Author Archives: Barry

Space Channel 5 Ulala Figma figure announced – Chu, Chu, Chu!

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Figma, the Japanese action figure company, have announced their latest collaboration with SEGA – a stunning Space Channel 5 Ulala figure. The figure is slated for December 2017 and will feature Ulala with microphone and gun accessories and three Morolians. The listed price is ¥7,800 (around $70), which is a bit steep when compared to past SEGA Figma releases, but some stores do list items with discounts. The main release will feature Ulala in her silver Part 2 attire, but if you want the orange original you’ll have to order from Goodsmile. Goodsmile lists their variant at ¥7,222 before tax and states that preorders will be open from 30th May 2017 (Tue) from 12:00JST until 29th June 2017 (Thu) at 12:00JST. The silver version is also available at Goodsmile for ¥7,222 but Amiami has it for less at ¥6,280.

What do you think of Figma’s latest release? Are you annoyed like I am that they still haven’t listed the Jet Set Radio Beat figure that was revealed back in July of 2016?

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SEGA News Bits: SEGA Reveals New Startup Logo Reaction

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Remember the iconic “SE-GA” startup chorus or the SEGA scream? How about the more recent manly voiced “SEGA”? Well the manly voice is going away and in its place, an eye! That’s right, SEGA are unveiling a new intro for their games and on this SEGA News Bits George and Barry react to the change and run through the history of SEGA startups.

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

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Sonic Mania releases August 15 according to new Steam Store trailer

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According to several Steam users in select parts of the world, a revised Sonic Mania trailer has appeared listing August 15 as the game’s release date. While the US store has not shown anything new, the European and some South American Steam Stores show the date. The date would mean we have two and a half months to wait before the game releases, and it also means the game would not make the end of Sonic’s 25th anniversary on June 23. We’ll share more as he hear it!

Pre-order the Sonic Mania Collector’s Edition today, available on Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

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Yoot Saito hints at a Seaman return

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“Don’t Panic!” That’s what the t-shirts read in a tweet from Seaman creator Yoot Saito (it’s also on the cover of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, but I doubt there is a connection). The tweet reads “Seemingly, a new project is being started. Guess what from the web-address on their back.” with the web address linking to www.seaman.ai which is currently shown as being under construction. We’ve covered a lot of Seaman news over the past five years, with the most notable headlines being “Nikkei reports that Seaman’s being revived on the 3DS” in 2012, “Nintendo trademarks point towards a new Seaman game” in 2013 and “Devolver Digital wants to make a new Seaman game” in 2015.

Could the mystery project be a remaster, a sequel, a Nintendo exclusive or a team up with a developer like Devolver Digital? Perhaps a Kickstarter will soon be launched? We’ll have to wait and see.

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SEGA News Bits: Everything We Know About Shenmue HD

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The Shenmue HD remaster rumors are back, and on this SEGA News Bits George and Barry discuss the latest news and detail the long history of Shenmue HD leaks and rumors. Could there be a pattern emerging from all the remaster rumors? Is a Shenmue HD release imminent? Watch the video to hear our thoughts!

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

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Survey: Tell us your favorite Persona 5 character

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We’re running a special survey for Persona 5 to find out what characters are fan favorites! All you need to do is start the survey, seen above, and make one selection or write in a character from the game that is missing from the list. The survey will run until this Friday, but we ask those who want to take it to take it sooner than later.

So what are you waiting for? Take the survey already!

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This is how SEGA’s games will start moving forward

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SEGA is synonymous with many things, but the most notable would have to be the startup logo. In the console days, systems like the Master System, SEGA CD, Saturn and Dreamcast had their own startup logo. But once the game began, you’d be treated to the SEGA logo. How the SEGA logo appeared often differed from game to game, but in the later years – especially once SEGA went third party – things became more uniform. From around 2005 to the past year we had the swoosh and deep voiced “SEGA” logo for most games. Most games featured this, though there has been exceptions (Alien: Isolation, Yakuza 0, Puyo Puyo Tetris to name a few). According to Sam Mullen, Senior Localization Producer for SEGA products at Atlus USA, the swoosh and low voice is no more and the above eye is the new logo ident moving forward.

The eye first appeared in a SEGA of Japan video titled “Branding Movie”, seen after the break, which should have a subtitled version coming soon according to Sam. The video shows SEGA’s Chief Product Officer (and Monkey Ball and Yakuza creator) Toshihiro Nagoshi on a computer looking at the human eye. He then reflects on SEGA’s games and identity as he drives around Japan looking out the window. We see people interacting with SEGA products in their daily lives. We then see Nagoshi analyzing the brand with staff through meetings and tests and then the words “Amazing SEGA” appear on screen before the eye ident closes things off.

Clearly SEGA of Japan have put time and energy into this new startup, the question is what is the reasoning for the change? What do you think of the new startup? Sound off in the comments below.

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Endless Space 2 releases today for Windows and Mac

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The Amplitude Studios developed Endless Space 2 sees its full release today on Windows and Mac. The turn-based strategy sci-fi game is a sequel to 2012’s two-time Unity-award winning Endless Space. As of July 2016, Amplitude Studios is a fully owned subsidiary of SEGA, meaning Endless Space 2 is a franchise fully owned by SEGA!

While the game has been available via early access since October 2016, today marks the full official release. The game is available on Steam and Amazon, and is available in two digital editions: the standard edition of Endless Space 2 for $39.99 and the Deluxe Edition of Endless Space 2 for $49.99 which includes a digital soundtrack, the “PATHFINDER” hero ship skin and “PATHFINDER” academy heroes Brunem Berto-Lancellum and Kinete Muldaur.

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SEGA News Bits: SEGA Plans Revival of Major IPs

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On this SEGA News Bits, George and Barry discuss the recent news of SEGA of Japan announcing the revival of major IPs during their “Road to 2020” business presentation. What franchises could they be referring to? Find out as we dig through the news archives to uncover an old survey that just might hold the answer!

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

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Sonic Forces reveals third gameplay style – a character creation system!

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Who called it? For the past month or two, we’ve been speculating that the third gameplay style in Sonic Forces is a character creation system not unlike Phantasy Star Online. Today, SEGA and the Sonic the Hedgehog YouTube channel revealed just that! Per the video description:

In a world where Eggman has taken over, even two Sonics will need some help. For the first time in the series’ history, create and play as your own custom character in the war to take back the planet.

The third character seems to play like both modern and classic Sonic, but with the added ability to use gadgets like flamethrowers and grappling hooks. Also revealed was a gameplay sample of the unnamed avatar in action, which you can see after the break. What are your thoughts on this reveal? Let us know in the comments below!

[UPDATE] We’ve added the press release as well, found after the break, which details the customization system and what animal species you can expect. Also, we’ve added some new screens and concept art!

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Fan creates Sonic Mania Studiopolis Zone Winamp skin

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Sonic Mania is a game that embraces old school aesthetics, so it is fitting that fellow SEGA and Sonic fan Ineedmorcowbell created a Sonic Mania skin for the old school program Winamp. Initially released in 1997, Winamp is a freemium media player for Windows, Android, and macOS. If you had a computer between 1997 and now, chances are you downloaded this program and still have it on your machine. What Ineedmorcowbell’s skin does is turn the entire player into Studiopolis Zone.

Ineedmorcowbell has this to say about the project:

After watching game play of Sonic Mania’s Studiopolis Zone, and seeing the Hornet Van. I felt like it needed to dance! This whole project was built around getting that Van to dance! From there, I designed how all the windows and standard features would be reskinned. There is all kinds of animations like the clouds moving, or lights glowing, to the projector playing different animations that react to the music.

All the sprites for this skin have been redrawn by myself! I used the debut, and various game play videos to collect the sprites to use, then redrew them in a much lower resolution. Similar to the original Genesis games. To produce a much crisper look then just using them straight from the videos. The only things that I didn’t redraw were some of the animations for the projector that use the developer logos and intro for the game. Christian Whitehead was redrawn because the original design was very seizure inducing. The Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles Head was done in illustrator.

I spent a lot of time and work really hard on this, so let me know what you think!

You can learn more about the skin and download it here. If you have any questions or comments for the creator, you can chat with him in our forums!

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Swingin’ Report Show #87: Sonic the Hedgehog 25th Anniversary Art Book – Cook & Becker CEO Maarten Brands

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The SEGAbits Swingin’ Report Show is back, bringing you an interview with Maarten Brands, CEO of Cook & Becker who is behind the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 25th Anniversary Art Book! In this, his first public interview talking about the book, Maarten goes into the history of the international art dealership Cook & Becker, how the SEGA partnership began and what fans can expect from the Sonic art book.

The book releases soon and comes in two editions, which you can pre-order now:
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 25TH ANNIVERSARY ART BOOK – COLLECTOR’S EDITION
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 25TH ANNIVERSARY ART BOOK – STANDARD HARDCOVER

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

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Vanquish releasing to PC on May 25th – watch the announcement trailer and pre-order now

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We’ve long sung the praises of Platinum Games’ Vanquish, so you can guess that we here at SEGAbits are very excited to see the announcement of the game coming to PC. When the game released in 2010, it earned an A grade in our written review.

Set to release May 25th, and available to pre-order now on Steam, the PC version of the game promises a fully unlocked framerate, HD resolutions up to 4K and all DLC. What more, if you own Bayonetta on PC you get 25% off Vanquish and pre-ordering gets you a Deluxe Digital Edition which features a digital art book, OST sampler, avatars, and wallpapers.

So what are you waiting for, pre-order Vanquish today!

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SEGAbits presents The Top 100 SEGA Games

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At long last, The Top 100 SEGA Games list is here! Those who follow the site know that this ginormous list has been a long time coming. Back in October 2015 we began gathering top 25 lists from the SEGAbits community and the SEGA fan community as a whole for what was at the time intended to be compiled into a list of top 50 SEGA games. The reason for a list was a reaction to a certain big name gaming site that released a top 100 video games list without a single SEGA title. How IGNorant.

Seeing as a ranked top 25 list is a lot to ask, we gave fans all of 2016 to submit lists that followed strict guidelines. Games had to satisfy two of the following: be published by SEGA, be developed by SEGA, IP owned by SEGA. Also games had to be released between 1960 and October 19th, 2015. Once the lists were collected, we had over fifty lists of top 25 games. That’s over 1,250 entries covering nearly 300 games! Now, after six months of compiling, counting, sorting and writing up descriptions we are finally very happy to present to you The Top 100 SEGA Games!

Special thanks to the SEGAbits writing team for pitching in to tally votes and write descriptions when I felt that the task was impossible. And of course, special thanks to SEGA for making the games we love.

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SEGA News Bits: Bayonetta PC Sales Discussion

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Bayonetta released in early April to PC, and on this SEGA News Bits George and Barry take a look at the sales figures. Are Bayonetta‘s numbers Heaven or Hell for SEGA? What games could we see released next? Find out on this witchy News Bits! Want to win a copy of Bayonetta for PC? Enter our contest which runs through May 11th!

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

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