SEGA News Bits: Retro SEGA Games Survey Analysis

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SEGA of America recently released a survey, which you can take here, and it includes a bunch of classic retro non-Sonic SEGA franchises. Everything from Shining to Jet Set Radio to Phantasy Star and Phantasy Star Online. What does this mean? On this SEGA News Bits, George and Barry break the survey down and speculate, analyze and yes… react. Enjoy!

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A Certain Magical Virtual-On digital and physical sales temporarily halted in Japan

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For Japanese players out there, you might of remembered a video game called A Certain Magical Virtual-On, an unusual crossover between SEGA’s Virtual-On IP and Dengeki Bunko’s A Certain Magical Index IP released in 2018 last year for the Playstation 4 and Playstation Vita. Well for those that still want to try it, you might be much more hard pressed to obtain a copy, as SEGA of Japan has temporarily halted production of physical copies and pulled the game from digital stores for “various reasons”. Though they never specified what these reasons are, the most likely explanation is that contracts with using the A Certain Magical Index IP might be expiring, meaning that SEGA legally cannot distribute A Certain Magical Virtual-On until the situation is fixed.

Though A Certain Magical Virtual-On is being pulled from the market, SEGA of Japan has noted that this will have no impact on the production of both the three Virtual-On ports and the twin stick controller by TANITA. This further adds evidence that the reason for the sudden pull might be copyright related.

[Source: SEGA of Japan / Gematsu]

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Google Stadia takes shots at SEGA Dreamcast before GDC reveal

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The picture above was Google’s GDC advertisement to what would be the reveal of the Google Stadia, a Google streaming box that will allow you to steam your games at ‘4k 60fps’. The photo that was posted by Nibellion shows off failed gaming products including the NES Power Glove, the famous Atari E.T. and lastly the legendary Dreamcast.

While I don’t want to wish bad omens on Google’s Stadia gaming entry, I’m pretty sure it isn’t going to have half the users of SEGA’s Dreamcast which sold close to 10 million units in about 2 years. But what are your thoughts on this and Google’s gaming entry?

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Yakuza 5 for PlayStation 4 launching in Japan on June 20

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While we are still waiting for SEGA West to announce release dates for Yakuza 3, 4 and 5; Japan is already finishing up their releases of the PlayStation 4 ports. Yakuza 5, the last of these ports is slated to release on June 20, 2019.

Its going to be interesting to see what SEGA West will do with these titles, especially a entry like Yakuza 4 which replaced one of the main actors due to him being accused of using cocaine.

[Via: Gematsu]

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SEGA AGES Virtua Racing slated for Spring 2019 release, multiplayer information revealed

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After several months of silence, SEGA has dropped new information regarding to SEGA AGES Virtua Racing in the latest issue of Famitsu. The main bulk of the new information is regarding to the game’s multiplayer. SEGA AGES Virtua Racing will support both local and online multiplayer, the latter notable due to it being the first online-supported multiplayer title in the SEGA AGES line-up that isn’t related to a puzzle game. For online multiplayer, players will be restricted to one vs. one matches, while for local multiplayer people will have the option to play up to 8 players and the option to change the amount of laps between 5 and 20. Local multiplayer will use the “old-school” style of displaying all the racers, using a classic split-screen approach.

In addition, it’s revealed that SEGA AGES Virtua Racing will be slated for a Spring 2019 release date in Japan. However, due to SEGA’s track record of these SEGA AGES titles being delayed, expect a summer release date instead. No other information regarding to a pricing or release dates outside of Japan have been revealed.

[Source: Gematsu / Ryokutya2089]

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SEGA posts survey asking fans for feedback on Sonic the Hedgehog, Yakuza, Valkyria Chronicles, Phantasy Star, & more

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If you have been like me, sitting around and waiting for SEGA to ask for our opinion on how they’ve been handling the Phantasy Star franchise; then you are in luck! SEGA has tweeted out asking for fans to give them feedback on their on-going and some legacy brands. You can take the survey here.

This survey is also good for the future direction of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, considering it was announced that the next Sonic the Hedgehog game has already begun production.

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Next major Sonic the Hedgehog game in development, what direction do you want the franchise to take?

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Just the other day at the SXSW Sonic panel Takashi Iizuka confirmed that the next major Sonic Team entry into the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise has begun production. Its quite obvious that fans were less than thrilled with Sonic Forces, but I will say that the engine the team created for that title is one of the best thus far, running at a high frame rate with little to no frame drops. I really want to see how they update it for the next title, at the very least.

Now my question here is what direction do you want to see the next major Sonic the Hedgehog title take? What do you want to see them focus on? In the last few years Sonic Team has been playing it safe having 2D classic Sonic and 3D boost modern Sonic, is this something that the new game should continue? Is it time to add playable friends like the past? Sound off in the comments.

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Sonic @ SXSW: Team Sonic Racing: Overdrive 2-part animation announced – watch part 1 now!

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The Sonic panel at SXSW had a surprise for fans of animation and modern Sonic by way of two new animated shorts! Titled Team Sonic Racing: Overdrive, the animations are created by the same creative team as those behind Sonic Mania Adventures. Based on the audience and online reaction, the first short was a hit and fans can’t wait to see the second. It’s great to see some of the same creative marketing used for Sonic Mania applied to Team Sonic Racing. What did you think of the new animated short? Sound off in the comments below!

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SEGA trademarks the English ‘Sakura Wars’ name in Japan

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If you missed the news, last year SEGA announced at SEGA Fes 2018 that there will be a brand new Sakura Wars title and so far we haven’t heard much about it. But SEGA has now filed for a new trademark in Japan for the name ‘Sakura Wars’. That’s right, the English version of the name has been trademarked and not ‘Sakura Taisen’. The application was filed by SEGA Games on February 26, 2019 to be used in video games, music, movies, streaming services, and more. Expect SEGA to have more Sakura Wars news at SEGA Fes 2019 this upcoming March 30th.

Outside of this Sakura Wars will have a couple of art exhibits this year, but what I really want is for a new modern take on the series and a re-release of the originals (that finally come to America!).

[Source: Siliconera]

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Sonic @ SXSW: Sonic Boom DVDs announced for America

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The Sonic the Hedgehog panel announced today that the Sonic Boom TV series will be seeing DVDs in America. While the series saw releases outside of the USA, only streaming services saw episodes appear. The first DVD will only contain 8 episodes and will be priced at $6.99 with a second DVD due out later with another 8 episodes. The episodes do not appear to be in any order, and given the series has 104 episodes it will take a while to see the whole series on DVD (that’s 13 total). Still, cool to see more Sonic cartoons on home video!

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Sonic @ SXSW: Team Sonic Racing’s customization trailer shows a ton of options including custom horns

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BEEP, BEEP! Team Sonic Racing is coming through with a new customization trailer showing how far you can customize your favorite characters. Quite frankly I’m very happy we are finally getting to the single player, unlockable content. I really believe that SEGA & Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed was a much better game due to its single player content. While this is only customizable stuff, its nice that have things to unlock and customize.

What are your thoughts on the trailer? Team Sonic Racing hits PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and PC! on May 21, 2019!

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After Burner Climax is coming to SEGA Forever

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One of the most underrated mid-00s SEGA-AM 2 arcade game After Burner Climax will get one more chance to soar very soon thanks to the recent announcement at SXSW 2019 made by SEGA confirming that its the next title in SEGA Forever.

Like always SEGA Forever titles are free to play with ads or ad-free for a few dollars. This is actually a re-release of After Burner Climax on mobile since it originally came out in 2013, but its nice that its getting another re-release with (hopefully) some fixes. Can we get another re-release on PSN and finally bring it to PC?

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Space Channel 5 VR Kinda Funky News Flash! gets PlayStation 4 trailer, confirms co-op play

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Its crazy to believe that Space Channel 5 VR Kinda Funky News Flash! debuted as a tech demo years ago at TGS 2016 and now the official USA PlayStation YouTube account has posted a trailer for the game!

The trailer shows off some of the gameplay, which is a re-used stage from the previous game and includes the two new characters exclusive to this version of the game. The trailer also says that the Space Channel 5 VR will contain co-op, but didn’t go into gameplay details. If I had to bet, I would assume its the same type of multipler in the previous title where one person takes up and down and the other controls the left and right inputs. The other frustrating part is that the trailer still doesn’t give us a release date but I hope it makes it out before the end of the year since this year is Space Channel 5‘s 20th Anniversary.

Continue Reading ➜

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SEGA News Bits: Sonic Movie Test Screening Reaction

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More Sonic Movie news hit this week, and it’s a LOT to sift through. Apparently a test screening took place, and a viewer took to Reddit to answer people’s questions about the movie. How big a role does Tom play? How does Robotnik look? Is Knuckles in the movie? All this and more is answered!

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Shenmue 3 pre-order page up on Amazon

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Its crazy that Shenmue II released on September 6, 2001 for the SEGA Dreamcast. Ever since then, fans have been begging SEGA for a 3rd entry and now, almost 20 years later we have an Amazon pre-order page. I used to tell people Shenmue III would never happen and now I get to eat crow.

The only thing I would complain about is that Deep Silver and YSNet are going to charge full price for a game that was basically kickstarted by fans? I’m OK with them charging what they want, but personally think it should have launched at a reasonable price of $39.99.

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