Outrun And Sega Rally Under Attack? (More Yakuza, Sonic)

This is a good bit of investigative reporting by my buddy isamu on the ORA board.  I'm repeating this just for any readers not from that board...

OutRun Online Arcade is available on the Xbox 360 in any country.  On the PS3 however, it's only available in the UK store.  Well it turns out that he and many others have scoured the UK store to find the game removed altogether.  So basically OutRun 2 is not on the PS3 anymore.  What???

This isn't the first time that a downloadable game has been removed from an online store.  Paperboy, Root Beer Tapper, and other Midway classics have been sucked under (Midway went bankrupt).  Same thing with Yaris which was free BTW (it was a promo game).  You can redownload them again ONLY if you purchased it previously.  Presumably, the game is still on the server but it's not for sale for some reason which makes no sense because you're missing out on the opportunity to earn money...

I think we should all play OutRun Online Arcade on the Xbox 360 in memory.  Just cause we need to do SOMETHING and give Sumo Digital props for making the game more available to a larger crowd (although it wasn't a big seller).  People, you had no excuse to try out the demo cause it's right there in front of you...

To make things worse, Sega Rally Revo has been pulled from the PSN store too.  Yes, I know that Revo isn't considered a powerhouse Sega title, but it's still one of Sega's babies.  So that's two Sega racers gone.  I'm not 100% sure this is true, but I'll let you know if something comes up.

Why would something like this happen all of a sudden?  Does Sega want out?  Does Sony hate Sega?  Is this a stupid mistake?  The last thing we need is every trace of Sega goodness to go away...look out for the future...

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And then add this just because I saw it.  This is entirely in Japan.  New Pokemon game on DS and new Sega Yakuza (under some weird name) game on the PSP.  FIGHT!  Pokemon outsells Yakuza 5 to 1 despite the fact that PB/W has been out for a week already.  This is from Sept. 20 to 26.  All in all not surprising.  Why is Sega making all these PSP games, much less ones that'll never come out in America anyway?  Who knows, who cares.  Congrats on coming in second I guess, Sega has a reason to hold their heads high now.

01. Pokemon Black / White (DS) - 829,000 / 3,386,000

02. Kurohyou: Ryu ga Gotoku Shinshou (PSP) - 174,000 / NEW

http://kotaku.com/5652709/pokemon-black--white-show-the-yakuza-whos-the-boss-in-japan

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And one more thing cause I'm teeming with information.  We're talking about the new Sonic games.  Sonic 4: Episode 1 is coming out in mid-October so that's pretty good.  I'm pretty sure it'll be 1200 MSP but I can't prove it.  Made by Dimps, it's a downloadable title.  Yes, Sonic's gonna be GOOD AGAIN!!  And what's best is that it's just the first episode which means more Sonic titles to come!



Looks like Sonic's moving slower in this one, apparently to improve the controls.  The way he runs looks funny, like his foot movement is potato-shaped or something.  Oh yeah, and I know Sonic 1 had Starlight, Sonic 2 had Casino Night, and Sonic 3 had Carnival Night, but this looks like another Casino level...there's enough of those already, but whatever, that's ok, I like that...  Also, didn't I see a boss battle on Green Hill zone with Eggman and the ball thing?  I think it's good to "revisit" old Sonic classics, but come on, make something semi-original.  Who knows, it may be good.

http://forums.sega.com/showpost.php?p=6228418&postcount=215 - Sonic 4: Episode 2 is currently not in development yet.

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Sonic Colours (yes, I like the British spelling) is coming out mid-November and Takashi Iizuka of Sonic Team says...:

This is a similar title to Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, but the similarity comes from the concept – keeping the tempo very fluid.  A similar concept applies here. Is it the best since then? We always strive to make the best Sonic game yet. It’s at least on a par with Sonic Adventure Battle 2 [sic], and I’m confident it is one of the best Sonic games ever.

http://www.tssznews.com/2010/09/22/iizuka-says-sonic-colors-one-of-the-best-sonic-games-ever/

I've been looking up some info on this Iizuka guy and he's been working on most every Sonic Team game since Sonic 3...  So looking at the footage of Sonic Colours, this looks just like Sonic: Unleashed except without the nighttime Werehog stages.  If it turns out like Sonic Adventure 2 (which I thought was great but remember, not EVERYONE liked it), then it will be alright.  I'm not too stoked though.  Also, it's just gonna be on the Wii and DS which sucks too--no Xbox 360 or PS3 love.