Japanese Binary Domain trailer shows new footage


I thought the game was going to be English, world wide. Seems that is not the case. I hope it allows you to play through it with Japanese voices and English subtitles.

This shows some footage from the English trailer and a few new pieces. Also they changed the music. The game is looking better every time I see it.

Operation G.H.O.S.T. arcade cabinet

SEGA’s sequel to Ghost Squad is real, so real that here are your pictures of the cabinet you will be playing it on. Sure, it isn’t the best looking cabinet and we have not had screenshots released of in-game yet.

Pretty sure this game will get a US and Europe arcade release, seeing as how Ghost Squad was quite popular here. Maybe if we complain enough we will also get a console port? Worth a try!

[Via: Arcadeheroes]

SEGA teasing Ghost Squad sequel?

 

It seems SEGA are carrying out a location test from Friday through to the following Monday with a new game called Operation G.H.O.S.T. Whilst nothing but a teaser site and web address has been revealed, ArcadeHeroes have taken an educated guess as the original Ghost Squad had GHOST as an abbreviation. Hopefully the website will provide more information in the coming days.

[Source: Arcade Heroes]

Free-to-play mobile Phantasy Star game out in Japan

Mobage members from Japan today will be able to get their hands on Phantasy Star Eternal Hunters, a free-to-play mobile game.

The game has you playing as a hunter, who has to investigate a crashed ship. You have to gather reports and all that hunter like stuff. The game changes it up by changing enemies depending on where your GPS location on your phone says you are.

To celebrate the launch, SEGA has released a tie-in item for Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity. The only way to obtain the item is to defeat and gather reports from monsters in Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Fukuoka and Sapporo. After you kill them, they will give you a code. Item pictured below.

[Source: AndriaSang]

Puyo Puyo 20th Anniversary Game Announced for Japan

From French gaming sites Gamekult and jeuxvideo24 comes information on Puyo Puyo’s 20th anniversary game. That’s right, Sonic isn’t the only one having a birthday in 2011. A translation of one of the articles reveals quite a bit of information. First off, the game will be for the Nintendo DS. There will be 15 variations on the rules, such as rules from Sun (the third game) and Fever (the fifth game). Also, the game will include a tag team mode, featuring two on two play. It also sounds like you will be able to purchase items in a shop mode. Very cool!

Yakuza 4 the best selling Playstation 3 game of 2010 in Japan


Japan love their Yakuza games, almost as much as we like to play cowboys in the west with Red Dead Redemption. So its no surprise that Yakuza 4 is the best selling Playstation 3 game in Japan for 2010.

The game manage to sell 577,199 units in 9 months (was released in March 18, 2010). Sure it isn’t uber blockbuster numbers and it just beat out Sony’s Gran Turismo 5 which was released in November, that did 563,378 units.

Even though Yakuza 4 was the best selling Playstation 3 game, it still came in #16 for best selling Japanese game on all consoles. Damn those Japanese kids and their love for Monster Hunter, Super Mario and Pokemon!

[Source: Siliconera]

Want to donate to Japan relief and get some cool SEGA swag?

Well, you still can. It looks like SEGA Of America is about done auctioning off their items, having raised thousands of dollars by selling rare merchandise on eBay the past couple of weeks.

Well, they still have a few items up. If you’re into cosplay, two Valkyria Chronicles uniforms are up for grabs, as well as some Aliens Vs. Predator games, a rare Sonic & Tails 1992 SEGA watch, and more.

Get them while you still can, and help out a truly noble cause.

[Source: SEGA]

Support SEGA’s Hope For Japan by playing SEGA Play! Baseball

SEGA Of America is pouring their hearts (and a lot of money) to help out Japan after the huge earthquake/tsunami crisis last month. It’s a great thing, and they have sure helped out a lot of people with their huge auctioning off of rare swag, as well as donations from Football Manager, Sonic, and Kingdom Conquest. Now, you can help some more by buying two Japanese items to decorate your stadium or team in SEGA Play! Baseball, available here.

[Source: SEGA]

Bangai-O XBLA port coming world wide on May 4

[This title is being published by D3, not SEGA. It is filed under news and not SEGA News.]

Bangai-O was originally released for the Nintendo 64. The series later got ported over to the Dreamcast, where it was released world wide. In 2008 the series made a comeback on the DS with a sequel titled Bangai -O Spirits.

Now the first game, the one that appeared on the Dreamcast by acclaimed developer Treasure (Gunstar Heroes and Sin & Punishment) is getting a remake on XBLA called Bangai-O HD: Missile Fury. Not only that, it will be out on May 4th. Other Treasure remakes hitting XBLA? Radiant Silvergun , which appeared on the SEGA Saturn (an excellent game!).

Game comes out May 4th world wide, comes with over 100 levels, map editor, ability to share levels online, online leaderboards and a nice price of 800 MS points.

[Source: AndriaSang]

Puyo Puyo online Virtual Console hits Japan on Tuesday


SEGA already announced that they would be releasing the arcade version of Puyo Puyo on Virtual Console. But not only that, it was going to be the first Virtual Console title to have online play. Well, the game finally got its release date. April 12th and will cost you 800 wii points.

Of course the release date we are talking about is only for Japan, since it has not been announced for America just yet. Below is a screen of the wi-fi screen that allows the users to play with strangers, friends or show your firends code. Basic Wii online stuff.

[Source: AndriaSang]

Phantasy Star Universe – PSU PC Updated, PSU PS2 closes!


It seems that the era of Phantasy Star Universe is coming to a close. Today Sega have announced that the Japanese Playstation 2 PSU servers will be shut down, leaving only the PC version still up and running.

However it’s not all doom and gloom; with the closing of the PS2 servers, the PC version of PSU is getting a substantial update introducing new areas, photon arts, items, special abilities and more. All are based on Phantasy Star Portable 2 or Phantasy Star Portable 2: Infinity.

With Phantasy Star Portable 2: Infinity doing well in the Japanese charts (well deserved) and the much anticipated Phantasy Star Online 2 on its way the Phantasy Star series looks set to continue for many years to come.

Hit the jump to see an early rundown of the new content coming to PSU-PC soon.

Yakuza of the End gets June 9th release date


Yakuza of the End was supposed to be released in March, but a huge earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan. You probably heard of it. What is SEGA to do? Release a game where zombies attack Japan and leave everything destroyed while actual tragedy has hit Japan?

SEGA did the right thing and delayed the game. Some people thought the game was going to join 2001’s Propeller Arena (a AM2 DC game not released because of 9/11) and never come out. Well it is, June 9th. Few changes, some of the profits from the game will go to help Japan and the first print has a sticker that says “Ryu ga Gotoku Ganbaro, Nippon!”

Ganbaro means to stay strong and Nippon translates to land of the rising sun, a nickname for Japan.

[Source: AndriaSang]

Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity has sold 312k copies so far


The latest Media Create Sales are out for the week, ending on April 3rd. Guess who came in at number 10? Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity and it sold 12,000 units for the week. Not bad.

On the same note, the PSP has outsold the 3DS for the second week in Japan as well. Maybe SEGA focusing on PSP titles in Japan isn’t that big of a mistake after all. If only the NGP would perform better in the west, I guess we will see.

[Source: NeoGAF]

PlatinumGames “saddened” by current Japanese gaming industry

PlatinumGames President and CEO Tatsuya Minami recently wrote a blog post that can be seen at their website, and it’s clear that he’s not too thrilled at the moment with the Japanese gaming industry.

His problems with the current state of game development, especially in Japan, stems from what he sees as a lack of original content being created as franchises grow “ever longer.” He’s saddened by what he sees as too few Japanese developers creating games with “new” at their core, and Japanese games are, as a result, failing to achieve worldwide acclaim; in short, Minami says, Japanese developers have lost their vigor.

Going forward, the CEO promises that PlatinumGames will continue to strive to provide fresh and original content to a worldwide audience, and hopes that they will inspire other Japanese developers to do the same.

“At PlatinumGames, we strive to be the face of Japanese game studios on the worldwide stage. We want our contributions to not only be towards the games industry as a whole, but also be contributions towards our homeland of Japan. That is the principle that will guide our company into the future.

We aim to bring happiness to gamers worldwide. We seek to ignite a Japanese games revival. And our troops will have the highest morale.

We’re in this fight for the long haul.”

Tatsuya Minami
President and CEO
PlatinumGames Inc.
Spring 2011

To check out the full post, hit up their website.

VF5 Final Showdown update hits arcades next month

The new issue of Arcadia teases a new Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown update. They gave out some information.

  • The release window for the new update is April. Most likely to released before Golden Week.
  • The bound system will be reworked, no longer allowing you to bound a character more than once. Issue with the current build is that wall combos can take off up to 50% of your health, now when it’s down the second time they won’t bounce as high and stay closer to the ground.
  • All characters will be tweaked for better balance. Here is a promotional video teasing new the changes.
  • VF.net service will be upgraded. The match videos users create will now have info displayed if you turn on the ‘frame data display.’

This is all the information that we know about the newest update. We here at SEGAbits are still waiting for our console port. Lets do this SEGA. Hit the jump to see the top 10 played arcades according to Arcadia.