Author Archives: Ben

Binary Domain debuts at #2 in Japan

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This week saw the release of several new games in Japan, with SEGA’s Binary Domain likely being the main point of interest for anyone reading this website. As reported by Eurogamer with charts from NeoGAF, Nagoshi’s cover shooter debuted at #2, selling around 73,683 copies on the PS3, with the Xbox 360 version evidently not making the top 20.

It was a stronger Japanese debut than SEGA’s previous third person shooter, Vanquish, and a solid start for a new IP in that territory, though Binary Domain isn’t likely to become the next Yakuza over there at this rate. New Love Plus from Konami took the #1 spot with 104,969 while Square-Enix’s rhythm-based Final Fantasy spinoff settled for 3rd with 67,206.

Full chart after the break.

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SEGA teaming up with Capcom and Namco Bandai to develop 3DS game

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As promised, Nintendo held their Nintendo Direct conference this morning, and undoubtedly the biggest piece of news to come from the event was the information that SEGA, Namco Bandai, and Capcom are teaming up to develop a 3DS game.

So far the details of the project are being kept under wraps, though a teaser site has been created, one featuring the intriguing image of a vault door being opened. (A retro franchise revival, maybe? Or a crossover?)

We’ll keep you posted on any new info that comes from this pretty epic-sounding collaboration.

On another note, Game Gear titles will be heading to the 3DS Shop Channel this March in Europe and Japan, while no North American date was given. Game Gear installments in the Sonic the Hedgehog and Shinobi franchises, as well as the dungeon crawler Dragon Crystal, are said to be among the first titles that will be available for download.

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Nikkei reports that Seaman’s being revived on the 3DS

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Hold onto your hats, SEGA fans! It looks like the world’s douchiest sea creature may finally be seeing a return…on the Nintendo 3DS. In what’s being cited as an initiative by Nintendo to bring other publishers’ classic titles to their handheld, Seaman has been said by Nikkei to be one such game. No other details were given.

We’ll keep you updated on this news as it unravels. The advantages to a 3DS Seaman title would include the system’s built-in microphone, its touch screen, and, assuming they go all out with this, you’d also of course get to see Seaman’s ugly face in full 3D!

Keep in mind that this is not yet an official announcement, but Seaman creator Yoot Saito’s hint back in 2010 that Seaman could very well be seeing a 3DS revival adds credibility to the story.

Thanks to Chaosmaster8753 for the tip.

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Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games 3DS gets a launch trailer

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SEGA has released a launch trailer for the 3DS version of the latest Mario and Sonic mashup, and it looks like fans of past iterations will get more of the same here. If nothing else, this installment looks to make use of many of the 3DS’ features, and the visuals are a major step up from past handheld Mario and Sonic Olympics games.

There’s something that genuinely interests me about the Adventure Mode, which, as the trailer shows off, features Bowser and Eggman working together on some sort of master plan. That said, having played the demo, this game just isn’t for me. But for fans of mini game compilations, this might actually be a better buy than the Wii version released last year.

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New cinematic teaser for Aliens: Colonial Marines

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Looks cool, that’s for sure.

On a somewhat related note, they showed a 30-second Binary Domain advertisement before this trailer the first time I viewed it on IGN: a promising sign for the marketing of SEGA’s other upcoming shooter.

The recently-delayed Aliens: Colonial Marines will now be hitting the PS3, 360, and PC in the back end of 2012, and though it had also been previously announced for Nintendo’s next generation console, there’s no indication of that version in this trailer.

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Aliens: Colonial Marines pushed back to Fall 2012

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Though it was never exactly given a firm release date, Gearbox’s highly-anticipated Aliens project had long been pegged for a Spring 2012 release. That’s no longer the case according to G4, who’s reporting today that the game has slipped into the Fall 2012 window.

This means that it will be facing competition from the likes of Bioshock Infinite and Halo 4, plus whatever Call of Duty game Activision’s prepping, so SEGA’s marketing department had better be ready to write some big checks if they don’t want this promising-looking title to get lost in the shuffle.

UBJ PS eu

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Sonic the Hedeghog 4: Episode 1 now available on Android Marketplace

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Don’t happen to own any of the hundreds of platforms that Sonic 4: Episode 1 has been released on thus far? Well fear not, because as of today, Droid users have the opportunity to download the first episode of Sonic 4 from the Android Marketplace for only $3.99.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2, meanwhile, is looking increasingly likely for a release in the first half of this year if all goes well. Though if you haven’t played Episode 1 yet, I suppose for $3.99 you can’t go too wrong.

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Yakuza Dead Souls Trailer: Who’s got your back?

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Believe it or not Segabits readers, March will be upon us soon enough, and for SEGA fans in the West, the month of March has become synonymous with the arrival of new Yakuza titles. This year will see the release of Yakuza: Dead Souls, the zombie shooting spinoff with several series favorites banding together to gun down zombies in Tokyo. This new trailer features a pretty cool soundtrack and some zombie-shooting badassery.

Does this actually look promising? I still can’t make up my mind personally, but there’s always something fun about the release of a new Yakuza game. Yakuza Dead Souls will release March 2012, and SEGA seems to be doing their usual pre-order partnership with Gamestop, this time for some additional hostess outfits, guns, and items.

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SEGA delays Anarchy Reigns to July 2012

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Following hot on the heels of Konami’s recent announcement that Platinum Games would be taking over the development of the next Metal Gear game, we now have information on a delay for the studio’s other project, Anarchy Reigns.

The beat-em-up, which had already been delayed until January, has been pushed further back to July. The semi-sequel to MadWorld will now release on July 3 in North America, and on the 5th and 6th in Australia and Europe, respectively. SEGA West’s Gary Knight has said that the delay will be to increase the scale of the game, teasing that 1 vs 1 and 2 vs 2 fighters will become “a thing of the past.”

No word yet on whether Anarchy Reigns will be seeing a similar delay in Japan.

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New Sonic Generations demo on its way

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Good news for fans who are eager to get their hands on Sonic Generations; there will be another demo, one that will allow you to play as both Classic and Modern Sonic on Green Hill Zone. According to a somewhat confusingly-worded post on the Sega Blog, the demo will be coming to Xbox Live and the PSN on October 19th (Europe) and to Xbox Live on October 19th and the PSN on October 28th in North America.

Sonic Generations will be released November 4th on both the PS3 and 360.

[Thanks to Sega Neptune]

Update: Looks like Sega has just posted a clarifying comment after the blog post, though to be honest it’s left me a bit more confused:

Just to clarify –

Europe: PSN and XBLA demo will be available on Oct 18th

North America: XBLA Demo will be available on Oct 18th, PSN on Oct 25th.
-Clumsyorchid

So I guess the demo will be available on either the 18th, the 19th, or the 25th depending on your platform of choice, which continent you live on, and whether you’re going by the dates in the Blog Post or the clarifying comment. It’ll be soon regardless.

Update 2: The 18th.

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The Weekly Five: SEGA locations I’d want to visit

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There’s a certain feeling I get when I’m playing a video game and, suddenly, I find myself absorbed into its world. It’s a feeling even greater than being pulled into a movie I’m watching, or even a book I’m reading, in the sense that this is a world in which I have control over my character. In a video game, you’re not simply along for the ride, but rather, you play a major role in the main character’s journey; you’re the force that guides your character through these worlds. SEGA has created some stunning worlds over the years, and the five I’m going to list here only scratch the surface. But these are a few of the worlds that SEGA has created which, ever since I first got to explore them, I’ve been wishing for a way to transport my real life self into them. Hit the break to read on.

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