Sega is offering early access to the Bayonetta demo to registered Sega Pass Members. Signing up for the Sega Pass is free and takes about 10 seconds (I did it while posting this).

They have a limit of 40,000 codes and they will be given away on a first come first serve basis. If you aren’t a Sega Pass Member, you can sign up right here.

If you like your women without body hair, Bayonetta is probably not for you. But, if you are willing to compromise your high standards, take a few minutes to check out the video below. It’s a pretty cool glimpse into the creation process of Sega’s latest heroine.

Thanks Scrawl

According to GameStop’s online pricing, the much discussed PlayStation 3 port of Bayonetta will apparently be available to consumers at a discounted price of five dollars ($54.99) over its Xbox 360 counterpart ($59.99).

If you are late in joining the conversation, Sega’s Bayonetta title was developed for the Xbox 360 and then ported over to the PlayStation 3. The pixel crunching scrutiny then began, and arguments as to which version was “better” ensued.

A slightly discounted price (if true) may help those who are on the fence about purchasing a ported title, however it may also reaffirm their notion that the port is inferior.

I’m personally not a big fan of ports knowing first-hand that there are many companies out there that take the time to develop a title individually with dedicated teams. That said, I am a big fan of Bayonetta and look forward to picking it up when it hits stores on January 5th (January 8th in Europe).

What do you think? Would discounted prices on ported titles make you happy in the end or is a better solution needed?

Source: Siliconera

This news won’t matter much if you live in Japan because you’re likely already playing the game, Everyone else will have to wait until early January 2010. Sega announced this morning that their Platinum Games’ title Bayonetta will be hitting store shelves in the United States on January 5th and available in Europe three days later on the 8th.

The news also comes with promise of pre-order exclusives but sadly no specifics were given. However, considering the attention given to sex appeal with this character, I’m going to guess a free Bayonetta blow up doll, a box of tissues, and some KY jelly.

The above video is the first in a series of video developer diaries for SEGA’s upcoming Bayonetta. The video discusses the concepts of Bayonetta’s character and enemy design, and the decision to create a world of angels for Bayonetta to fight through. Like almost every dev diary before it, it’s got a lot of insights and a lot of game footage, so if you’re looking forward to Bayonetta it should be of interest.

I’m still on the fence about Bayonetta, for some reason. When I played it it felt like it wasn’t something I would want to play, but everything SEGA has been putting out to advertise it makes it look really quite good. I guess I’ll just have to make my decision when someone isn’t waiting for a turn behind me.

Tired of the same old “bad cop”, “naughty school girl”, and “sexy french maid” Halloween outfits? Me too! Okay… not really, but either way, Sega has got the perfect pick-me-up guide for your last minute Halloween costume conundrum … Bayonetta!

That’s right ladies (and men if this is your sort of thing), firmly pack your boobs and butt into a full body leather suit, twirl your hair up in a Bouffant (think Marg Simpson only much sexier), throw on a pair of high heal boots, black rimmed glasses, and grab a handful or two of candy red colored fire arms to top it all off.

Hit the Halloween kid infested streets this year with a look that says “I’m smart enough to know better, but reckless enough to destroy anything that gets in my way.” The Bayonetta makeover is sure to have the men in each and every household rushing to the door for a chance to put their Snickers bars in your sweet sweet candy basket.

For some step-by-step tips on how to pull off the “Bayonetta” look, head on over to Sega’s Bayonetta “Make-A-Witch” Foundation website.

Last time I went to the the London Expo, I was quite disappointed with the lack of proper gaming content. This year, however, I was pleasantly surprised. Tekken 6, Borderlands, Bayonetta, and even Left 4 Dead 2 were all playable at the show- which of course meant that I played them as much as I could.

Obviously I wouldn’t be writing this if I wasn’t going to tell you about them, so don’t worry about that. You could read my impressions and watch a video of the games at the same time and pretend that you’re me. This is clearly something that you want to do, so hit the jump to read on.

I’ll spare the details about the show itself, as it rarely changes in atmosphere. Essentially, the show is a gathering of the internet. People dress as memes, animé characters, game characters, or wear sarcastic t-shirts in what I consider to be the seasonal ‘dance of the nerds’. I would have said it was like a mating ritual but we all know that no mating would ever take place. Anyway, now that I’m done insulting everyone who went, probably including myself, I’ll move on to the games.

When I arrived I headed straight for the Borderlands booth- despite the fact that the game has already been released on consoles, I’d never played it before that and was (and am, at the time of writing) waiting for the PC release. As an RPG it’s not ideal for booth play, but I was very impressed. Even though I wasn’t used to using a 360 pad for first-person shooters, I found myself playing for over an hour. Yeah, I was that guy, hogging the booth. I’m sorry, everyone who stood behind me waiting for me to finish.

Luckily the game was running in two-player co-op and there were plenty of other 360s around running the game. I found that playing the game this way was great for showing it off; due to the nature of the game you’re encouraged to talk about what’s going on with your co-op partner and share weapons with them. It’s a great way of making you emotionally involved in the game- and clearly it worked, since I was playing for so long without realising. I’m looking forward to playing the PC version.

I moved on to play Bayonetta, which was a perfectly serviceable brawler which already has a demo out that you can download and try out yourself. If you really want my opinion, I’ll just say that I got a bit bored of it after a little while of fighting the same enemies over and over. The game looks great, though. There’s a lot of detail in the environments and the boss battles are quite epic. Not Shadow of the Colossus epic, just a little bit epic.

I also played Tekken 6, which is every Tekken with slightly better graphics and more characters. I played as Paul (who was good in Tekken 3, the only one I played) and got beat up by someone playing as Law. I don’t think I could go back to Tekken after Street Fighter 4. I just don’t like the 3D mechanic. So my summary of Tekken 6 is this: It’s a Tekken game. What did you expect?

After wandering around a bit (and briefly watching the Avatar game in 3D, which hurt my eyes slightly) I threw away my instinct to avoid boredom and queued up for 45 minutes to play Left 4 Dead 2. It was being played in the same vault as Dead Space was last time (it even had pictures of Issac on the walls inside), on four 360s. They weren’t even connected together, it was just single-player. This combined with the fact that I find playing Valve games with a controller to be utterly awful meant that my opinion of the game went down a lot to just “this is brilliant.”

Despite not being able to aim because of the controller, I found it to be a very enjoyable experience. Cutting zombies in half with a machete is highly unlikely to get old any time soon. The demo comes out soon, so I’ll be doing a full preview in the future. I realise I’m being a big PC elitist when it comes to the controller but I honestly found the burst-fire rifle to be fairly useless as I couldn’t reliably pull off headshots with it. Anyway, I’ll save that for the preview.

That’s about it, I’m afraid. The MCM expo is never huge for games, although this year, as I’ve said, I was impressed with the turnout. Next weekend, however, is the Eurogamer Expo, which I’m also attending. That expo is completely focused on games, and so I’ll hopefully have a bit more to say about that. So, to summarise the MCM Expo 2009, here is a haiku. The use of haiku represents the underlying internet and Japanophile culture present at the Expo.

The dance of the nerds
Has Left 4 Dead 2 this year
It was good, I think

I’ve been a fan of Sega’s multi-platform title Bayonetta from the moment I laid my eyes on an early preview of the game at E3. In fact, I rushed home and told everyone I could about the game … heck I even tried to sketch a few aspects of it for our readers.

Well, the popular Japanese video game publication Famitsu seems to think that Bayonetta is pretty spiffy as well.

Only twelve titles have received a perfect score of 40 in the magazine’s life span, with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time being the first in 1998 and Bayonetta being the most recent. Hit the jump for the full list of games awarded a perfect score by Famitsu.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998)
2. Soulcalibur (1999)
3. Vagrant Story (2000)
4. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (2003)
5. Nintendogs (2005)
6. Final Fantasy XII (2006)
7. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008)
8. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2008)
9. 428 (2008)
10. Dragon Quest IX (2009)
11. Monster Hunter Tri (2009)
12. Bayonetta (2009)

Source: Kotaku

I’ve been a fan of this Platinum Games project since I first sketched it for you back at last year’s E3. Bayonetta features killer hair, big boobs swaddled in leather, fashion statement gun accessories, and now … a child abducting villain! Seriously, what’s an epic battle between two forces without a little hostage negotiation?

Sega’s E3 Trailer, sent to us last night as a 600+ meg file via email (too much work), is available for you after the jump courtesy of the video department over at GameTrailers. In addition to baby Bayonetta, you will find a good chunk of gameplay footage. Hit it.

Sega have announced that Bayonetta will be releasing simultaneously worldwide in Autumn 2009. It’s shaping up nicely from what we’ve seen so far, and the fact that the renowned Platinum Games is the developer is certainly encouraging. Fans of clothes made of hair will love it, too.

Hideki Kamiya, the director of the upcoming Bayonetta, has mentioned in a blog post that “we want to be completely upfront with what we are making so there are no hard feelings or misunderstandings. For instance, with Bayonetta, we would hate for someone to think it is a heartwarming tale and then buy the game to discover it is really a sadistically hard game (I hope…) where you play as a witch who laughs as she destroys angelic enemies.” You know that when the director tells you that a game is sadistic, he means business.

The blog post also mentioned why he decided upon a female lead for the game. Kamiya mentions that “I feel a sense of accomplishment as I feel I have already done what there is to be done vis-à-vis creating male characters.” he goes on to discuss his designs for male characters in games like Resident Evil and Okami, concluding that “This seems to have gotten longer than anyone is actually going to read.” A true insight into the making of Bayonetta, there.

Via Joystiq

Finally, it all makes sense.

Vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who has been taking shots from the mainstream media for her dearth of credible political inexperience and inability to form a cohesive sentence, has an excuse for her lack of foreign policy street cred: she’s too busy hunting demons. Literally.

It has come to our attention here at Ripten that Gov. Palin bears a striking resemblance to the high-kicking heroine and namesake of the forthcoming Sega title Bayonetta.

Unconvinced? Well in an effort to be both “Fair and Balanced,” we have created a list of compelling evidence that removes all doubt as to Gov. Palin’s extra curricular activities as the gunslinger in hotpants:

• Both wear glasses.
• Both look like the high school librarian we always wanted.
• Both have a love of firearms.
• Both wear shoes that hold large-caliber weaponry.
• Both come from somewhere cold.
• Both see angels.
• Both are on a mission to eradicate evil.
• Both have daughters who’ve been forced into loveless marriages for political purposes.

Gov. Palin has had disjointed public appearances, due possibly to the rigorous production schedule at Sega.

Because of this revelation, many here at Ripten have decided to switch from the Obama/Biden ticket. Sorry mate, but Biden is a dessicated stick of beef jerky and Bayonetta is rad all day.

McCain/Bayonetta 08, bitches!

An over the shoulder video showcasing some gameplay footage from Sega’s highly stylized action game, Bayonetta, is now available for your viewing pleasure. If you read the site regularly know that I am very excited about the potential of this game — so much so that I drew some loose sketches for you after seeing initial footage of it at E3.

Those sketches will not be needed anymore, as you can now get a look for yourself after the jump. Keep in mind this is off-screen, and that the quality and color in this video does not do the game justice at all — but it’s better than my sketching.

Bayonetta is the sexy (borderline slutty) gun packing librarian of our dreams. Some may say that the sex aspect is a bit much, but I would quickly direct them to another female heroine who has done quite well for herself.

I was so excited after seeing Bayonetta at this years E3 that I did everything I could to share what I had seen with all of you — including sketching some key moments from the presentation. Well, thanks to the latest issue of Famitsu, you will all be able to see a short video clip released by Sega that highlights a small sampling of the games footage.

Unfortunately the clip doesn’t showcase any of the fighting mechanics we got to see at E3, but it does give you a glimpse into the style and overall art direction. Having seen the footage again myself, I stand behind my original statement comparing the games look to a mix between DMC and Final Fantasy.

The short video clip as well as three high res scans from the magazine are available after the jump.

Source: Gamekyo

I took a little heat in our day four E3 podcast when I began to describe SEGA’s new third person action game, Bayonetta — so I decided to whip up some very quick sketches from memory to help those reading better visualize what I saw first hand in SEGA’s Platinum Games showcase room.

Bayonetta is currently being developed by Hideki Kamiya, the former director of DMC1, which makes perfect sense since everything about this game seemed to kick ass. From the moment the demo started, the room was captivated.

You play as Bayonetta, a very lean and mean witch decked out in what appears to be a skin tight leather suit. If that’s not enough to demand your attention, she is also equipped with guns in nearly every place imaginable. Bang bang!

Graphically, the look was a mix of DMC and Final Fantasy. Beautifully colored architecture and scenery complimented with breathtakingly detailed enemies. The enemies we got a look at consisted of a smaller crew of three to four and one larger boss. They all had a similar robotic look — halo adorned heads, pure white skin tone, covered with intricate gold colored armor. From what I could gather, the halo’s are collected and used as power ups which help your character advance.

The look is DMC meets FF. Not a bad combination if you ask me.

Mob enemies featured in demo. Boss looked similar only much bigger.

In terms of moves, they highlighted a few which involved the use of her many guns. The most memorable involved her doing a rotating hand stand with her legs split in different directions. From this position, she spun around, firing rounds from her high heel mounted guns. Yes, I said high heel mounted guns. In addition to the whirlwind of leg launching bullets, she can also suspend herself in mid air and fire successive rounds at a target in what appeared to be some sort of time slowing mode.

Dodging an enemy initiated a mode they referred to as “Witch Time”, which causes the area around her to dim a bit in color, freezing all nearby enemies, and allowing her to perform more powerful attacks. During this time, we witnessed a few “hair moves” that had everyone laughing in sheer amazement.

The first involved a portal opening and then launching a large boot made of her own twirled hair at several enemies. The presenter said that this move would mimic that of what you are doing with the character, meaning if you are kicking, it will launch a boot — and if you are punching, a giant fist would come flying out of the portal. Below is a sketch that I did to better illustrate what it looked like on screen.

Bayonetta gives bad guys the big hairy boot.

The second took place during what appeared to be some sort of boss or min boss fight. Bayonetta was hammering away at the gold plated creature, knocking away layers of armor with each series of hits she successfully landed. Suddenly, she switched from firing, and unleashed a giant dragon made from her own hair at the target. The dragon spun up from behind the enemy, taking it by surprise, and then dove head first into its mid section to finish it off. Again, I have tried my best to provide a sketch from memory of what it looked like.

Bayonetta’s hair switches to dragon form to finish off a boss.

To recap, Bayonetta comes equipped with guns and radically possessed hair, but that isn’t the extent of her witchy woman abilities — she can also summon “torture attacks” based on the direction she is facing. We witnessed one called Iron Maiden and another called Guillotine, which essentially was a gigantic smoke black colored guillotine that forced an ememy in to position for a swift head chopping. Very big crowd-pleaser.

You will be able to shoot in multiple directions simultaneously, however, when I asked how the targeting mechanics worked, they responded by saying that was something they were still in the process of fine tuning.

Overall, I was very impressed from what I saw on screen from both an asthetic and purely imaginative perspective, however much more will be revealed when we actually have a chance to play the game. This is definitly a title we will be looking to follow very closely here at Ripten.