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SEGA West boss Mike Hayes set to part ways this summer

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Announced this morning is that SEGA Europe and America CEO Mike Hayes is set to leave the company in the coming summer. Hayes has been CEO of SEGA Europe for 8 years and took on responsibility from Simon Jeffrey as CEO of SEGA America when the former LucasArts CEO was relieved of his duties. Hayes’ own personal ambition now is set to be on non-exec roles within and outside of the industry. Speaking to MVC, Naoya Tsurumi released the following statement;

“Mike has achieved a huge amount during his time at Sega and we thank him for the amazing things he has accomplished. Mike is a great character and very passionate about the industry, he helped steer the extraordinary growth of Sega and has built an exceptional team of professionals that will stand us in good stead for the future.”

Mike Hayes is set to leave the company having helped established a stronghold in Europe and the successful purchase of both critically acclaimed and commercially successful studios Sports Interactive and The Creative Assembly. Though towards the end of his tenure, he seemed to have provided mixed success for SEGA, Hayes’ contribution should see him leave with a good legacy at SEGA Europe. Jurgen Post, SEGA Europe’s current COO, is set to succeed Hayes although at this time, it is unclear if he is set to become CEO of both SEGA Europe and America, or if the roles will once again be split.

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Yukie Kawamura dons a bikini and bounces on a ball to promote Monkey Ball Vita

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http://youtu.be/4uchUmgqYK4

Earlier this month we reported on one of the more…interesting features that SEGA has planned for their upcoming Vita Monkey Ball game: the ability to roll your balls down the body of a Japanese supermodel.

As you can see, SEGA of Japan’s promoting the hell out of tits…erm, this, with model Yukie Kawamura starring in their commercials. Oh, and they show a little bit of the game too.

Whether this will sell copies of Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz in Japan remains to be seen, but as far as the likelihood of Kawamura’s level and this type of promotion making its way to the West….probably not a snowball’s chance in hell.

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The Anarchy Reigns roster expands to include a trio of sister assassins

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That’s Fei Rin, one of three new characters revealed this past week for PlatinumGames’ upcoming brawler, Anarchy Reigns. As reported by Andriasang with info from Famitsu, Fei Rin’s set to star alongside her similarly deadly sisters, Rin Rin and Ai Rin, videos and pics of whom can be seen after the jump. Though Sega West sure isn’t acting like it, Anarchy Reigns is, as far as I know, still scheduled for a Western release this July.

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Next Hatsune Miku coming with a PS Vita skin

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Are you a fan of the Hatsune Miku games from SEGA? If so, you might be interested in this. SEGA Japan has announced that Next Hatsune Miku Project Diva will come with a PlayStation Vita skin.

The game comes out August 30th, so you still have time to decide.

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New Project X Zone screens shows off Resonance of Fate characters

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Famitsu.com has updated with a ton of new screenshots showing off the newly announced characters for Project X Zone. If you missed the announcement it has been confirmed that Resonance of Fate‘s Leanne and Zephyr would be appearing as a pair in the upcoming 3DS game. Click here if you never heard of Project X Zone.

To see all the screenshots released, hit the jump. Enjoy!

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SEGA to start location testing for Initial D7 next month

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SEGA is getting set to start testing their long time racing series Initial D, this one titled Initial D Arcade Stage 7 AA X. Some people think this is a SEGA franchise but it is actually a licensed game based on the manga by Shuichi Shigeno.
Even though some of the titles in the franchise have made it over to America, I wouldn’t hold my breath for this one only because of all the cut backs at SEGA. But if you live in Japan you will be able to test the game next month in select locations. The Japanese game page for the title does give details on new things including a new tag mode, revival courses from Initial D Arcade Stage Ver. 3, a new boost and more.

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Play Total War Battles and get free DLC for Shogun 2

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SEGA is going to be smart and cross promote the iOS game, Total War Battles: Shogun with the high selling PC title Total War: Shogun 2. So how are they going to do this? If you finish the campaign in the mobile game you will unlock a key-code, which will unlock the Sendai Clan Pack for Total War: Shogun 2 on PC (via Steam).

Sendai will give you +10 diplomatic relations and a 2-turn reduction time surrendering castles, -1 resistance to occupation and lastly -3 unhappiness from other allegiances.  Not bad for it sort of being free, if you buy the mobile version.

Also the iOS game is getting a skirmish mode update soon. This will let you choose a difficulty level and get right into a battle, you will be able to complete the full campaign and use new legendary units. This is for people that don’t want the story in the way of their bloodshed.

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SEGA bringing Fist of the North Star slot machine game to Playstation 3

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I was not aware that SEGA had the license to Fist of the North Star, but it seems they do and for their first (Actually they released some PS2 games and also a 2D fighter last generation) title with the license they want to do a port of Sammy’s First of the North Star slot machine.  SEGA is getting ready to release “Fist of the North Star Pachislot” in Japan May 31st.

The game will feature a production mode and let you see in-game art and watch Kenshiro punch the screen if you are into that. I’m a Fist of the North Star fan and this seems like a rip off compared to the game that Koei released.

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SEGA says it wouldn’t bring Aliens: Colonial Marines to Wii U if it was inferior graphically to current systems

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Craig Harris. If you hear the name you probably recall him from his work at IGN, well he is now working over at SEGA on Aliens: Colonial Marines. He just happened to be on the podcast The Mush Room Podcast (aka not the best podcast ever aka The Swingin’ Report Show) and had a lot to say about the Wii U. One thing he did confirm is that the game wouldn’t be coming out on Wii U if the Wii U was inferior to current gen systems.

“Nintendo… has to release hardware that’s of the expectations of the gamer today … I don’t think we would be bringing the game to a system that would be inferior to current gen. (HD) systems.” – Craig Harris

I guess there is quite a bit of rumors about the power of the Wii U. I’m on the side of those that think it will most likely be better hardware than current generation systems. The issue though, its not going to compete against the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3. It’s going to compete against the “Xbox 720” and the “Playstation 4”. I don’t think it will have the power to match those, but we will see.

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Take a peek at Archie’s Sonic 4 Episode 2 comic adaptation

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I’ve really enjoyed Archie’s video game adaptations as of recent, if only because they don’t try to adapt the Archieverse into the story. Sure they’re short and are mainly meant to be ads for the games, but they’re the closest to what I consider to be the ideal Sonic comic book series (this comment is that of Barry the Nomad and not the opinion of SEGAbits). The upcoming Sonic Super Special Magazine #3 will include a special tie-in comic that will take place between Sonic 4 Episode 1 and Episode 2. Courtesy of IGN comes the first two pages of the Sonic 4 Episode 2 story, which kicks off at the end of Episode 1. After the break, check out the pages!

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Confirmed: Eggman to cameo in Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph

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Yup, we have known about this for awhile now. But now it is confirmed by Entertainment Weekly that Doctor Ivo Robotnik aka Doctor Eggman will cameo in the upcoming Disney flick “Wreck-It Ralph”. The movie is about a videogame villain who is looking to change paths in life. I guess being evil is only cool for so long and probably doesn’t pay very well.

If you saw the leak, other villains who are set to cameo in the movie include Street Fighter‘s M. Bison and Browser from the Super Mario Brothers series. As of right now it’s not known if Eggman will be having spoken dialogue in the movie, but Eggman’s voice actor did tease a major announcement. Could this have been it? The movie is set to release in November 2012, are you excited?

Update: Entertainment Weekly wrote that Eggman mainly stays in the background however he does speak the group’s mantra in unison with the others as the scene ends: “I’m bad, and that’s good. I will never be good, and that’s not bad. There’s no one I’d rather be than me.”

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SEGA Tunes: Anarchy Reigns spins the Blacker Baron theme song

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=a3-rAeBL-io

While SEGA West remains silent on Anarchy Reigns, the game continues to get recognition in Japan. Ripped from the latest episode of Platinum Games TV and released to YouTube, the tune is reportedly the theme song for the character Blacker Baron. The tune is titled “Days of Old” by VStylez and is hopefully the first of many awesome tunes. For more information on Anarchy Reigns, hit up Platinum Games official site.

 

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Sonic Free Riders and Virtual-On Force go platinum in Japan

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Takashi Iizuka: A Platinum Collection release of Sonic Free Riders? (laughs) …Yes!

Yes, believe it or not, the often criticized Sonic Free Riders will receive a Platinum Collection release in Japan tomorrow. Perhaps the game was actually pretty enjoyable and warranted the sales, and most of the vitriol came from those who just love to hate on games they never actually played? Or maybe the Japanese just like to support titles from Japanese developers when it comes to XBOX releases in Japan. For those who don’t know, Platinum Collection titles are games considered by Microsoft to have sold considerable units since release. These select titles are given new packaging and are sold at a lower price. So kudos to SEGA for not one, but TWO Platinum Collection releases. The second game to be released tomorrow is Virtual-On Force, which will receive a cute upgrade to the game’s cover. Check that out after the break.

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Resonance of Fate characters to appear in Project X Zone

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Seems that SEGA isn’t going to let the Resonance of Fate franchise die out just yet. In the latest Famitsu magazine (scans above) they confirm that there will be a Resonance of Fate team made up by Leanne and Zephyr. They also revealed other characters from Capcom and Namco-Bandai that will be joining the full game.

  • Alisa and Soma from God Eater franchise (Namco-Bandai)
  • Lei-Lei (aka Hsien-Ko) from the Darkstalkers franchise (Capcom)
  • Frank West from Dead Rising franchise (Capcom)

Seems that the roster will just keep growing and growing at this rate. But do you think that the Resonance of Fate franchise deserves to go first instead of a classic franchise like Phantasy Star?

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SEGA to open a ride based on “The Ring” horror franchise

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If you didn’t watch the American adaptation of the horror movies known as the Ring franchise (sequels had different names etc), then you probably don’t know that it’s about people finding a tape, watching it, then dying. VCR no less. A ghost haunts those that watch the tape, and throughout the movie you find out more and more about the girl ghost. Even though the franchise is dead in the States, it isn’t in Japan. They are getting set to release Sadako 3D and SEGA is ready to team up to create a ride.

SEGA’s ride will be based on the upcoming film and be called Sadako 3D: Cursed Tour. It is set to open on July 14th. It is rumored that there is a video of someone who commits suicide and that viewers will ‘follow the leader’ if they watch the tape. A bit morbid if you ask me, especially knowing that Japan has such high suicide rates. SEGA says that Sadako 3D: Cursed Tour is going to be a seven-minute test of courage. You want to experince the morbid ride? You will have to go to SEGA’s Joypolis in Japan.

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