SEGAbits at Tokyo Game Show 2016 Preview: Puyo Puyo Chronicles (Nintendo 3DS)

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Going into Tokyo Game Show, this was the one title I wasn’t expecting at least not in the form it took. SEGA have tried numerous methods to keep the Puyo Puyo franchise fresh from new aesthetics, gameplay modes and even mixing it with Tetris but the combination of RPG and the traditional gameplay was something I didn’t see coming. As a fan of the franchise I was interested to see how well the new play style would suit the gameplay we all know and love, hit the jump to read my impressions on latest Puyo Puyo Chronicles!

SEGA News Bits: Tokyo Game Show 2016 Impressions

Another Tokyo Game Show 2016 has passed, and in this SEGA News Bits your hosts George and Barry are joined by SEGAbits’ Tokyo Game Show 2016 correspondent Steve aka ap0c. Steve shares with us his firsthand impressions of what SEGA had to show at the event. Yakuza 0, Valkyria: Azure Revolution, Puyo Puyo Chronicles and more are covered in this special SEGA News Bits!

In the comments, let us know what SEGA or Atlus titles you are most excited for from the event.

You know the drill. If you like our SEGA News Bits segments, please give us a like and subscribe on our YouTube page. Thanks!

SEGAbits at Tokyo Game Show 2016 Preview: Valkyria: Azure Revolution (PS4/PS Vita)

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SEGAbits attended Tokyo Game Show 2016! At the event we saw several upcoming SEGA games, presented through stage events and, in some cases, hands-on demos. One of many games we had to opportunity to play a demo of was Valkyria: Azure Revolution. Let’s get this out of the way first; this game plays nothing like Valkyria Chronicles. At all. Don’t entertain the idea that it might be a semi-sequel. Rather, this game plays like an odd mix of action RPG and squad based tactics.

With that out of the way, the demo at Tokyo Game Show consisted of attacking several enemy camps and a final boss fight with a mechanical spider. You controlled a squad of four characters with varying strengths and abilities, after being given a brief tutorial on when and how to use the various tools at your disposal.

SEGAbits at Tokyo Game Show 2016 Preview: Rez Infinite (PS4/PSVR)

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The third iteration of Rez is only a few weeks away and Enhance Games took the PlayStation stage at Tokyo Game Show to once again demo the game. Tetsuya Mizuguchi, in his synesthesia suit garments, revisited a demo that has been shown for some time now. In it, the player travels through three out of order sections of Area 1, along with Area 4’s boss. SEGAbits was in attendance at Tokyo Game Show 2016 and had a chance to preview the game. What did we think? Read on!

Yakuza 6 to be free of loading screens

Yakuza-6_2016_07-26-16_003While recently talking to IGN,  Yakuza 6 producer Toshihiro Nagoshi said he really hoped gamers would appreciate all the work that went into making the gameplay experience seamless by cutting out loading screens. This is something that the team has always struggled with, but gotten better as the series progressed. It seems that Yakuza 6 will take out those pesky loading screens (and not just hide them).

“We’ve worked hard to make this game completely seamless. You can engage in the central adventure, get into battles, watch drama scenes, and go back to the adventure, all without any loading screens. Go into any building or any room or any floor without loading.” – Toshihiro Nagoshi, Yakuza 6 Producer

Of course this is all thanks to the new Yakuza 6 engine that was built for the PlayStation 4 hardware. If you didn’t already guess it, Nagoshi claims that the power of the PlayStation 3 kept them from achieving this. I don’t know if I personally buy that, considering how there have been many open world games without noticeable loading released last generation. Yakuza 6 comes out in Japan on December 8, 2016.

SEGA announces acquisition of Technosoft’s IPs

002SEGA has announced that they have acquired Technosoft’s library of video game IPs, which makes sense since they announced earlier today that they will be adding Technosoft’s Thunder Force III to the new SEGA 3D Archives volume. Now we know that the reason for this is the fact that SEGA has acquired Technosoft’s games. But what have they made? Not too much that is overly popular these days, especially in America. I would say Thunder Force is their most well known franchise.

Some of Technosoft’s franchises:

  • Thunder Force (AGAIN!)
  • Herzog Zwei
  • Elemental Master
  • Hyper Reverthion

SEGA did say during the SEGA 3D Archives stage show that they are looking into reprinting Thunder Force IV, V and even Herzog Zwei. So now SEGA adds another lump sum of Japanese IPs to its already full belt line, what do you think of this news?

[Via: 4Gamer]

Tokyo Game Show 2016: Valkyria: Azure Revolution story trailer

Tokyo Game Show 2016 revealed a new trailer for Valkyria: Azure Revolution, the latest installment in the Valkyria franchise by Media.Vision and SEGA. This trailer focuses on the story of Valkyria: Azure Revolution, with the story being about a nation discovering a special material called Ragnite, the source of “Magic Arts” that brought many blessings to the world, creating the titular “Azure Revolution”. But this revolution would come at a cost, as the Rus Empire gains rapid industrial and societal expansion, creating a monopoly in European territories.

The only thing that can stop the Rus Empire is Jutland, a small economically blockaded country that strives for independence from the colonel rule. The trailer highlights varies characters you will encounter along the way, such as the protagonists Ophelia and Amleth, The Circle of Five (Aka Five Grand Criminals), and the Valkyria Brunhild. However no gameplay is shown.

Valkyria: Azure Revolution will release on the PS4 on January 19, 2017 in Japan.

SEGA almost made a Yakuza game set outside of Japan

AmericaKiryuOne of the reasons we here at SEGAbits love the Yakuza series is due to its wacky look at Japanese culture, that is totally unique to what game developers have been doing in the last 15 years. But according to Toshihiro Nagoshi, the team did think about making a Yakuza game set outside of Japan:

“We have considered it, because there was a feeling that we’d like the Yakuza series to be better known overseas. But the idea disappeared right away. The series was originally intended to target Japanese players, and so setting it overseas would conflict with that original concept, and the popularity of the series within Japan might decline as a result. Also, in terms of marketing, there was concern about the global appeal of a Japanese main character anyway. So it seemed to be tricky.” – Toshihiro Nagoshi, Producer Yakuza series 

During the IGN Japan interview with Toshihiro Nagoshi, he did mention that that the team gets more comments from players overseas as the franchise grows and that they do pay attention. He admitted that the player base in the West is rather small, at around 100,000 consumers which is bigger than I assumed. Even tho Nagoshi teases about a Yakuza game set outside of Japan, it seems that if that were to happen, it would be centered around China since that market seems to have grown rapidly in the last few years. According to Nagoshi, the Asian market increased its sales from a few percentages of total sold games to about 20% of sales for the franchise’s last game (Yakuza 0). That is quite the rise, especially for a more Japanese focused game.

Personally, I’m not interested in a Yakuza game set outside of Japan, but what are your thoughts on the matter? What country would you like to see Kazuma Kiryu travel to? Let us know in the comments below!

SEGAbits at Tokyo Game Show 2016 Preview: Ryū ga Gotoku 6 / Yakuza 6

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In SEGA’s latest installment in its long running Yakuza series, a lot is riding on giving the series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu a strong send off. To accomplish that, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has made a string of changes and brought back a host of ex-characters to give the legendary gangster one last, great, final adventure. Reporting live from Tokyo Game Show for SEGAbits, I’m ready to share my hands-on impressions with Ryū ga Gotoku 6. Hit the break to find out more.

Tokyo Game Show 2016: 15+ minutes of live gameplay for Yakuza 6

Yakuza 6 at the SEGA stage from Tokyo Game Show 2016 was given a roughly 15 minute demo showing off the game. The demo hosted by Saki Akai and Yokoyama Masayoshi explore miscellaneous aspects of Yakuza 6, including varies phone options, exercising at the gym, exploring the city, and of course being the living crap out of enemies. It doesn’t reveal a lot of new information, but it gives a small impression of what Yakuza 6 is for those that are still unfamiliar with the game.

Yakuza 6 releases on the PS4 on December 8th, 2016 in Japan. Meanwhile for those outside of Japan, you can try out the prequel Yakuza 0 coming out on January 24th 2017 if you want to get associated with the franchise before jumping to Yakuza 6 later on.

Tokyo Game Show 2016: New Puyo Puyo Chronicles trailer

SEGA at Tokyo Game Show 2016 reveals a new Puyo Puyo Chronicles trailer that talks about varies aspects of the game. Featuring talent Misako Uno and Chiaki Ito, it talks about its RPG elements, collecting items, battling, “Skill Battles,” gaining experience points, co-op gameplay, and other details. While it technically doesn’t reveal a lot of new information, it does reveal the returning Puyo Puyo SUN mode from Puyo Puyo 20th Anniversary that’s based on Puyo Puyo SUN and Mission Puyo that’s loosely based on the past Nazo Puyo spin-offs. It also briefly teases a mysterious dark crystal ball near the end, and (adorably) shows off Uno and Ito in the signature Puyo Puyo art style.

Puyo Puyo Chronicles will release exclusively on the Nintendo 3DS on December 8th 2016 in Japan.

Tokyo Game Show 2016: SEGA 3D Archives 3: Final Stage debut trailer

SEGA at Tokyo Game Show 2016 unveiled the first trailer for SEGA 3D Archives 3: Final Stage, showing off footage of the currently 6 revealed games. This includes Sonic the Hedgehog 2, After Burner II, Super Hang-On, Bare Knuckle II (Aka Streets of Rage 2 in the NTSC/PAL regions), Gunstar Heroes, and the new exclusive Turbo Outrun. Notably, it specifically mentions that Turbo Outrun will run at 60FPS, so no worries for those frame rate junkies out there. Sadly, the trailer doesn’t reveal any new information, so if you want to know what the mysterious last 3 games are you’ll have to wait longer.

SEGA 3D Archives 3: Final Stage will release on the Nintendo 3DS on December 22nd 2016 in Japan.

SEGA shows off Tokyo Game Show 2016 stage schedule

Sega-TGS-2016-Stage-ScheduleSEGA is now showing of their Tokyo Game Show 2016 stage schedule. The games they are listed to be showing off at Tokyo Game Show 2016 includes Yakuza 6, Valkyria: Azure Revolution, Puyo Puyo Chronicle, and more. The schedule also includes games by WB and EA which SEGA is helping bring over.

Hit the jump and see the long list of SEGA Tokyo Game Show 2016 schedule, with set times and where to stream them.

[Source: Gematsu]

SEGA News Bits: Space Channel 5 VR: Ukiuki Viewing Show Announced Reaction

SEGA announced Space Channel 5 VR: Ukiuki Viewing Show, which will be shown at this year’s Tokyo Game Show. What is Space Channel 5 VR: Ukiuki Viewing Show? Should you be excited? That’s the type of topics we discuss on this episode of the SEGA News Bits. So sit back space cats and lets talk Space Channel 5 VR: Ukiuki Viewing Show and let us know if you think this franchise should make a full blown comeback in the comments below.

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