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,

Shun Akiyama revealed for ‘Yakuza 5′

Sega today announced a 3rd playable character for their upcoming but unnamed 5th game in the Yakuza series. (Not including spin-offs)

Yakuza 4’s Shun Akiyama will return with a pair of nifty handguns to join existing cast of badass Goro Majima and tiger puncher Kazuma Kiryu.

Each character so far has had a gun or guns in hand, what does this mean for the series that has always been a brawler… Well I hope that they have incorporated shooting levels and areas into the existing game play as they did chasing people down in Yakuza 3 and not all out changed the game into some kind of 3rd person shooter.

We’ll just have to wait and see but I will say one thing… I think this game will have the best playable cast yet.

Vanquish trailer 05/08/10 shows new areas and enemies

For those worrying about the same level repeating itself again and again, the latest trailer show cases a new forest level and some new baddies Sam will have to take care of, including a robotic dog and a giant robot which he takes down in a fashion reminiscent to one of Mikami’s previous games.

Aliens vs Predator sells over 300,000 in the UK

 

The success of the new Aliens vs Predator game has no doubt taken everyone, including SEGA, by surprise and recently released figures from January – June 2010 just shows how much of a big impact the title has had for SEGA’s fortune in the United Kingdom. Not only did the title manage to get into a top ten position at eighth, but it even managed to outsell Final Fantasy XIII (Though to be fair to the latter, it was released a month later)

Top 10 selling games in UK (Jan-Jun):
Position / Title / Publisher / Sales
1. Just Dance (Ubisoft) – 940358
2. Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar/Take2) – 819161
3. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (Electronic Arts) – 590580
4. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision Blizzard) – 540761
5. Wii Fit Plus (Nintendo) – 499998
6. Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo) – 439920
7. 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa (Electronic Arts) – 396858
8. Aliens vs Predator (SEGA) – 359968
9. Final Fantasy 13 (Square Enix Europe) – 339996
10. FIFA 10 (Electronic Arts) – 318719

It rounds off an excellent achievement for both publisher and developer and no doubt spells good news for Aliens fans eagerly awaiting either a sequel to Aliens vs Predator or the up and coming Aliens: Colonail Marines. It’ll be interesting to see what final sales figures for the title will be, as in console specfic charts for the UK, the title still retains a high title position but no doubt that Aliens vs Predator has been a massive success for SEGA.

[Source: Chart-track]