LONDON & SAN FRANCISCO (September 29, 2010) – SEGA® Europe Ltd. and SEGA® of America, Inc. today announced that the legendary Super Monkey Ball series has evolved and is coming exclusively to the Nintendo 3DS™ in 2011. Developed by SEGA Studio Japan, Super Monkey Ball™ for Nintendo 3DS™* offers a whole new level of interactivity and fun, whilst completely immersing you in the world of your favourite monkeys – AiAi, MeeMee, GonGon and Baby – as they truly come alive in front of your eyes.

“The moment I saw the features of the Nintendo 3DS, I could not help thinking how perfectly Super Monkey Ball would work on this new hardware. I could quickly picture myself holding the Nintendo 3DS using the motion sensor and playing Super Monkey Ball” commented Toshiro Nagoshi, creator and developer of the Super Monkey Ball franchise. “The simple gameplay allows players to enjoy the 3D graphics to the fullest and now that we have brought this vision to life…bingo! We have our all-time favourite Super Monkey Ball experience with the new excitement of the Nintendo 3DS!”

Taking advantage of the power of the Nintendo 3DS, players can let themselves loose in each new vibrant world as they twist and turn whilst aiming to collect every banana in the fastest time possible. This latest installment contains three brand-new compelling gameplay choices including single-player puzzle levels, Monkey Race and Monkey Fight. These new game modes give players the chance to compete via wireless connection with up to four players in the best 3D social experience possible in the palm of their hands. In addition, Super Monkey Ball fans will be able to choose between the Nintendo 3DS motion sensor or the Slide Pad to navigate the puzzle mazes with complete precision.

Super Monkey Ball for Nintendo 3DS (working title) is set to release in 2011. For more information please visit www.sega.com/supermonkeyball3d.

We cleaned out our storage closet this week, which left us with a huge pile of t-shirts to give away! So we’re changing it up this week and letting you choose your prize! Each winner will get to choose 3 of the 5 shirts listed below. Please note that we don’t have everything in every size, but we have a good mix of sizes and games. On to the video!

On the Block

1. Infinite Space shirt
We have these in size Small, Medium, and XL.

2. Alpha Protocol shirt
We have these in size Medium and Large.

3. Madworld NYCC 09 shirt
We have these in size Large only.

4. Resonance of Fate shirt
We have these in size XS and Small.

5. Phantasy Star Zero shirt
We have these in size Small, Medium, Large, and XL.

Congrats to our winners!

@chemzys

@doscar

@maxte

@RainingLemur

@tinfoil

@mrkaboomcon

@ItsPirrip

@enlightenbuddha

@daddytyme

@FinalHikari

@pdlloyd

@rbitsyndrome

@CaptinChaos

@ChaosVision

@kikicomp

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.

Important Note: Twitter limits us to following 1,000 new people per day. This is a limit imposed by Twitter and is not something we can control, change, or get around. We do our best to follow everyone back in time for the giveaway, but this is becoming increasingly difficult as our Free Stuff Fridays become more popular. Because we must be following you in order for you to send us a direct message, if we cannot follow you due to this limit, you will be unable to enter the giveaway. We do our contests by direct message to avoid having everyone spam their followers with giveaway entries. Please be patient, and we will follow you as soon as we’re able.

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.

Can’t wait for Sonic Colors to be released on November 16th? Keep yourself occupied with this beautiful Sonic Colors wallpaper for your computer. You can download it now for free from our Flickr account! You’ll probably want the 1024 x 640 version or the 1920 x 1200 version, but you can download it in whatever size you like. Enjoy!

Tonight is one of many late nights that have become the norm here in the office lately. Often I find myself thinking at about 7 PM: “Why did I plan an update every single day?“, but each time the BLiTZ goes live and we get to see how much you guys are enjoying the content, it makes it entirely worth it.

(I’ve also no room to complain, as the development team over in Japan works even longer hours – I’m not sure how you guys do it, but as with all things, it really shows in the work you produce.)

Since I wasn’t able to update over the weekend like I’d hoped, I’m going to make today’s update one of the most special ones yet. Since we’re almost to the end, today we’re giving away four (count ‘em!) new codes, including a Rappy sticker, a Rodin sticker from Bayonetta, alternate outfits for Zeri, Ali, and Cosette, and even a Robotnik sticker for all you Sonic the Hedgehog 4 fans.

We’re also happy to announce that you’ll be able to pick up our massive DLC Mission pack, featuring a whopping 22 missions, tomorrow on the PSN store for $4.99! Fans in the west also get a special deal here, as you’ll be getting an awesome value compared to the cost and the way these missions released in Japan.

Finally, tomorrow is going to be the big Finale to end the BLiTZ, and our friends over at the Official Playstation Blog have teamed up with us to give Valkyria some special coverage! We invite you to keep all eyes peeled to their blog tomorrow, as we give out our four final codes!

We hope you’ll all join us in supporting VCII’s DLC launch tomorrow – if you love the game already, there’s a ton more in store to add to the experience. Now then – on to today’s free codes!

Lotte Insider – Special Edition, Issue 14

(Click for full size.)

Today’s first code: Phantasy Star Zero Rappy Sticker!

(Enter this in-game at the “Extras” section)

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Lotte Insider – Special Edition, Issue 15

(Click for full size.)

Today’s second free code: Rodin Sticker (Hot!)

(Enter this in-game at the “Extras” section)

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Lotte Insider – Special Edition, Issue 16

(Click for full size.)

Today’s third free code: Alternative G Cadets

(Enter this in-game at the “Extras” section)

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Lotte Insider – Special Edition, Issue 17

(Click for full size.)

Today’s fourth free code: Dr. Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik Sticker

(Enter this in-game at the “Extras” section)

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One last hurrah

Join us for the last part of the BLiTZ tomorrow on the Playstation Blog! We’ll have four final codes to send flying your way, and alongside the release of our huge DLC pack, the BLiTZ will finally come to an end.

Until then – thanks for sticking with us every step of the way.

Here’s to the big finale!

Hot off the presses is the latest gameplay trailer for Sonic Colors! See the Cyan Laser and Yellow Drill powers in action.

Now that you’re eager to play the game, how about some trivia? Here are some things you might not know about Sonic Colors.

Contrary to what you may have seen or played in previous demos,  getting an S-rank in the game is TOUGH. You’ll need to maximize your grabbing of bonuses, while still maintaining your speed and maximizing your ring count in order to gain them.

Yacker doesn’t have a voice as such, but makes an audible chittering noise.  He’s also big on body language communication.

Since you guys love the Tails facts so much… FOXY FACT: Tails is more interested in inventing than Sonic’s heroics.

Sometimes bad situations can lead to good discoveries!

You CAN skip cutscenes – press + on the Wiimote.

Dr. Eggman ALSO has something of a 4th wall breaking moment.

The Wisps have a rather rude nickname for Dr. Eggman!

Cubot’s voice processor is broken – and stuck on “cowboy mode”.

If you run out of Wisp power when underground in Drill mode you WILL die.

FOXY FACT: Tails isn’t as keen on high speeds as you might think…

Pits of death DO exist, however when you approach a section where this isn’t immediately obvious a hazard warning triangle will appear at the bottom of your screen so you do get some warning.

FOXY FACT : Tails’ toolbox is painted like the blue Tornado paint scheme, and even has his two-tail logo on it.

Destroying all enemies in a built up area using a Wisp power or dash will get you a “SLAM” bonus.

Starlight, star bright – is that a Motobug? Alright!

Spotlight blogs are some of my favorite blogs to write. Partly because they show off just how talented our community is, and second, because stuff like this is just flat out cool. For as much as the stigma may be that Sonic fans argue a lot (and some do) or that they ask for crazy things (and some do), the reality is that on the whole, the Sonic fanbase is actually quite awesome.

Today, we’re going to show you why.

Presenting some of our favorite remixes, as requested and nominated by members of our Sonic 4 Forum, welcome to the Sonic 4 Remix Spotlight – Part II!

#1 – Splash Hill Orchestra

A slower paced, orchestral version of Splash Hill! A pretty epic rendition, and we really enjoyed this one about halfway through when other instruments peek in for just a moment. Very well done to dummeh for this remix!

#2 – Splash Hill MIDI

Another Splash Hill remix, this time in midi form! We could probably listen to these all day, because something about the melody mixed with the original sounds just makes us all warm and fuzzy inside. Props to cavemano123 for this version!

#3 – Mobile Mine Cart (Lost Lab)

One of the earliest remixes for Lost Lab to go out, this version of the second act from that zone is a fantastic piece that brings together the feelings that the stage resonates. While the Mine Cart has since been reduced to only the end of the zone, the tune still fits quite well – great job MoonshadowCaz, MasterJace, and SMK for this version! Much to our pleasure, that bouncing you’ll see at the end of this video is no longer in the game. Win!

#4 – Lost Labyrinth Act II – on Bass

From the forums, user chunkybeef31 created a brand new bass rendition of Lost Lab Act II just for this blog spotlight! His interpretation is a little looser than some and is a bit playful with the melody, but we think it works quite well! Nicely done!

#5 – Splash Hill – Act II – SMPS

This SMPS version of Splash Hill Act II got our attention for two reasons: first for presentation, and second because Act II needs more remix love! Kudos to S2SOTI for this one!

#6 – Mash-up – Lost Labyrinth meets Lost Colony!

Now this is neat. cubedtothex put together some Lost Labyrinth with some Lost Colony, and the results… are actually pretty cool. Chilling to this for a couple minutes was a neat feeling, and it had actually been a long time since we’d heard Lost Colony’s music. Chilly nostalgia meets… awesome?

#7 – Splash Hill, Piano Style – by Jun Senoue!

Just in case you missed Senoue-san’s performance on Gamespot’s On the Spot earlier this summer, here’s a special piano rendition of all three acts from Splash Hill! We also have a pure piano version of this without the background music, and we have to say it sounds pretty amazing. (We plan to release that one right around launch.) Thanks again for flying out to play the music, Jun!

And those are some of our favorite picks this time around. For those asking: yes, there will be a part three – and it will include remixes from the newly revealed Casino Street zone! When the music goes live on the website, jump into the remix action and send us your best, and we might post them here on the blogs!

We hope you all enjoyed the remixes – great work again to all those featured, and to everyone out there remixing Sonic 4 music! Let them know what you think of their remixes, which were your favorites, and feel free to post other favorites of yours in the comments section below.

Well done, guys!

“Heed my words and know victory. Loose you fire, men! Annihilate our enemies!”

Woot! Finally, another new unlockable character in VCII! Today we have a special code to add one of the imperial princes of the empire, Maximilian, to your roster! Check out today’s issue of the Lotte Insider below for all the details.

Lotte Inside – Special Edition, Issue 13

(Click for full size.)

Today’s free code: Prince Maximilian + Imperial Flag Sticker

(Enter this in-game at the “Extras” section)

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Coming tomorrow

We’ve got a little love for a certain rappy in Phantasy Star Zero tomorrow, with a special unlockable tank sticker that is sure to put a little more Piiiiiiii in your treads. Or barrels. (You get the picture.)

Thanks for waiting eagerly, and we hope you guys liked today’s code – if so, as usual, give us shout in the comments below!

Welcome to day seven of the Community BLiTZ – Special Edition! Combine seven with however long the original BLiTZ was (I lost track somewhere between the launch of VCII and PSP2), and that equals a whole lot of blog posts. And we’re not done yet!

Today we have another new sticker for you in the form of Alicia artwork from the first game! Now that Edy is no longer asking us every day when her sticker is going to release, we can finally relax a little.

Lotte Insider – Special Edition, Issue 12

(Click for full size.)

Today’s free code: Alicia Gunther Sticker

(Enter this in-game at the “Extras” section)

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Coming Tomorrow…

Tomorrow is going to be a good day. That’s all we’ll say for now – beyond confirming that yes, we will be unlocking another new character!

We’ll see you then!

P.S. Mrs. Gunther, could you send us some more bread sometime? Clumsy and Kellie ate all of the last batch!

(… Well, alright, I ate a little too. Maybe more than just a little.) In any case, we need more!

Siliconera has just released the code for the PSP2 exclusive ‘The Rappy of Hope’ poster! This entry was our first place winner from the contest months ago, and we’re proud to finally make it available to everyone who has the game!

To get the code, check out Siliconera’s article, here!

If you haven’t yet, also be sure to check PSO-World for the second place poster, ‘Memoir of a legend‘!

We hope you guys like them, and will give them both a nice little place in your own room. Great job once again to everyone who submitted their entries for the contest!

Also, special thanks to the dev team once more for helping get these items in the game!

Tuesday! That fateful day that finds us just after Monday and right before the middle of the week. (Random trivia: did you know that Tuesday actually got its name from the planet Mars? Really.)

Mars can step aside today, however, as Edy has arrived to hog the spotlight with today’s sticker! In addition, today we have a special bonus code for those of you who own Phantasy Star Portable II, which will unlock a special Edelweiss tank item for your room!

Lotte Insider – Special Edition, Issue 11

(Click for full size.)

Today’s free code: Edy Nelson Sticker

(Enter this in-game at the “Extras” section)

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Bonus Code – Edelweiss Room figurine in Phantasy Star Portable II!

Want to get your very own Edelweiss figurine in the latest PSP outing of Phantasy Star? You’re in luck! Enter in the following code at the Visiphone in your room to get the figure:

Bonus Phantasy Star Portable II Code: Edelweiss Room item:

54333358

Coming Tomorrow

Tomorrow’s new sticker is done in a similar art style to today’s – only it includes a certain member of Squad 7 who dreamt of one day being a baker. Those of you who like codes should also keep an eye out for an exclusive Wall scroll code from Phantasy Star Portable II, which we’re going to put live later today!

Enjoy your time in the spotlight, Edy!