Mobile

SEGA’s new mobile game ‘Cranky Food Friends’ gets soft launch

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cranky_food_friends
Do you like food? Do you like match four puzzle games? Then SEGA has a game for you *points directly at you*. SEGA have soft launched Cranky Food Friends, but you won’t be able to play it if you don’t live in Canada, Sweden or Norway meaning exactly no one will be able to play it right now. Not to mention it also seems to have been launched on iOS only.

Talking about mobile, SEGA has actually launched a forum for their mobile games using the SEGA.Net url, which was used during the Dreamcast era to sell their SegaNet online services. Yes, times have changed.

It seems that this game and Puzzles & Glory are going for the huge puzzle market that has been created by Candy Crush and Puzzles & Dragon. People have also been comparing the premise to ‘Crying Breakfast Friends!‘ from the hit show Steven Universe. Not very original and probably won’t appeal to your average SEGA fan.

[Edit] People are telling me that this game is a reskin of Puyo Puyo Quest!!, it seems that its Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine all over again. Puyo Puyo > Cranky Food Friends. [/Edit]

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Phantasy Star Online 2 Anime revolves around gamers playing the game

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SEGA not only revealed that Phantasy Star Online 2 was coming to Playstation 4, but they gave us a teaser for their upcoming Phantasy Star Online 2 The Animation aka the anime based around gamers that play the online RPG.

Animenewsnetwork translated the text in the trailer:

Text: With over 3.5 million user IDs
Text: Japan’s largest online RPG
Text: Phantasy Star Online 2
Text: Is finally green-lit for its anticipated
Text: TV anime adaptation!!

Text: Shouta Aoi as Itsuki Tachibana
Text: Ayaka Suwa as Rina Izumi
Text: M.A.O as Aika Suzuki

Text: Broadcast premiere slated for 2016 on TBS, BS-TBS, and other stations!

The premise of the show is that it follows the lives of players of Phantasy Star Online 2 ‘who may be near you’, taking place on Earth in the near future. Seems that someone at SEGA was inspired by Sword Art Online. The anime will hit Japanese TV stations sometime in 2016, will you watch it?

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SEGA ending Rhythm Thief & The Paris Caper’s online services this September

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Rhythm Thief & The Paris Caper
SEGA has quietly confirmed that it will be ending the online services for Rhythm Thief & the Paris Caper at 6 PM (UTC) on September 28th 2015. This game isn’t the 3DS version, its the iOS adaptation released under SEGA Networks back in 2013. The iOS page for the game has the following message:

“The game went live on October 28th in 2013, and we have constantly strived to deliver a fun and engaging experience. This decision came as a result of various circumstances beyond our control. Again, we would like to thank you for playing. July 28, 2015 – Last day of in-app purchase sales, September 30, 2016 – Last day of service”

Like most SEGA Network games, Rhythm Thief & the Paris Caper has always-on connectivity requirments without the ability to play offline. I would say that SEGA shutting down the online services basically means that this game is now unplayable… unless SEGA patches it to work offline.

[Via Siliconera]

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SEGA releases new Spiral Knight’s spin-off Rise of Knights

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Back in 2011 SEGA acquired Three Rings Studios, who would go on to release Spiral Knights, a free to play online RPG. It seems that SEGA has decided to bring back the franchise as a mobile game that is very similar to SEGA Japan’s Chain Chronicles. Not only in combat but the flow and structure of the game keeps making me think this is a Chain Chronicles reskin that was created to appeal to the players that play Spiral Knights.

The video above has like over 15 minutes of gameplay, basically giving you the whole idea of what the game is. Yes, Chain Chronicles x Spiral Knights. Its not a bad idea honestly, you can download it now if your on iDevices via iTunes. One last thing, doesn’t this game’s name sound like a Batman comic?

[Thanks max_cady]

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SEGA’s Puzzle & Glory mobile game gets soft launch in Canada

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SEGA has just had a soft launch for Puzzle & Glory which is being developed by newly acquired Demiurge Studios (Marvel Puzzle Quest). The game should be available to Canadian users on both the Play Store and iTunes right now. Puzzle & Glory is a Match-3 RPG puzzle game that has been popularized by Puzzle & Dragons (wow, see the similar titles?).

The game has you going through dungeons as you explore, conquer quests and traverse the dangerous landscapes of Aetria. The game even has competitive PVP mode if you’re into that. If you want to try the game out and you’re on Apple devices you can always make a Canadian iTunes account to try it. As for Android users, we have to wait until the APK pops up on the internet.

[Via: The Forums]

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Sonic Dash has reached over 100 million downloads

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DashiOS
Seems that SEGA and Hardlight’s Sonic Dash is still a success for the company, originally released in March 2013 the game has now reached over a 100 million downloads on both Android and iOS. The game is a free-to-play endless runner in the vain of Temple Run starting the Blue Blur himself.

SEGA even released a info image detailing all the games accomplishments since release. Including users having collected over 850 billion gold rings, 123 million hours played and a average of 14 million players playing the game daily since launch.

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Rumor: Takashi Iizuka says Sonic Team not developing rumored ‘Sonic Mach 2’ game

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SonicMach2
Oh boy, it seems the rumors posted about a new Sonic game in development being titled ‘Sonic Mach 2‘ are coming true. The Sonic Mach 2 rumors started when Orbot’s German voice actor listed the unannounced project on his online portfolio. Since the Sonic fanbase its an excited bunch, instead of waiting for its eventual reveal, Sonic Stadium forum members started messaging Takashi Iizuka on his personal Facebook account. Here is the conversation he had with one user:

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Thanks for spilling some of the beans Mr. Iizuka, I’m sure your going to get a stern talking to (unless he is trolling users of course). So let’s say the game does exist but isn’t being developed by Sonic Team. What does that mean? Probably means its not the next big Sonic the Hedgehog game. It might even be a new game developed by SEGA’s newly acquired mobile developer Demiurge Studios or even another mobile title by Hardlight. But is it a little too early for another Sonic mobile game, seeing as Sonic Runners hasn’t even been released world wide?

What do you guys think? Tell us in the comments, you think Iizuka is trolling?

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Here are the 17 mobile games SEGA have pulled for a lack of quality

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MobilePurge
We talked about it before that SEGA planned to drop older titles that they either weren’t going to update or didn’t fit their quality of standards.
The following titles are no longer available on Google Play or iTunes:

  • After Burner Climax
  • Jet Set Radio
  • Super Monkey Ball 1 & 2 
  • Super Monkey Ball Tip’n’Tilt 1&2 (older phones)
  • Altered Beast
  • Ecco the Dolphin 
  • Golden Axe 1, 2 & 3 
  • Phantasy Star 2 
  • Streets of Rage 1& 3
  • Space Harrier 2
  • Virtua Fighter 2 
  • Zaxxon Escape

After Burner Climax has also been taken down from XBLA and PSN, so it makes sense that the mobile version would also be dropped. As for those Genesis/Mega Drive games, SEGA has been trying to have higher quality versions of them starting with Sonic CD, Sonic 1 & 2. SEGA did say; “Given the right situation, these titles may return in an updated form,” so you never know if we will see some of these return.

If you paid for any of the games, you can still download them at anytime on iTunes or the Play Store.

[Via: Eurogamer]

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Mobile games that no longer meet SEGA’s standards to be removed from app stores in the coming weeks

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sega_iphone

Via the SEGA Blog comes news that a number of games from their back catalog will be removed from the App Store, the Google Play Store, the Samsung App Store and the Amazon App Store in the coming weeks. The reasoning for this is to remove titles that no longer meet their revised standards. While games you have already purchased will be available to download and play again, these select titles will soon no longer be for sale. What are these titles that SEGA plans to purge? We don’t know at this point, but I’d wager a guess that many of the older titles including those that have had issues on the newest devices are on the chopping block. SEGA did state, however, that some titles may return in an updated form.

While it is always a shame to see older titles removed, one of the major downsides to digital titles, it is nice of SEGA to give advanced warning. Also, this could be a sign of SEGA of America stepping things up in the quality department. I’d guess that the axed titles will likely be the old badly emulated Genesis/Mega Drive games and SEGA Columns Deluxe.

Check out SEGA’s full statement after the break and stay tuned to SEGAbits for what these soon to be removed titles are.

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SEGA launches free-to-play Total War Battles: KINGDOM on Steam

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totalwarkingdom
SEGA has released Total War Battles: KINGDOM out of its closed beta testing phase and is now free to download as an open beta game. The game will allow you to seamlessly play from PC to mobile when the app launches.

Reviews for the game so far have been mixed with the Total War fanbase disliking the game’s use of free-to-play mechanics that are similar to the ever popular mobile title Clash of Clans. The general complaint is that the game doesn’t resemble much of what people like in Total War games and that SEGA is charging people who want to grow wheat instantly instead of waiting 8 hours.

We shall see if SEGA will further tweak the wait time for basic actions or if they will continue down the same path with this game.

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Sonic Runners to get Phantasy Star Online 2 companions later this month

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According to the latest Phantasy Star Online 2 press event, the team has revealed that they are crossing over to Sonic Runners via unlockable companions later this month. The update will allow you to unlock either aa Rappy , Mag or Quna. You can see the unlockable models in the picture above.

Of course since Sonic Runners is still in soft launch, both Sonic Runners and Phantasy Star Online 2 haven’t been released in America yet. While we know that Sonic Runners will eventually come to America, will they still include Phantasy Star Online 2 items, when it hasn’t been released here?

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Hortensia Saga – New Trailer

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After the roaring success of SEGA’s free to play mobile RPG Chain Chronicles the company seems to be investing big in mobile RPGs. Next in line is Hortensia Saga, like Chain Chronicles before it, Hortensia Saga uses the 3×3 grid for tactical-RPG gameplay. The trailer shows off some gameplay, characters as well as some pretty well animated anime cut-scenes.

No word yet on a Western release but if Chain Chronicles is anything to go by we can expect a Western release by Gumi.

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SEGA’s mobile division on track for record setting revenue

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SEGANetworksMoney

SEGA Networks released a new report showing the strong growth in their mobile division and lays out future plans. The report came with a host of interesting facts, from animes being produced to possibly a future MMO in production. Hit the break to find a host of a interesting information including updated figures on their NOAH Pass service which they launched in August 2013.

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Sonic Runners is out now on Google Play and iTunes

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SonicRunners

If you are excited about the new Sonic Team developed Sonic game, Sonic Runners then the wait is over (maybe). The game is officially out on the Google Play for Android, but sadly many people (myself included) have been plagued with the ‘This app is incompatible with all of your devices.‘ message. Meaning you can’t download it at this exact moment. Many people have been saying the app won’t be officially up until February 26th (time zone differences from Japan). As for the Apple version, that has only appeared in the Japanese iTunes, which you can see below.

Android | iTunes

Android APK

If I get my hands on the APK file, then I will post it here later. If you get the game downloaded, tell us what you think in the comment section. Will keep you updated when its officially up to download in the US.

[Update] The game as of right now is out in the Canadian iTunes and in Japanese online stores. SEGA America and Europe have issued the following statement:

Sonic Runners is a new mobile game developed by the Sonic Team in Japan. We are soft-launching it in select countries to see how the game does and to work out any bugs.  No decision has been made yet whether it will be released in the US or Europe. It will depend on our observations during the soft-launch phase which could take several months.  

To learn how to download and install a APK on Android, please read this. Here is a work around for non-Canadian iPhone/iPad users to get Sonic Runners.

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