Yakuza Dead Souls Trailer: Who’s got your back?

Believe it or not Segabits readers, March will be upon us soon enough, and for SEGA fans in the West, the month of March has become synonymous with the arrival of new Yakuza titles. This year will see the release of Yakuza: Dead Souls, the zombie shooting spinoff with several series favorites banding together to gun down zombies in Tokyo. This new trailer features a pretty cool soundtrack and some zombie-shooting badassery.

Does this actually look promising? I still can’t make up my mind personally, but there’s always something fun about the release of a new Yakuza game. Yakuza Dead Souls will release March 2012, and SEGA seems to be doing their usual pre-order partnership with Gamestop, this time for some additional hostess outfits, guns, and items.

Rhythm Thief, Mario and Sonic Demos Hitting European 3DS eShop

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It’s taken nearly a year, but 3DS demos are finally going to be available on the eShop in Europe this week. Of course we don’t care about Resident Evil Revelations and Cooking Mama 4! So, what SEGA games will be made available on the eShop? Rhythm Thief and Maro and Sonic. No word on when these games will be made available, but with both games arriving in stores soon it will hopefully be sooner rather then later.

Update: Mario and Sonic has been confirmed to be hitting the American 3DS eShop on January 26th. No word on Rhythm Thief.

Rhythm Thief May Be Delayed

According to both GameStop and Amazon.com, Rhythm may be delayed until the end of March. Given that multiple retailers are delaying the game, it would appear that it is indeed happening. No official word from SEGA though, so there’s still hope that the game is still releasing as scheduled next month.

Rhythm Thief is an upcoming rhythm game for the 3DS, with an animation aesthetic similar to Professor Layton and homages to a couple other SEGA rhythm games, including Space Channel 5 and Samba De Amigo.

SEGA shows off new squad member, boss and stage for Binary Domain

For those who were thinking that the five characters that SEGA has been showing since Tokyo Game Show was your complete squad, think again, as today SEGA of Japan released shots of a new character never before seen, Shindo, a Japanese man who seems part of Mifune’s underground network. Also shown was a new stage, set in a car making factory as Dan, Cain and Shindo shot it out with the robots. Click the link for some a lot more screenshots, including a boss character that seems to be a red robotic ape and shots of the story itself.

[Source: 4Gamer] [Note site in Japanese]

Toshihiro Nagoshi stars in Black Panther 2 ad, tells all men to play his game

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=327MNKMQyEI
Toshihiro Nagoshi always said that the Black Panther PSP games was about aggression and being a man. He has decided to use the same idea for the sequel, Black Panther 2: Yakuza Asura Chapter. Who better to tell the men at home to play the new Black Panther than the most manliest man Nagoshi knows? That’s right, himself.

ESRB rates Sonic 4: Episode 2 for PC


SEGA hasn’t announced if they will be releasing Sonic 4: Episode 2 for PC, but it seems that ESRB has already spilled the beans early. If you recall, SEGA also kept quiet about the PC version of Sonic Generations, even though there was a ton of proof.

But for those PC players who didn’t get to experience Sonic 4: Episode 1, you might not have to worry. Awhile back we posted that it turned up in the Steam registry. Pretty much means that SEGA has a port of that one in the works for the PC.

Binary Domain Promotion in Japan gets rather strange with Assult-Kun show

SEGA of Japan has always been known for its more alternate (And sometimes rather effective) marketing campaigns and this one for their up and coming third person squad based shooter Binary Domain is no different. Say hello to Assult-kun, a green humanoid robot working in an office as he deals with the dangers of the working enviroment as every other person.

In the above video him and his co-worker is being scolded by their manager, when the manager leaves, his co-worker writes “Die, Manager!” as she leaves, Assult-kun tries to clean the white board but realises she used permenant ink, horrified that his manager is returning, he turns it over only to realise even more insults on the otherside! Click after the break for a second video and know that SEGA’s (Strange) marketing for Binary Domain is well and truly underway!

SEGA gives Nagoshi a truck to advertise Binary Domain & Black Panther 2

SEGA has already marketed his game with a hummer, so it seems the next logical step would be a truck! That is right, Toshihiro Nagoshi and the Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio are going to get their own truck to help promote their latest two titles, Binary Domain and Black Panther 2 in Japan. The truck will house demos of both particular titles mentioned. With it, players lucky enough to get a ride in the Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio track will not only play the game, but get to meet Toshihiro Nagoshi himself! Click on the link below to Andriasang to check how many people turned up to the original signings for Yakuza 1 in 2005 and another image of SEGA’s newest marketing tool. Perhaps next time they’ll happen to use a bus.

[Thanks to SEGA Portuguese for the tip! Andriasang ]

Achievements/Trophies for Binary Domain

The full list of Achievements/Trophies for Binary Domain has finally been revealed.  For those worried about spoilers, the full list will only be shown on the link below. But don’t worry. Half of the Achievements are secret and the rest are not major spoilers. Also, of note, more videos of this game have been shown and everything is looking better and better. I can’t wait for Febuary.

Binary Domain Developer Diary #1 and more footage

As SEGA starts to get the hype rolling for Binary Domain, British program Playr TV has uploaded their final 4 videos showcasing their playthrough of Yakuza Studio’s latest action title. The player is guided through the commands of Binary Domain by Big Bo but other videos show the player facing against the Grand Lancer and some of the set pieces encountered in the titles, such as falling buildings. It also confirms for the first time that even Japanese characters will be speaking in English. Also recently released is a new developer diary from producer Toshihiro Nagoshi, who chiefly talks about the world itself and the background plot. See below for the developer diary, or hit the break to see the remaining videos.

Binary Domain Developer Diary #1

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the …Dreamcast TV!

Just look at this thing of beauty! Looking similar to a MAG from Phantasy Star Online, this 14 inch TV came complete with a built in Dreamcast, controller and keyboard along with some other accesories. The Divers 2000 series CX-1 Dreamcast was only available in Japan back in 2000 and was quite expensive for it’s time. I’d still love to get my hands on one. You can see more of this TV including video of it in action at Kotaku.

Binary Domain “Bigger Than You Think” trailer released

It does not seem a day goes by now without SEGA releasing new media for their major release next month, Binary Domain. This latest trailer is a brief recap of the plot with robots ripping off their human flesh but also reveals a showdown in a casino/strip club, escaping from enemies via jet skis and a highway chase scene that has you shooting down flying robots and cars! Mixed with plenty of action and ingame cutscene it seems to indicate all the makings of a another big game from Toshihiro Nagoshi and the Ryu Ga Gotoku studio. The trailer also confirms a short delay, with Binary Domain set to launch in Europe on 24th February 2012 for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, expect to be seeing more pieces of media as the launch date draws close.

 

Sonic 4 Episode 2 Logo Revealed

When the Nvidia CES press conference was nearing, SEGA of America’s community team was pointing Sonic fans towards the live stream, hinting that something would be shown. After watching an hour of the show, there was absolutely nothing Sonic related to be found. Fans, myself included, felt like they just wasted an hour. Thankfully, the SEGA community team was quick to apologize for the time spent, stating that “there was a last minute switch up during the press conference”, and uploaded the official Sonic 4 Episode 2 logo to the SEGA Blog! I gotta say, it looks exactly like what I expected! Even some fan creations came pretty close. Good on SoA for remedying the situation!

Check out Binary Domain’s first chapter shown on British TV

With just over a month away, SEGA has begun to pick up its marketing for their highly anticipated third person shooter from the Ryu Ga Gotoku/Yakuza stuido by showcasing it on British television program Playr. The previews features a look into the first chapter of Binary Domain as Dan and Boi make their way into Japan to begin their mission, taking on hordes of robots whilst interacting with the other characters in the story. Please note that this video may not work for those living outside the UK. Hit the jump for another short video.