Shenmue III Magic Monaco 2018 Trailer leaks online

The new trailer for Shenmue III that was shown behind close doors at the Magic Monaco 2018 event yesterday has leaked online. The trailer is using a lot of the same footage found from last year’s trailer but now shows off what QTEs will look like in this brand new title.

Not only that but this new Shenmue III trailer also shows the return of the Boxing arcade game from Shenmue 1. Regardless of all the new stuff shown the footage looks far from final and a ton of animation, mainly facial, is still missing. Considering its been 3 years, who knows how long this game is ‘still in the works’ for.

Shenmue III update reveals improved graphics and new characters

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Shenmue III has revealed its 80th Kickstarter update and even with 80 whole updates a large part of the game is a big mystery. On this update we got four new screenshots of the game, one of them showing off a brand new character. That new character can be seen above.

Outside of that we have a screenshot featuring a young kid, an elder man and that bad guy we saw in the trailer released last year. First thing I noticed is how improved most of the characters faces are and how more animated they look. Especially the young kid in the gallery below. I still have some issue with how Ryo Hazuki is designed, something is really off about him. It isn’t the graphics, but more how the facial structure and hairline are placed. Seems a little off compared to the way he was designed in past games. But who knows, maybe I’m crazy? What are your thoughts on the brand new screenshots?

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Valkyria Chronicles 4 getting Japanese PSN demo on February 26

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Oh boy, SEGA is releasing these Japanese demos faster than I can keep up. Just a few days ago we got the Hokuto ga Gotoku demo on Japanese PSN, now less than a week from that one we will be getting a Valkyria Chronicles 4 demo. According to SEGA they will be unleashing the playable demo they have been showing at events in Japan. The demo releases on February 26, 2018.

According to early players, the demo allows users to play from the prologue all the way through chapter 2. It also seems that the save data can be transferred over to the full game when its released (in Japan). So if you are going to import the game, you can continue where the demo ends and not replay it from the start.

Valkyria Chronicles 4 on PlayStation 4 is launching in Japan on March 21, 2018. As for us Westerners, we get the game later in 2018 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. I also hope SEGA releases a similar demo for all platforms, since I think it will move more copies.

SEGA shows an hour of Shining Resonance Refrain English gameplay

Yo, I heard you guys like Japanese games but don’t know Japanese. Relax, SEGA got you covered with this double live stream featuring Yakuza Kiwami (which is out already) and the first look at Shining Resonance Refrain in English! About an hour of the gameplay was shown via SEGA’s official live stream. You can check it out above (1:04:00 into the stream)

We also did a SEGA News Bits discussing the announcement which discusses all the details including the game’s launch day edition, pricing and new platforms. Shining Resonance Refrain will be coming this Summer on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. That’s quite a bit of platforms. If you are picking it up, what platform will you be playing it on?

SEGA News Bits: Let’s Talk Shining Resonance Refrain Coming West

On this episode of the SEGA News Bits we go over all the details surrounding the western release of Shining Resonance Refrain, including the new platforms it was announced for, what is new in this version of the game and some background on the Shining franchise in the West. Tune in and let us know what you think of Shining Resonance Refrain being announced for the West in the comments below.

If you enjoy our SEGA News Bits segments and want to support us: Give us a sub and give this video a thumbs up so it shows up on more like-minded fans YouTube recommendations. You know, how that YouTube algorithm is.

A Certain Magical Virtual-On shifts 27k units on its debut

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SEGA has released A Certain Magical Virtual-On  in Japan, a game that is meant to crossover SEGA’s Virtual-On mech franchise with A Certain Magical Index manga series. The Media Create sales chats recorded sales from February 12th to the 18th, since A Certain Magical Virtual-On came out on February 15th, this would be about 3 days of sales counted.

Here is the breakdown:

  • A Certain Magical Virtual-On (PS4) – 17,938
  • A Certain Magical Virtual-On (PSV) – 9,284

Another ‘SEGA game’, Bayonetta 1+2 which SEGA owns the character IP of sold a combined total of 21,226 units on the Nintendo Switch combining the Bayonetta Ultimate Climax Edition and Bayonetta 2 (regular edition) sales. That makes A Certain Magical Virtua-On sales at 27,222 not seem too shabby. Though do note that Bayonetta 1+2 is a port on one platform while A Certain Magical Virtual-On is a brand new title on two platforms. To check out the full sales charts, hit the jump:

Shining Resonance Refrain coming west this summer on PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and PC

In January this was a rumor we shared, and now it’s confirmed! Shining Resonance Refrain is coming west this summer on PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and PC. The game will release as a Draconic Launch Edition featuring a collectible metal slipcase, priced at $49.99 USD / $64.99 CAD. We did a SEGA News Bits video on the initial announcement of the game back in November of last year, noting that the developers considered this a “worldwide product”. It’s great to see that this plan came to fruition, as the Shining series has been MIA in the west for far too long.

Stay tuned to SEGAbits for pre-order information, including an exact release date, and you can visit the official site shiningresonance.com as well. After the break, check out the full press release!

George’s Corner: Who owns the Bayonetta IP?

I’ve been trying to do a ‘news series’ of videos to work on my on camera persona. This is my second video I’ve done and since this has something to do with SEGA, I decided I could share it here. Again, this is more of a test than anything. Yes, I got a click baity thumbnail.

I’m still learning and trying to improve and the idea for the show is that I’ll cover four to five stories, 3 times a week. If you want to help out by giving me a sub, that would be great too. Thanks!

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Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom getting physical release on PS4 and Switch

According to Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom publisher FDG Entertainment, they have teamed up with SEGA to get a physical version of Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom on both PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. The physical version is set to release day one along with the digital versionMonster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom has been massively delayed, above we have a interview with the game director Fabien Demeulenaere back in 2016! From what I read, the game has been delayed to improve the overall quality and its set to finally launch this summer!

While we got two remakes of Wonder Boy games, including the incredible Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap, Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is set to be an all new adventure for the franchise.

Yakuza 4 and 5 join PlayStation Now streaming platform

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Sony has announced February’s big PlayStation Now update bringing both Yakuza 4 and Yakuza 5 to its streaming platform. If you don’t know, PlayStation Now is a streaming service that lets you play PlayStation games on various devices including mobile, PlayStation 4 and PC. These games join a library of over 600 playable games on the service. Personally not into it due to having great internet speeds. The service requires a constant internet connection of at least 5mb up and down. Of course you will also have to have good ping. But if you have a good internet set-up, you can get the first month for $9.99 and $19.99 after that (or a one year subscription for $99).

Lots of fans took to twitter to ask SEGA why Yakuza 3 wasn’t included since a lot of new fans have jumped on the Yakuza train after the release of Yakuza 0. According to localization producer Sam Mullen, Yakuza 3 didn’t release on PlayStation Now because there isn’t a digital version of the game available. Hopefully SEGA fixes this as the game has increased in price due to the franchises jump in popularity last year.

[Source: PlayStation Blog]

SEGA reports video game division doing well, everything else not so much

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It seems that SEGA is really working hard to turn their console publishing arm around, with recent changes on how they localize games which included announcing three Yakuza games coming to the West. This of course has fans like me very excited and yesterday SEGA-Sammy posted their financial report that ended on December 31st, 2017. It was filled with good and bad news.

Let’s take a look at what SEGA-Sammy had to say about their performance in the last nine months.

Yakuza 6: The Song of Life delayed, demo release date announced

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We have good news and bad news. The good news is SEGA will be releasing a demo for Yakuza 6: The Song of Life on February 27th. The demo will allow players to bring their save into the full game upon release, so you can start your adventure early. The bad news is that the game will be delayed a month, releasing April 17, 2018. The move was cited as a tough business decision, but claims this gives more time to line things up for launch. The change puts Yakuza 6 4 days away from God of War, which some fear will hurt sales. However I personally think Yakuza has enough of a dedicated fanbase and the games are different enough that it really won’t be a big deal. Plus, does God of War have a premium edition that comes with drinking acoutrama?

You can still pre-order Yakuza 6: The Song of Life Essence of Art Edition for PlayStation 4, so if you haven’t already then get on it!

Valkyria Chronicles 4 gets prologue Japanese trailer

SEGA has released a brand spanking new trailer for the upcoming Valkyria Chronicles 4 that goes over the game’s prologue and sets up what will be the game’s upcoming story. Considering that Valkyria Chronicles 4 takes place at the same time as the first game, just following a different squad, you should already know the basic premise for the war going on (that’s assuming you played the first game).

While SEGA West has been kinda silent on the game since they announced it coming west, we we do know is that its coming sometime this year on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.

Border Break open beta client hits Japanese PSN

If you guys didn’t catch our past stories, Border Break is heading to PlayStation 4 as a free-to-play game. But first SEGA wants to do a open beta for the game to gather player feedback and test their servers. If you want to join the open beta, its free to join with a Japanese PSN account. The client is now ready to download on PSN as well.

Sadly you won’t be able to join online games for a few days. The beta schdule goes as follows:

  • February 3, 2018 (Sat) 15: 00 ~ 21: 00
  • February 4, 2018 (Sunday) 15: 00 ~ 21: 00
  • February 17, 2018 (Sat) 15: 00 ~ 21 : 00
  • February 18, 2018 (Sunday) 15: 00 ~ 21: 00

From what I gather, you don’t need PlayStation Plus membership to play free-to-play games online. You just need a Japanese PSN account, which are free. Will you be trying out Border Break?

A Certain Magical Virtual-On gets mission mode, including online co-op mode

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SEGA is getting ready to release A Certain Magical Virtual-On over in Japan, which is set to release in February 15th and have released a demo on the Japanese PSN for those wondering what it plays like. Now they have given up more details on the game’s ‘mission mode’, which will feature both single player and online co-op challenges. Some are competitive battles while other missions feature rugby-style sports action.

The details have been translated by Gematsu and go as follows: