Yu Suzuki interview at Gamelab 2014

Yu Suzuki attended the recently concluded Gamelab 2014, a gaming conference in Spain. He gave a presentation (partially notable for one of his slides featuring a Roman numeral “3” stylized in Shenmue font, which attracted the usual modest amount of attention) and was the recipient of the fourth Legend Award, a distinction meant for honoring “key figures in the history of video games”, as written at the Gamelab website.

After Gamelab concluded, Yu Suzuki conducted a short interview, available above. The interview asks a variety of direct questions, on topics including his favorite arcade project that he worked on (interestingly, the interviewer also asks Yu Suzuki if he feels nostalgiac for any aspects of Sega’s more arcade-focused past,) opportunities for modern technology in a hypothetical next Shenmue game, and whether or not Kickstarter is being actively considered to fund the next Shenmue game should development be more seriously pursued. Check it out!

Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F 2nd receiving subtitled music lyrics

At E3, we asked Hatsune Miku’s producer whether or not Project DIVA F 2nd would have english subtitles in an interview. Today, we have an answer! SEGA has just announced in the trailer above that Hatsune Miku’s next game will have English subtitles. You can finally understand what she’s saying…provided you can afford to tear your eyes away from the chaos on screen long enough to read anyway!

Console Wars panel announced for San Diego Comic Con on Sunday, July 27th

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The official site for the Console Wars book has officially announced that a Console Wars panel will be taking place at San Diego Comic Con featuring SEGA and Nintendo all-stars Tom Kalinske (Sega of America), Al Nilsen (Sega of America), Bill White (Nintendo of America), and Perrin Kaplan (Nintendo of America), as well as Julian Rosenberg, producer of the upcoming Console Wars documentary alongside Console Wars author Blake J. Harris. The panel will be in Room 23ABC at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 27th and Blake will be signing copies of the book in the autographing area, table AA09, from 4 – 5 p.m.

And guess what? SEGAbits just might be attending, as we’ve obtained press passes for the convention! We’ll alert our readers on the social networks once we have our Comic Con plans finalized.

Phantasy Star Nova short cutscenes show off the main characters


Gematsu recently reported that Sega broadcasted a set of three cutscenes through Nico Nico this past weekend. They are each not much longer than a minute, and all are voiced. It’s another opportunity for a glimpse at what the game is set to look like, but also to get a grasp on the characters’ personalities. Of the main three characters, Lutia and Phildia, both of the female charcters, have pretty distinct characterizations in the trailers. When you see someone like Lutia pose and sound her barbaric yawp before charging in on a (rather freaky and cool-looking) Gigantes, you know you’re in for a party. Given tri-Ace’s reputation for dynamic and unique gameplay systems, it will be interesting to see what surprises tri-Ace will reveal in the future for this game.

Hit the break for two other videos!

Next Yakuza already in development

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While it’s a surprise to absolutely nobody, Toshihiro Nagoshi and producer Masayoshi Yokoyama have confirmed to Famitsu that they’ve begun work on the next Yakuza game, following the release of Yakuza Ishin earlier this year.

Details are scarce, with a more formal reveal likely to take place in the near future. For now, the two mostly discussed the process of auditioning the game’s hostesses.

As has become typical, it’s unlikely that we’ll hear anything about a Western release, though I’d love to be proven wrong.

Keep it glued to SEGAbits for the latest on the Yakuza series and of course all other SEGA news.

Alien Isolation: Accolades Trailer


Hey look, an almost brand new trailer for Alien: Isolation! I say ‘almost‘ because all of the gameplay footage in this trailer is recycled from the E3 trailer. However now it has some choice quotes spliced in between the scenes from various trusted critics, for good measure.

Any Alien fan will be pleased to hear that Isolation has been nominated for over 40 E3 awards! And if you are at all excited for Alien: Isolation the trailer is worth a watch, even if it’s mostly old footage… Mostly.

Strike the Blood’s Yukina & Black Bullet’s Rentarō added to Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax Cast

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Dengeki announced that two new playable characters will be featured in a update to SEGA and ASCII Media Works’ arcade fighting game, Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax, featuring Yukina Himeragi, a 14 year old middle-school Sword Shaman from Strike the Blood, and Rentarō from Black Bullet, a second year student in Magata High School and also a Promoter in Tendō Civil Security who lost his right leg, right arm and left eye in a fight with Gastrea to protect Kisara, and was saved by Sumire’s “New Human Creation Plan” which replaced his lost limbs with Varanium. He uses an XD and is a beginner in Tendō style martial arts.

Along with them will be two more support characters included which happens to be Kojō Akatsuki (Strike the Blood) and Enju Aihara (Black Bullet).

SEGA are still planning to release the game to consoles soon but nothing is announced on that at the moment. Hit the jump for screenshots featuring the two new fighters!

Football Manager 2014 breaks another PC record in the UK

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Its not secret that Football Manager is a highly successful series in the UK. Everyone knows that. What is shocking is that this yearly updated title has broken a new record. Maybe its that World Cup fever that has everyone wanting to manage a football team.

Football Manager 2014 has broken the record of most weeks spent at the number one spot in the UK PC game charts. It has spent a total of 22 weeks at number one – 18 of those being consecutive.

Football Manager 2014 hit PCs world wide last year on October 30th, but that isn’t stopping people from buying copies this last week, when it topped the full priced PC chart in the UK once again beating out new titles like Wildstar, Wolfenstien: The New Order and even EA’s cash crop The Sims 3.

Xbox LIVE for 360 has huge SEGA sale going on!

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This week is as good a time as ever to save some cash on some great SEGA titles available at a super cheap price for the Xbox 360. SEGA’s got a huge sale on this week on Xbox LIVE for some of their biggest titles such as Sonic and All Stars Racing Transformed, Virtua Fighter 5 FS, Hell Yeah and lots more. Plus, you can save as much as 75% off! Click below to see the super low prices on these great titles. (Geez, I’m starting to sound like an ad)

SEGA in the Charts: MediaCreate charts for June 09 – 15 June 2014

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After debuting in the charts so impressively, SEGA’s first major title since the Atlus takeover continues its fine performances in the Japanese charts. Last week the title debuted as the best selling piece of software in Japan but did it have enough steam to continue it’s strong sales into the second week? And what about Hero Bank? The game that seemed destined to be a major flop finally appears in the charts again but has it crossed the 50,000 barrier? All these questions answered after the break!

Sonic Dash for Android features two new racers – the Android Robot and Andronic

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SEGA has teamed up with Google Play for an Android exclusive addition to Sonic Dash. For a limited time, players can race as the Android Robot, and if players race well enough as him, they can permanently unlock a special Sonic Android Robot to race as dubbed (are you ready for this?) “Andronic”. Yup, Andronic is now a thing. Watch your back, Tails Doll!

You can download Sonic Dash for free from the Google Play store, and act fast if you want to play as the two new characters because as mentioned, they’re for a limited time!

Update: For those wondering how to unlock Andronic, the Google Play page says: “Choose to play as the Android Robot on the Character Select screen 50 times before the event is over to unlock a very unique and exclusive character for you to play as.”

Funimation acquires English dubbing rights to BAYONETTA: Bloody Fate

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FUNimation® Entertainment announced today that the company has acquired U.S. & Canadian rights to the full-length feature film BAYONETTA: Bloody Fate. BAYONETTA: Bloody Fate, which was produced by GONZO animation studio and internationally acclaimed director Fuminori Kizaki, was released in theaters on DVD & Blu-ray in Japan last year and faithfully retells the story of the first BAYONETTA game in full anime glory.

Director Fuminori Kizaki will also be making an appearance as a guest of honor at this year’s Anime Expo in Los Angeles, July 3-6 where a “sneak peek” of the English dub of BAYONETTA: Bloody Fate will be shown for fans at the convention, along with a special Q&A with Director Kizaki following on Saturday, July 5th, at 8:15pm in Video 1.

FUNimation plans to release the animated movie on DVD and Blu-Ray sometime this year with a released date that has yet to be announced. BAYONETTA 2 is also set for a release this year in October, so be sure to check out our E3 impressions on the sequel sometime this week.

SEGAbits at E3 Interview: Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F 2nd Interview with Producer Sam Mullen

Sam Mullen, Localization Producer for SEGA, joined us for an interview at E3 2014 to discuss Hatsune Miku Project Diva F 2nd and our hopes for future Western releases of SEGA’s Japanese titles. Hatsune Miku Project Diva f 2nd is due out Fall 2014 for the Playstation 3 and Vita. We’re especially looking forward to the title, as we gave the original game for the Vita a well deserved “A” grade.