SEGA Japan officially allows Japanese users to monetize videos on YouTube and Twitch

SEGA Japan has released new streaming guidelines for Japanese audiences, which will now allow individual users to monetize videos and streams of SEGA owned games through YouTube and Twitch.

Its actually kinda crazy that SEGA didn’t allow this before considering how games like Yakuza got huge brand awareness in the West due to streamers and YouTubers making videos on the games. But it seems that SEGA in the past allowed users to create videos, but not profit from them. It seems that SEGA is also encouraging players to add reaction faces and comments, but also asking for spoiler tags on videos that ruin story moments. They have also asked not to do unrelated edits that would obscure actual gameplay, which seems a bit vague?

This whole guideline sadly isn’t applying to Atlus or western developed titles such as Total War, but if its a success for SEGA; we can all assume this will all change.

[Via: Siliconera]

“Cotton Guardian Force Saturn Tribute” announced for PS4, Switch

It looks like City Connection will be releasing a shoot ’em up collection being titled Cotton Guardian Force Saturn Tribute for the PS4 and Nintendo Switch! This was done at the Shooting Game Daikanshasai event. The collection is set to launch on September 30, 2021 in Japan with a standard and special edition. Pre-orders open on April 27th.

The collection is set to gather the SEGA Saturn ports of the Cotton games which will include:

The collection will have all the modern emulation bells and whistles including save state, rapid fire, ability to rewind, online rankings, and more. The team is also working on Cotton: Reboot, which is due to come out later this year as well.

Who would have thought 2021 would have the Cotton series return?

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios teases ‘JUDGEMENT DAY’ on May 7th, Sequel to Judgment?

Ryu Ga Gotoku’s Yakuza side game Judgment might bet a sequel, at least if the new countdown website launched by the studio is to be believed. The page teases ‘JUDGEMENT DAY’ on May 07, 2021 at 7:00AM PDT! On the page there is a teaser that features footage from the newly re-release Judgment remaster (which changes up lighting and other aspects of the PS4 title) and even has a link to a upcoming ‘live event’ set for that day.

Quite frankly Judgment is a great title by the studio and I personally have wanted to see the franchise continue in some aspect. It looks like we might be getting that considering that SEGA just re-released the title on next generation consoles, the fact that we got theLost Judgment‘ trademark and now this teaser site?

Let’s go!

Chinese Exclusive Astro City Mini Revealed, Red Buttons and Gold Limited Edition

You thought SEGA was done releasing variants of the Astro City Mini? Think again! China will be seeing a release of the machine, featuring a red joystick and buttons as well as an accompanying controller. Also available will be a limited edition gold unit, though if you ask me it looks more like an old yellowing arcade machine which I guess has its own charm. No word on if the games lineup will be the same as Japan, but we will report back once we hear something.

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio launches countdown website for Judgment Day

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has launched a countdown website for “Judgment Day” with a stream scheduled for May 7th, 2021. While there isn’t much to be seen on the site, there are brief cutscene clips from Judgment: Remastered below the website. This could possibly related to the recent trademark that was posted on the Chizai Watch website titled “Lost Judgment”.

What will Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio reveal on that day? Could it be a sequel to Judgment? Let us know in the comments below.

Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown revealed as Virtua Fighter eSports – New artwork released

Back on April 2 the title Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown was leaked and today we have some additional information. As suspected, the game is the name for Japan’s Virtua Fighter eSports. Artwork for the game, seen above was published on the Japanese PSN while the Asian PSN has the game listed as Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown for PlayStation 4. This name change is no different from Japan’s Puyo Puyo eSports and Puyo Puyo Champions, the latter being the name for all other regions.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Movie News: Knuckles, GUN and Robotnik Revealed!

The sequel to the Sonic the Hedgehog movie is currently shooting in Canada and those lucky enough to be living in or visiting Fort Langley have been seeing a lot of what will end up on screen. We’re a bit late to the news, so I figured a roundup of what has been revealed is in order. First up, as seen above, Knuckles is confirmed to be in the movie as revealed via CGI stand-ins used for lighting and framing references. Designs for Sonic and Tails appear to be retained, and it also appears that Sonic the Hedgehog 2 will be using the Sonic Boom rule of Knuckles being taller than all the other animal characters.

‘SUPER MONKEY BALL BANANA MANIA’ Rated by the Australian Classification Board

There has been quite a bit of rumors on the fact that there will be another Super Monkey Ball game. Some of the rumors call it Super Monkey Ball Retro but it seems the Australian Classification board, which rates games for the region, has let it slip: SUPER MONKEY BALL BANANA MANIA!

So what do we know? The game will be rated PG and have mild violence, with online interactivity. The title will also be ‘multiplatform’ and the rating was done earlier today.

It seems SEGA is gearing up to have a epic year if all those rating leaks are anything to go by including: Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown and Lost Judgment.

SEGA closes sale on SEGA Amusements International and what it means for the future of western SEGA arcades

Back in March, SEGA Amusements’ Roger Penninton left the company after 31 years of service. Considering how SEGA’s Japanese management device was hit hard during Covid-19 which ended up selling 85% of the company back in November of 2020. I had a gut feeling big changes were also coming to SEGA Amusement International and I was right.

While most people write off SEGA Amusement International (prior where known as SEGA Amusement Europe) as just a company that distributes SEGA’s Japanese arcade games to the West; they actually have development teams that are creating original titles. One of the recent titles included Daytona USA 3 (or is that Daytona Championship USA?). All the way back in 2016, the company even wanted to try their hands at making OutRun 3!

So who bought SEGA Amusements International and what does this mean for the future? Oddly enough, the management team working within SEGA Amusement International including industry veteran Paul Williams. For what I read, nothing much will change as the company will still be ‘SEGA Amusements International’, still distribute SEGA’s arcade titles outside of Japan and still work on their own original titles.

New Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World Trailer highlights voice actors

For the first time in Wonder Boy history, the in-game characters will actually have voices in Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World, a remake of the 1994 SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive classic Monster World IV. I’ve been pretty iffy with this title but slowly, as each trailer releases, its been getting me more interested. My only issue is the game costing $39.99, considering Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap cost half of that when it released.

Regardless, this new trailer is showing off some of the Japanese voice actors that will be voicing the colorful cast of characters.

The House of the Dead: Remake announced for Nintendo Switch

It’s official! The House of the Dead: Remake was shown on Nintendo Indie World showcase and will be available for Nintendo Switch. The game will be published by Forever Entertainment and developed by MegaPixel Studio, the developers behind Panzer Dragoon: Remake and will feature the classic arcade rail-shooter gameplay with a whole new entourage of updated graphics and gameplay changes to suit modern gaming standards.

Release date and other console release for the title has yet to be announced. We will update this article when more news arrive. You can follow the game’s social media outlets to be keep up to date!

Facebook | Twitter | Website

UPDATE: Screenshots added to the article

Sakura Wars: Columns 2 English Fan Translation Launching May 3rd

If you’ve been around the SEGA Dreamcast scene, you’ve probably been seeing some past Japanese only games receive English fan translated patches. Now it has been confirmed that the English fan patch for Sakura Wars: Columns 2 will be launching on May 3rd. 

While the gameplay of Sakura Wars: Columns 2 is, well Columns, it also has a story mode with decision making, much like a full scale Sakura Wars title. Its nice to check off another previously Japanese title off the list as getting a English translation.

Keep your Dreamcast ready, Sakura Wars: Columns 2 launches May 3rd, 2021!

SEGA of America Producer and Designer Michael Latham, best known for Eternal Champions, passes away

SEGA of America’s Michael Lathan has passed away, as reported by SEGA-16’s twitter account. Michael started his gaming character at Rainbird Software where he would localize computer games for the American market, he would then move to Mediagenic where he was a producer for Ghostbusters II and Tongue of the Fatman before the company went bankrupt in 1991.

“It was simply the most fun of any job I ever had. Everything just exploded, and for a young guy in the business it allowed me to do so much so fast. I entered the company as a producer, quickly moved up to run my own production group, and even became a VP before the age of 30, thanks to the unbelievable growth and talented people I worked with. It’s so hard to have all the right people in the right places, and when you do, you get hit companies and products. We were on movie sets, meeting with sport teams, going backstage at concerts – all kinds of exciting projects – and the development teams were still small and you really knew everyone you worked with unlike the mega development teams of today’s games.” Michael Latham talks working at SEGA during the early 90s

Leak: SEGA planning Sonic Colors Ultimate for Switch, PS4 and Xbox

Twitter user @Kutairo_ discovered an interesting listing on the website for the German dubbing studio for Sonic games. Under 2020 is project titled Sonic Colours Remaster, and additional details state December 20, 2020 as the project date and the category as “Game Localization – SIDE – SEGA”. At the moment, the project is still listed, so this is looking legit. But, to be on the safe side we are filing this under rumor until more details are known.

A Sonic Colors remaster would make a lot of sense, given it is one of the few Sonic games to not see a release outside its original console. The 2010 Wii release was a hit with fans, and the game is deserving of more exposure, so here’s hoping the remaster is real and perhaps we see Sonic Colors debuting on all major platforms alongside more 2D and 3D Sonic games in time for the 30th anniversary.

Update: The German dubbing website iksample.de is now down, no doubt to remove the leaked information. We did, however, save a screenshot which can be seen after the break.

Additionally, The Sonic Stadium is reporting that French online game retailer Sogamely had listed Sonic Colors for Switch, PS4 and Xbox One priced at €35 (about $40 US) and titled Sonic Colors Ultimate – Limited Edition. As such, we are shifting this from “Rumor” to “Leak”.