A brand new trailer for Samba De Amigo on the Nintendo Wii has just gone live on our YouTube and Facebook.  Check it out below:

Now this is clearly insane and brilliant in equal measure - you might have already seen this as it has done the rounds on UK:Resistance and SEGA Nerds but we just had to comment on it also.

 The general concensus is that we’d like to shake this gentlemans hand forcably before trying to scan him in with some kind of terrifying laser in order to fully appreciate its majesty.  I’ve started looking in the cupboards for one.

In fact its given us the idea that this “SEGA Inkorporated” section could really take off, so if you have a tattoo of SEGA related goodness show us at blogs@sega-europe.com.  We don’t endorse little kids rushing out to to try and tattoo themselves up so DON’T, this is for the more senior fans amongst us.

Its brilliant. Though I must admit to being somewhat un-nerved by Knuckles who, judging from his eyes seems to be possessed or is one of the “infected” (that’s a HOTD in-joke folks). Of course if we were being reaaaally picky we could say the SEGA logo isn’t in the correct style, we can’t endorse it and the whole thing would have to be removed for legal reasons. Probably with some kind of terrifying laser.

I’ll go and look in the cupboard.

Well video footage is finally out and about forthe hulk - in fact I’ve a trailer and a behind the scenes video to show you - both are up on our YouTube account.

Hulk Trailer 

Behind The Scenes Video #1

 [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/v/BLjKO92B-cU[/youtube]

I’m pleased to say the winner of the weekend competition to win my very own Iron Man t-shirt was - everyone who entered! Yes, I recieved some more T-shirts at SEGAAUK Towers courtesy of the Brand team so all those who entered look to your inbox and you should see what I need from you by way of details.

Now those who didn’t enter DON’T start trying to add your name I’ve turned the comments off for that post.

I’ll see if I can do another weekend competition tomorrow.

PS: The answer was B - WAR MACHINE.

As many of you have seen, the SEGA website has changed an AWFUL lot, this is the result of months of work from our European online team. The design is for what is termed “SEGA West” i.e. Europe and America, we’ll be working much much closer in the future. Borrowing cups of sugar and inviting them around for Sunday BBQs etc, admittedly that might be difficult with them in San Francisco.

But I digress, the new website is still under a bit of development - we’re taking note of your feedback and a couple of little niggles that have come up - but it is miles better than the old one both graphically as well as the back end of the site. We’ll be working through the older games when we’ve got a sec, so if you can’t find Jet Set Radio Future or similar have patience and enjoy the dynamic new look.

One of the things you’ll notice is us getting very big on the concept of Digital Downloads, for example we’ve got ones coming up for release with Iron Man as well as a download only game in Happy Tree Friends. Keep an eye out for more details regarding this medium in future blogs, etc as we’re all very excited about the possibilities here.

As such if you are interested in our other current games available here they are -

Iron Man - Click Here
Football Manager 2008 - Click Here
SEGA Rally - Click Here
Universe At War - Click Here
The Golden Compass - Click Here
The Club - Click Here
Medieval II Total War: Gold - Click Here

As you well know by now Iron Man is out in the cinema and available to play via the official video game developed by Secret Level. SEGA en masse - both our main Brentford and SEGAAUK HQs - went out to Leicester Square to see the film last night. (Which rocks, make sure you stick around until after the credits have rolled!!!) We even snuck in the time before hand to down a few tasty beverages in a nearby bar in a private room worryingly named “The Leather Booth”.

Least said about that the better I think…..

Anyway the weekend starts here with a little competition to get your mits on one of the Iron Man t-shirts made for all SEGA staff to celebrate the launch of the video game. You are litterally competing for mine. Simply add a comment at the end of this post with your email address and answer and I’ll pick a name at random on Monday.

Q: Which of the below is the name of an ally of Iron Man?

A: War Child
B: War Machine
C: Dream Machine

We’re friendly with Ninty nowadays so we can talk about the joys of owning a SNES. I was at the family home over the bank holiday weekend collecting it (I’ve been itching for some Link To The Past action) and a suitcase of other stuff when I discovered at the back underneath a copy of Fifa 98 that I owned a Super GameBoy!

Surprised? You bet I am.  It’s never seen the light of day since purchase. As such I own NO original Game Boy games what so ever, so I’m looking to you o’ wise blog readers to let me know your suggestions for purchases.

Hit me with your suggestions!

It’s always nice when you get good news - one of our contact friends Damo from NintendoLife, VC-Reviews and Pocket Gamer amongst other strings to his bow has just become the daddy to a strapping baby boy.

Naturally we hope he grows up to be a star gamer and fan of all things SEGA, we at SEGAAUK HQ would like to offer our congratulations and hope that Damo doesn’t get too run down by what I like to term the “Babami Code”:  ↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → Feed Change Cry

Congrats once again Damo.

Our US counterparts - who are actually over here from next week to ”see Stonehenge and watch the Morecambe and Wise Show” (er, yeah…) got the chance last month to have a bit of a natter with Marvel.  More specifically, the Iron Man production team interview with questions from both the SEGA Community team, Marvel.com  - the real experts on on all things Super Hero related naturally enough.  As the US team put it: 

“We were very fortunate to get the opportunity to reach out to our production team and grill them on some of the questions beating around in our heads.  Big thanks to Andy Alamano, Associate Producer on the Iron Man video game, who was kind enough to sit down and discuss what makes the Iron Man game great. ”

If you want to see the first part of the interview you can check it out here at http://www.marvel.com/news/vgstories.3347.

SEGA Community: How much freedom did you have when crafting the story for the game? Did you work with the movie or comic folks for input/info?

Andy Alamano: Working with Marvel’s rich comic history allowed us a lot of freedom to pick and choose elements from within the comic run. Marvel had a great deal of visibility every step of the way.

SEGA Community: The game looks beautiful, but if you could pick, what one detail do you think fans are really going to be blown away with?

Andy Alamano: I think the greats detail within the Iron Man game is Iron Man himself. Every suit included in the game has amazing detail. Each time you gain access to another armor set, you can’t help but just use the game camera to examine it.

SEGA Community: You guys have some of the film’s cast locked in for voice talent. How was it working with them on the game?

Andy Alamano: Everyone we worked with was very excited to reprise their roles from the film in the game. Robert Downey Jr. is so excited about the role that he actually took a lot of his time to go over our game script and help iterate on specific details to make sure our Tony was the same as the film’s.

SEGA Community: Any obstacles that were especially tricky in overcoming when developing the game? What did you find about Iron Man and his world that was difficult?

Andy Alamano: One of the biggest challenges was creating a world that was big enough for Iron Man. Because he moves so fast, we had to have a world where he could navigate quickly but not feel cramped. The end results are some massive landscapes that allow for total freedom of flight.

SEGA Community: During the development process we all know aspects of the game get removed, were there any features in particular that you wish made it into the final game?

Andy Alamano: I think Tony Stark outside the suit is a great character; it would have been awesome to have been able to include some Stark-esque “mini games” revolving around his lifestyle outside the suit…

SEGA Community: Are there differences between the different system versions?

Andy Alamano: Each version has unique aspects about it. The PS3 and 360 feature huge environments and include exclusive suits. The PS2 and PSP feature more tight quarters fighting and adventure elements. The Wii includes all sorts of Wii themed control abilities and the DS has a great classic top down shooter vibe.

SEGA Community: What are the major differences for the Nintendo DS and PSP versions? Are players encountering the story from a side scrolling perspective, or is the game fully 3d?

Andy Alamano: The game is fully 3D on every platform. The DS is more of an overhead shooter style but we still cover the same story concepts across all platforms the same.

SEGA Community: Do the Wii and Playstation 3 systems take advantage of the motion sensing technology from these consoles?

Andy Alamano: The Wii features full control of view via the Wii Remote. Also some attacks and other special features will require some Wii actions.

Thanks to Andy Alamano for his time answering these questions!  If you haven’t already done so, please read the rest of the interview over at Marvel.com. 
http://www.marvel.com/news/vgstories.3347

More Iron Man videos for the game which is out TOMORROW - I’m going to see if I can grab some items for a small competition on here.

Before we get to the videos, the SEGA Europe Community Team Facebook group has had some additions (including the videos I’m about to show you) basically it now has a few new applications and also has the most recent blogs from here and the Blognik featured on a feed.  There’s also going to be photos for Flickr visible on here soon if not already.  For more details on some new Flickr photos check out the upcoming blog of mine on the Blognik.

Iron Man - Vignette #4 - The Suit

Iron Man - Vignette #6 - One Man Army

More soon.
AAUK