The Dreamcast Collection is out and we’re promoting it with some special contests to gain some exclusive swag from SEGA and some friends we know across the internet. Ever since the DC Collection swag has made the rounds, I’ve been getting mailed from people we work with regularly and reaching out to friends we’ve not yet made yet. All for the love of Dreamcast, that’s amazing.

Bit of backstory on me, I’m actually at this company largely in part to the Dreamcast and the experiences I had on it. I remember buying the system on day one and carrying it back to my house as if I could be mugged at any time. If they only knew what I had in my hands, the power, the fun. To me, and many others, the Dreamcast was a system that changed so many things about modern gaming, doing things that are now common place and re-inventing things that had long gone stagnant.

So it is with great personal pride that I’m able to work on this Collection and the swag we’ve crafted for it. The Dreamcast Limited Edition Vinyl is a special pre-order item that was available for the Australian release. The sweatshirts we crafted in the community team here at Sega of America, made with love for fans that would love them back. The sites we are working with have a wide range of contests and as fans, I encourage everyone to participate for a chance at some of the swag!

Sega-Bits.com

Our old friends Sega Bits (seriously, it’s been as long as I’ve worked here) are giving away a Dreamcast Sweatshirt, Limited Edition Vinyl, and a copy of Dreamcast Collection. Three winners, three ways to enter. Head on over and try your luck!

BuzzFocus.com

Buzzfocus.com has a special giveaway where you can enter daily for a chance at all of the available prizes. Just head over and post about your favorite Dreamcast game or moment – easy!

Dreamcast Junkyard

Dreamcast Junkyard is a new friend, but a familiar face – their contest has you posting your favorite Dreamcast memory as well. We love seeing the things that made this system special, post your own and you could walk away with one of the special prizes we’re offering.

SFX-360

SFX-360 has a special giveaway, all you need to do is email the staff (mail on the page) your way of showing SEGA some love (hey, not that kind of love …) – the contest is really free form and so far has a ton of Tattoos, poems, pictures, and well, a lot of stuff – so try your best!

Pixelated Sausage

Pixelated Sausage is giving multiple chances to win. Posting a memory on the blog will enter you in the running and you can stop by their podcast and give a listen to add your support. Head on over to get the specifics!

Sega Addicts

Sega Addicts has a contest to pick up some swag and honor their 50th Podcast episode! Create a promo image for the spot and you could be walking away with some of the swag – there’s already some pretty nice entries, so worth a look even if you aren’t artistically gifted (or too intimidated by the skillful entries)!

BeanTown Gamer

New friends Beantown Gamer are running a giveaway, just enter by sending a picture of your ultra rare DC Collection or some of your own epic swag. A great contest to see what sorts of gems the community is squirreling away for the video game apocalypse!

Sega-Mag

Unfortunately, the SEGA-Mag contest is already closed, but the task was so unique is really worth checking out even if you can’t win. The contest asked you to listen to the music in the video above and send along your entries to the email in the blog. This contest had quite a few of our own community (and internal employees) stumped – try your own luck just for fun!

Thanks all for helping make the Dreamcast Collection awesome – we hope you enjoy the contests and wish you the best of luck in the giveaways!

Mark my words – those Australians get everything cool. Summer when it’s our winter, awesome beaches that defy description, adorable Koalas and other animals – and this … the Dreamcast Limited Edition Vinyl. Jerks, all of them!

Luckily, while we are not offering this for a pre-order bonus across the US, we do have a hefty batch in stock to pass out to fans and fansites for giveaway!

The Vinyl is a very limited pressing and is individually numbered, it contains five classic tracks from Sonic Adventure, Space Channel 5 Part 2, and Crazy Taxi. As you can see from the photos, the sleeve is designed to look like the white Dreamcast console, only blue – as that was the color scheme for the European territories. Inside, the record has the familiar Dreamcast swirl and comes in stylish white – perfect!

We’re going to be sending these around to our various friends across the web and will be posting updates to everyone shortly. For now, marvel at the fun swag that’s being produced for our favorite white console!

It may go without saying, but we’re big fans of Crazy Taxi in the office. Ever since we got our first build of game, we’ve had a running score challenge. Along the way, we had to relearn some of the Crazy skills needed to master the roads found inside; some by trial and error, some by muscle memory, others by developer assistance. A few of these tips and tricks are found below, written by our own Ben H after trying and retrying to (unsuccessfully) beat my score…

The Crazy Dash: One of the most useful techniques for saving time is the Crazy Dash. This makes your taxi accelerate much faster than it would normally – great for that stop and go traffic. You can perform the Crazy Dash by releasing the accelerator and the brake, then shifting into drive and hitting the accelerator at the same time.

The Crazy Stop: Where would you be without the Crazy Stop? Probably halfway through someone’s living-room wall, or at least several yards past the passenger you were trying to pick up. Crazy Stop pairs perfectly with the Crazy Dash by allowing you to stop on a dime. Pull off a Crazy Stop by throwing the car into reverse and stepping on the brakes at the same time. For an even faster stop, do a Crazy Stop immediately after a Crazy Dash. Fun fact: Although Crazy Taxi draws scenes from San Francisco nobody on the Crazy Taxi dev team had even been to San Francisco when they began production on the game.

The Crazy Drift: Not only is the Crazy Drift the most convenient way to speed through sharp corners, but it is also the only move covered here today which gets you “Crazy Combo” points. It’s a little known fact but the entire sport of Drifting was actually made popular by this one maneuver. To perform the Crazy Drift, simply release the gas pedal, throw the cab into reverse, then throw it back into drive, hit the gas, and turn sharply. Occasionally you can slam into a building during a Crazy Drift, which results in your cab popping a side-wheelie and racking up a huge combo bonus – cha-ching!

The Limiter Cut: Professor Einstein always said that speed was relative, and in Crazy Taxi that particular law of physics remains untouched. If you want to go faster relative to the other cabbies then you can perform a maneuver called the Limiter Cut. This removes your top speed limiter momentarily, allowing for a short burst of speed. To remove your limiter, perform a Crazy Dash, a Crazy Drift (without the sharp turn), then a Crazy Dash again. These can be executed in quick succession for a quantum layering effect, which allows you to rocket around at close to the speed of light! Warning: after mastering the limiter cut, regular driving will feel as if you’re stuck in an ultra slo-mo replay.

Unlock each Character’s “Special Taxi”: With all the hubbub about going green today sometimes you have to stop and ask yourself, “how eco-friendly is my cab?” Nothing says “I’m the greenest cabbie around” quite like a human powered Rickshaw, which emits close to zero grams of carbon a year – depending on what you had for lunch. In Crazy Taxi you can unlock a special Rickshaw for each character by completing all sixteen Crazy Box levels. Once unlocked, the Rickshaw is selectable in Crazy Box, Arcade, and Original modes. To select the Rickshaw in Crazy Box mode, scroll to the right of Gus at the character selection screen. To select the Rickshaw in Arcade or Original mode, press Up at the character selection screen. Speaking of characters, Axel is the name of Kenji Kanno’s dog. He likes breaking his cage to escape.

Using these skills, we hope your game improves! If you’ve got any tips of your own, leave them below in the comments!

Today is the day – December 30th – we are happy to reveal the Xbox Live Arcade games for our Holiday Mega Sale. Remember, these are available in North America, Europe, United Kingdom, and Australia! You have only one day to get in on these crazy deals – do not delay! The Xbox community has been very patient so without any further delay …

Xbox Live Arcade

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG
→ Xbox Live Arcade price was $5.00 now $3.00 save 40% – Buy Now!

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG2
→ Xbox Live Arcade price was $5.00 now $3.00 save 40% – Buy Now!

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 3
→ Xbox Live Arcade price was $5.00 now $3.00 save 40% – Buy Now!

SONIC & KNUCKLES
→ Xbox Live Arcade price was $3.00 now $1.50 save 50% – Buy Now!

SONIC 4 EPISODE 1
→ Xbox Live Arcade price was $15.00 now $10.00 save 33% – Buy Now!

SONIC ADVENTURE
→ Xbox Live Arcade price was $10.00 now $5.00 save 50% – Buy Now!

AFTER BURNER CLIMAX
→ Xbox Live Arcade price was $10.00 now $5.00 save 50% – Buy Now!

iPhone

› Super Monkey Ball
$2.99 $0.99
£1.79 £0.59
€ 2.39 € 0.79
$3.99 (AUS) $1.19 (AUS)
› Sonic the Hedgehog
$4.99 $2.99
£2.99 £1.79
€ 5.49 € 2.39
$8.99 (AUS) $3.99 (AUS)
› Sonic the Hedgehog 2
$4.99 $2.99
£2.99 £1.79
€ 5.49 € 2.39
$8.99 (AUS) $3.99 (AUS)
› Super Monkey Ball 2
$2.99 $0.99
£1.79 £0.59
€ 2.39 € 0.79
$3.99 (AUS) $1.19 (AUS)
› Super Monkey Ball 2 Sakura Edition
$4.99 $2.99
£2.99 £1.79
€ 5.49 € 2.39
$8.99 (AUS) $3.99 (AUS)
› Sonic 4 Episode 1
$6.99 $2.99
£3.99 £1.79
€ 5.49 € 2.39
$8.99 (AUS) $3.99 (AUS)
› Phantasy Star 2
$2.99 $0.99
£1.79 £0.59
€ 2.39 € 0.79
$3.99 (AUS) $0.99 (AUS)
› ChuChu Rocket!
$2.99 $0.99
£1.79 £0.59
€ 2.39 € 0.79
$3.99 (AUS) $1.19 (AUS)
› ChuChu Rocket! HD
$4.99 $2.99
£2.99 £1.79
€ 5.49 € 2.39
$8.99 (AUS) $3.99 (AUS)
› Gunstar Heroes
$2.99 $0.99
£1.79 £0.59
€ 2.39 € 0.79
$3.99 (AUS) $1.19 (AUS)
› Altered Beast
$2.99 $0.99
£1.79 £0.59
€ 2.39 € 0.79
$3.99 (AUS) $1.19 (AUS)

PlayStation Network

› Sonic Adventure
$9.99 $4.99
£6.29 £3.19
€7.99 €3.99
$12.95 (AUS) $6.95 (AUS)
› Sonic Adventure DX
$4.99 $1.99
£3.19 £1.19
€3.99 €1.49
$6.95 (AUS) $2.45 (AUS)
› Sonic 4 Episode 1
$14.99 $9.99
£9.99 £5.49
€12.99 €6.99
$19.95 (AUS) $11.45 (AUS)
› Afterburner Climax
$9.99 $4.99
£7.99 £3.99
€9.99 €4.99
$15.95 (AUS) $8.45 (AUS)
› Phantasy Star Portable 2
$39.99 $15.99
£27.99 £13.99
€34.99 €17.99
$54.95 (AUS) $27.95 (AUS)
› Valkyria Chronicles 2
$39.99 $15.99
£27.99 £13.99
€34.99 €17.99
$54.95 (AUS) $27.95 (AUS)

› Sega Genesis Collection $15.99 $9.99

› Iron Man 2 $19.99 $15.99

› Gunstar Heroes $4.99 $2.99

While our Super Amazing SEGA MEGA Sale is kicking off – we have some good news for fans of ChuChu Rocket who might have been on the fence for some key feature updates. Well well – there’s not much reason to not buy my personal favorite Dreamcast game, we’ve now added Retina Support and Online Multiplayer! Huge news for every ChuChu fan everywhere.

Don’t forget that we’ve had two updates previous to this adding in 200 new levels, new features, and updates. If you are a ChuChu Rocket fan – this is easily the best version we’ve ever released and it just keeps getting better!

└─═[ MEGA SALE HOLIDAY 2010 ]═─┐

This Holiday save up to 70% on over 20 SEGA games! Buy for yourself, or buy for a friend! The Sale starts tonight on December 21st and runs until January 3rd, details below, read on!

Super Mega Special Deals!

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 4 EPISODE I

→ iTunes AppStore was $6.99 now $2.99 save 57% – Buy Now!
→ iTunes AppStore was £3.99 now £1.79 save 55% – Buy Now!
→ iTunes AppStore was € 5.49 now € 2.39 save 56% – Buy Now!
→ iTunes AppStore was $8.99 (AUS) now $3.99 (AUS) save 56% – Buy Now!

→ PlayStation Network was $14.99 now $9.99 save 33% – Buy Now!

SONIC ADVENTURE

→ PlayStation Network was $10 now $5 save 50% – Buy Now!

CHUCHU ROCKET!

→ iTunes AppStore was $2.99 now $0.99 save 67% – Buy Now!
→ iTunes AppStore was £1.79 now £0.59 save 67% – Buy Now!
→ iTunes AppStore was € 2.39 now € 0.79 save 67% – Buy Now!
→ iTunes AppStore was $3.99 (AUS) now $1.19 (AUS) save 70% – Buy Now!

Plus a special treat for Xbox LIVE Arcade customers on Dec 30th. Don’t forget to buy for your friends and Santa won’t forget to bring you gifts!

iPhone

› Super Monkey Ball
$2.99 $0.99
£1.79 £0.59
€ 2.39 € 0.79
$3.99 (AUS) $1.19 (AUS)
› Sonic the Hedgehog
$4.99 $2.99
£2.99 £1.79
€ 5.49 € 2.39
$8.99 (AUS) $3.99 (AUS)
› Sonic the Hedgehog 2
$4.99 $2.99
£2.99 £1.79
€ 5.49 € 2.39
$8.99 (AUS) $3.99 (AUS)
› Super Monkey Ball 2
$2.99 $0.99
£1.79 £0.59
€ 2.39 € 0.79
$3.99 (AUS) $1.19 (AUS)
› Super Monkey Ball 2 Sakura Edition
$4.99 $2.99
£2.99 £1.79
€ 5.49 € 2.39
$8.99 (AUS) $3.99 (AUS)
› Sonic 4 Episode 1
$6.99 $2.99
£3.99 £1.79
€ 5.49 € 2.39
$8.99 (AUS) $3.99 (AUS)
› Phantasy Star 2
$2.99 $0.99
£1.79 £0.59
€ 2.39 € 0.79
$3.99 (AUS) $0.99 (AUS)
› ChuChu Rocket!
$2.99 $0.99
£1.79 £0.59
€ 2.39 € 0.79
$3.99 (AUS) $1.19 (AUS)
› ChuChu Rocket! HD
$4.99 $2.99
£2.99 £1.79
€ 5.49 € 2.39
$8.99 (AUS) $3.99 (AUS)
› Gunstar Heroes
$2.99 $0.99
£1.79 £0.59
€ 2.39 € 0.79
$3.99 (AUS) $1.19 (AUS)
› Altered Beast
$2.99 $0.99
£1.79 £0.59
€ 2.39 € 0.79
$3.99 (AUS) $1.19 (AUS)

Xbox Live Arcade

› Afterburner Climax $10.00 $5.00
› Shhh, it’s a secret – no really – we can’t tell you – so check back on December 30th to see what we’ll be discounting!

PlayStation Network

› Sonic Adventure
$9.99 $4.99
£6.29 £3.19
€7.99 €3.99
$12.95 (AUS) $6.95 (AUS)
› Sonic Adventure DX
$4.99 $1.99
£3.19 £1.19
€3.99 €1.49
$6.95 (AUS) $2.45 (AUS)
› Sonic 4 Episode 1
$14.99 $9.99
£9.99 £5.49
€12.99 €6.99
$19.95 (AUS) $11.45 (AUS)
› Afterburner Climax
$9.99 $4.99
£7.99 £3.99
€9.99 €4.99
$15.95 (AUS) $8.45 (AUS)
› Phantasy Star Portable 2
$39.99 $15.99
£27.99 £13.99
€34.99 €17.99
$54.95 (AUS) $27.95 (AUS)
› Valkyria Chronicles 2
$39.99 $15.99
£27.99 £13.99
€34.99 €17.99
$54.95 (AUS) $27.95 (AUS)

› Sega Genesis Collection $15.99 $9.99

› Iron Man 2 $19.99 $15.99

› Gunstar Heroes $4.99 $2.99

A permanent price drop is now in effect for nearly of Sega’s titles for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. If you missed out on any of the crazy deals we’ve been running, don’t worry! You can buy any of the games below at their new new price for yourself or for a friend, for the holidays!

ChuChu Rocket: $4.99 $2.99
ChuChu Rocket HD: $6.99 $4.99
Ecco the Dolphin: $2.99 $0.99
Golden Axe: $2.99 $0.99
Gunstar Heroes: $4.99 $2.99
Phantasy Star II: $4.99 $2.99
Shining Force: $2.99 $0.99

Super Monkey Ball 2: $5.99 $2.99
Super Monkey Ball 2 Sakura Edition: $7.99 $4.99
Sonic The Hedgehog 1: $5.99 $4.99
Sonic The Hedgehog 2: $5.99 $4.99
Sonic The Hedgehog 4 Episode 1: $9.99 $6.99
Streets of Rage: $2.99 $0.99

The craziness comes to a peak today as Crazy Taxi — the Dreamcast classic, a blisteringly fun driving game through the streets of a faux-San Francisco — releases on Xbox Live Arcade!

Already out for PlayStation Network, Crazy Taxi continues the Dreamcast console’s digital rebirth. What started with Sonic Adventure continues with one of the most purely fun games to appear on the system — even if I wanted to say something bad about Crazy Taxi, I don’t think I’d be able to. The game is both immediately fun and seriously challenging: ripping around the crazy streets is easy to do and the learning curve is such that you can get satisfactorily better just with some simple practice.

But to really master the game you need to learn the, ahem, Crazy Techniques. Thus we present a special video for Axel’s Crazy Taxi Instructional Video! Featuring a quick tour of the many difficult maneuvers you can pull off in your nigh-indestructible cab, this is a great place to get started on your road to crazy money.

In case the video moves too fast for you and you want a quick reference guide, here are the moves listed, and how to perform them:

Crazy Dash: While accelerator and brake are not in use, shift into Drive while quickly accelerating.

Quick Turn: Brake, press accelerator and turn at the same time.

Limiter Cut: Execute the Crazy Dash maneuver, then let go of the accelerator and shift into Reverse, then execute the Crazy Dash again.

Crazy Drift: Shift into reverse during driving; quickly shift into Drive and then make a tight turn.

Crazy Back Drift: Shift into Drive and accelerate, then quickly switch into Reverse while making a tight turn.

Crazy Stop: Quickly switch into Reverse.

Some of these are rather complex but with practice, they become second nature. The Crazy Dash is perhaps the most useful to pick up early on, and is quick & easy to learn — master that and your performance will improve dramatically.

Sonic Adventure and Crazy Taxi are now out and about — stay tuned for more news on Space Channel 5: Part 2, and SEGA Bass Fishing!

The holiday giving season kicks off this weekend, and SEGA games are being featured in some of the best gift-giving guides!

1UP

1UP has chosen the following games for their guide:

Bayonetta (X360 and PS3)

Vanquish (X360 and PS3)

Yakuza 3 (PS3)

Chu Chu Rocket (iPhone)

After Burner Climax (PSN)

Valkyria Chronicles II (PSP)

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode I (PSN)

Gamespot

Gamespot also has their gift guide up, and has chosen the following SEGA games for their guide:

Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing (DS)

Valkyria Chronicles II (PSP)

Bayonetta (X360)

Whether you’re looking for a gift to give, or trying to put your own wish list together, let these guides help you pick the perfect thing!

Chu Chu Rocket on iPhone and iPad is getting an update tomorrow to add in a few enhancements, update with some awesome free content, and also fix a few pesky problems. The update will go out on 11/19 to the app store, so you’ll want to check back during the day tomorrow to grab it. In the update there a a few things I wanted to highlight as I think they are welcome changes to the ChuChu Experience.

First off, fans of the Chu Chu Rocket series will be happy to know we are giving you 100 new puzzles to play! These puzzles are completely free and pull from the original levels created by fans in the original Dreamcast release. The first update includes a sampling of puzzles created from Europe, Japan, and USA.

The next notable update is the addition of ‘ghost arrows’ in multiplayer. This is a new feature for Chu Chu Rocket, but something we feel makes the game more enjoyable overall. When playing multiplayer, placing arrows will now set a ‘ghost’ arrow that will provide a preview of where your arrow will be placed. This helps immensely in multiplayer when planning out strategies and managing available tiles during the frantic game.

Below are the full patch notes for tomorrow’s update:

Features:
• iPad Game Center for OS 4.2 iPads
• 100 Extra levels added to Puzzle mode
• Ghost arrows added to Multiplayer mode
• Arrow placement UI improved
• Multiplayer lobby UI improved

Fixes:
• Rare crash-at-launch bug fixed
• Bug that occasionally caused some achievements not to unlock fixed
• Mouse-entering-rocket audio issue fixed – now all Chu Chus can be heard entering the Rocket in all modes!
• Performance upgrades

We hope you enjoy this new updates and welcome your feedback on all things Chu Chu Rocket. We definitely have more planned for the game, so have fun with the new puzzles and check back for more updates on Chu Chu Rocket!