Blaze Delivers Gimped Portable Megadrive To UK

Remember the Sega Nomad? The portable Megadrive / Genesis that let you play your favorite cartridges for 15-30 minutes at a time before having to change batteries? Well now Blaze International is releasing a product that has all of the fun of the Sega Nomad without all of that pesky cartridge nonsense. The 16bit Megadrive, releasing this month in the UK, features 20 built-in games, a color LCD screen, and a TV out so you can hook it up to your PAL television.

The games included aren't bad for the price. You get Shinobi, Eco the Dolphin, Sonic and Knuckles, Altered Beast, Golden Axe, and several others, all for £29.99 - the price of a DS game. While I would have preferred they sneak a cartridge port on their for good measure, the game selection isn't bad and the price is right. Hit the jump for the full game list and additional details.

Happy Birthday Sonic!

Seventeen years ago to this day, Sonic spirited onto the Genesis/Mega Drive. And he did it with 'tude. That's right! SEGA's Sonic the Hedgehog was released in North America and Europe on June 23, 1991. The game came out a month later in Japan. In his heyday, the blue hedgehog gave Mario as run for his money during the 16 bit generation. While SEGA seemed to have lost the plot in the last few years (human kissing anyone?), recent Sonic titles like the Sonic Team and Dimps developed Sonic Unleashed show promise of a return to form. And that is probably the best birthday present Sonic could ask for.

Sonic's Birthday [Sega Nerds]

Euro VC Gets Phantasy Star III

Screw Coffee, Evangelion Goes Rule 34

genesis4iphone, Exactly What It Sounds Like

Video of genesis4iphone (second beta) in action! [ZodTTD Blog]

Sega has confirmed that two of their Genesis titles, Puyo Puyo 2 and POWERBALL, will be hitting the Wii Shop Channel this month with prices starting at 800 Wii Points.

Puyo Puyo 2 - The object of this head-to-head puzzle game is to clear your grid of falling patterns, called puyos, by forming chains of four or more same-colored puyos in a straight line or one of several geometric patterns. What makes this a challenging two-player contest is the fact that when you clear a chain of puyos from your grid, it drops a random piece of filler onto your opponent's grid. The more puyos you clear, the more you fill your opponent's grid, and if you can clutter up his grid enough to fill it to the top, you've won the game. An intriguing backstory makes this an amusing diversion for one or two players.

POWERBALL - Eight different teams representing various nations are vying to become the Powerball champions, and you control one of the eight in your quest for the championship. A hybrid of games like rugby and football, Powerball is played on a 100-yard field, as you try to score by either carrying the ball into your opponent's end zone or kicking it into your opponent's net for a certain amount of points. This one- or two-player game offers both exhibition and league play. Jump into a game of Powerball and try a brand-new sport!

It is my great shame to admit I completely by-passed the Genesis, so I probably should pick some of these up.

Drink Up The Evangelion Maids!

Importer Innex featured the Retro Duo, an NES, SNES and Super Famicom player, heavily in its CES booth this year, giving old school console fans a chance to bust out their old carts and save a bit of space. The Retro Duo, which was paired with the NES and Sega Genesis-playing Gen-X, features S-video out, for those looking for a bit more clarity out of their 8-bit and 16-bit collection. The Retro Duo's controller looks and feels like the stock Super Nintendo controller, with another controller, part SNES, part NES Max, that should appeal to fans of that form factor.

One advantage the Retro Duo has over some of the other NES/SNES clones is its ability to properly play the original Starfox, which looked and played just as we remembered it. The double duty console looks like a pretty nice product for anyone who still has plenty of retro titles on hand and isn't already in possession of similar products like the FC Twin. More pics of the consoles are in our gallery below.

Discovered at CES: Two generic consoles that play non-generic games. The Retro Duo accepts both NES and Super NES games, while the Gen X takes Sega Master System and Genesis/Mega Drive games. Both of the consoles were built on technology that takes advantage of lapsed patents, so they are perfectly legal. At least according to the guy showing them off at CES they are.

CES 2008: Retro Console Clones Take Actual Cartridges [Wired]

Lair developers Factor 5 have already submitted SNES releases Super Turrican and Super Turrican 2 to the Entertainment Software Ratings Board for a Wii Virtual Console release, but we've been sitting on the prospect of those releases for half the year now. This week, another Turrican rating comes to us in the form of Mega Turrican, the Sega Genesis release of the side-scrolling shooter series.

While we've heard whispers that a new Factor 5 developed Turrican game may be in the works, it would seem that Julian Eggebrecht and crew are waiting for something to light a fire under them. What's it gonna take, guys?

ESRB Game Ratings [ESRB]

Ys I & II, Rolling Thunder 2 Due For Wii Virtual Console

Two more candidates for the Wii Virtual Console service have been rated by the ESRB, typically a good indicator that these games are coming to North America, possibly within the next few weeks. First up is Ys Book I & II, the role-playing game collection released for the Turbografx-CD containing both Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished and Ys II: Ancient Ys Vanished - The Final Chapter. Both feature fantastic art direction, primitive graphics.

Also rated was the Genesis version of Rolling Thunder 2, which ups the side-scrolling shooter classic with a second secret agent and a hefty pair of boobs. Gameplay was an afterthought. While neither are dated nor confirmed by their respective publishers, expect them in a future update.

ESRB Game Ratings

Fourteen Minutes Of Sega Logos

Old clip is old, I know, but I've finally found the time to sit through 14 minutes and 43 seconds of Sega logos, shredded, blown up, bastardized and molested in every imaginable way by anyone and everyone who ever published a Sega Genesis game. The only thing more surprising than the wide variety of title screen mash ups is that Sega brand stewards never seemed to crack down on third parties messing with its corporate logo.

Update: Here's the static version.

ESRB Rates New Virtual Console Candidates

Sega's Genesis classic Sonic the Hedgehog 2 not only ushered in the first in what would become a long line of shitty friends for Sonic, it propelled the blue rodent spiny mammal of the Erinaceidae family to near superstardom in the world of video game platformers. Sonic returns to Xbox Live Arcade this Wednesday with all the usual XBLA goodies—enhanced graphics, updated sound, leaderboards, online multiplayer. All of this for the low price of 400 Microsoft Points.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 [Xbox.com]

Sega Confirms New Virtual Console Titles We Already Knew About

Two Sega Genesis titles recently rated by the ESRB have been confirmed by Sega of America as upcoming releases for the Wii Virtual Console service. The Climax developed RPG Landstalker and Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master are scheduled to make an appearance on the Wii Shop Channel "soon." Both follow the Sega Genesis standard pricing of 800 points.

The addition of Shinobi III is so personally exciting, I just powered on my Wii in the vain hope that Nintendo issued a Thursday update to the Virtual Console. Sadly, I was turned away and will leave my Wii powered down in protest until Monday morning. Full press release confirming the confirmation right after this.

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

Yesterday and today saw this Kotaku associate editor playing a trio of this fall's bigger hits, including the one I'm able to chat about, Activision's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. This weekend I think I'll be sticking to older fare, as my recent purchase of Beyond Oasis for the Sega Genesis means I'll finally get my hands on this action-RPG classic. For what I'm playing beyond Beyond Oasis, I expect that Picross DS will consume to soak up most of my free time. It's all rather dull isn't it? Your input is far more exciting.

So, let's have it. What are you playing this weekend? To the comments with you!

New Wii Virtual Console Titles Rated By ESRB

A trio of rock solid Sega Genesis releases may be making the Internet tube trip to a Virtual Console near you, as the ESRB has rated Landstalker: The Treasures of King Nole, Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master and Capcom's Ghouls N' Ghosts. Good news for yours truly, as I'm in possession of 1400 unused Wii Points and have a nerd-on for all things Shinobi.

Keep in mind that just because the ESRB issues a rating for a particular game doesn't mean it's going to pop up in the Wii Shop Channel come Monday. Plenty of titles, from Pro Wrestling to Pilotwings, have been in the ratings board's database for far too long.

ESRB Game Ratings [ESRB]

New Wii VC Titles Rated By ESRB