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SEGAbits at Tokyo Game Show 2016 Preview: Valkyria: Azure Revolution (PS4/PS Vita)

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SEGAbits attended Tokyo Game Show 2016! At the event we saw several upcoming SEGA games, presented through stage events and, in some cases, hands-on demos. One of many games we had to opportunity to play a demo of was Valkyria: Azure Revolution. Let’s get this out of the way first; this game plays nothing like Valkyria Chronicles. At all. Don’t entertain the idea that it might be a semi-sequel. Rather, this game plays like an odd mix of action RPG and squad based tactics.

With that out of the way, the demo at Tokyo Game Show consisted of attacking several enemy camps and a final boss fight with a mechanical spider. You controlled a squad of four characters with varying strengths and abilities, after being given a brief tutorial on when and how to use the various tools at your disposal.

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Ken Horowitz’s SoA history book Playing at the Next Level ships October 30th

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Playing at the Next Level ships October 30th

Those who remember our interview with Ken Horowitz from back in February 2016 might recall he has an upcoming book called Playing at the Next Level: A History of American Sega Games. We now know the book covering the development of numerous Sega of America games will be shipping on October 30th and you can pre-order a physical edition at Amazon.

The book will focus on the actual games Sega of America produced from 1986 to 2001, along with a behind the scenes look at the development process. Horowitz sources the many interviews he’s done over the years along with numerous new ones. Playing at the Next Level will cover roughly 40 games with up to half a dozen developers being sourced for information on the creation of each game in question. Unlike Blake J. Harris‘ Console Wars, the book features developers much more so than executives and marketing personnel.

Ken Horowitz founded the popular fan site Sega-16 in 2004, where he has interviewed, researched and written about Sega’s history ever since.

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First Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap developer diary released

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DotEmu has released the Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap developer diary video. This one features Development Lead Omar Cornut and Art Director Ben Fiquet meeting with Ryuichi Nishizawa, creator of the Wonder Boy series. This video was shot around the BitSummit 4th convention in Kyoto, Japan in early July 2016.

Inside the video, we see the developers from Lizardcube showing Nishizawa the then-current build of the remake of his game for the first time. The trio discuss how the project began, the allure of secret doors, the appeal of the smoking pig, and more. Nishizawa does touch on some history from designing the original game as well.

Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap is a remake of the Sega Master System classic Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap, my favorite game on the platform. It is in development for consoles and PC with no specific target release date announced yet.

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Idea Factory releases Superdimension Neptune VS Sega Hard Girls opening movie

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Idea Factory has released the Superdimension Neptune VS Sega Hard Girls opening cinematic on their YouTube channel. If you are enough of a Sega fanatic as any of us here at SEGAbits, you might happen to watch the separate European video. In doing so, you might notice a surprising level of care taken to give Dreamcast an augmented blue outfit to emulate the European Dreamcast’s blue swirl.

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Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice releases today in North America

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SEGA’s Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice releases today for the Nintendo 3DS in North America, and will release a few days from now on September 30th in Europe. The game is available both digitally on the Nintendo eShop and physically with a special Launch Edition for the Americas which includes a collector’s box and a DVD of select Sonic Boom TV show episodes featuring Metal Sonic and Shadow. While reviews have started to trickle in, expect a SEGAbits review early next week and possibly a SEGA News Bits episode between then and now. I can say that after playing the game for an hour, Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice is an improvement on Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal. Many issues I had with the original game have been addressed, and aspects that I enjoyed have been given more focus. Even as I write this, I’m itching to go back and play some more, which is a good sign.

After the break, check out the full press release from SEGA!

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UPDATED: SEGA announces Yakuza 0 “The Business Edition” and reveals new trailer

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SEGA has just announced yet another cool launch edition that will be releasing soon! Due out Jaunary 24th, 2017, Yakuza 0 “The Business Edition” will contain a physical copy of the game, a stainless steel business card holder, double-sided bilingual business cards for Kiryu and Majima and a hostess card. Yakuza 0 will be releasing both digitally and physically in the Americas and Europe. As of this posting, we are unsure if “The Business Edition” will be exclusive to the Americas, or if Europe will be receiving it as well. As soon as we have an answer we will update this story accordingly.

UPDATE: SEGA Europe has since uploaded the same trailer to their YouTube channel, and the trailer lacks any mention of a special edition release. Meanwhile, the SEGA of America trailer, embedded after the break, mentions “The Business Edition” after the trailer. This leads us to believe that “The Business Edition” is Americas only.

You can pre-order Yakuza 0 today on Amazon, saving 20% if you are a Prime member. The listing has yet to update to “The Business Edition”, but SEGA promises that all pre-orders secures fans a copy of the special edition.

After the break, check out the new trailer and additional press release details on “The Business Edition”!

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SEGAbits at Tokyo Game Show 2016 Preview: Rez Infinite (PS4/PSVR)

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The third iteration of Rez is only a few weeks away and Enhance Games took the PlayStation stage at Tokyo Game Show to once again demo the game. Tetsuya Mizuguchi, in his synesthesia suit garments, revisited a demo that has been shown for some time now. In it, the player travels through three out of order sections of Area 1, along with Area 4’s boss. SEGAbits was in attendance at Tokyo Game Show 2016 and had a chance to preview the game. What did we think? Read on!

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SEGA News Bits: SEGA Announces Acquisition of Technosoft’s IPs

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Welcome to another episode of the SEGA News Bits, this time we will be talking about SEGA buying Technosoft’s IPs. Technosoft is best known for their Thunder Force series but also did titles like Herzog Zwei, Elemental Master and Hyper Duel. We discuss if this is a good buy for SEGA, what we would like to see SEGA do with Technosoft’s IPs and more. Tell us in the comments what your favorite Technosoft game is and what do you think of this whole buyout?

If you like our SEGA News Bits segments, make sure to share the video with like minded people and subscribe. Thanks for the support.

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Puyo Puyo Chronicles Anniversary Box details revealed

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Puyo Puyo Chronicles as previously reported will have a special Anniversary Box that contains several bonuses on top of the base game. This special Anniversay Box as the name implies is part of celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the franchise, including varies CDs that contain songs and drama stories, and a special Puyo Puyo 25th Anniversary 3DS theme.

Click below to look into what’s inside the box.

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SEGA News Bits: Sonic X & SEGA Hard Girls Blu-Ray & DVD Releases Discussion

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If you have been waiting the Sonic X and SEGA Hard Girls blu-ray and DVD releases, you might not have to wait too long since they are coming by the end of the year. On this episode of the SEGA News Bits we discuss the upcoming Sonic X and SEGA Hard Girls releases, talk about physical media and what you need to know about these newer releases. Is anyone here going to pick up the Sonic X DVDs or the SEGA Hard Girls Blurays?

If you enjoy our SEGA News Bits segments, make sure to share the videos with like minded folks and hit that subscribe button. Thanks for the support!

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SEGA News Bits: Wonder Boy Returns Announced Reaction

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Welcome to another SEGA News Bits, this time we will be talking about the newly announced Wonder Boy Returns, which is set to be a remake of the first game. If you guys didn’t catch the news, Wonder Boy Returns was announced with a gameplay trailer and the internet wasn’t too happy with what they saw. On this episode George and Barry react and give their thoughts on what they think of Wonder Boy Returns and the sudden influx of Wonder Boy related games.

Like always if you like our SEGA News Bits segments, please give us a like and a subscribe on our YouTube page. Thanks!

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SEGA of Japan releases character trailers for Sonic Boom Fire & Ice

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Sonic Boom Fire & Ice is not exactly a game people are enthusiastic about, essentially being overshadowed by the stigma of the Sonic Boom sub-series starting with the infamous Sonic Boom Rise of Lyric and being ignored in favor of the fan love letter Sonic Mania. However (ironically) SEGA of Japan is still trying to promote Sonic Boon Fire & Ice (There called Sonic Toon Fire & Ice) for it’s October 27th, 2016 release date by releasing trailers that highlights the characters Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Sticks.

Each trailer shows off the capabilities of each character via gameplay, highlighting specific techniques each character utilizes and examples of how they can be used. Said trailers also highlights the Fire and Ice gimmick and how each character utilizes them. Examples including Sonic being able to boost vertically both upwards and downwards, Amy using her hammer to create a shockwave that can lower pillers, Knuckles digging creating explosions if he creates a circle in a similar vein to the Paraloop mechanic in NiGHTS into Dreams, Tails’ ability to shoot enemies with a laser, and Stick’s boomerang.

While the Japanese have to wait for another month for Sonic Boom Fire & Ice, for those that live outside of Japan they have the luxury of playing the game this month, September 27th for the USA and September 30th for Europe.

Click below to see the trailers for Tails, Amy, Knuckles, and Sticks

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World of Tanks Blitz and Valkyria Chronicles collaboration live

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Valkyria Chronicles got a surprise collaboration with the Wargaming title World of Tanks Blitz, which as the name implies is a mobile version of the MMO World of Tanks involving 20th-century war vehicles like varies types of tanks. The collaboration brings with it two new tanks, the Edelweiss—a fast and maneuverable medium tank with a good gun and stabilization from Valkyria Chronicles, and The Nameless—a heavy tank with excellent front armor and powerful armament based on the Nameless Tank from Valkyria Chronicles 3.

The event for these Valkyria Chronicles inspired tanks originally began on September 15th, 2016 (Thursday) at 18:00 UTC+8 (10:00 UTC) and is slated to end on September 30th, 2016 (Friday) at 17:00 UTC+8 (09:00 UTC). Players can buy both Edelweiss and The Nameless for the price of $44.99, or getting the two tanks separately for $24.99.

[Source: World of Tanks Blitz Website]

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Strike Harbinger and Henshin Engine teams announce character crossover collaboration

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HitSparks Games, the team behind Strike Harbinger, a Space Harrier and Phantasy Star inspired game heading to PC, consoles and arcades in 2017, have just announced a character collaboration with the Henshin Engine team. Henshin Engine is a new 2D action platformer developed for PC Engine/TG-16 and PC/Steam which is nearing its Kickstarter goal. Of note to SEGA fans, Henshin Engine has a Dreamcast stretch goal as well as the possibility of appearing on SEGA CD and/or SEGA Genesis.

The collaboration promises to make Strike Harbinger‘s Valiya Iriss playable in Henshin Engine via a cute pixelated version of the character, and the star of Henshin Engine Yuki Shirokawa will appear in the Strike Harbinger universe. It’s always cool to see teams collaborating and crossing over their characters, so it will be really exciting to see the result of this.

You can check out Henshin Engine on Kickstarter and learn more about Strike Harbinger on their official site. Strike Harbinger made its debut at the Galloping Ghost Arcade during SEGA Week, and yours truly had the honor of being the first member of the general public to play it. For my first impressions, check out our SEGA News Bits video and give a listen to our developer interview.

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Wonder Boy Returns, a remake of Wonder Boy coming to Steam

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The Wonder Boy/Monster World series has been getting an abnormal amount of love recently. On top of the new installment Monster Boy and The Cursed Kingdom and the remake of the SEGA Master System game Wonder Boy III: The Dragons Curse (which we wrote an article about), a new remake of the first Wonder Boy by Cyberfront Korea has been announced and set for a fall release on Steam called Wonder Boy Returns.

Long before the franchise became the copyright hell it’s known as today, the first Wonder Boy was a modest arcade game, with the goal to simply reach the end and chuck axes when necessary while collecting fruit to prevent your stamina from running out, with the simply premise of the titular Wonder Boy saving his girl Tina. Now enjoy the same experiences of the first Wonder Boy title with… erm… “modernized” visuals and music that really stresses the conventions of modern day PC gaming. But the interesting part though is that unlike the other revivals and remakes, this one actually does have a SEGA copyright with the game. Truly associating themselves with the highest quality games possible was their priority with this one.

[Source: Gaming on PC]

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