Yakuza Kiwami 2 Leaked Early By PSN Store Page

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SEGA was set to have a big stadium announcement this Saturday, that was going to be live streamed world wide to announce several new games by the Yakuza studio. It seems that one of their surprises has been leaked early via the Taiwanese PSN store. The listing says the game will release on December 7th, 2017 in Japan.

Going through the rough English translation of the PSN store page description, it seems that they might have went back and recorded all the voice acting, much like the the first Yakuza Kiwami. But they are also teasing this one being on the new ‘Human Dragon Engine’ which means it could be using the new engine that powered the gorgeousYakuza 6! You already know I’m excited for Yakuza Kiwami 2, but are you?

[Via: Wario64]

Atlus sets up European publishing division

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Atlus has confirmed that they are setting up a European publishing team to handle their in-house published titles in the territory. In the past Atlus and SEGA have had to work with third-party publishers to release their console titles, such as Deep Silver and Koch, while SEGA Europe stuck with handling PC releases.

This move is part of being acquired by SEGA. The team will feature commercial director Simon Inch. The new Atlus Europe division still has to announce who the PR manager and product marketing manager will be. It has been confirm that they will operate out of the SEGA Europe offices in London.

“It is a strong example of the growth we are experiencing as a company. Publishing in Europe is simply the next step for us. What this means initially for fans is a parity for launch and premium editions. From a business perspective, we’ll be better positioned to address the needs of each market in which we release our titles.” – Jacob Nahin, senior PR manager at Atlus USA

Atlus says this move will help them give European fans better support with special edition products and stuff that they offer to the US market. I will assume once Atlus is finish setting up shop, that all SEGA and Atlus console games will be handled through Atlus Europe for release in European markets. This is obviously good news, since it seems a lot of SEGA and Atlus fans aren’t too pleased with Deep Silver handling in-house games. What are your thoughts?

[Source: GamesIndustry.biz]

SEGA News Bits: Shenmue 3 First Teaser Trailer Discussion

Just the other day the PlayStation YouTube account unleashed the first teaser trailer for the upcoming Shenmue 3 game and it sure got mixed reactions. Some people thought it was the worse thing they have ever seen, others thought it looked amazing. We decided to wait at least a day before doing a SEGA News Bits because I feel like the teaser trailer had so much that we needed to process. On this episode of the SEGA News Bits we discuss the lack of facial animations, graphics and the new Shenmue 3 logo. But let us know what you think of the first Shenmue 3 teaser trailer in the comments below.

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 YouTube algorithm is.

Yu Suzuki confirms Shenmue 3 teaser trailer models are temporary

36584935131_c9f5fedc09_oYu Suzuki has confirmed, via an interview with Game Spark, that the Shenmue 3 teaser trailer models are mostly temporary.

““Shenhua, Ryo, and the other characters are mostly temporary. Shenhua still has to be fixed up a bit.” – Yu Suzuki, director and producer Shenmue 3

According to the Shenmue 3 executive producer Hideaki Morishita, regarding the lack of high quality models, “was unable to ready them in time for this trailer.”  He also explained that they put the teaser trailer together to celebrate their milestone of signing a publishing contract with Deep Silver, “While there is little excuse, there are parts that are still lacking or parts that are not sufficient.”

In a interview with Game Watch, Yu Suzuki also confirmed that facial animation was implemented a month ago but was temporarily removed. No answer to why

Gematsu translated some of the new Shenmue 3 reveals from Yu Suzuki’s Famitsu interview including talk about post game DLC, the return of the forklift and confirming that the game will be about 30 hours long.

Sonic Forces joins the list of games to be Xbox One X Enhanced

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If you guys missed the news, Xbox One was getting another, more supped up console version mean’t to run games at 4k. Pretty close to what Sony did last year with the PlayStation 4 Pro, only that the Xbox One X seems to have better specs (and a hundred dollar more price tag). Microsoft is now preparing their marketing teams to hype up fans into upgrading to Xbox One X, one of the ways is to play enhanced versions of your favorite past and future titles. Looking through the list, the only SEGA title listed as a Xbox One X Enhanced is the upcoming Sonic Forces. No surprise as Sonic Forces will also take advantage of the extra power on the PlayStation 4 Pro.

So what will Sonic Forces do with the extra power of the Xbox One X? No idea, since there isn’t specifics on Major Nelson’s announcement post. Though he does say he will be updating the list and details as time goes on. You can check out the full list of Xbox One X Enhanced games here. As a Sonic fan, are you interested in the Xbox One X if its the best way to play Sonic Forces (outside of a PC)?

SEGA News Bits: Yakuza 6 Launch Day & Premium Editions Revealed

SEGA has recently revealed the Yakuza 6 Launch Day and Premium Edition versions, with a release date of March 20, 2018! On this episode of the SEGA News Bits we discuss the two editions, what you get and our thoughts on SEGA doing more of these big physical releases. Its no surprise that we are big SEGA fans and love these sort of premium edition releases, so you can hear us gush over the news for about 6 minutes. Are you getting Yakuza 6? Which version?

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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 YouTube algorithm is.

SEGA announces Yakuza 6 release date and premium edition

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SEGA has confirmed that Yakuza 6: The Song of Life will launch both digitally and physically in the Americas and Europe on March 20, 2018. SEGA has also priced the game at $59.99. Nothing surprising there. But SEGA did confirm that people that pre-order get a launch copy that includes a hardcover art book that doubles as a disc holder. Pretty neat.

Giveaway: Sonic Mania Introduction Manual

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We’re giving away twenty Sonic Mania Introduction Manuals, courtesy of SEGA. One of the ways to win a Sonic the Hedgehog manual is to comment on this post letting us know your favorite piece of fan service added to Sonic Mania. Five comments will be chosen as winners, make sure your comment has a valid email address (the email field is private). The contest starts from the day this post is live and ends on August 19, 2017 at 6:00PM PST.

To increase your chances of winning we will also be giving away five Sonic Mania Introduction Manuals on the following social media sites:

Due to the high amount of manuals that I will have to ship out, this contest is only open to people in the United States.

AtGames SEGA Genesis Sound Issues Fixed via Fan Hack

If you guys have heard us discuss the AtGames SEGA Genesis plug-in-play boxes that they reship to stores every year, you probably noticed that we are harsh on them for having bad emulation. One of the worse offenders from the company is the in-game sound from their unit. You can even check out a full review from My Life With SEGA where he demonstrates how bad the sound really is.

It seems that this fix will work with both AtGames Genesis machines with a SD slot and the newly released Brazilian TecToy Mega Drive since both of these machines share the same processor. It seems TecToy will apply this as an update on their devices while AtGames hasn’t said anything. Maybe they don’t care?

How to:

  • Download latest version of MDI Hack
  • Put both files from the rar inside the games folder
  • Go to main menu and choose Neto_Boot_Loader.BIN, play it as you would any game.
  • Done: No more bad sound

You can check out the differences in sound from the video above. Thanks for Usagijojo on our Discord for bringing this up. Give it a try, its not perfect but its a lot better than what you had.

SEGA Confirms No DLC Planned for Sonic Mania

SonicManiaDLCNoThe Sonic Mania fever is spreading online and now that fans have finished the game they want more. I would assume that this is a good sign, you always want gamers that complete your game to want more. Its the sign of a fun, well put together package. While some Sonic Mania fans have been asking for DLC, Sonic Team’s Takashi Iizuka finally came out and confirmed that there isn’t any plans for it. That’s right, Sonic Mania is leaving the potential of DLC cash on the table to deliver a complete package for only $19.99. While some might say, if they really want to be like the olden days, why not a physical release? I’m there with you. I hope Sonic Mania is successful enough digitally (which it looks like it might be) to get a physical release. I mean if Shovel Knight, Rocket League and other smaller published games can do it, so can SEGA.

As for as Sonic Mania DLC, if it where to happen, what would you want the developers to add? Personally sold on the idea of having a playable Metal Sonic, what about you guys? Let us know in the comments below.

[Via: GoNintendo]

Night Trap 25th Anniversary Edition Review – The Definitive Package (PS4)

Night Trap is an odd little gem that has a cemented history in gaming. While the game has garnered mix reactions over the years, those that have played it will all tell you that its the leader of FMV games from the 90s, being one of the most popular games in the genre. 25 years after the initial release, Night Trap is finally getting a remastered port for modern platforms including PlayStation 4, PC and Xbox One. Today we give you our review of Digital Picture’s Night Trap, brought back to life 25 years later.

Megami Tensei Gaiden: Last Bible Special gets English fan translation and in-game improvements

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Megami Tensei Gaiden: Last Bible Special is a strange little title, since the game was actually developed by SEGA for the SEGA Game Gear. That’s right, this was a joint effort by Atlus and SEGA, way back in 1994! 

Megami Tensei Gaiden: Last Bible Special story according to this Hardcore Gaming 101 article:

“… Last Bible Special was only released for the Game Gear, and is much closer to the Megami Tensei series in terms of gameplay. The dungeons are now first person again, removing it heavily from the other Last Bible games. Instead of the usual historical theme, the setting seems to be in biblical times, with a heavy Christian slant – you’re given orders by someone who looks much like a Catholic bishop, and the backgrounds are adorned with ornate stained glass windows. And good lord, do they look good. While the static screenshots may look boring, the scrolling is much smoother than even the Super Famicom games…” 

The team not only translated the game, it also added in-game improvements:

“Here is the complete English translation patch for the Game Gear title, Megami Tensei Gaiden: Last Bible Special. Not only has everything been translated, but some improvements to the game have been made as well, such as making the enemy encounter rates more reasonable and incorporating faster turning in the dungeons (as it was very slow by default). We hope you enjoy this release! Consult the read-me included with the patch for more information about this project.”

You can download Megami Tensei Gaiden: Last Bible Special over at romhacking.net, if you enjoy it make sure you share the release with other SEGA Game Gear fans. I mean, the fans behind the project did put a lot of effort and its nice to see them getting attention they deserve.

SEGA Japan trademarks “Narcia’s Tears and the Fairy’s Flute”

PopoloSoS_Cutscene01.0SEGA Japan has recently filed a trademark for “Narcia’s Tears and the Fairy’s Flute” (Narushia no Namida to Yousei no Fue). The trademark was filed on July 24th. According to Gematsu, Narcia is the name of a character from the PopoloCrois series, which has faeries as a prominent role. Not only that, the series’ main developer Epics has been on a hiring spree recently for a new PopoloCrois Monogatari game, looking for a “UI design intended for smartphone and consumer game screens.” Could this mean that the next PopoloCrois game will be published by SEGA?

It seems that the PopoloCrois IP is owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Even though they own the IP, 2015’s Return to PopoloCrois: A Story of Seasons Fairytale was the first game to be on a non-Sony platform as the IP was licensed out to Marvelous and the game released on the Nintendo 3DS. Its possible that SEGA could be licensing the IP and planning a new entry along with developer Epics, much how they have found success with Hatsune Miku titles. What are your thoughts on SEGA trademarking “Narcia’s Tears and the Fairy’s Flute” ? Do you think PopoloCoris franchise should be adding to SEGA’s publishing arm?