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Schtserv’s Phantasy Star Online private server officially offline

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SchthackservAs we all know Phantasy Star Online has been disconnected offline years ago. The official servers are gone, but Schtserv’s private servers remained, allowing not only Dreamcast Phantasy Star Online gamers to play anyone around the world but also PC and Gamecube. I remember his site was forbidden to talk about on the official SEGA forums way back in the day, which doesn’t surprise me one bit.

From the FAQ posted on their Facebook page asking IF the servers are officially closed:

Yes & No. If you want another type of answer, who knows? Even we staff members don’t know, in the end it is up to Crono to make the call on if it’s going to return or not. However for now, YES the server is officially closed, unless another topic is made in the future.

The domain name schtserv.com is now going to a Hostgator splash page. If your looking for alternative Phantasy Star Blue Burst servers, you can always check Ultima and Ephinea. Did you ever play on Schtserv’s private servers?

[Source: RetroCollect]

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Custom Sega Dreamcast bios aims to improve experience

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You are probably sitting there thinking whats a bio and why should I give a damn? I mean, you have been playing your beautiful SEGA Dreamcast games just fine without these custom, fancy fan bios. First what is a bio? Well, you know that information that the system loads before it boots your game? That’s it.

What does this revised fan bios replace? Let’s check the list! 

  • Region free: boot GD/CD from any regions
  • No VGA flag check: no matter if the game supports the VGA output, the lets it boot
  • Bootfile extent check: allow a game to boot even if its bootfile, more commonly called 1ST_READ.BIN, is not located on the outer part of the disc
  • SEGA License screen skip
  • MIL-CD/backup direct boot
  • Black fade-in color while booting from menu
  • No VMU copy-protected file check

I tend to play my Dreamcast in VGA mode like most (cool) people, so the idea of just skipping the check on boot might be a good thing for me.The issue? the method for installing takes some talent with a soldering iron, something that I just don’t have.

[Via: RetroCollect]

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Hyperdimension Neptunia vs Sega Hard Girls opening movie released

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Developer Compile Hearts is teaming up their Hyperdimension Neptunia gals with Sega Hard Girls (aka Hi-sCool! Seha Girls) in the upcoming Playstation Vita JRPG ‘Hyperdimension Neptunia VS Sega Hard Girls: Dream Fusion Special’.

The game will start Compile Hearts’ IF-chan along with Hatsumi Sega (new character), who both travel back to ‘sega-based eras’ to recover long lost history. Hyperdimension Neptunia vs Sega Hard Girls hits Japanese retail shelves on Novemeber 26th. As of right now, there are no plans on releasing this game outside of Japan, but you never know in the near future.

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SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive homebrew platformer ‘Tanglewood’ announced

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Fans won’t let old SEGA hardware die, this new homebrew comes from Big Evil Corporation, who is slowly revealing aspects of the game as time goes on. I guess they really are evil, huh?

While they are just showing a small clip of the main character, Nymm, walking through selected areas; the developer has already promised a lot of the game. The game is set to be influenced by games such as Abe’s Odyssey, Another World and Flashback. If you click the short clip above it will show you their night/day system that they plan on using. This system will tie-in with puzzles throughout the game.

We will keep you updated here at SEGAbits about anymore information about Tanglewood , but what do you guys think so far?

[Via: Retrocollect]

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Alien: Isolation mod gets rid of the alien

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Imagine if you played Alien: Isolation without the alien hunting you down, that would be crazy. That would only leave you with, well, isolation.

That is the point of this mod by Steam user [Lebowski]-=ThArK=- which technically doesn’t remove the alien from the map, but makes it immobile in a vent. Meaning that you will be able to run around and take in the retro future art without being scared of being hunted down.

You can go ahead and check out the mod here.

[Via: Eurogamer]

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See what SEGA games made the Xbox One list of Xbox 360 backwards compatible titles

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Xbox-One-backward-compatibility

The first wave of backwards compatible Xbox 360 games playable on Xbox One have been revealed, and we’re happy to report that some SEGA games made the list. Interestingly, all but one of the titles are Xbox Live Arcade releases, but by and large it is a solid selection. SEGAbits forum member crackdude was nice enough to share the list and highlight the SEGA titles. You can check out the backwards compatible games by checking out the forum post, or see them after the break!

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Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem gets new trailers and screenshots

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Nintendo and Atlus have continued their partnership by showing off a couple of new trailers and screenshots for the upcoming Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem crossover game (being tentatively titled Genei Ibun Roku #FE).

One of the new trailers (above) shows off Tsubasa Oribe, a new playable character created for this game. Honestly the Japanese trailer just left me with more questions, but I guess its nice to see Oribe in a lot of different outfits?

The trailer after the jump shows off side stories from the upcoming game.

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Some of SEGA of America’s staff confirmed to be working in Atlus USA’s offices

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Back in late September we speculated that SEGA of America had moved in with Atlus USA at their offices in Irvine, California. While all signs pointed to “yes”, we didn’t want to be 100% certain until we had official word from SEGA. Thanks to SEGAbits forum member NoirSuede we have confirmation from SEGA that they indeed have moved in to the Atlus offices.

In a recent official SEGA Twitch stream, NoirSuede asked “is the non-Sonic Sega of America staff in the Atlus USA office?”, to which SEGA replied “some of them”. So the official word is some, but not all. So where are the others? The SEGA West corporate page lists the Atlus address, as well as an address in Burbank, California at 250 East Olive Avenue. These offices house Marza Animation Planet, but we have heard from some fans that this office now doubles as the Sonic brand office. Burbank would be a fitting location for Sonic, given the upcoming Hollywood film from Sony Pictures.

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SEGA releases new 3D Power Drift screenshots

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SEGA has released some screenshots for 3D Power Drift, which was released as part of the SEGA Reprint Archives 2 collection, a physical collection piling up all the digital SEGA 3D Classic releases. So far these physical releases have been exclusive to Japan.

The exclusive games in the physical version are suppose to eventually make it to the digital store. As far as those exclusives coming over to America, we don’t know. I hope so, its not like there is a whole lot to translate in Power Drift, Puyo Puyo 2 and/or Maze Walker!

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Joseph Kim to lead SEGA West’s mobile efforts

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Yesterday SEGA announced that Joseph Kim, formerly of the studio FunPlus, has been named SEGA’s vice president of product. Kim is being tasked with managing the mobile product strategy in Western markets. Sega Networks COO Chris Olson said “This position is instrumental in pulling all three of our wholly owned studios and two studio investments together to drive Sega’s success on mobile. Kim’s rich background in successfully bringing games to market along with his experience in consulting and analytics makes him the best candidate for the job, and we look forward to seeing him work his magic.” Kim had this to say regarding his role: “In mobile gaming, the best is yet to come. I look forward to working with the teams at Sega to help deliver awesome game experiences to existing and future Sega customers.”

Of course, what really matters are Kim’s results, so it will be interesting to see if there is any major shifts in SEGA’s mobile output moving forward. Hey, Joseph, if you are reading this: bring some of those Puyo Puyo’s sitting with you to the West!

[Via: GameIndustry.biz]

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SEGA trademarks Valkyria: Azure Revolution and V-Gaje

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That’s right folks, SEGA has trademarked ANOTHER name related to its Valkyria Chronicles franchise (Valkyria of the Battlefield in Japan). First we had Valkyria of the Blue Revolution last month and now we have Valkyria: Azure Revolution. According to Gematsu this could be the official English title for the game but it would be weird if they drop ‘Chronicles‘ from the game’s name. Wouldn’t Valkyria Chronicles: Blue Revolution work out better?

SEGA also trademarked ‘V-Gaje’ which is mean’t to be a abbreviation of “V-Gadjet”? Not much is known regardless. It seems that SEGA has some announcements to make come 2016, maybe we should be just a tiny bit excited. Just a tiny bit.

TMs-Valkyria-Azure-Rev

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SEGA posts sales profits despite having fewer sales

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SonicUnleashedRing
SEGA-Sammy has posted their detailed financial report for the last six months, spanning from April to September 2015. If you guys didn’t know, April 1st is when SEGA’s massive restructure happen and around June is when SEGA of America did their big move. Not only that but the company hasn’t been releasing as much software as they used to, but they still manage to make profit even with a decrease in sales.

SEGA-Sammy reports 1.2 billion in net sales, which happens to be a decrease of 2.5% over the same six month period in 2014, where they reported over 1.3 billion. Yet SEGA-Sammy posted a profit of $7.9 million, compared to losing $23 million in 2014.

SEGA-Sammy said that digital games just happen to be one of the big money makers for the company which happen to them get out of the red. What games did good? Lets look.

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Sonic Generation PC mod let’s you play as Mario

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Well, I think saying that it only lets you play the game as Mario is short changing the PC mod being titled ‘Super Mario Generations’ by its creator. The mod also brings new bosses, new hub world NPCs, and of course Mario but with new improved animations.

Got to hand it to fans who continue to make mods for Sonic Generation, I love this sort of stuff even if it does have Mario in it (not that there’s anything wrong with Mario).

Find out more via Sonic Retro or Moddb page!

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Homebrew developers bring Moggy to the SEGA Master System

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moggy

It’s not all that often we hear of new games for SEGA’s Master System. While 2015 appears to be the year of the Dreamcast, SEGA’s first Western console effort has received a new game available to play today entitled Moggy Master from homebrew development team The Mojon Twins. The game is a port of Moggy, a ZX Spectrum game from 2005 also by The Mojon Twins. In the game, players control Moggy, a little yellow guy, who is out to save his purple friends.

If you love classic Atari arcade games, this is definitely worth checking out. And why shouldn’t you try it out? The game is free and available to download today! Just use an emulator or flash cart, should you own one. 

[Via RetroCollect]

 

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Yakuza 5 screens shows off side-activities and play spots

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Yakuza-5_2015_10-30-15_015SEGA’s Yakuza series has been well known for its side-activities and play spots sprinkled throughout the game.  But no game takes it further than Yakuza 5!

The game has activities like rhythm dancing, hunting bears, drinking, gambling, trying to get SEGA swag from a UFO catcher, playing Taiko Drum Master in arcades, and even driving taxis! So much to do, so little time.

Check out the screenshots after the jump. Yakuza 5 will hit PSN in Europe and North America sometime this month.

[Via: Gemastu]

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