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Sonic’s ad venture: SEGA and Capcom join new ad agency GameBridge

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Remember when Sonic appeared in a Progressive Auto Insurance commercial? Or when Sonic was pushing LifeSavers candies and cans of pasta in the 1990s? Well, expect to see more ads like this in the near future. Reported by MediaPost comes the news that SEGA as well as Capcom have joined up with a new agency that licenses video game characters for ad campaigns. The agency, named GameBridge, was founded by Billy Bell and the agency’s goal is, in his words, “to make it much easier and more efficient for both advertisers and game publishers to connect their respective characters and brands”. The name GameBridge refers to a ‘bridge’ for brands and gaming characters to connect for cross promotional opportunities.

GameBridge will act as SEGA’s agent for licensing partners, serving as the middle man for advertisers and agencies and IP holders of video game characters. For now, the New York based agency is acting as SEGA and Capcom’s agent, but in the future they could expand to represent other game companies and characters. Also announced is that GameBridge has partnered with video game music digital download service Sumthing Else, providing clients a music licensing service. Additional GameBridge partnerships will provide production services, including film and video production, post-production resources, and animation and effects.

While Sonic was specifically called out as a likely character SEGA would utilize in future marketing opportunities, GameBridge could utilize other characters from the company. How about Jet Set Radio‘s Beat selling cans of Krylon?

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Sonic Runners to get Phantasy Star Online 2 companions later this month

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According to the latest Phantasy Star Online 2 press event, the team has revealed that they are crossing over to Sonic Runners via unlockable companions later this month. The update will allow you to unlock either aa Rappy , Mag or Quna. You can see the unlockable models in the picture above.

Of course since Sonic Runners is still in soft launch, both Sonic Runners and Phantasy Star Online 2 haven’t been released in America yet. While we know that Sonic Runners will eventually come to America, will they still include Phantasy Star Online 2 items, when it hasn’t been released here?

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Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate gets free DLC update with Sonic themed gear

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Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate‘s free Apirl DLC update is out now and part of the update is Sonic the Hedgehog gear for your Palicoes (cat like creatures that can go on missions with you). It seems to unlock the gear you will have to overcome a series of new missions (included for free in the update) that are sometimes very punishing. Last month’s DLC had The Legend of Zelda items and the missions to unlock the items where very hard, so let’s hope that Capcom isn’t going to make us suffer for Sonic the Hedgehog goodness.The update comes with:

  • 14 New quests
  • 2 New weapons
  • 3 Complete armor sets
  • 4 Palico weapons
  • 7 Palico armor sets
  • 1 Bonus Palico: Blue Pal
  • 4 Guild Card backgrounds
  • 2 Guild Card pose
  • 13 Guild Card titles
  • 1 Poogie outfit: Vagaboar

You can check out more information on Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate and its DLC over at Capcom-Unity. So, how many of you guys are playing Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate and how are you liking it?

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Kanji shows how a real man dances in Persona 4: Dancing All Night

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In case you were wondering which Persona 4 character is the best at dancing, I think Kanji makes it pretty clear that he is in this new Persona 4: Dancing All Night trailer. His dancing style is pretty much what you can expect that of a guy who frequently screams “Get bent!” to be like, which is what makes it so great. Just be sure to get the full experience of watching Kanji dance by replaying every song he dances to over and over again until you’ve gotten a perfect score on the hardest difficulty once the game comes out. Or at least, that’s what I’m going to do.

The trailer also features Persona 4 Arena‘s opening theme “Best Friends” and of course more plot stuff and unlockable costumes. This is the sixth character trailer for Persona 4: Dancing All Night, with previous trailers focusing on Chie, Yosuke, Kanami, Yu, and Rise. And like all of the other trailers, this new trailer was translated by bobrossfreak.

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Super Fighter Team announces its reprinting all their Genesis/Mega Drive games

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Super Fighter Team is a developer and publisher which is mostly known for getting commercial distribution rights to pre-existing titles, working with the original team by fixing bugs and translating so they can release the games world wide on their original platform. That would include SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive which they released three titles for. Their debut game was Beggar Prince in 2006, which we posted last year was getting pre-orders for a new reprint to celebrate its 20th anniversary next year.

While Beggar Prince reprints where confirmed last year, this year Super Fighter Team also confirmed that they will be reprinting Legend of Wukong and Star Odyssey (aka Blue Almanac).

But if RPGs aren’t your thing, Super Fighter Team has just posted two new games to pre-order on their site. The first one is a puzzle game called Cascade and the other one is a vertical shooter named Magic Girl: Featuring Ling Ling the Little Witch. It seems that if there is one console that refuses the die its the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive, seemly getting more support as time goes by thanks to publishers like Super Fighter Team and Watermelon Games.

What are you thoughts? Picking up any of the games listed here?

[Via: NintendoLife]

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Developer Retrospective: The wonderfully unique games of SEGA’s Smilebit

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SEGA’s development team Smilebit existed in the public eye for only four short years, yet in that time they managed to create one of the company’s most unique franchises, revived a classic Saturn franchise, contributed to a long running series of popular Japanese sports titles, and managed to create a few new franchises that have gone on to become true hidden gems. It’s fitting that we follow Team Andromeda Month with Smilebit, as Smilebit was actually the bringing together of the SEGA AM6’s Team Aquila, Team Andromeda, and G9 Team (though some staff ended up moving to United Game Artists). This mix of talent lead to Smilebit being primarily tasked with the Let’s Make series of sports titles, franchises that were largely confined to Japan. Utilizing former Team Andromeda staff, the team spearheaded the latest (and thus far last) Panzer Dragoon game. But what really made Smilebit unique were their new franchises including the Jet Set Radio games, Gunvalkyrie, and Hundred Swords.

All month long we’ll be celebrating Smilebit’s eclectic mix of games, celebrating the classics, the lesser known titles, and the ones that never left Japan. Ready to look back? Let’s go!

Continue Reading ➜

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Atlus publishing Attack on Titan: Humanity in Chains in the west

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The Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem trailer wasn’t the only thing Atlus revealed on Nintendo Direct last night. It was also revealed that they’ll be publishing Attack on Titan: Humanity in Chains in both North America and Europe. The game will be released exclusively on the 3DS eShop in May.

This isn’t the first we’ve heard of Atlus’ localization. The Australian Classification Board leaked that it’d be released in Australia back in October last year. To coincide with this announcement, Nintendo released the first two episodes of the Attack on Titan anime on the eShop.

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Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem trailer shows that the game does indeed still exist

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Back in January 2013, Nintendo announced that they were working together with Atlus to make a Shin Megami Tensei and Fire Emblem cross-over game for Wii U. Since then they hadn’t shown anything of this project, but today Nintendo finally shared the first trailer featuring a first look at the game’s cutscenes and gameplay on Nintendo Direct.

The game, which is now titled Geiei Bungoku #FE in Japan, will be released this winter. It’ll be released in the US and Europe as well, though they didn’t say what the game’s English title will be nor when we can expect the game to launch in those territories. It was also confirmed that the game is being developed by Atlus. And while the game will feature various Fire Emblem characters, it seems like the characters on the Shin Megami Tensei side will be original.

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Atlus bringing Stella Glow to North America

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Stella Glow, an upcoming JRPG by Imageepoch that’ll be published by SEGA in Japan, is getting an English version thanks to Atlus. Right now there aren’t any details about the North American release, aside from that it’ll be released later this year. This’ll be the first time Atlus has handled the western release of a SEGA game since they were bought by the company.

SEGA had announced that they’ll be publishing the game in Japan earlier this month, where it’ll be coming to stores on June 4th. If the game will be coming to European stores as well hasn’t been announced yet.

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Hortensia Saga – New Trailer

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After the roaring success of SEGA’s free to play mobile RPG Chain Chronicles the company seems to be investing big in mobile RPGs. Next in line is Hortensia Saga, like Chain Chronicles before it, Hortensia Saga uses the 3×3 grid for tactical-RPG gameplay. The trailer shows off some gameplay, characters as well as some pretty well animated anime cut-scenes.

No word yet on a Western release but if Chain Chronicles is anything to go by we can expect a Western release by Gumi.

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Upcoming Game Symphony Japan Concert Exclusively Featuring SEGA Music

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Game Symphony Japan X SegaThe Game Symphony Japan concert series has announced plans for a special type of performance, exclusively featuring SEGA music. This Crunchyroll article mentions that previous Game Symphony Japan performances have featured music from Sakura Wars and Phantasy Star Online. The Game Symphony Japan web page for this concert attaches an interesting subtitle for this event: “Sega Special Vol. 1.” Perhaps we may see another one in the future?

This 14th iteration of the Game Symphony Japan series will take place on October 10th at 4:30, Japan Standard Time. What musical pieces or franchises would you love to see represented? Orchestral renditions of Jet Set Radio music?

Credit for the featured image goes to above-linked Crunchyroll article.

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Typing of The Dead: Overkill update adds Custom Dictionaries with Steamworks support

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Everyone knows that typing funny words is part of what makes SEGA’s Typing of the Dead video games so much fun, especially since SEGA embraced the wackiness early on with the first entries to the series. For Typing of the Dead: Overkill, SEGA dipped their fingers in adding DLC for new word content and now it seems they are going to drop all that to allow users to make their own ‘Custom Dictionaries’ of words.

Not only that, SEGA is adding Steamworks support, meaning that you will be able to share your custom dictionaries with all of Steam. Want to make a themed dictionary based on delicate words, words that describe your mom or quotes from ‘Back to the Future’? Well, you are in luck, now you can.

Since SEGA is having their Steam sale, you will be able to pick up Typing of the Dead: Overkill for 75%.

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The Future of Panzer Dragoon

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It’s hard to believe Panzer Dragoon Orta is more than 12 years old. Looking back, Orta has aged incredibly well. Its visuals are still gorgeous and its gameplay still feels just as smooth and polished as it did in 2003. In an age where all sorts of obscure games are seeing digital re-releases and all sorts of franchises and genres are finding new life in the realm of digital, I think it’s a missed opportunity that Panzer Dragoon hasn’t received any sort of new release while digital gaming has been booming.

So today I thought I’d write up an article exploring the many ways Panzer Dragoon could (and should) fit into SEGA’s renewed focus on digital and mobile gaming.

Continue Reading ➜

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Toejam and Earl: Back in the Groove Kickstarter fully funded and some funky stretch goals met

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Moments ago, the Toejam and Earl: Back in the Groove Kickstarter ended and much to the delight of fans the campaign was a success and then some. With 8,873 backers pledging $508,637, $108,637 more than the $400,000 goal, fans can expect the full game as well as some stretch goal bonuses! Additional features include old school skins for Toejam and Earl, featuring their original designs seen on the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive games. Also returning from the 90s is the Hyperfunk Zone as seen in ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron. Minutes before the campaign ended, a third stretch goal was met, adding the female lead from the third game, Latisha, as well as Toejam’s cousin and Earl’s mom.

While the base game sounded great, these bonuses only sweeten the upcoming release by bringing in characters and concepts from the first three games for a true love letter to fans of the series. Congrats to Greg Johnson and his team, and good luck on the development of the game.

In case you missed it, we interviewed Greg earlier this month on our Swingin’ Report Show podcast – give it a listen if you haven’t already!

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Chie gets her Bruce Lee outfit on for her Persona 4: Dancing All Night trailer

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Another Friday, another new Persona 4: Dancing All Night trailer. This one focusing on Chie Satonaka, who surprisingly only mentions meat once in her trailer. A new remix of “Pursuing My True Self” is also featured as Chie dances in various outfits, including one based on Bruce Lee.

This is the fifth in a series of character trailers that Atlus has been releasing. The previous trailers showed off Rise, Yu, Kanami, and Yosuke respectively. And again, the trailer was translated by bobrossfreak.

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