Phantasy Star Online 2 create demo coming April 5th, have new screens while you wait

Are you excided to hear that Phantasy Star Online 2 is going totally free to play? Do you want to try the game now and see how your PC will run it? Well, SEGA is setting up a ‘create demo’ for us Phantasy Star Online fiends that cannot wait much longer. There will be a demo released on April 5th, via the game’s official website, so mark your calendars. This demo will allow you to create a character, which you will be able to play as later when the game goes open beta. It also comes with a benchmark functionality to see if your PC is up to snuff.

If that wasn’t all, there have a been a ton of screenshots released… including the first smart phone screens! There are also some with new weapons and a new boss from the PC closed beta. Exciting.

Phantasy Star Online 2 Will Be Free To Play and on Smartphones

Sega of Japan revealed today that Phantasy Star Online 2 will not only arrive on PC, Vita and smartphone (iOS/Android) devices, but will be based on the free-to-play model of MMO’s. The PC and Vita versions will be similar and offer cross platform gameplay while the smartphone versions will be a simpler, more “personal” version of the game.The PC version will release in Japan this summer with the smartphone versions this winter and the Vita version in spring 2013.

No word yet if the game will see HD console release in the future.

Virtua Tennis Challenge gets gameplay trailer, out now for Xperia Play users

Virtua Tennis Challenge is SEGA’s newest Virtua Tennis game, only this one is for mobile devices.  The game will allow you to play 18 stadiums world wide, face up to 50 players and some console quality graphics? Looks really nice.

If you have an Xperia Play Android device, you can now download the game via Google Play (aka Android Market). Yep, its getting good ratings. Now i’ll wait till this exclusivity is done so I can buy it.

 

Super Monkey Ball 2: Sakura edition out now on Android

So if you are like me, a man that owns an Android phone. Then you probably have been totally jealous of all these other guys with shiny iPhones playing with their Monkey Balls. Well, good news, now we can play too.

“SEGA’s games, both new and old, are seeing an amazing new life on mobile devices, and Android is a big part of that,” said Haruki Satomi, Senior Vice President of Digital Business at SEGA of America. “We want to make it clear we are not just monkeying around on this platform, and that means giving Android users the same kind of variety and quality as any other medium. Super Monkey Ball is one of our fan-favorite franchises, and it makes a great fit for Android smartphones and tablets.”

The game is a high definition port of the arcade and Gamecube hit Super Monkey Ball 2. It features 125 fun filled levels, four mini-games and its only 99 cents right now. Its a special launch price, so act fast!

SEGA has no plans on releasing another Sonic 4 episode title

According to DigitalSpy, SEGA has told them that they are not planning to release any more episodes to the Sonic 4 franchise. Seems that it might end with Sonic 4: Episode 2. Who said a bold statement like that? Who else besides the one and only Takashi Iizuka.

“We are looking forward to hearing the feedback from the users for Episode 2, but we are currently not planning to release another episode. We just want to see how the users accept this episode.” –  Takashi Iizuka, Producer.

Is it good that SEGA is ending the Sonic 4 episodes or do you want a 3rd episode added with Knuckles?

Total War Battles: Shogun is the iOS & Android game, check out first screens


So are you a big fan of the Total War series? Have you ever wished you could play it on your mobile smart phone? Well, now you can. SEGA just announced Total War Battles: Shogun, their first Total War entry on the smartphone. It will be coming out for iOS and Android. This is not a PC port, its a original game build from the ground up to work great on your beautiful smart phone. The game promises a 10 hour long campaign, challenge missions and multiplayer on a shared screen.

Hit the jump to see the gallery of screenshots.

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

 

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!

Total War Series Goes Mobile

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?

Sonic 4: Episode 2 will only have one throwback level

Over at the official SEGA of America forums, a fan brought up the ultimate question. Are we going to suffer through throwbacks the whole time like episode one? Good news, Sonic 4 brand manager Ken Balough says that no, we won’t. He confirms that only one of the zones is a genuine throwback.

Also there is going to be a nice unveiling later this month. Now, he does admit that fans will call anything a throwback, only because it’s a similar environment. Read his full response after the jump.

Sonic 4 Episode 2 is being built for multicore mobile phones

SEGA has just has released a press release which gives us a hint at what kind of game we can expect for Sonic 4 Episode 2. The game is being built for multicore mobile phones, and SEGA is working with nvidia on a version for the worlds first Quadcore mobile phone processor for android.

This news personally has me really excited. It’s great to see that SEGA is putting so much concern for quality for Episode 2. For those who don’t know, the TEGRA quadcore processor is capable of running XBOX 360 and PS3 style games.

Hit the jump for the press release

Sonic CD on Android getting lots of one star ratings

I wake up this morning from a hazy slumber to go straight to the Android market to see if Sonic CD was uploaded. Expecting near perfect scores for the game, I get shocked to see so many one stars rating from users. It seems that a ton of people are angry due to three factors:

  • Most can’t download the additional 270mb of data required. Some are saying that the server got hit too hard.
  • You can’t install additional data to a SD card. It has to be on the phone memory. This is easily fixable and has been fixed for ChuChuRocket in the last update (another Android SEGA game).
  • Doesn’t seem to work with the Nexus Prime, the new ‘Google’ branded Android phone released today.

Come on SEGA, fix your damn servers. There is a reason why you have 63 one star ratings and 69 five star ratings. I have a feeling if the servers worked and people would be able to download their data, that it wouldn’t have gotten such low scores, even if you couldn’t install to SD or work on Nexus Prime. If it makes you feel better, its getting near perfect scores on Apple’s iTunes stores because people can actually download the game.

Yakuza social game might be headed to a smart phone near you


GREE platform, a mobile social gaming company that brought hit games to cell phone is moving its operations world wide. On the site they said they will expand their business to iOS and Android devices. They announced Seven major publishers who are joining, one of those publishers being SEGA.

Here is the less exciting news, some of the publishers listed their games as Japan only. So Yakuza for GREE a Japan only title? Nope. But it isn’t confirmed to be coming West yet, it says “locations TBA.” Hit to the jump to see all the publishers involved and click here to see the product page.

Sonic Advance now on Android in Japan

For those of you that want to relive the memories of the Game Boy Advance Sonic game, properly titled Sonic Advance, now you can. SEGA Japan have brought the game to the Japanese Android Market.

The game will cost you 415 yen (about $5). No idea if the game will be brought over West or other platforms. Here is hoping.