New Judgment trailer reveals Pierre Taki’s replacement in-game model

If you guys have been following Judgment, the latest game from the studio behind Yakuza, you would know that SEGA Japan halted sales of the game in Japan after one of the main characters was arrested on drug charges. SEGA said they would replace actor Pierre Taki from the game via an update, which included the model of the game character since it was based on the actor.

According to SEGA the new model isn’t modeled after any actor, which might be something SEGA should consider doing this moment forward. As far as the new voice for Hamura, we still haven’t gotten who will replace him in Japan and they haven’t completed the voice work as of now.

 

Yakuza Kiwami 2 coming to PC on May 9th, free Clan Creator Bundle DLC for pre-purchasing.

After the ESRB leaking it’s rating and SEGA themselves teasing it on Steam, SEGA has officially revealed that Yakuza Kiwami 2 will arrive on PC in May 9th, for the asking price of $29.99. The game is available for pre-purchase on it’s Steam page, with the promise of unlocked framerates, 4K support, customizable controls, and extensive graphics options. In addition, for those that pre-order Yakuza Kiwami 2, they will receive the Clan Creator Bundle for free, which contains exclusive weapons, outfits, items, and rare Leader Cards.

Yakuza Kiwami 2 on PC is also notable for technically having a Virtual-On game appear on PC for the first time, and also having the new “Dragon Engine” introduced in Yakuza 6 be utilized on PC for the first time. So if you have the spare money, join in on one of the finest games in the Yakuza series this May.

Pre-purchase on Steam

Famitsu reveals more Shenmue III details and shows the return of the forklift!

The latest issue of Japan’s Famitsu magazine has a new interview with Yu Suzuki discussing the upcoming Shenmue III, and the highlight is an in-game image of Ryo once again riding a forklift. The website Twinfinite details some of the information Suzuki reveals in the interview, with the focus being on mini games and how the system works in the game. It seems China is once again impacting our entertainment, as the real world strict gambling laws in the country has changed the way mini games function in Shenmue III.

SEGA teases Yakuza Kiwami 2 PC release

Last month we shared the news that the ESRB had rated Yakuza Kiwami 2 for PC, and now it seems SEGA is ramping up their marketing for a reveal of the release. The official SEGA Steam account has updated their profile picture to Goro Majima’s eyepatch, which is right in line with past PC reveals by the company. As discussed on SEGA News Bits Extra, we think Yakuza Kiwami 2 coming to PC before Yakuza 6 is a wise move as the prequel Yakuza 0 and the first Yakuza Kiwami have previously released to PC. With the next chapter in the story soon to be released on the platform, it sets SEGA up nicely for a release of Yakuza 3-5 for PlayStation 4 and PC in the west, followed by Yakuza 6.

We’ll share more as we hear it, but expect Yakuza Kiwami 2 for PC news very very soon.

SEGA News Bits Extra: SEGA FES 2019 Recap

On this week’s EXTRA (and this month’s preview episode) George and Barry talk about all the news that broke at SEGA FES 2019, including a new Sakura Wars, SEGA AGES titles, and more! Also on this episode, we talk about a potential change to our Patreon content including the return of SEGA Talk.

If you want to support this type of content, you can check out our Patreon!

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SEGA News Bits: SEGA Genesis / Mega Drive Mini Reveal and Details

SEGA FES 2019 did not disappoint in the reveals department, as we finally learned more about the long awaited Mega Drive/Genesis Mini plug and play console. On this SEGA News Bits, George and Barry break down what we learned and speculate on what other games could be included.

If you want to support this type of content, you can check out our Patreon!

If you enjoy our SEGA News Bits segments and want to support us: Give us a sub and give this video a thumbs up so it shows up on more like-minded fans YouTube recommendations. You know, how that YouTube algorithm is.

Project Sakura Wars Developer Interview: Project’s Beginnings, Tite Kubo, and More

In a recent interview on Famitsu, Project Sakura Wars development leads, Takaharu Terada (series director), Tetsu Katano (producer), and Tetsuya Ootsubo (development director), talks about on how the development for Project Sakura Wars began after the SEGA Fes 2016 fan poll, reaching out to Tite Kubo, known as the author of the Bleach manga series, to do character designs, enhanced gameplay mechanics taken from the original games and more.

The development team also stated that they wanted to reboot the series instead of making a sequel to the original games as the last game in the series Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love was released 10 years ago. You can check the entire Famitsu interview by hitting the jump!

SEGA Mega Drive Mini in Asia gets Sword of Vermillion and OutRun 2019 as exclusives


SEGA will also be selling the SEGA Mega Drive Mini in Asia, they promised the same amount of games as the rest of the regions. 40 games. SEGA is only planning on selling the units as one SKU in that area with two controllers. So far Japan is the only place to have a cheaper, single controller bundle.

Here are the games announced for the SEGA Mega Drive Mini Asian version will have a lot of the games found in the Japanese version including Space Harrier II, Wrestleball, Shining Force, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Gunstar Heroes, Castlevania: Bloodlines, Puyo Puyo Tsu, and Comix Zone. The two exclusives (so far) to the Asian version are Sword of Vermilion and OutRun 2019.

Yeah, I didn’t expect OutRun 2019 to be included in this collection. Very meta, considering its coming out this year… in 2019. The future is now!

[Source: Siliconera]

Team Sonic Racing releases new ‘Team Up’ trailer

SEGA Europe has revealed a brand spanking new trailer for Team Sonic Racing, this one being called ‘Team up’, giving you a overview of all the information we’ve been given the last few months including a overview at a bunch of race tracks.

“The race is about to begin! Join Sonic and friends as they speed across vibrant tracks and do whatever it takes to come out in first place. Race online with up to 12 friends, play with friends in your living room with split screen, customize and personalize your car for maximum speed, and work together as a team to unleash your Team Ultimate Boost. Gear Up. Speed Up. Team Racing at Sonic Speed. Team Sonic Racing arrives May 21st on Playstation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC!”

I will say that the game has been looking better and better each time they show it, but something about the game still turns me off. Maybe because one of the reasons I liked the All-Stars Racing series was because of all the fan service while this game is playing it more safe. I guess we shall see if it works out for SEGA.

SEGA teases footage of New Yakuza game starring Ichiban Kasuga

It looks like SEGA still has some surprises after SEGA Fes 2019, one of those is this footage they put on their twitter account showing off “Shin Yakuza” which will start new protagonist Ichiban Kasuga. The game was announced back in August of 2017 along with Yakuza Online. If you look at the footage, it seems to be taking some cues from the Yakuza Online game, which was the first time we saw Ichiban Kasuga but with real time gameplay? Hard to tell considering the person working on the game keeps stopping and skipping the fighting. Again, just a tease.

The other thing that it seems to show is turn based battles, with the bad guys having health at the bottom of the screen along with your parties health. Is this a mini-game that is being teased or will the full game change from real-time combat to turn base?

We also know that the game will be more comedic and from the footage it seems to fit the bill.

[Update] I’m an idiot and forgot it’s April 1st in Japan. Disregard all Japanese gaming news today. [/Update]

ESRB rates Yakuza: Kiwami 2 for PC release

It seems that the ESRB is good at two things: Putting logos in front of boxes and leaking games early. Good for us because now we know Yakuza: Kiwami 2 will be coming to PC very soon considering its already been rated by the ESRB.

It is sort of weird that there hasn’t been something on Yakuza 6, since that game came out first on PlayStation 4 then it was Yakuza: Kiwami 2. Plus both these games run on the new ‘Dragon Engine’. Let’s hope its not a Epic Game Store exclusive. Should be interesting. Hit the jump for ESRB’s description:

New Yakuza game with Ichiban Kasuga to be more comedic than dramatic


The SEGA Fes 2019 event had a Yakuza Fan Meeting where the General Yakuza Director and Chief Creative Officer Toshihiro Nagoshi spoke about Shin Yakuza, aka the next Yakuza game staring Ichiban Kasuga.

He talked about how the team has been changing what it means to be a Yakuza type game, they said Judgement is the first experiment. The only specifics he gave was that the game will now aim less in ‘having teary moments’ and more comedic and goofy scenes that interconnect at the end of a story, which will have impact on player’s emotion. Hit the jump for the full quote:

[Source: Gematsu]

SEGA Genesis Mini details revealed, price and first ten games announced

Yesterday, SEGA FES revealed the SEGA Mega Drive Mini. Today, SEGA of America and SEGA Europe revealed their versions of the plug and play console. Like the Japanese version, the console will include 40 games. While Japan has two versions, one with one controller and another with two controllers, the western versions will include two controllers with price points of $79.99/£69.99/€79.99 and a worldwide release date of September 19, 2019.

We have learned since the SEGA FES presentation that emulation is handled my M2, of SEGA AGES and 3D Classics fame, and the menu music will be created by Yuzo Koshiro!

Unfortunately, unlike the Japanese version the western releases will not feature the superior six-button pad. Instead the original three button pads will be included. If I had to guess, SEGA is hoping fans will buy the recently released officially licensed Retro-Bit controllers (should they work with the plug and play console).

SEGA FES 2019: Six new titles announced for the SEGA AGES series

More news has dropped regarding to the SEGA AGES series, this time a lot of announced titles coming to the series sometime in the future. These titles are Puzzle & Action Ichidant-R, Shinobi, G-loc Air Battle, Fantasy Zone, Herzog Zwei, and Wonder Boy in Monster Land. Each title will be based on their original arcade version, with the exception being Herzog Zwei instead being based on the Mega Drive version. No other information such as pricing, release date, or any other additional features have been revealed.

This announcement notably means that G-loc Air Battle will have the original arcade version ported to a home console for the first time, while this will be the first time SEGA used the Herzog IP after the acquirement of Technosoft’s library. What is your thoughts on these titles coming to the SEGA AGES series?

[Source: Twitter]

SEGA confirms that ‘Project Sakura Wars’ is coming West

SEGA has updated their twitter letting their fans know that the new Sakura Wars project, that just got a trailer at SEGA Fes 2019, will be coming West. Can I just say how much I love these sort of announcements that go along with Japanese reveals? I hope we have more in store.

It looks like SEGA’s Zack Reese had some tweets on how he will be working on Project Sakura Wars: