SEGA News

Yakuza social game coming to Android and iPhone by the end of the month

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SEGA announced that they where working on Yakuza Kizuna, a game for the popular GREE social gaming platform in Japan. Today SEGA Japan has released the first details and screens of the game.

The game will be a card battling game where you have to build your collection of character cards by battling and using synthesis. You will have to create alliances with other plays and work together to defeat bosses and other powerful opponents. Yakuza Kizuna takes place in good old Kamurocho.

The title will be released on March 26th, only on iPhone/iPod Touch and Android. Basic play is free. Even though its Japan only (so far) it looks fairly simple to play. SEGA should port this to America to promote Yakuza: Dead Souls!

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Reconfirmed: SEGA is no longer publishing Marvel games

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I woke up this morning seeing a bunch of sites reporting that SEGA was no longer publishing Marvel games, as if this was a new discovery. Sadly, SEGA had confirmed this in an interview with Alan Pritchard for Game Informer back in December of 2010. In that interview he said that SEGA was not going to be publishing Marvel games after Thor and Captain America.
Now lets go forward to 2012, this is making rounds as something new. It isn’t. Old news, new mouth. Earlier today HollywoodReporter posted an interview with Marvel’s TQ Jefferson. TQ Jefferson is vp games production for Marvel, when asked if SEGA was going to publish any further Marvel properties he responded with.

“There are no current plans for additional Marvel games to be published by Sega.”

Again, nothing new. But hey, now we got it confirmed by both SEGA and Marvel.

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Rhythm Thief demo hitting Nintendo eShop on April 19th

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If you can’t wait to try this unique and quirky title, well, thats too bad. A demo won’t be hitting the eShop until April 19th. This is too long of a wait for myself. But hey, at least we get a demo.

The game is schduled to come out in North America on March 31st, in Europe on April 5th.

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Looks like Crush3D might be delayed a week

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Did you know that Crush3D was supposed to drop yesterday? Usually SEGA ships games on the day of release and they don’t get to retailers till the day after. Usually today, but reports are flooding in that the game might have been delayed. Again, SEGA is basically sending this game out to get murdered since they haven’t really posted news about it at all. Great job on this one SEGA, could have at least taken 20 seconds out and posted something on twitter.

Not only that, Gamestop has the game listed for the budget price of $19.99, not the regular $39.99. If SEGA can promote it on their social services at least that it’s a budget title game, it might get some people to go out and buy it. But a success? We’ll see.

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This is how Samurai & Dragons plays on Vita

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Above is Japanese footage for the Playstation Vita title called Samurai & Dragons. Taking up development for the title is Masayoshi Kikuchi, one of the masterminds behind the Yakuza franchise. Game mixes Western and Japanese by allowing you to be a knight, samurai or many of the other playable classes.

The game mixes RTS and dungeon crawling. Basically to get resources a user goes into a dungeon crawling level then build up their empire via the RTS sections. Yeah, reminds me a lot of the free game they launched on the iPhone last year called Kingdom Conquest.  No news if the game is coming West.

Continue Reading ➜

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Virtua Fighter’s Akira Yuki Playable in Dead or Alive 5

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Akira Yuki of Virtua Fighter has been announced to be a guest character in Dead or Alive 5. Could this be an early sign of Virtua Fighter X DOA? Akira’s addition marks the first time that the Dead or Alive franchise has added a character from another fighting game to their roster. studio head of Team NINJA Yosuke Hayashi said, “Gamers will have an opportunity to enjoy an unforgettable battle with an esteemed competitor in Akira Yuki set in the Dead or Alive environment. This year will prove to be an amazing one for our loyal fighting fans as we are delivering a fantastic fighting game that can only been experienced in Dead or Alive 5.”

This SEGA fanboy says: Hayashi failed to note that an even more fantastic fighting game known as Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown is set for release this year.

Expect DOA5 to release this year to the XBOX 360 and Playstation 3. Once you buy VF5: Final Showdown, you are allowed to purchase DOA5.

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Total War Series Goes Mobile

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Real time strategy series Total War will enter the mobile world with Total War Battles. The game will be handled by Total War Digital, a new Creative Assembly team. Total War Battles lead designer Renaud Charpentier says that the game “isn’t the traditional Total War you might expect, we are working on a title that is specifically tailored to the play styles and control methods of mobile platforms. We want to deliver a game that plays to the strengths of handheld RTS mechanics, and perfectly adapts to a host of different platforms.” Platforms have yet to be announced, however iOS and Android are a given. The question is, will the title also see a release to the Vita and 3DS?

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Jet Set Radio gets first gameplay trailer

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The boys and girls over at Game Radar got an exclusive Jet Set Radio HD trailer, sadly the trailer isn’t running in high defenintion. Game Radar is showing giving this exclusive video the 2008 era YouTube quality love.

For what it seems, looks like the Jet Set Radio we all know and love. Doesn’t answer the questions we really want to know like if they are going to use the second joystick on controllers to move the camera or if they are going to be taking off tracks from the soundtrack.

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Sonic 4 Episode 2 American and European Website Gets Huge Update!

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When I criticized the SEGA West Sonic 4 website, I didn’t think SEGA would answer my complaints! Okay, so it wasn’t actually my article that brought about the update, but it’s great to see SEGA bringing a bit more epicness and unity to the Sonic 4 site. When visiting the site you’ll find that the world map as seen in Episode 1 has expanded to the right to include Episode 2. Could this mean the maps connect when you have both games on your device? SEGA also gives a little backstory and attempts to connect the two episodes. Apparently Eggman was searching for something in Lost Labyrinth, and Mad Gear was built to do something for some purpose beyond just being an homage to Metropolis Zone. And yes, Sonic CD fans, the ominous planet floating above the Episode 2 screens IS Little Planet. Head on over to the site and click around!

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Enter to win a chance for 40,000 MS points just for watching a Binary Domain trailer.

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That’s a lot of points!

For those worried about the promotional campaign on Binary Domain, check out your Xbox Live dashboard. Over in “games” there should be a small trailer ad for Binary Domain. Click on that, and you’ll be taken to a promotional page. Here, you can watch videos, checkout some screenshots or go to the Binary Domain marketplace to download the demo and maybe some future DLC. However, there’s one special trailer you can watch and register to win up to 40,000 MS points! That can buy a lot of games. Check it out on your Xbox 360 and enter to win. This may be an American promotion only. I’m not sure.

See? There’s at least SOME Binary Domain advertising promotions going on.

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R.I.P. Grind: Jet SET Radio Coming this Summer in Widescreen!

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Courtesy of the SEGA Blog comes some very exciting bits of info regarding the recently hinted at Dreamcast rerelease. For starters, the game being released is Jet Set Radio (as if there was any doubt). The second confirmation is that the game will be known as Jet Set Radio, so say goodbye to the original US title “Jet Grind Radio” (and good riddance!). Thirdly, the game will be in beautiful widescreen as seen in the screen shot above and after the break. Fourthly, the game is coming to XBLA, PSN, and Windows PC Digital Download this summer! SEGA has also announced a contest where fans can get there art in the game and win prizes for doing so. Reminds me of when the game originally released, I recall SEGA having a similar contest.

Continue Reading ➜

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A Friendly Robot Reminder: Binary Domain in Stores NOW!

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BEGIN COMMUNICATION Greetings carbon based lifeforms, SEGAbits-bot here. SEGA and Yakuza Studio’s newest game Binary Domain is now available to purchase and play in most human territories. I would direct you to a site that aggregates reviews for the game, but my subprocessors tell me that humans prefer the opinions of their peers. In the case of Binary Domain, it is advised to head on over to our forums to read the positive views expressed by SEGA fans who have already bought and played the game:

“I finished the game last night on survival difficulty – this is my favorite third person shooter campaign EVER.

Great and satisfying shooting mechanics, great and unique AI for the enemies, huge variety of enemies with really good designs…. and above all that one of the best boss battles in all time and i mean it! the bosses in this game is beyond incredible!”

-Suzuki Yu

“Very impressive for the team’s first third person shooter, I hope this does indeed become a series for SEGA!”

-Aki-at

For more information about the game, please allow me to direct you to our interview with the game’s producer. A happy release day and enjoy the game. END COMMUNICATION

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Another Sonic 4 Video, Another Release Date

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Another, longer, higher quality Sonic 4 video, this one with a presentation from a SEGA rep. Not much new information in this video, except for one piece of info: the game is still coming out in May. This flies in the face of what Phandroid reported earlier with their video, though it does pretty much lock down a Spring release window for the game. The SEGA rep also confirms that the game is launching on Tegra powered devices a few weeks before it’s released on other consoles.

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First Hands-On Video of Sonic 4 Episode 2 PLUS a Tentative Release Date

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This has turned into the day for Sonic 4 news, hasn’t it? SEGA and NVIDIA surprised visitors to the Mobile World Congress 2012 with the first ever public demo of Sonic 4 Episode 2! While the dude playing the game is pretty bad at it (don’t all early demo videos feature inept players?), it does show off a good two minutes of gameplay footage. I’m sure Sonic fans will be pouring over this little clip for the next month. Is a video not enough for you? Well SEGA has let slip a tentative release date, and it’s not May as XBOX Marketplace had originally suggested.

The game wasn’t perfectly smooth being mirrored on an HD television but Sega urged us to note that the build they were showing wasn’t at all final. When can you expect that final build, you ask? The wait won’t be too long – Sega tells us mid-April will be their target.

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SEGA maimai: A new kind of arcade rhythm dancing game

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This new flashy arcade unit by SEGA is their latest rhythm dancing game called maimai. It features a round screen with lights around it, and when the game tells you to hit a certain spot in the circle, you do it. Pretty simple, till they speed it up.

Also the cabinet has a camera that allows users to record themselves playing a session and upload it to the popular Japanese video site Nico Nico Douga. SEGA states in the interview that this rhythm game is supposed to allow people be more social. Yes, they know it looks like a washing machine. The arcade is set to hit Japan in July of 2012. The video also confirms that SEGA is planning a Western release. Yeah, that was unexpected.

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