SEGA News

More Details on Phantasy Star Nova, getting AAA production budget

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Some more details about Phantasy Star Nova have came out of Famitsu which might interest you. The game is mainly a single player game, with an optional ad-hoc local multiplayer mode. There is no online mode.

The game is being built using a Tri-Ace engine and overall it’s going to feel like a Tri-Ace game rather than a Sonic Team game. A big change compared to PSO is how the weapon system works. Equipment shows damage visibly, and monsters drop materials that you can use for crafting instead of weapons.

Also, famous RPG music composer Motoi Sakuraba is composing the music for the game. Oh, and the core development team is around 70 people, and total production is over 200 people (said to be higher than the number of people involved with Titanfall by neogaf). So it sounds like a really big project. Hopefully it comes west 🙂

*title updated at the request of George*

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Famitsu reveals Puyo Puyo Tetris for Playstation and Nintendo platforms

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Yes, that’s right puzzle fans. The “Mario & Sonic” of puzzle games is coming.

Famitsu reports that a Puyo Puyo Tetris game is due out in 2014 for PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo 3DS, and Wii U. This wouldn’t be the first time SEGA has been involved in a Tetris game. In 1989 SEGA developed and published Tetris for the SEGA System 16 and SEGA System E hardware. In 2000 the SEGA Dreamcast saw the release of The Next Tetris, a Tetris title that took advantage of the console’s modem for online gameplay.

Nothing more has been revealed of this unique collaboration, but as soon as we learn more we’ll be sure to share it!

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Yakuza: Ishin to be a Playstation 4 launch title, also coming to Playstation 3

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Above is the first trailer for Yakuza: Ishin, shown off at SCEJA Press Conference 2013! If you want to see the trailer without the English voice over, click here.

The game was announced as a Playstation 4 launch title, but will also be coming out on the Playstation 3 for those not picking up a Playstation 4 at launch. The game will also feature crossplay with the Vita!

Yakuza Ishin will be out in Japan on February 22nd, 2014. As for a western release? According to NeoGAF user Verendus, who is known as a legit insider in the strict community, this one is definitely coming West. What do you guys think?

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Sonic Lost World official comic prequel to hit stores October 26th-27th

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Sonic comic book fans will have the chance to learn more about new villains The Deadly Six in what’s being deemed “The Official Prequel” to Sonic Lost World.

The comic book will see release, (interestingly, after the game itself) on October 26th-27th during Halloween ComicFest, and will be disappearing from retailers after that. Needless to say, those interested should head down to their local comic book shops that weekend to snag a copy.

For Archie’s official description of the Sonic Lost World-themed issue, hit the jump.

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The SEGA Dreamcast turns 14 today, how are we going to celebrate?

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Hey there, space cats! The SEGA Dreamcast turns 14 today in the USA, how are we celebrating? Well, we will be delivering a bunch of Dreamcast related content all month long. We will have all our weekly features focus on Dreamcast music, games and nostalgic moments. Expect to see Dreamcast related articles on Monday Memories, Tuesday Tunes, Saturday Sequels, and Sunday Round Table. There will also be the return of the ‘SEGA in the Media‘, where we spot SEGA references in current TV shows and movies (sometimes even the past).  We already started celebrating by giving you guys a really awesome episode of the Swingin’ Report Show featuring the editor-in-chief and writer for Official Dreamcast magazine.

One of our former writers and current editor-in-chief over at Dreamcast Scene is also teaming up with us, DC Emu and Age-Media to bring some interviews with current SEGA published authors and Dreamcast indie developers. Actually he already published one of his interviews with David Munoz, author of ” “Service Games: Rise and Fall of Sega ”. Some of the other interviews you can expect includes author of “Zoya Street’s Dreamcast World” author, who got crowd sourced by Indiegogo. There will also be interviews with indie Dreamcast developers like Senile Team, Duranik and Water Melon.

Stay tuned later today for “Monday Memories: Remembering the Dreamcast’s launch“.

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SEGA announces Phantasy Star Nova for the Playstation Vita

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Sony is having a Japanese conference today where they show what Japanese audiences can expect from Sony at this year’s TGS. During the event Sony announced a new slim Playstation Vita and a few games, one of those being Phantasy Star Nova! The game will be developed by tri-Ace (Resonance of Fate), and will feature a single-player story mode along with an online co-op mode that allows you to team up with 3 other players online or in lan. The game game is set to released in Japan this upcoming March.

Some facts were given about Phantasy Star Online 2‘s performance on the Vita. It has been confirmed that SEGA has sold over 150,000 boxed versions of Phantasy Star Online 2 and has over 650,000 people playing the game on Sony’s handheld. This is probably the first time someone has handled a new Phantasy Star game that hasn’t been Sonic Team.

Hit the jump to see the announcement trailer.

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Creative Assembly and Extra Credits Want to Teach You About Roman History

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When I was at this year’s PAX Prime, I tried to see if I could play Total War: Rome II to write up a preview for a genre I’m not terribly great at. After a few seconds it quickly dawned on me that the time I was going to invest wasn’t going to do this game any justice. I’m not a guy who does great at Real Time Strategy, nor did I come from an education system that would span further from Texas history. However, through some of their marketing money, Creative Assembly has teamed up with the folks behind Extra Credits to give you an overview of Roman history through a series of videos starting today on the Punic Wars. If you’re playing the game and don’t understand everything the story of Rome II is telling, this ought to help provide a better understanding, or for people like me, its great to see developers doing some good to go to new efforts just to teach people about history. That and, well, probably to make sure this doesn’t happen again…

Still its great to see efforts like this happen between the two, and its great for SEGA to even allow their marketing money to be used in this form. Be sure to watch the video and stay tuned to the Extra Credits Youtube channel for more on Roman history.

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New Hero Bank trailer shows off both combat and exploration elements

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SEGA of Japan has released a new action-packed trailer for Toshihiro Nagoshi’s upcoming 3DS RPG, Hero Bank. The footage provides us with a good look at the cinematic battles, which appear to feature a mix of menu-driven and action-driven gameplay: though the trailer’s editing makes it tough to tell exactly what the balance will be. While the battle scenes are voice acted, it looks like much of the rest of the game’s dialogue will be handled through text boxes.

The trailer also shows that Hero Bank will include some exploration elements, with the main character shown wandering through locations including a city street and classroom. The anime-driven visual style reminds me (during the non-combat sections) somewhat of the look of Shun Nakamura’s Ryhthm Thief and the Emperor’s Treasure from last year, though thankfully Hero Bank will have explorable environments instead of a point and click system. The look and feel of the battles is reminiscent of Saturday Morning anime cartoons.

Specifics, especially with regard to Hero Bank’s combat system, are tough for me to judge at this point, as battles look to be text-heavy and as of now no Western release has been announced. The game is said to be targeting a younger audience, comes from Yakuza and Super Monkey Ball mastermind Toshihiro Nagoshi, and will be releasing on December 19th in Japan for the 3DS.

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Sonic Generations 3DS to hit e-shop in two days, be priced at $29.99?

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According to Vernon Schieck on twitter, famous for being a ‘not-so-secret behind-the-scenes gaming tipper’, SEGA is going to release a digital version of Sonic Generations on Nintendo’s e-shop. Problem? They want to charge users the premium price of $29.99 for a old game.


Honestly, I know SEGA is capitalizing on new Nintendo 3DS owners that want to play a Sonic game before Sonic Lost World comes out later in the fall, but charging them a premium price isn’t how you do it.

How much do you think SEGA should charge for a digital version of Sonic Generations on the 3DS?

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Bayonetta, Rodin, and Jeanne to cameo in The Wonderful 101

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For the first time, to my knowledge, we’re covering The Wonderful 101 news by way of the reveal that Bayonetta characters Bayonetta, Rodin, and Jeanne have been announced to cameo in the Platinum Games developed and Nintendo published game. Hideki Kamiya, director of Bayonetta and The Wonderful 101, made the announcement at PAX today. What is interesting about this announcement is that this is the first time fully owned SEGA characters from Platinum Games have appeared in a game fully owned by Nintendo. So it’s sort of a SEGA, Nintendo, Platinum Games crossover. No further details have been revealed, thus explaining why I’ve been stretching this little bit of news out to a paragraph length.

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New returning characters announced for Yakuza Ishin, including the return of Nishiki

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Nine returning characters have been announced for the upcoming Yakuza Ishin. The list so far includes popular characters like Ryuji Goda, Akira Nishiki and Date. But who are they playing in this game? If you haven’t read, the game will take old characters from the Yakuza universe and plant them as characters during the bakumatsu period in Japan.

To see all twelve returning characters and their roles in the new game, hit the jump.

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Bayonetta director interested in spin-off for 3DS starring Jeanne

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Jeanne Bayonetta Spinoff
Platinum Games has just released The Wonderful 101 on the Nintendo Wii U, their first game with Nintendo and another game by Bayonetta director Hideki Kamiya. At PAX, Siliconera asked Kamiya if he would want to make a game on the Nintendo 3DS and Kamiya said he had two ideas for the handheld.

“Given the chance, I’d like to make a game based on Jeanne from Bayonetta. Something that’s not as big in scale. Something that’s portable, that you could play in quick sessions, where she’s a history teacher and the kind of fun things that could come out of a scenario like that.” –  Hideki Kamiya (Director of Bayonetta, The Wonderful 101)

So what was the second idea? Well, if you are an Okami fan, time to hit that jump button.

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Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F launch trailer

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Hatsune Miku Project Diva F is out now in North America both in retail and on PSN. In Europe the game has been delayed to next week and is only available digitally. I’ve started playing the game today and it is a lot of fun. I plan to have a review up by next week, maybe this weekend if I get through the game faster than I think I will. So, stay tuned!

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SEGA Australia’s crazy pitch for remaking SEGA classics

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[Above is SEGA Australia’s pre-alpha prototype pitch for Golden Axe remake under their label ‘SEGA Reborn’]

SEGA Australia isn’t known as the type of studio that had too many hits, but it seemed that the team was finally hitting their stride with the Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse remake that is coming out in early September. Sadly that will be the studio’s last game, since it was announced that they will be closing by the end of the year.

Seems that the studio pitched for a series of remakes, most notably ‘Golden Axe’ and all to be in a new label called ‘SEGA Reborn’. That’s not all though, the company thought that all these classics should take place in the same universe. Yes, we are talking about Marvel movie treatment with retro games. That would mean that a game like Out Run takes place hundreds of years after Golden Axe.

Much like its remake of Castle of Illusion, they where open to going in and adding new content and fixing issues the originals had. Some of the other games they talked about remaking included Streets of Rage and Shinobi. Hit the jump to see video of the ‘Golden Axe’ remake that the studio pitched to SEGA. 

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