We sat down with Chris Taylor, CEO of Gas Powered Games and creator of the Dungeon Siege series for a chinwag about his new game Space Siege that’s out in Europe on 22nd August.

For more info on the game, click here.

And so continues the somewhat epic saga of the conference. So, after yesterday’s incredibly exciting speeches post, the morning took slightly more comic proceedings. This was through the Marketing Dept’s presentation for some of our upcoming top titles for the year; namely Sonic Unleashed, Madworld, Samba de Amigo and Empire: Total War, all done in the style of the classic game show - The Generation Game.

It turns out that the President of SEGA Europe, Mike Hayes, was on the show in question during the 1980s. Somehow this footage was discovered and then aired at the conference - I suppose you had to be there but I can tell you it was pretty amusing. After this, there was a series of Generation Game style challenges relating to the top titles. Members of the audience were ‘invited’ to take the stage and make a plasticine model of Sonic the Hedgehog in celebration of Sonic Unleashed, draw the Jack (the lead in the upcoming Madworld) and then shake the rhythms out on Samba de Amigo.

While Marketing Director Gary Knight was playing the part of Brucie with an uncanny realism, various members of the audience won prizes for their artistic prowess. In the Samba de Amigo competition, meanwhile, two of our most senior directors took to the stage and shook their maracas (donning ponchos and sombreros of course).

For those Brits reading this who remember The Generation Game, you may recall the final conveyor belt round. For this, picture puzzles of some of SEGA’s upcoming titles rolled along a screen, then classic games and a few retro SEGA titles. I must admit that I wasn’t the best at this, but I still managed a few. I was particularly hopeless with the classic games, but I’ve got to say I’m more a fan of the modern stuff. Do I court controversy? Err… Probably… More tomorrow.

*artists impression of Brucie
P.S. I was struggling to cut through all the legal issues of putting up a Bruce Forsyth picture on our blog, so I drew this one in fifteen minutes using paint and a few Photoshop effects. Hope you like it. Martin has informed me he will be drawing a portrait soon as well so maybe we can see who’s best.

P.P.S. if you don’t know what Brucie really looks like then you should check out the link above.

So, as you probably know from our last posts, on Thursday SEGA Europe threw their annual company conference. This, for a relative newcomer, was an absolute pleasure, because if nothing else at least it was two days off work. However, it turned out to be a more welcome break than that, with the speeches helpful, the team building hilarious and the night activities… well, it’s always a pleasure to have a party courtesy of your company.

The coaches took us from our office in Brentford to somewhere in the Cotswolds, and we arrived at about eleven in the morning. I’m not deliberately being vague, I’m just not entirely sure where we were - somewhere near Swindon I think, but the surroundings were particularly picturesque. Upon arrival, we were all given some refreshments and then into the conference hall. Now, I’d normally go into a conference with more than a little trepidation, because of the likelihood of incredibly boring speeches. However, this wasn’t the case with SEGA, and I was pleasantly surprised.

As I’d only been at the company a month, there was plenty of things I hadn’t known that I found out quickly at the conference. The President, Mike Hayes, began with general talk about company and performance; all which was pretty interesting to someone who’s fairly new. One thing I didn’t realise is just how much people loved Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, and how well it’s done over the last year. There was also some talk of our financial projections (which I couldn’t possibly bore you with) and upcoming titles (which are top secret so I can’t tell you). It was great to see how the company was doing, and it’s always nice to know that you’re working in an industry that is showing great likelihood of growth despite the threat of economic downturn. (I hate to gloat).

Anyhow, this might not be the exciting post you were expecting for something like the annual company conference, but there’s so much to write about that we’ve all chosen to post about it all week. The highlight of the morning’s speeches was the Generation Game style shenanigans that the marketing team threw for our upcoming titles, so I’ll let you know about that tomorrow. There’s also the ‘team building’ which entailed getting aboard boats and sinking a lot, and the BBQ bash, where much merriment ensued. Keep reading for an insight into SEGA company life this week from all of us here…

Yup, we’re back from the lakes and I’m pleased to report that no one has been mislayed or lost, though some people were clearly dead this morning judging from their eyes. Seriously.  No severe injuries have been reported either although many of us are suffering from very sore backs, shoulders and several are nursing some bruised egos… and headaches.

A cavalcade of reports from individual teams including some, none or fewer details on titles coming your way from SEGA. That and just what (can be told without getting into severe trouble) went on, as well as a run down on just how everyone did which I will sum up now:

Martin’s Team = Cheating Winners
Swiss Cheese’s Team = Missed Chances…
JimmyC = Wet
Dave = Half-Drowned
My Team = Utter Rubbish, But…

On the plus side I’m now King of the Jet-Ski, but you’ll have to wait for my main blog on this to find out just why…

It’s, let’s see here… er, 00:53 on July 24th and myself Jimmy, Martin et al are off tomorrow - I mean this morning, for the SEGA conference.  This consists of a bit of a “how we’re doing” session followed by a team building session followed by a very strenuous attempt to get a hangover for the next day.

The team building exercise for this, the first conference for pretty much all of the Online Team besides “jack of all sports” Dave, is raft building which we’re all looking forward to immensely. Honest.

As such we are going to get very wet most likely…

We are all in different teams and no doubt the fellas will each be reporting on their team’s unique successes and failures in their blogs.  Teams are randomised and I ended up being placed in Team 4 - I was less pleased to discover this was the pink team.  I have already said if I’m forced to wear an Amy Rose t-shirt I want a massive hammer at my disposal.

Anyway we’ll let you know how it goes so wish us luck - especially those in Team 4!

Just finished a fortnight at SEGA so I thought I’d send my first blog post out to all ye loyal subscribers. To be honest, this is shaping up to be the kind of job I so badly wanted to do after I finished University, which was almost two years ago this month. After working as a copywriter for a couple of years, an old school friend, Kai, a web developer (who now seems to sort out my technical inabilities) recommended me for the Web Editor role here (comments about nepotism can follow later) I was pretty surprised when I got an interview, and then pretty amazed when I got the job!

To start with I was based in our Old Street office, and aside from the odd bout of office golf, I was primarily focused on learning the ropes through getting onto Football Manager Live and ‘borrowing’ the Medieval Total War expansion pack, then fiddling with that for a while - hard work I know, but you always need to further your product knowledge!

Things really got started with the announcement of Stormrise last week, for which I had to update the main SEGA website for. The release date is still some way off, so I didn’t have to do too much - just put a product page live with a news story. There are also some pretty cool screenshots and back stories to fill your imagination. It’s about time for a fully 3D RTS methinks, and at the moment this one looks a little like an apocalyptic Command and Conquer. As a hardened RTS player I do love that series, especially the Red Alert titles, but the lack of decent aerial combat has always annoyed me. It’s been a long time since Total Annihilation, where the sheer number of units available on land, sea and air was really special. I reckon further inroads should be made with Stormrise, especially with the infantry scaling the wrecked skyscrapers. A 3D RTS should really add an extra dimension of action, so I reckon this should make it work on a console (it’s about time there was a decent strategy game on console!)

Thinking of RTS, a big plus of me moving to SEGA is my love of Total War. I’ve got to get out of the SEGA bandwagon and say I’ve been a Civ addict for many years (not strictly an RTS I know), but Total War has been my other favourite in the history kind of game category. I really got into Rome, and spent some years with the Scipii and the Seleucids conquering the Old World, then came Medieval and I did the same with the English Crusaders. I put the video for Empire live on Friday, and frankly, it’s looking damn cool… yes admittedly, there isn’t any game play footage on this particular trailer, but then we got some screenshots from the E3 conference this week - take a look at the Empire: Total War page for all the media. Up until now, there’s just been a few naval battle shots. No doubt this is going to be a great feature of the new title, but I’m probably more excited by the full introduction of cannon and musket on the battlefield… The inaccuracy of rifling back then will mean that unit formation won’t become too complicated; I’ve dreamed of a WWII title coming out for Total War, but I reckon it might be impossible because of the nature of battles after about 1870 - you never know though… gaming is pretty progressive, American Civil War might be interesting too.

So, this week, I’ve been looking harder into planning our releases on the website, so I’ll be the man to contact about screenshots, videos, and basically anything else that gets published online. I’ve moved to the main SEGA Europe office at Brentford now too, so I can be in touch with this better. Anything, just give me a shout, especially if you’ve got a good blog - maybe I’ll drop you a link or two!

So E3 has come about again, a couple of our American cousins have got to go to the event so hopefully they’ll have had a good time. But by my reckoning looking at my watch the embargo is over and we get to tell you guys about it!

The first thing of course is Sonic Unleashed, more specifically gameplay of a certain lycan-hog that you have been worrying over and badgering me endlessly well details were revealed in a two minute gameplay trailer but you’ll just have to head over to the Sonic City Blognik in order to catch my full run down of that as well as Sonic Chronicles…. and for something else as well!

I’m going to give a rundown on all the SEGA titles talked about today, so wish me luck this is going to be a super-long blog! I’m going to go in alphabetical order sooooo…

BAYONETTA

Some new artwork has been released showing what appears to be some sort of castle or cathedral.  Some character art has also been added.

BLEACH: DARK SOULS  

It’s back to the world of Bleach - yes so soon - for Bleach: Dark Souls for the Nintendo DS^TM. This game brings an exclusive storyline, expanded cast of playable characters (total cast of 44 characters including the ability to play as Hollows) and fast multi-plane fighting action for up to four players via Wi-Fi. Players will also build a power-packed Spirit Card Deck and collect power crystals to augment their spirit card powers on the lower screen and dish out moves that will directly affect their opponent’s gameplay. We have a trailer to show you here.

DINOSAUR KING - http://www.sega.com/dinosaurking

Ever thought that you’d like a pet dinosaur? Come-ahhhhhhhhn, admit it you so did. Coming soon to the Nintendo DS is Dinosaur King, you may be familiar with the SEGA arcade title and the anime series of the same name.  “Roarrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Ahem.  Anyway new details and a trailer are below:

•  Over 100 dinosaurs to collect. As players travel the globe finding dinosaurs they can keep track of those they’ve collected in a Dinosaur Encyclopedia which also gives scientific data and genealogy facts on the dinosaurs as well…
• Special attacks to master. The more battles that are won, the move powerful the dinosaurs become. Players can master over 240 special moves and tricks overall.
•  Head-to-head 3D arena battles. Experience exciting dinosaur combat as they square off with opponents in rich 3D environments.
• Exciting dinosaur digs. Players unearth fossils like real paleontologists with the stylus and bring the authentic dinosaurs from all over the world to life.
• Five exotic areas to explore. Excavating in North America, Asia, Europe, Antarctica, and Africa, players will unearth the actual dinosaurs of those regions in hours and hours of gameplay.
• Exciting multiplayer fighting action.Players will enter into fast-paced dinosaur battles and trade rare items as well as dinosaurs with friends via Wi-Fi.

Incidentally would you like a free dinosaur? I’ll be telling you more about that soon, but if you register your interest on the Dinosaur King website that will be half the job done.

GOLDEN AXE: BEAST RIDER

New character artworks have been made available for this title.

INFINITE SPACE (INFINITE LINE)

End of the line for the WIP title. In Infinite Space create your own private spaceship, exactly to your specifications, and enter the vast interstellar expanse. Examples of possible spaceships have been revealed.

MADWORLD

In MADWORLD^TM, players participate in a game of life and death, where only the strong will survive. You play as Jack, who’s caught up in the terror of Death Watch, the murderous game created by the terrorists who call themselves ‘The Organizers’. To remain alive - and solve the mystery behind Death Watch - you must master the use of weapons and items found within the environment and compete in ultra violent mini-games designed to push you over the edge. With its irreverent humor and over-the-top violence MADWORLD^TM delivers a visceral gaming experience.

The logo has been revealed and also an array of screenshots have also been released.

KEY FEATURES

•       Highly Stylized graphics - black and white graphics based on comic books and graphic novels deliver a stunning and unique looking game

•       Exciting, visceral gameplay - fast and instinctive arcade-style gameplay with brutal finishing moves delivered by the Wii Remote and Nunchuk

•       Over-the-top violence and irreverent content - exaggerated characters, murderous moves, monstrous bosses & outrageous commentary add to the irreverent and humorous tone

•       Multiplayer mini-games - compete in a variety of ultra-violent “party-games” that can be played hotseat against friends.

STORMRISE

Freshly announced recently, Stormrise screens and character art have been made available.

VALKYRIA CHRONICLES

A single player tactical action RPG for the Playstation 3 due Autumn 2008, VC has had a lot of people at SEGA Europe cooing at how lovely it looks.

Embark on an epic adventure through beautiful environments and battle legions of troops to save the small country of Gallia from total destruction. Valkyria Chronicles^TM is set in a fictitious continent reminiscent of 1930s Europe on the verge of a great war. The game follows Welkin and his fellow soldiers of the Federation’s 7^th Platoon that are fighting against the Empire, who is intent on unifying the continent under its power. The emergence of the “Valkyria”- an ancient race with special powers thought to exist only in legends, turns the tide of the war and the Federation’s ability to win and a hope for a better future hangs in the balance.

The logo and a trio of screenshots have been revealed.

Features:

• “CANVAS” graphics engine: Cutting-edge graphics engine producing breathtaking artwork fully leveraging the capabilities of the Playstation3. Creates images that look like watercolor paintings in motion.
• “BLiTZ” tactical battle system: Experience strategic maneuvering of units as in conventional RPG gameplay; add the excitement of action games with real-time controls to command each player.
• Epic storyline: Players will immerse themselves in the epic struggle for freedom, as the fate of the world lies in the hands of Welkin and members of the 7^th platoon.
• Customization: Over 100 customizable characters allow players to create a variety of platoons to suit each battle’s needs.
• Beautifully rendered battlefields: Players explore 30 different environments, using each terrain to gain advantage in battle.

YAKUZA 2

Last but not least… Yakuza 2 has had a string of screenshots released.

PHEW. As I said check out the Blognik for details on Sonic Unleashed and the Total War blog too for any Empire details.

French SEGA blog “The Blue Room” has been busy and have been nosing around the Japanese Expo whilst they were setting up.  There they spotted someone clearly in touch with their inner moody hedgehog.

 
Angst Angst Baby (Dun Dun Dun Dun-De-De Dun-Dun)

We need more SEGA tattoos so if you have one let us know (with a picture naturally).

We’ve had another mail, this time from Adam S who’s busied himself with two customised XBox 360s. The first is a white and blue affair and has the notorious our hedgehog mascot’ s mug boldly indented into it’s surface. The second is a different affair as it is emblazoned with the red tattoo design associated with Shadow The Hedgehog.

Rumours are this 360 is the only one in existance which suffers a green ring of death.  Actually I shouldn’t talk about rings of death as Martin’s 360 has ringed as has the one of the designer of the Samba De Amigo website. At least mine’s still working…

Keep your SEGA goodness coming in to blogs@sega-europe.com.

Want to play Incredible Hulk on your PC but can’t be bothered to go down the shops or wait for a postman to deliver it for you? You can now buy the game as a direct download from us and Trymedia.com!

You can buy and download via the following link- https://fe.trymedia.com/magnus/bbyt.html?contentid=8d581cfc874b5946d716922825ee2341&offering=bnd_ceu&mv_pc=segaus_uk&dm=

Happy SMASHING.