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SEGA Sammy Q3 2015: Time for change

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SEGA Sammy posted their earnings for Q3 2015 but also came up with the new developments in the corporate structure. Read on to find how the consumer division did and what changes are in store for the company.

SEGA’s consumer division saw good sales on the current generation of consoles. In fact the sales on the Playstation 4 was so good that full year expectations was raised no doubt to stronger than expected sales of Alien: Isolation. Catalogue sales continue to a major boost for SEGA too, another area that saw expectations revised upwards no doubt helped by the likes of Valkyria Chronicles for PC, which also saw steady sales. It wasn’t so great for the other platforms though with the last generation HD twins suffering heavily and both the Wii U and Vita seeing similar reductions in sales forecast. The big drop however, surprisingly perhaps, was the Nintendo 3DS which saw SEGA lower sales by over 1 million units.

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SEGA Movie Dream Casts: From the House to the Streets

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How often have you played a SEGA game and asked yourself, “why isn’t this a movie?” Growing up with SEGA, I would ask that question constantly. To be completely honest, I’ve never stopped asking that question. Playing games like After Burner, Streets of Rage and Sonic The Hedgehog, I always felt they would make awesome movies. Well, that childhood dream may very well be coming true. Late last year, Variety reported that SEGA had hired former Break Media executive Evan Cholfin, collaborating with Stories International, to aid them in adapting some of their classic franchises into other forms of entertainment.

That’s right, SEGA fans! We’re talking about movies and television. The franchises mentioned include Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, Shinobi and Crazy Taxi. You know, just to name a few. This is something I’ve been fantasizing about since I was 10-years old. It’s surreal to think that it may finally come to pass.

Here’s a few SEGA properties I’d like to see on the big screen, and who I would like to see in the roles. Seeing as how I’m a director whore, I’ll even include my choice of filmmaker.

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3D Streets of Rage 2 gets rated in Australia, could come to your 3DS soon

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SEGA’s 3D Classics on the 3DS eShop seem to be a hit, at least enough so for the company to bring more obscure titles to the platform (like 3D Thunder Blade). Recently ‘3D Streets of Rage 2‘ was submitted in Australia for rating, a game that hasn’t been announced yet. As you can see, the developer is being listed as M2, the same developer that has done the past 3D Classics and the game was submitted by SEGA Europe.

Don’t be surprised if SEGA announces the game soon, along with some really nice extra features to add to the overall experience. Online co-op, please!

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Aboard Little Jack: How Skies Of Arcadia made an RPG fan out of me

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Skies of Arcadia is a game that made a huge impact on me as a fan of SEGA and Role-Playing games. Before it, I had very little exposure to RPGs. I had seen Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, but very rarely did I play them. The only one I actually played was Phantasy Star IV. While I enjoyed it, I was a bit too young to really be able to understand or get into it. I still had fond memories of playing it with my neighbor, and when I got older and had the chance to finally play it again, it became one of my favorite games of all time. It never would have happened without Skies of Arcadia.

At the time the game came out on the Dreamcast, I was around 10 years old. Old enough to start wrapping my head around more complex games. However, I didn’t have a Dreamcast at the time, only a Nintendo 64. My cousin had the Dreamcast though, and I was super close with him. He was like an older brother to me. He picked on me a bit, but he also showed me lots of cool stuff, even stuff I probably wasn’t supposed to see or play at my age yet. He was also a huge RPG fan, and had always tried to get me into them, but I never did get engrossed with them that much. Then, one weekend when he came to visit, he brought Skies of Arcadia. We spent an entire night playing it, and I don’t remember how long we played it for, but it was almost sunrise before we finally had to give into sleep.

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2-Man Scramble plays Batman Forever for the SEGA Genesis – Holy co-op, Batman!

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Andrew Rosa and Mickey Mac must team up to beat one of the worst movie-licensed video games ever produced; Batman Forever on SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive.

Before this foul-mouth duo can take fight the puzzling Riddler and maniacal Two-Face, they must first overcome a seemingly endless onslaught of jackasses like “Blood Fire”, “Anti-Freeze” and “Charlie”, as well as some tough platform jumping.

For an in-depth review, watch Andrew go it alone in My Life with SEGA.

Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel.

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Game Boy Advance classic Sonic Advance hitting the Japanese Wii U eShop next week

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Nintendo’s Japanese site has officially revealed that the Game Boy Advance classic Sonic Advance, seen by many fans to be the best post classic era 2D title, will be hitting the Japanese Wii U eShop on February 18th. The game is priced at ¥702 ($5.90/£3.90) and is set to take up 200MB of storage space, much larger in size than the original game but remember this includes a digital copy of the manual.

There is no indication of the game releasing to the West just yet, and there is no sign of the sequels, but we have our fingers crossed and as soon as we hear something we’ll be sure to share it! Me? I’d love to see SEGA’s entire library of Game Boy Advance games on the Wii U. From Jet Grind Radio to Gunstar Super Heroes. A man can dream…

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Regarding Sonic The Hedgehog 3 Remastered – Guest Post by Stealth

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[The following is a guest post about the Sonic 3 Remastered campaign written by Stealth, who with Taxman made the Retro Engine versions of Sonic 1 and 2 which can currently be bought for iOS and Android. They had also made a proof-of-concept of Sonic 3 running in the engine on the iPhone. This was originally posted on Stealth’s own blog, so it’s written in a way you can expect from a post on a personal blog.]

Intro

Before I start, I’ll first say that I’m speaking as an individual, and not on behalf of any other party, team, business entity, etc. As such, I will speak only for and of myself, without regard to other parties who may want to remain uninvolved.

With the exception of the anniversary presentation from October, I’ve remained relatively silent on the subject of remastering Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Naturally, this is expected of me as someone who has already contracted with SEGA, would be a part of the Sonic 3 remastering project, and would potentially perform work under contract for SEGA again in the future, however, I no longer feel that it’s appropriate to maintain near-complete silence in contrast to my own personal feelings as an individual and as a fan of classic Sonic the Hedgehog.

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Alien: Isolation leads BAFTA Games Awards 2015 with six nominations

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The BAFTA Games Awards nominees for the 2015 ceremony have been revealed, and lo and behold SEGA leads the pack with six nominations! Seems last year’s Alien: Isolation made quite the impression, as The Creative Assembly’s survival horror game is up for awards for Audio Achievement, Best Game, British Game, Game Design, Game Innovation, and Music. The slew of awards was no surprise to us here at SEGAbits, as we loved the game so much we gave it a glowing review and named it one of our favorite SEGA games of 2014. Congrats to SEGA and The Creative Assembly on the nominations, and stay tuned to SEGAbits to see how they cleaned up once the winners are revealed on March 12th!

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First 4 Figures Sonic & Tails Tornado diorama pre-orders open

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Last week, First 4 Figures teased a very cool Sonic & Tails Tornado statue which was the second in their Sonic Diorama line. Today, pre-orders have officially opened, and we now have a whole slew of photos, the dimensions, the expected release date, and most importantly – the price! Selling for $299.99 the diorama measures 17.5” tall x 14” long x 14” wide, is limited to 1000 pieces, and is expected to release Q4 2015 (the pre-order page accidentally lists “Q4 2014”). There is also an exclusive version, priced at $329.99, limited to 425 pieces, and featuring the inclusion of LEDs to give the rocket booster a flashing effect.

As you can see in the photos, found on the First 4 Figures pre-order page, the statue is a real beauty and is sure to be a hit with classic Sonic fans. But is it worth the asking price? Are you planning to pre-order the latest diorama? Sound off in the comments section!

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New Persona 5 details emerge, main character details revealed

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Now that the first Persona 5 trailer finally came out, everyone is left wondering when the first batch of new information will be out. Today’s your lucky day, since Famitsu has released some of the first details regarding the new Persona game.

The main protagonist in this game is a second year high-school student who recently moved to Tokyo in the spring. He doesn’t live with his parents, but friends of his parents, who just happen to live in a coffee shop. The protagonist is bonds with people who have recently lost their homes. The main character’s persona is called Arsène (most likely named after Arsène Lupin).

In the Famitsu issue they interviewed both Katsura Hashino (Producer and Director) and Shigenori Soejima (Character Designer) where they gave more info on the game.

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Developer Retrospective: A look back at the games of SEGA’s Overworks

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Last week when we kicked off Overworks and WOW Entertainment month, we took a look back at how SEGA organized their many internal development teams over the years. Among those teams were Overworks and WOW Entertainment, two separate teams that released games from 2000 through to 2004 when they were merged and became SEGA WOW. This week, we will be taking a look back at the games released by Overworks. While the Overworks softography is small, especially compared to giants like SEGA AM2, in the span of four years Overworks released some truly classic titles.

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3D Fantasy Zone: Opa-Opa Brothers hits 3DS eShop this week

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Ask us if we like Fantasy Zone. Now look at our logo, stop asking questions, you dingus. Luckily for us and even luckier for you, SEGA has announced that their next SEGA 3D Classic port that’s coming west is Fantasy Zone.

The game isn’t just a regular port as it will add new 3D visuals, adjustable difficultly settings, the ability to save your game, let you play the Japanese or English version, a stage select, and if that wasn’t enough they will have a brand new mode that allows you to play as Upa-Upa (Opa-Opa’s brother).

The official SEGA blog has a great interview with Yosuke Okunari and Naoki Horii talking all about bringing the game to the 3DS.

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Classic SEGA Ads: Take a peek above deck at these Japanese Skies of Arcadia commercials

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When it comes to Japanese games being localized for the West, I tend to like it when they stick as closely to the original release as possible. I like to hear the original Japanese dialogue, have the names of characters and locations retained, see the original cover art used, and I hate it when they change the game’s title (hey, I just noticed that Jet Grind Radio broke all of these rules!). Skies of Arcadia, however, is a rare exception. When it was revealed in the pages of The Official Sega Dreamcast Magazine that Eternal Arcadia was to be retitled Skies of Arcadia, I was not only okay with this, I actually much preferred it.

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