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.