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SEGA (IPs) in the Charts: MediaCreate charts for Sep 15 – 21 Sep 2014

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Bayonetta-2

Although the sales of Bayonetta 2 will in no way effect SEGA’s profits, it’s still a SEGA IP and a major one at that. When it was released it quickly became a fan favourite last generation. The original was the third collaboration between SEGA and Platinum Games and was released in late 2009 in Japan and early 2010 in Europe/America. There has been much discussion about moving the sequel over to the Wii U and whether it would pay off, and now we finally get the first sales data for the title as it was launched in Japan last week, hit the break to find out how well the Witch is doing on the Wii U.

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Is a Nintendo 3DS SEGA 3D Classics collection retail release in the works for Japan?

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Spotted on NeoGAF and reported by gamestalk.net comes word that a physical release for SEGA’s 3D Classics collection for the Nintendo 3DS may be releasing to Japan on December 18th for 3,980 yen. The compilation is said to include a mix of wave 1 and wave 2 titles: 3D Space Harrier, 3D Fantasy Zone, 3D Outrun, 3D Streets of Rage, 3D Shinobi 2, and 3D Ecco the Dolphin. Also included are two bonus titles, Space Harrier 3D and Outrun 3D which originally released to the SEGA Master System and utilized the 3D glasses.

This leaves 3D Super Hang On, 3D Sonic the Hedgehog, 3D Altered Beast, 3D Galaxy Force II, 3D Afterburner II, 3D Fantasy Zone, and 3D Thunder Blade as eshop exclusives, but it is likey that if this compilation sells well, the rest will be released in another volume.

We’ll share more news on this potential release as we hear it, so stay tuned!

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This is Saturn puts out some fires in Burning Rangers for the SEGA Saturn

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After a month or two away, This is Saturn strikes back with Burning Rangers, another cult hit from Sonic Team!

Burning Rangers remained considerably obscure upon release, being one of the final games released for the Saturn in the UK – this also makes UK copies quite rare. Is it really a hidden gem, or does it deserve to stay buried in the blaze?

This is Saturn is a video series created by British teenager Liam ‘TrackerTD’ Ashcroft, aiming to give an alternative and in-depth look at the good, the bad, and the ugly of SEGA Saturn gaming, all whilst maintaining a somewhat strong accent.

Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel!

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SEGA takes aim and blasts Resonance of Fate onto PlayStation Network for PlayStation 3

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SEGA West has announced that Resonance of Fate, released in 2010 to the Xbox 360 and PS3, is now available on the PlayStation Network for PlayStation 3. Developed by tri-Ace, Resonance of Fate is a unique RPG featuring a combat system centered around gun-play in a steampunk-styled world. Players take control of Vashyron, Zephyr and Leanne, members of the Private Military Firm who are tasked with seeking out and completing quests for their clients.

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SEGA Tunes: Shenmue’s Original Soundtrack

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When Shenmue was being hyped by SEGA as the next big step in gaming immersion, Yu Suzuki often liked to classify the game in its own genre, “Full Reactive Eyes Entertainment” or FREE. These days we tend to either call it an RPG or an adventure game, but even back then the phrase didn’t really work because it ignored one of Shenmue’s best qualities: its utterly marvelous, epic, emotional, cinematic, beautiful soundtrack. For Shenmue Week Tuesday Tunes will be doing something new: instead of posting one or two tracks, we’re posting the entire soundtrack.

The above video was put together by Shenmue Dojo. Aside from being a marvelous way to listen to the entire Shenmue soundtrack, this video was also the first request Tuesday Tunes ever received. Someone from Shenmue Dojo really wanted us to highlight it, but I knew we couldn’t just do it for any occasion. It may have taken awhile, dude, but you finally got your wish. Now please, join us as we take a musical journey through part one of Yu Suzuki’s magnum opus!

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SEGA Retrospective: Let’s get sweaty as we celebrate a SEGA Dreamcast classic, it’s Shenmue Week!

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Welcome to a franchise week that many readers have been requesting ever since we began to dedicate seven days to classic SEGA titles, this is Shenmue Week! Like Jet Set Radio Week, we’re going focus exclusively on the first game of the franchise throughout the week. While Shenmue and its sequel are not incredibly different games from each other like Jet Set Radio and Jet Set Radio Future, we felt that both Shenmue titles are both so epic on their own that to try and cram both into seven days would do a disservice to the series. Not to mention, we love Shenmue so much that the prospect of another Shenmue Week in the future is something we’re looking forward to.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s travel back in time, before Shenmue II and before the original Shenmue. Before the series went by the codename Project Berkley, to a time in the mid 90s when SEGA’s Yu Suzuki was working on a SEGA Saturn prototype known as The Old Man and the Peach Tree.

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Round Table: What direction should Sonic Adventure 3 have taken?

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Sonic Adventure was the best selling Dreamcast game of all time, so it’s no surprise that we would want to discuss the game on this week’s Round Table. The Sonic Adventure series had two main entries that were both on the SEGA Dreamcast, and both had a very different approach when it came to story and gameplay progression. As the series continued, SEGA took the blue blur in a various directions with titles like Sonic Heroes, Sonic Generations, Sonic Colors and the latest title Sonic Lost World. Despite the long gap between Sonic Adventure 2 and today, a very vocal group of fans still ask SEGA for a third entry in the series. The question we posed to our writers this week was would we want a Sonic Adventure 3? If so, what direction should the third entry take?

Like always you can tell us your own opinion on what direction Sonic Adventure 3 should take in the comment section.

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Classic SEGA Ads: There’s a Party Going on Inside Your Dreamcast

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If there’s anything SEGA learned from the Saturn, it’s that it was important for their console to have an identity. The system wasn’t just a box that played a selection of games, it was a gateway to hundreds of worlds and thousands of characters, all of whom had the little white box in common. Through these commercials, the Dreamcast was able to establish an identity for itself as a quirky and colorful system that was more focused on fun and good times than anything else. What’s even better is that it wasn’t just SEGA characters who got into the action.

These commercials were fun and hilarious, and I’m surprised we haven’t seen more campaigns like this from the other console makers. The only company since SEGA that has really tried to sell their console in a similar fashion is Sony, with its PS3 and PS4 commercials, which is strange when you consider that Nintendo has the largest selection of recognizable characters and brands of any console maker.

The Dreamcast had numerous ads like this in its first year on the market, and all of them are still great to watch now. These commercials are filled to the brim with Dreamcast characters both notable and obscure, some of whom wouldn’t even get their games until the Dreamcast was on its death bed. How many characters can you spot in this ad? Let us know in the comments. I apologize for the poor quality of the ad, but just do your best, okay?

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Lazy Game Reviews covers the Diamond Edge 3D card that brought the SEGA Saturn experience to PC

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Bringing the home console experience to a personal computer has always been a trying experience for game developers. With varying degrees of hardware and dear god, playing Virtua Fighter on a keyboard? Back when SEGA was making a big push for PC gaming, they teamed up with NVidia with the Diamond Edge 3D card for Windows 95. The package brought you Virtua Fighter Remix and Panzer Dragoon as a couple of free games as well as two SEGA Saturn controllers. Why? Because the video card also featured an adapter that lets you plug in any Saturn controller to your computer all while rendering 3D via quadratic texture mapping (In lieu of any OpenGL compatibility), much like an actual SEGA Saturn. YouTube content creator Lazy Game Reviews has recently posted a review on this rare piece of hardware and shows off the card and the games in action.

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SEGA by Design: Power Stone 2 and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Cover Art

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Welcome to a new SEGAbits feature: SEGA by Design. Believe it or not, SEGAbits is not my day job. When I’m not working on the site, I’m a full time graphic designer. Before I decided to make graphic design my profession, I grew up wanting to be either an animator or a cartoonist. My childhood influences included 90’s cartoons and video game cover art, and while I loved such works as the covers of the classic Sonic the Hedgehog games, I found myself even more attracted to the package designs that encapsulated the artwork. At the time, I had no idea what this sort of thing was called, I just knew that it was slick, uniform, and involved colors, shapes, and fonts. It wasn’t until the Playstation game Wipeout that I learned of what graphic design actually entailed through the work of The Designer’s Republic. From there on out, I knew I wanted to be a graphic designer and four years of college and seven years of professional experience later, here I am about to tear into the cover art of one of my most favorite SEGA Dreamcast games: Capcom’s Power Stone 2.

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Persona 4 Arena Ultimax Coming to Europe This November

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If you’re European and dreaded having to wait a very long time for Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, then we’ve got some good news for you: you have to wait somewhat less than you used to. According to Eurogamer, SEGA is bringing the game to Europe this November in disc and digital formats. No specific release date was given, but at least we know that we just have to wait two months instead of nine.

Well, unless you’re going to import the game. If so, you can get it from the US starting September 30th or you can already import it from Japan. That or you’re one of those weird not-European people who lives there and doesn’t have to either import or wait that long for the game.

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Valkyria Chronicles’ Selvaria Bles and Alicia Melchiott enters Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax

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Fans of the Valkyria Chronicles franchise can jump for joy as SEGA & Dengeki has recently announced during Tokyo Game Show 2014 that Selvaria Bles and Alicia Melchiott will appear as playable and supporting in the home versions of Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax which is set for release on November 13, 2014 for Playstation 3 and Playstation Vita.

At the moment, it is unknown how the characters will play in-game. However, screenshots are available to view on the net. The two will join the fray along with other SEGA characters, Akira Yuki and Pai Chan, from Virtua Fighter, who’ve also been announced for the home versions of Fighting Climax.

More details to be announced soon. Which SEGA character do you think would fit Fighting Climax? Leave us a comment below and hit the jump for screenshots of Selvaria and Alicia in action!

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Sonic Talk #28: Sonic Talk Adventure 28 DX Battle Edition Purple Monkey Dishwasher

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[MP3]

It’s Dreamcast month here at Segabits, so being a Sonic podcast, we’ve decided to look back at the Sonic Adventure series. Me. Nuckles87, GX Echidna and special guest Evil Dr. Reef look back at the Adventure series from its Dreamcast beginnings up to Sonic Adventure DX on the GameCube. Which in the series is our favorite? What were the best parts? What were the worst parts (besides big the Cat obviously)? Does either game hold up today? Do we want a Sonic adventure 3? We answer all these question and more in a heavy 2 & 1/2 hour discussion that’s one of our best episodes yet!

NOTE: If you wonder why GX seems to be hogging the conversation for about 20 minutes after the 58 minute mark, it’s because Nuckles87’s audio went off for a short period of time. (Also, GX tends to naturally hog up a conversation anyway.) Luckily, my awesome editing skills saved the day and it’s barely noticeable.

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Phantasy Star Nova getting Valkyrie Profile, Star Ocean and Resonance of Fate outfits

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Seems that the developers behind Phantasy Star Nova aren’t going afraid of putting their personal touch on the long running SEGA RPG franchise. Announced at this year’s Tokyo Game Show the game is set to have costumes from previous Tri-Ace games which include Valkyrie Profile, Star Ocean and the SEGA published Resonance of Fate.

Even though all the games above are developed by Tri-Ace, Valkyrie Profile and Star Ocean are both published and owned by Square-Enix. I wonder how hard it was to convince Square-Enix on allowing them to use their franchises in  Phantasy Star Nova.

Phantasy Star Nova is set to release in Japan this November exclusively for the Playstation Vita. What about us in the West? No release date planned, yet. Hit the jump for screenshots.

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Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric pushed up to Nov 11

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Sonic-Boom

Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric for Wii U has been pushed up to November 11th from it’s original release date of November 18th. While Sega has not given a reason for this push, one can only speculate that they either wanted to match up to the release date of Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal on 3DS or they didn’t want to get smashed by any competition coming out around the same time. The European release dates have not been changed and are still due to come out on November 21st.

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