Dragon’s Crown Pro Coming West sometime in Spring 2018

Atlus USA has now revealed a launch window for the upcoming Dragon’s Crown Pro, which is an updated version of last generations PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita game. This time its coming to PlayStation 4 in North America and Europe sometime in Spring 2018. The price for the game has been revealed to be $49.99 in the United States and $64.99 in Canada. European prices have yet to be revealed.

So what is new in Dragon’s Crown Pro that separates it from the last generation version? They have updated the in-game graphics to support 4K resolution, Hitoshi Sakimoto’s soundtrack has been re-recorded with a live orchestra, this copy will include both Japanese and English audio, and will also include all the DLC on disc. The game has also confirmed to support English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish subtitles. Dragon’s Crown Pro will also let you use your own PlayStation 3 or PlayStation Vita save files and even play co-op online with PlayStation 3 or PlayStation Vita users. I think that’s a great move by Atlus and Vanillaware, allowing all versions to crossplay online.

Dragon’s Crown Pro will be featured and playable at this year’s PlayStation Experience 2017 which goes on from December 9-10 in Anaheim, California.

New Persona 5 English trailer sizzles with excitement

“Its not just Japan anymore, the whole world is waiting to see the Phantom Thieve’s next move.” 

Check out the new Persona 5 English trailer above, showing off the voice cast, characters and other aspects to expect from the game when it launches in North America and Europe on April 4, 2017. That’s less than a month away. Get hyped. For SEGA fans that have never played a Persona game, you can play any of the released main series games without having played a prior version, so its like Final Fantasy in that regard. Along with the new Persona 5 English trailer, Atlus USA also sent out this description of the game:

“Persona 5 is a game about the internal and external conflicts of a group of troubled youth who live dual lives. They have the typically ordinary day-to-day of a Tokyo high-schooler – attending class, after school activities and part-time jobs. But they also undertake fantastical adventures by using otherworldly powers to enter the hearts of people. Their power comes from the Persona, the Jungian concept of the “self;” the game’s heroes realize that society forces people to wear masks to protect their inner vulnerabilities, and by literally ripping off their protective mask and confronting their inner selves do the heroes awaken their inner power, and use it to strive to help those in need. Ultimately, the group of Phantom Thieves seeks to change their day-to-day world to match their perception and see through the masks modern-day society wears.”

Put your mask on, question everything as you watch the new Persona 5 English trailer above. Make sure you pick up your copy of Persona 5 when it hits North American and European store shelves on April 4th only on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3.

[Via: Gamatsu]

SEGA News Bits: Deep Silver to bring SEGA and Atlus titles to Europe

In this SEGA News Bits, George and Barry discuss the recent announcement that publisher Deep Silver has teamed with SEGA of America and Atlus USA to release Atlus and select SEGA titles to Europe. That’s right! While SEGA Europe lets great games slip through the cracks, these two American companies are picking up the slack (“Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers” anyone?) .

Europeans can expect Atlus’ Persona 5 and Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse as well as SEGA’s 7th Dragon III Code: VFD in both physical and packaged releases thanks to a deal made with Deep Silver, and that is just the beginning. More games are to come! Listen to our thoughts on what this means for SEGA Europe and why SEGA of America and Atlus USA had to do what they did in our latest News Bits.

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Publisher Deep Silver to bring Atlus and select SEGA games to Europe [Updated with press release]

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Moments ago it was tweeted out by Deep Silver, the video game publishing division of German multinational corporation Koch Media, that they will be bringing Atlus USA and select SEGA titles to Europe. This will include Atlus titles Persona 5 and Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse. No further details are known as of now, but we are hoping a press release hits soon. This is both great news and bad news for European SEGA fans. It’s great that more games from SEGA and Atlus will be releasing to Europe, but it is bad news as it is a major sign that SEGA Europe – a publisher in their own right – are so disinterested in their own titles that they must rely on an external publisher to bring them over.

No word on what these select SEGA titles would include, but I would wager they’d be the more niche and/or Japanese titles like Hatsune Miku and 7th Dragon III: Code VFD. This is just my guess however, as we do not an any confirmation of what SEGA titles to expect as of yet.

Updates as the story unfolds after the break.

SEGA and Atlus E3 2016 line-up revealed

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SEGA has just issued a press release laying out just what attendees can expect to find at their E3 2016 booth, which as we’ve detailed before will be shared with Atlus. While the press release was issued by the London offices, the booth itself is being run by SEGA of America and Atlus USA, however there will be select titles that will also be making their way to Europe. First up is Relic Entertainment’s Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III, which is set to release in 2017 for Microsoft Windows PC. SEGA’s Yakuza 0, due out in 2017 for PS4 in the Americas and Europe, and Atlus’s Persona 5, due out in February 2017 in the Americas, will also be playable. Sonic will also have a presence with Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice for the Nintendo 3DS which is due out in the Americas and Europe in September 2016. And last but not least, 7th Dragon III Code: VFD for the Nintendo 3DS, which is due out in July 2016 in the Americas, will also be on display.

Jurgen Post, COO For SEGA Europe Ltd., called the lineup “one of the strongest line-ups we have had at E3 for quite a few years”, which is arguably true. Though given SEGA didn’t have a booth in 2015, and 2014 heavily featured the critical bomb that was Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, it’s not hard too hard to declare 2016’s showing as a strong one comparatively. Personally, I think 2016’s E3 lineup is lacking that one big new title that 2014 had with Alien: Isolation. Yakuza 0 and 7th Dragon III Code: VFD are sure to be fun, but they are also titles that have already been released in Japan for some time. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III and Persona 5 both look great, but I wouldn’t say Warhammer is game your average SEGA fan has been chomping at the bit for, and obviously the other is an Atlus title. Also of note, no signs of any Xbox One or Wii U games.

Still, it is great to see SEGA returning to E3 and we wish them a great show. Hopefully this is just a baby step after their massive restructuring and we have more reveals to come leading up to or after the event. Sonic fans and even SEGA themselves have been heavily teasing that the Sonic 25th Anniversary event in July is something to watch out for, so maybe the big new Sonic game will be revealed there amongst one thousand fans who will undoubtably spread the word via fan sites and social media rather than at a trade show.

Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse coming to the Americas summer 2016

Atlus USA has just announced that Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse (Shin Megami Tensei IV: Final in Japan) will be releasing to the Americas this summer. The game is said to overlap with the original SMTIV, with the game’s story focusing on a Hunter cadet who gets killed by one of the demons wreaking havoc on post-apocalyptic Tokyo. Thankfully, the fallen Hunter is resurrected by the mysterious god Dagda and is set on a path that walks the line between good and evil. The game is set to hit Nintendo 3DS systems physically and digitally for $49.99/CA$64.99.

Check out the trailer above, and after the break check out the Atlus press release and some screenshots.

SNK PLAYMORE teams with ATLUS to bring THE KING OF FIGHTERS XIV to the Americas

SNK PLAYMORE and Atlus U.S.A. have just announced that the two are joining forces to bring THE KING OF FIGHTERS XIV to the Americas. The game is set to release exclusively to the Playstation 4 later this year. KOF XIV is most well known to fans as the game that brought the series from pixel art to 3D models, whether or not this is a good thing is up to you. Personally, it is just great to have confirmation that the game is heading our way. Atlus promises that KOF XIV will have vastly improved netcode for competitive level multiplayer to fully use the PS4’s online features.

After the break, check out the press release and screens of the upcoming game!

Note: Sega Games Co., Ltd. is Atlus’s parent company, however THE KING OF FIGHTERS XIV is coming west thanks to ATLUS U.S.A. Confusing, I know, that’s just how corporations work. It’s like how Disney fan sites can news Star Wars stuff.

Some of SEGA of America’s staff confirmed to be working in Atlus USA’s offices

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Back in late September we speculated that SEGA of America had moved in with Atlus USA at their offices in Irvine, California. While all signs pointed to “yes”, we didn’t want to be 100% certain until we had official word from SEGA. Thanks to SEGAbits forum member NoirSuede we have confirmation from SEGA that they indeed have moved in to the Atlus offices.

In a recent official SEGA Twitch stream, NoirSuede asked “is the non-Sonic Sega of America staff in the Atlus USA office?”, to which SEGA replied “some of them”. So the official word is some, but not all. So where are the others? The SEGA West corporate page lists the Atlus address, as well as an address in Burbank, California at 250 East Olive Avenue. These offices house Marza Animation Planet, but we have heard from some fans that this office now doubles as the Sonic brand office. Burbank would be a fitting location for Sonic, given the upcoming Hollywood film from Sony Pictures.

SEGA News Bits: Has SEGA of America moved in with Atlus USA?

During the summer, SEGA of America closed their San Francisco offices and moved to Southern California. Oddly, SEGA had been pretty quiet when it came to revealing the exact location of the office, but after a little digging we may now know where they ended up! Based on various sources, it appears that SEGA has moved in to the existing Atlus USA offices in Irvine, California.

In this SEGA News Bits, Barry and George share how they came to this conclusion and give their thoughts on this development. As a bonus, enjoy a slideshow of pictures taken when Barry visited SEGA’s San Francisco offices in 2013, and check out the original SEGAbits Visits SEGA of America, Inc. articles here: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 

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Stella Glow’s latest trailer introduces us to Witch Tuning

So Atlus USA has posted the following trailer showing off the gameplay mechanic knowing as Witch Tuning for their upcoming American 3DS JRPG published game Stella Glow (SEGA published it in Japan).

It seems that if your ‘tiny female’ characters except a man into their heart they can awake their inner Goddesses? At least that is what I got from the trailer and I’m not sure how that will fly over with the new sensitive generation of gamers. What are your thoughts?

Atlus’ launch day edition of The Legend of Legacy is pretty awesome

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The Legend of Legacy is a Nintendo 3DS RPG developed by Furyu and this game is actually mean’t to be the spiritual sequel to the long running SaGa series. Atlus USA seemed to be pretty impressed with the game since they picked up US publishing rights, while NIS America will publish it in Europe (yeah, weird).

Atlus just announced a firm date of release, the game will hit North American shelves on October 13th. Not only that, they also showed off the ‘Launch Edition’ which comes with the following items:

  • A copy of the game
  • Collector’s box
  • 10-track Masashi Hamauzu original soundtrack
  • Premium 40-page hardcover art book featuring character artwork, concept sketches, monster pages, and background art, accompanied by commentary from the game’s character artist Tomomi Kobayashi

How much is this ‘Launch Day’ edition going to cost you, the consumer? The regular price of $39.99, which is actually cheaper than most recent Atlus 3DS releases (they have been priced at $49.99). Hey, support the game early and get free stuff. Can’t complain.

 

Atlus USA shows off Stella Glow’s English opening movie, new screens and US box art

Originally Stella Glow was suppose to be not only developed by Imageepoch, but also published by them. Sadly they went bankrupt and SEGA picked up publishing duties for the game in Japan, while Atlus USA picked up publishing for the West. Today Atlus USA has posted the following opening movie for the English release of Stella Glow, featuring new music and introducing us to the main cast of characters. Atlus also posted the following information regarding the game:

  • Song Magic: Famous Japanese voice actors sing more than 20 songs in the game. Plus, the soundtrack is composed by Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger, Xenogears). The songs are part of Song Magic – a vital combat and story element.
  • Players will get an allotment of Free Time where they can upgrade or buy items, tune Witches’ hearts, explore, and grind experience, but that’s in limited supply as Combat Time will drive along the game’s story.
  • Stella Glow will have 40-60 hours of story and side quest content, with multiple endings, New Game+ mode, and more than 50 maps to battle on, the world of Stella Glow is rich and vibrant with tons to do!
  • From the team behind the classic Luminous Arc games comes a brand new IP with the same renowned strategic combat.

Stella Glow will be released exclusively on the Nintendo 3DS and according to Atlus USA it will be available this holiday season (Amazon has it listed for November 17th and priced at $49.99). Below is the new box art (same as Japanese version) for the US release and new screenshots of the game.