SEGA News

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SEGA of America going through another huge restructure, main office is relocating

January 30, 2015 by Shigs

Here we go again.

First it was Europe, now SEGA of America is getting hit with some major restructuring. In a statement released earlier today, SegaSammy Holdings announced an “Implementation of structure reform” for SEGA of America. Included in this are some potential layoffs in the forms of “voluntary Retirement” and the San Francisco office moving to a new location in Southern California. Also, there will be a more narrow focus on the “amusement business” division.

However, it’s not all bad news. There will be a reinforcement in the “Sonic and merchandising businesses” and the PC and Mobile divisions will be getting a stronger push possibly due to strong current sales in those markets. The full statement can be found here.

I hope that not too many people are affected by the downsizing and those that do find themselves out of a job, that they find a new one quickly. I guess we shall see how this goes for SEGA.

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Attention Westerners: Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax is coming to PS3 & Vita Summer 2015

January 29, 2015 by Barry

Another localization from SEGA is hitting Western consoles this year! Announced on the official Playstation blog, the light novel 2D fighter Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax is set for a Western release exclusively to PS3 and PS Vita in Summer 2015, both digitally and at retail for the US and digital only for Europe. If you want to know what the game is all about, we’d advise you check out Kori-Maru’s 2014 SEGA Game of the Year pick and read SEGA’s announcement at the Playstation blog.

Between this, the SEGA 3D Classics, and Yakuza 5 – it’s a great time for localizations from SEGA West!

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Dj CUTMAN’s “Spindash” – a Sonic the Hedgehog fan-made remix album available now!

January 27, 2015 by Barry

The Sonic the Hedgehog franchise is not new to fan-made remix albums, and given the quality of Sonic music, I can’t blame the many artists out there for being inspired to put their spin on classic tracks. But every once in a while a really special remix album hits, and Dj CUTMAN’s “Spindash” is one of those. The album, licensed by SEGA, is a fitting tribute to SEGA’s blue mascot featuring diverse styles of music and even ventures outside of the 16-bit era to remix tunes from Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Colors.

“Spindash” is available now on Loudr, iTunes, Amazon and Google Play. Dj CUTMAN performed at this past weekend’s MAGFest, and SEGAbits was there! We’ll have coverage from the event up on the site soon, in the meantime check out the album and after the break, read the press release.

Yakuza 0 story trailer: The most action packed Yakuza yet?

January 21, 2015 by Aki-at

Strange to say that considering this is suppose to be set in Kiryu’s younger days, but if this trailer is anything to go by than this might just be the most intense Yakuza game yet. Not only is this trailer filled to the brim with all out action but a lot of old faces show up like Nishiki and Shimano. If this was how Kazuma started his life as a Yakuza, then it’s little wonder why he’s hardly phased by fighting tigers and taking on black arm dealers in the future. Yakuza/Ryu Ga Gotoku 0 is set to be released on 12th March for the Playstation 3 and Playstation 4 in Japan, no Western release is yet announced.

But who knows, maybe if you guys all purchase a copy of Yakuza 5 later this year, we shall get to experience the next installment.

Alien: Isolation passes 1 million sales

January 21, 2015 by Aki-at

Just announced via the Alien: Isolation twitter account, SEGA’s survival horror title has managed to break the 1 million sales barrier. It’s interesting to note that they announced this figure prior to their full year report, perhaps an indication that the management were happy enough with the figure to announce it. A massive congratulations is in order for the team being able to pull off a true survival horror title in this age and being able to sell it to the masses, hopefully the sales for the title continues over the coming months before we’re updated with a new figure in March to see just how long this game’s tail is.

UPDATE: SEGA has clarified that Aliens: Colonial Marines‘ 1.31m figure represents units sold-in to retailers. Alien: Isolation‘s 1 million milestone represents units sold through to consumers.

After the break, read SEGA’s official press release.

Rent A Hero English translation finally released

January 20, 2015 by Kori-Maru

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SEGA AM2’s Action RPG, Rent A Hero, has been fully translated to English and released by the hard working of hackers from Rom Hacking Dot Net. Pretty much finishing what Edison Translation Group left off with only one section of the game translated.

Now gamers can finally get their hands on Rent A Hero from start to finish in English language for the first time ever.

Rent A Hero focuses on a teenager named Taro who has recently moved to Aero City along with his family and receives a armored suit. When he wears the suit, he becomes Rent A Hero, a hero for hire keeping the world at peace and payed for his heroic deeds.

For screenshots of Rent A Hero in English. Click the jump below!

Chikao Ōtsuka, Japanese voice actor of Doctor Eggman, has passed away

January 16, 2015 by Barry

Sad news today, as we have learned that Chikao Ōtsuka has passed away at age 85. Chikao Ōtsuka was the Japanese language voice actor of Doctor Eggman, and the longest running Eggman voice actor to date, voicing the character since 1998’s Sonic Adventure. Chikao Ōtsuka’s passing was confirmed on the talent agency website for Aoni Productions, the cause of death was given as ischemic heart failure.

Our thoughts are with Chikao Ōtsuka’s family, friends, and fans at this sad time.

Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric patch is live [UPDATE]

January 15, 2015 by TrackerTD

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A patch for Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric has gone live, and apparently it’s quite hefty, weighing in at roughly 1030MB! That puts this update at just over a gigabyte!

The news of the patch comes from multiple Twitter sources, confirming an update had indeed gone live; and now, one member of the Sonic Stadium forums has claimed the update clocks in a just over a gigabyte. That’s a pretty insane file size for a patch (though still not quite as bad as Ubisoft’s recent Assassin’s Creed patches…)! As for what the patch actually fixes, it is as of yet unconfirmed; early claims are that the Knuckles Infinite Jump glitch is finally gone, and that the visual performance in co-op mode has been improved somewhat. We’ll update here as details become more clear.

Thanks also go to Feniiku on Twitter for helping us confirm the release of the patch.

UPDATE: The patch is currently only live in Europe, from the looks of things.

SEGA announces Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX global release dates

January 14, 2015 by Barry

SEGA has announced the global release dates for the upcoming Nintendo 3DS title Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX! The game will be releasing to North America on May 26th of this year, hitting both store shelves and Nintendo’s digital download service the eShop. Fans in Japan and Korea can expect a May 28th release, and Europe will follow on May 29th. Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX isn’t your usual Hatsune Miku game, as SEGA has teamed with Good Smile Company to present the characters in their chibi-style Nendoroid figure style. You may remember that Miku and Sonic got the Nendoroid treatment, and as somebody who owns the Sonic figure, I can tell you that Good Smile Company does a fantastic job with both the physical figures, and the Nendoroid redesign.

After the break, check out a full press release, a trailer, and gallery of images!

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The Creative Assembly’s first Warhammer game to be Total War: Warhammer

January 13, 2015 by TimmiT

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Over two years ago SEGA announced that they and The Creative Assembly had partnered with Games Workshop to make Warhammer games. Now, seemingly not long before the game is supposed to be officially announced, we know what the first game to come out of this deal is. Total War Center forum member StormOfRazors had received the book: “The Art of Total War” about eleven days before its intended release date of January 23rd. And in it he noticed a passing mention of Creative Assembly’s Warhammer game.

As it turns out, the game will combine Total War with the Warhammer series in Total War: Warhammer. Seeing how this book is coming out in a little more than a week, hopefully SEGA will give us a good look at this game pretty soon.

Game Watch & Impress SEGA 3D Classics interviews continue, focusing on the development of After Burner II

January 12, 2015 by Barry

The SEGA Blog has kicked off another series of translated interviews held between 3D Classics developer M2 and Game Watch & Impress, this time focusing on the upcoming 3D After Burner II which is due out on January 15th for Nintendo’s 3DS. The article, which you can find here, not only delves into the development of the 3DS remake, but also Okunari provides photos and videos of the After Burner II cabinet in SEGA of Japan’s permanent storage warehouse. Suddenly I’m having visions of the ending to “Raiders of the Lost Arc” with every crate sporting a SEGA logo.

Part one can be found at SEGA’s blog, and part two is to be released tomorrow.

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Did You Know Gaming video series shines the spotlight on the SEGA Dreamcast

January 12, 2015 by Barry

Online video series Did You Know Gaming has featured SEGA on past episodes, such as their Sonic the Hedgehog retrospective, and their latest episode takes a look at SEGA’s console swan song the Dreamcast. The video does a nice job putting all the interesting facts revealed over the year in chronological order, touching on the Tom Kalinske’s dealings with Sony during the 1990s, Microsoft’s early involvement, and how piracy both hurt the console and then later helped the indie scene.

I’ll admit, I thought I knew everything about the SEGA Dreamcast, but there were a few factoids I was unaware of like the “potato” chip gag. Was there anything in the video that surprised you?

Once again, for more details be sure to check the official Weston Super Sonic page.

Sonic the Comic Editor Deborah Tate will be attending Weston Super Sonic

January 7, 2015 by TrackerTD

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Upcoming UK Sonic convention Weston Super Sonic has finally reached the end of its illustrious guest list, with the announcement that Sonic the Comic editor Deborah Tate will be in attendance!

Deborah was responsible for editing over 100 issues of the UK Sonic comic series, running from Issue #39 to #166, and was also responsible for many staples throughout the series’ life such as the Graphic Zone, Photo Zone, and reshaping Amy Rose’s look and character. This is no mean feat; to say she contributed hugely to many Sonic fans’ childhood is a huge understatement!

If that wasn’t enough, the convention has announced they’ll be making several more event announcements next week!

We’re in the home stretch now folks; don’t forget to stay tuned to SEGABits if you can’t make it, as we’ll have all the details from the day!

Weston Super Sonic is on 17th January in Weston-Super-Mare, and is ticket-only. All tickets have been sold, which is nothing short of impressive to say the least.