All of you old-school gamers who are just dying to see the next-generation rebirth of Sega's classic Golden Axe franchise will be happy to know that your prayers have been answered. Developer Secret Level is treating you to Golden Axe: Beast Rider's (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360) first trailer and it's looking pretty wild. Watch the video after the jump.

It looks like everyone's dishing out there own version of "Gamer's Day." Sega's own rendition, however, may be the one to stand out from the rest, since its multi-genre, multi-platform, and multi-franchise collection is studded with highly-anticipated hopefuls. So aside from Iron Man and upcoming game adaptation of The Incredible Hulk, Sega laid out teasers for fans of Aliens, Total War and the stealthy action title, Alpha Protocol.

If you belong to that generation of gamers who were lucky enough to have experienced the good old days of 2D gaming, there's a good chance that you like Sega's Golden Axe franchise. A lot of us were delighted when Golden Axe: Beast Rider was announced for the Sony  PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360, and now we're even happier that its official site gas opened to create a rally point for updates. See the detailed version for more.

According to video game news website PSU, Sega's Danny Chiu has reaffirmed that developer Secret Level has not dropped the PlayStation 3 version of Golden Axe: Beast Rider (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360).

In response to the Xbox 360 exclusivity rumors, Chiu stated, "Not true, it's coming to PS3 as well." Rumors of the game becoming exclusive to the Microsoft console surfaced earlier this week.

Golden Axe: Beast Rider is the latest installment in Sega's venerable Golden Axe series. The game will feature the return of Tyris Flare, the female amazon from the first few games in the series, and will be a more mature title thanks to the presence of dismemberments, decapitations, and nudity.

Secret Level and Sega are currently prepping Golden Axe: Beast Rider for a 2008 release.

The latest issue of Play Magazine sports two pages featuring upcoming video game Golden Axe: Beast Rider. If you guys could recall, this video game was announced back in May of 2006 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms, however, it is now being reported as Microsoft-exclusive.

Beast Rider is a part of the glorious Golden Axe franchise that began in 1989 and dominated the early and mid 90s. It was a side-scrolling hack 'n slash arcade video game that features the story of three warriors and their vows of revenge against the tyrannical Death Adder.

The latest scans show that eye-candy Tyrus Flare will play a heavy role in the next-gen iteration of the franchise. Furthermore, it was also said that Golden Axe: Beast Rider will target mature audiences as it will feature levels of nudity and heavy violence.

Golden Axe: Beast Rider is being developed Secret Level and will be published by Sega. The two video gaming companies have yet to comment regarding the Xbox 360 exclusivity rumor.

 

While the last Xbox Live activity update yielded little change in the pecking order, this latest one from none other than Major Nelson himself gives out quite a lot, most notably the ascent of a certain FPS demo through the ranks of games most frequently played. What's the game? I'll give you three guesses, but I'm sure you'll only be needing one. Yep, it's Bioshock, and it's sky-rocketing through the numbers like no one's business. Without further adieu, let's look at the stats, shall we?

For the Xbox 360 top Live titles, we have Gears of War holding on to the top spot, followed by none other than the demo of 2K Games' latest sci-fi horror shooter, Bioshock. It's also to note that last update's third spot has been vacated by Guitar Hero II, with the Stranglehold demo taking its place. Major upsets must be this update's main flavor, it seems.

Big changes in the Top Arcade titles chart, too. While Track and Field has a deathgrip on Number 1, Hexic 2 and Ecco the Dolphin have usurped control of the Number Two and Three spots from their previous owners, respectively. Marathon Durandal, the grandpappy of Halo, is sitting comfortably on the fourth spot, though.

Last but not least, it's the Original Xbox Top Live game list, and in contrast to the other lists, there's no change here. Halo 2 is still the king of the hill, with Battlefield 2: MC at second and Star Wars: Battlefront 2 in third. Very nicely done for Halo 2, though, as it seems many players are still reliving Master Chief's previous adventure in preparation for the third.

Well, that's it from us. And for your reading pleasure, here's the complete ranking list.

Xbox 360 Top Live Titles (UU’s)

1. Gears of War
2. BioShock (Demo)
3. STRANGLEHOLD (Demo)
4. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas
5. Guitar Hero II
6. Madden NFL 08
7. Forza Motorsport 2
8. Call Of Duty 3
9. Track and Field
10. Oblivion

The full list after the jump!

Sega has just released an updated list of games they plane to release for the PAL (Europe) regions. And while it's pretty much the same line up of titles that were featured in our post from (almost exactly) last month, this new list brings with it updates. For the the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 folks, expect SEGA Rally to hit retail come September 28.

The PSP and Wii crowds also receive an update for Alien Syndrome, which is now expected to launch this July 9 for both consoles. And come November, there's The Golden Compass readying up for a multiplatform release on the consoles mentioned earlier, along with the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS.

• Xbox 360
• SEGA Rally (28/09/2007)
• Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm (Autumn 2007)
• Virtua Fighter 5 (Autumn 2007)
• The Golden Compass (30/11/2007)
• PSU: Ambition of the Illuminus (Winter 2007/2008)
• The Club (Winter 2007/2008)
• Golden Axe (Spring 2008)
• Condemned 2: Bloodshot (Spring 2008)
• Universe At War: Angriffsziel Erde (Spring 2008)
• PSP
• Alien Syndrome (07/09/2007)
• Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars (07/09/2007)
• SEGA Rally (28/09/2007)
• Sonic Rivals 2 (Autumn 2007)
• The Golden Compass (30/11/2007)
• PlayStation 3
• SEGA Rally (28/09/2007)
• The Golden Compass (30/11/2007)
• The Club (Winter 2007/2008)
• Condemned 2: Bloodshot (Spring 2008)
• Golden Axe (Spring 2008)
  

The complete date list is available in the Full Article

We know we've covered Treasure's plans for the next-gen consoles before, and we ended that report with a note on Treasure's rather interesting concern that releasing their old rare games through XBLA and VC might turn off their following, as it would somewhat be a mockery of the effort that their fans went through to collect those rare titles.

It is a bit refreshing to hear, and it's rather interesting to look at the business plans of a game maker whose titles are mostly cult classics. Perhaps it's because the common business norms that apply to big companies like EA doesn't necessarily apply to them.

For example, they're a bit cautious about making sequels:

1UP: Perhaps related, Sega is currently hot on revisiting a lot of its classic franchises on next-gen (such as After Burner, Golden Axe, and so on). Are they coming to you to work on new next-gen versions of games you did for them in the past, such as Guardian Heroes or Gunstar Heroes?
Masato Maegawa: We've had discussions, and I personally would want to do some games in those series on the new consoles, but the team doesn't seem too interested in it. I've been pitching them on ideas here and there, but they would rather work on new titles. Sequels have certain expectations attached to them and they'd rather not be limited by those.

1UP: That's rather rare to hear in this industry. So, we have to ask, are you content with where Treasure is or do you have bigger aspirations for the future?
Masato Maegawa: Honestly, my vision and the company's vision is to have the team working on games that they enjoy and feel passionate about. That is our sole vision. It's not what I want to do, it's what the team wants to do. As long as we feel like we're making good games and we can stay in business, we're happy.

Interesting.

Sega has just posted their list of games to be released in Europe from September to December this year for different consoles. Also included are some of the titles to be released early next year. The titles marked with an * are Sega’s new budget games. This is great news for our fellas in Europe, now how about a full list for US titles as well, huh Sega?*winks*

September 2006:
1st: Virtua Tennis: World Tour Platinum* (PSP)
1st: Virtua Pro Football (PS2)
15th: Yakuza (PS2)
15th: OutRun 2: Coast to Coast* (PSP, PS2)
15th: Sonic Riders* (PS2, NGC)
15th: Shadow the Hedgehog* (PS2, NGC)
15th: Spartan: Total Warrior* (NGC)

November 2006:
17th: Sonic the Hedgehog (PS3, Xbox 360)
17th: Full Auto 2: Battlelines (PS3)
Wii Launch: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz (Wii)
??th: Football Manager 2007 (Xbox 360)
??th: Phantasy Star Universe (PS2, Xbox 360)
??th: Football Manager Portable 2007 (PSP)
??th: SEGA Mega Drive Collection (PS2, PSP)
??th: Sonic Rivals (PSP)

Unknown or in 2007:
Winter 06/07 World Snooker Championship 2007 (Xbox 360, PSP, PS3, PS2)
February 2007 Charlotte’s Web (GBA, NDS)
Spring 2007 Virtua Tennis 3 (Xbox 360, PS3)
Spring 2007 SEGA Rally (Xbox 360, PS3)
Spring 2007 Virtua Fighter 5 (PS3)
Spring 2007 Sonic and the Secret Rings (Wii)
2007: The Club working title (Xbox 360, PS3)
2007: Golden Axe (Xbox 360, PS3)