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Gotta binge fast! Sonic Boom season one releasing to Hulu in late May in the United States

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We’ve known for a while now, thanks to information posted at Tomy’s New York Toy Fair booth, that Sonic Boom the TV series was heading to Hulu and now we have official confirmation! Variety reports that Hulu will be the exclusive subscription video on demand service to host the series in the United States. All 52 episodes of the first season will be available in both English and Spanish, and the episodes will hit in late May. Sonic Boom will still be available on Cartoon Network video on demand and select episodes will be available on the CN.com website.

No news on a DVD or blu-ray release for the series in the US, however the UK has been receiving the series in DVD volumes with one released currently and a second due out at the end of the month. While a DVD release would be great, especially a complete series, Hulu is a great way to catch up on the first season in anticipation of season two.

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SEGA Game Tester documentary from 1996 emerges online

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This video was uploaded online a few days ago, titled ‘This is SEGA TEST’ a titled “trainumentary” created by the SEGA test department in 1995-1996. The video was shot on location at Sega of America in Redwood City, CA. The SEGA Game Tester documentary talks about what SEGA is looking for in a game tester, but gives you a interesting inside look at the company during that era and the people that worked as testers.

Tom Kalinske, President of SEGA of America at the time is in the video talking about the processes of selecting a SEGA game tester. We had a chance to interview him in our podcast, if you haven’t listened. Its a great little documentary, especially for retro SEGA game fans. Watch it and let us know what you guys think in the comments below and tell us how many of you wanted to be a SEGA game tester during the mid-90s.

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GranBlue Fantasty X Sakura Taisen Collab Event

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GranBlueFantasy developer CyGames has published details of the collabration event just in time for the Sakura Wars series 20th Anniversary this year titled “Maiden Kakeru Sakura Wars ~ sky ~ loaded with new character designs by series illustrator, Kosuke Fujishima, and story for the event. The event will be implemented on to the servers from May 13th to the 23rd.

When you participate, Sakura Shinguji, the main series heroine & title character, will be your temporary companion and continues to follow you even after the conditions are met. Erica Fontaine can be unlocked by obtaining the Tresure during the event along with a weapon. Gemini Sunrise has also been included in the event. For more inside look of the designs which includes Ichiro Ogami & Shijiro Taiga, be sure to hit the jump!

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Check out the latest Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Wii U trailer

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The Mario & Sonic series has become kind of same ‘ol same ol’. When the original Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games released in 2007, it was pretty jaw dropping to see the two franchises sharing the screen. But as time went on, and the two teamed up five more times along with Sonic’s two Smash Bros. appearances, the notion of a Mario & Sonic game has become kind of… stale. It doesn’t help that Nintendo primarily handles the publishing and marketing of the series, so as far as advertising the series is hardly given much attention. And if you’re a lowly non-commercial SEGA fan site, such as ourselves, it is difficult to get Mario senpai to notice you when it comes to exclusives, interviews or review copies.

I say all this, while sharing the latest trailer, for two reasons: I can no longer fake being excited for the latest Mario & Sonic trailers and because despite the apathy I’ve built up over the years, the Wii U footage of Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games actually looks pretty great. Graphics are bright and colorful with excellent framerate and the competitions appear to be motion control gimmick heavy than past titles. Mario & Sonic may no longer be able to wow people with the crossover aspect, unless of course SEGA and Nintendo bring in other franchises which would be awesome, but at least this upcoming game looks solid.

In the comments below, tell us what you think of the Mario & Sonic series. Does Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games look promising, or more of the same?

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SEGA Central reveals SEGA 3D Classics Collection coming to Europe, gives update on Shenmue 1&2 HD

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In the latest episode of the Europe-focused SEGA Central video series, SEGA Europe community manager Dan Sheridan answers some viewer mail. To the request for more Japanese games receiving American localization to release in Europe, Dan confirms that one game is indeed coming. Dan’s exact words were: “We have also heard that fans are looking forward to the release of SEGA 3D Classics Collection in Europe, and subject to approval submissions, we’ll have news to share soon. One thing that I can tell you, is that it is coming.”

On the topic of Shenmue and Shenmue 2 receiving HD releases (or “hay-ch dee” as they say), Dan replied: “Of course we would love to release these tomorrow. Of course it’s not as simple as just porting the games to the current platforms, as we would need to ensure that any HD remaster lives up to the quality of the original titles, and with games as immersive as Shenmue 1 and 2 there are further complications from licensed products that were included in the original games. That said, we’d love to do it, and are currently investigating how to make it a reality.”

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SEGA Astro City arcade machine model from Wave now available for pre-order

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Japanese toy and model import site Amiami has just listed Wave’s upcoming SEGA Astro City arcade machine model for pre-order. You might remember Wave produced the excellent Hang-On arcade machine model late last year. This new 1/12 scale model features the iconic Astro City (a refined version of the Aero City) multi-purpose arcade cabinet from 1993, complete with stool, game marquees and corresponding game visuals for the screen. Head on over to Amiami to place your pre-order, as the kit releases very soon – July 2016.

After the break, check out a gallery of images of the tiny Astro City cabinet!

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SEGA News Bits: Shinobi movie adaptation reaction

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Way back in December 2014 it was announced that SEGA was planning to move many of their classic franchises into the realms of movies and television. Stories International, a joint venture between SEGA and Hakuhodo DY Group launched in 2011, would manage and maintain these brands and work with external studios and creatives to make SEGA franchise based movies a reality. Now, we have news that Shinobi is the first of these SEGA franchises heading to the big screen with Marc Platt (Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Drive, Josie and the Pussycats) and cohort Adam Siegel producing. In this SEGA News Bits, George and Barry break down the story, take a look at Platt and Siegel’s background in the motion picture industry, and speculate how a Shinobi movie might play out.

If you enjoy the SEGA News Bits video formats make sure to like, share and subscribe to our YouTube for more.

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Tails’ Channel interviews Aaron Webber about Sonic 25th Anniversary party

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Matt from Tails’ Channel got to sit down with Sonic’s social media manager and Sonic PR Aaron Webber (or how Phantasy Star people know him as Ruby Eclipse). The topic of the interview was the upcoming Sonic 25th Anniversary party including questions about what to expect, if Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice will be playable and what sort of merch will be sold at the event.

If you guys decide to go to the Sonic 25th Anniversary party, make sure you stop by and say hi to me and Barry since we will be attending the event. So are you going to Sonic 25th Anniversary party?

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Save up to 85% on PC games and give to a good cause in the Humble Bundle Build Your Own SEGA Bundle sale

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SEGA and Humble Bundle have joined forces yet again to save you money on great SEGA games and give to charity in the process! Dubbed the “Build Your Own SEGA Bundle”, thirteen SEGA PC games ranging from RTS to first person horror to racing to sports are on sale for 75% off. If you buy three games, they all get discounted 80% while four games gets an 83% discount and five increases the discount to a cool 85%. The sale ends in 22 hours as I am writing this, so better jump on it while you still can! Games on sale include: Total War: Attila, Alien: Isolation, Company of Heroes 2, Warhammer 40k: Space Marine, Company of Heroes, Total War: Rome II – Emperor Edition, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, Company of Heroes 2: Ardennes Assault, The Typing of the Dead: Overkill Collection, Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War II Retribution, Total War: Shogun, Valkyria Chronicles, and Eastside Hockey Manager.

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SEGA News Bits: Strike Harbinger First Impressions and Exclusive Gameplay Footage

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Get ready, as our Strike Harbinger coverage continues! In this SEGA News Bits, Barry talks George through what it was like playing an early arcade build of Strike Harbinger during its debut at Galloping Ghost Arcade‘s SEGA Week. Created by the game development and design studio HitSparks Games, which is co-owned by Lead Game Designer Chris Tang and Senior Artist Kiyoshi Okuma, Strike Harbinger takes inspiration from classic SEGA titles including Space Harrier and Phantasy Star. The game is not due out until 2017, but this early first look at the game shows a lot of promise! Featuring unique controls and RPG-style elements, there is a lot more to Strike Harbinger than you’d think. So click play above and hear what Barry thought of the game and see some lovely 1080p 60fps gameplay footage courtesy of the developers.

More SEGA Week coverage is to come, including even more Strike Harbinger details and footage, so stay tuned! If you enjoy the SEGA News Bits video formats make sure to like, share and subscribe to our YouTube for more.

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Kickstarter launches for Xenocider, a 3D shooter for Dreamcast, PC, Mac, Linux & 3DS

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The Kickstarter campaign for Xenocider, a new indie SEGA Dreamcast game, has launched. The game is unique as it is one of the first fully 3D indie Dreamcast games, and the gameplay itself takes inspiration from classic SEGA arcade games including Space Harrier and Nintendo’s Sin & Punishment. The game’s development team Retro Sumus describes themselves as “a small, independent game development team who got together to revisit genres and concepts we felt were underused, or not explored in depth back in their time.”

The small team is a mix of individuals who are both new and old to the indie Dreamcast development scene, including Lead Programmer Daniel Lancha who reprogrammed Pier Solar for modern platforms and developed Hucast’s Ghost Blade. Also involved is Carlos Oliveros who heads up the team’s Communications and who in the past handled Pier Solar‘s Spanish translation. So it should be no surprise that Tulio Goncalves, former president and founder of Watermelon games and creator of Pier Solar, is on the team serving as the Producer. All-in-all, it looks like Xenocider has a solid team with Dreamcast development experience, but if that still doesn’t sway you they have put together a real working demo of the game for the Dreamcast that you can play right now! Just click on over to their campaign page for Windows, Mac, Linux and Dreamcast download links.

Dreamcast isn’t the only planned platform, as the game will also be playable on PC, Mac, Linux and Nintendo 3DS. The team hopes to raise $92,000 to realize their vision. After the break, a full list of what the team plans for the game to make it extra special. Check out the campaign today, and if you like what you see give them your support!

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Total War: Warhammer to support Steam Workshop at launch

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TotalWarWarhammerModManagerCreative Assembly and SEGA have confirmed that Total War: Warhammer will support Steam Workshop mods. I’m personally not surprised. Why? Mostly because the franchise has always been there to support mods. But I guess Creative Assembly said prior that they wouldn’t be support mods. I guess they had a change of heart.

From day one Total War: Warhammer will support Steam Workshop to upload, browse, follow, discuss, and install mods. To manage it the team created the Total War Mod Manager, which is pictured above. Creative Assembly has also updated their mod Assembly Kit which adds functionality and includes battle map editing later this year.

Creative Assembly also said that they already have early mods being worked on from people that had early access via modding summits held by the company. This way there will already be mods populating the Steam Workshop from day one.  Total War: Warhammer launches on PCs on May 24th.

[Via: GameSpot]

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Persona 5 Japanese release date announced and collector’s edition revealed

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A new official trailer, website and Japanese release date have been announced for the upcoming Persona 5 from Atlus. The game is set to release in Japan on September 15th, 2016 for the Playstation 3 and Playstation 4. Also announced is a special collector’s edition featuring the game, a multi-disc CD soundtrack and art book, all housed in a special box.

At the moment, the collector’s edition is Japan only. Those in the Americas need not fret, as Atlus USA has a site for the game with the release set to TBD. Those in Europe, however, are in limbo as Atlus and NIS America ended their relationship not too long ago and we still do not know how the company plans to release titles to that part of the world.

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Jet Set Radio HD available on Xbox One via backward compatibility

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JetSetRadioHDXboneJet Set Radio is the newest game to join the Xbox One family thanks to Microsoft’s 360 backwards compatibility. The game was released back in 2012 on the Xbox 360 and if you bought it you can now play it on your shiny new Xbox One.

Its nice that Jet Set Radio is technically available on a new platform, makes me hope that maybe SEGA hasn’t given up on the brand. I know fans haven’t, since Jet Set Radio Future HD re-release is hot in demand on social media sites. Maybe Microsoft will start backwards compatibility program with original Xbox titles? I wish!

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SEGA launches ‘SEGA Arcade Game History’ interactive site

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SEGA has launched an interactive site called ‘SEGA Arcade Game History‘ detailing most of their published arcade machines, to celebrate the history of their long running arcade brands. The timeline starts with the release of 1973’s Pong-Tron and ends with the 2012 release of maimai. Obviously the site isn’t complete since SEGA has released more arcade games, their latest big one being SEGA-AM2’s KanColle that came out this year.

Going to be honest, I love when SEGA puts up sites like this celebrating their glorious arcade past. I wish SEGA West had a English version of this ‘SEGA Arcade Game History‘ on their site, but whatcha gonna do, right?

[Via: Arcade Heroes]

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