Author Archives: Barry

Crunchyroll to stream HeroBank anime beginning today

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Yesterday it was announced that Crunchyroll will be streaming SEGA’s HeroBank anime, based on the recently released Nintendo 3DS game of the same name. Streaming began today at 6:30 am eastern time and is available worldwide (except for Asia) to premium members of the service. The anime is also available to members using a 14-day free trial in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden.

Head on over to Crunchyroll now to watch the first episode!

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Company of Heroes 2: The Western Front Armies coming this June

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Last week, SEGA announced new multiplayer content entitled Company of Heroes 2: The Western Front Armies, which according to Relic is standalone and can be played without a copy of Company of Heroes 2. The new content, arriving in June, pits the U.S. Forces and German Oberkommando West against each other with new units, models, abilities, animations, and tactical and strategic options. Eight multiplayer maps set within the Western Front will also release alongside the new content. SEGA promises that the new “progression system” will allow players to “dive deeper into the tactical and strategic aspects” of the game. Both armies will release as a pair and can be purchased together for $19.99 or separately for $12.99 each.

Screens from the upcoming release can be seen after the break.

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Swingin’ Report Show #59: Sonic’s SEGA Genesis Spin-off Special

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The triple threat of George, Barry, and Bartman sit down for a round table discussion of Sonic the Hedgehog’s lesser appreciated SEGA Genesis titles: the spin-offs. We cover it all! From Dr. “don’t-call-him-Eggman-yet” Robotnik’s breakout role in Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, to Sonic’s transition from platforming icon to pinball with arms and legs in Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball, to Sonic’s take on the classic Flicky formula in Sonic 3D Blast. Even the digital sticker book Wacky Worlds gets some discussion.

So join us in a walk down memory lane (or is that “pain”?) as we relive and dissect Sonic’s SEGA Genesis spin-offs!

[Download] [RSS] [iTunes] [Archive]

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SEGA Tunes: Project DIVA blazes through the blue skies singing the After Burner theme

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Hatsune Miku and friends have sung many songs throughout their history, but none are more exciting than the SEGA inspired tunes that are featured in the franchise’s games. The 2010 arcade game Project DIVA Arcade featured the MEIKO Vocaloid voice (a voice provided by the Japanese female singer Meiko Haigō) singing lyrics over the theme to After Burner – a SEGA arcade classic. The video above features Hatsune Miku, despite the MEIKO voice. But can you blame us? It’s Miku! But in fairness to Vocaloids everywhere, we’re featuring MEIKO after the break. Happy listening!

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Have some fun with MIKUbits – the 24 hour Domino’s™ Pizza sponsored takeover!

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Hello everyone, I’m Barry, writer and editor at SEGAbits! Have you heard of Hatsune Miku? Today I’d like to announce a collaborative project featuring Hatsune Miku: MIKUbits website featuring Domino’s™ Pizza! Domino’s exists on a planet called Earth. Earth enables you to visit Domino’s to eat pizza. A Domino’s™ employee makes the pizza you eat. A great feature is you can eat pizza as you like.

I knew our talented SEGAbits writers could work together and create Hatsune Miku… articles. George-pi, Shigs-shi, Nuckles-shi, Ben-shi, Will-shi – EVERYONE! Amazing SEGAbits articles have been created with the fantastic imagination of the writers from all over the planet. The challenge was successfully carried out and this new collaborative website was produced. Throughout the day we’ll share Hatsune Miku content, and talk about delicious Domino’s™ Pizza on our social networks. And last, but not least… the live performance – has been cancelled. George refused to dress as Miku and dance on webcam.

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New Head of Xbox Phil Spencer says gamers want Microsoft to bring back Shenmue

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Following his recent appointment as Head of Xbox at Microsoft, Phil Spencer spoke with Polygon about his ideas for the future of the brand. Regarding his leadership, Spencer promised that “with me you’re going to get a focus on gaming first and a best platform to play games on.” When asked about what games he receives requests for, Spencer named the Shenmue franchise as the biggest request Xbox owners ask Microsoft for. Spencer jokingly referred to it as “the big Shenmue contingency.”

A new Shenmue isn’t on the horizon just yet, but it is good to know that people like Phil Spencer have the franchise on their minds thanks to the efforts of fan campaigns. Help out the #SaveShenmue campaign yourself by heading over to their site and spreading the word.

 

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Celebrating a year of SEGAbits & SEGA Retro Lock-On Technology

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A year ago today, we made the late night announcement that SEGAbits would be partnering with Sonic Retro, and the expansive SEGA Retro wiki would fall under the SEGAbits banner – making it our dedicated information site for all things SEGA. Since the announcement, we’ve made the move to Sonic Retro’s servers, writers from Sonic Retro have taken on writer roles at SEGAbits, we’ve utilized the SEGA Retro wiki in articles highlighting classic SEGA games and consoles, and in collaboration with SEGAbits and Sonic Retro writer Bartman we’ve created SEGA Channel Retro – a revamped retro streaming channel for SEGA content.

While we didn’t accomplish everything that we have hoped for over the past year, we have some exciting things on the horizon! This Spring we plan to introduce SEGAbits Model 5, a website redesign that will truly bring SEGAbits to the next level. We can’t spill the beans yet, but at the very least we can say it will be wider. Also, on June 28th SEGAbits and Sonic Retro will be co-hosting a panel entitled Surviving the Dreamcast Apocalypse: SEGA Fans in the 21st Century at the Too Many Games convention in Oaks, PA. Then, of course, there are our plans for tomorrow.

On behalf of myself, George, and all the writers and contributors, I want to thank our readers and community members for their continued support in making us the number one SEGA news and information site on the internet!

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Round Table: Our SEGA Genesis memories

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SEGA Genesis Month may be coming to an end at SEGAbits, but we still have a lot more Genesis content to come in 2014 as we celebrate the console’s 25th anniversary. Still, to give the month a bit of finality, four of our writers have come together for a round table to share their favorite Genesis memories. The Genesis truly is a great piece of SEGA hardware, featuring many classic titles that span countless genres, innovative accessories, and the power to attract talented indie game companies of today that offer up new experiences on the console. Regardless of whether one was an early adaptor, or came to the console in its later days, the Genesis was and is a console that makes a lasting impression.

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Alien: Isolation release date announced – get ready to not be heard in space on October 7th

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SEGA of America and SEGA Europe have announced the release date of the upcoming Creative Assembly title Alien: Isolation! Fans can expect to get their hands on the game on October 7th, 2014 on Xbox One, Xbox 360, Playstation 4, Playstation 3, and Windows PC. Hey, just in time for the Halloween season! Via a press release from SEGA, Alistair Hope, Creative Lead at Creative Assembly had this to say of the game’s release: “We couldn’t be happier to finally announce a date for Alien: Isolation, the reaction we have seen so far has been simply incredible, from the screams and shrieks to the cold sweats and racing hearts. It’s the Alien game that we’ve always wanted to play and we can’t wait to let everyone get their hands on it this fall.”

View the full press release after the break.

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Increase the number of SEGA releases for the PC petition passes 10k signatures

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The fan run initiative to increase the number of SEGA games on PC have passed a milestone with their online petition, amassing over 10,000 signatures – 10,219 at the time of this article. The petition respectively asks that SEGA “consider releasing more games (to PC), particularly from your Japanese division”, naming Bayonetta, Vanquish, and Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown as potential games. If you haven’t signed the petition yet, we urge you to head on over to their page today and add your name to the growing list. We’re over halfway there, folks!

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SEGA and IGN preview Sonic Lost World’s The Legend of Zelda Zone

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SEGA and IGN have teamed up to show off Sonic Lost World‘s The Legend of Zelda Zone, a free DLC download for owners of the Wii U version set to release through the Wii U eShop on March 27, 2014 (that’s tomorrow!). The stage, which can be viewed in full with Aaron Webber commentary, is an open world Zelda world with Sonic dressed as Link fighting enemies and opening treasure boxes. Aaron describes the stage as much more open that past stages in the game, tying in with the Zelda series open world gameplay.

Head on over to IGN for more and remember to download the free DLC tomorrow!

After the break, check out the full playthrough!

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SEGA Tunes: Dick Tracy’s Stage 1 Scene A for the SEGA Genesis

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Like my previous Tuesday Tunes entry, which focused on the music of Ghostbusters, this week’s tune comes from another favorite SEGA Genesis game from my childhood: Dick Tracy. Like Ghostbusters, Dick Tracy has the unfortunate distinction of being one of those awful titles… for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The SEGA Genesis version is a completely different game developed in-house by SEGA, and bears several similarities to the popular Shinobi franchise, which leads me to believe that the game was developed by the same team. But enough about the gameplay, I’ll save that for my eventual review, let’s talk about the music.

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3D OutRun confirmed as the next SEGA 3D Classics title

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Joining the second wave of SEGA 3D Classics releases for the Nintendo 3DS is 3D OutRun, as confirmed by the official SEGA Japan site. The first wave of releases, available now in the East and West, featured eight classic titles from the Mega Drive and arcade. Wave two, which could possibly contain another eight titles, currently is Japan only and also features 3D After Burner and 3D Fantasy Zone.

Little else is known about the release at the moment, but as soon as we learn more we’ll be sure to share it!

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Round Table: The future of Streets of Rage and our favorite memories

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As Streets of Rage Week comes to an end, the SEGAbits writer’s round table has us reflecting on our fond memories of the franchise, and where we would like to see the franchise headed in the future. SEGA has always been hit or miss when it comes to reviving and remaking older franchises. For every SEGA 3DS 3D Classics remake, Castle of Illusion and Shinobi 3DS there are a slew of stinkers – Golden Axe: Beast Rider, Altered Beast (PS2), several of the Sega Ages 2500 releases. Point is, a remake or reboot of Streets of Rage could go either way. What direction would be like to see the franchise headed? Follow the flashing “GO!” and read on!

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SEGA in the Media: Saints Row IV’s homage to Streets of Rage

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This just might be a first for SEGA in the Media, a SEGA inspired video game within another video game! Released last year, Saints Row IV was a tongue-in-cheek action-adventure game from Illinois based developer Volition. Given the self-referential nature of the series, it only makes sense that they’d eventually reference crazy action games of the past, and what game is more fitting to pay tribute to than SEGA’s Streets of Rage? Dubbed “Saints of Rage”, this 2D beat ’em up appears at around 75-80% of the way into Saints Row IV. In-game, “Saints of Rage” is an enemy created nightmare simulation. Kicking off with a “Winners Don’t Use Drugs” message, the player is taken to a title screen which is a direct reference to the original Streets of Rage title screen.

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