In another kick-back to the beauty of retro gaming, I was called to the attention of a interesting little pocket of nostalgic gold not too long ago – a quaint little album of independently-created fan covers of Sega Genesis music.

LOSER: A Sega Genesis Tribute Album is a collection of fan-made tracks from several of the popular games from the 16-bit era that graced the Genesis console. A wide range of classic and not-so-classic game music from several Genesis games are covered on the album, from the likes of Sonic the Hedgehog, Ecco The Dolphin, Golden Axe, and even John Madden Football. Arrangements come in all sorts of flavors, from totally remastered melodies to those barely above chiptune-level.

Granted, while I may not agree that the Genesis was a “loser” in the 16-bit war of the 1990’s, I do appreciate the fact that a few brave souls managed to gather together to give the console its proper due – even if their choice of titling sucks.

Check out the album – LOSER Website

Show notes:

[Read the rest of this entry…]

For any of you who thought the Sega Genesis no longer has any surprises and is a dead console, prepare to be sorely mistaken. It seems some people haven’t quite given up on Sega or it’s veteran consoles.

A brand new game called Pier Solar, is getting readied for a release. Set to be a huge (for Genesis) 64Mb cartridge, this game is 100% original from it’s story and characters, to its music and graphics. It’s been in the making for the last four years roughly, and is supposed to be coming out on Christmas Eve of this year, barring any delays like what pushed it back from its original Oct. 29th release date. Considering this is basically a game that was originally meant as a homebrew, a fully-working game capable of being played on a Genesis being the end result is epic.

Pier Solar is orginated from the Sega homebrew community of Eidolon’s Inn in 2004. Started as a small effort to bring the members of the site to virtual life in a little RPG, time has passed and the game has grown into something much more. Now Pier Solar is on it’s way to hopefully become a Role Playing Game maching all other great classics of the 16-bit era…..

A working demo is available for play on the game’s website. The game itself is available for pre-order in two different packages with extra goodies.
http://www.piersolar.com/

It’s been nearly a full decade since the former video game development giant SEGA has released hardware of any kind into the market. The last console was the Dreamcast, which despite being a strong system with good games, was beat into the ground by Sony’s Playstation 2 a year after the Dreamcast was released. Sadly, the console was discontinued a few years later, and SEGA has since survived merely as a third-party publisher for software and games.

Now it seems SEGA’s renewed strength as a software publisher has given it enough of a confidence boost to try and test the waters of hardware production yet again. SEGA announced the release of a new portable media player called the Vision PMP.

The new handheld will actually be less of a portable game player, and more of a multimedia device. It will only be able to play Java-based games, but will also function as a TV tuner, a movie and music player, a video camera and recording device, as well as an eBook reader. Sounds too good to be true, right? Well, it very well may be. The design of the Vision is bulkier than both the PSP and Nintendo DS, and looks more like it’s failed handheld elder brother, the SEGA Nomad. We also have not heard about a price tag to go along with the portable player, and I can tell you that many people probably won’t bother with it unless the price is right.

Regardless, 2009 does mark a significant date for SEGA as its return to the hardware industry after being in the proverbial darkened corner of the video game scene for so long. Will it be a taste of things to come, or a complete bust?

Seems SEGA isn’t out of the game just yet, and has decided to produce and release a brand new addition to their classic HotD series – House of the Dead: Overkill.

The game itself seems to be a prequel in the long-running franchise of light-gun shooters, and takes place in a small backwater town of Bayou City, where rookie AMS agent “G” finds himself and new partner Washington eventually battling with hordes of the walking dead created by a mysterious source. (three guesses as to who might have a hand in it)

Overkill appears to take a page out of Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles in it’s use of the Wiimote targeting and looks to have it’s roots in the traditional on-rails gameplay of previous titles of the series. Headstrong Studios, who have taken it upon themselves to create the game, have said that they’re basing it off of old grindhouse movies, right down to the gritty film of cutscenes and the copious amounts of gore and violence that should be commonplace in anything related to hacking apart zombies.

If the trailer is a faithful depiction of the actual gameplay of the title, then I do believe we have ourselves another fine offspring of the HotD’s deliciously screwed-up family. (with HotD4 being the redheaded stepchild and HotD3 being the awkward middle-child in comparison to their elder sibling titles)

Take one part Virtua Cop, one part Mission Impossible, 1/2 cup minigame elements, stir, and bake at 450 degrees for 25 minutes. After it cools down, you’ll end up Sega AM3’s (at the time doing business as Hitmaker) 2001 sleeper light gun rail shooter Confidential Mission. Playing as a secret agent (or 2 if playing 2 player), you set out to stop a terrorist organization from taking control of a satellite. You’ll travel to a museum, a train, then the terrorist headquarters. Gameplay is pretty much what you’d expect from a light gun shooter, although there are some minigames spread about. You’ll try to guide a grappling hook to it’s target, break out of a room filling with gas, and attempt to rescue a girl. Of course you can play this game with a controller, but obviously you’re going to want to play using a lightgun, as it will make the minigames much easier. Along with a replication of the arcade game, the Dreamcast home version includes an ‘Original mode’ (a mode with a different set of challenges), a training mode, and a decent amount of unlockable features. The home version extras are a good thing, as the main game only has three stages. Even with its lack of replay value, fans of light gun shooters who still hold on to their Dreamcasts will want to get this game, along with a lightgun to play it with. It may be a bit hard to find, but it will be well worth the purchase.

You all got a peak over a week ago of the Sonic Unleashed video leaked onto the internet. After a stir up on SEGA’s part over the video and various screenshot images being posted on numerous blogs, the bigwigs decided to cut the attempted cover-up charade and just come clean by formally announcing that the game is indeed real and upcoming.

Because we didn’t know that already.

Making use of the aptly titled “Hedgehog Engine” to deliver a supposed combination of oldschool gameplay with 3D graphics, Sonic Unleashed is being claimed as the new way to infuse the series with an injection of it’s past glory. (a over-used claim already tried with Sonic Next-Gen and Sonic and the Secret Rings)

“Sonic Unleashed will introduce a new, unexpected storyline along with innovative gameplay that compliments traditional skills and features, allowing players to experiment and engage in new ways.” says Vice President of Marketing at SEGA of America, Sean Ratcliffe.

If they’ve decided to dub the already notorious news about Sonic changing into a were-hedgehog as “new and unexpected”, then I guess they hit the nail on the head, though probably not in the positive way they meant. Regardless, the game is slated for a release during the holidays for Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, and Wii.

Read more at The Daily Page: Going old school at the 2008 Midwest Gaming Classic

See also
midwestgamingclassic.com
www.twingalaxies.com