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.

SEGA migrating their official forums, shutting them down temporarily

segaforumsIf you didn’t know, SEGA has official forums that have been open since the late 90s. I know a lot of people that have grown up chatting about SEGA via these forums, even me, your humble SEGA news writer started out the site by meeting people on this very forum. I’m not lying when I say that these forums mean’t a lot to many people. According to Sonic Community Manager Aaron Webber, the forums will be coming to a close as they plan a move from Vbulletin software to a new database. Aaron didn’t give a ETA on when you can expect them back.

Hit the jump to read his comments:

SEGA joins the Japanese e-Sports Union, a big step for e-sports in Japan

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Its no secret that e-sports has been on the rise world wide and has been making companies a lot of money. But somehow it hasn’t had the same take off in Japan, even though Japan has been known for its competitive fighting scene in arcades. It seems a new unified organization have decided to tackle the problem, called: Japanese e-Sports Union (JeSU). SEGA’s Hideki Okamura will be serving as President of JeSU. According to the article by Game.Watch, this will unify other e-sports organizations under one common banner.

While SEGA’s own Hideki Okamura is running president we also get Haruki Tsujimoto (President of Capcom) and Hideki Hayakawa (President and CEO of Konami) taking the roles of representative directors.

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?

IDW’s Sonic the Hedgehog comic book gets printable pre-order form

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IDW Publishing has tweeted out a printable Sonic the Hedgehog pre-order form that you can take into your local comic book shop to pre-order the upcoming series. You can check out where your local comic book shop is by clicking here. While I’m always up for everyone to support their local shops, if you happen not to live by a good comic book shop, you can always pre-order your comics at a huge discount via DCBS.

Hit the jump to get the second sheet to fill out. Who is pre-ordering it?

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:

Rare unreleased SEGA arcade game “Ribbit!” playable at the Galloping Ghost

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The largest arcade in the world, Galloping Ghost Arcade in Brookfield, IL, has appeared quite a bit on our news page thanks to their continued efforts to make as many games playable as possible in their ever expanding lineup of machines (at well over 600). Their latest addition is a unique title from SEGA’s arcade past: 1991’s Ribbit!. Developed and published by SEGA for the System C Hardware (an arcade board most notably used for Puyo Puyo, Columns and SegaSonic Popcorn Shop), the game plays similarly to Frogger where 1-2 players control frogs in four directions with the goal being to eat all the small bugs but ignore the larger ones.

Unfortunately, the game played too similarly to Frogger and it is said Konami threatened a lawsuit which lead to the game not seeing a full release. How Galloping Ghost got their hands on the board is a story they say will be told soon. In the meantime, fans of obscure arcade games can head on over to the arcade and play this hidden gem now! Worth noting, the team at Galloping Ghost placed Ribbit! into an original Frogger cabinet and had custom side art, marquee and control panel art made at Galloping Ghost Reproductions.

After the break, check out a gallery of images and I’ll be sure to write up an arcade game review of the game the next time I head over there!

Yakuza 6 reveals in-game clan creator for real yakuza action

SEGA has finally released a new trailer showing off Yakuza 6‘s clan creator. The clan creator is a brand new minigame created just for Yakuza 6 where you can find and recruit gang members. The minigame will allow you to train them and have them fight the ‘The Six Lunatics’. Which is funny because we have seen Kazuma Kiryu literally take on armies, but now he needs a clan of people to take down six people?

The trailer also features a in-game code for your clan: BLACKPANTSKOUMEI, which unlocks… I dunno, we will find out when the game launches on PlayStation 4 on March 20, 2018. What do you think of Yakuza 6‘s clan creator?

Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap releasing physically to PS4 & Nintendo Switch February 13

Lizardcube’s remake of the SEGA Master System classic is getting another physical release. Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap got a physical released before with Limited Run Games and even an multi-language Asian version published by Arc System Works. But those both where on PlayStation 4, this new physical version will be the first time that the Nintendo Switch gets a physical version. This US release by publisher Nicalis will come with an instruction booklet, soundtrack sampler and Lizard-Man PVC strap!

If you haven’t played Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap, I highly suggest picking it up because its a fantastic remake and deserves your attention! The Nintendo Switch cart even has a SEGA Master System design on it!

Sumo Digital working on unannounced karting game – is Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing 3 in the works? [Update: Nope]

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Update: Sonic social media and PR man Aaron Webber said the following on Twitter: “Hi guys – saw rumors floating today about another SART game. Just wanted to confirm it’s not a thing!”

Developer Sumo Digital held a year end presentation and it appears there was a bit of a leak, as the presentation slides made their way online. The presentation details Sumo’s past, present and near future, and on the slide detailing current projects there is something that may be of interest to SEGA fans. Listed as being “in development” is an “unannounced karting game” which will feature “established global IP” and “original development”.

Panzer Dragoon Saga creator shares ideas for a remake

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Panzer Dragoon Saga celebrates its 20th year anniversary and The Ringer did a great retrospect looking at past comments by series creator Yukio Futatsugi (who also worked on Crimson Dragon) talking about our cult favorite SEGA series. One of the questions highlighted, now that the game has turned 20 years old, was what he would change or add if he was to do a remake:

 “Make it open-world and as much as possible allow the player to make their own choices,make a strong correlation between the characters’ responses and behaviors and the player’s actions, so that the characters change depending on the player’s choices.”

Yukio Futatsugi also added that he would want to add a big online component to the game, which he explained:

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 Europe publishing new game from former Quantic Dream lead’s studio Interior Night

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Coming off the heels of SEGA Europe’s Two Point Hospital publishing deal is the news that SEGA Europe will be publishing a narrative-driven game from the studio Interior Night. Interior Night is an independent game studio of Quantic Dream and Sony veterans based in London, and their website states that they have “a keen interest in narrative games with rich stories and complex characters” and cites television shows like Breaking Bad, True Detective and Fargo.

The SEGA Europe deal will see the company publishing the studio’s first game. Nothing more has been revealed, but it is worth noting that this is not an acquisition, just a publishing deal. But you never know where things could lead! After the break, read some comments from SEGA and the development team.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Battle Racers Board Game hitting Kickstarter this February

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The company Shinobi 7 LLC has announced that they have a ‘Pre-painted miniatures board game’ in the works featuring our favorite blue hedgehog, being called Sonic the Hedgehog: Battle Racers. The game will be strategic and mean’t to be played with 2-5 players; allowing users to take on the role of Sonic or one of he’s friends. Shinobi 7 is set to launch the Kickstarter in early February that will include exclusives and limited edition items.

If you want to learn more about the board game, we posted the press release and a couple of images of the minatures after the jump: