SEGA secretly releases ‘War Pirates’ on Android

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Seems that the Western localization version of Sen No Kaizoku is called ‘War Pirates’ in America and is available to download on Android (coming later to iOS). The game is being created by Masayoshi Kikuchi, who is known by SEGA fans for his work on Jet Set Radio and Yakuza franchises.

War Pirates takes a mix of city building and turn-based naval combat to deliver a frantic pirate themed experience. According to a lot of reviews on the Google Playstore the game is having issues connecting to the game’s server and downloading game data. Just like all other SEGA free-to-play games, the user is forced to have a constant internet connection if they want to enjoy the game, so this could ruin your experience. Not to mention its a soft launch, so it most likely only available if your from a country like Canada.

If you download it, let us know what you think of the game in the comments below.

Yakuza: Kiwami 8-minute story trailer brings nostalgic memories

Hard to believe that the Yakuza franchise is already celebrating its 10th year anniversary. It feels like just yesterday I eagerly awaited the first title to be released on the Playstation 2 and now we are here almost 10 years later looking at a trailer for the upcoming Playstation 4 and Playstation 3 remake.

SEGA plans to release the remake in Japan on January 21st, this release is set to feature additional and even updated scenes, new and update systems, new battle styles and new mini-games like “Insect Queen Female King”. Oh, did I mention you get the ability to fight Majima anywhere? No western release has been announced for this title yet, but we just got Yakuza 5 (go buy it!) and SEGA recently revealed they are bringing Yakuza 0 over.

Fun fact, Yakuza: Kiwami in Japan will come with a code with a demo of Yakuza 6.

[Via: Gematsu]

Yakuza 6 trailer reveals brand new graphics engine

The new Yakuza 6 trailer has just been released, showing off the new graphics for the team’s first ever Playstation 4 exclusive game. What do I think? Holy smokes, is this game looking amazing! While I can find a few things to complain about, like the animation still looking a bit stiff, there is no denying how much of a improvement this is compared to all the other games.

Enough about what I think, what do you think about the new trailer?

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Total War takes over Humble Weekly Bundle

June 21st, 2010 @ 13:31:54
It seems that SEGA and The Creative Assembly are offering their titles once again as bundles on the popular ‘pay for what you want’ model of Humble Bundle. Not only that, you can set how much money goes to the publisher (SEGA), Humble Bundle and how much is given to charities. This bundle is supporting Special Effect: The Gamer’s Charity, Willow, Walking with the Wounded, and BLES.

Pay what you want (at least $1) you get: 

  • Medieval II: Total War Collection 
  • Viking: Battle for Asgard
  • Shogun: Total War Collection
  • Total War: Rome OST
  • Total War: WARHAMMER Illustrated Campaign Map
  • Total War: ARENA 30 Days Premium Account
  • Total War Battles: Kingdom
  • Total War eBooks

Yakuza 5 western launch trailer packs a punch

Yakuza 5 is finally out in the West after three long years of waiting! While its not the best trailer I have ever seen for the franchise, its definitely one of the better American trailers I have seen. I’m glad SEGA figured that characters talking in Japanese in trailers is fine and won’t scare off potential buyers.

I have been playing Yakuza 5 on the PS3 and will have a review up in couple of days, but so far I recommend buying it if you liked the past titles.

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Total War: Warhammer developer ‘disheartened’ that fans dislike pre-order DLC

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The whole downloadable content thing is a touchy subject, in practice it should be good. Think about it, you get more content for a game you already love but most fans have been finding stuff like ‘pre-order DLC’ to be more of a rip off due to forcing users to investing in a game that hasn’t been reviewed or that we don’t know the quality of the title.

SEGA’s Creative Assembly announced that the Chaos race, a important fraction in the Warhammer universe, would only be unlocked if users pre-ordered their Total War: Warhammer video game. This obviously pissed off fans, since most Total War fans trusted Creative Assembly back in 2013 when Total War: Rome 2 (which had similar pre-order deals) smashed pre-order records; sadly the game had a bad launch. Creative Assembly did the same with Total War: Attila and Alien: Isolation, offering big pre-order exclusives that many fans felt should have just been part of the base package.

In a interview with Eurogamer, Game Designer for Total War: Warhammer Rich Aldridge tries to explain why they decided to put Chaos as a pre-order race. According to them if they didn’t get it out as pre-order content, they would have to charge later on as DLC. As much as I dislike pre-order DLC, it isn’t as bad now considering that Steam offers refunds on pre-orders if you dislike the game. What really ticks me off is all the DLC they are planning after the release. Is it too hard to buy a complete game for $60 dollars and not get nickel and dimed at every turn?

 

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Hyperdimension Neptunia VS Sega Hard Girls gets a debut trailer

Fans of both Sega Hard Girls TV Show and Compile Heart’s JRPG Hyperdimension Neptunia are in for a real treat with the upcoming crossover video game. The game has you playing as IF-chan along with a new character named Sega Hatsumi as you travel back in time to Sega-based eras to recover long lost history. Above is the debut trailer for the game, if you missed the opening movie you can find that here.

 

Hyperdimension Neptunia VS Sega Hard Girls: Dream Fusion Special hits Playstation Vita on November 26 in Japan. No western releases have been announced.

[Source: Gemastu]

Schtserv’s Phantasy Star Online private server officially offline

SchthackservAs we all know Phantasy Star Online has been disconnected offline years ago. The official servers are gone, but Schtserv’s private servers remained, allowing not only Dreamcast Phantasy Star Online gamers to play anyone around the world but also PC and Gamecube. I remember his site was forbidden to talk about on the official SEGA forums way back in the day, which doesn’t surprise me one bit.

From the FAQ posted on their Facebook page asking IF the servers are officially closed:

Yes & No. If you want another type of answer, who knows? Even we staff members don’t know, in the end it is up to Crono to make the call on if it’s going to return or not. However for now, YES the server is officially closed, unless another topic is made in the future.

The domain name schtserv.com is now going to a Hostgator splash page. If your looking for alternative Phantasy Star Blue Burst servers, you can always check Ultima and Ephinea. Did you ever play on Schtserv’s private servers?

[Source: RetroCollect]

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Custom Sega Dreamcast bios aims to improve experience

You are probably sitting there thinking whats a bio and why should I give a damn? I mean, you have been playing your beautiful SEGA Dreamcast games just fine without these custom, fancy fan bios. First what is a bio? Well, you know that information that the system loads before it boots your game? That’s it.

What does this revised fan bios replace? Let’s check the list! 

  • Region free: boot GD/CD from any regions
  • No VGA flag check: no matter if the game supports the VGA output, the lets it boot
  • Bootfile extent check: allow a game to boot even if its bootfile, more commonly called 1ST_READ.BIN, is not located on the outer part of the disc
  • SEGA License screen skip
  • MIL-CD/backup direct boot
  • Black fade-in color while booting from menu
  • No VMU copy-protected file check

I tend to play my Dreamcast in VGA mode like most (cool) people, so the idea of just skipping the check on boot might be a good thing for me.The issue? the method for installing takes some talent with a soldering iron, something that I just don’t have.

[Via: RetroCollect]

Hyperdimension Neptunia vs Sega Hard Girls opening movie released

Developer Compile Hearts is teaming up their Hyperdimension Neptunia gals with Sega Hard Girls (aka Hi-sCool! Seha Girls) in the upcoming Playstation Vita JRPG ‘Hyperdimension Neptunia VS Sega Hard Girls: Dream Fusion Special’.

The game will start Compile Hearts’ IF-chan along with Hatsumi Sega (new character), who both travel back to ‘sega-based eras’ to recover long lost history. Hyperdimension Neptunia vs Sega Hard Girls hits Japanese retail shelves on Novemeber 26th. As of right now, there are no plans on releasing this game outside of Japan, but you never know in the near future.

SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive homebrew platformer ‘Tanglewood’ announced

Fans won’t let old SEGA hardware die, this new homebrew comes from Big Evil Corporation, who is slowly revealing aspects of the game as time goes on. I guess they really are evil, huh?

While they are just showing a small clip of the main character, Nymm, walking through selected areas; the developer has already promised a lot of the game. The game is set to be influenced by games such as Abe’s Odyssey, Another World and Flashback. If you click the short clip above it will show you their night/day system that they plan on using. This system will tie-in with puzzles throughout the game.

We will keep you updated here at SEGAbits about anymore information about Tanglewood , but what do you guys think so far?

[Via: Retrocollect]

Alien: Isolation mod gets rid of the alien

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Imagine if you played Alien: Isolation without the alien hunting you down, that would be crazy. That would only leave you with, well, isolation.

That is the point of this mod by Steam user [Lebowski]-=ThArK=- which technically doesn’t remove the alien from the map, but makes it immobile in a vent. Meaning that you will be able to run around and take in the retro future art without being scared of being hunted down.

You can go ahead and check out the mod here.

[Via: Eurogamer]

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Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem gets new trailers and screenshots

Nintendo and Atlus have continued their partnership by showing off a couple of new trailers and screenshots for the upcoming Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem crossover game (being tentatively titled Genei Ibun Roku #FE).

One of the new trailers (above) shows off Tsubasa Oribe, a new playable character created for this game. Honestly the Japanese trailer just left me with more questions, but I guess its nice to see Oribe in a lot of different outfits?

The trailer after the jump shows off side stories from the upcoming game.

SEGA releases new 3D Power Drift screenshots

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SEGA has released some screenshots for 3D Power Drift, which was released as part of the SEGA Reprint Archives 2 collection, a physical collection piling up all the digital SEGA 3D Classic releases. So far these physical releases have been exclusive to Japan.

The exclusive games in the physical version are suppose to eventually make it to the digital store. As far as those exclusives coming over to America, we don’t know. I hope so, its not like there is a whole lot to translate in Power Drift, Puyo Puyo 2 and/or Maze Walker!

SEGA News Bits: SEGA re-releasing legacy games like Shenmue?

SEGA Europe’s marketing director Jon Rooke said in a recent interview that SEGA was looking at opportunities to re-release Legacy titles like Shenmue. On this episode we sit and discuss the possibility of this being just PR talk, we discuss what is a SEGA legacy title and discuss SEGA legacy games we want to see re-released. Let us know what you consider a legacy title and what games you want to see re-released in the comments below!

If you like what you see make sure to subscribe to us on YouTube so you never miss an episode.