Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Future Tone to run at 1080p and 60fps on PS4

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SEGA has revealed during their Tokyo Game Show panel, oddly enough named ‘Sega feat. Hatsune Miku Project’, that Hatsune Miku: Project  Diva Future Tone will run at 1080p at 60 frames per second on the Playstation 4. If you didn’t catch the announcement for this title, its a console port of the long requested Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Arcade game.

SEGA also confirmed that Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Future Tone will be coming out after Hatsune Miku: Project Diva X (yes, there are two Hatsune Miku games in the works) which is due out on out for Playstation Vita in March.

Another small mention was the Playstation VR enabled ‘Sega feat. Hatsune Miku Project: VR Tech Demo’, which SEGA says if there is enough positive fan feedback that they will consider making it a full product.

[Source: Gematsu]

Persona 5 delayed until summer 2016, but you can watch the new trailer now

Persona 5 was suppose to ship during the 2015 fall season in both Japan and North America. Today Atlus has announced that they will be delaying the release of the game until summer 2016.

Why the sudden cause of delay? According to director Katsura Hashino, they have the game together but are still tuning the gameplay, you can see the interview with Hashino after the break.

A few Japanese voice actors have been announced at TGS as well:

Check out voice samples on Persona 5‘s TGS website.

Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Future Tone coming to PS4

SEGA has announced at the Tokyo Game Show that they will be bringing the highly requested Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Arcade to the Playstation 4 in Japan sometime in 2016. The company will re-release Project Diva Arcade update known as ‘Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Future Tone‘. Future Tone was released in 2013 and featured many new updates to the 2010 original release including graphics and physics.

But why did everyone want Project Diva Arcade to be ported to consoles, you ask? Simply due to the crazy amount of songs the game has, over 200 songs total! That’s a lot of time to be a diva!

Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Future Tone hits Japanese retail sometime in 2016, like always we have no clue what their plans are outside of Japan.

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Atlus and Vanillaware reveal 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim for PS4 & Vita

The Tokyo Game Show 2015 reveals keep coming as we now have the an official title for the once secret game from Vanillaware and published by Atlus titled Thirteen Mecha Soldier Defense Zone. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, the official title, is an upcoming giant mech game due out for PS4 & Vita. As evidenced by the trailer and screenshots, the game features 3D environments and mechs and 2D hand drawn characters. The result is lovely, as the game looks like a drawing come to life. The game is currently only announced for Japan, but we would not be surprised if it made its way West.

After the break, check out screens from the game and stay tuned to SEGAbits for more information on 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim as we hear it!

Yakuza 1 Extreme and Yakuza 6 announced – coming 2016

Yakuza fans should be very happy today, as SEGA is delivering a double dose of Japanese underworld goodness by way of two newly announced games. The first, Yakuza 1 Extreme, is a remake of the original game in the series and is due out January 2016 for PS3 and PS4 in Japan only (for now). The second title is Yakuza 6, due out Fall 2016 exclusively for PS4 and is also so far only announced for Japan. Western Yakuza fans undoubtably want both of these titles to release to the Americas and Europe, and with a localized Yakuza 5 releasing this Fall, the best advice I can give is to vote with your wallet and support the fifth title so we may see a localization of the remade original and newly announced sixth title.

Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax Ignition is coming to PS4, PS3 and PS Vita

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SEGA has updated last year’s Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax in arcades as Ignition, it was only a matter of time that it would come out on consoles. Well, it came out sooner than I expected, its going to hit Japanese consoles on December 17th. That’s right, a couple of months after the US release of the first one, the expanded version will hit Japan. Talk about deflating a release in America before it happen, I’m sure lots of Western buyerz that where going to get Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax are second guessing themselves and its something SEGA’s localization team has to improve on. Releasing Japanese games closer to their Japanese release date, not a year after. Atlus has done a great job, sometimes releasing their text heavy JRPGs two months after their Japanese release.

The game is hitting the Playstation 3 and Playstation Vita again, while finally debuting on the Playstation 4. The game will have a expanded “Dream Duel” story mode that will expand the game new situations. Modes like “Network Mode”, “Training Mode” and “Gallery Mode” all make their appearance. As covered before this version of the game has two new playable characters: Quenser Barbotage (from Heavy Object) and Emi Yusa (from The Devil is Part-Timer).

[Source: Gemastu]

Why SEGA refusing to localize Phantasy Star Online 2 is a bad sign

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Given that we know the news that SEGA doesn’t have plans on publishing Phantasy Star Online 2 outside of Japan, at least for the Playstation 4 (though the PC and Vita versions have been out for over 3 years, so I assume those aren’t coming either). I stated in my original article that I thought it was a really bad decision and got many people upset while they tried  to debate me on the topic even though I never really stated why I felt it was a bad decision. So, here it is, my article talking about why SEGA West not bringing Phantasy Star Online 2 is just another stupid decision by the company that has had a long history of bad decisions.

I decided that it was time I did a write up about why SEGA West not bringing Phantasy Star Online 2 outside of Japan is bad,  not only for their in-house IP but also for their overall brand.

Shenmue 3 Kickstarter reveals development progress and future plans

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It’s normal for most Kickstarter campaigns to go silent for a bit following successful funding, mainly because those behind the campaign are now hard at work creating whatever it is you backed. Of course, in the case of Shenmue 3 which raised over $6 million, backers were more eager than usual to hear something new. Thankfully, the radio silence didn’t last too long as backers received an update last night on the development progress and future plans. Better yet, we heard it straight from Yu Suzuki himself!

Yakuza creator talks about the future of the Japanese games industry

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The current issue of Famitsu Weekly held a discussion on the future of the Japanese games industry with the top tier developers from Japan. This post will mostly cover what Toshihiro Nagoshi (Daytona USA, Super Monkey Ball and Yakuza) said (cuz, you know, we are a SEGA news site).

Famitsu also interviewed Toeishi Ashihara (Cygames), Hideki Kamiya (Platinum Games), Yoshinori Kitase (Square-Enix), Akihiro Suzuki (Koei-Tecmo), Yosuke Hayashi (Koei-Tecmo), Katsuhiro Harada (Bandai-Namco), and Hiroshi Matsuyama (CyberConnect2). If you want to read their replies check out Nichegamer’s article on the the whole thing. Check out Nagoshi’s responses after the jump.

Phantasy Star Online 2 teases Guilty Gear Xrd collaboration

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While SEGA representatives have confirmed that Phantasy Star Online 2 isn’t coming West, because, you know, stuff. SEGA is still plenty of busy with updates for the game over on their concealed SEGA island of goodness known to normal folks as ‘Japan’. We covered Phantasy Star Online 2‘s last update that added a ton of Blazblue costumes, but this time we will be getting Guilty Gear Xrd outfits.

Hit the jump to see what you’ll be able to wear, if you play the Japanese version of the game that is.

Yakuza creator confirms that his new game will be shown at Tokyo Game Show

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I know that some of the more hardcore SEGA fans are a bit upset that SEGA recently teased a new Hatsune Miku game. No fear SEGA fans, because during today’s NicoNico Live steam, Yakuza and Super Monkey Ball creator Toshihiro Nagoshi teased what to expect from Sega and his team next month:

“I’m so anxious for Tokyo Game Show! Although I’m not allowed to say why I’m feeling this way, yet. We’ll announce [a new title] at Tokyo Game Show, and it’ll be a good one and I believe that Sega’s live showing at Tokyo Game Show will be the most exciting one we’ve seen in a while.” – Toshihiro Nagoshi

The producer for Yakuza, Yokoyama Masayoshi teased this game in July stating that the studio was hiring new talent. As of right now, Yakuza Team (aka Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio) has over 150 workers under the Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio banner. Considering that they are hiring more, this might be one of SEGA’s biggest games ever. I guess we will find out more next month at the Tokyo Game Show, but as far as them teasing it, it seems this title will not be related to the Yakuza IP.

Like always, in Nagoshi we trust.

[Source: Silioncera]

SEGA Japan launches teaser site for upcoming Hatsune Miku game

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[This article has been edited with newly found information. This is almost 100% a Hatsune Miku game]

SEGA Japan has now launched a teaser site for an upcoming unannounced game that will most likely be unveiled at this year’s Tokyo Game Show (which starts next month). So what do we know about it so far? SEGA is calling this tease ‘neXt39‘ which is what we will be referring to the game until we find out the official name. The teaser page has the following numbers: “3939.00 / 3939” since the slash usually means division in math, it would equal to 1. Is this a clue? The screen also has strands that move in the background, 6 of them to be exact (with the only color repeating being yellow).

But Hatsune Miku also has a long series of using the number 39, specifically having a song named that. Not only that, Sam Mullen, the localization producer even explained the significance of Hatsune Miku using the number 39. Not only that a twitter user by the name of @Rorru pointed out that the teaser page’s timer ends minutes before Hatsune Miku’s birthday and that the color strands each represent a Cryptonloid. Hopefully this isn’t the only game announced at TGS, considering that Yakuza Team was teasing a new game.

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SEGA has no plans to release the PS4 version of Phantasy Star Online 2 outside of Japan

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The people at Kotaku has contacted SEGA about the possibility of the Playstation 4 version of Phantasy Star Online 2 coming West. This is the response they recieved from a SEGA representative.

“SEGA is currently not planning to release the PS4 version of Phantasy Star Online 2 outside of Japan,”

It has been over 3 years since SEGA announced at PAX 2012 that they would be bringing Phantasy Star Online 2 over from Japan on the PC and Playstation Vita. Then, silence. We got a few generic ‘it’s still coming’ answers from them, but this is the first time they have officially denied its Western release.

Talk about not caring about their own fan base, huh? It’s hard to stay positive when the Western branches don’t care about their core fanbase or their in-house Japanese IPs. Then when they do finally get around to releasing it they are surprised at the success these Japanese in-house developed games have. No shit! With this and the recent announcement that they reskinned ‘Puyo Puyo Quest‘ into some generic food puzzle game, SEGA is really making it hard to be a fan.

Phantasy Star Online 2 Anime revolves around gamers playing the game

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?

Phantasy Star Online 2 coming to Playstation 4

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That is right, it has just been announced via a live Phantasy Star Online 2 stream via NicoNicoLive that Phantasy Star Online 2 will be coming the the Playstation 4. Not only that, the Playstation 4 build will be playable at this year’s Tokyo Game Show (which starts next month!). Ironically enough, the Playstation 4 build of the game will co-launch with ‘Reborn: Episode 4‘ game update.

When can you play sweet, sweet Phantasy Star Online 2 on your shiny new Playstation 4? If you live in Japan, sometime in 2016 and around the same time that Reborn: Episode 4 launches. What type of content does Episode 4 have? We don’t know the details yet, but we shall keep you updated on this blog when we find out more.

What about many of us that don’t live in Japan? Tough luck, SEGA hasn’t announced plans on bringing it West. Though, if they really want the game to be reborn, maybe releasing the game world wide will do that… just a thought, you know?