Ryuji Goda joining cast in next Yakuza game

The main villain from Yakuza 2 will now be the fourth playable character in the upcoming Yakuza game. The game has not received a name as of yet, but its safe to assume it will be titled Yakuza 5.

“The fourth main character for the next Yakuza game is Ryuji Goda, in his first appearance since Yakuza 2. There has been much demand for his reappearance. This character, who was born as a rival character who gives off a powerful aura, is at last appearing as a main character. Of course, the manly, brawny appeal of Ryuji will be in place. We’ll also be telling a after story for Yakuza 2.” – Toshihiro Nagoshi

I assume you play him in a flash back or the character has flash backs during the game? Makes sense I guess. The other 3 characters that have been announced are Goro Majima, Kiryu Kazuma and Shun Akiyama. More information should come to light at TGS next month.

[Source: AndriaSang]

Phantasy Star Portable 2 demo hits PSN


The US PSN store has just been updated and PSP SEGA fans got a treat, a Phantasy Star Portable 2 demo. Last time they got Valkyria Chronicles II, now Phantasy Star? Good times.

The game is suppose to hit retail on September 14th.

SEGA announces Football Manager 2011

 

A new entry in SEGA’s highly successful and critically acclaimed series, Football Manager, has been announced for release before Christmas 2010 and available on PC, Mac and Playstation Portable. In Football Manager, players take on the role of manager of a number of football clubs or national team manager and guide the team to glory by meeting targets set by the board, which, depending on which club you pick can range from winning a trophy, being promoted or surviving relagation. Speaking of the announcement, Miles Jacobson from Sports Interactive said;

“We always strive to give the end-user the best experience possibleInteractive. The training system, for example, has always been the best we thought it could be, until now. We’ve found a way to make it even better.”

Continue on to read the full Press Release and find out the new features available in the lastest installment.

Virtua Tennis 4 Announced!

Today Sega have announced Virtua Tennis 4, the next game in the hit Virtua Tennis series, but this time with a difference!

Virtua Tennis 4 will be exclusive to the PlayStation 3 and will have both Move controls and be 3D enabled, Anna Kournikova’s arse will seem so close to your face you could almost taste it.

[Edit] It appears that this game will be developed in Japan by the original Virtua Tennis team and not by Sumo Digital, pretty big news! Maybe that will free up Sumo for some more Sega All-Stars action. [/Edit]

Hit the jump for the press release!

Unexpected items in English release of Phantasy Star Portable 2

It looks like SEGA is pulling all the tricks they can to get Phantasy Star Portable 2 localized with minimal cuts. SEGA America community manager Aaron Webber who goes by the name RubyEclipse sent an email to Siliconera about two items that will be making it into the English version of Phantasy Star Portable 2.

Hit the jump to read about the unexpected Japanese items that have made it into the English release.

Valkyria Chronicles 2 to stay PSP exclusive

When Valkyria Chronicles 2 was announced for the PSP, many gamers got a bit angry since they wanted it to be on the PS3, just like the original. Well, now that SEGA West has begun their community team blog posts about the game, people have asked, is there a way the game can come to PS3? Short answer, no.

“Valkyria Chronicles I is a PS3 exclusive, and Valkyria Chronicles II is a PSP exclusive. Taking a game from the PSP and updating for the PS3 is a pretty huge process, and I don’t think there are any plans to do that currently. An interesting question though!”– RubyEclipse

Not really surprised, I mean, when was the last time a PSP game was ported to PS3? Never, that I can think of. He also answered your questions about Valkyria Chronicles trophy patch, no news on it. Basically, forget about trophies in the original and just play the damn game.

[Source: PlaystationLifestyle]

SEGA Amusements UK launching 6 new products


The guys over at Arcade Heroes have gotten the invite to test them out, we here at SEGAbits only got strange looks and pointing fingers. Games on the list are Grid, Let’s Go Island and Great American Road Trip.
What ‘Sonic Series’ and ‘New Sonic AllStars Addition Slideshow v2’ is, I don’t know. I guess we will find out sooner than later

Iizuka hints at Sonic 20th anniversary project

Takashi Iizuka has hinted that there will be something special coming in 2011, for Sonic’s 20th Anniversary.

“We’ve already announced Sonic Free Riders for Kinect, but if you look at 2011 that’s the 20th Anniversary of Sonic, so you might just be seeing something special for that.” – Takashi Iizuka

Maybe the 20th anniversary thing could be that Sonic collection that was leaked with the Sony meeting, ever Sonic game in a box set?

[Source: Game]

New Sonic Colors screens


A new batch of Sonic Color screens have been released and this game is on its way to becoming one of the best looking Wii games.  The batch of screens also include the DS version, which is looking way different than the Wii version. It actually looks more like Sonic Rush 3.

Sonic Colors is set to hit retail this upcoming November, exclusively on DS and Wii. To see the rest of the screens, head over to Nintendo Everything. Way to many too upload here. Also, I don’t know why SEGA upscale 420p native screens to HD.

Valkyria Chronicles II demo hitting PSN today

The demo for Valkyria Chronicles II will be hitting US PSN later today, I just checked at the time of posting this and the store hasn’t updated yet. Should be in a few hours, I personally can’t wait.

RubyEclipse has confirmed on the Playstation Blog that the Western release of the game has gotten extra content.

“Among the many stickers that you can get for your tank or vehicle, we’ve added in a few brand new ones that both old and new SEGA fans are sure to smile at. Those of you who loved the first game will also be happy to note that we’ve included a few original characters as unlockable Easter eggs, just like in the Japanese version.”

The game comes out August 31st in America, make sure to pre-order your copy and play the demo… in whatever order you choose.

[Source: PSblog]

Yakuza PSP razor promotes manliness

SEGA is going to have ‘retail specific’ promotional items for Black Panther: New Yakuza Chapter. The above razor is the bonus item for Bic Camera, a Kurohyou Original Kai Razor.” This one is a sample razor by Kai.

Shops like Geo, Joshin, Tsutaya and WonderGOO will be getting cards with DLC codes on them. The art on them is pretty awesome as well.

What DLC does the cards have? You are going to have to hit the jump to find out!

Vanquish E-smokes!

At a recent event Sega were giving out one of the coolest promotional items I’ve seen in a while; E-Cigarettes!

If you aren’t clued in on E-Cigarettes yet let me give you a little rundown on what these things are. Basically E-Cigs are an electronic substitute for cigarettes in which you inhale a vaporized form of nicotine with out the tobacco often used by people trying to quit.

A friend of mine uses these, when you smoke them the end glows neon blue instead of red… It looks pretty cool honestly!

New MushiKing trailer

I’m not even going to pretend to understand what’s happening here. It seems to be a new version of Sega’s hit kids Arcade game ‘MushiKing’. The cabinet has dual touch screens and a card reader.

If anyone has any further information about this game drop us some info in the comments below!

Edit; An interesting find by our forum member Suzuki Yu; at around the 6:30 mark on this video it shows some of the new arenas, 3 of which are straight out of Virtua Fighter 5. Good old Sega!

Shining Hearts revealed

Yep, Shining Hearts.
Yet another Shining game that nobody really wanted.

So far we know the game is for the PSP, the art is by ‘Tony’ apparently I should just know who ‘Tony’ is with out needing a second name. I already know a Tony; he’s always at my local pub propping up the bar and smells a bit like wee…  I hope it isn’t him doing the art. Finally from the screenshots (below) it seems to be a traditional JRPG… So another pass then.

Screens and more after the jump,