Japan

Phantasy Star Online 2 PC character creator demo out now, download here

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[Above character created by forum member CrazyTails, shout out!]

Sadly the demo is in Japanese, but the guys at bumped have made a mini-guide walking you through it. There is also a bench mark, but what do the scores mean?

  •  Less than 2000: Please adjust your game settings because the processing load is quite heavy.
  •  2000 through 5000: The game runs fine at the setting, if you have room, you can adjust some settings.
  •  5001+: The game works wonderfully at this setting.

So where can you download it? Right here [466mb].

If you want to share your characters you can do it on our forum topic or you can post them here in the comments.

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SEGA x Capcom x Namco Bandai mystery project gets countdown clock

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The site has been giving us “chromosome” teases for weeks and now it seems we will finally be counting down to the big reveal… or are they? All we know is that there are no more “chromosomes”, they seem to have ‘broken out’.

The clock will end on April 12th at midnight. So if you are waiting, you still got a little less than 5 days. We here have ‘tried to guess’ what characters the chromosomes belong to, but thanks to the interweb, someone already matched those. Check out the photos below.

 

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Japanese Charts: Yakuza on PSP debuts at #2, Shining Blade still charting

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The weekly Japanese charts came in and have Black Panther 2: Yakuza Ashura Chapter debuting at number 2. The Black Panther series is a spin-off of the Yakuza series on the PSP. This is the second title. Unlike console versions of Yakuza, the handheld version features its own playable main character and not Kazuma Kiryu. The game sold 104,937 units. The game came out March 22nd and since the chart ended on the 25th, the game only got 3 days of sales counted. We should be seeing it next week.

The second SEGA title to chart this week was another PSP game, this one Shining Blade. It’s funny actually, Shining Blade came out a week ago and charted at number 2 when it was out selling 122,257 units. So yeah, Shining Blade debuted better than Black Panther 2. This week Shining Blade dropped to number 10 and pushed an additional 19,032 units. So far Shining Blade has sold  141,289 units.

Not bad at all. I guess SEGA was in the right when they decided to still release PSP games in Japan instead of moving development to Playstation Vita.

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SEGA / Namco / Capcom Project teaser site gets updated with more hints

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Last time I the site was updated it was to five chromosomes per publisher. Now they added one more to each, totaling at six. It seems that everyone is saying that these chromosomes are hints of characters they will be using for the crossover 3DS game. We all took our wild guesses at the SEGA one, one totally looks like Bayonetta.

[Namco/Capcom]

Above is the chromosomes for Capcom and Namco. What do you see in there? Hard to tell with just colors. If you want to check out the Japanese teaser site, click here.

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Yakuza: Black Panther 2 demo released on Japanese PSN store

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SEGA is releasing Yakuza: Black Panther 2 in Japan this next Thursday, so to promote it SEGA has released a demo of the game on the Japanese PSN. The demo has the introduction to the story, hostess bar sections, ability to explore a chunk of Osaka and even test out the fighting system by beating the game’s first boss. This game is released exclusively for PSP in Japan. No western release is planned.

Can’t play the demo because you don’t own a PSP or can’t be bothered? Well we got you covered, hit the jump and you can seen over a dozen screens from the PSN demo. Enjoy!

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First Phantasy Star Online 2 Vita screens make it online

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SEGA just got done announcing Phantasy Star Online 2 for the Vita a few days ago, but now they are ready to start releasing screens. Well, at least 3 of them. The game might look a bit rough to you, but Sakai has confirmed that it’s only 10% complete and promises that when it’s done the Vita version should rival the PC version’s highest setting. I don’t know if this is good news or bad.

Sakai said he had a PSO2 surprise coming in March. Guess what? Surprise, this is it. The Vita version of the game. The Playstation Vita version of the game will start service sometime in 2013. SEGA has recently finished the PC version’s alpha 2 test, which was played by over 50,000 people. The game is getting closer to the large closed beta phase, I can’t believe it’s still this early in development.

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Phantasy Star Online 2 gets announced for Vita

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Phantasy Star franchise mastermind Sakai has announced today that Phantasy Star Online 2 is coming to Playstation Vita, in 2013. Yeah, sucks that we have to wait that long. Look at it this way, in the US we will probably wait a lot longer, since the game isn’t even announced here yet.

So the video above might not impress you graphically, but keep in mind the game is only 10% complete. That means that the 3D models, shading and other effects are set to the lowest setting. The good thing? The Vita version will play on the same servers, use the same data as the PC version. So you can buy both and pick the game up on the Vita while you ride a bus. Technology, you gotta love it.

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

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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!

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This is how Samurai & Dragons plays on Vita

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Above is Japanese footage for the Playstation Vita title called Samurai & Dragons. Taking up development for the title is Masayoshi Kikuchi, one of the masterminds behind the Yakuza franchise. Game mixes Western and Japanese by allowing you to be a knight, samurai or many of the other playable classes.

The game mixes RTS and dungeon crawling. Basically to get resources a user goes into a dungeon crawling level then build up their empire via the RTS sections. Yeah, reminds me a lot of the free game they launched on the iPhone last year called Kingdom Conquest.  No news if the game is coming West.

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Japanese Sonic 4 Episode 2 Site Opens! More Screens, Slick Interface.

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Why is it that the official Japanese sites for Sonic games are always way better than the English language ones? Why not translate what little text there is into English and make it so one site can cover all territories? While I ponder such things, I invite you to explore the recently opened Sonic 4 Episode 2 site from SEGA of Japan. There you’ll find new screens, a character bio section, an explanation of the combo moves (in Japanese, of course) and confirmation of Sylvania Castle and White Park being the first two zone names. If you dig a little, you’ll even find tiny screens of the first boss, Egg Serpentleaf, in action as well as a in-game menu screen. Of interest to Ice Cap fans, one screen shows off Sonic and Tails doing a bit of snowboarding in White Park. After the break, browse through the many screens!

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SEGA maimai: A new kind of arcade rhythm dancing game

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This new flashy arcade unit by SEGA is their latest rhythm dancing game called maimai. It features a round screen with lights around it, and when the game tells you to hit a certain spot in the circle, you do it. Pretty simple, till they speed it up.

Also the cabinet has a camera that allows users to record themselves playing a session and upload it to the popular Japanese video site Nico Nico Douga. SEGA states in the interview that this rhythm game is supposed to allow people be more social. Yes, they know it looks like a washing machine. The arcade is set to hit Japan in July of 2012. The video also confirms that SEGA is planning a Western release. Yeah, that was unexpected.

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Shining Blade gets two Japanese commercials

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx5_pQ00tvo

Above is the 30 second spot that will be airing over in Japan. Seems that SEGA is going to go out and promote this PSP title, even though the Vita just came out. Do you think it was a good idea to skip the Vita for now?

Hit the jump for the second spot, this one shorter at 15 seconds.

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Binary Domain debuts at #2 in Japan

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This week saw the release of several new games in Japan, with SEGA’s Binary Domain likely being the main point of interest for anyone reading this website. As reported by Eurogamer with charts from NeoGAF, Nagoshi’s cover shooter debuted at #2, selling around 73,683 copies on the PS3, with the Xbox 360 version evidently not making the top 20.

It was a stronger Japanese debut than SEGA’s previous third person shooter, Vanquish, and a solid start for a new IP in that territory, though Binary Domain isn’t likely to become the next Yakuza over there at this rate. New Love Plus from Konami took the #1 spot with 104,969 while Square-Enix’s rhythm-based Final Fantasy spinoff settled for 3rd with 67,206.

Full chart after the break.

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SEGA making Virtua Fighter social game, Yu Suzuki’s studio to oversee development

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SEGA has announced that they are making a social adaptation of the Virtua Fighting games on the popular Mobage platform. The game was announced as being called Virtua Fighter Cool Champ. Yes, I’m not making that up. Its called “Cool Champ”.

This Virtua Fighter spin off is going to be a card battling game that will feature characters and elements from the series. You can build up your character and fight against rivals. The game is being published by Epics and Yu Suzuki’s Ys Net Studio will be supervising them, along with SEGA who will supervise the project as a whole.

If you are a Mobage member, you will have access to the game on your phone… today! That’s right, are you a cool enough dude?

  

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SEGA and Atlus’ parent holding company sign distribution deal

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What does this big deal mean? Does it mean that Atlus will be publishing all those cool SEGA Japanese games West? Nope. Actually Atlus has inked up a deal for SEGA to distribute their games in Japan. Starting on April 2012, Atlus games will be hitting Japan under the true and blue SEGA logo.

It is already known that the deal will not effect digital titles and it is so far unclear of how this will affect Atlus’ publishing outside of Japan. The deal came because Atlus’ holding company, Index Holdings, has a constant decline in revenue and isn’t really able to support Atlus’ growth in its most important market. Should SEGA just buy out Atlus and call it a day or should this niche company stay where its at in the States?

 

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