SEGA reveals new traumatic DLC for Alien: Isolation

The latest DLC for Alien: Isolation‘s Survivor Mode is now available for you to download. This DLC is dubbed “Trauma” as it introduces Sevastopol’s medical officer, Dr. Lingard, as a playable character. You will control Dr. Lingard as you explore three new maps as she seeks to destroy her research on the Alien creature. The DLC has launched on PC,  Xbox One and of course Xbox 360. Sadly Sony gamers will have to wait for the store to update Thursday to get it on Playstation 3 and Playstation 4.

Trauma is the second DLC pack of five that SEGA is set to release and will join the first DLC titled ‘Corporate Lockdown’, that launched in October. The next pieces of DLC are set to be titled ‘Safe Haven’, ‘Lost Contact’ and ‘The Trigger’. You can get all the DLC for $30 in the game’s season pass, which is half off right now on Steam. Each DLC is priced at $8 individuality or you can just wait for the Game of the Year edition later next year, but that’s none of my business.

Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric demo coming to Wii U eShop

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I’m sure you guys all want to get your hands on Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric just to see if this game is as big of a train wreck as most people are saying online. Guess what? SEGA will give you the chance on December 4th, when a demo will hit the Wii U eShop.

This isn’t the first Sonic the Hedgehog game to get a post-launch demo, this also happen with Sonic Team’s Sonic Lost World also on the Wii U. The demo will be available on both European and American Wii U eShops this Thursday. Now my only question is if they are actually going to patch and fix some of these glaring issues in the game? If its like past games, I’m going to assume they will ignore that the game ever existed and so will we.

Duncan Gutteridge is attending Weston Super Sonic 2015

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Upcoming UK Sonic convention Weston Super Sonic has announced another guest, this time in the form of Duncan Gutteridge! 

Duncan’s work for Sonic goes as far back as 1993, as he illustrated every single piece of artwork in the official Sonic the Hedgehog calendar for that year; this artwork was later used in various pieces of Sonic merchandise throughout the 90s, and it’s now rather iconic! If that wasn’t awesome enough, he’s also the man behind the cover art for the SEGA Mega Drive hit, Streets of Rage II! 

This guest announcement is the latest in along line of amazing reveals: Weston Super Sonic previously announced that fellow Sonic the Comic legends Richard Elson, Nigel Kitching, Carl Flint and Ferran Rodriguez will also be in attendance, and that Mike Pollock, the voice of the nefarious Dr Eggman, will be conducting a live Skype Q&A at the event. There’s also activities like speedrun tournaments and art contests taking place during the day!

The event has already been successful, as all of tickets have sold out! However, don’t fear if you can’t make it, as SEGABits will be there, and provide impressions of the day!

Plenty of details are available on the official Weston Super Sonic website, for those who do plan to go!

“Hi☆sCool! Seha Girls” anime Episode 8 is out, Impressions inside

seha8Hi☆sCool! Seha Girls episode 8 is on Crunchyroll right now, and that can only mean it’s impressions time!

In today’s episode, the Academy is anticipating the upcoming Cultural Festival, “Shock to the Brain! No spillage, but we’ll destroy the barriers of the spillage-obsessed Youth! Sehagaga Academy Fair!” The “spillage” in question, if you couldn’t guess from last week’s translation, is about… well, breasts, shall we say. The girls brainstorm ideas for a good exhibit, with Saturn suggesting a haunted house, then dancing (which Mega Drive quickly shoots down, referring to the Space Channel 5 mess) and then Dreamcast combines the two; terrify people with Mega Drive’s dancing! Unsurprisingly, along with the haunted house concept comes some choice footage of The House of the Dead 2!

Humble SEGA Bundle features Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, NiGHTS and more

SEGA and Humble Bundle have teamed up once again to help charity and sell cheap PC games for the next two weeks. This time around you can get Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, NiGHTS Into Dreams, the Dreamcast Collection and DLC for Total War: Rome II and Football Manager 2015 for any price you want as long as it’s at least $1. If you pay more than the average amount you’ll also get Empire: Total War, Company of Heroes 2 DLC and other games that will be added to the bundle later on. Then there’s the $12 tier, and if you pay more than that you’ll get the standalone Fall of the Samurai expansion for Total War: Shogun 2. Finally, if you pay more than $50 you’ll get a nifty looking Dreamcast t-shirt.

Aside from this bundle, there are also various other SEGA games on sale in the Humble Store. The most notable deal on there probably being Alien: Isolation for 50% off, however that deal is only for today so you have to be quick. Other games on sale we recommend are The Typing of the Dead: Overkill, Warhammer 40K: Space Marine, Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit and of course Binary Domain.

“Hi☆sCool! Seha Girls” anime Episode 7 is here, Impressions; and hedgehogs!

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Guess what time it is? That’s right: Hi☆sCool! Seha Girls episode 7 is on Crunchyroll, and it brings with it everybody’s favourite blue hedgehog!

The episode picks up where last week’s left off, with Sonic arriving in the nick of time to fend off Eggman. And that he does, as he proceeds to trash Eggman’s mechs, leading to Eggy legging it. The girls, still unable to get out of Border Break, manage to hitch a ride from Sonic, who’s initially none too impressed at the girls grabbing onto his spines.

Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F 2nd Launch Trailer!

Hatsune Miku Project Diva F 2nd is finally in stores. This launch trailer shows a good overview of the game. If you haven’t seen our review you should check it out. Just look at the top of the page or scroll further down.

So, if you haven’t bought this game yet, what are you waiting for? It’s time to get Miku-Miku’d! (For Reals).

First 4 Figures SEGA All-Stars statue line expands to include Jet Set Radio’s Beat – pre-orders now open!

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Teased late last week, First 4 Figures have now put their Jet Set Radio Beat statue up for pre-order. Like their Akria Yuki statue, it appears that Beat does not have an Exclusive Edition variant. The statue measures 14 inches tall, and retails for $229.99, limited to 1,250 pieces and due to release Q2 2015. One cool feature is the addition of LEDs which give the illusion of sparks shooting out from his skates as he grinds a rail.

After the break, read the full product description!

Watch our live unboxing of Sega Mega Drive/Genesis: Collected Works with creator Darren Wall – Tuesday, November 18th at 6PM EST

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SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis fans listen up – we have something very special planned for tomorrow! We will be unwrapping and paging through Read-Only Memory’s “Sega Mega Drive/Genesis: Collected Works” book live with project lead Darren Wall providing page-by-page commentary.

If that wasn’t enough, we will also joined by Blake J. Harris, author of the book “Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation” who is sure to have some stories of his own to share.

The live stream will appear at SEGAbits.com tomorrow at 6PM EST, so keep your eyes open for a dedicated article with the embedded live stream video and keep up with us on Twitter and Facebook for updates.

First 4 Figures tease Jet Set Radio Beat statue for November 18th pre-order

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First 4 Figures are expanding their SEGA All-Stars line with a Jet Set Radio statue featuring GG’s leader Beat! The rudie with that uki uki waku waku attitude joins the existing SEGA All-Stars line of statues which includes Shenmue’s Ryo Hazuki, Virtua Fighter’s Akira Yuki, and Skies of Arcadia’s Vyse. While Beat’s price is currently unknown, based on past statues in the line it could range from $170 to $200 or more depending on if there is an exclusive version as well. Pre-orders open November 18th, and we’ll likely have all our details then.

What do you think of First 4 Figures choice? What other SEGA franchises would you like to see in the All-Stars line?

Yu Suzuki shares details of Shenmue III and beyond in new Shenmue Dojo interview

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In a new interview from the Shenmue Dojo, the series creator and SEGA legend spoke at length about the development process of Shenmue and Shenmue II, and revealed a bit more about the long awaited third game in the series. A bulk of the interview delves into information shared at GDC 2014’s Shenmue postmortum, clarifying and expanding on development details shared at the event. Suzuki also answered some Shenmue III questions, sharing some very interesting pieces of information. Suzuki revealed that how the third game begins is undecided, but he thinks it will start from Shenhua’s home. Suzuki also defended SEGA, stating “About Shenmue, Sega is not a problem at all. For Shenmue III, we need to define a specific budget and if I can gather enough for it, Sega will allow me to do it.” Regarding the question of if Shenmue III would end the series, Suzuki answered “Yes indeed, the story is far away from being completed and to be honest, I do not think that it’s possible to end it during Shenmue III. If I had to do it my way, players would experience the ending during Shenmue V. But that seems to be a lot so I’m going to try to finish it within the next 2 games.”

For the full interview head on over to Shenmue Dojo, and in the comments below share your thoughts on what Suzuki revealed. Should the series continue past a third title? Or should Suzuki focus on one more game to complete the story?

“Hi☆sCool! Seha Girls” anime Episode 6 is here, Impressions

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Believe it folks! Hi☆sCool! Seha Girls episode 6 is on Crunchyroll, and along with it comes an appearance from everybody’s favourite spiny blue hedgehog!

In this week’s episode, the Girls are tasked with an exam, in which they enter the world of SEGA’s online arcade mech shooter, Border Break! Furthermore, if they manage to destroy the core of the area, they’ll be awarded 25 credit medals; and 50 if they do it without a mech!

Having all the luck in the world, Saturn gets thrown into battle without a mech, whilst Dreamcast and Saturn get the armour. Dreamcast then struggles to get used to the controls, and ends up going missing, to the annoyance of the other Girls. Dreamcast only gets into further trouble when she discovers an enemy, and tries talking out their issues; at which point Mega Drive steps in to deal some sharp justice. Then, tactics become involved, as the girls use a decoy (in the form of poor Saturn!) to lure out the enemy, and promptly slaughter them. Or at least, Mega Drive slaughters them, as Dreamcast continues to fumble about.

Sales of Valkyria Chronicles PC Port has “Blown all predictions” say SEGA

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For those worried that the sales for SEGA’s PC port of their classic Valkyria Chronicles may fall short of any sale targets can rest easy. SEGA have confirmed that not only did Valkyria Chronicles meet expectations, it ‘blown all predictions out of the water’ quite the accomplishment for a 6 year old port of a Playstation 3 exclusive. Speaking to MCV, SEGA Europe’s senior VP of commercial publishing John Clark had to say;

“During its first 24 hours on sale, blew all forecasts and predictions out of the water. The award-winning Strategy RPG, originally released in 2008 for PlayStation 3, forced its way to the top of the Steam download charts, beating a host of brand new games to reach number one,”

“We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the fans for their support in the phenomenal success of this launch. We’re also delighted at the response from the Steam community which indicates that newcomers to the series are finding it as enchanting and engaging as those who have played it before.

A fantastic achievement for all at SEGA, here’s hoping that this could only lead to more future PC ports from the blue skies company.

Phantasy Star Nova is including Valkyria Chronicles 3 outfits

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Seems that SEGA is trying to bring the Valkyria Chronicles series back to life, first with the PC port of the first game (that came out today, by the way) and now this crossover with Phantasy Star Nova.

Phantasy Star Nova gives you the option of using a Valkyria form costume of the character Riela Marcellis. We have covered other collaborations like Resonance of Fate, Star Ocean  and Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth. Phantasy Star Nova will be getting a second demo on November 13th on the Japanese PSN.

What do you guys think of all these Phantasy Star collaborations? Should this continue to be a staple of the series or is it getting out of hand?

Rumor: Sonic Runners is an upcoming mobile game from SEGA Networks

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The Sonic fan community has been abuzz over the rumor that the next Sonic game will be titled Sonic Runners. The rumor began when a member of a message board shared inside info on Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric months before release. While at the time the person’s claims couldn’t be verified, following Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric‘s release, several of the bits of info lined up with what was in the final game. Most notably, information about Metal Sonic and Shadow which detailed not only their addition before SEGA revealed them, but also where and when they appear in the game. The tipster also revealed in-game dialogue, NPC information, and design details – again, all which lined up with the final product. In addition to Sonic Boom leaks, the person also let leak that a working title for an upcoming game titled “Sonic Runners” appeared on a whiteboard.

Today, the rumor has been strengthened by Sonic Stadium discovering that SEGA, specifically SEGA Networks Corporation, has registered and owns the SonicRunners.com domain. SEGA Networks is SEGA of Japan’s developer of high-end games for smartphones and tablets – lead by Haruki Satomi and based in Tokyo’s Shinagawa Ward. The company began with 211 employees and have since released Demon Tribe, Kingdom Conquest II, Go Dance, Rhythm Thief & the Paris Caper, and Super Monkey Ball Bounce. This leads us to believe that Sonic Runners will likely be a Japanese developed title for iOS and Android devices.

As usual, this is a rumor, so take it as a grain of salt until SEGA officially announces something.