Hi guys,

Welcome to our third Viking: Battle for Asgard Q&A. Keep your questions coming on our official forum!

Q. When can we expect the next update about this game?

A. Right now!

Q. Any news on when the official site will be up?

A. The official Viking: Battle For Asgard website is now online. If you are over 18 years old, visit www.sega.com/viking to check it out!

Q. Couldn’t help but notice that Skarin’s hairstyle seems to have changed slightly in the vids and pics. Is that simply a redesign of the character, or will he sport different looks through the game?

A. Some of the screenshots were taken early during the game’s development. As such, our artists were still finalizing Skarin’s look. With the entire mortal realm of Midgard to save, Skarin has little time to experiment with other hairstyles during the game.

Q. Speaking of looks; Is it futile to give my idea of what Skarin’s sword should look like? ‘Cause I mean ok, I don’t mind that he uses a hand-and-a-half sword, but it doesn’t really look *Viking* enough.

A. Skarin’s is no ordinary sword, and can be upgraded to harness powerful magical abilities. While Norse weaponry of the period was certainly referenced, we wanted to give our Viking Champion a unique sword from which to battle the undead Legion forces.

Q. Is this planned to be just a single game, like Spartan was, or will it have sequels?

A. We really enjoyed developing Viking: Battle For Asgard and are currently considering our options…

Q. Oh, and will Hel appear as in the mythology? Right side of her a beautiful woman, and left side a rotting corpse? Didn’t look like it in the trailer (if indeed that was Hel), but it COULD have changed…. just like Skarin’s haircut, hah.

A. Hel does indeed have a bit of a nasty skin condition. If you have seen the concept art, her legs looks like they are well past their sell-by date! There have been many different interpretations of how Hel looks in Norse mythology, and I believe ours captures her outward beauty and inner decay rather well.

Q. Why did the developers go for a more muscled and less dressed Viking style for Skarin whereas how much muscles he has wouldn’t actually save him in the cold frozen north (does he migrate in the winter?)

A. Between 7-55% of a person’s total body heat is lost through the head, dependent on their cardiac output. Killing undead Legion hordes and traversing islands over a kilometre square is tiring work. Therefore Skarin’s long hair and well-covered lower torso are enough to regulate his temperature to a suitable level.

Q. I have a question; will Viking Battle for Asgard have a good Composer?

A. Viking: Battle For Asgard’s musical score is by Richard Beddow, Walter Mair, and Simon Ravn (and they are all very good!). It was performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus Recording Studio.

Q. And the most important question; since we’re talking about Vikings here. Will Skarin have the ability to go berserk?

A. When Skarin performs quick attacks, he is rewarded with rage crystals that can be spent on more powerful attacks. Many additional moves can also be learnt from your ancestors in the training arena, including a powerful combo attack that allows you to target several enemies in quick succession.

For further information, be sure to add Viking: Battle of Asgard as a friend on MySpace and join our Facebook group!

Thanks,

Mark O’Connell

Everyone has been very busy this last month as the fiscal year comes to an end, as such we’re all stressed out and a good gaming session is exactly what the doctor ordered.  Here’s what we’ve been relieving the tension with.

ArchangelUK

The Orange Box (X360)
I finally spent money on the game and have already worked my way through it pretty convincingly, sorting out the majority of the achievements.  Yes, even finding all the lambda caches! Achievements are kind of my thing at the moment it has to be said as I try and catch up my senior team members with their massive gamerscores.  Now if only I had broadband so I could get the online ones!  HL2 Episode 1 has irked me a little, as the bridges in the Citadel core broke and didn’t move when they should have, leaving me stranded and screwing up my “One Bullet” run.  I’ve just spent £50 on items from the valve store, so while I sip water from my Aperture Science mug and listen to the soundtrack I can think of the joys of Portal and how I am SO not getting the Neighbourhood Watch achievement on Episode Two.

Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Games (DS)
Well it IS my game after all, so with all the demoing and sorting out of things I was bound to have played it more than once or twice.  Hopefully my DS will appear soon so I can go back to reducing my 100m time.

SD! Vs Raw 2008 (X360)
It came with the console deal, and hey I like wrestling - its like a soap opera without the misery and people asking telling their daughters to eat up their chips.  SD! Vs Raw 08 is a hideously flawed game in places (Do you want to relinquish your title? No. You have relinquished your title!) but again its rather good on the achievement points.

SEGA Superstars Tennis (Wii)
Its an early build the version I have alas, but I’ve been enjoying it far too much to care.

Forza Motorsport 2 (X360)
Another bundled title. my driving may be awful but I’m racking up the wins at least.

Mark OC

I have spent most of my time recently travelling around Europe and playing Viking: Battle For Asgard (out on 28th March!). I have also found a little time to play Super Mario Sunshine, Guitar Hero 3, Mario & Sonic at the Olympics (DS), Call of Duty 4 and also revisited an old favourite - Crackdown.

El Magnifico

Football Manager Live has been my main vehicle of play this past month, purely through commitment to work and for research purposes, of course. It remains my ultimate life goal to leave Dynamo Dave FC in a state of financial ruin and see Electronic Hearts as the dominant club at SEGA. Other than that, I’ve been keeping my consoles warm with the following:

Outrun 2 SP
Still awesome at capturing a sense of serious speed, and the drift is enormously satisfying. A killer soundtrack, too.

Ghost Squad
The thinking man’s mindless shooting game.

Professor Leyton and the Curious Village
This is my way of salvaging grey matter after bringing out my savage side on Ghost Squad. A very satisfying puzzler. 

Dave K

I went all retro this month digging out my old Atari ST and sampling some Football Management classic. The original Football Manager got an hour of my time, before I bored of this and moved onto the challenge of guiding England to glory on Tracksuit Manager.

As ever, Football Manager Live & Pro Evo made up my staple gaming diet for February. But, I did manage to squeeze in a little Mario & Sonic on the Wii.

The Big Cheese

Trying to improve my team’s ranking in Football Manager Live BETA, I’ve got a warchest of £2M for the start of the new season and I’m trying to pick up a bargain from my shortlist.
 
Other than that, PS2 Katamari has been revisited, not only for the fantastic gameplay but also for the funky songs. I’ve collected further stars on Super Mario Galaxy, been shooting like a loon on the PS3 version of The Club and been building an empire on Civ 4.
 
Final Fantasy Tactics on the PSP is making those long train journey’s whizz by, Cooking Mama 2 and Mario and Sonic DS are also complimenting the handheld fun.