Daytona USA is coming to PSN and XBLA!

Posted Monday, 17th October 2011 under New old games
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Last week Siliconera reported that Daytona USA was coming to PSN and XBLA, featuring enhanced graphics (including widescreen support), 8 player online multiplay and all sorts of fun amazement. This comes on the heels of my previous post (which came via Retro Gaming Australia), where I hoped for nice HD visuals of the original assets and online multiplayer awesomeness. To say I’m chuffed would be an understatement 🙂

If this proves to be successful, perhaps we’ll see some other Sega arcade racers make it over. Sega Rally 1 and 2, Sega Touring Car and Scud Racer would all make wonderful additions to this lineup.

The only question that remains in my mind is the longevity of playing the game online – how long until online participation wears off? Take OutRun Online Arcade as an example – I love the game to bits, but nobody’s playing it on PSN much these days. Not that I can talk – I don’t get a lot of time for gaming these days, so I’m equally guilty of it as well.

So, in a perfect world the game would also support local multiplayer via split-screen and network (or both – 4 players on two networked PS3s for example). The thought of having 8 consoles hooked up for LAN Daytona is mind-blowing – if you ever had the luxury of going to an arcade with 8 Daytona machines hooked up with 8 mates in their respective cabs at the same time while duking it out with another 32 CPU cars on the track, you’d know such a thing is an amazing moment in arcade gaming.

Anywho, enough chatter – here’s the trailer:

We’ll apparently be seeing the game in November, while the US and Canada will be able to get started at the end of the month. Nice to see Daytona USA reflects the time it was developed by delaying the game for PAL territories 😉

You can’t have Guardian Heroes 2 – enjoy the original instead

Posted Wednesday, 28th September 2011 under New old games
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It’s a double Retro Gaming Australia week at Retro Otaku!

As reported (via Eurogamer), Treasure were going to get cracking on a sequel to the amazing Saturn original, Guardian Heroes, but Sega (as the publisher) wanted to have the franchise’s presence drummed up a bit before giving the green light for the sequel. So instead of Guardian Heroes 2, we are getting the original Guardian Heroes with a silly (and thankfully optional) graphics filter on XBLA only. This isn’t a bad thing on its own, as it will enable more people to enjoy this brilliant game (and having been playing and trumpeting its greatness since owning it in 1996 on my happy Saturn), it’s a bit sad that we didn’t get a sequel.

All’s not lost though – if it sells well, there’s the chance of a proper sequel (Guardian Heroes Advance does not count).

You want to know a crazy thought? It would sell more if it was on PSN as well.

Just saying.

Daytona USA – rated but not confirmed for XBLA or PSN

Posted Monday, 26th September 2011 under New old games
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I can’t take credit for this – Retro Gaming Australia reports that Daytona USA has a new listing in the OFLC’s database.

There’s no information regarding platform or much else – it’s been rated ‘G’ and Sega Australia filed the request.

It’ll be interesting to see what comes out of it – perfect Model 2 emulation internally running at 1080p with 8-player online multiplayer awesomeness? A combination of the Model 2 original plus the Model 3 successor, all running at 1080p w/online multiplayer? Perhaps a 720p (boo) HD version of the Dreamcast release of Daytona USA 2001? The advantage of the latter is that it looks nice (and would be nicer in 1080p, but previous Dreamcast ports have only been 720p), there’s network infrastructure in the source code IIRC and it has the original tracks plus plenty of extras accumulated from the various subsequent releases.

Assuming it’s a good thing, hopefully we’ll continue to see classic Sega arcade classics released via PSN/XBLA. I’d love a 1080p Sega Rally + Sega Rally 2 release, Sega Touring Car, Scud Racer… and all running at 1080p with online multiplay. And then there’s their fighting franchises – 1080p Virtua Fighter 2, Virtua Fighter 3, Fighting Vipers, Last Bronx… even Sonic The Fighters 😉

A Sega fan can dream, right?

8-bit Assassin’s Creed 2 is awesome

Posted Wednesday, 24th August 2011 under New old games
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I can’t say I was all that impressed with Assassin’s Creed – I have the first one, but the North American accent gave me rage because it seemed so out of place. So, because I’m quirky, I’ve ignored future titles in the franchise. Whether this is a smart decision will be debatable over time. Especially since I only spent 10 minutes playing it and didn’t give it a chance. I think the North American accent was in there because of some mind experiment or something. I wasn’t paying attention. This makes me a bad gamer, so I apologise to Ubisoft for making this knee-jerk rationalisation.

However, I found a video when browsing Retro Gaming Australia last month that would be brill if it were real. Or something.

Presenting 8-bit Assassin’s Creed, it’s amazing and you wish it was a real game. I know I do.

Limbo arrives on PS3

Posted Monday, 15th August 2011 under New old games
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Just a quick note that Playdead’s Limbo has been out on PS3 for a couple of weeks now, which is a wonderful thing as it means I can now play this inspiring, lucid puzzle platformer that was previously available only on Xbox 360. There’s even a demo on PSN to whet your appetite.

Awesome 😀