Article

Some sad news from video game voice over land today, as one can see by the title. The following comes from Ryan Drummond's site:

Before I go for this month, I have to pay respects to a fallen talent here in San Diego. Steve Broadie was a very talented Voice-Over actor here and I always enjoyed seeing him at auditions and working with him on projects. He passed away at 2pm on Friday the 10th. He will be missed. Hope he's doing V.O.s in heaven! :)

That is the mention from his site. Very sad, indeed...

Source: ryandrummond.com

And in the process, Sonic actually hits a historic milestone:

Sega today announced the release of the 100th issue of the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series, making the speedy hedgehog the first videogame character to reach the milestone.

First published back in 1993, the strip has traced the adventures of Sonic and the Knothole Village heroes as they take on the evil of Dr. Robotnik and the Robotropolis villains for the past eight years. The 100th issue, which coincides with the 10th Anniversary of Sonic The Hedgehog, will mark the return of the Freedom Fighters, a band of Sonic allies that help him battle Robotnik on his home turf.

"The Sonic The Hedgehog comic book is very special to us and we are thrilled to see it reaching Issue #100," said Michael Silberkleit, Chairman and Publisher, Archie Comic Publications. "'Sonic The Hedgehog' is one of our top-selling comic books and we look forward to many issues to come."

Director of licensing and character development at Sega of America, Jane Thompson enthused, "Since Sonic's 1991 debut as Sega's mascot he has been a leading icon among consumers, and our 'Sonic the Hedgehog' titles are consistent top-sellers for Sega." "Sonic embodies Sega's unique ability to create innovative properties and characters - a strength we've had for more than 40 years with Sonic leading the way."

If these guys want many more issues to come, they got a lot of another kind of 'issues' to deal with first...

Source: SegaWeb

This could definitely open some floodgates. Sonic Team is showing four titles at Space World (For those that don't know, Space World is Nintendo's Japanese showcase of upcoming games). We know of three, which are Phantasy Star Online (GameCube), Sonic Advance, and Puyo Puyo, both for the Gameboy Advance. However, there also seems to be a mystery fourth title lurking in the shadows from the team... noone outside Sonic Team knows what it is yet, so it could be any number of things...

Source: SwirlVision

More Sega Music News... for Japan:

Sony has reaffirmed plans to release a compilation of music from popular Sega games. Over the past few months Sony has allowed players to vote for their favorite Sega tunes for possible inclusion in the compilation. Due to overwhelming demand however, Sony plans to release a series of compilation discs dubbed 'The Best of Sega's Game Music.' The first two volumes in the series are expected to hit Japanese retailers on October 24th and November 21st respectively. Each volume will consist of two discs, though definitive track listings remain undisclosed. Each volume will retail for 3,059 yen ($25), no word on plans to release the compilation discs outside Japan.

News import retailers love to hear... also, I personally find it wierd to hear Sony releasing Sega stuff. I know there's no problem with it now, but it still feels somewhat odd.

Source: Core Magazine

Since I don't play SA2, I'm not 100% what this is, but SwirlVision deemed this important enough to put on their page. The VMU Chao Editor Vers. 2 by Alessandro Sanasi is up for SA2, which people seem to find pretty damn important.

So, uhh... there you go. *Hates these situations where he's not 100% of what exactly he's reporting :) *

Source: SwirlVision

Yet another deal...

Along with announcing that the base Dreamcast price would drop to $79.95, Sega has released details on yet another great deal. This morning, the "Sega Sports AEE Bundle 2K1" was announced, for $99.95. The new Dreamcast bundle contains the usual hardware and peripherals, along with 3 of their most popular Sega Sports 2K1 titles: NFL 2K1, NBA 2K1 and World Series Baseball 2K1. The bundle will be available this month, at most major retailers.

More to cheer for...

Source: Gaming Age

This interesting, if not big, news comes from SegaDojo:

During this weekend's Classic Gaming Expo in Las Vegas (which I had the pleasure of attending), I had a talk with a couple of good folks from Good Deal Games, who recently unleashed two new Sega CD games on the market- Bug Blasters and Star Strike. During our discussion, the spokespeople revealed that they were hard at work on three new games for the Sega Saturn.

While not two many details were revealed about two of the games (they "couldn't say yet", but something tells me they soon will), we do know that one of the games is based on the old Kevin Costner action film Waterworld- and it's practically finished. Nice.

We'll have more details on these games soon. They're also working on producing another Sega CD game, the oft-delayed Absolute project Penn and Teller's Smoke and Mirrors. Nice.

Well, this could be definitely something to watch for...

Source: SegaDojo

The following reminder comes from Gaming Age:

Major retailers like Best Buy, Target, and Circuit City have lowered the Dreamcast price to $79.95. The move on Sega's part is to clear the remaining inventory of Dreamcasts and draw a clean slate towards third-party land. In addition, the DC pad is now $14.99 and the VMU is $9.99. The DC still has great new and upcoming content. Alien Front Online and World Series Baseball 2K1 were just released and the whole 2K2 sports line up is slated for Fall. Pick one up if you haven't, cause it's a steal!

I hope the Walmart they're building here will be selling DC's...

Source: Gaming Age

Resaurus has announced that they are going out of business. There will not be any new figures, (none of the planned SA2 ones), and their entire stock is on clearance sale at their online store. Thanks to Keira-Jo for the scoop. You can access Resaurus' site at http://www.resaurus.com.

I hope you enjoyed this bad news.

You've heard all the news stories, folks, now hear the official announcement so many have awaited:

It's been rumored all over the place, announced in several retailer bulletin boards, and been typed across several platforms. But SEGA has yet to confirm the Dreamcast price drop to $79.95? well, until now. So here is the full SEGA press announcement about the Dreamcast price drop taking effect August 12th:

On Sunday, August 12, 2001, Sega of America will reduce the manufacturer's suggested retail price of the Sega Dreamcast video game console to $79.95, down from $99.95. The change will be effective Sunday, August 12, 2001 at retail stores nationwide. The price reduction is a milestone in Sega?s announced strategy to transition from hardware manufacturer to leading platform-agnostic third party publisher. The move will help ensure that Sega Dreamcast is on store shelves this holiday season, as well as help deliver on Sega?s stated goal to sell through all remaining Dreamcast inventory by the end of the holiday season 2001. In addition to reducing the price of Dreamcast hardware, Sega will also drop the prices of the Dreamcast controller to $14.95, the visual memory unit (VMU) to $9.95 and the Sonic Hardware Bundle to $99.95 (consisting of Sonic Adventure, Sonic Shuffle, and a blue Sonic VMU).

?By taking these steps, we are confident that we will meet our sell-through goal, and we are excited to be able to offer consumers an excellent choice in consoles this holiday season. Besides its affordable price point and incredible library of content, Dreamcast continues to be the only console offering out-of-the-box online gameplay right now.? -- Peter Moore, President & COO, Sega of America.

Sega will continue to support Dreamcast with innovative Sega content. In fact, Sega is shipping more than 20 titles this year to Dreamcast, including the first online-playable baseball simulation, "Sega Sports World Series Baseball 2K2;" the first online console games to use in-game voice chat, "Alien Front Online" and "Propeller Arena;" as well as sequels to top-selling Sega games like "Sega Sports NFL 2K2," "Sega Sports NBA 2K2" and "Shenmue II."

Further, on August 13, Sega will bring back the popular Sega Sports bundle at the attractive price point of $99.95. This year?s Sega Sports bundle will include Dreamcast hardware, a Dreamcast controller and the top-selling Sega Sports NFL 2K1, NBA 2K1 and WSB 2K1. Sega?s focus is on developing innovative content for gaming and non-gaming platforms, and on networked entertainment. Sega continues to be an architecture provider and licensor of the Dreamcast chip-set technology for set-top-box products from Pace Micro Technology, Europe's largest digital set-top box manufacturer. In addition, Sega is exploring different publishing channels to deliver Sega games to handheld devices, such as the previously announced partnerships with Palm handheld computers and Motorola cellular phones. Finally, Sega is focusing on its network strengths to bring online gaming to a variety of devices. Sega?s goal is to become the leading publisher of interactive entertainment worldwide.

For those that don't know what the Sega Sports bundle is, here's a press release of the full details of the sports bundle:

Sega? of America today announced the ?Sega Sports . Bundle 2K1,? which includes the 128-bit Internet-ready Dreamcast? video game console and three titles from the award winning Sega Sports 2K1 line-up for $99.95. Included are three of Sega?s most highly acclaimed sports titles to date: ?Sega Sports . NFL 2K1,? ?Sega Sports? NBA 2K1? and ?Sega Sports . World Series? Baseball 2K1.?

?We are making the Dreamcast more affordable than ever so consumers can experience the thrill of playing Sega Sports games on or offline this summer,? said John Golden, director of product marketing, Sega of America. ?Sega Sports has a reputation for incredible content, so by combining games from the awesome Sega Sports 2K1 line-up with the Dreamcast makes the Sega Sports Bundle 2K1 a terrific value for every sports video game fan.?

?Sega Sports NFL 2K1,? ?Sega Sports NBA 2K1? and ?Sega Sports World Series Baseball 2K1? are three genre-breaking sports titles that feature over 1,300 motion-captured character animations, high-resolution detail and facial expressions, artificial intelligence that mirrors real life behavior, and accurate game and season statistics. From ?bump and run? coverage in ?NFL 2K1,? a working spin move and crossover in ?NBA 2K1? and true-to-life camera angles in ?World Series Baseball 2K1,? these games bring all the intricate action of the big leagues to gamers everywhere.

*Is cursing the fact they don't sell Dreamcasts where he lives*

Source: DCIGN