SEGA News

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]

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[UPDATE] Sonic Forces tag team mode gameplay footage released, Japanese release date revealed

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[UPDATE] The official Sonic the Hedgehog channel has released a new video of the tag gameplay, seen above. After the break, check out the Japanese stream video.
[UPDATE 2] New screens after the break!

With Sonic Mania released to the masses (well, aside from the PC version) Sonic Forces details have begun to release via Famitsu and Gamescon, and while I expect something from SEGA of America soon, I didn’t want to pass up newsing the new mode revealed for the game. In addition to Classic Sonic, Modern Sonic and the Custom Hero the game will include a Tag mode where players control both Modern Sonic and the Custom Hero, giving players the opportunity to see their creation running alongside Sonic.

At the moment, only a Modern Sonic team-up is confirmed, no word on Classic teaming with the Custom Hero. The Tag mode allows players to use both Sonic and Custom Hero’s abilities, meaning you can speed and boost like Sonic, and use the Wispons. Also, as seen in the video after the break, the duo will have the opportunity to fist bump into a special boost mode in which the vocal theme Fist Bump plays. If you’d like a peek at the controls, take a look at this Twitter post. Nothing too revealing, but it’s worth checking out.

Other details revealed include confirmation that Sonic Forces will be at Tokyo Game Show with special guests and new content and, as confirmed by SEGA, Sonic Forces is set to release November 9th, 2017 in Japan.

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Yu Suzuki confirms Shenmue 3 teaser trailer models are temporary

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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.

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A Certain Magical Virtual-On gets major update, will be playable at TGS

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Announced back in mid-March, SEGA has been pretty quiet on their latest entry into the Virtual-On series. Coming to the Playstation 4 and Vita, the crossover has left many of fans of either franchise mystified. Now with Tokyo Game Show less than a month away we’ve gotten a massive blow out of information in the latest issue of Dengeki PlayStation! The new issue covers the Virtuaroids, weapons and the characters from A Certain Magical Index that will be appearing in the crossover. Hit the jump after the break to check out more information and screenshots;

It has also been confirmed that A Certain Magical Virtual-On will be playable at Tokyo Game Show next month. We will be there to give you guys some hands on impressions of the game. Stay tuned.

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Yakuza Studio’s new titles presentation to be live streamed this Saturday

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With less than a week until SEGA kicks off it’s Yakuza Studio’s new titles presentation this Saturday, we’ve been given confirmation that the event will be live streamed on YouTube, Fresh, and Niconico from 19:00 Japan Standard Time. Having the presentation on youtube will be a godsend for fans who don’t have Niconico accounts and don’t know how to make it through the Japanese only sign up of the site.

Previously Nagoshi mentioned that multiple titles would be announced at the event “including something expected.” so what could it be, Yakuza Kiwami 2 with a new IP or perhaps something else? Gives us your thoughts and hopes on what you’re expecting this Saturday below.

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New Shenmue 3 teaser trailer finally released

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With Gamescom going full swing tomorrow, PlayStation youtube channel has released a teaser trailer (And the first trailer since the project was announced way back!) for Shenmue 3. Featuring predominantly Ryo and Shenhua, we get to see the trailer kick off from where Shenmue 2 finishes and some delightful enviroments are showcased. I must admit for the budget of over $6 million, that is some fine looking areas the team have come and I can’t wait to get the chance to explore them. Let’s hope we get to see more of the game with Gamescom opening to the public tomorrow!

What did you think of the trailer? Comment below with your thoughts!

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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)?

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

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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?

Yakuza 6 Launch Day Pre-Order – Yakuza 6 Premium Edition Pre-Order

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.

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Yakuza 6: The Song Of Life Gameplay Trailer released, pre-orders now open

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SEGA has released a new trailer showing off various aspects of Yakuza 6: The Song Of Life gameplay. Take a look at how cutscenes will play out, epic in-game brawls, menu systems and mini games.

In Yakuza 6, Kazuma Kiryu will find out exactly how much people are willing to sacrifice for family – be those ties through blood or bond – when he investigates a series of shadowy events that involve the ones he holds closest to his heart. Fresh out of a three-year prison sentence, an older and weathered Kiryu comes to find out that his surrogate daughter, Haruka, has gone missing from the orphanage he looks after. The trail leads him to his old stomping grounds in Kamurocho, where he discovers that she has been struck by a car and now lies in a coma. To make matters worse, Kiryu learns that Haruka now has a son that he must look after. With baby in hand, Kiryu journeys to the seaside town of Onomichi, Hiroshima to unravel the truth about Haruka, her son, and a sinister secret that the Hiroshima yakuza are harboring.

Yakuza 6: The Song Of Life is now available to pre-order in two impressive launch editions. The Yakuza 6: The Song Of Life After hours Premium Edition comes with an art book, two drinking glasses, whiskey cubes, coasters and a collector’s box for $89.99. The Yakuza 6: The Song of Life Standard Edition, meanwhile, comes with an abridged art book which doubles as the game case and sells for $59.99. Both are available to pre-order now and release March 20, 2018.

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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.

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Japan Racing Association x Puyo Puyo collaboration “UmaPuyo” announced

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SEGA and Japan Racing Association have teamed up for a new collaboration called UmaPuyo (literally “Horse Puyo”). The Japan Racing Association being Japan’s horse racing division since 1954, hence the association with horses. While the collaboration may seem random, SEGA has had a history with horse racing games, notably the Starhorse series of arcade game, so there’s some logic to something like UmaPuyo.

There are two minigames for UmaPuyo. First is a racing game called UmaPuyo Race where you can select your character and horse and race off. The objective is to get first place by clearing out Puyo consecutively, the more Puyo cleared the faster your horse will run.  UmaPuyo Jump is a jump platforming game where you guide a Puyo using your mouse cursor and collect horses. There are a total of 20 horses, each one based on a real-world horse that appears in the Japan Racing Association horse races. You can play both on the official Umabi website.

While on the surface there’s nothing special about this collaboration, the former game UmaPuyo Race has a contest associated with it. Every time the player wins a race, the player will get a raffle. To enter, the player needs to follow @Umabi_Official and share their victory on Twitter. Once entered, they will have an opportunity to win a cash prize of  ¥50,000 ($455.00). 5 winners will be chosen at an unspecified later date.

Special thanks for @AFKei with help translating this information.

[Source: 4gamer and Umabi.jp]

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AtGames SEGA Genesis Sound Issues Fixed via Fan Hack

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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.

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SEGA Confirms No DLC Planned for Sonic Mania

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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]

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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.

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