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SEGA Europe hit with layoffs

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SEGA’s office in London has been hit with layoffs, Polygon reports. This is because of a restructuring of the Sonic and Mobile departments at SEGA of America, which made a number of employees at SEGA of Europe redundant. When reached for comment by Polygon, SEGA replied: “Sega is in the process of consolidating certain functions of the Sonic and Mobile departments within Sega of America, where the management and production for those areas of the business reside. As part of that strategy a limited number of redundancies have taken effect in our European office, based in London.” SEGA hasn’t commented on how many employees were let go.

We wish the best for those effected by the layoffs.

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Crazy Taxi City Rush receives a soft-launch on the Canadian App Store

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Canadian SEGA fans who want to get their hands on Crazy Taxi City Rush early can do so now, as the previously revealed soft-launch has begun with the Canadian App Store being the first to receive the game. The free to play game is to feature in-app purchases, and the Canadian App Store page for the game lists the following IAP tiers: Loose change $2.99, Sack of diamonds $9.99, Executive case $9.99, Box of diamonds $19.99, High roller $19.99. Note that these prices are in Canadian currency.

How in-app-purchases work was detailed in our interview with Hardlight Studio’s senior designer Scott West who told us “The main loop of the game consists of the player buying their own Taxi and then completing a series of 7 HQ missions in each District. As these missions get progressively harder, the player will have to upgrade their Taxi to improve its performance and lower the difficulty rating of the HQ Missions. In order to do this, the player can take part in a variety of other missions which are available throughout the district at any one time.”

After the break, check out the full App Store description of the game, and if you’re a Canadian download the game today and tell us what you think!

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Interview: Scott West, Hardlight Studio Senior Designer of Crazy Taxi City Rush

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SEGAbits: Hi Scott, thank you for answering our questions about the upcoming mobile game Crazy Taxi City Rush! What is your role at SEGA, and what is your favorite SEGA game?

Scott West: Hi there, I’m a Senior Designer at Hardlight Studios. As for favourite SEGA game, it would be impossible to name just one! I’d have to break it down into favourites throughout the course of the Consoles that I grew up with. From the Mega Drive days, I spent my childhood playing the likes of Golden Axe, Sonic, Streets of Rage and Outrun. Then on the Saturn it was Burning Rangers and Virtua Fighter 2 then of course the Dreamcast and House of the Dead, Jet Set Radio and Shenmue! That’s not to mention the hours I spent sinking into the Arcades on games like Rad Mobile and Crazy Taxi!

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Crunchyroll to stream HeroBank anime beginning today

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Yesterday it was announced that Crunchyroll will be streaming SEGA’s HeroBank anime, based on the recently released Nintendo 3DS game of the same name. Streaming began today at 6:30 am eastern time and is available worldwide (except for Asia) to premium members of the service. The anime is also available to members using a 14-day free trial in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden.

Head on over to Crunchyroll now to watch the first episode!

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Sonic Team’s upcoming Sonic game to use ‘traditional look and mechanics’ (UPDATE)

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Update: Turns out that Iizuka didn’t say anything about Sonic Team’s next game in the 4Gamer interview. The quote below was taken from Softpedia’s article about the interview, in which the author likely speculated about their next Sonic game. It has been mentioned in previous interviews that Sonic Boom won’t replace the regular Sonic series, but nothing regarding what Sonic Team’s next game is like nor when it will be revealed. We at SEGAbits apologize for reporting on false info and wasting everyone’s time.

We already knew that Sonic Team was working on their own Sonic the Hedgehog and it was speculated that it would be shown off this year. Guess what? It seems that is correct. Below is from a interview with the Japanese website 4Gamer:

“At the moment, the core Sonic team at SEGA is working on a new title that will use the traditional look and mechanics of the series, which will get more details later during the year.

At the same time, Big Red Button, an entirely new studio, is working on a new version of the entire game universe, called Sonic Boom, which will use an entirely new aesthetic and is designed to accompany the delivery of a new range of toys and a new cartoon series.”

I wonder what Sonic Team considers ‘traditional’ seeing as how Sonic’s gameplay has changed a lot in the last 20 something years. Is two Sonic games this year too much?

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Company of Heroes 2: The Western Front Armies coming this June

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Last week, SEGA announced new multiplayer content entitled Company of Heroes 2: The Western Front Armies, which according to Relic is standalone and can be played without a copy of Company of Heroes 2. The new content, arriving in June, pits the U.S. Forces and German Oberkommando West against each other with new units, models, abilities, animations, and tactical and strategic options. Eight multiplayer maps set within the Western Front will also release alongside the new content. SEGA promises that the new “progression system” will allow players to “dive deeper into the tactical and strategic aspects” of the game. Both armies will release as a pair and can be purchased together for $19.99 or separately for $12.99 each.

Screens from the upcoming release can be seen after the break.

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Ryuta Ueda leaves SEGA after 19 years of service

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Ryuta Ueda leaves SEGA after 19 years of service. While at SEGA he contributed to some masterpieces including being the chief graphic designer for Jet Set Radio, enemy art designer for Panzer Dragoon Orta and  he also worked on the Yakuza series.

Ryuta Ueda shared the news via his Twitter account this morning and as you know, he is going to be missed; the art design behind the Jet Set Radio series was totally ‘Next Level’.

EDIT: According to Hideki Naganuma, Ueda left SEGA on March 31st.

So, what is your favorite game that Ryuta Ueda worked on? 

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Persona 4 hits the Playstation 3 on April 8th

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Last time we talked about Devil Summoner getting a re-release via PS3’s PS2 Classics brand and now people will be able to download Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 as well.

The game is set to come out on April 8th and cost a mere $9.99 through PSN  in North and South America. This will allow SEGA gamers who haven’t experinced the classic Atlus game to dive right in.

I suggest all gamers give this game a go, it has some memorable characters, writing and story.

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Phantasy Star Online 2 Es starts open beta on Android

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Phantasy Star Online 2 might be well and out in Japan on PC and Vita, but their mini-version of the game called ‘Phantasy Star Online 2 Es‘ has met many delays. But don’t worry, the mobile version of the game has now hit open beta in Japan, at least on Android with a iOS version coming in the near future.

You can download here!

The mobile version is unique in the way it lets you connect to the Vita/PC version to download you character data and takes place at the same time as the story in full Phantasy Star online 2 and some items and experience you gain in the mobile version transfers back.

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The Sound of Alien: Isolation

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The music and sounds to the original Alien is perhaps just as integral and iconic part of the Alien franchise and SEGA seems well aware of that. In this latest video (Along with new gameplay footage to boot) Creative Assembly’s creative lead Al Hope speaks about the care the developer is putting into the sounds for Alien: Isolation.

Not only will it a soundtrack put together from it’s own personal orchestra (With some members of the group having worked with Jerry Goldsmith on the original film’s soundtrack) but also develop a dynamic sound system where the music changes depending on both what the player and the Alien is doing. It’s clear to see that SEGA is taking as much care as possible with this latest title after their mis-step in Aliens: Colonial Marines and having just won Eurogamer’s Rezzed Game of the Show award, they seem to be well on track to delivering a great Alien game.

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SEGA’s launch lineup for Amazon Fire TV

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Amazon’s new Roku/Ouya killer Fire TV was announced yesterday with a lineup of software partners including SEGA themselves. We didn’t really know what the lineup of games were until the system got shipped to the public today. Here’s Sega’s list of games along with their prices.

  • Sonic CD ($2.99)
  • Sonic 1 ($2.99)
  • Sonic 2 ($2.99)
  • Sonic 4 Episode 1 ($3.99)
  • Sonic 4 Episode 2 ($4.99)
  • Crazy Taxi ($4.99)
  • The Cave ($4.99)
  • Virtua Tennis Challenge ($4.99)

Since the Amazon Fire TV doesn’t make use of Google services, some of the games won’t have Google Play Achievements or use Google’s leaderboards. That will also mean that Sonic 2 doesn’t have multiplayer since it used Google’s services. According to Taxman, the developer, Sonic 2 won’t even have a splitscreen mode due to ‘the projects scope’. The Amazon Fire TV is already shipping and you can purchase on here. Gaming controller sold separately.

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SEGA in the Charts: MediaCreate charts for March 24 – 30 March 2014

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The releases come thick and fast for SEGA, coming off the back of Utakumi 575, PuyoPuyo Tetris and Ryu Ga Gotoku: Ishin! the latest entry in the Hatsune Miku: Project Diva f 2nd came out last week in Japan for both the Playstation Vita and the Playstation 3. This is the first time the series has launched on two platforms at the same time and is looking to take the crown of biggest first week from Hatsune Miku: Project 2nd. Also continuing to chart is Ryu Ga Gotoku: Ishin! hit the break to find out how both performed in this week’s chart!

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Cavespeak releases a English patch for 7th Dragon

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SEGA released 7th Dragon way back in March 5th, 2009 in Japan on the Nintendo DS. The game flew under most people’s radar, but not for me. I kept my eye on this one just because it was produced by legendary SEGA designer Rieko Kodama (Phantasy Star series and Skies of Arcadia).

That wasn’t the only big name SEGA star on the project, famous SEGA composer Yuzo Koshiro (Streets of Rage series, Shinobi series) joined the team.

Want the patch? Head over here.

Not sure if it means much but Famitsu scored the game a 9/8/8/8 (33 out of 40).  

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Have some fun with MIKUbits – the 24 hour Domino’s™ Pizza sponsored takeover!

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Hello everyone, I’m Barry, writer and editor at SEGAbits! Have you heard of Hatsune Miku? Today I’d like to announce a collaborative project featuring Hatsune Miku: MIKUbits website featuring Domino’s™ Pizza! Domino’s exists on a planet called Earth. Earth enables you to visit Domino’s to eat pizza. A Domino’s™ employee makes the pizza you eat. A great feature is you can eat pizza as you like.

I knew our talented SEGAbits writers could work together and create Hatsune Miku… articles. George-pi, Shigs-shi, Nuckles-shi, Ben-shi, Will-shi – EVERYONE! Amazing SEGAbits articles have been created with the fantastic imagination of the writers from all over the planet. The challenge was successfully carried out and this new collaborative website was produced. Throughout the day we’ll share Hatsune Miku content, and talk about delicious Domino’s™ Pizza on our social networks. And last, but not least… the live performance – has been cancelled. George refused to dress as Miku and dance on webcam.

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Devil Summoner getting a PS2 classics re-release on Playstation 3 this week

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Have you guys played Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army (let that roll off the tongue) on the Playstation 2? If you didn’t, you will have your chance to try it this week, since the game will be dropping on PSN!

Playstation Store description:

In the shadowy evening mist of Taisho, a young girl appears with an unusual request: “Please kill me…” As Devil Summoner Raidou Kuzunoha, uncover the mystery of the girl’s strange abduction in this unique action RPG .

This title being re-release is actually the 3rd in the franchise, the original Shin Magami Tensei: Devil Summoner was actually a SEGA Saturn game, the first Shin Megami Tensei Saturn game at that.

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