Sammy announces Bayonetta themed pachislot machine

Pachislot Bayonetta

Sammy aka parent company of SEGA, has launched a teaser site for their upcoming gambling pachislot machines based on the ever popular Bayonetta IP. It seems that pachislot machines get a negative reaction but most people don’t understand that most of these products have nothing to do with SEGA Games division. This is nothing new, considering that Sammy has been using SEGA (and other) IPs to sell Pachislots for over a decade. It has been a very profitable business for ‘SEGA-Sammy Holdings‘.

Before everyone complains in the comment section about how “SEGA should have just funded Bayonetta 2 instead of this”, please understand that this is like saying “Sony should fund a new Tomba! video game on Playstation 4 instead of making The Interview”, both projects are competently different and the cost of doing a Bayonetta themed pachislot machine is way lower than creating a HD game from scratch.

I hope this means that SEGA and Sammy both find value in owning the Bayonetta IP and haven’t abandoned it. Would be nice to see SEGA do a extended version of Bayonetta 2 on other platforms outside of the dying Wii U.

Atlus USA shows off Stella Glow’s English opening movie, new screens and US box art

Originally Stella Glow was suppose to be not only developed by Imageepoch, but also published by them. Sadly they went bankrupt and SEGA picked up publishing duties for the game in Japan, while Atlus USA picked up publishing for the West. Today Atlus USA has posted the following opening movie for the English release of Stella Glow, featuring new music and introducing us to the main cast of characters. Atlus also posted the following information regarding the game:

  • Song Magic: Famous Japanese voice actors sing more than 20 songs in the game. Plus, the soundtrack is composed by Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger, Xenogears). The songs are part of Song Magic – a vital combat and story element.
  • Players will get an allotment of Free Time where they can upgrade or buy items, tune Witches’ hearts, explore, and grind experience, but that’s in limited supply as Combat Time will drive along the game’s story.
  • Stella Glow will have 40-60 hours of story and side quest content, with multiple endings, New Game+ mode, and more than 50 maps to battle on, the world of Stella Glow is rich and vibrant with tons to do!
  • From the team behind the classic Luminous Arc games comes a brand new IP with the same renowned strategic combat.

Stella Glow will be released exclusively on the Nintendo 3DS and according to Atlus USA it will be available this holiday season (Amazon has it listed for November 17th and priced at $49.99). Below is the new box art (same as Japanese version) for the US release and new screenshots of the game.

Streets of Rage 4 cancelled Dreamcast concept art makes its way online

StreetsofRage4concept2

SEGA is well aware of the cult following that their Streets of Rage series possesses, so they have tried to resurrect the franchise but it always ends up being canceled for one reason or another. It seems that SEGA had a plan to release Streets of Rage 4, we had the first prove of this by leaked footage that was released a few years ago (you can view it here). The game was to be on the Dreamcast and was being developed by Ancient & SEGA with Yuzo Koshiro returning to do the soundtrack. The game was sadly canceled.

We have finally gotten more information on the canceled project thanks to Yuzo Koshiro posting concept art on his twitter account. He posted two sketches one showing off the four lead characters, which have some resemblance to members of the original cast but are actually all new heroes. Another photo shows off ideas for combos, on this photo we actually get the names of the Axel looking guy, who is called Burn and is the son of Axel (aka Axel Jr.). We also see the female character who’s name is Erie and happens to be a ‘Shinobi’.

What do you guys think of the canceled concept art? Do you think SEGA made a mistake cancelling this project or is this something that was going to be met with backlash? Let us know in the comments!

StreetsofRage4concept1

Attention Virtua Fighter Fans: NYGX Event is August 14th-16th in Brooklyn, New York

Are you a Virtua Fighter fan in or around the New York area? We may have the perfect event for you!

NYGX is a Virtua Fighter fan gathering which will run from August 14th to August 16th at NextLevel in Brooklyn, New York. The event coordinators promise that every Virtua Fighter game will be there in some capacity (except for the arcade version of the original Virtua Fighter), with arcade iterations of Virtua Fighter Remix, Virtua Fighter 2, Virtua Fighter 3, Virtua Fighter 4: Final Tuned and Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown. There will also be tournaments for 3, 4: Final Tuned, and 5R with 5: Final Showdown‘s tournament being the main event. Can’t make the event? No worries! The three day event will be streamed at twitch.tv/NYC_VF.

For more information on the event, and Virtua Fighter itself, click on over to virtuafighter.com!

Sonic Dreams Collection: Fan made ‘unreleased’ Sonic Dreamcast prototypes

SonicDreamsCollection

It seems that Arcane Kids, the programmer behind 2013’s Bubsy 3D tribute is now he doing a similar release for Sonic the Hedgehog. He is releasing the ‘Sonic Dreams Collection‘ over on his new site ‘hedgehog.exposed‘ (password is: grandpa). Yes, the site is hosted via Tumblr. You can try Sonic Dreams Collection on both Windows and Mac OS.

According to Arcane Kids’ own description:

“The Arcane Kids$ salvaged FOUR playable prototypes, some concept art, and countless top-secret SEGA files.”

The four ‘salvaged playable prototypes’ include:

  • Make My Sonic ’96: Change colors, size of body parts and more.
  • Eggman Origins ’97: Not working, needs to be connected to ‘Seganet’.
  • Sonic Movie Maker ’98: Play director in various scenes featuring a dark story line.
  • My Roommate Sonic ’99: Hang out with your roomate Sonic while Eggman gives you instructions via phone texts.

While they are passing off the collection as obtained unreleased games via a developer kit purchased via Ebay, the release is clearly created using Unity and doesn’t run on Dreamcast hardware. Its a nice tribute release to make the rounds online. If you want to see someone with a unenthusiastic voice play the leak, hit the jump.

New SEGA feat. Hatsune Miku Project game seemingly confirmed through fan illustration contest

miiiiku

It’s tough to say nobody saw this coming, but yep; almost everyone’s favourite digital idol, Hatsune Miku, is seemingly getting another SEGA game.

As picked up by MikuFan, the news was revealed through a Nicovideo Livestream, in which it was announced SEGA will be partnering with Piapro (the official site for the Crypton Vocaloid characters) in collecting fan artwork for the loading screens and ending credits in a new Miku project. Of note, this has been the case with the previous Project Diva titles in particular. SEGA will be accepting a whopping 200 illustrations for the project; 100 loading screens and 100 ending credit visuals. Submissions open August 10th, and end September 11th, both at 17:00 JST; and apparently we’ll be getting more information on the submissions and such on the 10th.

Not exactly the most conventional way to confirm what’s almost certainly a Project Diva title, or perhaps even the rumoured arcade port; but it sounds like something’s coming folks! Excited? Sound off in the comments!

Yakuza 5 developer interview part 2: Hostess Clubs and more

Just over a month later, we get the second of three developer interviews where Yakuza series creator Toshihiro Nagoshi and Yakuza 5 producer Masayoshi Yokoyama are asked questions by Playstation’s Gio Corsi. In this interview the people behind SEGA’s gangster brawler are asked about what inspired the hostess clubs in the game and how they came about to design the series protagonist, Kazuma Kiryu, amongst other questions. It’s been a long time coming, but it seems almost surreal we live in a world where Yakuza 5 has finally be localised and Shenmue 3 has been kickstarter, what a time to be alive.

With only one more interview left, let’s hope that we’ll hear a solid release date soon. Yakuza 5 is set to launch for the Playstation 3 this fall, get ready to crack some skulls and manage some idols.

SEGA has released 7th Dragon III Code: VFD’s ‘World Introduction’ trailer

RPGs are all about giving a character a living world that they explore, its part of the fun of playing these role playing games and SEGA has just released a trailer to show off their world of 7th Dragon III Code: VFD on the Nintendo 3DS.

7th Dragon III Code: VFD will take you on a trip to the past, present and future. In the trailer you get to see Nodens Enterprise and the Tokyo Subway (present day), Atlantis  and Berk Ocean Palace (past), and the Kazan Republic (future).

7th Dragon III Code: VFD hits Japanese store shelves on October 15th, no Western release date has been announced.

Developer Retrospective: The winning combination of SEGA and Compile

Compile_YOSD

As summer winds down, we thought it would be the ideal time to shift the focus of our Year of the Developers feature to third party Japanese developers who have worked with SEGA in the past to bring us countless classics. We are, of course, referring to the legendary developers Compile, Treasure and Westone. While these three developers existed on their own outside of SEGA, their collaborations with our favorite company utilizing beloved SEGA home console and arcade hardware went a long way in cementing their statuses as some of the best third party developers of the 80s and 90s.

Creative Assembly is making Halo Wars 2

That’s right, SEGA is making a Halo game. Microsoft closed off their Gamescom briefing today by announcing Halo Wars 2, which is being developed by Creative Assembly in co-operation with 343 Industries. This sequel to the 2009 RTS will be coming to Xbox One and Windows 10 in fall of 2016. There are no other details about the game yet, though MS did release the teaser trailer you see above.

This is the fourth game that Creative Assembly is currently developing, the other games the studio is currently working on are Total War: Warhammer, Total War: Arena and Total War Battles: Kingdom.

Round Table: Our thoughts on SEGA Games’ new CEO Haruki Satomi

SatomiLove

It has been a rough path being a SEGA fan, while I do feel like they have made some great games in the past decade, its easy to see that they have also made their fair share of mistakes. A few weeks ago the newly elected Sega Games Co. CEO and Vice President, Haruki Satomi had a interview with Famitsu where he discussed how he felt some games SEGA released in the last decade abused fan’s trust towards the brand and how they are learning from Atlus in the West.

Of course the internet was an uproar, some even stating that SEGA hasn’t released a good game in a decade. Regardless of how you feel about SEGA, its always good for a company to take feedback and be straight when talking about the company. So this week’s round table we discuss what we thought of Mr. Satomi’s interview.

Yakuza Studio working on a non-Yakuza project

YokoyamaMasayoshiNagoshiGio

In a new interview with Famitsu, Yokoyama Masayoshi (Series producer at Yakuza Studio (aka: Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio.) has confirmed that the team is recruiting for continued high end video game development.The team already housing 150 development staff, Masayoshi also confirmed that the team is working on a project not related to the Yakuza series albeit based on saying the team is making a non-Yakuza project.

With Tokyo Game Show around the corner and no major new Yakuza game being announced, is this the announcement that newly appointed SEGA Games Co CEO Haruki Satomi was hinting at? We’ll find out shortly as TGS is only a month away!

Total War: Warhammer – Battle of Blackfire Pass Walkthrough (Pre-Alpha Footage)

The Creative Assembly today released the first in-game, pre-alpha footage of Total War: Warhammer. This scripted walkthrough demonstrates a Legendary battle lifted from Warhammer lore; The Battle of Blackfire Pass. This walkthrough showcasing the Empire (Humans) and Greenskins (Orcs and Goblins)the battle lasts approximately ten minutes, featuring new game mechanics and units never before seen in a Total War game. Watch as shamans cast huge magical spells; colossal spiders eat men and spit out their swords; wyvern and gryphons do battle in the skies above while line infantry clash below. It’s a big change to the historic Total War formula and one I’m excited to see more of.

The first part of the Total War: Warhammer trilogy will release in 2016 for PC.

SEGA on PC ports: “So many games, so little time! Stay tuned.”

SEGAPCPortsDream
A couple of years ago a ton of SEGA fans started up the #SEGAPCPorts hashtag and petition demanding for SEGA to release more of its games on their platform of choice. It seemed to have worked since we got surprises like “new” title The Typing of the Dead: Overkill and last year we got the fantastic port of Valkyria Chronicles.

Since the last PC port happen last year and we got a new restructure in April, a fan decided to ask SEGA if they where still doing PC ports: