Shining Resonance Re:frain rated by Australian Classification board – is the game releasing to the west?

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Shining Resonance Re:frain, the PS4 remaster of 2014’s Shining Resonance, could be releasing west based on a recent rating on the Australian Classificationboard website. Listed as being published by Sega of America, this is not out of line with previous SEGA titles rated for the region. The game is currently due out in Japan on March 29.

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”. So it looks like they are getting their wish with a western release! More news as we hear it. Now if only SEGA announced the new Virtual-On for the west…

[Source: Gematsu]

SEGA announces Shining Resonance Refrain for PlayStation 4

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The latest issue of the Japanese magazine Weekly Famitsu has revealed Shining Resonance Refrain for the PlayStation 4, which is a remaster of the PlayStation 3 game simply titled Shining Resonance. Shining Force Refrain is set to launch in Japan on March 29, 2018 and come out with two different versions: Standard Edition for 5,990 Yen ($52 USD) and a Premium Fan Box limited edition for 9,490 Yen ($84 USD) which will come with a fan book, drama CD and theme son CD.

This PlayStation 4 ‘remaster’ of Shining Resonance will come with all 150 pieces of DLC already in the game and feature a new ‘Refrain Mode’ which will feature a lot of in-game ‘What if…’ scenarios including characters like Excela Noa Aura and Jenius Aeon becoming party members. Something that wasn’t possible in the previous version of the game.This remaster of the game will also have a lot of improvements, the following are some that Weekly Famitsu revealed:

Shining Series artist releases his art book ‘Tony’s Artworks From Origin’ tomorrow

TonysArtOriginRegardless of what you think of Tony Takas art since taking over the Shining franchise’s art duties all the way back in 2004, he seems to have acquired a massive following in Japan. While the Shining series has had trouble selling copies of their games, it seems that Japan responded positively to Tony Taka’s character designs. So much so that there is a ton of Shining series merch being sold, more so than the actual games. Tony Taka has even released a couple of Shining related art books as well, this will be more broad artwork he has done in the past.

AmiAmi will be selling the “Tony’s ART works from Origin” book which is set to feature various character designs from his career including magazine covers and vocaloids he has designed, including a long form interview looking at his history these past 20 years. The book will come in A4 page format, will have a hardcover backing and clear slip on box. The book will set you back 5,000 yen ($46), will have 100 pages and feature 80 illustrations. The details of the book also brag that about 30 of the character designs in the book got made into figurines. Good for you Tony Taka, I guess.

Hit the jump to check out preview pages of some of the artwork that will be in the book:

[Via AmiAmi]

SEGA bringing its Shining spin-off arcade game Blade Arcus from Shining EX to PS4 and PS3

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SEGA Japan has announced that they are porting the 2D arcade fighting spin-off Blade Arcus from Shining to the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 via Famitsu. SEGA will add ‘EX’ to the end of the game because the game will have loads of extras, including new playable characters.

In Japan the game will get two releases, a standard that will cost 6,990 yen ($56 USD) and a limited edition costing 9,990 yen ($80 USD). All first print copies come with the character Sonia from Shining Resonance. The “Blade Arcus from Shining EX Tony’s Premium Fan Box” limited edition comes with a Tony Taka-illustrated special box, “Shining Heroine Works” art book, Shining Ark character song CD, Shining Blade soundtrack CD, and “Shining Beach Heroines” swimsuit calendar.

As for it coming west, SEGA probably wants to see how Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax does later next month. As for the characters, if you are a old school Shining Force fan, don’t get too excited since all in-game characters are from Shining Hearts/Blade (some original characters for the game too). Hit the job to see who made the cut. 

Shining Resonance promotional movie showcases characters and battle footage

SEGA recently uploaded a new Shining Resonance video to their YouTube channel, called the “Shining Resonance Promotional Movie.” It is a little more than four minutes long, and showcases party members and the game’s various antagonists. The video also shows off plenty of battle footage, include a field-to-battle transition in the latter half of the video. Be sure to check it out!

Shining Resonance is scheduled for a 2014 release in Japan, and is exclusive to the PS3. Were Shining Resonance to be localized for a 2015 release, it would have some company among other JRPG’s seeing a Western 2015 release. Tales of Zestiria is scheduled to come out during the summer of 2015 in North America, and Atelier Shallie is also scheduled to be released sometime in 2015. These first two titles are also PS3 exclusives, to say nothing of PS3/PS4 titles such as Persona 5 and Yakuza Zero, which release in Japan during 2015.

SEGA announces its TGS line-up, teases new Hatsune Miku project

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SEGA has finally revealed their line-up publicly for next week Tokyo Game Show this will include SEGA published games, Atlus and even titles by other publishers that will be shown at their booth. Some of them are big western publishers without enough Japanese presence like Electronic Arts and Warner Bros. and others are just small Japanese companies without means like Silver Star Japan and Compile Heart.

SEGA is set to hold a number of stage events including one on Septermber 18th when the company will announce a new Hatsune Miku game, Atlus will get their own stage show on September 20th and Yakuza 0 will get a variety of stage shows planned throughout TGS.

Hit the jump to see the full TGS schedule.

SEGA localizing Phantasy Star Nova and Shining Resonance in Chinese

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SEGA has just announced that they will be localizing both Phantasy Star Nova and Shining Resonance in Traditional Chinese. Isn’t that something? I know a few continents that would really enjoy English releases of those two games. Shoot, I think Phantasy Star Nova would do great on the Playstation Vita right now considering they don’t have much original games to play.

I guess the only two options to play these two games is either to learn either Japanese or Chinese.

Shining Resonance: A new Shining RPG by the developers of the Wild Arms series

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It seems that SEGA isn’t done with the Shining IP, at least not for now. SEGA is still working on and promoting their Shining fighting arcade game and now they revealed that they are working on a Shining RPG for the Playstation 3. The game is called ‘Shining Resonance‘ and is being developed by Media Vision (Wild Arms series, Shining Ark and Valkyria Chronicles III). Tony Taka is also being confirmed as returning for the game’s character designs.

After the break we take a look at the first character announced, Kirika Towa Alma.