Here’s your first look at Yakuza 8, featuring the return of Ichiban Kasuga

Yakuza fans are getting their first look at the eighth game in the franchise by way of a behind-the-scenes video shared by MMA fighter and YouTuber Mikuru Asakura. The video sees Mikuru Asakura visiting SEGA HQ and speaking with staff, followed by a tour of the offices and then a 3D scan of his body. The video reveals that Mikuru Asakura will play a role in Yakuza 8, and off screen footage shows Ichiban with tied back hair. An article from Famitsu states the game will feature a new town.

Famitsu shows off Sonic Origins in live stream, including new features and animated cutscenes

This morning, Famitsu showed off nearly an hour of Sonic Origins in-game footage, including the overworld map, anniversary and classic mode footage, 2 player races and the museum. There is so much to see that I will leave it to you, the reader, to click play and skim through yourself. Some highlights for me was the opening animated cutscene for Sonic 1, the confirmation of Sonic Mania Adventures animations all being included, the surprisingly expanded 2 player mode with new maps, the mission and boss battle modes and the aforementioned overworld map of all the classic era islands.

Check the video out for yourself!

Yu Suzuki says there are ‘no concrete plans’ for Shenmue 4 yet

Shenmue creator and SEGA legend Yu Suzuki recently attended a event to celebrate Shenmue in Yokosuka, right during the finale of the Shenmue the Animation. At this event there where several gaming outlets including IGN Japan and Famitsu, where he discussed the anime and talked about the future of the series.

One of the interesting points he touched on was the fact that Shenmue 3 was created to please long time fans from the start since they’re the ones crowdfunding it. Yu Suzuki says he received positive feedback from those old time fans but felt that newcomers “felt like they had been left behind”. This made it a bad entry point for newcomers.

SEGA Talks About What’s Next After the Game Gear Micro

With the Game Gear Micro now releasing in Japan, SEGA’s Yosuke Okunari talked about what’s next in a recent issue of Famitsu Magazine. Thanks to Siliconera, we have some translated tidbits from the article:

“For the next Mini, we are considering everything that has been imagined by everyone.”
“Of course, it doesn’t mean we can realize all of them. We are also thinking about projects that nobody has imagined.”
“The projects are moved by a substantial amount of money, so we’re working first on the one that, realistically speaking, has the highest possibility.”
“The Game Gear Micro is only sold domestically in Japan. When we do the next one, I feel like the project scope will be much bigger as we gaze upon the world. So we won’t be able to release it at this time the next year or two years after the Mega Drive Mini. We can’t make it that quickly. (laughs)”
“I think for the next one, we may go with a concept close to the Mega Drive Mini. If I have to say some names, it could be an SG-1000 Mini or a Dreamcast Mini…”

It’s interesting that the Astro City Mini is not mentioned, and that SEGA are considering everything from their earliest console to their last console. What would you like to see next from SEGA? Sound off in the comments below!

[Source: Siliconera]
[Image Credit: KIDULT SHARINGS]

SEGA News Bits: SEGA Reveals Revolutionary Arcade Fog Gaming

The Famitsu article has been revealed, and it’s not the Game Gear Micro, it’s Fog Gaming! What is Fog Gaming? It’s a revolutionary (there’s that word again) new approach to arcades that would lower costs and allow players to enjoy arcade games from their home. Learn more by clicking play!

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Famitsu: SEGA reveals “Revolutionary” arcade Fog Gaming service

The “revolutionary” SEGA news teased by Japanese tech journalist Zenji Nishikawa has arrived, and despite some speculation it is NOT the Game Gear Micro. As reported by Gematsu, Famitsu magazine’s reveal is that SEGA research and development is working on “Fog Gaming”, a possible new platform to be utilized by Japanese arcades. The concept could totally change how SEGA approaches and operates arcades, arcades being a strong focus for SEGA in their home country.

Fog Gaming promises ultra low latency arcade games operating on a cloud-like service. Fog Gaming would channel an arcade machines’ CPUs and GPUs which would result in lower costs. Players would also be able to play arcade games from home, presumably after hours so as to not cut into arcade business hours. Twitter user @Doorkez says “the difference between Cloud and fog: The main difference between fog computing and cloud computing is that cloud is a centralized system, while the fog is a distributed decentralized infrastructure. Fog computing is a mediator between hardware and remote servers”

SEGA ‘Revolutionary’ tech news won’t be them releasing & rebranding Xbox Series X console in Japan says ‘key opinion leader in China’


Famitsu has been teasing ‘Revolutionary’ SEGA news that should be coming out in a few days, we posted an article and video about the news with some speculation. One of the speculations we had in our video was that SEGA could be rebranding the Xbox Series X in Japan as a SEGA console and promote it themselves considering how bad Microsoft’s branding has been in the nation. It seems we weren’t the only people to bring it up that we got subtweet by @ZhugeEX on Twitter. We have at least confirmed that it would be this outlandish speculation, but don’t worry we have other outrages speculations in our full video.

A key opinion leader in China says they have seen the latest Famitsu issue and that they can confidently say that the news is not what has been rumored. (The rumor being that Microsoft would work with Sega to rebrand and launch Series X in Japan). Is something else.”

What could the news be? We will find out in a few days but it does seem some SEGAbits Discord users have brought up a good point about SEGA rebranding their logo with the ‘eye’ back in 2017, which teased ‘eye tracking technology’ that we never saw as a commercial product. People predicting this is what SEGA will show off, makes sense. But what do you think the big announcement will be? Let us know in the comments.

SEGA News Bits: Revolutionary SEGA News Teased – Analysis & Speculation

Some “revolutionary” tech news pertaining to SEGA is set to hit next week, and on this SEGA News Bits we discuss what exactly the news could be. SEGA turns 60 on June 3rd, and just a day later Famitsu magazine will be printing the news. Could it be new hardware? A SEGA streaming service? A Microsoft partnership? We will soon find out! In the meantime, let’s speculate!

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Japanese tech journalist teases “revolutionary” SEGA news in June 4th Famitsu magazine

In a YouTube live stream, Japanese tech journalist Zenji Nishikawa has teased what he calls a “huge scoop” for the June 4th issue of Japan’s Famitsu magazine. He calls the news “revolutionary” and claims it is on the level of Wired’s PlayStation 5 article. What more, it will “rile up the games industry”. Nishikawa says he interviewed a company executive and technical staff, and later let slip that the company in question was SEGA.

Nishikawa has said it is NOT Dreamcast 2. With SEGA’s 60th anniversary on June 3rd, it does line up with the June 4th issue release. We will have more news soon on this big announcement! What could it be? Speculate in the comments below.

[Source: Gematsu]

New info on Shin Sakura Taisen with more character reveals and Great Combat Revue World War gameplay details

Famitsu has released another set on new information on Shin Sakura Taisen by introducing more supporting characters in the story and game play details on Great Combat Revue World War. The few
new characters introduced in Shin Sakura Taisen are President G, the secretary general of  “WLOF” and his flagship, Mister I, President G’s right hand man and the leader of the “WLOF” black clothing unit who performs intelligence activities; Sakura Amamiya’s parents, Hinata & Tekkan; Azami Mochizuki’s foster parent, Yattansai.

In addition to the game’s battle mode sections, the Great Combat Revue World War held by “WLOF” every two years pits you against other Combat Revue teams around the world in 3vs3 team battles with the objective to earn points by defeating foes which in turn fills out gauge at the top of the screen, & victory achieved by filling up the gauge or having more points if time limit reached.

Give Shin Sakura Taisen a try with the demo available for download in the Japanese PSN store on November 21, 2019. The full game will be released on December 12, 2019 for Playstation 4 in Japan and Spring 2020 in Americas and Europe. Special thanks to HDKirin for providing scans and details. Check out the Famitsu scans after the break.

New Info on Shin Sakura Taisen covers main enemies, union attacks, and more!

New information on Shin Sakura Taisen has been released in the upcoming Famitsu article which covers the introduction of the exorcism who are the enemies of the new Flower Division, the highlights of Wind Division members’ battle clothes and “union attacks”. One of the main antagonist is named Oboro, a demon who appears in the Imperial Capital with Yasha and has joy in scaring people and those dying in despair. He specializes in using illusions on his enemies in battle and controls a puppet army of demons covered in armor.

The article also showcased Kaoru Rindo and Komachi Ohba in their battle uniforms and supporting the commander in the Strategy Command Room and in the Shogei Maru. At last, the returning from the classic Sakura Taisen games is the bond gauge and union attacks. In the battle sections, performance will be strengthened according to the depth of bonds with the members of the Flower Division.

Bonds change their initial state depending on choices made in the adventure section, and can deepen by actions during the battle. A “union attack” that can be triggered only once per battle if certain conditions are met and will show a cutscene of Kamiyama with one of the heroines. After the cutscene ends, the status of Kamiyama and the corresponding heroine will be greatly enhanced for a certain period of time.

Shin Sakura Taisen aka Project Sakura Wars will be released on December 12, 2019 in Japan and Spring 2020 for Americas and Europe for Playstation 4.

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.

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 AGES Virtua Racing slated for Spring 2019 release, multiplayer information revealed


After several months of silence, SEGA has dropped new information regarding to SEGA AGES Virtua Racing in the latest issue of Famitsu. The main bulk of the new information is regarding to the game’s multiplayer. SEGA AGES Virtua Racing will support both local and online multiplayer, the latter notable due to it being the first online-supported multiplayer title in the SEGA AGES line-up that isn’t related to a puzzle game. For online multiplayer, players will be restricted to one vs. one matches, while for local multiplayer people will have the option to play up to 8 players and the option to change the amount of laps between 5 and 20. Local multiplayer will use the “old-school” style of displaying all the racers, using a classic split-screen approach.

In addition, it’s revealed that SEGA AGES Virtua Racing will be slated for a Spring 2019 release date in Japan. However, due to SEGA’s track record of these SEGA AGES titles being delayed, expect a summer release date instead. No other information regarding to a pricing or release dates outside of Japan have been revealed.

[Source: GematsuRyokutya2089]

SEGA AGES debuts on Nintendo Switch with Sonic the Hedgehog & Thunder Force IV next month

It was a surprise to a lot of SEGA fans when SEGA announced that they wouldn’t be porting the SEGA Genesis/Megadrive Collection to Nintendo Switch. Instead SEGA Japan would be bringing its downloadable titles by reviving their SEGA AGES brand. We finally got the first details including the debut games, release date and pricing.

According to the latest Weekly Famitsu magazine where they confirmed that the first two debut titles will be Sonic the Hedgehog and Thunder Force IV! Each title will cost you 925 yen (£6.30 / $8.20) and will release in August. Just like the SEGA 3D Classics, Sonic the Hedgehog will include the added Spin Dash, Drop Dash and the Mega Play arcade version. While Thunder Force IV will introduce online leaderboards and the Styx Mode from the SEGA Saturn version!