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!

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:

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SEGA teases new game reveal at Taipei Game Show [UPDATE]

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SEGA has attended the Taipei Game Show, which is a huge gaming convention set in China. SEGA Japan brought all their big Japanese titles to show off at the event, as you can see above.

[UPDATE] The game announced at the event? …. Utawarerumono is coming to China. Utawarerumono is a “adult tactical role-playing visual novel” that was published in the West by Atlus in 2017. [/UPDATE]

According to their list, they showed all the following games off at the event:

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Sonic Forces Super Sonic DLC is now free, forever

If you guys remember last year, we ran a story that Sonic Forces Super Sonic DLC was free for a limited time, after the initial release (January 23rd) they would be charging users $1.99 to download the ability to turn into Super Sonic. We rightfully complained about this since Super Sonic has been a free unlockable in Sonic the Hedgehog games since the transformation was introduced in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. The idea of turning a long running feature of a franchise into a product didn’t sit well with us and other Sonic the Hedgehog fans.

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Sonic Mania Original Soundtrack “Selected Edition” hits iTunes

If you have been waiting to get yourself the digital version of the Sonic Mania soundtrack, written by Tee Lopes, you are in luck. The Sonic Mania Original Soundtrack (Selected Edition) has now hit iTunes (USA link here). The soundtrack features 47 tracks, seems that old tracks that would require a royalty fee have been left out. Notice Green Hill Zone and Chemical Plant Zone missing. I guess you can let me know in the comments below. The soundtrack is priced at £14.99 or $15.99! The Sonic Mania soundtrack also got a vinyl release by Data Disc, obviously featuring less tracks. No excuses not to promote good video game music.

Above I linked to a interview with had with Tee Lopes regarding his amazing work on the Sonic Mania soundtrack. If you are a fan of his music, give it a listen!

Shenmue 3 gets new screenshots, teases facial expressions

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Shenmue 3 has revealed 3 new screenshots via the MAGIC Monanco conference. One of the screenshots, above, shows off Ryo and Shenhua. If you didn’t notice this is an updated model that includes facial expressions. Personally still think these models are a ways off, the body shape of Ryo particularly is rather strange.

The other two Shenmue 3 screenshots feature two areas that you will be able to explore whenever the full game releases. One is a port with boats and the other looks like a Chinese temple Shopping center*. I might be wrong on that last one, but regardless these environments look impressive. So far Shenmue 3‘s real strength have been its environments. I personally only have issues with the models that are being used thus far. But seeing that every time they show the models, they are changed, maybe they will eventually be fixed. What do you think? Am I nitpicking?

SEGA News Bits: Border Break coming to PlayStation 4

If you have been following our blog, you will know we are all massive SEGA-AM2 fanboys and have been asking for Border Break to come to consoles since it was released back in 2009. Now, in 2018, we can finally rest easy. On this episode of the SEGA News Bits we discuss the announcement, go over the release details and complain about SEGA games not getting world wide releases. So tune in and let us know what you think of Border Break finally hitting PlayStation 4 consoles!

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