Latest Posts

Grandia II HD hits PC this year, new screenshots revealed

by

GrandiaIIHD
We announced prior that Grandia II HD was getting a new PC port based on the Dreamcast version (best version) of the game. Now we know that publisher GungHo Online Entertainment plans to release Grandia II HD sometime this year via  GOG and also on Steam.

The HD version will have updated graphics for HD displays, include Japanese voice acting (along with English dub), controller support and a new, harder difficulty mode. Grandia II came out on the Dreamcast in 2000 and was considered one of the best RPGs released on the console. A few years later it got a PS2 and PC port, but both these ports where noted for being inferior to the Dreamcast version. Glad that the world (outside of Dreamcast owners) will get to re-experience Grandia II the way it was mean’t to be enjoyed.

Here is what the game will look like: 

Continue Reading ➜

12 Comments

SEGA ending Rhythm Thief & The Paris Caper’s online services this September

by

Rhythm Thief & The Paris Caper
SEGA has quietly confirmed that it will be ending the online services for Rhythm Thief & the Paris Caper at 6 PM (UTC) on September 28th 2015. This game isn’t the 3DS version, its the iOS adaptation released under SEGA Networks back in 2013. The iOS page for the game has the following message:

“The game went live on October 28th in 2013, and we have constantly strived to deliver a fun and engaging experience. This decision came as a result of various circumstances beyond our control. Again, we would like to thank you for playing. July 28, 2015 – Last day of in-app purchase sales, September 30, 2016 – Last day of service”

Like most SEGA Network games, Rhythm Thief & the Paris Caper has always-on connectivity requirments without the ability to play offline. I would say that SEGA shutting down the online services basically means that this game is now unplayable… unless SEGA patches it to work offline.

[Via Siliconera]

1 Comment

Wonder Festival 2015 reveals new Jet Set Radio, Virtua Fighter, Yakuza, 7th Dragon, Persona 3, and SEGA Hard Girls figures

by

SEGAFigures7thDragonJetSetVirtuaFighterPersona

It seems that this year’s Wonder Summer Festival 2015  was totally worth looking into if you’re a big SEGA fan since they got a ton of figures announced. How many? Seven figures spanning six franchises including Jet Set Radio, Virtua Fighter, Yakuza, 7th Dragon, Persona 3, and even SEGA Hard Girls got represented with a figure (a convention exclusive one no less). Here is the list of figures announced at the event:

As you can tell most of these are very early in production with some figures not being shown painted and some not even having a picture of what the figures looks like. This is a very early announcement and when more photos become available we shall post it on the blog, so stay tuned. I have to be honest, I’m a sucker for the old Virtua Fighter graphics, so I’ll probably end up picking those two figures up. What about you guys?

[Thanks: batfax]

2 Comments

Round Table: How much did you pledge to Shenmue 3?

by

shenmue3rt

It is hard to grasp that it has been over 14 years since Shenmue 2 came out and left us all with that cliffhanger in the end of the game. There has been a strong fan reaction for a third installment and Yu Suzuki stood at Playstation’s E3 stage to finally give fans what they have been asking for. Ys NET launched their Kickstarter campaign which broke funding records, cementing that fans are willing to give their hard earn cash in order to see a third installment of their favorite franchise. In this week’s Round Table we talk about how much we funded and why. You can let us know how much you funded in the comments below.

Continue Reading ➜

13 Comments

Swingin’ Report Show #82: Interview with Brian Silva of Visual Concepts, Midway, Accolade and more!

by

Video game designer and voice actor Brain Silva joins us on our latest episode to discuss his work on Bubsy and Bubsy II, Floigan Bros., Hydro Thunder, and H2Overdrive as well as many other games created during his time at Accolade, Visual Concepts, Midway, Blizzard Entertainment and Specular Interactive. Brian also discusses several unreleased games including Hydro Thunder 2 for arcades, Congo: The Secret of Zinj for Genesis and SNES, and Floigan Bros. for the original Playstation!

Brian currently works at Specular Interactive, having helped create the arcade titles H2Overdrive (Hydro Thunder‘s spiritual successor), Project HADES, Dirty Drivin’, and Batman. Learn more about Specular Interactive by checking out their website.

Also, make sure to check out Brian’s website where you’ll find some excellent design docs for Floigan Bros. and Crank the Weasel.

[Download] [RSS] [iTunes] [Archive]

No Comments

Review: Tembo the Badass Elephant (PC)

by

Temboreview

SEGA and Game Freak Inc (Pokemon series, Pulseman) partner up once more to bring us a brand new platformer starring Tembo the Badass Elephant. I have been itching to get my hands on this game since SEGA first showed it earlier this year and now that I have beaten it was all my excitement worth it? Is Tembo the Badass Elephant a good enough game to earn the honor of having ‘badass’ in its title?

Continue Reading ➜

2 Comments

SEGA Games CEO talks about fan reactions to his Famitsu interview

by

header_title
If you missed it, Haruki Satomi the newly elected CEO of SEGA Games Co. (he was hired on April 1st) did a Famitsu interview where he talked about how SEGA has released software in the last 10 years that he felt betrayed fan’s trust in the brand. Says he believes quality Japanese games can sell in the West and among other comments that lots of SEGA fans across the globe agreed with.

Haruki Satomi obviously has been getting e-mailed by media about those comments and he sent the following message to Siliconera.

“Seeing our fans across the world respond to our recent interview with Famitsu, lets us know we’ve made the right first step in acknowledging who we are and where we want to be. Sega is dedicated to bringing you quality gaming experiences and becoming a brand you love and trust again,”

During the Famitsu interview, he said that they had a game to announce at Tokyo Game Show later in September, this will be one of the first glimpse at where Satomi wants to take SEGA in the future. So what do you think about his comments? Let us know what you think about his comments by leaving a comment in the comment box below (yo dawg).

18 Comments

Blade of Arcus From Shining EX’s Japanese limited edition includes scantily clad anime girls

by

gentei_img1
SEGA has finally released all the high-resolution shots of the limited edition of Blade Arcus from Shining EX, which is a 2D arcade fighting game that is coming to the Playstation 4 and Playstation 3 in Japan this November.

The game’s limited edition is known as the “Tony Taka’s Premium Fan Box“, who is Tony Taka? He is the artist for the newer Shining series of games, specially famous for making anime girls, that well… aren’t exactly fully clothed (see the art in the image header for examples of such work).

Limited edition comes with:

  • A Tony Taka-illustrated special box
  • “Shining Heroine Works” 40-page art book
  • Shining Ark character 10-song CD
  •  Shining Blade 60-song soundtrack CD (two discs)
  • “Shining Beach Heroines” 2016 13-month swimsuit calendar

The game hits Japanese store shelves on Novemeber 26th, all first print copies come with Sonia from Shining Resonance as a playable character. No western release date has been announced, but if you want this edition of the game you can always pre-order it at Play-Asia for $110 USD. For more info, check out the game’s official website.

[Via: Gematsu]

No Comments

Hatsune Miku crosses over with Persona 4: Dancing All Night in upcoming DLC

by

Persona 4 Dancing All Night screenshot 2

Atlus just announced that Hatsune Miku, the vocaloid that SEGA can’t stop making rhythm games of, is going to appear in upcoming DLC for Persona 4: Dancing All Night. She will be dancing to “Heaven feat. Hatsune Miku (ATOLS Remix)”, seemingly based on the song of the same name from Persona 4.

The DLC will be released next month in Japan. You can find screenshots and artwork for it below. And remember: this is canon.

Continue Reading ➜

4 Comments

Watch Sonic rescue Tails in 3D Sonic the Hedgehog 2’s credit sequence

by

M2 really likes having goofy credit sequences in their SEGA 3D Classics line of games, in this one we see each unique enemy type being shown off with a sequence of iterations with either Sonic or Tails. The Tails ones seem to involve him getting hit by said baddies and having Sonic come rescue him.

Sit and appreciate all the different unique baddies with their own animation that Sonic the Hedgehog 2 had to offer. Now I want to play 3D Sonic the Hedgehog 2... I guess we will have to wait until September.

[Via: NintendoLife]

No Comments

Shenmue Gaiden: A fan made visual novel gets announced

by

Shenmue Gaiden 1

Two Shenmue fanatics (Shensun and Esppiral from Shenmue Dojo) have been working together for a greater part of a year on the fan creation of Shenmue Gaiden, a non-canon Shenmue visual novel. This is the sequel to a fan project that was released a year ago called ‘Shenmue X chapter 1‘, but the creator suggest this project will be better and by the looks of the promotional artwork he might be on to something.

It is expected for the visual novel to have a demo this year with a release sometime in 2016, the game will have two plot stories that deal with Ryo and Shenhua reaching their destination after their long walk in the forest and a young girl who asks them for help. To read more about the plot and see other in-game screenshots, hit the jump or click here.

Continue Reading ➜

2 Comments

3D Sonic the Hedgehog 2 trailer in actual 3D hits online

by

Sonic and his two-tailed friend Tails hit the Nintendo 3DS on Thursday over in Japan  with 3D Sonic the Hedgehog 2. To celebrate the release SEGA has released the following trailer… in 3D. Yes, if you didn’t know Youtube supports 3D videos.

This 3D Sonic the Hedgehog trailer is stereoscopic 3D which means you can view with red and blue 3D glasses. We will keep you informed on the US and European release dates, but I’m hearing its coming out sometime in September.

7 Comments

SEGA’s Transformers: Human Alliance gets G-LOC deluxe style cabinet

by

CKKIcQvUkAAjUk5
SEGA has launched Transformers: Human Alliance in arcades and it seems that the license has earned enough attention that SEGA went and made a deluxe cabinet (Titled Transformers: Human Alliance Special) for the game. Just how SEGA-AM2’s biggest titles all had big mechanical moving cabinets, Transformers: Human Alliance gets the SEGA R-360 type cabinet from the early 90’s, which was used with G-LOC: Air Battles.

Some people will suggest that G-LOC: Air Battles came out 15 years ago, how can that be impressive? Those people never played G-LOC on the SEGA R-360 cabinet which spins the players a full 360 degrees. Hit the jump to see the SEGA R-360 from 1990 and the new Transformers one in action after the break.

[Source: NintendoLife]

Continue Reading ➜

1 Comment

First 4 Figures seeking feedback on Sonic the Hedgehog 25th Anniversary statue concept

by

13726_10153043565971732_8727070703512831758_n

For the past few months First 4 Figures, creators of high quality and high priced Sonic and SEGA statues, have been teasing a Sonic the Hedgehog statue to celebrate next year’s 25th anniversary. Today, on the First 4 Figures Facebook page, the company has shared a concept sketch of the statue and are asking for fan feedback. Those who have followed First 4 Figures in the past know full well that they take feedback very seriously, often making major changes to statues to satisfy fans. The proposed Sonic 25th anniversary statue features Sonic playing a Dreamcast Sonic game on an item monitor. The base appears to be set in Green Hill Zone, much like the first Sonic statue and the 20th anniversary statue were. The reason Sonic isn’t playing a Genesis/Mega Drive? First 4 Figures explained “We thought that as an anniversary piece, we wanted to try and touch on multiple eras in a single piece rather than making it strictly classic. The thought is well received though!”. As for the Green Hill Zone base, First 4 Figures sound open to changing it, as they are aware that that location has been done far too many times already.

After the break, hear my thoughts on the piece and check out the full piece of concept art.

Continue Reading ➜

1 Comment

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

by

Blade-Arcus-EX-PS4-PS3-Ann

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. 

Continue Reading ➜

No Comments