Straight from the good folks at High Voltage Software, we have a collection of videos to share from a super secret insider source. The title might also be a dead giveaway – Ask a Drudge is a new series of videos that help answer questions no else dare answer, such as pesky shadows, spelling errors, and what’s up with crosshairs? Check the videos below and see what we mean!

Ask a Drudge Part 1

Ask a Drudge Part 2

Got your own question for a Drudge? Ask away at: thex@high-voltage.com and you might find your email featured in a video!

Kotaku says to “raise your expectations” about Captain America: Super Soldier, and now we’ve got a pre-order bonus to sweeten the deal for you. Fans who pre-order the PS3 or X360 versions of the game from GameStop will receive the “Ultimates” DLC pack! Here’s what it entails:

• Ultimates 1942 Captain America costume
• The “Ballroom Blitz” Challenge Mode Map
• Early in-game access to Cap’s “Weaponize” ability

Check out the screens below, and get over to GameStop to pre-order Captain America: Super Soldier now!

Murderous mutant mayhem with Move and 3D support exclusive to Playstation 3!

When we released The House of the Dead: OVERKILL for Wii, one of the most common things we heard is the wish that it be on a next gen console. Your wishes have been heard and answered! That mutant massacring B-Movie blood fest, The House of the Dead: OVERKILL, is coming to the Playstation 3 with some great extras! The House of the Dead: OVERKILL Extended Cut is presented for the first time in spectacular high definition with 3D support and Playstation Move compatibility on the Playstation3. This gruesome shooter puts you in the middle of a mutant outbreak in Bayou County. The extended cut has all seven stages of the original re-mastered, and two brand new scenarios added, so the baddest just got bigger!

Using a host of weapons, watch your back as Mutants go mad for blood! Blast bloody pieces out of their wretched bodies as you work to uncover the mystery behind the outbreak. New goodies like Playstation trophies, new game modes, and new content are outnumbered by only one thing: bullets. Will you defeat everything this freakish nightmare town throws at you or will you become Mutant chowder?

“The House of the Dead: OVERKILL Extended Cut on Playstation 3 will send players to the shrieking mad heart of mutant mayhem. This time we went further, faster and bloodier than before. We extended everything, even the title.” – Said Gary Knight of SEGA.

Experience 3D so real you’ll still be crying late into the night, and Move support so moving you’ll place every shot right between the eyes! The House of the Dead: OVERKILL Extended Cut is due for release October 28, 2011 in Europe, and October 25th, 2011  in the United States exclusively for Playstation Move and the Playstation 3. Prepare to see more at E3, if you dare!

You can see and download all the screens from our Flickr. For more information please visit www.sega.com/overkill/

New update for you from the Clockworks! There’s some awesome stuff added today, including an achievement system, gear-leveling aid The Heat Amplifier, and a special deal package, purchasable one time per account.

Achievements

You can now earn a wide variety of achievements in Spiral Knights. These can be viewed on the Character Panel under the ‘Achievements’ tab. Plans are to further develop and add to the achievement system in the future!

The Heat Amplifier

In case you’re new to the game: In Spiral Knights, instead of leveling up your character, you level up your individual pieces of gear. This is done with Heat, acquired from battling through monsters and levels within the Clockworks itself. The game takes this gear-leveling seriously — it allows you to play with any of your friends at any time, with content adjusting itself so it is adapted to the gear level for an entire group, giving everyone in the group a challenge and making sure no one gets left behind just because they haven’t been leveling as much as their friends.

That said, of course you want to level your gear as much as possible — leveling up your gear gives you access to the deeper tiers of the Clockworks and the mystery therein (not to mention the gear therein). Enter The Heat Amplifier — available from the Upgrade Merchant in the Haven marketplace, for 48 hours this addition will give you 20% more “heat” energy from your endeavors! Presumably, it also acts as an attachment to your hair dryer, but this is pure speculation on my part.

The Starter Pack

This is a new package of Crystal Energy, available once per account for $19.95. In addition to the 7500 Crystal Energy which you would ordinarily get for that amount, you also get:

* 5 mist tanks
* 1 heat amplifier
* 2 trinket slot upgrades
* 2 weapon slot upgrades
* A 1* unique bomb, the Static Flash
* A 1* unique shield, the Green Ward
* A commemorative Artifact

There’s more notes, including fixes and updates — check out the official release notes:

http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/9565

The rumors, the speculation – all of it true! A true SEGA classic is indeed returning from the shadows … Shinobi is back! Returning on the 3DS, Shinobi will take players back to familiar territory in a 2D perspective and presented in full 3D. Best of all – it looks and plays … amazing!

I’m super excited for this release and have been for months now – ever since I heard about it. I even created a fake name for it, Shinono (a simple, yet elegant combination of Shhh and no no) – just so I could talk with people about it inside SEGA. I feel very strongly that fans are going to be excited, it checks all the boxes you want in a returning franchise, especially for Shinobi. I know all too well this is a delicate balance, but let’s examine the facts here:

It’s 2D – Check!
It looks great – Check!
It plays great – Check for me, soon to be check for you!
It’s fun as ever – Check!

I’ve seen feedback from the, erm, early reveals and the comments have been interesting and ultimately really exciting. There are definitely a lot of concerns, and why wouldn’t there be – we all feel passionately about the games we grew up with, we all have high expectations. There’s also a lot of excitement to see Shinobi return. Initial concerns should be out the window and for me, this is an exciting and fun game and cannot wait to get in front of more fans. More to come!

So with that in mind, I give you the full release – we have a trailer, we have screens, a full press release and I also highly recommend checking out the June Nintendo Power as well! Stop reading and check it all out below:

Screenshots

Small thumbnails are good for scanning, but do visit our Flickr page for all the full size images and two bonus images!

Press Release

A SEGA LEGEND RETURNS ON NINTENDO 3DS
Shinobi is Back in Full 3D After Eight Years

LONDON AND SAN FRANCISCO – (May 26, 2011) – SEGA Europe Ltd. and SEGA of America, Inc. today announced Shinobi exclusively for Nintendo 3DS. Developed by Griptonite Games, Shinobi is the long anticipated return of the fan favorite series and includes the classic side-scrolling action gameplay players have loved since the original. Coming to stores in September 2011, Shinobi introduces several exciting new features such as StreetPass and a large assortment of achievements and challenges to unlock.

“For years the fans have been asking for a new Shinobi,” said Gary Knight, Senior Vice President of Marketing of SEGA West. “With Shinobi on Nintendo 3DS we are able to answer their prayers and bring this legendary series to the next level.”

Shinobi tells the story of Jiro Musashi, the leader of the Oboro clan and father of Joe Musashi, the hero of the first iterations of Shinobi. Players will become a true ninja legend by mastering a brand new combo system switching between melee, ranged and acrobatic attacks. They will also need to rely on Jiro’s ninja magic to get an advantage over their enemies and get out of tight spots.

Shinobi will be released for Nintendo 3DS in September 2011.

There you have it and I have a request – tell us what you think! Normally we love hearing about what we’re making and doing, we kinda really like it, like a lot – but this is even more special, because it’s Shinobi – it’s something we are really excited to finally get to unveil and we cannot wait to hear what the SEGA community thinks!

This week, we’re taking turns filming and showing off prizes! We’ve got some great stuff for you… so let’s go!

On the Block

1. Happy Tree Friends Pack

You get a 1GB USB drive from Happy Tree Friends that is limited edition and numbered! You also get some Happy Tree Friends DVDs (signed!) and some Happy Tree Friends magnets.

Congrats to our winner, @jertaybro!

2. Platinum Games Pack

To celebrate our partnership with Platinum Games, you’ll get a small replica gun from Bayonetta, a signed Vanquish glossy, and some Vanquish candy cigarettes.

Congrats to our winner, @SpikeTeddy!

3. Thor

We recently released Thor: God of Thunder, and this is your chance to score one! You have your choice of PS3, X360, Wii, or DS versions. It comes with a strategy guide that covers all platforms except the DS.

4. Panzer Dragoon Orta Shirt

Pick up this sweet Panzer Dragoon Orta shirt, size Ladies L.

5. Sonic Sweatshirt

This black hooded sweatshirt (size L, but looks like it runs a bit small) has classic Sonic on the front.

Congrats to our winner, @DarkFailure!

6. Dreamcast Hoodie

You wanted one, and now you can have one! We have sizes L and XL left.

Congrats to our winner, @Mospheric!

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, a word or phrase, 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!)

Example:

We tweet “GIVEAWAY: Sonic T-shirt, size L. Be the 15th person to DM “Sonic Adventure” to win!”

You see this, and want to win it, so you send us a direct message that says “Sonic Adventure”. If you are the 15th person to do so, you are the winner!

Quotation marks do not matter, capitalization does not matter, but spelling does matter!

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.

Starting today, Sonic Free Riders is available via Xbox Live Games On Demand! This downloadable game lets players race as Sonic, Tails, Dr. Eggman and more, including the player’s own Avatar, through dazzling landscapes as they ride to victory.

Using Kinect™ for Xbox 360®, Sonic Free Riders players will use their whole body to take full control of a variety of hoverboards and bikes as they turn, twist, jump and speed their way to the finish line. Add even more excitement to each race with item pick-ups—reach out and grab a variety of rockets, bowling balls, traps and more to knock rivals off course. With customizable boards and bikes, unlockable gear, and upgrades to increase speed, skills, and special abilities, Sonic Free Riders offers enjoyable fun and racing excitement for all ages.

Get it for free now!

To celebrate this launch, I have 4 codes for free games! They are all global codes (so you can grab and use them no matter where you live) and are available on a first come, first served basis. So if they don’t work when you try them, you’re probably too late. We’ll also be giving out codes on the SEGA Facebook, the Sonic Facebook, and the SEGA Twitter!

Update – all the codes are gone! Congrats to the winners.

Sonic Free Riders is available now for $49.99.

For more information on Sonic Free Riders, please visit http://www.sonicfreeriders.com

Two great pieces of news for this week’s MLB Manager Online update: First, both Arcade A and Arcade B are now unlocked, and you have access to all of their contents. To celebrate this we are also launching a discount campaign — Arcades B and C are both discounted 50 percent!

Arcade A: This is where you go for the most direct way to upgrade your team — scout tickets. Anything from 6-star to 10-star, as well as specific tickets for Managers, Teams, and even Position Scouts.

Arcade B: We’ve definitely been waiting for this one — this is the Contract Extension arcade, with tickets to extend pitcher, fielder, or manager contracts for an additional cycle. You can also win “general contract extension” tickets which will work on any player.

Note that all arcades also contain powerful support cards and high level training cards, any of which you have a chance of winning. You will win something with every single spin in the arcade, and each spin also has a chance to put runners on base — those runners, if they go around to score, will give you free spins on that arcade machine.

The release of Arcade B — not to mention its sale — comes just in time: we are nearing the end of the game’s current cycle, which means players with just 1 cycle left on their contracts will expire.

The 50% off sale (Arcade B and Arcade C, for now) starts May 19th and goes for a limited time.