Get your limited Yakuza PSP edition signed by Nagoshi


Toshihiro Nagoshi, producer of the Yakuza series, is  a pretty awesome dude. So awesome that the new  bundle for his Black Panther: New Yakuza Chapter game will have his name on it, literally. It will be signed by Mr. Nagoshi himself. The limited edition version will be called “Toshihiro Nagoshi Produce Premium Box.”

It will also come with a UMD with the theme song’s music video, different artwork than the retail game,  Yakuza branded cloth, and a woman looking purse to hold your PSP. Seriously, looks like a woman’s press, check out the pics below.  The limited edition will retail on September 22nd for ¥9,429 (standard edition will cost ¥6,279).

[Source: Famtisu via AndriaSang]

Vanquish demoed in Japan Expo (Paris)

Sega was at a recent Japan Expo in Paris showing off some of their upcoming games. Vanquish was one of those games demoed at the event and I think it produced of the best demonstrations showing what Vanquish has too offer so far.

The game is being played by someone that obviously already knows the ins and outs of the game and it’s much nicer to watch than the odd youtube video hosted by people giving the demo a go for the first time.

Hit the Jump for Part 2 and 3 of the demonstration which have the gameplay.

Get After Burner Climax for 50% off


You love After Burner Climax, but having shelled out the 800 Microsoft points to get the game? Well, you are in luck, Microsoft is having a discount on the title and will only cost 400 points.

This is a part of their ‘Deal of the Week’, so try to get it before it leaves. You can read our review, if you need an opinion.

[Source: Major Nelson Blog]

UK Charts for the month of May

Sonic and SEGA Allstars Racing was one of SEGA's top sellers
Sonic and SEGA Allstars Racing could be quite the seller for SEGA

MCVUK have released the chart positions for the top 50 multiformat titles in the month of May for the United Kingdom. And SEGA was not short of having a significant presence in the charts. Compared to most other third party publishers, SEGA did relatively well but there might be some not too welcoming news on one particular new IP, hit the jump to read on and find out which titles did the best.

People go crazy for Sonic 4 at SGC 2010


I wasn’t going to post this video, but decided to due to the fact that this is possibly the most positive reaction to anything Sonic that I have seen in ages. Where are the people complaining about green eyes? Dead hopefully.  The game was a part of the ‘Iron Man of Gaming competition.’

“At the ScrewAttack Gaming Convention 2010’s Iron Man of Gaming competition, two mystery games would whittle down the remaining 16 competitors to the new champion and current Iron Man of Gaming. On day one of the convention it was revealed that the first game was Hydro Thunder Hurricane, up until the moment this video was filmed, the con-goers didn’t know what they were going to see. Though Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 was previously slated to appear, Capcom Japan pulled out at the last second, the result is pretty awesome.”

Wait, people expected Marvel vs. Capcom 3 but they got Sonic 4 and didn’t throw a riot? Maybe it is possible to change peoples opinions about Sonic games. At least people that go to SGC.

Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown Location Tests Underway!

SEGA has begun location testing Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown cabinets, and videos have been surfacing on Youtube and Nicovideo. Check out the great Taka-Arashi vs Jacky match above! You can see some new gameplay additions as well as costumes and items (it took me a while to realise it was actually Jacky in the gold!).

Sega has also announced that the game will utilise Twitter in an arcade gaming first!

Hit the jump for some more info, vids as well as some notes on the location tests.

Weekend reading: SEGA games underrated and overlooked?


Another week and another time for me to show you some good stories I read around the interwebs, today I give you two list that list SEGA’s games as ‘underrated’ or ‘overlooked’. Isn’t that odd? Especially considering that the ‘underrated’ list has games that rated rather well, like Demon’s Souls did better with critics than Final Fantasy XIII (as did Valkyria Chronicles).

If you’re an American, enjoy 4th of July, which is today (look at the post date). Get drink, come on SEGAbits and click random links. Please, don’t forget to leave a drunken message, you know how much we love those.

New Sonic Colors artwork & screens

A new batch of Sonic Colors screens and some artwork have made it to the net, here they are in all their colorful glory. Look at the above scree, it even says enjoy, so don’t whine. Just sit back and enjoy.

I have to admit, the more I see of this game, the more excited I get. I bet there is a million ways this game can fall flat, but so far so good. Hit the jump for more screens.

Used game sales in Japan 2009: Yakuza 3 charts high

It’s quite a dubious honour, but Yakuza 3 has become the fourth best selling used game in the whole of Japan for 2009, earning a staggering 230,000 sales used for Japanese retailers. SEGA will feel somewhat uncomfortable with such a high figure, such number is almost 50% of Yakuza 3’s first hand sales which came to around 500,000.  The full list is below

2009 Top 25 Used Game Sales (Famitsu/Enterbrain; 2008-12-28~2009-12-27):

01 [NDS] Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Sky – 378,000 / NEW
02 [PSP] Dissidia: Final Fantasy – 293,000 / 303,000
03 [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G – 267,000 / 650,000
04 [PS3] Yakuza 3 – 230,000 / NEW
05 [PS3] Resident Evil 5 – 229,000 / NEW
06 [NDS] Pokemon Diamond/Pearl – 222,000 / 1,086,000
07 [NDS] Pokemon Platinum – 189,000 / 274,000
08 [PS3] White Knight Chronicles – 186,000 / NEW
09 [NDS] Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride – 173,000 / 354,000
10 [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable – 166,000 / 322,000
11 [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 2nd – 156,000 / 1,161,000
12 [NDS] New Super Mario Bros. – 154,000 / 917,000
13 [PSP] Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce – 153,000 / NEW
14 [PS3] Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 – 143,000 / 147,000
15 [NDS] Animal Crossing: Wild World – 143,000 / 876,000
16 [PS3] Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots – 141,000 / 274,000
17 [PS2] Super Robot Wars Z – 140,000 / 204,000
18 [PS2] Final Fantasy XII – 133,000 / 1,016,000
19 [NDS] Dragon Quest IV: The Chapters of the Chosen – 125,000 / 639,000
20 [NDS] Chrono Trigger – 123,000 / 176,000
21 [PS2] Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King – 123,000 / 1,769,000
22 [PSP] Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 – 122,000 / NEW
23 [NDS] Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker – 120,000 / 739,000
24 [PSP] Mobile Suit Gundam: Gundam Vs. Gundam – 120,000 / 178,000
25 [PS3] Grand Theft Auto IV – 117,000 / 143,000

[Source: NeoGAF]

Sonic Free Riders only supports 2 players locally


Awhile back we posted the Xbox.com listing for Sonic Free Riders, where it said the game would be 4 players offline. Well, Microsoft has edited that listing and now put that the game will only support 2 players locally.  Also, number of players supported via online and co-op are yet to be determined. Last time they said it would support 4 players co-op and 12 players online.

Seems to me that someone at Microsoft jumped the gun or it was a place holder. Most likely a place holder.

[Source: Sonic Stadium]

Vanquish box art

This is the box art for Vanquish, according to Amazon. You can tell they have a heavy emphasis on bright colors. Not to mention, the  cover shows off that sense of danger and speed, also could be a mech robot game. That is, if I judged the game by the cover alone.

Thoughts?

Vanquish’s visuals where inspired by Casshern


I think everyone knows t that Mikami’s Vanquish title is aimed more at the Western audiences. But did you know their visuals where originally inspired by Casshern, a Japanese anime?

“I do think the visuals lean more towards a Western style, but the original inspiration was from Casshern, a Japanese animated show, and a lot of the game’s taste comes from that,”

I would have liked if they stuck more Japanese style, instead of thinking about what Westerners want. Also, Casshern is pretty awesome.

[Source: Siliconera]

Super Mario Bros. now on SEGA Genesis


If for some odd reason, you have to play Super Mario Bros. on your SEGA Genesis. Now you can! Thanks to a kind soul that ported the game over to the 16-bit blast processor.

I’m pretty sure this would have been a bigger deal if it was the days of the ’16-bit war’, but Genesis does what Nintendon’t and now does what they do as well. Take that! The game is titled SMB4MD, standing for Super Mario Bros. for Mega Drive. Makes sense. Also can’t work with Genesis hardware yet, only emulator.

I remember the stories about Yuji Naka making a working NES emulator for the Mega Drive back in the day, seems like everyone else is just catching up.

[Source: Kotaku]

Rumor: SEGA not attending GamesCom

GamesCom is a big media event held in Cologne, Germany and it seems that our favorite company will not attend the event. This is according to our German friends over at SEGAStuff, who say they received confirmation from a SEGA employee.

The event will take place during August 18th – 22nd and if its true that SEGA will not be there, it will be a bit disappointing.

[Source: SEGAstuff]

Next Yakuza to have multiple playable characters?


Yakuza 4, that was released earlier this year in Japan, had 4 playable characters and it seems that Nagoshi might do the same for the next Yakuza game. There was a event held in front of Don Quijote in Shinjuku to announce the new game, Nagoshi spoke a bit about what we should expect. When a reporter asked him if it was true that Majima would be the lead, not Kazuma, Nagoshi answered:

“It’s correct to say that when we were deciding who to show first, the first person to come out was Majima and not Kazuma. The visual of Majima that we’re showing is not the main visual. The main visual will show everything about the game. You can use Majima as main character, but Majima is just the first visual that we released.” Toshihiro Nagoshi, Series Producer

So this means that Kazuma might still have a place in this game, as a playable character. Kind of disappointed, I think if anyone deserved his own Yakuza title, it is Goro Majima. Nagoshi also said the drama will remain intact, but the way that it is told will be changed. As for the game focusing on ‘destroying’, it seems that he was referring to the development of the game and not what we will actually do in the game world.