SEGA shows off Tokyo Game Show 2016 confirmed lineup

TGS2016LineUpFans of SEGA of Japan games should be looking forward to Tokyo Game Show 2016, sadly if you are looking for new games you will have to wait till the event starts on September 15, 2016. But SEGA has confirmed what games (plot spoiler: there aren’t many) are going to be at the event and what type of content to expect from those games. You can check out SEGA’s Tokyo Game Show 2016 website they just put up.

  • Puyo Puyo Chronicle (Nintendo 3DS) – Will get playable demo, new trailer, stage event, and merchandise
  • Valkyria: Azure Revolution (PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita) – Playable demo, new trailer, stage show, and merchandise
  • Yakuza 6 (PlayStation 4) – Playable demo, new trailer, theater show, stage show, and merchandise

It is quite obvious that SEGA is putting the most effort into promoting Yakuza 6, which is the highest budget game being created by SEGA Japan, but what is weird is that they haven’t confirmed what they are doing for Hatsune Miku: VR Future Live, Sonic Mania or Sonic Project 2017. Is SEGA not going to show these titles? Not to mention the confirmed titles are all games coming out in the next few months, wonder if SEGA Japan will show off any titles for later in 2017…

Again this is just a list for now as Atlus has only shown off Persona 5 as a confirmed title. Persona 5 will get a playable demo, new trailer, studio broadcast, stage show, and merchandise. Tokyo Game Show 2016 runs from September 15 through September 18, 2016, we will have full coverage of the event. Stay tune!

[Via: Siliconera]

SEGA says Shenmue 1 & 2 HD remakes have their full attention

Shenmue_HD_remasters_Sega_comment[1]SEGA Europe’s boss Jurgen Post has recently talked about the possibilities of doing Shenmue 1 & 2 HD remakes and ressured the fanbase that they have been looking into renewing licensing to do the remakes correctly.

This is what SEGA Europe said about the Shenmue 1 & 2 HD remakes:

“There is definitely a desire [to go back to our classic games], Even online, people are constantly talking about products they would like to see come back, and Shenmue 1 and 2  are probably in the top two places. We are looking into it. It is an old IP, it is a beloved IP – and not just by consumers, but also within Sega, we have people saying that if we could do Shenmue 1 and 2 all over again, we’d definitely go for it. The issue is that it is a big game. It is a project from many years ago. If we are to do it, we’d want to do a fantastic conversion to the current platforms, and there are a lot of licences in the game, which were cleared many years ago, so we will need to renegotiate those contracts. We are looking into it. We haven’t given it a green light, but it has our full attention.” – Jurgen Post, President and COO of SEGA Europe

This whole licensing issues from old games have plagued SEGA in the past when they ported over Crazy Taxi on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, omitting the iconic soundtrack due to SEGA not wanting to pay the licenses for the old tracks. This lead fans to getting upset and ever since then SEGA has made an effort to gather all the licenses when remaking or porting games. The last big examples include Castle of Illusions (which, now expiring license is making them pull it from shops) and Jet Set Radio.

What are your thoughts? Does Shenmue 1 & 2 HD remakes seem like a reality now? Jurgen Post has been teasing the return of classic franchises for awhile now, do you really think SEGA Europe actually have something up their sleeves?

[Source: MCVUK]

SEGA News Bits: SEGA Removing Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse From Online Shops

On this SEGA News Bits, George and Barry react to the sudden announcement of the delisting of Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse. Released in 2013, this remake of the classic SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive game received praise from fans and critics, and even was awarded an A- in our own SEGAbits review. We discuss why the game is being pulled, the platforms it can be found on, and share our thoughts on SEGA’s licensed games.

Like always if you like our SEGA News Bits segments and want to throw us some love, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Latest Hatsune Miku: Project Diva X Japanese sale numbers are troubling

Hatsunemikuopeningmovie5While Japan got Hatsune Miku: Project Diva X on the PlayStation Vita back in March, the PlayStation 4 version didn’t debut there until August 25, 5 days before the western release. The next generation version of Hatsune Miku: Project Diva X came in at number 8 on the Japanese Top 20 chart selling only 12,915 units which is way down on what Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F 2nd made when it debuted.

Let’s break down the debut week sales for the Project Diva X and Project Diva F 2nd:

Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F 2nd: 

  • PlayStation Vita: 98,628 units
  • PlayStation 3: 59,965 units
  • Total: 158,593 units

Hatsune Miku: Project Diva X: 

  • PlayStation Vita: 79,511 units
  • PlayStation 4: 12,915 units
  • Total: 92,426 units

Also understand that Project Diva F 2nd had troubles selling as well as the previous game, Project Diva F manage to sell 154,000 units its first week on sale and even when that was revealed people online said that was just okay. Even sadder to think is that Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Extended, a re-release on PSP with added content, sold 184,673 units in its debut week. SEGA still has another release for later this year with Hatsune Miku: VR Future Live which will be debuting world wide in October. What are your opinions on these numbers? Is there just too many Hatsune Miku titles?

[Source: Gematsu]

Persona 5 Online Features Revealed

persona 5 online features header

The latest issue of Weekly Famitsu has information on some of Persona 5‘s online features.

If you opt into the Phantom Thieves Alliance, multiplayer elements will be available during the main game. You’ll be able to cooperate with other players as you battles foes, explore dungeons, or just do normal teenager things around school.

Latest Shenmue III Update is a Developer Room Video


The latest Shenmue III update that dropped this morning gave us a quick video of inside Ys Net’s Dev Room for the game.

In the video, we first see a developer animating a rather familiar QTE scene. The event in question, which features Ryu Hazuki hopping on stones to cross a stream, occurred in the epilogue of Shenmue II. It’s revealed that the team wanted to create the event for the third game, which brings us to a possibility of the entire last act of Shenmue II being playable again in the new engine.

The team member moves the scene’s camera around and discusses a future meeting with Yu Suzuki about cooler angles to use for the event.

The second part of the video takes us to another developer working on a scene situated on a mountain. An avalanche occurs and Ryu must run for his life as boulders of all sizes fly down towards him.

As the documentary ends, we see a few shots of devs at work and, finally, a quick glimpse of Yu Suzuki smiling.

The short film is titled Development Report Vol. 1, so hopefully this is the start of a new series of videos that Ys Net releases with some of the monthly Shenmue III updates moving forward.

CEDEC 2016 highlights the technology behind Yakuza 6’s special effects

Yakuza6

Yakuza 6 is the latest installment in the Yakuza franchise for the PS4, set for a December 8th, 2016 release in Japan. However while you’re waiting for another trip into the brutal life of a yakuza member, we’re given a behind the scenes look as to how several special effects are handled courtesy of the CEDEC (Computer Entertainment Developers Conference) 2016 stream on NicoNico. These videos highlight specific effects throughout Yakuza 6, including how water is rendered and handles floating objects, how the game renders clouds, and the “dust particle” effects during combat.

The emphasis on water in particular makes sense, since one of the major locations in the game takes place in a real-world town called Onomichi in Hiroshima, which is a fishing town, and it does look impressive all things considered.

[Source: NicoNico / Dual Shockers]

To see these tech demos in action, click below. Be warned however, as they were hastily recorded from a NicoNico stream so have noticeably low quality.

Review: Hatsune Miku: Project Diva X (PS4)

SEGAbitsReviewMikuXSEGA’s Hatsune Miku: Project Diva X takes its popular IP based video game series to the PlayStation 4 for the first time, also available on PlayStation Vita. This review will be based on me playing Hatsune Miku: Project Diva X on the PlayStation 4 and it being the first game in the series for me all I ask is: please be gentle! What did I think? Is this a good starting point for people that have been sitting on the sidelines for the last few years?

Lights, camera, action because it’s time to review Hatsune Miku: Project Diva X.

Valkyria: Azure Revolution gets Japanese release date and prequel story DLC announcement

SEGA has now updated their official Valkyria: Azure Revolution webpage with a new release date and bonus details on what comes extra with first-print copies.

All first-print copies of Valkyria: Azure Revolution will come with a fully-voiced additional chapter called “Judgement Chapter: Vanargand Organization,” and it will be the prequel story for the game. Honestly don’t know how to feel about this whole thing, considering I’m not a big supporter of day one DLC but you can see a special video released by SEGA promoting the new announcements.

SEGA of Japan announced that Valkyria: Azure Revolution will hit Japanese store shelves on January 19, 2017 exclusively for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita. Valkyria: Azure Revolution‘s Battle Demo Ver. 2.0 will be playable at this year’s Tokyo Game Show which will start in mid-September. As for a Western release date, I suggest bothering SEGA about that on their social media accounts.

[Source: Siliconera]

Sonic LEGO Dimensions Pack to feature Tails, Knuckles, Amy, & Dr. Eggman NPCs

CqNg3SvVMAA_oDjAccording to @BlueParax on twitter Sonic LEGO Dimensions Pack will not only feature everyone’s favorite blue blur but also have NPCs for Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Dr. Eggman. The news came straight from Gamescom where they are showing off the Sonic LEGO Dimensions pack, as well as other crossover packs LEGO Dimensions has coming.

If it sounds too good to be true, this is what @BlueParax said he was told by WB Games’ people:

“more Classic characters like Tails Amy Knuckles and Eggman will appear ingame. BUT NOT PLAYABLE.”

When the LEGO Dimensions twitter account was recently asked about seeing or playing other Sonic characters they replied with: “Our lips are sealed…for now ;)”  This makes me believe that this is true, which isn’t surprising considering how lame a Sonic LEGO Dimensions Pack would be without some of Sonic the Hedgehog‘s friends. Sonic LEGO Dimension Pack is set for release on November 18, 2016 according to Amazon.

[Via: TSSZNews]

Rez Infinite physical game copy, vinyl and art book revealed

RezUnlimitediAm8BitIt was recently announced that iam8bit will be publishing a physical copy of REZ Infinite on the PlayStation 4. This will be their first physically published game by the company. They are also releasing a REZ Infinite vinyl soundtrack that comes with a 7″bonus vinyl and a retrospective book. They have more goodies on their REZ Infinite Collection store page like t-shirts, form pins and such.

These are what you can get now:

As shown above one of the shirts is designed by Phil Fish, the infamous developer behind the indie hit game Fez. Pre-orders open tomorrow at 9AM PDT. This is a very tempting collection to have, especially for big REZ fans from the Dreamcast days. What are your thoughts about the collection?

SEGA News Bits: Virtua Fighter Trademark Renewed & What That Means

Welcome to another episode of the SEGA News Bits, this time we will be discussing SEGA renewing their Virtua Fighter trademark and what that actually means. We discuss the often fan requested Virtua Fighter 6, we talk about life of the franchise after the release of Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown and if there is even a market for a brand new VF game. So sit back, turn up the volume and lets have a virtua discussion about Virtua Fighter.

Like always if you like our SEGA News Bits segments and want to throw us some love, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Hatsune Miku: VR Future Live coming West on October 14

Hatsune-Miku-VR-Future-Live-Akihabara-1[Behold, the future of dating and gaming]

I don’t wanna say that I called it, but I called it! I wrote an article about how SEGA was submitting ratings in countries outside of Japan for Hatsune Miku: VR Future Live, saying I wouldn’t be surprised if its a PlayStation VR launch title in the West. Guess what? Hatsune Miku: VR Future Live is a launch title for the PlayStation VR.

Hatsune Miku: VR Future Live has been confirmed for both America and Europe which is coming via the PlayStation Store (digital only it seems). If you are lucky enough to be attending Gamescom this week, SEGA has a playable demo at the PlayStation Booth so you can enjoy Hatsune Miku in her VR glory.

This is the future boys, no more need for girlfriends.

[Via: Nichegamer]

Yakuza 6 will introduce nine new characters

yakuza_6_trailerThe Yakuza series has always been known for its wide array of colorful characters, Yakuza 6 will be no exception. SEGA finally let the cat out of the bag on nine new characters that will appear in Yakuza 6, via the Weekly Famitsu magazine. One of the characters that was shown off is even being played by Ishimoto Doronzu (Happy Landing) which is another Japanese movie actor to add to the growing list already on cast.

Hit the jump to get details on all nine new characters that will appear in Yakuza 6. The characters will make their video debut on SEGA’s Sega-Nama live stream next Thuesday, August 23rd.  You can watch it on Niconico or AbemaTV Fresh.

Monster Boy’s Gamescom Trailer Looks Wonderful

We are very excited over here to get our hands on Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom later this year. If you haven’t heard, Monster Boy is a successor to the Wonder Boy series of games. Its crazy that we will be getting a spiritual successor and a remake of Wonder Boy III within the same time frame. I think we can consider ourselves a lucky bunch since the last official Wonder Boy game came out all the way back in 1994.

We actually got to talk to Monster Boy developer Fabien Demeulenaere on our Swingin’ Report Show Podcast where he talked about the process of getting the game off the ground, how he started working with Wonder Boy creator Ryuichi Nishizawa and how the Wonder Boy copyrights work with this title.

Check out the trailer and if its tickling your nostalgia funny bone make sure to pick it up when it launches later this year on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.  More information from the developer FDG Entertainment after the jump.