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SEGA of America going through another huge restructure, main office is relocating

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Here we go again.

First it was Europe, now SEGA of America is getting hit with some major restructuring. In a statement released earlier today, SegaSammy Holdings announced an “Implementation of structure reform” for SEGA of America. Included in this are some potential layoffs in the forms of “voluntary Retirement” and the San Francisco office moving to a new location in Southern California. Also, there will be a more narrow focus on the “amusement business” division.

However, it’s not all bad news. There will be a reinforcement in the “Sonic and merchandising businesses” and the PC and Mobile divisions will be getting a stronger push possibly due to strong current sales in those markets. The full statement can be found here.

I hope that not too many people are affected by the downsizing and those that do find themselves out of a job, that they find a new one quickly. I guess we shall see how this goes for SEGA.

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SEGABits At Magfest 13: The Write Up

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So, for my first article proper on the site, I figured why not talk about my favorite gaming event of the year, MAGFest, which just wrapped this past weekend at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. In its thirteenth year, this gaming festival was primarily started as a celebration of music in gaming and all the video-game inspired bands that have risen up in the past decade or so, but has grown to become an all-encompassing celebration of gaming culture at large. From gaming developers, artists, journalists, personalities, and even other aspects of geek culture, it truly has something for everyone.

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Attention Westerners: Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax is coming to PS3 & Vita Summer 2015

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Another localization from SEGA is hitting Western consoles this year! Announced on the official Playstation blog, the light novel 2D fighter Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax is set for a Western release exclusively to PS3 and PS Vita in Summer 2015, both digitally and at retail for the US and digital only for Europe. If you want to know what the game is all about, we’d advise you check out Kori-Maru’s 2014 SEGA Game of the Year pick and read SEGA’s announcement at the Playstation blog.

Between this, the SEGA 3D Classics, and Yakuza 5 – it’s a great time for localizations from SEGA West!

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Dj CUTMAN’s “Spindash” – a Sonic the Hedgehog fan-made remix album available now!

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The Sonic the Hedgehog franchise is not new to fan-made remix albums, and given the quality of Sonic music, I can’t blame the many artists out there for being inspired to put their spin on classic tracks. But every once in a while a really special remix album hits, and Dj CUTMAN’s “Spindash” is one of those. The album, licensed by SEGA, is a fitting tribute to SEGA’s blue mascot featuring diverse styles of music and even ventures outside of the 16-bit era to remix tunes from Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Colors.

“Spindash” is available now on Loudr, iTunes, Amazon and Google Play. Dj CUTMAN performed at this past weekend’s MAGFest, and SEGAbits was there! We’ll have coverage from the event up on the site soon, in the meantime check out the album and after the break, read the press release.

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SEGA Tunes: Get moving with Virtua Fighter’s pumping soundtrack

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Virtua Fighter was a ground breaking game for its time and was going up against some of the biggest fighting games made in that era. SEGA needed the whole game to be excellent and in my opinion they got a great complementary soundtrack to go with the revolutionary gameplay.

The first theme we are looking at is Akira’s Theme, this one is more up beat than they would later use. This one doesn’t seem like a theme for a character usually shown meditating and honing his martial arts skills. This is just a good action track, that gets the blood flowing. Its what I would love to hear when I’m in a middle of a fight and any move I make can win or lose the match. Great track, but as Akira’s theme, probably not. Seems the developers agreed as they would give him a more epic tune in Virtua Fighter 2.

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First chapter of the Persona Q manga up on Crunchyroll

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So for those who don’t want to play an 80-hour RPG to see the story of Persona Q, or if you just like manga based on video games, there’s a pretty decent way to get through the story now. If you happen to have a Crunchyroll premium subscription, you can now read the first chapter of the official manga on there.

This manga follows the story from the perspective of the Persona 4 characters. There’s not much different from the game aside from the conversations obviously being a lot shorter and cut down. Following chapters will be released whenever they come out in Japan. Also, I wouldn’t recommend reading it if you haven’t played Persona 4 yet, as it takes place midway through that game’s events.

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Etrian Mystery Dungeon first print editions to come with soundtrack and visual book

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Atlus really knows how to sell games to its fanbase. Not that much into Mystery Dungeon or Etrian Odyssey games? But wait, it comes with a badass visual book, soundtrack and exclusive slip cover. Not only that, they aren’t charging you a penny more than you would spend regularly due to this bundle being exclusive to first print copies.

Etrian Mystery Dungeon hits North American shores on April 7th exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS. No release dates for Europe have been announced yet. Giving this game a chance? Check out the new ‘Protector Class’ trailer after the break.

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This is Saturn celebrates AM2 Month with Fighting Vipers for SEGA Saturn

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Kicking off 2015 in style, This is Saturn celebrates SEGA AM2 month on SEGABits with a look at Fighting Vipers!

One of the very first episodes of This is Saturn covered Fighters Megamix, a crossover between Virtua Fighter 2 and Fighting Vipers; however, the original release of Fighting Vipers actually has some considerable differences to its representation in Fighters Megamix, and so it’s time for Liam to head back to Armstone City to punch some more people in the face, all whilst discovering the true significance of… Pepsi?

And what’s this about a sequel?

So, an overlooked classic, or a poor attempt to recreate the success of Virtua Fighter? Find out, in this episode of This is Saturn!

This is Saturn is a video series created by British teenager Liam ‘TrackerTD’ Ashcroft, aiming to give an alternative and in-depth look at the good, the bad, and the ugly of SEGA Saturn gaming, all whilst maintaining a somewhat strong accent.

Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel

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Atlus to hold a live stream on which they’ll show new Persona stuff on February 4th

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Yes Yu you are indeed perfect

Atlus has announced that one day before the Persona Super Live 2015 concert starts, that they’ll do a live stream where they’ll announce new Persona stuff and presumably do other Persona things on the Persona Channel website and Nico Nico. This live stream, which will be more than 30 hours long, will start at 1 PM JST on February 4th. So if you’re in Europe it’ll start at 5 AM CET/4 AM GMT, or if you’re in the US it’ll start at 11 PM EST/8 PM PST on February 3rd.

At the very least, we can probably expect news on Persona 5, Persona 4: Dancing All Night and/or Persona 3 The Movie: #3 Falling Down. And who knows, maybe they’ll announce other new Persona stuff while they’re at it. And if it’s going to be anything like the last time they did a live stream where they announced new Persona stuff, most of it’s probably gonna be a countdown and a bunch of crazy stuff we won’t be able to understand even if we knew Japanese.

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Dreamcast controller mod takes the Wii U pad to the next level

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Imagine if SEGA released a color screen on the Dreamcast controller, but not only that it would act like the Wii U and allow you to play games in your controller. Crazy right? I guess if you want it badly enough everything is possible as this hack shows. The modified controller features a 3.5 inch color screen that will display on both a connected TV and on the controller. So what if you wanted to just play on the controller? What about sound? Yes, it has built in speakers. But where does the VMU go? It actually has a VMU built in as well!

If you want to see it in action, hit the jump. If you want to read a more detailed article, click here.

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Swingin’ Report Show #74: Drift Stage – Interview with Super Systems Softworks

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The SEGAbits Swingin’ Report Show returns for 2015, featuring brand new interviews with talented people connected to and inspired by SEGA! On our 74th show we’re joined by Super Systems Softworks, developers of the 80s and 90s inspired racer Drift Stage. Chase Pettit (Programmer), Charles Blanchard (Art), and Hugh Myrone (Music) talk about the genesis of the project, their inspirations, and their plans for the final version of the game. We also take a trip down memory lane, talking about our favorite and least favorite racing games, as well as memories of SEGA-AM2’s classic OutRun.

Visit Drift Stage’s Kickstarter page, give the demo a try – and if you like what you see, back the game!
Demo: supersystems.itch.io/driftstagealpha
Official Site: driftstagegame.com

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

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Yakuza 0 story trailer: The most action packed Yakuza yet?

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Strange to say that considering this is suppose to be set in Kiryu’s younger days, but if this trailer is anything to go by than this might just be the most intense Yakuza game yet. Not only is this trailer filled to the brim with all out action but a lot of old faces show up like Nishiki and Shimano. If this was how Kazuma started his life as a Yakuza, then it’s little wonder why he’s hardly phased by fighting tigers and taking on black arm dealers in the future. Yakuza/Ryu Ga Gotoku 0 is set to be released on 12th March for the Playstation 3 and Playstation 4 in Japan, no Western release is yet announced.

But who knows, maybe if you guys all purchase a copy of Yakuza 5 later this year, we shall get to experience the next installment.

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Alien: Isolation passes 1 million sales

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Alien Isolation Tweet

Just announced via the Alien: Isolation twitter account, SEGA’s survival horror title has managed to break the 1 million sales barrier. It’s interesting to note that they announced this figure prior to their full year report, perhaps an indication that the management were happy enough with the figure to announce it. A massive congratulations is in order for the team being able to pull off a true survival horror title in this age and being able to sell it to the masses, hopefully the sales for the title continues over the coming months before we’re updated with a new figure in March to see just how long this game’s tail is.

UPDATE: SEGA has clarified that Aliens: Colonial Marines‘ 1.31m figure represents units sold-in to retailers. Alien: Isolation‘s 1 million milestone represents units sold through to consumers.

After the break, read SEGA’s official press release.

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Rent A Hero English translation finally released

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SEGA AM2’s Action RPG, Rent A Hero, has been fully translated to English and released by the hard working of hackers from Rom Hacking Dot Net. Pretty much finishing what Edison Translation Group left off with only one section of the game translated.

Now gamers can finally get their hands on Rent A Hero from start to finish in English language for the first time ever.

Rent A Hero focuses on a teenager named Taro who has recently moved to Aero City along with his family and receives a armored suit. When he wears the suit, he becomes Rent A Hero, a hero for hire keeping the world at peace and payed for his heroic deeds.

For screenshots of Rent A Hero in English. Click the jump below!

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SEGAbits at Weston Super Sonic 2015: The Write Up

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It was that time again, this morning of January 17th 2015; to go on another 3 hour drive for a Sonic convention! Perfectly fine by me of course… but then, I wasn’t the one driving. This time, I was heading down to Weston Super Mare, a town right next to the British coast; and I was right next to the British coast, as today at the Grand Pier, Sonic fans arrived for one awesome convention; Weston Super Sonic ’15!

And don’t worry folks, my convention photography is still pants! 

As I arrived at the venue and greeted a few friends, I found myself already caught up in an event for the day; watching the first round of the quiz! For those unaware, JonoD of VGMAwesome and Jamie Eggeman of the Sonic Show (yes, Eggeman!) have had a long running rivalry in Sonic trivia quizzes; such led to the unfortunate destruction of a First4Figures Knuckles statue, somehow. Anywho, the questions got more challenging than I thought they would; particularly when “what corner of the box is the barcode for Sonic 1 in?” was asked. Fun times overall; that said, since I was a bit late the first round was soon over.

Once that was over, I bought my first piece of merchandise; an A4 print from Duncan Gutteridge, the incredible artist that produced artwork for some of the Sonic Adventure Gamebooks in the 90’s, as well as the Sonic 1993 calendar; the print I bought was from the book “Metal City Mayhem,” and is easily one of my favourite pieces of Sonic artwork; I’ll need a frame ASAP! I later returned to Gutteridge to buy an A3 print; both prints were signed, to boot!

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