SEGA News Bits: Dreamcast Games Are Coming Back Online – Its Still Thinking?

Our beloved SEGA Dreamcast was known to be the first console to promote online gaming as a feature thanks to having a modem packed into every console. We got a pretty decent array of online playable games, but sadly after SEGA pulled the life support from the Dreamcast, these beloved games went offline. But now they are being resurrected and on this episode of the SEGA News Bits we look at all the Dreamcast games playable online, Dreamcast games that might come back soon and talk about some of the ones that are still offline. Let us know what online Dreamcast games you played back in the day and which ones you wish where back online in the comments below!

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Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom getting physical release on PS4 and Switch

According to Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom publisher FDG Entertainment, they have teamed up with SEGA to get a physical version of Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom on both PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. The physical version is set to release day one along with the digital versionMonster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom has been massively delayed, above we have a interview with the game director Fabien Demeulenaere back in 2016! From what I read, the game has been delayed to improve the overall quality and its set to finally launch this summer!

While we got two remakes of Wonder Boy games, including the incredible Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap, Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is set to be an all new adventure for the franchise.

Streets of Rage, Altered Beast and Rent-A-Hero getting miniature figures

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A new series of miniature SEGA figures are launching in Japan, being titled “Video Game Heroes” this collection will launch with Streets of Rage, Altered Beast and Rent-A-Hero figures. It seems that these figures will be limited, according to Famitsu they sold 50 sets at the Wonder Festival 2018 event and will be selling 250 sets this upcoming May.

These miniature figures aren’t pre-painted, so its up to you as the purchaser to paint them. Some people like these sorts of projects, some don’t. Hit the jump to see all the photos of the figures in action!

Yakuza 4 and 5 join PlayStation Now streaming platform

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Sony has announced February’s big PlayStation Now update bringing both Yakuza 4 and Yakuza 5 to its streaming platform. If you don’t know, PlayStation Now is a streaming service that lets you play PlayStation games on various devices including mobile, PlayStation 4 and PC. These games join a library of over 600 playable games on the service. Personally not into it due to having great internet speeds. The service requires a constant internet connection of at least 5mb up and down. Of course you will also have to have good ping. But if you have a good internet set-up, you can get the first month for $9.99 and $19.99 after that (or a one year subscription for $99).

Lots of fans took to twitter to ask SEGA why Yakuza 3 wasn’t included since a lot of new fans have jumped on the Yakuza train after the release of Yakuza 0. According to localization producer Sam Mullen, Yakuza 3 didn’t release on PlayStation Now because there isn’t a digital version of the game available. Hopefully SEGA fixes this as the game has increased in price due to the franchises jump in popularity last year.

[Source: PlayStation Blog]

SEGA reports video game division doing well, everything else not so much

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It seems that SEGA is really working hard to turn their console publishing arm around, with recent changes on how they localize games which included announcing three Yakuza games coming to the West. This of course has fans like me very excited and yesterday SEGA-Sammy posted their financial report that ended on December 31st, 2017. It was filled with good and bad news.

Let’s take a look at what SEGA-Sammy had to say about their performance in the last nine months.

Space Channel 5 VR to get downloadable demo later this year

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Space Channel 5 VR Arakata Dancing Show  isn’t a new game, it was actually shown at the Tokyo Game Show back in 2016. It is interesting is that SEGA has changed the name of the VR experince, before they called it ‘Ukiuki Viewing Show’, now its ‘Arakata Dancing Show’. The VR ‘experience’ was up for people to try out and then SEGA stopped talking about it. According to a recent tweet, gamers will be able to give the demo another go at Game Party Japan 2018, which happens to be the first official tournament held by JeSU (Japan e-Sports Union) on February 10th and 11th.

While Japanese site Panora got the official scoop that Space Channel 5 VR Arakata Dancing Show will get demos in VR stores this spring and get a download version later this year. For what I gather, the download version will be the ‘demo experience’ shown at events and not a full game. Bummer. The demo experience will still be shown off using HTC VIVE headsets and SEGA still hasn’t mentioned if they have plans on showing it off on PlayStation VR. I think this is SEGA testing the market, see if the general public still has interest in Space Channel 5 with a demo release. Hit the jump to see screenshots of the game.

SEGA starts teasing Puyo Puyo Tetris for PC release

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The other day we reported that Puyo Puyo Tetris on Nintendo Switch sold almost one million units on the platform alone. Today it seems SEGA Europe is readying for a PC release of the same game, if their teasing is anything to go by. Today a bunch of SEGA game pages updated with an announcement tease, using text symbols to draw out Puyo blobs and Tetris blocks.

Hit the jump below to see SEGA’s teases on various PC game releases and tell us what other games you would enjoy to see on your PC. Huh, SEGA Europe, if you are reading this, get Valkyria Chronicles 4 PC announced already.

Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology demo hits 3DS, DLC schedule revealed

Atlus has been on a roll promoting the upcoming remake of Radiant Historia, which was originally released on the Nintendo DS back in 2010. Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology is set to offer the original game story with a ton of extra modes. Above you see the unboxing of the Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology launch edition.

But we also got a demo for the game, out now in the e-shop. The demo lets you play the start of the story and will even let you transfer saves to the full game if you pre-ordered. No reason not to give the title a shot. The 3DS e-shop is also offering a free Radiant Historia theme, for those that want to further ‘Radiant Historia-pimp out’ their 3DS. After the jump we will detail the DLC schedule for the game.

Sonic the Hedgehog twitter teases collaboration with Razer for SXSW?

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The Razer and Sonic the Hedgehog social media accounts have been going back and forth lately on twitter, giving each other smiling nods as they collaborate on content. This is usually nothing too new, but today the Sonic the Hedgehog social media account replied with the above image showing Knuckles in Razer gear with the message “By the way… do you guys make keyboards for Echidnas?” 

Usually it will stop there and be thought of as a good cross social platform promotion (considering that today is Hedgehog day), but the Tails Channel twitter account noticed that next to Knuckles was some morse code that translates to ‘SXSW’, making some believe that there could be some crossover promotion between Razer and the Sonic the Hedgehog brand for future products. Especially considering that the SXSW event is going to show ‘the future of Sonic the Hedgehog‘ 

Valkyria Chronicles 4 gets prologue Japanese trailer

SEGA has released a brand spanking new trailer for the upcoming Valkyria Chronicles 4 that goes over the game’s prologue and sets up what will be the game’s upcoming story. Considering that Valkyria Chronicles 4 takes place at the same time as the first game, just following a different squad, you should already know the basic premise for the war going on (that’s assuming you played the first game).

While SEGA West has been kinda silent on the game since they announced it coming west, we we do know is that its coming sometime this year on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.

SEGA migrating their official forums, shutting them down temporarily

segaforumsIf you didn’t know, SEGA has official forums that have been open since the late 90s. I know a lot of people that have grown up chatting about SEGA via these forums, even me, your humble SEGA news writer started out the site by meeting people on this very forum. I’m not lying when I say that these forums mean’t a lot to many people. According to Sonic Community Manager Aaron Webber, the forums will be coming to a close as they plan a move from Vbulletin software to a new database. Aaron didn’t give a ETA on when you can expect them back.

Hit the jump to read his comments:

SEGA joins the Japanese e-Sports Union, a big step for e-sports in Japan

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Its no secret that e-sports has been on the rise world wide and has been making companies a lot of money. But somehow it hasn’t had the same take off in Japan, even though Japan has been known for its competitive fighting scene in arcades. It seems a new unified organization have decided to tackle the problem, called: Japanese e-Sports Union (JeSU). SEGA’s Hideki Okamura will be serving as President of JeSU. According to the article by Game.Watch, this will unify other e-sports organizations under one common banner.

While SEGA’s own Hideki Okamura is running president we also get Haruki Tsujimoto (President of Capcom) and Hideki Hayakawa (President and CEO of Konami) taking the roles of representative directors.

Border Break open beta client hits Japanese PSN

If you guys didn’t catch our past stories, Border Break is heading to PlayStation 4 as a free-to-play game. But first SEGA wants to do a open beta for the game to gather player feedback and test their servers. If you want to join the open beta, its free to join with a Japanese PSN account. The client is now ready to download on PSN as well.

Sadly you won’t be able to join online games for a few days. The beta schdule goes as follows:

  • February 3, 2018 (Sat) 15: 00 ~ 21: 00
  • February 4, 2018 (Sunday) 15: 00 ~ 21: 00
  • February 17, 2018 (Sat) 15: 00 ~ 21 : 00
  • February 18, 2018 (Sunday) 15: 00 ~ 21: 00

From what I gather, you don’t need PlayStation Plus membership to play free-to-play games online. You just need a Japanese PSN account, which are free. Will you be trying out Border Break?

IDW’s Sonic the Hedgehog comic book gets printable pre-order form

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IDW Publishing has tweeted out a printable Sonic the Hedgehog pre-order form that you can take into your local comic book shop to pre-order the upcoming series. You can check out where your local comic book shop is by clicking here. While I’m always up for everyone to support their local shops, if you happen not to live by a good comic book shop, you can always pre-order your comics at a huge discount via DCBS.

Hit the jump to get the second sheet to fill out. Who is pre-ordering it?

A Certain Magical Virtual-On gets mission mode, including online co-op mode

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SEGA is getting ready to release A Certain Magical Virtual-On over in Japan, which is set to release in February 15th and have released a demo on the Japanese PSN for those wondering what it plays like. Now they have given up more details on the game’s ‘mission mode’, which will feature both single player and online co-op challenges. Some are competitive battles while other missions feature rugby-style sports action.

The details have been translated by Gematsu and go as follows: