Famitsu Weekly announced Shining Resonance, a brand new entry to the Shining series. This one happens to be an RPG which will be released on the Playstation 3 and in this particular game, a dragon is a protagonist. Famitsu is fast to give us the first look at the game, including the first details on the story.
It seems that SEGA isn’t done with the Shining IP, at least not for now. SEGA is still working on and promoting their Shining fighting arcade game and now they revealed that they are working on a Shining RPG for the Playstation 3. The game is called ‘Shining Resonance‘ and is being developed by Media Vision (Wild Arms series, Shining Ark and Valkyria Chronicles III). Tony Taka is also being confirmed as returning for the game’s character designs.
After the break we take a look at the first character announced, Kirika Towa Alma.
Over at the Sonic Stadium message boards, fans got to talking about a rarely seen Sonic Adventure LCD game from Tiger Electronics released in 2000. The game, which resembles a tiny arcade cabinet, is unique in that is isn’t simply one of those low end Tiger handhelds. Instead, it is closer to the Game.com, which while still pretty low end, is capable of presenting multiple stages, enemies, and bosses. The Sonic Adventure LCD game was released as part of Tiger’s “Arcade Games” series which featured four other Dreamcast games: Q-Bert, NFL Blitz 2000, Ready 2 Rumble Boxing, and Hydro Thunder. In total, Sonic Adventure features seven stages: Emerald Coast, Windy Valley, Ice Cap, Speed Highway, Red Mountain, Sky Deck, and Final Egg. Some of the bosses include Chaos 0, Egg Hornet, and the Egg Viper. While a very rare game to find, thanks to Sonic Stadium forum member iDEATH, we now have a look at this rare game from Sonic’s Dreamcast days!
Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax is set for an update in arcades, adding two additional characters to the cast.
The characters that will be featured as playable characters are The Irregular at Magic High School’s “Snow Queen” Miyuki Shiba and Aisaka Taiga, the “Palm Top Tiger,” from Toradora! Tatsuya Shiba and Ryuuji Takasu from their respective series will also join as assist characters. The date for the arcade update is unknown at this time.
For me, I think it’s great to have updates with characters and stages in arcade games. Fingers crossed for more SEGA characters to become playable characters.
For images and screenshots of the additional characters, be sure to hit the jump.
Two months after the arcade fighting title’s announcement, SEGA released a location test preview of Blade Arcus from Shining which features characters from the Shining Series.
The game will be held at the SEGA Akihabara Building 1 for location testing, and will feature a total of six playable characters. We’ll have more info on the game once the final build is released in arcades.
Did you know Out Run 3D had new songs added to it? The songs where composed by Manabu Namiki and Chibi-Tech for the the Nintendo 3DS port. Now you can digitally buy those songs and the rest of the songs from the series in this three-volume collection they released the other day.
Not a bad soundtrack to have for long road trips!
The latest trailer for Alien: Isolation gives us another look behind the scenes of the game. This time they show how they cast real people for the characters in the game along with the methods they used to capture their likenesses. Mo-cap is used for the animation as well.
We’re also shown some new footage of the cutscenes along with some more info on the plot and world.
Previously released in Japan, Dragon Coins is now available in western territories on the iTunes and Google Play store for free. The game also supports in-app purchases where players can purchase bags of coins for $6.99 or $2.99.
SEGA has stated that the game is a combination of role playing game battles and a party management system with a pick-up and play arcade coin-dozer fun. Here is a description of the title taken from the iTunes and Google Play stores. Also for more information on features in the game, be sure to hit the jump.
If you guys enjoyed our Jet Set Radio week long celebration, you probably have been itching for an excuse to paint the streets of Tokyo-to once again. Don’t fear, Jet Set Radio HD is part of Steam’s week long sales. The game is being discounted by 50%, costing you only $2.49.
On related PC sales news, Humble Bundle store is having their spring sale on PC titles and part of that sale includes the ‘Sonic Hit Collections‘, which is priced at $7.49 and comes with the following 17 Sonic the Hedgehog games:
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 remastered for mobile devices, which was one of our favorite games of 2013, has apparently been hiding a few juicy secrets. Via developer Taxman in the Sonic Retro forums, early versions of the game had a few additional zones planned out. The first, dubbed Egg Gauntlet Zone, was a mode in which the player went through each boss one after another. Unfortunately, this feature was not included in the final game and not all the assets are available. However, crafty fans have been able to resurrect the mode via a bit of modding. Unfortunately, a recent software update has removed the assets needed to play the stage. Thankfully, the stage has been preserved for all to see in the video above.
The second secret stage, entitled Proto Palace Zone, has not been cut and can be accessed via some simple codes!
In early June, there will be an update to Phantasy Star Online 2 that will feature the return of SEGA Collaboration.
This time around, SEGA Collaboration 2 will have more SEGA related special costumes and items available in PSO2 based on several SEGA key franchises featuring Sonic the Hedgehog, Valkyria Chronicles, Yakuza Ishin and 5, and last but not least for the space cats out there, Space Channel 5!
Be sure to keep an eye out for the next PSO2 live stream with Sonic Retro and SEGAbits on our Twitch channel in June as we show off the update features and perhaps Sonic’s 23rd Anniversary as well.
Special Thanks to Shadix for the tip!
Kenji Kanno, the original creator of the Crazy Taxi arcade game, and Hardlight Studios gives us an insight on the development on the upcoming Crazy Taxi City Rush mobile game for IOS and Andriod platforms.
While working with the team at Hardlight Studios for the first time, Kenji Kanno wanted them to understand the roots of the game franchise in order for them to be more ambitious and keep the original concept true to the game. He also gives his opinion on the unique thing about smartphones is that you could start the game as a timewaster at first, but become sucked into it and get really addicted to the game.
Hardlight Studio’s Scott West explains that their company has a different audience and playstyle. So what they did with the game was to implement missions from pickup missions, daily challenges which are timed, regular missions, ranking missions and special missions. For more highlights from the video that are included in Crazy Taxi City Rush, be sure to hit the jump.
Right after the SEGA buyout was confirmed, Atlus went ahead and confirmed that they where working on four Persona titles. Seems that isn’t enough, since we will be getting another announcement come May 2nd.
Atlus will be having a live Persona-related stream on NicoNico on May 2nd, 11:30pm JST. What is this stream about? They will have guests, preview material for the upcoming Persona 3: Midsummer Knight’s Dream movie, and this teased announcement.
The last event was when Atlus announced those upcoming Persona games. What do they have in store this time? Another movie? More games? I guess we will find out soon.
First 4 Figures, creators of the Sonic the Hedgehog and SEGA All-Stars lines of collector’s statues, are at it again as pre-orders for their beautiful Skies of Arcadia Vyse statue are now open! Sculpted to 1/6 scale, Vyse himself measures approximately 11″ tall. In total, from the base to the tip of the pirates flag, the statue measures 17″ tall. As expected from First 4 Figures, there are two versions. The standard edition is limited to 1,000 pieces and is priced at $199.99, the exclusive version is limited to 425 and is priced at $219.99 and features a switch-out right arm holding the Pirate’s Cutlass. Both statues are expected to release Q4 2014.
Insert Coin is a United Kingdom-based clothing company with apparel and accessories featuring various video game franchises. As it is, their catalog of Sega items is fairly expansive and covers a few SEGA franchises including Jet Set Radio, Shinobi, Space Channel 5, and of course Sonic the Hedgehog. SEGAbits has covered some of their offerings previously, including one news post that features a Beat-inspired shirt and a Knuckles-inspired hoodie, and another news post that shows off Dreamcast and Mega Drive-inspired bags.
The company recently updated their blog to show off a new line of SEGA-themed items for this year. These include the above-pictured “Running Club” T-shirt which pays homage to the central title screen icon and release year of the first game. There’s also a “Science Club” T-shirt for future evil geniuses creative and inventive thinkers, and a dress with Sonic the Hedgehog 2’s Casino Night itself as the dress. Rounding out the collection is a Shenmue-inspired Hazuki jacket.
The company hopes to release these new products in Q3 of this year, and plans to release more details and images of the products in the near future.
What sort of SEGA-themed clothing or accessories would you be interested in?