Discounts are great, especially when you can scratch that ‘get it now’ itch and pick something up on the cheap! If you’ve not had a chance to play Vanquish, Sonic & SEGA’s All Stars Racing, Virtua Tennis 4, or Aliens vs Predator – you can now pick them up directly through your Xbox 360 at a discounted rate!

Vanquish

PlatinumGames redefined yet another genre, this time taking on the cover to cover 3rd person shooter and cranking it up a notch. Well, make that a few notches to be fair – Vanquish takes the slow moving shooter into new territory with an arcade twist. Faster and more intense than anything you’ve played thus far, backed with tight controls and expert pacing!

Originally price: $39.99/£29.99
New price: $19.99/£14.99
Buy it now!

Sonic and SEGA’s All Stars Racing

A game that’s perfectly crafted for a Sonic or SEGA fan, with tons of characters and environments ripped from SEGA’s history. Hey, our friend Ryo Hazuki even makes an appearance, forklift and all! Let’s not forget the game is also an incredible cart racer and well worth the pickup!

Original price: $29.99
New price: $19.99
Buy it now!

Virtua Tennis 2009

A classic SEGA franchise returns with new players, new courts, and new modes of play. Perfect for any fan looking for a bit of tennis action at a reasonable price!

Original price: $29.99
New price: $19.99
Buy it now!

Aliens vs Predator

Craving some carnage? Fan of Alien, Predator, or the unstoppable Colonial Marines? Aliens Vs Predator can fill this need and give you a chance to play as your favorite death dealer! A perfect game to pick up while you wait for the incoming Aliens: Colonial Marines and Aliens: Infestation games!

Original price: $29.99
New price: $19.99
Buy it now!

Lately the SEGA swag has been flowing like ninjas at a pirate convention – which is to say, there’s a lot of it, you just don’t always see it. To help bring another contest with great SEGA prizes to light, we’d like to spotlight the latest Virtua Tennis 2009 competition, which started today over at VGChartz!

The contest should be fun for all of you who like writing, or simply have a sense of humor: they’ve decided to hold a competition for the best tennis-themed limerick! What’s a limerick, you ask? They go a little something like:

“There once was a buggy AI
Who decided her subject should die.
When the plot was uncovered,
The subjected discovered
That sadly the cake was a lie.”

First place in the contest will win a bright green (and rare) Virtua Tennis 2009 jacket! Second place will score a headband, a wig, VT/SEGA branded tennis balls, and some awesome mini-finger sweatbands.

You can check out the contest and submit your entry here.

Good luck all!

It’s time again for Free Stuff Friday on Twitter! We’ve got some hot items lined up for you this week, including some extremely rare SEGA gear. In fact, we’re so excited to show you what we’re giving away that we decided to make a video to show it all off. If you’re more of a photo-type though, don’t fret… I’ve still got photos for you further down the way.

If you’re new to Free Stuff Friday, I’ve got a primer for you at the bottom of this entry. Brush up on your Twitter skills, make sure everything is in order, and get ready to win fun stuff!

I filmed Clumsyorchid and RubyEclipse talking about this week’s giveaway, so without further ado…

If you like the video and want us to keep doing them, please let us know! We thought it would be fun to try, and we hope you like it.

On the Block

Item 1: SEGA Baseball Shirt

This is a 3/4 sleeve length dark & light blue baseball-style shirt with SEGA on the front. As mentioned in the video, this is from the personal collection of Clumsyorchid. Everyone is eligible to win this prize.

Congrats to our winner, @@watermelon64!

Item 2: Virtua Tennis tennis balls

This is a set of 3 tennis balls branded with the Virtua Tennis 2009  logo. There is also a SEGA logo on the lid. Everyone is eligible to win this prize.

Congrats to our winner, @edlago!

Item 3: SEGA Sweatshirt

This red sweatshirt with the SEGA logo on it is a size S, and also from the personal collection of Clumsyorchid. Everyone is eligible to win this prize!

Congrats to our winner @thexboxfan!

Item 4: The Conduit (Wii)

Hot off the presses and straight to you! The Conduit was released this week, and we’ve got a copy to give to one lucky fan! It’s for the Wii (obviously), and sorry — this one is limited to people in the US, Canada, Mexico, and Latin America (NTSC region).

Congrats to our winner @wargamer!

Item 5: Empire: Total War

Empire: Total War just had an update this past week along with some sweet DLC. If you haven’t given this RTS a chance yet, this could be your lucky day! It’s for the PC and everyone in the US, Canada, Mexico and Latin America (NTSC) is eligible.

Congrats to our winner, @KenWicklein!

Item 6: Virtua Tennis 2009

Need some Virtua Tennis on your PS3? Here’s your chance! Everyone in the US, Canada, Mexico, and Latin America (NTSC) is eligible.

Congrats to our winner, @GenDV138!

Item 7: Let’s Tap

Let’s Tap is getting some great reviews! If you win this game, you’re in for a tappin’ good time! Available to all in US, Canada, Mexico and Latin America (NTSC).

Congrats to our winner, @Volcynika!

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.

It’s Monday, everyone! Take a long stretch, get out those yawns, and then let us know who your favorite Tennis player is – did we mentioned the free swag for doing so?

With VT2009 in stores, we’ve teamed up with BuzzFocus to offer you all some rare Virtua Tennis swag, including a VT and SEGA branded jacket! There’s already almost 100 entries – so get yours in before July 5th for a chance to score some of that oh-so-green Virtua Tennis merchandise!

To enter just click here or on the image above. Get to posting, and good luck everyone!

It’s time again for Free Stuff Friday on Twitter! As you can see, we have some great stuff to give away this week. Read on for details about each item, including eligibility requirements (for the games). If you need a refresher on how to enter via Twitter, details are at the bottom of the post.

On the Block This Week

Item 1: SEGA Polo Shirt

A black polo shirt with the SEGA logo, just like the ones that SEGA employees wore at E3 2009. Size medium. Everyone is eligible to win.

Congrats to the winner, @skryerx!

Item 2: Phantasy Star Zero Rappy Armband

An inflatable Rappy armband for Phantasy Star Zero. Everyone is eligible to win.

Congrats to our winner @tcouto!

Item 3: Daisy Fuentes 8×10

An 8×10 image of Daisy Fuentes from E3. Everyone is eligible to win.

Congrats to our winner, @Jeremy_LaMont!

Item 4: Virtua Tennis 2009 (Wii) and 4 Finger Bands

1 copy of Virtua Tennis 2009 for Wii, plus 4 finger-sized sweatbands. Must live in the US, Canada, Mexico or Latin America to win.

Congrats to our winner @Ronster415!

Item 5: Virtua Tennis Headband and Finger Bands

A Virtua Tennis 2009 headband and 4 finger-sized sweatbands. Everyone is eligible to win.

Congrats to our winner @British_Brat!

Item 6: Let’s Tap Taprunner Figurine

A blue Tap Runner figurine from Let’s Tap. Everyone is eligible to win. (Let’s Tap comes out next week!)

Congrats to our winner @panicpuppet!

Item 7: House of the Dead: Overkill Comic

A sealed House of the Dead: Overkill comic. Must be at least 17 years old to win. All regions are eligible.

Congrats to our winner @Tabenya!

Item 8: Stormrise for PS3

A copy of Stormrise for PS3. Must be 17 or older to win, and must live in US, Canada, Mexico or Latin America.

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.

Ah, Tuesdays. Tuesdays are big here at SEGA. For example, today I came into the office and discovered six individual boxes, an apple pie, and a 172 metric tonne blue whale sitting on my desk.

It should be obvious which of the three I put my attention to first.

One set of keys and lots of destroyed tape later (Note:  No, the whale did not have tape around it ), I was staring into six open boxes, and at a whole slew of copies of Virtua Tennis 2009. There’s something fun about having tons of copies of games on your desk – maybe it’s just the glee of the inner gamer in me as I think back to times when I had to work for a week just to afford a single game – having boxes full of them every few months is a neat feeling.

Later on in the day, when the blue whale is gone and the apple pie eaten, I package up copies of the game and start sending them out to fansites for review. But this time around, our friends over at SEGA Europe were kind enough to hook us up with some of their VT 2009 swag – and, as we’ve done with Mad World and Valkyria Chronicles, we’re going to see to it that this swag goes out to the people who will truly appreciate it. (That’d be you, hardcore fans!)

Mmm, Swag.

We got some pretty sweet stuff in the office. As I explained to a friend of mine earlier today, the batch includes:

- VT 2009 finger sweatbands (put them around your favorite pet’s leg(s) for hours of fun)
- VT 2009 Headbands + wigs (if your own hair isn’t quite long enough to wear one effectively)
- VT 2009 SEGA + VT branded Tennis Balls. (For those semi-rare people who also play Tennis irl.)
- VT 2009 SEGA Jacket – bright green & white, branded with the SEGA logo on the front and VT on the back.

What’s that? You say you want some of this swag? We’ll have all of it going out soon for a number of contests, but in the meantime, we’ll be giving out some free finger sweatbands to the first, fifth, tenth, and twentieth people to comment on this post with:  “I get my Grand Slams in Virtua Tennis!”

…see what we did there?

This Summer, Virtual Tennis 2009 comes to the Nintendo Wii. Virtua Tennis 2009 features Wiimotion plus which allows for more accuracy, stance control, improved shot direction, and one to one control with no delay.

A new batch of screenshots for Virtua Tennis 2009 on the Wii have just gone live – you can check them out here on our flickr page!

Considering the graphical differences of the next-gen versions as compared to Wii, what do you guys think?

Giant rolling tennis balls, tennis bowling, hit-the-crocodile-in-the-face-with-a-tennis-ball and more comprise the legendary mini-games that have survived throughout the years in the Virtua Tennis series.

*Please note that we do not condone hitting real life crocodiles in the face with real life tennis balls. Otherwise, you risk becoming this guy on the left.

If there was any doubt in your mind about which of the upcoming Tennis games was going to offer the most unique and enjoyable gameplay-  we’d like to officially put it to rest now.

Yes, you can actually fight pirates in one of the Mini-games in VT2009. (And they shoot cannonballs back at you.) I loved the mini-games in this series before I saw this – now I can’t wait to win some battles on the seven seas with a racket and a bunch of tennis balls.