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First of Persona 4: Dancing All Night’s Character Trailers Focuses on Rise Kujikawa

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When it comes to new Persona games Atlus likes to release trailers that focus on the various characters in the game, and it looks like they’re continuing this trend with Persona 4: Dancing All Night. While these trailers are being released in Japanese, thankfully Youtube user bobrossfreak was quick to translate the video. The original trailer without the subtitles can be seen here.

The first of these trailers focuses on Rise Kujikawa, with clips from the story, new gameplay and various (seemingly unlockable) outfits being shown. If Atlus is releasing these trailers in the same manner as those for Persona Q and Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, we’ll likely see another one next week.

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SEGA Japan shows off new Game Gear, Master System 3DS themes

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If last month’s 3DS themes weren’t enough to make you envy Japanese gamers, this week’s ought to do it. 3DS has received two more SEGA console themes, this time centering on the Game Gear and the Master System.  

The themes are loaded with fan service, of course. The Game Gear theme is sporting the Green Hills Zone theme from its version of Sonic 2 and folders made out of 3D Game Gear cartridges, while the Master System theme features an 8-bit rendition of the Space Harrier song and 3D gold cartridge folders (which were a line of Master System cartridges in Japan).

Though I couldn’t find a price, the themes are likely going for 200 yen/$1.50 like last month’s themes. Having a Game Gear theme on my Nintendo handheld would be oh-so perfect, so hopefully we’ll eventually see their release stateside. Fingers crossed!

Check out the Master System theme below.

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NYGX hosting Virtua Fighter tournaments this upcoming August

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Even though Virtua Fighter franchise has lost its popularity in the West through recent years, doesn’t mean places like New York Cities’ NextLevel will allow it to go unnoticed. From August 14th through the 16th NYGX will be hosting a array of Virtua Fighter tournaments.

What games are on the bill? So far:

  • Virtua Fighter 3
  • Virtua Fighter 4: Final Tune
  • Virtua Fighter 5R
  • Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown

How many of you guys play Virtua Fighter competitively and want to go to this? Should be a interesting event, definitely excited to see some new Virtua Fighter 4 matches.

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Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s new puzzle game revealed

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Tetsuya Mizuguchi has a long history of making games at SEGA, he was one of the people behind hits like SEGA Rally, Space Channel 5 and Rez. He would leave SEGA to pave his own path with hot IPs like Lumines, Meteos and Child of Eden. After Child of Eden, Mizuguchi took a break from the video game industry. Now he is back with his new mysterious puzzle game called 18.

The game is suppose to blend a mixture of puzzle mechanics and battle RPG elements. The title will be coming exclusively to mobiles (as of right now). The game will be released worldwide by Mobcast.

Above is the trailer and below are the screenshots. If this game is giving you a Catherine vibe, your not the only one. It definitely looks artistically inspired by Atlus’ hit game.

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Rodea: The Sky Soldier coming to America and Europe this fall

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Rodea

NIS America have just announced that they are publishing Prope’s long lost title, Rodea: The Sky Soldier in North America and Europe. The developer didn’t give a specific date of release other than this upcoming fall. The game is set to be released on both the Nintendo Wii U and 3DS.

NIS America hyped up their press event that was held earlier today, stating that they where planning some of their “biggest announcements yet.” One of those games being Rodea: The Sky Soldier, which was originally planned for the Wii, but later moved over to 3DS/Wii U.

The game is being directed by ex-Sonic Team and famed Sonic the Hedgehog developer Yuji Naka, who is directing this title. Here is NIS America’s product page.

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Sonic Boom to keep going on according to Cartoon Network’s 2015-2016 schedule

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Sonic Boom returning

Turns out that the Sonic Boom games being terrible didn’t completely ruin the series. Turner Broadcasting sent out a press release today that says the Sonic Boom TV show will be a returning series in Cartoon Network’s 2015-2016 series. Seeing how only a quarter of the show’s first season has aired though, this likely means that they’ll just keep on airing the rest of the episodes rather than a new season being produced.

Other notable non-Sonic related stuff coming up is a Powerpuff Girls reboot (seemingly in the same style as last year’s CGI special) and a direct-to-TV Regular Show movie.

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Demiurge Studios officially announces its part of the SEGA Network family

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Demiurge Studios is a small scale studio that has worked with a multitude of publishers on not only mobile games, but ports of their existing IPs. If you go to their listed games page, you will see how many franchises the studio has worked on, including ports for Bioshock Infinite, Borderlands and Mass Effect.

Even though we posted it yesterday, the team has officially announced on their blog that they will join the SEGA Network family.

This opportunity to partner with SEGA Networks has come about in no small part from the success of Marvel Puzzle Quest.

According to them, the main reason for SEGA Networks interest in buying the team was the success they had with Marvel Puzzle Quest, which is a mobile game. This doesn’t mean that the studio won’t do ports or other console based work; but like we suspected, SEGA is interested in them for their mobile talent.

Sooner or later, we wanted to build a publishing organization. When we looked at the talent amassed and success accumulated within SEGA Networks, we couldn’t fathom doing it as well as SEGA had already done. Our new teammates are wildly successful in Japan not just financially but also creatively. Games like Chain Chronicles and Puyo Puyo Quest are a master-class in how to build great mobile, free-to-play experiences. The team we’re working with in San Francisco is an insane mix of talent: Part veteran game-makers from SEGA, part free-to-play pioneers from Three Rings and part entrepreneurial mobile start-up – all backed by this huge incredible team at SEGA Networks in Japan. It almost feels unfair to get to have this group working alongside us!

They sound like a great team and I think SEGA made a great decision adding them to their American branch of mobile studios. Did you see? They mentioned Puyo Puyo Quest, can’t wait to see what games they have in the works.

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SEGA Networks releases Sonic Runners gameplay trailer

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SEGA Networks has recently released a gameplay trailer of Sonic Runners for smartphone devices. The gameplay showcases Sonic the Hedgehog and friends blasting through various levels in classic 2D format similar to the Genesis and Advance/Rush games with slight changes to their designs (retaining their original Dreamcast/Modern look but with shorter sizes) collecting rings, Red Rings, and what appears to be small colored diamonds.

The video also shows more characters to be unlocked, Sonic Record, a leveling up system, story mode and having companions during gameplay.

The graphics in this game looks pretty great and colorful. The gameplay in my opinion reminds me of a combination of the classic Sonic titles with the Rush feel to it. Sonic Runners will be running towards Japan on iOS and Android smartphone devices this Spring. What are thoughts on the gameplay? Feel free to leave comments in our comments section.

The official site has also updated with character descriptions and some screenshots, check it out!

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SEGA Japan releases Saturn and Master System themes for 3DS

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While in the USA we only have a free Sonic Boom theme from SEGA to apply to our handhelds, SEGA of Japan is really using the theme service and giving older SEGA console gamers the goods. Above is the video of the SEGA Saturn theme that was recently revealed. The song playing the in back is from Sonic R.

Below is the video of the SEGA Mark III (aka Master System in the West) which features the always delightful Alex Kidd (including its music). Will these themes hit the American or European eShop? I really do hope so, with these and the awesome SEGA 3D Classics; the Nintendo 3DS is becoming a nice nostalgic gaming machine.

The themes are now out in the Japanese eShop and retail for 200 yen each (a little over $1.50).

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SEGA Networks is investing in Western mobile developers

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SEGAnetworks
This was actually posted over at Gamasutra an hour ago and seems the article was taking down. The article was about how SEGA Networks has been investing money in Western mobile developers this month, some of the studios being ‘up and coming’. As you know, SEGA has been trying to focus on the ‘free-to-play’ market, even recently made a deal with Gumi so that they could bring their Japanese mobile games to America. They are the ones that have published the popular Chain Chronicles.

So what studios has SEGA Networks invested money in?

  • Demiurge Studios: A Boston based studio that made Marvel Puzzle Quest (and a ton of other games) is now owned by SEGA. Studio founder Albert Reed will take a executive role at SEGA and work on running the studio.
  • Space Ape Games: SEGA has a majority stake in a UK-based developer that created the F2P title Samurai Siege. The developer recently announced that it raised $7 million dollars in funding, is preparing for its second F2P title that SEGA Networks will release in Japan.
  • Ignited Artists: Is a new developers studio based in San Francisco. As of now they haven’t released a game.

Since SEGA Networks released Super Monkey Ball on the Apple app store in 2008, they have put out over 85 mobile games and if the way things are going forward mean anything, is that they will continue to grow the business. Their last mobile studio they purchased was Hardlight Studios that have delivered the massively successful Sonic Dash and Crazy Taxi: City Rush games. If anything in the story changes, we will keep you updated.

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Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker comes to the US on May 5th

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While Atlus had already announced that the US would get Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker early this year, and while it’s maybe a little later than “early” we now know when we’re getting it: on May 5th. Alongside this news a new trailer that showcasing the game’s story was also released. It also shows some more of the English voice acting.

As for a release date for Europe, sadly there’s still no news on that. Atlus generally doesn’t publish their games there as they don’t have an European branch, so it’s likely that another publisher or SEGA Europe will publish it there. That or they might release the game there digitally through the Nintendo eShop.

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SEGA-AM2 is developing a arcade game based on Kantai Collection

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If you never heard of Kantai Collection (or KanColle as the fans say), its a free-to-play browser game created by Kadokawa Games and is actually a card collecting game. The browser game has over 2.5 million regisitered users and the franchise has been spreading to other media like manga (more than one series), anime series and even a licensed tabletop role-playing game.

The franchise is rising to popularity fast, with the browser game only launching in 2013. SEGA of course wants in on the action, seeing how highly successful other ventures like Hatsune Miku (Which AM2 developed the arcade version of this game) have been for the company.

Personally would rather have SEGA-AM2 announce a new internal IP, instead of doing a license game (especially a card game). But you never know what the future has in store…

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SEGA files trademark for “Shining Seed”

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Shining Resonance Yuuma Jenius

News has just broken about SEGA’s trademark for “Shining Seed” going public. Gematsu writes that SEGA filed the trademark application on January 28th, with the trademark finally going public on February 10th. This is almost certainly the title for the next entry in the Shining series, though it’s hard to say what’s next in store for the franchise. Shining Resonance, which released last year on December 11th, was actually the first Shining game to appear on the seventh generation of consoles, and that generation is nearing its end.

Since its release in Japan, Shining Resonance has been regularly supported by DLC from SEGA. There’s been no word on Shining Resonance’s localization prospects as of yet.

Do you have something in mind for the future of the Shining series? Write back in the comments!

 

Article image courtesy of Gematsu.

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Swingin’ Report Show #75: Interview with Lisle Wilkerson – Shenmue II, Virtua Fighter and Crazy Taxi voice actress

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We celebrate 75 episodes in style on this week’s Swingin’ Report Show podcast! Joining us for an interview is Lisle Wilkerson, best known to SEGA fans for her voice work on Shenmue II, Virtua Fighter and Crazy Taxi. Learn what it’s like growing up in Japan and recording for some of SEGA’s greatest Dreamcast and arcade titles. Lisle also tells us about her correspondence work and her acting work on Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation with Bill Murray.

Then, George and Barry discuss the recent news of SEGA of America’s restructuring, dissecting SEGA Sammy’s official document to figure out what exactly we can expect in the future from SEGA. So what are you doing still reading this? We have a special guest and big SEGA news! Click play and enjoy our 75th show!

Don’t forget to follow Lisle Wilkerson on Twitter and Facebook!

[Download] [RSS] [iTunes] [Archive]

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SEGA Movie Dream Casts: From the House to the Streets

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segamovie

How often have you played a SEGA game and asked yourself, “why isn’t this a movie?” Growing up with SEGA, I would ask that question constantly. To be completely honest, I’ve never stopped asking that question. Playing games like After Burner, Streets of Rage and Sonic The Hedgehog, I always felt they would make awesome movies. Well, that childhood dream may very well be coming true. Late last year, Variety reported that SEGA had hired former Break Media executive Evan Cholfin, collaborating with Stories International, to aid them in adapting some of their classic franchises into other forms of entertainment.

That’s right, SEGA fans! We’re talking about movies and television. The franchises mentioned include Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, Shinobi and Crazy Taxi. You know, just to name a few. This is something I’ve been fantasizing about since I was 10-years old. It’s surreal to think that it may finally come to pass.

Here’s a few SEGA properties I’d like to see on the big screen, and who I would like to see in the roles. Seeing as how I’m a director whore, I’ll even include my choice of filmmaker.

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