Unexpected items in English release of Phantasy Star Portable 2

It looks like SEGA is pulling all the tricks they can to get Phantasy Star Portable 2 localized with minimal cuts. SEGA America community manager Aaron Webber who goes by the name RubyEclipse sent an email to Siliconera about two items that will be making it into the English version of Phantasy Star Portable 2.

Hit the jump to read about the unexpected Japanese items that have made it into the English release.

High Voltage and SEGA’s relationship coming to an end?

High Voltage Studios worked on The Conduit 1/2 and Tournament of Legends, but it seems that the developer is having trouble finding a publisher for new titles. According to a developer who works at the studio, after recent layoffs all the remaining workers are polishing up Conduit 2, getting it ready to ship.

This means that their other project called “The Grinder” may be canceled, the main reason is that they can’t find a publisher for the title. Why did they start laying people off? According to the developer it was because no publishers wanted to pick up their other projects, so they had to fire staff they did not need. Does not look good for High Voltage Software at the moment.

[Source: GoNintendo]

Valkyria Chronicles 2 to stay PSP exclusive

When Valkyria Chronicles 2 was announced for the PSP, many gamers got a bit angry since they wanted it to be on the PS3, just like the original. Well, now that SEGA West has begun their community team blog posts about the game, people have asked, is there a way the game can come to PS3? Short answer, no.

“Valkyria Chronicles I is a PS3 exclusive, and Valkyria Chronicles II is a PSP exclusive. Taking a game from the PSP and updating for the PS3 is a pretty huge process, and I don’t think there are any plans to do that currently. An interesting question though!”– RubyEclipse

Not really surprised, I mean, when was the last time a PSP game was ported to PS3? Never, that I can think of. He also answered your questions about Valkyria Chronicles trophy patch, no news on it. Basically, forget about trophies in the original and just play the damn game.

[Source: PlaystationLifestyle]

SEGA Amusements UK launching 6 new products


The guys over at Arcade Heroes have gotten the invite to test them out, we here at SEGAbits only got strange looks and pointing fingers. Games on the list are Grid, Let’s Go Island and Great American Road Trip.
What ‘Sonic Series’ and ‘New Sonic AllStars Addition Slideshow v2’ is, I don’t know. I guess we will find out sooner than later

Iizuka hints at Sonic 20th anniversary project

Takashi Iizuka has hinted that there will be something special coming in 2011, for Sonic’s 20th Anniversary.

“We’ve already announced Sonic Free Riders for Kinect, but if you look at 2011 that’s the 20th Anniversary of Sonic, so you might just be seeing something special for that.” – Takashi Iizuka

Maybe the 20th anniversary thing could be that Sonic collection that was leaked with the Sony meeting, ever Sonic game in a box set?

[Source: Game]

Summer of Sonic 2010: The Merch Box & The Cosplayers

from Gagaman of SEGA Memories

Just like last year there was a ‘No Merch Zone’ present, which consists of a large glass cabinet of Sonic related treasures. There was some of the same stuff from last year but mostly completely new stuff, so here’s a bunch of photos. Apologies the photos are not quite so good this time but you’ll get the idea. Read more

And click here to see the best and bizarrest Summer of Sonic cosplayers

New Sonic Colors screens


A new batch of Sonic Color screens have been released and this game is on its way to becoming one of the best looking Wii games.  The batch of screens also include the DS version, which is looking way different than the Wii version. It actually looks more like Sonic Rush 3.

Sonic Colors is set to hit retail this upcoming November, exclusively on DS and Wii. To see the rest of the screens, head over to Nintendo Everything. Way to many too upload here. Also, I don’t know why SEGA upscale 420p native screens to HD.

Dreamcast indie dev expanding, showing a game at GamesCom

Redspotgames, a publisher that has pushed out many Dreamcast titles well after SEGA has stopped supporting the console, will 1up SEGA once again and actually be at Gamescom this year. If you didn’t read, SEGA has said they will not attend the event. Redspotgames is said to be showing off Solar Struggle, a Xbox Live Indie game. But that is not all…

They are also set to announce a new game, which a lot of people think will be Nintendo related do to their presence so close to their booth. They already stated it will not be on Xbox Live Indie Game. If your going to the event, the new game will be playable and redspotgame’s booth will be located at Hall 8, booth A-012. They will also be selling Dreamcast games, shirts and the like at their booth.

*I know that this was posted almost a week late, but I was not here to post it, so enjoy and shut up*

[Source: RedSpotGames]

Valkyria Chronicles II demo hitting PSN today

The demo for Valkyria Chronicles II will be hitting US PSN later today, I just checked at the time of posting this and the store hasn’t updated yet. Should be in a few hours, I personally can’t wait.

RubyEclipse has confirmed on the Playstation Blog that the Western release of the game has gotten extra content.

“Among the many stickers that you can get for your tank or vehicle, we’ve added in a few brand new ones that both old and new SEGA fans are sure to smile at. Those of you who loved the first game will also be happy to note that we’ve included a few original characters as unlockable Easter eggs, just like in the Japanese version.”

The game comes out August 31st in America, make sure to pre-order your copy and play the demo… in whatever order you choose.

[Source: PSblog]

Yakuza PSP razor promotes manliness

SEGA is going to have ‘retail specific’ promotional items for Black Panther: New Yakuza Chapter. The above razor is the bonus item for Bic Camera, a Kurohyou Original Kai Razor.” This one is a sample razor by Kai.

Shops like Geo, Joshin, Tsutaya and WonderGOO will be getting cards with DLC codes on them. The art on them is pretty awesome as well.

What DLC does the cards have? You are going to have to hit the jump to find out!

Vanquish E-smokes!

At a recent event Sega were giving out one of the coolest promotional items I’ve seen in a while; E-Cigarettes!

If you aren’t clued in on E-Cigarettes yet let me give you a little rundown on what these things are. Basically E-Cigs are an electronic substitute for cigarettes in which you inhale a vaporized form of nicotine with out the tobacco often used by people trying to quit.

A friend of mine uses these, when you smoke them the end glows neon blue instead of red… It looks pretty cool honestly!

Summer of Sonic ’10: The Swag

from Gagaman of SEGA Memories

Instead of making a couple huge articles like last year, I’m going to be posting a bunch of shorter articles about last Saturday’s brilliant Summer of Sonic convention. Safe to say they really outdid themselves this year. To kick off, here’s what I brought back from there. A bit silly that I’m starting my coverage with the last photo I took but never mind!

So a bulk of it is from the goodie bag that was given away to the first few hundred entrants with tickets (people without tickets couldn’t even get in until an hour or two after it opened! Sucks to be them I guess :E). My girlfriend also got a ticket just before the registration ended because she wanted to tag along even though she’s not that big into Sonic (she enjoyed it though, so that’s a relief lol) and when we entered from the HUGE queue we got the last bag! However they did have hundreds more of the highlight of the bag; the Metal Sonic figure, to give away to people that entered (tickets or not I believe) right through till about 4pm. More after the jump..

Click here to read more!

New MushiKing trailer

I’m not even going to pretend to understand what’s happening here. It seems to be a new version of Sega’s hit kids Arcade game ‘MushiKing’. The cabinet has dual touch screens and a card reader.

If anyone has any further information about this game drop us some info in the comments below!

Edit; An interesting find by our forum member Suzuki Yu; at around the 6:30 mark on this video it shows some of the new arenas, 3 of which are straight out of Virtua Fighter 5. Good old Sega!