Sports Interactive releases Eastside Hockey Manager: Early Access Edition

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Sports Interactive used to make more games than just the super popular Football Manager (that is one of the top 5 most played Steam games), they used to make Eastside Hockey Manager but that was discounted back in 2007 due to the games not being able to pay for its development costs, mostly due to the high piracy rates. But much has changed since 2007, more people actually purchase games thanks to the rising popularity of Steam and Sports Interactive is ready to give it another shot.

We need to prove that there is enough demand to justify resurrecting the series fully. Whilst this version has ‘fake’ data, we want to show that there is a demand for a fully licensed version of the game. That won’t come with this release but, if it’s successful, it means we can go to the leagues around the world and get licenses for future, annualised, versions (in much the same way that we do with FM).”

Eastside Hockey Manager is now available to download in its ‘early access edition’ form for a mere $14.99, but only has support for English. If you are a Hockey fan and want to see this series resurrected then head over to Steam and support it with your wallet. So far ratings on Steam have been positive.

Who knows, maybe SEGA can create in-house games in early access and take fan feedback to shape the series and see if there is an audience for some of their franchises.

[Via: Eurogamer]

Total War: ATTILA – Blood & Burning Pack

Unleashing the full horror of the apocalypse! The Blood & Burning add-on brings blood effects, decapitations, limb-lops, disembowelment and more to Total War: ATTILA. Disease-ridden soldiers can be seen vomiting on the battlefield and decapitations and gore-slicked event pictures feature on the campaign map.

If that kind of thing floats your boat, the ‘Blood & Burning Pack’ is available on Steam now for just £1.99/$1.99.

SEGA shutting down service for Initial D Perfect Shift Online on 3DS

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SEGA Japan has announced that they will be shutting down online services
for their free-to-play 3DS game Initial D Perfect Shift Online come this June 30thLast time we heard from SEGA they where bragging that the game was a success with over 500,000 downloads, but this is was most likely shut down due to SEGA working on a sequel (announced last year).

So what will happen if the service ends and you still have the game on your Japanese 3DS? You can continue to play the game as long as you want, but the game will be offline only.

Archie Comics Sonic the Hedgehog June 2015 Solicitations – Worlds Unite continues!

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Coming this June from Archie Action its the continuation of the epic Sonic and SEGA, Mega Man and Capcom crossover Worlds Unite – which kicks off the month before in May. Courtesy of Archie, we have the latest solicits, featuring a milestone issue for Mega Man who hits the big five-oh (remember Sonic’s 50th, when Robotnik died? Seems like ages ago) and the premiere of a one shot comic Mega Man: Worlds Unite Battles #1, which expands on the battles taking place within the crossover event. Fans of older Archie stories, meanwhile, have Sonic Archives #25 which brings us ever closer to the 100th issue of the series.

SEGA launching Nail Sticker Print arcade machine in Japan

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Being a woman in Japan isn’t easy, especially when you have a full schedule. If there was only some sort of arcade machine that could print trendy and cute designs on our nails so we could be the talk of the office. Thankfully for you, SEGA has made ‘Nail Sticker Print‘, their latest arcade aimed at women (like you and me). This isn’t the first or last time SEGA has launched products like these and obviously aimed at a different market than something like Virtua Fighter 6 would be aimed at.

The machine seems to have an app that allows you to use pictures stored on your smartphone to make whatever print you would want on your nails. See a super scary spider? No fears, take a picture and print it on your nails. Now even your nails are scary. Boo!

First 4 Figures reveals SEGA All-Stars NiGHTS statue

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First 4 Figures have expanded their SEGA All-Stars range of statues with Sonic Team’s NiGHTS, sporting the more recent NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams design. The statue is 12.5″ high and comes in two flavors, the standard edition priced at $209.99 and limited to 1,000 pieces, and the exclusive edition with ambient lighting priced at $234.99 and limited to 500 pieces. Both are due for a Q3 2015 release date and can pre-ordered today!

What do you think of the latest SEGA All-Stars statue? Maybe it’s just me, but I prefer the original Saturn NiGHTS design.

How SEGA recorded authentic sounds for their console based 3DS themes

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Yosuke Okunari, producer behind the M2 3D Classics remakes and the newly announced SEGA themes for 3DS has posted behind the scenes pictures on how they got authentic console sounds for those themes. As seen above where they recorded the sound for the Dreamcast 3DS theme, I guess they start by using a really dirty and used Dreamcast to get the most authentic sound (how long has this console been left out in the sun!).

According to Okunari’s twitter post they went through 20 games for the SG-1000 before they settled at what boot up sound they liked the best, if the picture indicates anything they went with ‘Congo Bongo‘. Seems that SEGA has been very authentic lately with the sound of their 3DS stuff and that’s always nice to see.

SEGA returns to MomoCon showcasing Project Mirai DX, Tembo, 3D Classics & more!

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MomoCon has recently announced the return of SEGA’s appearance to this year’s convention event with panels and first playable demos of a number of unreleased games from their lineup! These games include the upcoming Nintendo 3DS games Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX and the entire SEGA 3D Classics arcade roster. Also for consoles the first North American playable demos of TEMBO THE BADASS ELEPHANT, and Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax!

I will be attending the convention once again to interview the cool reps from SEGA of America on their line-up titles for the summer and will be bringing you coverage and videos from the convention floors. If you have any questions on the following titles, be sure to leave a comment below.

The SEGA Dreamcast wins Wired’s drop test

As if you needed any more convincing that the Dreamcast is the best games console of all time! But just for the doubters ‘Wired’ have performed an ‘experiment’ in which they drop four generations of consoles, from the 16 bit, all the way to the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii. The survivors of the drop test (those which still function) are doused with Mountain Dew and tested again. There could only ever be one winner and naturally it was every ones favourite white dream machine!

So what does kill a Dreamcast? Well, my first one died when lightening struck the phone line by my house and I was playing Phantasy Star Online at the time. My second Dreamcast I had to put in storage, it died of a broken heart. However my 1991 MegaDrive/Genesis works perfectly after all these years and I’ve dropped that thing more times than your mum dropped her pants in college.

First 4 Figures teases their upcoming NiGHTS figure

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First 4 Figures has teased this image on their Facebook, giving their fans a small taste of whats to come. If you haven’t heard of First 4 Figures, they make high quality video game figures in limited quantities. They dabble in Nintendo, Capcom and of course SEGA figures. I think my personally favorites are their Skies of Arcadia Vyse figure, Beat from Jet Set Radio, Akria from Virtua Fighter 5, and of course Ryo from Shenmue.

Not only are First 4 Figures known for their quality, but they are also known for their high price tags. Don’t be surprised if this figure goes on sale for over $200 dollars.

SEGA’s mobile division on track for record setting revenue

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SEGA Networks released a new report showing the strong growth in their mobile division and lays out future plans. The report came with a host of interesting facts, from animes being produced to possibly a future MMO in production. Hit the break to find a host of a interesting information including updated figures on their NOAH Pass service which they launched in August 2013.

“Miracle Girls Festival,” new SEGA rhythm game announced for Playstation Vita

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Well, here’s something; Famitsu has revealed a new rhythm game from SEGA (and presumably Dingoo), Miracle Girls Festival (Working Title)The game is due for release on Playstation Vita this winter, and takes the form of an anime crossover game, similar to the likes of Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climaxexcept, well, it’s a rhythm game.

The anime confirmed to have some form of representation so far in the game are:

  • Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Ars Nova
  • Engaged to the Unidentified
  • Go! Go! 575
  • Kiniro Mosaic
  • Nourin
  • Nyaruko: Crawling with Love F
  • Tesagure! Bukatsumono
  • Vividred Operation
  • Wake Up, Girls!
  • Yuru Yuri

Nintendo 3DS gets SEGA Dreamcast and SG-1000 themes in Japan

The more SEGA themes Japan gets, the more I want to just import a Japanese 3DS so I can enjoy them. This month’s themes are easily some of the coolest. The Dreamcast theme is based around the system’s own menu, and even plays the mechanical whirring and VMU beeping that fans are familiar with. Less familiar is the theme’s background music, which is lifted from the Japanese-only browser disc Dream Passport.

The SG-1000 theme is pretty cool in its own right. Aside from being based on SEGA’s very first home system, the theme also displays screenshots from a variety of games in the background. The music might be familiar to any hardcore Sonic Team fans with an emulator (or the system and a Japanese television if you’re crazy) since it’s taken from Girl’s Garden, Yuji Naka’s first game. Checkout the theme below!

Both themes are available on the Japanese 3DS’s Theme Shop for 200 yen/$1.50. There is still no word on these themes coming stateside.

Compile Heart announces Hyperdimension Neptunia VS Sega Hard Girls for Playstation Vita

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Earlier today at Dengeki Bunko Spring Festival 2015, Compile Heart announced a cross-over game called Hyperdimension Neptunia VS Sega Hard Girls for the Playstation Vita. If you don’t know what either of those series are: Neptunia is about girls who are supposed to be like consoles (including Sega consoles), and Sega Hard Girls is about girls who actually are Sega consoles. That’s about the gist of it.

No details were announced aside from that the game’s name and the platform. Hyperdimension Neptunia games do usually get localized, so a western release can be expected.

SEGA Central at EGXrezzed – Meet Tembo

SEGA are at EGXrezzed this year showing off some of their big 2015 titles. Total War Battles: Kingdoms, Total War Arena and Total War: Attila will all be playable at this event. But that isn’t alll, so will SEGA and Game Freaks first collaboration since 1994, TEMBO THE BADASS ELEPGANT. Check out this short preview of TEMBO from SEGA Central.

If you guys didn’t know, SEGA and GameFreak’s last collaboration was Pulseman on the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive! It is good to see them team up again. I’ve heard whispers that the developer had some semi successful franchise on Nintendo’s handheld systems between SEGA’s Pulseman and now, but the name of the franchise escapes me at the moment. Had something to do with pocket sized monsters?