News
How PSN Store downtime will affect SEGA
I have seen lots of sites covering this news, even some of them being SEGA related sites like this one. But none of them seem to point out how the PSN store will be affecting SEGA. Lets have a overview please.
SEGA was really pushing Virtua Tennis 4 for the Playstation 3. It was first announced for the console last year and even got some cool exclusive content on disc. So why does PSN store being down effect it? SEGA promised exclusive demos for PSN. The first demo hit the PSN store on April 19th, given that it is a few days from when PSN went down, I doubt many people got a chance to try it.
SEGA was set to release their PSN version of Streets of Rage 2 port on May 3rd (tomorrow) to PSN plus users and a week later for all users. Issue is that PSN Store is down. Also set to make its debut was the SEGA Genesis dynamic theme (to America, already out in Europe).
Sony held a conference on Sunday saying that online play, Playstation Home, Trophy synching, and other related abilities will be restored during the week. As for the Playstation Store, it should be up “within the month”.
Yakuza Week – Day 4: Of Demon Ninja Turtles!
“Well, isn’t that strange!”
TWITTER GIVE AWAY – Day 4 of 6
We have just one prize to give away today, but it’s a good one!
Today’s prize is; Yakuza 4 the game, signed by YAZ and the Yakuza 4 Art book!
All you have to do to have a shot at winning this awesome prize is follow us on twitter, CLICK HERE follow SEGAbits and simply retweet this message;
“RT & Follow @SEGAbits – YAKUZA WEEK – DAY 4 – CONTEST! Retweet to win Yakuza prizes! Info: http://www.segabits.com/?p=12213“
We’ll pick a winner at random!
If you don’t win, don’t fret, there will be another chance tomorrow!
Day 3 winners are:
Of the Yakuza 4 game (Signed by YAZ) and branded Chopsticks! – Stinkdeken
Of the Yakuza 4 Art book and branded bowl! – Krup213
Congratulations guys!
Why you should own this game – Day 4 –Reason 4
It’s very rare that a game can be ‘laugh out loud funny’ I find more often than not the attempts to inspire laughter in videogames fall flat and more often then not are pretty cringe worthy.
The Yakuza series is one of the very few videogame series that have got a real, hearty laugh out of me. Whilst the main storylines are a serious affair, just below the surface there is always something to make you chuckle. Be it the often crazy revelations, some over the top heat moves or side missions like outrunning a cross dresser that wants to have his/her way with you. In Yakuza 4 you’ll also encounter some great look-a-likes and Cameos too; such as Dr. Emmett Brown from Back to the Future. Yeah, this game has it all!
Do yourself a favor and look at our side bar, over there on the right. We’ve made it easy for you to buy! Just click on that BUY NOW button!
Gun-Lord Concept Art & Screen Shots
NG:DEV:TEAM have released the first screenshots of their upcoming Neo Geo and Dreamcast platformer GunLord on their Teaser Site. The images are stamped with the words “ALPHA VERSION” to give us an impression that things might still change.They show off a very interesting art direction, the likes of which we’ve never seen on the Neo Geo or the Dreamcast. Very dark and surreal tones are displayed along with very eerie creatures throughout to give a cryptic feel to the game. The tone is set even more forcefully by what seems to be the game’s theme song by Rafael Dyll of Soniq Factory.
Not sure of what to think of the whole Green Alien though, I guess it would help differentiate Gun-Lord from Contra and Metal Slug but still, humans would be nice too.
Source: Dreamcast-Scene
YAKUZA WEEK – DAY 3: Of Punching Tigers in the Face!
TWITTER GIVE AWAY – Day 2 of 6
Today, like day one we have 2 prizes to give away!
Prize one: Yakuza 4 Art book & Yakuza 4 branded Bowl!
Prize two: Yakuza 4 game signed by YAZ & Yakuza 4 branded Chopsticks!
All you have to do to have a shot at winning these awesome prizes is follow us on twitter, CLICK HERE follow SEGAbits and retweet this message;
“RT & Follow @SEGAbits – YAKUZA WEEK – DAY 3 – CONTEST! Retweet to win Yakuza prizes! Info: http://www.segabits.com/?p=11998
“
We’ll pick a winner at random!
If you don’t win, don’t fret, there will be another chance tomorrow!
Day 2 winner:
jegarcia
Congratulations!
Why you should own this game – Day 3 –Reason 3
That story!
I love my fair share of Japanese games; in fact, looking at my collection I tend to prefer Japanese games than western games. That said one thing I find the Japanese are trailing behind the West with is really good stories in games. Whilst I’m a firm believer in game play before storyline when it comes to videogames if a game has both it’s always a plus!
Story driven Japanese games are often made for a Japanese audience, (and rightly so) but that often means they’ll be littered with the kind of clichéd characters and plots I’ve seen a hundred times by now are wearing thin. Yakuza games are right on top of the game when it comes to interesting mature plots and compelling, likeable characters and it’s easily as good as any of the top story driven western games I’ve played.
Whilst Yakuza 3 lost a bit of its flair and became quite tame and monotonous at times, Yakuza 4 took the series back to the top of its game with four playable characters each with uniquely thrilling stories and backgrounds.
Do yourself a favor and look at our side bar, over there on the right. We’ve made it easy for you to buy! Just click on that BUY NOW button!
Virtua Tennis 4 UK Launch Trailer
It’s the Virtua Tennis 4 UK launch trailer! This trailer focuses mostly on the PS3 version and its Move control scheme. However, rest assured that the game will also be available with the usual controller based scheme for PS3, Xbox 360 (with Kenect) and Wii.
Being developed by the original VT development team in Japan gives me high hopes for this game and with a £1 million marketing campaign it seems Sega do too!
YAKUZA WEEK – DAY 2: Of Heat and Content
Akiyama’s in heat!
TWITTER GIVE AWAY – Day 2 of 6
Today we have just 1 give-away but it’s a good one!
Today one lucky winner will nab 1 copy of Yakuza 4 signed by YAZ and 1 copy of the Yakuza 4 art book.
All you have to do to have a shot at winning these awesome prizes is follow us on twitter, CLICK HERE follow SEGAbits and retweet this message;
“RT Follow @SEGAbits – YAKUZA WEEK – DAY 2 – CONTEST! Retweet to win Yakuza prizes. Info: http://www.segabits.com/?p=11942 “
We’ll pick a winner at random!
If you don’t win, don’t fret, there will be another chance tomorrow!
Day 1 winners:
Of the Yakuza branded bowl & Game – Hibikirush
Of the Art book & Chopsticks – D12W
Congratulations guys!
Why you should own this game, Day 2 – Reason 2:
There is just SO MUCH content.
Have you ever wondered if the price you are paying for the game is worth the content you’re getting? I know I often do. A good game is a good game but I’d like to be kept satisfied for at least 10 hours.
If there is one game that doesn’t skimp on content it is Yakuza 4. There is just so much to do. Beside the main, crime thriller storyline you can do multiple mini games including golf, baseball batting cages, gambling, fishing and many more.
Not only can you waste your money dating the lovely ladies of the game, brining them gifts, buying them food and saying all the right things to see where you can take the relationship. You can even run the hostess clubs where guys pick them up! Design the bar and even dress the woman how you like em!
Not only that there is the battle cage, an underground ‘flight club’ style arena where you fight other hard nuts in brutal battles to see who’s the best. Again, you can even become a trainer and coach fighters; you help them become the best!
If that wasn’t enough, there are the seemingly endless amounts of side missions you can take.
There is so much bang for your buck that most people I know who have played it say that they can be 20 to 40 hours into the game and only on chapter 3 or 4 and many find out that when they finish the story mode they’ve still only completely 30% of the games content.
Do yourself a favor and look at our side bar, over there on the right. We’ve made it easy for you to buy! Just click on that BUY NOW button!
Sonic Team’s attempt at a Tony Hawk game
Assembler games forum member got his hands on an XBOX 1 devkit. A lot of unreleased games were unearthed, including “SONIC EXTREME”. SONIC EXTREME looks like Sonic Team’s attempt at Tony Hawk… quite literally! You can see Sonic doing Tony Hawk style skateboard tricks.
So yeah… just think. We could have had a Sonic game like this! This was an amusing video to watch and I just had to share it with you guys!
[Source: TSSZNews]
Digital distribution helped SEGA enter new territories
[By the way, PSN is still down!]
SEGA announced last year that they had a whole team dedicated to digital distribution. James Schall, SEGA’s digital distribution manager, spoke about how they have reached new territories due to ESD (electronic software distribution).
“A few years ago the digital team was bolted on to the side of other departments, with a couple of people at most working on the project. Now we have a specific ESD team of six looking after PC titles. Digital enables you to reach out to new territories.” – James Schall, Digital Distribution Manager
Not an expert, but since SEGA doesn’t have too many PC titles I think 6 people handling the job is pretty ample. Maybe I’m wrong? I think digital teams over at SEGA will just get bigger as the market grows on consoles, but after the PSN thing happened, will you rely on a network?
[Source: MCV]
Operation G.H.O.S.T. arcade cabinet
SEGA’s sequel to Ghost Squad is real, so real that here are your pictures of the cabinet you will be playing it on. Sure, it isn’t the best looking cabinet and we have not had screenshots released of in-game yet.
Pretty sure this game will get a US and Europe arcade release, seeing as how Ghost Squad was quite popular here. Maybe if we complain enough we will also get a console port? Worth a try!
[Via: Arcadeheroes]
YAKUZA WEEK – DAY 1: Of Underwear Theft and Contests!
Video of the Day: Yakuza 4 Revelations – Essence of Triple Strike
Why you should own this game, Day 1 – Reason 1: There isn’t a bad time to jump in!
Every time a new Yakuza game is about to release I see the same question cropping up in every forum I visit; ‘Can I buy this game now or do I have to play the series from the start to understand the storyline?’
You can jump in RIGHT AWAY; Each Yakuza game has its own story arc with a beginning and an end. If you don’t care to know about the series history you can play right off the bat and you won’t feel lost at all.
However if you are one of those kinds of people who just needs to know all the history of the game and the characters, Yakuza 4 has you covered. At the start of every Yakuza sequel so far there’s the chance to ‘reminisce’, which is a fancy way of saying ‘watch videos of the events of the previous games’ and they go really in-depth too!
Do yourself a favor and look at our side bar, over there on the right. We’ve made it easy for you to buy! Just click on that BUY NOW button!
TWITTER GIVE AWAY – Day 1 of 6
Prize 1: A Yakuza 4 Branded Bowl & Yakuza game signed by YAZ
Prize 2: A Yakuza 4 Art Book & Yakuza 4 branded chopsticks
All you have to do to have a shot at winning these awesome prizes is follow us on twitter, CLICK HERE follow SEGAbits and retweet this message;
“RT & Follow @SEGAbits – YAKUZA WEEK – DAY 1 – CONTEST! Retweet to win Yakuza prizes. info: http://www.segabits.com/?p=11634”
We’ll pick a winner at random!
If you don’t win, don’t fret, we’re here all week!
Redspotgames surveying to cancel PSN port of R4
A Message from Senile Team:
On account of the recent PlayStation Network (PSN) account leaks, publisher redspotgames has started a survey to poll consumer confidence in Sony’s online platform. Is your trust irreparably dented, or will you be happy to hand over all your personal information to Sony as soon as PSN is up again? Speak up and your vote could help decide whether Rush Rush Rally Racing will go portable. And you can even win some goodies!
Tick the boxes here
So what does this news have to do with the Dreamcast-Scene? Well the Sceners who no longer wish to use Sony’s PSN service can inform redspotgames, and if the right amount of people have lost interest in R4 for Playstation, Senile Team would stop developing it, which would free up resources for Age of the Beast and you know what that means right?
ICO & Shadows of the Colossus creator tweets about being a SEGA fan
Fumito Ueda is one of my favorite people in the industry and runs one of the best teams at Sony, Team ICO. They are working on the upcoming (and excellent looking) title, The Last Guardian.
Fumito Ueda talked on twitter about how he has been a massive SEGA fan since they released the Mark III in Japan. I have actually heard about him being a big SEGA fan and actually being friends with Ryuta Ueda (who worked on Jet Set Radio, Panzer Dragoon series and Yakuza series). They even have the same last name… weird?
Something about Team ICO’s games always reminded me of Panzer Dragoon… I could never put my finger on it.
[Source: AndriaSang]
ESRB has rating for Crush 3D
When Crush was released back in 2007, it didn’t get that much hype, even though it ended up being one of my favorite games on the PSP. Now it will get a second chance on the Nintendo 3DS. We posted about it coming awhile back, now ESRB has rated the title.
This is a puzzle platformer in which players collect marbles to activate exits and complete each level. As players run and jump through each colorful environment, they can toggle between 2D and 3D perspectives to navigate platforms. Players’ ‘cartoony’ character cries out and loses a life if he falls off tall platforms or is struck by roaming enemies (e.g., giant blocks, slugs). In some sequences, players can use large blocks or balls to squash giant cockroaches; defeated bugs emit large splashes of yellow liquid that stain the ground.
Now all we need is a press release, official release date and we can finally get hyped. The game got a E 10+ rating. That means you should get 4 copies for each one of your children.
[Source: ESRB]
New Binary Domain trailer as title is delayed to 2012
The previous Binary Domain trailer left much to be desired from many who had high expectations for Yakuza and Monkey Ball series designer Toshihiro Nagoshi’s newest title, however SEGA have recently put together a new trailer for your enjoyment, the trailer has a lot less dialogue but focuses on more action this time round. It does a much better job at generating hype for the game than the intial trailer and showcases ingame gameplay, from certain vehicles you can control to the boss battles you will face throughout the game, the trailer also confirms that the game will be available early 2012, from its original release date of sometime in 2011.
[Special thanks to Suzuki Yu for the tip!]