SEGA News

Stella Glow developer Imageepoch files for bankruptcy

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stella glow

After suffering millions in losses, employees heading to other companies, and last month’s disappearance of their CEO, Imageepoch will be filing for bankruptcy.

Founded in 2005, Imageepoch enjoyed moderate success as a JRPG developer. Some hardcore SEGA fans may know them through their work on the DS’s Sands of Destruction. They also developed the 7th Dragon series, which was produced by Skies of Arcadia and Phantasy Star creator Reiko Kodama and published by SEGA. The company was set to celebrate their 10th anniversary next month with the release of the SEGA-published 3DS JRPG Stella Glow.

The company was doing well through September 2011, when they reported 1.7 billion yen in profit. Unfortunately, not long after the company announced they would start self-publishing some of their games, they began to run into problems. Just two years later, the company reported a mere 400 million yen in profits. Many of their self-published games were met with mediocre reviews and sold poorly. Now, the company has 1.1 billion yen in debt owed to 43 creditors, with an additional 3 million owed to five creditors through affiliate company Smile Online.

According to Siliconera, this bankruptcy won’t affect the release of Stella Glow, which has been completed for some time. Stella Glow was originally announced as a self-published title, before SEGA picked up publishing duties in mid-March.

If you want an in-depth look at the fall of Imageepoch, you might want to take a look at this article. I’m not familiar with the website, but a lot of the information inside it seems to check out with what I’ve read elsewhere.

Stella Glow will be released by SEGA on June 4. It’s set to be localized by Atlus later this year.

[Via: Siliconera]

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Review: 3D Thunder Blade (Nintendo 3DS)

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3dthunderbladereview

The final arcade title in wave two of SEGA’s 3D Classics line of games releases this Thursday, and boy is it a special one! While Thunder Blade is not SEGA’s most famous 80s arcade title, eclipsed by greats like OutRun, Space Harrier, and Hang-On, it certainly deserves a spot with the big boys. Perhaps the general public’s neglect of Thunder Blade stems from the game’s home console releases. While other SEGA arcade classics have seen near perfect home ports, Thunder Blade never truly saw a worthy release that stacked up with the arcade original. But now, nearly 30 years later, SEGA and M2 just may have done the original justice with their latest SEGA 3D Classic release. How did they do in porting this 1987 classic? Read on!

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Axel Stone from Streets of Rage, Sakura Shinguji of Sakura Wars and more confirmed for Project X Zone 2

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pxz2fam

Courtesy of the new issue of Famitsu (and the scans above, provided by @TACK0520 on Twitter), we now know three more characters showing up on the SEGA side of things in the upcoming Project X Zone 2: Brave New World.

Axel Stone of Streets of Rage fame has been confirmed to show up in the game, as have Sakura Shinguji and Gemini Sunrise from the Sakura Taisen series. Whilst both Sakura Taisen characters return from the first game, this is Axel’s first appearance in a seriously long time, and it’s great to see him added to the roster. In addition to these SEGA additions, Capcom’s Phoenix Wright and Maya Fey of their Ace Attorney series are also confirmed to be appearing, as well as characters from God Eater 2 and Summon Night 3. From the looks of things, Axel will be an assist unit, whereas the Taisen characters return in their role from Project X Zone. 

Overall, it’s awesome to see more SEGA love from this game; Axel was definitely near the top of my wanted list, and I’m ecstatic to see him return.

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Mobile games that no longer meet SEGA’s standards to be removed from app stores in the coming weeks

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Via the SEGA Blog comes news that a number of games from their back catalog will be removed from the App Store, the Google Play Store, the Samsung App Store and the Amazon App Store in the coming weeks. The reasoning for this is to remove titles that no longer meet their revised standards. While games you have already purchased will be available to download and play again, these select titles will soon no longer be for sale. What are these titles that SEGA plans to purge? We don’t know at this point, but I’d wager a guess that many of the older titles including those that have had issues on the newest devices are on the chopping block. SEGA did state, however, that some titles may return in an updated form.

While it is always a shame to see older titles removed, one of the major downsides to digital titles, it is nice of SEGA to give advanced warning. Also, this could be a sign of SEGA of America stepping things up in the quality department. I’d guess that the axed titles will likely be the old badly emulated Genesis/Mega Drive games and SEGA Columns Deluxe.

Check out SEGA’s full statement after the break and stay tuned to SEGAbits for what these soon to be removed titles are.

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SEGA confirms they won’t have a booth at E3 this year

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E3
So you guys already know the speculation, SEGA hasn’t signed up for a exhibition booth for this year’s E3. Of course, we thought that it would have meant that they were just going to sign up late, sadly that is not the case as SEGA has now confirmed to Game Informer via email:

“Over the next months, SEGA of America will be focusing on the restructure and relocation to Southern California, and we have decided to not attend E3 with our own booth this year. With the majority of our bigger titles launching later in 2015/2016, particularly those from our AAA studios Relic Entertainment, Sports Interactive and Creative Assembly, we are concentrating our efforts for some of these major announcements after our relocation. Instead, we will be collaborating with our various business partners for this year’s E3 show.”

It seems that them restructuring and moving to Southern California is to blame for their lack of E3 showing this year. Not only that, they will also be showing titles at other ‘business partner’ booths. I assume you can find stuff like Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax and Yakuza 5 at Sony’s booth for example. What are your thoughts on SEGA skipping E3 for this year?

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SEGA’s Okunari says they are open to do more 3D Classics

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SEGA has just announced they added additional titles to their ‘Wave 2’ of 3D Classics headed to the 3DS. Those titles where 3D Streets of Rage 2, 3D Gunstar Heroes and of course 3D Sonic the Hedgehog 2. So is SEGA planning a ‘Third Wave’ of 3D Classics after these release?

SEGA’s Yosuke Okunari spoke to Famitsu about that and here is his response:

These three titles were put out for download overseas simply as an extension [to the existing series]. This really is the end for the second wave [of Sega 3D Classics]. Of course we want to consider the development of a third wave based on the response to this second wave, but we have no plans at this point in time. We’ll look at the big picture, that is, we’ll look at the sales trends of the physical release of the Sega 3D Classics line that went on sale last year [in Japan] as well as how the upcoming three titles perform in the global market. We’re happy to do this indefinitely if sales are good.

It pretty much seems that these latest three Genesis/Mega Drive added to Wave 2 is to test, see how they do globally and if they do well they could continue the series. I’m personally loving these re-releases, what about you guys?

[Via: NintendoEverything]

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Support for HTC’s Virtual Reality kit could be coming to Alien: Isolation & Company of Heroes 2

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Alien-Isolation

If you didn’t already need new pants after playing Alien Isolation, you might want to order a new pair in advance.

Reddit user “linknewtab” has discovered various titlecards for games coming to Valve and HTC’s collaborative virtual reality project within the Steam installation directory. There’s a pretty vast array of titles there, none more relevant to this article than the SEGA published Alien Isolation and Company of Heroes 2. This is pretty exciting stuff; it’ll be especially entertaining to see more of the reactions to Isolation in VR. The game was demoed with Oculus Rift back at E3 last year, but as of now it has no official VR support. Considering how long the Oculus Rift’s consumer release is taking, it’s likely it’ll be on the Vive before the Rift.

What do you think of CoH2 and Alien Isolation being realised in virtual reality? Let us know in the comments!

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SEGA announce donation drives for Nepal earthquake victims

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In wake of the devastating 7.9 magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal last Saturday, SEGA has announced several of its games will begin donating money earned from in-app purchases to the Japanese Red Cross.

In Phantasy Star Online 2 all profits made from the Cosmo Atomizer item will be donated until May 30th. Profits from Chain Chronicle’s Spirit Stone item will be donated, as will all profits from the Saintly King Stone item in Hortensia Saga. Finally, all profits of the Magic Guiding Stone item from Puyo Puyo Quest will also be donated. The donation drives in these latter three games will only run until May 3rd, however.

In addition to any funds raised by these games, SEGA will be donating an additional 2 million yen (about $17,000) to the Red Cross. Overall, it’s great to see SEGA engaging with the relief effort, as the world comes together to support Nepal through such a tragic event that has claimed thousands of innocent lives.

You can donate to the Nepal Earthquake Appeal here.

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Leaked Sony Pictures e-mails show excitement for SEGA’s “SONIC – THE HEDGE DOG”

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You probably remember when Sony Pictures had thousands of emails leaked last year following controversy over their movie The Interview. Despite Sony’s best efforts to pull the emails from the internet, once they were out there the damage was done. The emails revealed a ton of strange and fascinating behind-the-scenes information, from a Men In Black crossover with 21 Jump Street to silly salary disputes. Given Sony’s dealings with SEGA in regards to an upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog movie, it was only a matter of time before some emails related to the upcoming movie leaked out. One such email from Senior Vice President of Sony Pictures Releasing International, Noriaki “Dick” Sano, features a funny typo and some details about the upcoming film. Dick writes:

SONIC – THE HEDGE DOG
Dear All,

Hannah Minghella just called to give me an early heads up that a very popular video game for years from Sega game maker
named SONIC – THE HEDGE DOG will be made into a Live Action film.

Script is not yet completed but it would be financed 50-50 by SPE and Sega. Ms. Mie Ohnishi from Sega ( actually now called Sega/Sammy)
would be stationed to Burbank until the completion of the film. She will be coming to my office for a courtesy visit this afternoon,
so Hannah’s phone call was very timely and appreciated.

According to Hannah, the release date in the US would hopefully be in 2016.

I hope this would be another franchise like RESIDENT EVIL for our Japanese market.

Sincerely,
Dick

Aside from the funny typo of “SONIC – THE HEDGE DOG”, we now know the film will be financed 50/50 by Sony Pictures Entertainment and SEGA. Also, SEGA’s Mie Ohnishi who serves as a Producer/Development Executive at Marza Animation Planet Inc. will be stationed in Burbank, CA working on the film with Sony. It is also noted that as of June 2014 a script was not written and the goal is to release the movie in 2016. Dick ends his email with hope that a Sonic movie would be a good fit for the Japanese market like Sony’s Resident Evil movies. Nobody show him Sonic‘s Japanese sales numbers!

After the break check out a few more SEGA related details from Sony that have surfaced.

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Check out SEGA’s new Chain Chronicles English ad

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We know that mobile gaming apps have been getting an increase in ads on television and other medias. I mean, I can’t turn on a TV without them cramming those ‘Game of War‘ ads down my throat. SEGA Networks has recently posted the above ad that just happens to be in English for Chain Chronicles, but seems to be aimed for Japanese audiences since SEGA isn’t publishing the game in the west (sadly).

The advertisement was filmed in Chateau de Beloeil castle which is in Belgium. The actual pop-up book used in the ad wasn’t computer generated as you can see in their making of video, which is posted after the break.

 

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SEGA has announced Monster Gear for mobile phones

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MonsterHunt

[Artwork not from actual game]

We already know that SEGA is all in when it comes to mobile video game development and their newest entry into the mobile landscape is being called ‘Monster Gear‘, a Monster Hunter like game.

In this game players will be able to go on missions with 3 other players, the missions are set to take roughly five minutes to complete, unlike Monster Hunter where they can take generations.

The game will come with three main commands including attack, guarding and ‘special pair attack’. Once the service starts you will be able to use five different weapons including lance, large sword, dual swords, a hammer, and a bow. The game will be free-to-play, which means it will include microtransactions. The game will release in Japan as early as next month. We will keep you updated as new information is released.

[Via: Nichegamer]

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SEGA’s Stella Glow stream shows an extensive preview of the game

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If you have been living under a rock and missed the news that SEGA was going to publish Imageepoch’s 3DS SRPG Stella Glow, now you know. Another good piece of news is that the game is also coming to the west thanks to Atlus later this year.

Above is a Japanese live stream that shows off what you can expect form the game when it comes out. Including a look at the artistic graphics, variety of places to visit and much more. Also, lots of anime babes (if that is your thing).

So what do you guys think about this game? Worth your time?

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Archie Comics Sonic the Hedgehog July 2015 Solicitations – Worlds Unite heats up!

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Sonic#275

Direct from Archie Comics comes the latest solicits for what Sonic and Mega Man fans can expect for July, and if the covers and descriptions are any indication, general SEGA and Capcom fans should also pay close attention to what is to come. As the Sonic and Mega Man crossover Worlds Unite heats up, several other franchises from the famous video game companies join the fray including Golden Axe, Ghosts ‘n Goblins, Ōkami, NiGHTS, Street Fighter, Skies of Arcadia, Panzer Dragoon, Monster Hunter 4 and more! If that’s not enough, another milestone issue is hit with Sonic The Hedgehog #275 which features a whopping six different collectible covers and the special one-off Sonic: Worlds Unite Battles expands the crossover story with even more pages dedicated to classic characters duking it out.

All this and more after the break!

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First Look at 3D Streets of Rage 2 Gameplay

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Recently SEGA and M2 announced that they would be continuing their incredible range of 3D remakes for the Nintendo 3DS. In the next wave of titles comes three of the most beloved SEGA Megadrive/Genesis titles; 3D Streets of Rage 2, 3D Sonic 2 and 3D Gunstar Heroes.

Today SEGA uploaded the first look at 2D Streets of Rage 2 or as it was known in Japan ‘Bare Knuckle 2.’ Check it out above!

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