Gary Busey as Sonic the Hedgehog - hide the women and children

First-quarter results from the industry mainstay posted SEGA at a loss of $963 million.

Despite the brutal blow, consumer growth has gone up 90.6%. However, the company’s current woes can be laid directly at the feet of Sega’s pachinko arcade interests which cost them more than $39 million.

However, Videogame sales have continued to climb for the publisher as Iron Man and Valkyria Chronicles continue to exceed sales expectations in Japan and worldwide.

No word yet from the titular blue hedgehog on the considerable loses of his sugar-momma Sega. Those close Sonic say that he now wishes he hadn’t spent all his money sniffing lines of blow of the ass of Princess Elise.

Source: gamesindustry.biz

Okay, a lame week of game releases. No major titles and what makes it worse is that we were lied to about getting Mega Man 2 on the Virtual Console today, we were also told that Samurai Shodown II and Ys Book I & II were supposed to be released on the Virtual Console as well, but nope.

Oh, but a great week to be a Disney Channel fan, with both The Cheetah Girls: Passport to Stardom and Hannah Montana: Spotlight World Tour. My kid sister would love these games. A lame week indeed.

Pick of the week: Absolutely Nothing Read more…

I will be packing up for my flight to LA shortly — the place where gamers stick out like Pam Anderson’s boobs on, well, Pam Anderson. I once thought to myself, “I wonder what all the beautiful people here think of us?”, but then I realized I didn’t give a shit.

Anyway, as you can see in the image above, I am leaving the site in very capable hands. He runs fast, but what few people know, is that he types even faster.

Not much to say at this point, but we recently received word that while Sonic Unleashed will not be playable, it will be present at this years E3 as a part of SEGA’s behind closed doors “invite only” access. Fortunately for you, we have been granted access to this event, and plan to report back to you as soon as it concludes.

On a personal note, I am very excited about the potential of Sonic Unleashed, and have been very impressed by what I have seen thus far. If you haven’t taken a look at any of the available footage for this game yet, check out the trailer below. I must issue a warning though, if you are anything like me, you will be whistling the tune from this video for hours — it’s that catchy. You have been warned. Read more…

The original Genesis version of Sonic the Hedgehog is now available for download on the 3GB Nano, 5GB iPod and the Classic iPod. The game can be downloaded after the jump. Read more…

SEGA is a Japanese company, right? Of course they are…aren’t they? Well, you would be surprised to learn that when SEGA was started in 1940, they were actually from the other side of the pacific. Read more…

Its official, Smash Bros. Brawl will be entering the U.S. market Feb. 10, 2008.

The announcement came today at Nintendo’s media summit in San Francisco, CA, by vice president of marketing and corporate communications, George Harrison.

According to IGN.com, Harrison mentioned Sonics involvement in the game and the games ability to allow players to share content with each other online and off.

There are still many questions regarding the game that will be answered at the summit. Ripten will keep you updated.