Author Archives: George

Team Sonic Racing joins PlayStation Plus free games for March

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The PlayStation Blog has confirmed that Team Sonic Racing will join their free PlayStation Plus games for March. Sony has also added Ghostrunner, ARK: Survival Evolved and Ghost of Tsushima: Legends. I would say this is a really good month for the service, we will see if this improves the Team Sonic Racing’s lack of online players.

The new games will update on the PlayStation Store on February 28th. If you haven’t you can also add EA Sports UFC 4, Planet Coaster: Console Edition and Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep: A Wonderlands One-shot Adventure right now. As you can see, March is gonna be a way better month.

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Shenmue the Anime Ep 3: Yin-Yang Review/Discussion

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Our Shenmue The Animation, The After Show is back! This time we cover the third episode of the Adult Swim/Crunchyroll adaptation of SEGA’s cult classic game Shenmue! This time we get introduced to Chen, a new looking Goro and more!

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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Atlus announces Soul Hackers 2 for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series/One, and PC

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Atlus has announced Soul Hackers 2 for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series, Xbox One and PC (Steam). The first game, at the time titled Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers is actually already the ‘second game’ in the ‘Devil Summoner‘ series which itself is a side-series of the Shin Megami Tensei franchise which originally came out on SEGA Saturn and PlayStation, then getting a 3DS remake in 2012. Does all this confuse you? Probably why they decided a more simple, Soul Hackers 2 title instead of “Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers 2” 

The game is set to launch pretty soon, on August 25th in Japan and the next day world wide with Japanese voice overs and English, French, Italian, German, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese subtitles. In Japan they already announced a special Soul Hackers 2 25th Anniversary Edition for PS5 & PS4 that includes a three disc soundtrack, 100 page anniversary book with artwork & interviews, and more to be announced soon.

As for what special versions, day one editions or even pre-order DLC for those outside of Japan; its unknown as of right now. But don’t worry, we will keep you guys posted. Siliconera has a good breakdown on the Japanese content though.

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Shenmue the Anime Episode 2: Daybreak – After Show Discussion

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On our Shenmue The Animation After Show, we discuss the second episode of the anime which includes some major changes, expanded storylines to some key characters and even a change in Ryo’s motivation?

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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Shenmue the Anime Episode 1: Thunderclap – After Show Discussion

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Today we have a look at the first episode of Shenmue The Animation, this one is titled “Thunderclap”. We discuss some of the new high school karate tournament scenes added, look at Nazomi’s character change and gush over the way the anime handled some of the story set pieces!

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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SEGA Sapporo Studio Launching, Hiring Local Talent To Handle Game Development & Debugging Work

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SEGA has now established SEGA Sapporo Studio, which is located in Sapporo city and is looking to hire local talent. According to SEGA’s new press release, the team was created due to the rapid progress of digital content in the recent years and is centered around increasing ‘game content’ for software manufactures.

The idea will be that SEGA Sapporo Studio will hire high-quality (according to their press release) and stable development production line. It seems that the studio will be debugging games for other studios and even program their own game software. Oddly enough, SEGA’s press release also includes a message from the Mayor of Sapporo (using Google Translate):

“We are delighted to open the SEGA Sapporo Studio. We are very reassured to welcome everyone who is active at the forefront of the game industry to Sapporo City, which is working to promote the creative industries. We hope that it will be the goal of students studying CG / programming and children who yearn for game creators, while working together to develop the industry and create a town. We pray for further development in the future.”

It also looks like the company is still hiring, as it has only existed since December 1st, 2021.

Continue Reading ➜

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GENDA SEGA Entertainment Changes Name to GENDA GiGO, Fully Acquiring SEGA’s Japanese Arcade Management Division

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Cha-cha-changes are happening with SEGA’s arcade division in Japan. If you guys have been keeping up with the news since Covid, SEGA went from trying to launch its own innovative cloud based “FOG” system, to closing down iconic SEGA Arcade landmark locations and even selling 85.1% of its arcade management business to GENDA!

At the time, GENDA announced it would keep the SEGA branding at actual locations and name the company GENDA SEGA Entertainment. Seems plans have changed as GENDA has announced it will rename the company GENDA GiGO. Not only that, the company also announced it was buying the last remaining 14.9% of shares owned by SEGA, meaning SEGA doesn’t have any say in the company (and probably didn’t seeing as they had minority control). SEGA is completely out of the arcade management business! This is a end of a long, historical era for the company.

This doesn’t mean SEGA isn’t making arcade games still, it just means they no longer manage and own their 200 plus locations that they used to manage before Covid. Now I wonder if these arcade locations will still keep the SEGA branding they promised…

UPDATE: Arcade Heroes have confirmed that the existing locations will remove the SEGA branding and replace it with GiGO.

[Translated by: @Gosokkyu]

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SEGA’s Mission: Impossible Arcade DX cabinets begin shipping in America & Europe

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For old school SEGA fans, before their entry into the (and then exit of) console market, the company had always been about arcades and still are. The latest entry is a licensed Mission: Impossible game that hos now begun shipping its Deluxe cabinets around America and Europe. SEGA’s arcade division isn’t a stranger to using licenses to create high quality arcade experiences since they’ve also made games based around Die Hard, Rambo and even recently Transformers.

Continue Reading ➜

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Toshihiro Nagoshi’s New Studio To Be Named ‘Nagoshi Studio’ Leaks European IP Office

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Toshihiro Nagoshi has been a big figure at SEGA ever since he worked on the massively popular Daytona USA with SEGA-AM2. Ever since then he has had his own studio, first with Amusement Vision with creating hit games like Super Monkey Ball and later to creating the massively popular Yakuza series and the Ryu Go Gotaku Studios! Nagoshi would announce him leaving SEGA this past October to work with Chinese developer NetEase.

The story has always been that Nagoshi would set to create his own new team over at NetEase and create new games for the company. Sadly the Nagoshi Studios trademark has now been removed from the EU IP Office entry, but the representative company ‘Ingenias’ has also filed a ton of IP trademarks including “Abyss Rush”.

Looking at the trademarked logo, it seems like most likely, the new studio will be barring Toshihiro Nagoshi’s family name. Nagoshi Studio makes sense and the logo having a film strip as part of its design makes sense considering RGG Studios’ games have always been highly cinematic.

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Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown Akira Yuki Action Figure now up for pre-order

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SEGA x Storm Collectibles have added another action figure to their SEGA line, this time its Virtua Fighter mascot Akira Yuki, but Akira sporting his new look from the latest Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown (e-sports in Japan). The figure is even up to pre-order internationally on Amiami. Sadly the Akira Yuki figure won’t begin shipping all the way until September 2022, so keep that in mind when placing orders.

Its also going to cost you about $119.00 USD (14,300 yen)!

But you are getting a really impressive looking action figure that is 1/10th scale and comes in at 18cm (7in) in height. The action figure also includes alternative hand parts, and interchangeable faces showing different expressions. Oh yeah, also the punch special effect for maximum posing action.

[Via: Siliconera]

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Shenmue: The Animation to premiere February 5 on Crunchyroll & Adult Swim

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The upcoming Shenmue Th Animation is set to premiere next month! February 5th, it has been announced by Adult Swim and Crunchyroll. The series will run for 13 episodes that follows our hero Ryo Hazuki through the story of the first game and part of the sequel.

The new trailer also seems to show that the anime will be fleshing out more of Ryo’s regular life before the tragic events that set him on his new path. Should be a interesting show.

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Rumor: Judgment TV Show in the works starring Takuya Kimura

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According to Japanese website Nikkan Gendai, who has pushed the rumor that Japanese Network TV Asahi is in talks with Takuya Kimura to star as his video game character Takayuki Yagami for a real life Judgment TV series. The Japanese network had tried to get Takuya Kimura back for another season of the popular BG: Personal Bodyguard but refused, saying he wanted to do something new.

The project is sitting with a tentative title of 裁かれざるもの (Things That Cannot Be Judged) with no release date as of now. According to the description, it looks like the idea is to adapt the second game, Lost Judgment:

Continue Reading ➜

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Persona 4 Arena Ultimax drops new ‘Fight’ Trailer

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Atlus has dropped a new trailer for their upcoming port of Persona 4 Arena Ultimax which was developed by acclaimed fighting developer Arc System Works (Dragon Ball FighterZ, Guilty Gear, Blazblue). This is a dub trailer titled ‘Fight’.

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax is heading for Steam, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch on March 17!

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Shinobi inspired ‘Shadow Gangs’ launches Kickstarter for Dreamcast port

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The independent, Shinobi inspired arcade action game Shadow Gangs, which has been released on Steam, Xbox and Nintendo Switch is asking fans to fund their Dreamcast port of the project with the chance of grabbing some sweet goodies for their support.

So, if you are reading this blog you are most likely a Dreamcast collector and are wondering what tier you get a physical copy? The company is asking for a pledge of £45, about $60 USD. But it also comes with a Dreamcast digital copy, a downloadable code (for either PC, Switch and Xbox) and even your name in the game’s credit.

Check out Shadow Gangs‘ Kickstarter here. 

 

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Rumor: SEGA working on Phantasy Star Online 2’s successor as their next ‘Super Game’, will use NFTs

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Its not hard to see that SEGA’s Phantasy Star Online 2 has been a massive success for the company, so much so that it recently that it got a graphical update with Phantasy Star Online: New Genesis. But the company is already ’embracing the future’ with them planning the successor, if this new rumor is to be believed. The rumor comes from Japanese user Makino180 that says:

  • Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis will be supported for only 5 more years.
  • Phantasy Star Crew’s 3rd Division is in planning stages of the next “Super Game” and is aimed to be finished in under 5 years.
  • Phantasy Star Online veteran Satoshi Sakai will spearhead the project
  • Plans are to make the next “Super Game” running on Microsoft Azure Cloud Servers.
  • SEGA is thinking of using NFT Blockchain technology for its monetization to prolong the value and wants to spearhead the future of Gacha Games which will implement a possible SNS Distribution of virtual items.
  • Initial Budget for this “Super Game” is 5 times the budget of normal SEGA AAA Games!
  • The main audience of the new “Super Game” is the Western audience.

While gamers dislike NFTs, Blockchain technology, it seems that companies and developers see a avenue for them to be used in games. What is your thoughts on the rumored, next, “Super Game” by the developers that made Phantasy Star Online 2?

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