Treating today as if it was the kickoff day for the now-dead E3 (which would traditionally be starting around this time), Sega fired off a wave of press releases announcing a bunch of new games.
Further emphasizing the company’s strategy towards increased Western game development, Sega has teamed up with none other than Gas Powered Games and game design genius Chris Taylor to collaborate on the creation of an all-original PC role-playing game. Unfortunately, details regarding the new RPG, including a title or timetable of release, were not disclosed, but you can rest assured we’ll be waiting on pins and needles to find out more about this one.
Every bit as exciting as the new partnership with Gas Powered Games, Sega has unveiled Condemned 2: Bloodshot, a PS3 and Xbox 360 sequel to Condemned: Criminal Origins set to release sometime in early 2008. Returning developer Monolith Productions is doing everything to raise the high bar the original Condemned set for first-person action thrillers. The sequel is said to feature all-new fighting mechanics that will introduce defensive and offensive combo chains, grapples and holds, new forensic tools to help returning star character Ethan Thomas investigate and solve murders in new ways, and a full compliment of online multiplayer modes. The original Condemned is still one of my favorite games on the 360, so I can’t wait to see what Monolith does with the sequel.
Sure to please arcade game fans, Sega has announced the development of Ghost Squad for the Nintendo Wii. Ghost Squad, which was a huge hit in the arcades in 2005, is a light gun game from Sega AM2 that promises to bring the arcade experience right into the home, and with the Wii’s motion-sensing controls it should be a perfect match. As a member of a team of elite soldiers formed to combat terrorism, players will target and fire at enemies with an arsenal of 25 different weapons, defuse bombs and rescue hostages all using the unique mechanics of the Wii Remote. The game will feature an Arcade mode and multiplayer action for up to four players. Ghost Squad will storm retail shelves this holiday season.
For those who enjoy a little cartoony ultra-violence, Sega has signed an agreement with production studio Mondo Media to develop a game based on the popular Happy Tree Friends animated series from G4 TV and MTV. Happy Tree Friends False Alarm is the name of the game and it is in development at Stainless Studios for an Xbox Live Arcade and PC digital download release this fall. It is an action-puzzle game starring three playable characters — Flippy, the emotionally tattered war-torn bear; Lumpy, the dim-witted blue moose; and Handy, an amputee beaver carpenter — through 10 dynamic 3D environments on a mission to save the other Happy Tree Friends from various disasters and brutal deaths (sure to involve severed limbs, gushing blood, eyes popping out and all other forms of mutilation, if it’s anything like the show).
And in the last tidbit of Sega news today, Universe at War: Earth Assault, the upcoming sci-fi RTS game from developer Petroglyph, is now coming to the Xbox 360 in addition to the previously announced PC version, a move I’d image was taken after the recent PC-to-360 success of other recent RTS games like Command & Conquer 3 and Battle for Middle-Earth II. Although the PC version of Universe at War will be available in time for the holidays, it won’t be landing on the 360 until early ’08.
We’ll let you know more as soon as we receive additional details or media for any of the aforementioned titles.
Matt Litten is the full-time editor and owner of VGBlogger.com. He is responsible for maintaining the day to day operation of the site, editing all staff content before it is published, and contributing regular news, reviews, previews and other articles.
Matt landed his first gig in the video game review business writing for the now-defunct website BonusStage.com. After the sad and untimely close of BonusStage, the former staff went on to found VGBlogger.com. After a short stint as US Site Manager for AceGamez, Matt assumed full ownership over VGBlogger, and to this day he is dedicated to making it one of the top video game blogs in all the blogosphere.
Matt is a fair-minded reviewer and lover of games of all platforms and types, big or small, hyped or niche, big-budget or indie. But that doesn't mean he will let poor games slide without a good thrashing when necessary! 
Chris Taylor = the man.
Sega = rocky next-gen kick-start
Chris Taylor + Sega = Chris kicking Sega in the face and making an incredible game
I think Sega has done quite well so far in the next-gen, better than the majority of third-party publishers at least. Sure, the PS3 and 360 Sonic blew chunks and PSU was disappointing, but I loved Condemned, both Full Auto games have been good fun, Virtua Tennis 3 and Virtua Fighter 5 are excellent, Armored Core 4 and Chromehounds are solid mech games, and SMB: Banana Blitz was one of the top Wii launch titles (though I know you didn’t like it). And I haven’t played it yet, but Sonic and the Secret Rings scored fairly solid reviews overall, better than any other recent 3D Sonic game at least lol.
Sega has some sweet upcoming titles too, including those announced this week and stuff like the new Wii NiGHTS, The Club, and Sega Rally Revo. I’m curious though, did anyone ever hear what happened to Fifth Phantom Saga, that sci-fi FPS for the PS3 showed off at E3 in ’05? From what little was shown I thought it looked pretty cool, but it’s basically disappeared since then. Have always wondered what ever happened to it.
Sonic did blow chunks. As for Full Auto and Chromehounds, they had good gameplay…for about 15 minutes. After that, there just wasn’t enough replay value to make it worthwhile, IMO. Virtua Tennis 3 and Virtua Fighter 5 were damn good…no arguing…but we know they are going to be good. Sonic and the Secret Rings was far better than I could’ve ever expected at this point, and in retrospect, probably one of the only Wii games I’ve purchased recently that was worth keeping. Iffy controls at times, but once you get past the learning curve, you’re set.
Condemned was awesome, and the fact that a sequel is coming out is just as cool. I’m just hoping that the gameplay mechanics don’t turn into some sluggish…but with as tight as the first game was, I doubt they’d fuck it up.
The upcoming line-up has tons of promise. I’m sure that NiGHTS won’t suck…I don’t think there is any way possible to make it suck. lol Sega Rally Revo…I’m not a huge rally guy, but I liked the rally stuff that was in the old Sega GT games.
Fifth Phantom Saga? I remember that…it may have gone into hiding. I mean, hiding seems to have worked well for STALKER and TimeShift (remember how much I bashed that demo? Well…they made the game fucking amazing now!)…so they may be working out some new shit or something. Don’t know. Could’ve gotten cancelled for cheaper plans like NiGHTS and Condemned 2.