Tomorrow is international Free Comic Book Day and is your chance to pick up over 30 free comics from your local comic book shops. Participation may vary from store to store, so ask your local shops and do check out the official FAQ. In addition to passing out free comics, there are quite a few activities planned across the country, including giveaways and creator signings!

There are a lot of excellent choices, including two Sega themed options with Sonic The Hedgehog and Iron Man.  Descriptions of both are listed below, click the images for a downloadable sample:

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG FCBD 2010 EDITION
“Hide & Seek & DESTROY!”: Dr. Eggman has vanished – or has he? As Sonic searches for clues, he stumbles across an old weapon from the bygone days of his childhood. Will Dr. Eggman allow Sonic to be destroyed by this threat from yesteryear? Will Sonic discover the truth behind his old rival’s disappearance? All the answers lie in this free issue!

IRON MAN/THOR FCBD 2010 EDITION

The perfect jumping-on point for any and all readers…and it’s FREE! When rogue mega-billionaires with world-destroying technology threaten the safety of the entire world…and the moon…Thor and Iron Man join forces! In time for the exciting launch of new stories and a bold new direction for Invincible Iron Man and Thor, superstars Matt Fraction and John Romita Jr. team up to bring you two of Marvel’s heaviest hitters like you’ve never seen them before! A major new direction for the Marvel Universe kicks off HERE – on Free Comic Book Day!

What a nice way to kick off the weekend!

Tony Stark is a man hunted, hunted for the technology he has created in the Iron Man suit, hunted for the fame and adoration he has acquired, hunted for his allegiance and hunted for revenge.

Become Tony Stark. Become IRON MAN.

Great prizes this week — some employee-only stuff, some throwback stuff, and some exclusive stuff. Yay for free stuff!

On the Block

1. After Burner Climax code – XBL

Win one code to download After Burner Climax on your Xbox. This code is valid no matter where in the world you live.

2. After Burner Climax code – PSN

Win one code to download After Burner Climax on your PS3. This code is only valid in the US and Canada.

3. Sonic 15th Anniversary T-Shirt

Given to SEGA employees on Sonic’s 15th anniversary. This is a size L. (or G, if you prefer.)

4. Samba de Amigo Pack

Get a sealed (!) copy of Samba de Amigo for the Dreamcast, packaged with a small maraca. With it, you also get a Samba t-shirt, size L (G).

5.  SEGA Pack

Get a SEGA watch, given to employees in 2007. You also get a SEGA mug, just like the ones that every new SEGA employee gets on their first day.

6. Iron Man 2 Pack

The launch of Iron Man 2 is coming up quickly, and we’ve got some great prizes to celebrate. First, you get an issue #1 of the Invincible Iron Man comic. Second, you get an Iron Man 2 poster from San Diego Comic Con that is signed by Jon Favreau. Third, you get a hard cover book detailing the prop and costume auction from the first game that was held recently at C2E2 in Chicago.

7. Alpha Protocol Vest

Get the Alpha Protocol tactical vest for all your AP cosplaying needs.

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.

Today, we’re announcing the comeback of 2 classic SEGA arcade games in one package — Gunblade NY and LA Machineguns, exclusively on the Wii this fall.

Gunblade NY and LA Machineguns have been adapted from the original arcade machine games to make full use of the Wii controller. While interacting and shooting on the streets of New York and Los Angeles the Wii Zapper compatibility provides even more immersion for the players. Gunblade NY and LA Machineguns Arcade Hits Pack also contains new features such as the Chain Combo System which enables even higher scores, and the Unlockable Weapon Toggle which uses game ranking to unlock hidden extras such as wide shot, rapid fire and heavy shot.

True to the original arcade games, Gunblade NY and LA Machineguns is set in the airspace above some of the United States’ most well-known locations. Players will be able to combat android invaders in New York City with their Gunblade helicopter gunship or take their flying gunship to battle a new force of android enemies in some of America’s most well known locales such as Los Angeles, Alcatraz, Yosemite and Las Vegas.

Just in case you need a refresher on these games, see the video below.

In our ongoing effort to bring you closer to our games, Eric Nofsinger, Chief Creative Officer of High Voltage Software has provided us with some insight into the development process behind Conduit 2. Eric has been kind enough to also send along two new screenshots of our upcoming game. Please enjoy this special blog:
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With the first Conduit we spent a lot of time establishing a brand new first person shooter engine, with advanced technology for the hardware, while creating a brand new IP at the same time. It really was a lot for the team to handle at one time. At various points throughout the development of C1 we would discover something new about the technology, build a new graphics feature, and then have to make hard decisions as to whether or not we had time to rework existing art content to take better advantage of the latest features.

Our art direction in general was also held back by our decision not to explore more exotic locations, and we also never really took our alien technology as far as it could go. The result was a game that is fun to play and is solid overall, but never quite manages to excite its audience with inspired visions of a darkly futuristic world that’s being torn apart by aliens.

This time, when approaching art direction for Conduit 2 we’ve made sure never to build anything into our game that we ourselves aren’t completely excited about making. And unlike the first game (which had limited concept art), practically every location in Conduit 2 was conceptualized, and then those designs have been scrutinized and reworked, until we truly believe that we are choosing the most inspired locations for our game. We’re designing spaces that players will want to fight in! And we’re not restricting ourselves to one city in a single part of the world. Conduit 2 spans the entire globe, and we have created far more interesting locations as battlefields for our game.

We’ve also learned how to maximize the CG artwork of every level to ensure that our shapes, textures, colors, lighting, etc., for even the most basic walls, ceilings, and floors are more interesting to look at. Just about every element in the world has been redesigned to ensure that it fits with our new Conduit 2 aesthetic. Every table, chair, railing, crate, control switch, weapon, etc, has been designed to maximize silhouette, improve level of detail, and to ensure a more substantial and uniquely distinctive look throughout the game.

Our lighting system has also been improved so that characters look more realistic (by the way, every screenshot that’s on the web still features the old character lighting system). And one of the most significant differences between Conduit 1 & 2 is our engine’s portal system, plus some texture streaming improvements, which allow for more detailed geometry and texture detail in every room. This improvement has probably made the most impact on the look and feel of Conduit 2, because not only can the game’s graphics be more detailed, but it also allows us to build some significantly improved level designs from what we had in the first game.

We’re doing whatever it takes to make Conduit 2 the very best that it can be because we love the game and our audience. There’s a lot more that we still want to accomplish with this game before it ships, and fortunately we still have time to execute on our initial goal to build a game that fully realizes our vision of the Conduit world. We truly hope when you finally get the chance to play the game that you like what you play, hear, and see.

Eric Nofsinger
Chief Creative Officer

The story of the Iron Man 2 game started before the game begins. This trailer gets you up to speed with the storyline of the game, so you can jump right into the Iron Man 2 game and get started on May 4th.

Last month, we did a Q&A with Joe Amaro, who makes Sonic toys at Jazwares. It was so successful, that Joe’s volunteered for another round! If you have questions about the Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing toys, the Super Posers, or any other Jazwares/Sonic toys, please leave them in the comments below. We’ll publish them, along with Joe’s answers, in a couple weeks.

Begin questions….. now!

Today we have three new Alpha Protocol videos to show off following an exclusive pass over at Destructoid! A perfect way to enjoy the last remaining hours in your workday, or maybe a perfect way to start the weekend. Enjoy!

Day 4 – Scarlet Lake

Day 5 – Mina Tang and Conrad Marburg

Now that After Burner Climax is out for both Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, hopefully a lot of you have had a chance to experience it. First though, we have an awesome “launch” trailer for the game:

Second, if you haven’t played the game on a console yet, it has a feature called “EX Mode”. Basically this is a set of options that adds both a ton of replayability to the game, as well as lets you customize the difficulty level. You unlock the various EX mode options through gameplay, and they include things such as toggling “autofire” for your main guns and the number of lives and continues you have available. It’s also worth noting that while simply completing the game is not terribly difficult — especially once you’ve unlocked the additional continues options — mastering the game, and achieving a superior ranking, is another proposition entirely.

It has now been almost two years since I came to work at SEGA – a fact that hit me as I looked through an old notebook earlier this week. “…Has it really been that long?”, I wondered silently. Ever since I flew out for my original job interview, I’ve kept journals of my time and experiences here – and today, I’d like to post up one more journal, publicly, to snapshot my mind and my experiences at this exact moment in life.

It is amazing how much can change within two years – and how quickly. To say that my view of SEGA as a company remains the same would be like saying that I no longer have an enormous love for cake and dessert. (Both would be incorrect statements, and at least one would be far less delicious.)

As a fan living out a dream to work at the company I had always wanted to work for, my perception – and reaction – to the things I saw was admittedly unique. I can still remember how happy I was when I began my first day here, trying hard not to grin from ear to ear; months later when I heard that Ryo Hazuki was being considered for All-stars racing, or when we pulled off our first big community event with Phantasy Star Zero.

Likewise, I can also vividly remember the times when decisions have been made that I have not fully agreed with. (Perhaps a little too strongly, at times.) Learning to understand the dual perspective of both passionate fan and logical businessman has taken time, and is a lesson that I continue to learn every day.

More than anything, I find myself dreaming of a future where SEGA is filled with the fans who grew up loving everything that SEGA was. Fans who share a passion and a dedication that is unrivaled – and who can compliment that passion with enough brains, logic, and courage to create great success. I am aware my dreams are likely impossible, but reality has never stopped me from dreaming before.

One of my other big goals in life was to one day visit Japan – a hope that was realized last year when I was fortunate enough to attend the Tokyo Game Show. I owe a great many thanks to the people who helped make that happen, and who were kind enough to take me in and make my first trip to Japan one that I will never forget. They know who they are – thank you all, once again.

From Seattle to New York, D.C. to San Diego, Los Angeles to Tokyo… and now and then to a small town called Joplin, Missouri, I have traveled more in the last two years than ever before in my life – and I have enjoyed every moment of it.

I don’t know what the future will bring, but I do know that regardless of what happens, there are always more adventures to be had.

So, besides knowing that one day this author will look back on this with nostalgic eyes, I write also to show the more human side of what life at SEGA is like, and to offer encouragement to all of you who see yourselves here someday. It is always easier to give up halfway and pretend to be happy – but it is also always worth it to see one’s dreams through to the end.

After all…

You may just find yourself in good company.

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Here’s to new chapters.

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