News

Currently no plans for Phantasy Star Nova in the West

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If you were looking forward to playing Phantasy Star NOVA in English, you may be out of luck. The website SEGA-Addicts just reached out to Kellie Parker for a statement regarding PSN’s status in the West and this is what she had to say:

There are currently no plans to release Phantasy Star Nova in the Western market. Should this change, we will ensure the information is shared as soon as possible.

It’s disappointing to hear that SEGA currently has “no plans” to bring Nova west. The game will be the first Phantasy Star game since the Genesis titles to primarily focus on single player. Provided the game is as fun as it looks, it’s a real shame it might not be coming our way.

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Could we see more Virtual On in 2015?

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Virtual On recently had a ‘memorial talk show’ live on Nico Nico where SEGA designer Mori Yasuhiro and model makers Volks and Hasegawa talked about the franchise’s history and creation of the model toys for the franchise. They showed off some matches and then Mori made some comments about the future of the franchise.

“Virtual On is still alive! Something might wake up [on Virtual On’s 20th anniversary]” – Mori Yasuhiro

What does this mean? Who knows. I guess we will find out sometime in 2015 when the franchise celebrates its 20th anniversary. Do you guys think there is a market for a brand new, next generation Virtual On?

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Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing finally debuts on Android

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Seems like SEGA took their sweet time porting over Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing to Android, especially when you consider the fact that the game came out two years ago. But hey, it’s here now and you can own it for $1.99! This is port of the DS version, cleaned up for higher resolution phones.

The game just came out and reviews aren’t that positive. Out of three reviews, two of them have been one stars and the other was three. Hopefully SEGA addresses issues of lag and other complaints.

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Yakuza Ishin’s TGS gameplay trailer has lots of slicing and dicing

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SEGA has released two trailers for the upcoming Playstation exclusive, Yakuza Ishin. The first one and the one we embeded above is the gameplay trailer showing off the combat system, forging system and a few other tidbits.

Now the other trailer is the story trailer, this one uses the intro from the cinematic trailer shown off at the Sony conference, which was also awesome.  The game comes out in Japan on both Playstation 3 and Playstation 4 on February 22nd, 2014.

Continue Reading ➜

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Phantasy Star NOVA TGS Trailer

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The trailer shows a bit of gameplay and CGI, while using the word “Confidential” a lot. Looks like PSO2 battle system with a bit of Tri-ace flavor, IMO.

Phantary Star Nova will be out on the Vita in Japan in 2014.

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SEGA in the Media: FOX’s “Dads” takes the Dreamcast hostage

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FOX’s live action sitcom Dads, from Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, is one of the fall season’s worst shows reviews-wise. Perhaps the production crew knew they had a stinker on their hands and threw a Dreamcast into the set dressing. Hey, if it worked for The Drew Carey Show, it could work for them. The series follows two guys named Warner and Eli who are successful video game developers who are forced to have their fathers move in with them, thus explaining the Dreamcast sitting on Seth Green’s desk. Why a modern game developer would have so many pieces of 90’s era hardware on his work desk is unknown. Perhaps they’re indie Dreamcast developers? In any case, save yourself the trouble watching the show and just enjoy the image above.

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New Sonic Lost World TGS Trailer

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Atlus, shmatlus. What you really want is more Sonic Lost World footage! Straight from TGS comes a new trailer over 3 minutes long packed with never before seen footage including how the 3DS/WiiU connection works and a short cutscene with Amy Rose. There are little details everywhere so Sonic fans might to check it out at least twice. Listen to this person-a, this game will be hotter than a Dragon’s Crown!

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SEGA Sammy Acquires Atlus owner Index Corp. for 14 Billion Yen

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segatlusNikkei reports that SEGA Sammy Holdings has succeeded in the bid war to acquire Index Corp. This means the company now completely owns Index as well as it’s subsidiaries including Atlus Co. Ltd. All assets and properties will transfer ownership by November. Appearance of Atlus property to appear in Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed? Still up in the air, but suffice to say, Atlus is now going to be part of SEGA’s growing empire. SEGA is certainly no stranger to the company as they have assisted in publishing Atlus titles in Japan. Surely though, the most important news is they can collaborate once again to make a true sequel to the hottest Dreamcast title, Maken X.

We will report on more as it develops.

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Update from “Service Games: The Rise and Fall of SEGA ” author David Munoz

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We have an update from “Service Games: Rise and Fall of Sega ” author David Munoz, who we interviewed last month:

Hi everyone,

Good news: we have found our editor. I can’t go into specifics just yet, but all of you should be familiar with his work in one way or another. I have already seen some of the edited beginning and the increase in quality is night and day. Hopefully everyone agrees! This is your last chance to send in any edits before the text is finalized, so don’t delay if you know of things we may have missed.

We have a new timeline now. Hopefully way before this, but our plan is now to get everything to you guys before Christmas. This is obviously past our original date of this past August, but hopefully the extra additions and editing make up for it. As soon as we get the final text we will then send out the questionnaires. Print has the highest priority, followed by ebook. People who are waiting on a signed copy may not get their books before Christmas due to shipping times. If you are one of these people and you’d rather get it on time, please message or email me (servicegamessega at gmail.com) and we will refund you the difference and not sign them.

We are planning on launching the “hardback” only Kickstarter in January. This will give second-chance offers to everyone to get the color hardback editions, but will also help cover the added costs that all the delays accrued. We are planning on doing something special for backers of the original who want to back the new version, so stay tuned for that!

That’s it for news. Feel free to ask any questions and thanks for supporting this project… the end is in sight!

-David

After the break, check out a message from David, responding to comments posted on our interview with him.

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Help The Dreamcast Junkyard decide the top 200 Dreamcast games!

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SEGAbits partner site The Dreamcast Junkyard has set up a poll which includes every single Dreamcast game from all regions, including indie titles. The mission: to create a definitive top 200 list of the best Dreamcast games. If this sounds familiar, it’s because back in 2009, a top 100 list was created by The Dreamcast Junkyard using data collected from a similar poll. Given attitudes towards certain games have likely changed with time and rereleases, as well as the additions of new indie Dreamcast games to the console’s library, now it a good time as any to revisit and expand the list.

To contribute, simply head on over to the polling site and select every game that you would deem to be a worthy addition to a top 200 list. You can select as many as you’d like, and it is encouraged that you select a sizable amount. This is not a popularity contest for one specific title. It is a comparison of many (at the time of this writing, 100+) Dreamcast fan’s lists. Games that appear one more lists are the ones that are more likely to make it near the top. The poll runs until November 18th and the results will be revealed on November 27th, which is the Dreamcast’s 15 anniversary in Japan.

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SEGA’s Tokyo Game Show website opens, reveals game lineup

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SEGA of Japan has opened their 2013 Tokyo Game Show website, which reveals their game lineup for the show. Titles include Yakuza Ishin (PS3, PS4), Phantasy Star Online 2 (PC), Phantasy Star Nova (Vita), Hatsune Miku Project Mirai 2 (3DS), Hatsune Miku Project Diva-F 2nd (Vita, PS3), the recently revealed Puyo Puyo Tetris (PS3, Wii U, 3DS, Vita), Hero Bank (3DS) Song Set 575 (Vita), Lets make a Pro Soccer Club! (PS3, Vita), and Sonic Lost World (Wii U, 3DS). The site also offers a look at the SEGA booth, the show program, a list of swag being given out (probably my favorite page), and a shopping page where you’ll see a cute Sonic coffee mug and an awesome Mega Drive 25th anniversary shirt. Yet to be unlocked are movie and photo pages.

Tokyo Game Show begins September 19th, stay tuned to SEGAbits for more Tokyo Game Show news! After the break, check out some Puyo Puyo Tetris and Phantasy Star Nova screens from the SEGA TGS site.

Continue Reading ➜

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More Details on Phantasy Star Nova, getting AAA production budget

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Some more details about Phantasy Star Nova have came out of Famitsu which might interest you. The game is mainly a single player game, with an optional ad-hoc local multiplayer mode. There is no online mode.

The game is being built using a Tri-Ace engine and overall it’s going to feel like a Tri-Ace game rather than a Sonic Team game. A big change compared to PSO is how the weapon system works. Equipment shows damage visibly, and monsters drop materials that you can use for crafting instead of weapons.

Also, famous RPG music composer Motoi Sakuraba is composing the music for the game. Oh, and the core development team is around 70 people, and total production is over 200 people (said to be higher than the number of people involved with Titanfall by neogaf). So it sounds like a really big project. Hopefully it comes west 🙂

*title updated at the request of George*

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Famitsu reveals Puyo Puyo Tetris for Playstation and Nintendo platforms

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Yes, that’s right puzzle fans. The “Mario & Sonic” of puzzle games is coming.

Famitsu reports that a Puyo Puyo Tetris game is due out in 2014 for PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo 3DS, and Wii U. This wouldn’t be the first time SEGA has been involved in a Tetris game. In 1989 SEGA developed and published Tetris for the SEGA System 16 and SEGA System E hardware. In 2000 the SEGA Dreamcast saw the release of The Next Tetris, a Tetris title that took advantage of the console’s modem for online gameplay.

Nothing more has been revealed of this unique collaboration, but as soon as we learn more we’ll be sure to share it!

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