Sega On Western Games, Samurai Jack, Astro Boy

Thanks to GameSpy for its interview with Makoto Osaki of Sega-AM2, in which the Japanese director of projects discusses Western videogames he's been trying out ("I enjoyed Max Payne a lot. I've only played the PS2 version, though. I also enjoyed Ghost Recon and SOCOM a lot"), before noting the uncertain possibility of the arcade-based Out Run 2 making a U.S. Xbox appearance ("You could probably just rent the games, play them a bit until you're done, say 'That was fun,' and take them back'), and mentioning the inevitable Virtua Fighter 5 ("It will be what fans expect - a one-on-one fighting game.") Elsewhere, GameSpot has a preview of the Sega-published Samurai Jack, as this GC/PS2/Xbox title, "reminiscent of Capcom's Maximo games, albeit with a more over-the-top feel", is officially announced, and 1UP confirm that a Sega-made Astro Boy game is coming to the West, in PS2 and GameBoy Advance flavors.

Great, Tetsuwan Atom!

[dancingmad]

I ended up playing the Tetsuwan Atom game for the GBA. It's pretty good and I'm glad both versions are coming to the U.S.

Re:Great, Tetsuwan Atom!

[lotsofno]

Atom Boy was made by Treasure, the same company that brought us the classic and action-packed "Gunstar Heroes."

There's a review [gbacentral.net] over here if you want to read more about it. I've played it, and it's quite fun.

Re:Note to Adrenium: Hire an artist

[DrWho520]

Hire the artist. If there is any game out there screaming for cell shading, Samurai Jack is the one. I have been expecting/dreading a games since the cartoon came out, and dread may be the truth. I hope the jaggies are because of the picture, I hope his face does not look like granite in the final product, I hope all his bits fit together better than how they seem in the images, I hope the fix the frame rate problem cited in article and I hope they give the music of Samurai Jack its due. Samurai Jack ha

Re:Note to Adrenium: Hire an artist

[Paladine97]

It might not be perfect, but I think it looks OK overall. It captures the essence of the cartoon.

I want to send Aku to the pits of Hell!

Re:Note to Adrenium: Hire an artist

[The Evil Couch]

Why not cell shaded? Are you afraid it will look cartoony? Seriously, ladies and gentlemen, it is a cartoon.

It looked cell shaded to me. 3-D models with flat colors. give em some time to add more to it and I think they'll do an OK job. I don't expect them to do an outstanding job, there's almost no good games based off of cartoons.

Samurai Jack

[djdanlib]

Is anyone else having trouble with the Samurai Jack page rendering properly in Firebird 0.7? I've had this same problem off and on with Sharky Extreme [sharkyextreme.com] as well.

That's one of my favorite cartoons of all time. I hope they keep it true to the cartoon. "Samurai Jack! Watchout!"

All of the screen shots seem a little washed out, even more so than the cartoon. That's a little disappointing, even if it's for some bright dramatic light effects when you whack something with your sword. Would an iris effect help out w

Re:Samurai Jack

[Samhaine]

That's because GameSpot is stupid. Refresh the page and things'll be spaced properly.

Woah, Samurai Jack graphics....umm

[Repugnant_Shit]

I'm glad those are the graphics for the PS2 version. Hopefully the GC/Xbox versions will look a lot better. The characters are way too blocky. The show's animation is very smooth, without lots of sharp angles.

It looks like the game is rendered normally, only with cheesy looking textures on the characters, instead of a good cel-shaded look like Legend of Zelda: Windwaker, or Viewtiful Joe.

These screenshots are very disappointing. Hopefully the gameplay will make up for it.