For those who recall my post back at the end of June, I confirmed preorders had exceeded that of Bayonetta for Project Diva 2 and that would should be expecting sales above that of Bayonetta, but the final sales for this week has taken me by surprise and I think most people too. Read on to see how well it did.
For those worrying about the same level repeating itself again and again, the latest trailer show cases a new forest level and some new baddies Sam will have to take care of, including a robotic dog and a giant robot which he takes down in a fashion reminiscent to one of Mikami’s previous games.
The success of the new Aliens vs Predator game has no doubt taken everyone, including SEGA, by surprise and recently released figures from January – June 2010 just shows how much of a big impact the title has had for SEGA’s fortune in the United Kingdom. Not only did the title manage to get into a top ten position at eighth, but it even managed to outsell Final Fantasy XIII (Though to be fair to the latter, it was released a month later)
Top 10 selling games in UK (Jan-Jun):
Position / Title / Publisher / Sales
1. Just Dance (Ubisoft) – 940358
2. Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar/Take2) – 819161
3. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (Electronic Arts) – 590580
4. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision Blizzard) – 540761
5. Wii Fit Plus (Nintendo) – 499998
6. Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo) – 439920
7. 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa (Electronic Arts) – 396858
8. Aliens vs Predator (SEGA) – 359968
9. Final Fantasy 13 (Square Enix Europe) – 339996
10. FIFA 10 (Electronic Arts) – 318719
It rounds off an excellent achievement for both publisher and developer and no doubt spells good news for Aliens fans eagerly awaiting either a sequel to Aliens vs Predator or the up and coming Aliens: Colonail Marines. It’ll be interesting to see what final sales figures for the title will be, as in console specfic charts for the UK, the title still retains a high title position but no doubt that Aliens vs Predator has been a massive success for SEGA.
[Source: Chart-track]
There was plenty of good news in SEGA Sammy’s recently disclosed financial report for the first period for the fiscal year ending March 2011, although note all of it was a rossy picture. Despite that, the group posted strong profits of 7 billion yen this quarter, an exceptionally sound result considering recent reports from other major publishers. Read on to follow the general breakdown.
It seems all the big news these days has to be processed through twitter for whatever odd reason. New Bayonetta news is not any different, a tweet from director Yusuke Hashimoto informs followers that there will be some news, although to the extent of which, from a spinoff, sequel or DLC, is not address;
“Good morning. It looks like we’ll be able to share new information related to Bayonetta this week. Look forward to it”
So there you have it, if you’re a fan of Bayonetta, expect some sort of news this week.
[Source: Andriasang]
SEGA have recently revealed that Kazuma Kiryu will indeed be starring alongside Goro Majima for the new Yakuza title and carrying on the theme with weapons, Kazuma comes equipped with a large new gun. Not much has been revealed about the game from Nagoshi in the latest Famitsu magazine. On the announcement of Kazuma Kiryu, Toshihiro Nagoshi said;
It’s said that if Kiryu doesn’t appear, Yakuza cannot begin. However, when we revealed Majima as the first main character, in addition to the reaction of ‘You can use Majima this time!’ it was widely said that ‘Kiryu is gone!’ and ‘It’s a game exclusively with Majima,’ so we wanted to quickly get out information about Kiryu’s appearance as well. Please wait just a bit more for the next update.
No doubt that guns will now be playing a bigger part in the series than ever before but in what capacity remains to be seen, before weapons have been largely ineffective in brawls in the game so a massive overhaul on the typical gameplay seems to be on the cards as Nagoshi hinted in an earlier interview. Tokyo Game Show should present fans of the series with a better idea of what to look forward to in this latest installment.
[Source: Andriasang]
The team behind famed Total War series, The Creative Assembly, have announced that SEGA have green lighted a new major title that will be SEGA’s largest current budget title in internal development outside of Japan. Outside of the announcement, very little is known of the title but one could take this as one of the major titles Hayes spoke of. Speaking of the announcement, the Creative Assembly’s website read;
SEGA greenlight major console investment
SEGA have okayed The Creative Assembly to develop a major new console title. Currently in prototyping stage the title and genre are secret but will constitute SEGA’s largest current budget in internal development outside of Japan. Using technology and tools developed over the last two years the team will now grow substantially. Studio Director Tim Heaton said ‘The Creative Assembly are known for Total War and we are privileged to have a skilled large team working to deliver Shogun 2: Total War. However we have moved forward with our console team and spent a lot of time developing an infrastructure that works for them and during that process developed an incredibly strong demo. It is great that we are getting the perfect backing from SEGA – we have the time and the resources to deliver an awesome game’.
Recent major console titles from The Creative Assembly include both Viking: The Battle for Asgard and the critically panned Stormrise. One can only hope that, now suited with a large scale budget, the team can push on further onto consoles and produced a critically acclaimed title for SEGA.
[Source: The Creative Assembly]
SEGA West superimo Mike Hayes has recently revealed to CVG that the publisher is planning to announce two more “big” games by the end of the year, aimed directly at the core base of the 360 and Playstation 3 userbase, talking to CVG, Hayes commented;
“Then we’ve got two other big games that we’ll be announcing this year for 2011 and 2012. So we’re not going to be overly aggressive – but we’re going to try to have one or two games each year in that segment.”
Whether these titles happen to be developed in house either by SEGA West or one of SEGA’s Japanese teams, or an outsourced project. One thing was clear though in that Hayes was regarded the major titles to be aimed towards the core market for the HD consoles in much the same way Vanquish is. For the quote from the interview, see the link below.
[Source: CVG]
SEGA have confirmed that they will not be attending Gamescon this year due to commercial reasons but reiterated that this does not mean they will not appear in future Gamescon and that this decision is solely based on a decision regarding 2010. In a statement release via VG247, the publisher said;
“Sega has made the decision not to attend gamescom this year,” said the firm.
“Gamescom 2009 was a very successful show for us and continues to be the most important European event in the calendar. The decision not to show at this year’s event was not down to the location of Cologne and will not mean that Sega will never attend gamescom in the future, but simply a commercial decision made for 2010.”
GamesCon happens to be the largest Gaming trade show in the world in terms of attendence. SEGA skipping out on such a large event, in particular the fact that Europe has been it’s best region for video game sales will no doubt come as a surprise to many. Attention will now fall onto SEGA’s presence at the Tokyo Game Show.
[Source: VG247]
MCVUK have released the chart positions for the top 50 multiformat titles in the month of May for the United Kingdom. And SEGA was not short of having a significant presence in the charts. Compared to most other third party publishers, SEGA did relatively well but there might be some not too welcoming news on one particular new IP, hit the jump to read on and find out which titles did the best.
It’s quite a dubious honour, but Yakuza 3 has become the fourth best selling used game in the whole of Japan for 2009, earning a staggering 230,000 sales used for Japanese retailers. SEGA will feel somewhat uncomfortable with such a high figure, such number is almost 50% of Yakuza 3’s first hand sales which came to around 500,000. The full list is below
2009 Top 25 Used Game Sales (Famitsu/Enterbrain; 2008-12-28~2009-12-27):
01 [NDS] Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Sky – 378,000 / NEW
02 [PSP] Dissidia: Final Fantasy – 293,000 / 303,000
03 [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G – 267,000 / 650,000
04 [PS3] Yakuza 3 – 230,000 / NEW
05 [PS3] Resident Evil 5 – 229,000 / NEW
06 [NDS] Pokemon Diamond/Pearl – 222,000 / 1,086,000
07 [NDS] Pokemon Platinum – 189,000 / 274,000
08 [PS3] White Knight Chronicles – 186,000 / NEW
09 [NDS] Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride – 173,000 / 354,000
10 [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable – 166,000 / 322,000
11 [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 2nd – 156,000 / 1,161,000
12 [NDS] New Super Mario Bros. – 154,000 / 917,000
13 [PSP] Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce – 153,000 / NEW
14 [PS3] Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 – 143,000 / 147,000
15 [NDS] Animal Crossing: Wild World – 143,000 / 876,000
16 [PS3] Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots – 141,000 / 274,000
17 [PS2] Super Robot Wars Z – 140,000 / 204,000
18 [PS2] Final Fantasy XII – 133,000 / 1,016,000
19 [NDS] Dragon Quest IV: The Chapters of the Chosen – 125,000 / 639,000
20 [NDS] Chrono Trigger – 123,000 / 176,000
21 [PS2] Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King – 123,000 / 1,769,000
22 [PSP] Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 – 122,000 / NEW
23 [NDS] Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker – 120,000 / 739,000
24 [PSP] Mobile Suit Gundam: Gundam Vs. Gundam – 120,000 / 178,000
25 [PS3] Grand Theft Auto IV – 117,000 / 143,000
[Source: NeoGAF]
It’s somewhat a slow week for SEGA, the only major release being that of Hatsune Miku: Project Diva re-release. I think the original sales caught a few people off by surprise and from the current preorders, it does seem the sequel will also post some impressive numbers, but just how much did the re-release do? Read on to find out!
The first screenshots have arried for Shogun 2: Total War and shows what one has come to expect from the series, with large armies coming face to face with each, boats to plot the landing of your forces but as well as, certain landscapes to enjoy. There also happens to be concept art and Japanese stylized art to be found but from the screenshots the game does look as impressive as the previous title in the series. CVG also happen to have a four paged preview on the title so for those who want to read an early insight in the title will have more than enough to read up on.
[Screenshots & Art and CVG’s four paged preview] – Thanks for the tipoff Pao!
It’s been quite sometime since the last major release for SEGA in Japan and quite sometime since I last made one of these posts! But those times are finally over, a new entry of SEGA’s Let’s Make a Pro Soccer Club has been released and has debutted with average yet respectible numbers, so how did it do? Read on to find out
[Not the Official box art for the Western release. That one sucks]
Before we begin, I should start by telling you what Yakuza is and what it is not, it is an action RPG brawler, it is not the spiritual successor to Shenmue, it shares closer ties to typical role playing games like Final Fantasy than it does with anything in relation to Grand Theft Auto. There is actually plenty more I can expand on, but I think it’s better if I start the actual review, so without further ado, read on for SEGAbit’s Yakuza 3 review.
