer across the Jumbo-tron - if only we had a chance to play on it…

After the fight completed, we were off to the after party, sponsored by Aliens vs. Predator! The party, which could be an entire blog on it’s own, was a ton of fun and in the Las Vagas theme, absolutely massive and excessive. Good dj, good drinks, a private VIP area, and a chance to rub elbows with some celebrities (my Flava Flav photos didn’t turn out, boo). Quite a night and something I’ll remember for a long time.

A bit dark and red, but that’s kinda how I remember it …

The fight overall was a treat, something I definitely wouldn’t have seen myself attending without this special opportunity and I’m walking away a fan; I’m hooked. It helps that our producer, Omar and Media & Events manager, Teri, are huge into UFC and was providing an extensive amount of background on every fight, fighter, strategy, and series history overall. Big thanks to Teri for being awesome and letting us check out the fight, meet Rashad Evans, and be a part of the experience. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to play some more AvP…

This past Saturday, I was in New York City for the Super Monkey Ball Step & Roll launch party at the Nintendo World store in Rockefeller Center. It was a chilly day, but it was warm inside as crowds of people gathered to see AiAi, Miss Chiquita, and to play the game.

Upstairs in the tournament area, we had crowds of people gathered to sign up for their chance to win one of our great prize bags. The staff of the Nintendo store did a great job keeping people organized and on time.

We had two stations going, so 2 people could play at once. Everyone played the first level, and had 5 minutes to collect as many bananas (and therefore earn as many points) as they could. We awarded prizes each hour to the top 3 winners. I think our highest score was over 60,000 points!

This is Derrek, one of the SEGA staff at the event, handing out a prize to one of our winners!

Fans weren’t the only ones getting in on the action, though. Miss Chiquita came upstairs to learn how to play. She did take her high heels off to use the balance board, and had a great time! This is Sandee, another SEGA staff member who helped me with the tournaments, showing Miss Chiquita how to play the game.

She was rolling along in no time!

Miss Chiquita poses with the Super Monkey Ball Step & Roll poster.

AiAi spent most of his time downstairs, greeting people and posing for photos. He and Miss Chiquita, who was passing out bananas, were quite a team and usually had a crowd around them.

All of the SEGA and Nintendo store staff were wearing these AiAi shirts. Aside from being (very) brightly colored, they have the A on the front and the image of a backback on the back, so you look just like AiAi when you’re wearing them. This is (L-R): Derrek (brand manager for the game), Sandee (works with in-stores marketing and runs a great tournament), Me (Kellie, community manager for the game), and Carlos, who works at the Nintendo store and helped us run the tournament.

This is what the shirts look like from the back. If you want one of your own, you have two chances to win one tomorrow during our Free Stuff Friday giveaway!

Thank you to everyone who made it out to the Nintendo World store to help us celebrate! If you’d like to see all the photos from the event, they are in our Flickr set. Special thanks to Bags at BuzzFocus for letting us use some of his photos.

It’s time again for Free Stuff Friday! We didn’t have a video or a blog for our last giveaway, but as promised, we’ve returned to form!

With all the great games launching this month, we’ve got some great prizes for you. Super Monkey Ball Step & Roll, Aliens vs. Predator, and Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing are all represented. Let’s get to the video!

On the Block

1. Super Monkey Ball Prize Pack

Win one of the hot orange AiAi shirts like the ones the SEGA staff were sportin’ at the recent launch event for Super Monkey Ball Step & Roll at the Nintendo Store in New York. They look just like AiAi’s shirt! Shirts are size Large. Also with the shirt, you get some cute pins and a coupon for Chiquita bananas.

2. Super Monkey Ball Prize Pack 2

Same prize pack as above!

3. Aliens vs. Predator Comics

These are two thick books full of AVP comic goodness from Dark Horse. Aliens vs. Predator Omnibus Volume 1 & 2 could be yours.

4. Sands of Destruction Complete Anime Series DVD

Have every episode of the Sands of Destruction anime at your fingertips.

5. Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing Sonic Toy and Sonic Shirt

Hot off the presses! Get one of the brand-new Sonic toys in the Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing collection from Jazwares. It’s Sonic with his signature blue car. Other toys (such as Tails and Knuckles) will also be available for purchase next week at Toys R Us. With this, you also get a yellow “game on” Sonic shirt — size medium.

6. Bayonetta Replica Gun

Get a limited-edition replica gun just like Bayonetta’s.

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.