Phantasy Star Online 2 launches on Steam on August 5th

Phantasy Star Online 2 has been available in North America for several months, but only for Xbox One and Windows 10 PC. All that changes on August 5th when Phantasy Star Online 2 releases to Steam for PC. Along with the date announcement came a slew of special rewards which allow you to wear costumes and decorations from Half-Life, Team Fortress and Portal. This isn’t the first time SEGA and Valve joined forces, as fans might remember when Renegade Ops and Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed crossed paths with Valve franchises.

Read more about the Steam rewards at the PSO2 website, and in the meantime mark your calendars for August 5th!

Platinum Games Teases Possible Vanquish PC Port

1290338-dtihgkIts coming up almost six years since Platinum Games released their console title Vanquish which received a positive score from critics but sadly didn’t result in a high seller for either SEGA or Platinum Games. Now Platinum Games co-founder Atsushi Inaba is teasing of a possible PC release. If you didn’t know, Vanquish was one of the games asked for by the folks behind the ‘SEGA PC Ports’ fan movement that garnered the attention of SEGA.

When asked during a interview Inaba said“If you stop recording, I can talk about that.” referring to the PC port ofVanquish. But then said it would depend on the publisher (SEGA).

“[W]e’re good friends with Valve and often go to their studio. We go there, hang out, talk about many different things, and we are very interested in Steam and would definitely like to release games on Windows. Right now, we’re at a place in which publishers ask us to make titles. So, if the publisher doesn’t want to release a PC version, then there won’t be a PC version. It really comes down to that.”

So while he is up for Platinum Games to port the game, he is pretty much saying that the ball is in SEGA’s court. SEGA on the other hand have been teasing more PC ports and even considered the PC port of Vanquish a high priority. After the success of the PC port of Valkyria Chronicles, which sold almost a million units, don’t be surprised if SEGA announces a port of Vanquish very soon. I just don’t expect Platinum Games to be the one to port it, mostly due to their busy schedule.

What do you think? Are you waiting for a PC port of Vanquish? What other SEGA games do you want to see on PC?

Support for HTC’s Virtual Reality kit could be coming to Alien: Isolation & Company of Heroes 2

Alien-Isolation

If you didn’t already need new pants after playing Alien Isolation, you might want to order a new pair in advance.

Reddit user “linknewtab” has discovered various titlecards for games coming to Valve and HTC’s collaborative virtual reality project within the Steam installation directory. There’s a pretty vast array of titles there, none more relevant to this article than the SEGA published Alien Isolation and Company of Heroes 2. This is pretty exciting stuff; it’ll be especially entertaining to see more of the reactions to Isolation in VR. The game was demoed with Oculus Rift back at E3 last year, but as of now it has no official VR support. Considering how long the Oculus Rift’s consumer release is taking, it’s likely it’ll be on the Vive before the Rift.

What do you think of CoH2 and Alien Isolation being realised in virtual reality? Let us know in the comments!

SEGA comments on Steam’s new controller

SteamController

There has been a lot of questions regarding Steam’s new controller, pictured above. The controller will use two trackpads instead of traditional buttons that can be fully customized by developers, the idea is that it will allow users to play RTS games, as well as ‘traditional’ controller games just fine. Of course SEGA would like the opportunity to bring their massive successful PC games into the living room. But how does it control?

“It’s very much still in beta. It’s rough around the edges and there are functions missing. The first thing I noticed is that it feels very light, and the left hand touchpad movement feels very natural. It is incredibly fluid and intuitive right from the off. The right hand touchpad, which would normally handle your looking movements, was frantic and incredibly sensitive. It was tricky, but if you hone it down and manage the sensitivity, I am sure it will be better. You can tell pro-gamers will use this in tournaments.” – Digital distribution director James Schall

SEGA managed to win over brand director for Total War, Rob Bartholomew who came into Valve questioning the idea for the controller. He said after 10 minutes he was won over with the possibilities they can accomplish with the new pad.

Total War Shogun 2 and Team Fortress 2 Cross Over Announced!

Here is a crazy cross over I never saw happening! Sega have announced a Shogun 2 and Team Fortress 2 cross over to promote the release of Shogun 2 on steam.

This cross over comes in the form of eight in-game items for Valve’s online FPS, Team Fortress 2.

The items will be made available as an exclusive pre-purchase bonus for Steam gamers and also as a separate TF2 item pack. If you’ve already pre-purchased Total War: Shogun 2 on Steam or you do so before release and own TF2, you’ll automatically gain access to these unique items.

Hit the jump for the press release and screens of said items.