Author Archives: George

SEGA in the Media: Ellie plays Daytona USA in HBO Max’s The Last of Us

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Its a video game inception post! In episode seven of HBO Max’s The Last of Us (which, believe it or not, is based on a video game), our lead character Ellie has a flashback episode remembering her time with an old friend where she was taken to an abandon mall which happens to feature a full set of working arcade machines. Aren’t they lucky? Ellie then bursts out that the arcades are “the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen”.

The episode shows Ellie trying out her driving skills on Daytona USA before they continue to play Mortal Kombat II, while it isn’t a SEGA video game, it was pretty prolific game on the SEGA Genesis. They also have the original Tetris machine which has a history with SEGA, as the Japanese rights for Tetris Arcade used to belong to SEGA.

Any other arcade machines you guys noticed during this episode?

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Sonic creator Yuji Naka arrested for insider trading involving new Dragon Quest game

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According to Japanese news site fnn, Sonic the Hedgehog creator Yuji Naka has been arrested for insider trading involving the Dragon Quest Tact mobile game.  According to the news site, Yuji Naka used insider information while working at Square-Enix about (then) unannounced “Dragon Quest Tact” mobile game which was being developed jointly by Square-Enix and Aiming for mobile devices.

Yuji Naka allegedly used this information to purchase over 10,000 shares of Aiming stock for approximately 2.8 million yen (about 20k USD).  Yuji Naka left SEGA way back in 2006 to form Prope, he would then join Square Enix in 2018 and then left after Balan Wonderworld bombed. Yuji Naka even had heated words for Square Enix claiming they don’t value games.

For now we wait to see more details. Quite a journey that Yuji Naka has taken in the last few years.

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Sonic Frontiers Review: “The Modern Sonic Adventure Sequel”

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Sonic Frontiers promises to be the biggest, longest and most open Sonic adventure to date and we here at SEGAbits have been playing the game for a few weeks. Here is our full Sonic Frontiers review, did Sonic Team really nail the open world design or is this just another experiment gone wrong? Find out!

If you enjoy our SEGA reviews and want to support us: Give us a sub and give this video a thumbs up so it shows up on more like-minded fans YouTube recommendations. You know, how that YouTube algorithm is.

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Phantasy Star II soundtrack getting vinyl release, pre-orders up now!

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SEGA soundtracks have been pouring in on vinyl for the last few years, this time we are getting Phantasy Star II from Ship to Shore. This is a limited time release, coming in a “Rolf & Nei” blue and magenta swirl vinyl. While having a big, physical copy of the Phantasy Star II soundtrack is awesome, this release also features all the original Japanese artwork by Hitoshi Yoneda. Its beautiful.

While pre-orders are open now, the vinyl won’t ship until Q4 2022.

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Tekken finally crosses over into Virtua Fighter with the ‘Tekken 7 Collaboration Pack’

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Since both Virtua Fighter and Tekken dominated 3D fighting games in the 90s, fans have been wondering when the company would create a Tekken x Virtua Fighter cross-over fighting game. Officially, neither game has crossed over in an official game, until now. Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown breaks that trend with the DLC “Tekken 7 Collaboration Pack” which is set to launch on June 1st.

This Tekken 7 Collaboration Pack includes:

  • 19 Tekken 7 outfits: When you equip these outfits, character customization will be disabled.
  • 20 full Tekken 7 background music tracks.
  • Tekken 7 UI interface
  • Two Tekken 7 collaboration titles: These titles are added into the “other” category when selecting titles.

While this isn’t a full fledge new crossover title, its nice to finally see an official Tekken cameo in some form within Virtua Fighter and maybe will open up the discussions for something larger in the future.

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Community Spotlight: What do you want for Yakuza: Like a Dragon 2?

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Yakuza 7 or Yakuza: Like a Dragon as its known in the USA, changed the Yakuza formula massively when it replaced its real-time combat with a new turn-based system. Yakuza: Like a Dragon would even change the main cast and city, taking big risks with long time fans. The gamble paid off for Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio as Yakuza: Like a Dragon reviewed favorably and has warmed its way into the hearts of long time fans. For me, Yakuza: Like a Dragon is already one of my top three favorite Yakuza titles and really excited to see what the Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has in store for the next game, especially considering that the studio has been known to improve their games with every new entry (for the most part).

I decided to ask people in the Yakuza community what they’d like to see for Yakuza 8 or what it might be called in the West, Yakuza: Like a Dragon 2. We are joined by The Tojo Dojo, Pseudochel and Yakuza Fan as they tell you what they’d like to see in the next blockbuster installment of the Yakuza franchise.

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Seaman is back, introducing Seaman ASMR

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Over in Japan, Mt. Rainier coffee will provide customers a QR codes on their coffee cans to listen to the beautiful soothing sounds of Seaman ASMR tracks. According to the company, the point of the promotion is to use soothing ocean tracks to help people who suffered stress during COVID-19 pandemic. Seaman will have four ASMR tracks and occasionally say various things.

While at first it sounds like the company just used tracks from Seaman, the ASMR is actually being done by award-winning aquascaper Takayuki Fukada. The QR code will also allow the user to access AR images of Japanese cities, which will have Seaman appear. As far as the tone of Seaman in this promotional advertisement will be, is unknown. I would hope that Seaman doesn’t insult the people, considering its meant to be for people under stress.

While on the surface a Seaman ASMR promotion seems a bit odd, considering how long the franchise has been dormant, Seaman was actually the highest selling Dreamcast game in the region. I’d assume Mt. Rainier would want to cash in on fans that grew up with the game. I’m personally looking forward to when the Seaman ASMR tracks get posted online for my listening pleasure.

[Via: Siliconera]

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Shenmue the Animation Finale: Season 1 Review & Discussion

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We have reached the last episode of Shenmue the Animation! On this After Show we discuss our overall review for Shenmue the Animation season 1, look at the finale episode and discuss our overall opinions on the changes the anime made from the game. You can check out our Shenmue the Animation After Show playlist here.

If you enjoy our Shenmue The Animation After Show review segments and want to support us: Give us a sub and give this video a thumbs up so it shows up on more like-minded fans YouTube recommendations. You know, how that YouTube algorithm is.

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Yu Suzuki says there are ‘no concrete plans’ for Shenmue 4 yet

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Shenmue creator and SEGA legend Yu Suzuki recently attended a event to celebrate Shenmue in Yokosuka, right during the finale of the Shenmue the Animation. At this event there where several gaming outlets including IGN Japan and Famitsu, where he discussed the anime and talked about the future of the series.

One of the interesting points he touched on was the fact that Shenmue 3 was created to please long time fans from the start since they’re the ones crowdfunding it. Yu Suzuki says he received positive feedback from those old time fans but felt that newcomers “felt like they had been left behind”. This made it a bad entry point for newcomers.

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Yuji Naka talks about working at Square-Enix, says company doesn’t ‘value games’

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It seems that Yuji Naka isn’t happy with his time working at Square-Enix, which started back in 2019. Since then Yuji Naka and Square-Enix have announced Balan Wonderworld, had him removed as director before the game released and ended with Yuji Naka leaving Square-Enix last year. Yuji Naka has actually been rather silent over the whole thing, even if Balan Wonderworld has been getting trashed online for months after release, which dragged his name through the dirt.

Now Yuji Naka has taken to Twitter to discuss working with Square-Enix, saying that the company doesn’t value making good games and that Yuji Naka even tried to get his lawyer involved so they could get more time to develop Balan Wonderworld. The messages below are from his Japanese Twitter thread, translated via @Cheesemeister3k:

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Ryo Vs Lan Di Stare Down! | Shenmue the Animation EP 12 Review/Discussion

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We are almost coming to an end in our Shenmue The Animation After Show, on this episode our heroes journey into the Yellow Head Building, while the anime actually expands on both Joy and Wong’s character arcs and leaves us off with an epic stare down between Ryo and Lan Di!

If you enjoy our Shenmue The Animation After Show review segments and want to support us: Give us a sub and give this video a thumbs up so it shows up on more like-minded fans YouTube recommendations. You know, how that YouTube algorithm is.

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Ryo Closes In On The Yellow Head Building! | Shenmue the Animation The After Show EP 11

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We are approaching the last few episodes of Shenmue the Animation and on the 11th episode our boy Ryo finds out about Xiuying Hong’s brother, he enters a tournament and continues to get closer to The Yellow Head Building were a Lan Di is! We also look at changes from the game to the anime, including new storyline introduced for Joy!

If you enjoy our Shenmue The Animation After Show review segments and want to support us: Give us a sub and give this video a thumbs up so it shows up on more like-minded fans YouTube recommendations. You know, how that YouTube algorithm is

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Streets of Rage Movie in the works with John Wick creator behind the project

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According to Deadline, Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog movie’s success has now gotten the studio interested in going forward with a movie based on Streets of Rage. If you read this blog, I don’t think we need to introduce you to this iconic SEGA franchise. Deadline’s sources tell them its being headed by Derek Kolstad, who is the creator behind the John Wick franchise and penned the recent action movie Nobody starring Bob Odenkirk. This project will be done under dj2 Entertainment, who recently also signed a contract with Amazon to adapt the video game “It Takes Two” to film or TV.

The road for a Streets of Rage movie has been rather slow, the first rumblings of interest happen way back in the end of 2016 when The Walking Dead production company (Circle of Confusion) expressed interest in adapting Streets of Rage or Altered Beast to film or TV. It looks like with Sonic the Hedgehog breaking records, more doors are opening up for SEGA properties to hit the big screen.

What other SEGA properties do  you want to see hit the big screen?

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection Limited Edition Revealed

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As you know, Konami is releasing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection which is set to feature 13 of their classic Turtle games. While not all 13 are original games, some are the arcades and console ports (Turtles in Time for example comes both SNES and Arcade versions), but its a pretty comprehensive list of Konami Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles classic games. SEGA fans should be happy to hear that the rare, SEGA Genesis exclusive “TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist” is included!

Now Konami has revealed that you can also get the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowbunga Collection Limited Edition which will cost you a whopping $149.99 to pre-order (Best Buy: PS5, PS4, Switch, Xbox).  This version includes:

  • The physical game
  • 16″x 24″ loth poster
  • Acrylic diorama
  • Enamel pin set of five
  • Set of 12 trading cards\
  • 180 pg artbook

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Shin Megami Tensei V has sold over one million units

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Atlus has announced that Shin Megami Tensei V for the Nintendo Switch has surpassed one million units sold. This is counting both digital and physical shipments.

If you didn’t already know, Shin Megami Tensei V has been the best selling entry into the franchise’s history, which launched way back in 1992 on the Super Famicom (later receiving a SEGA CD port, for SEGA fanboys). All I can say is, well deserved!

 

 

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