Latest Posts

My Life with SEGA Season 2 ends with a SEGA Saturn classic – Die Hard: Arcade

by

My Life with SEGA season 2 ends with punches, kicks, and several explosions as Mickey Mac and I take on the SEGA Saturn classic Die Hard: Arcade in a 2-Man Scramble! With season 2 over, what’s next for My Life with SEGA? I’ll be taking a break from the series as of now to concentrate on other projects. However, don’t think for a moment that My Life with SEGA is dead.

Next season is going to change things up where I’m sharing more single-player games with friends, like Mickey Mac, Lauren and others. I’ll do some straight reviews with big name titles (yes, Shenmue II), but this will be more freeform from Season 3 onward. Also, The Next Level/No Limits VCD: Special Edition is still in the works.

A big thanks to everyone – my family, friends, fans and SEGAbits – for keeping My Life with SEGA alive and well. It’s amazing to think that, come September 11th, it will be celebrating its 3rd birthday. I love you all, and I thank you from deep down in the cockles of my heart…. maybe below the cockles. Maybe even in the sub-cockle area. Maybe in the liver. Maybe in the kidneys. Maybe even in the colon. I don’t know.

STICK IT IN YOUR GENESIS, FUCKERS!

Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel!

No Comments

SEGA Europe hit with layoffs

by

segaeuropebuilding

SEGA’s office in London has been hit with layoffs, Polygon reports. This is because of a restructuring of the Sonic and Mobile departments at SEGA of America, which made a number of employees at SEGA of Europe redundant. When reached for comment by Polygon, SEGA replied: “Sega is in the process of consolidating certain functions of the Sonic and Mobile departments within Sega of America, where the management and production for those areas of the business reside. As part of that strategy a limited number of redundancies have taken effect in our European office, based in London.” SEGA hasn’t commented on how many employees were let go.

We wish the best for those effected by the layoffs.

No Comments

Crazy Taxi City Rush receives a soft-launch on the Canadian App Store

by


 
Canadian SEGA fans who want to get their hands on Crazy Taxi City Rush early can do so now, as the previously revealed soft-launch has begun with the Canadian App Store being the first to receive the game. The free to play game is to feature in-app purchases, and the Canadian App Store page for the game lists the following IAP tiers: Loose change $2.99, Sack of diamonds $9.99, Executive case $9.99, Box of diamonds $19.99, High roller $19.99. Note that these prices are in Canadian currency.

How in-app-purchases work was detailed in our interview with Hardlight Studio’s senior designer Scott West who told us “The main loop of the game consists of the player buying their own Taxi and then completing a series of 7 HQ missions in each District. As these missions get progressively harder, the player will have to upgrade their Taxi to improve its performance and lower the difficulty rating of the HQ Missions. In order to do this, the player can take part in a variety of other missions which are available throughout the district at any one time.”

After the break, check out the full App Store description of the game, and if you’re a Canadian download the game today and tell us what you think!

Continue Reading ➜

No Comments

Contest: Share your Crazy Taxi memories to enter to win a Crazy Taxi City Rush iPhone case!

by

CTmemories
 
Hey hey! Come on over, share your memories of Crazy Taxi!

In collaboration with SEGA, we’re giving away some super slick Crazy Taxi City Rush iPhone 5/5s cases! To enter, all you have to do is:

  • follow SEGAbits on Twitter
  • Tweet a Crazy Taxi memory – it can be from any moment in time and involve any of the Crazy Taxi games on any platform (arcade, console, handheld, mobile) – your tweet must include the hashtag #CrazyTaxiMemories
  • That’s it! You’ve entered to win a Crazy Taxi City Rush iPhone case!

So tweet your Crazy Taxi memories today! Multiple entries are accepted. The top three entries, as selected by our writers, will win. Contest ends April 30th. Good luck, and as always be creative!

1 Comment

Interview: Scott West, Hardlight Studio Senior Designer of Crazy Taxi City Rush

by

Untitled-1
 
SEGAbits: Hi Scott, thank you for answering our questions about the upcoming mobile game Crazy Taxi City Rush! What is your role at SEGA, and what is your favorite SEGA game?

Scott West: Hi there, I’m a Senior Designer at Hardlight Studios. As for favourite SEGA game, it would be impossible to name just one! I’d have to break it down into favourites throughout the course of the Consoles that I grew up with. From the Mega Drive days, I spent my childhood playing the likes of Golden Axe, Sonic, Streets of Rage and Outrun. Then on the Saturn it was Burning Rangers and Virtua Fighter 2 then of course the Dreamcast and House of the Dead, Jet Set Radio and Shenmue! That’s not to mention the hours I spent sinking into the Arcades on games like Rad Mobile and Crazy Taxi!

Continue Reading ➜

3 Comments

Crunchyroll to stream HeroBank anime beginning today

by

Screen Shot 2014-04-07 at 8.39.17 AM
 
Yesterday it was announced that Crunchyroll will be streaming SEGA’s HeroBank anime, based on the recently released Nintendo 3DS game of the same name. Streaming began today at 6:30 am eastern time and is available worldwide (except for Asia) to premium members of the service. The anime is also available to members using a 14-day free trial in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden.

Head on over to Crunchyroll now to watch the first episode!

2 Comments

Sonic Team’s upcoming Sonic game to use ‘traditional look and mechanics’ (UPDATE)

by

SonicTeam

Update: Turns out that Iizuka didn’t say anything about Sonic Team’s next game in the 4Gamer interview. The quote below was taken from Softpedia’s article about the interview, in which the author likely speculated about their next Sonic game. It has been mentioned in previous interviews that Sonic Boom won’t replace the regular Sonic series, but nothing regarding what Sonic Team’s next game is like nor when it will be revealed. We at SEGAbits apologize for reporting on false info and wasting everyone’s time.

We already knew that Sonic Team was working on their own Sonic the Hedgehog and it was speculated that it would be shown off this year. Guess what? It seems that is correct. Below is from a interview with the Japanese website 4Gamer:

“At the moment, the core Sonic team at SEGA is working on a new title that will use the traditional look and mechanics of the series, which will get more details later during the year.

At the same time, Big Red Button, an entirely new studio, is working on a new version of the entire game universe, called Sonic Boom, which will use an entirely new aesthetic and is designed to accompany the delivery of a new range of toys and a new cartoon series.”

I wonder what Sonic Team considers ‘traditional’ seeing as how Sonic’s gameplay has changed a lot in the last 20 something years. Is two Sonic games this year too much?

13 Comments

Company of Heroes 2: The Western Front Armies coming this June

by

coh2_armies_hotdrop_1395894486.0_cinema_960.0
 
Last week, SEGA announced new multiplayer content entitled Company of Heroes 2: The Western Front Armies, which according to Relic is standalone and can be played without a copy of Company of Heroes 2. The new content, arriving in June, pits the U.S. Forces and German Oberkommando West against each other with new units, models, abilities, animations, and tactical and strategic options. Eight multiplayer maps set within the Western Front will also release alongside the new content. SEGA promises that the new “progression system” will allow players to “dive deeper into the tactical and strategic aspects” of the game. Both armies will release as a pair and can be purchased together for $19.99 or separately for $12.99 each.

Screens from the upcoming release can be seen after the break.

Continue Reading ➜

No Comments

Ryuta Ueda leaves SEGA after 19 years of service

by

RyutaUeda
Ryuta Ueda leaves SEGA after 19 years of service. While at SEGA he contributed to some masterpieces including being the chief graphic designer for Jet Set Radio, enemy art designer for Panzer Dragoon Orta and  he also worked on the Yakuza series.

Ryuta Ueda shared the news via his Twitter account this morning and as you know, he is going to be missed; the art design behind the Jet Set Radio series was totally ‘Next Level’.

EDIT: According to Hideki Naganuma, Ueda left SEGA on March 31st.

So, what is your favorite game that Ryuta Ueda worked on? 

9 Comments

Swingin’ Report Show #59: Sonic’s SEGA Genesis Spin-off Special

by

The triple threat of George, Barry, and Bartman sit down for a round table discussion of Sonic the Hedgehog’s lesser appreciated SEGA Genesis titles: the spin-offs. We cover it all! From Dr. “don’t-call-him-Eggman-yet” Robotnik’s breakout role in Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, to Sonic’s transition from platforming icon to pinball with arms and legs in Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball, to Sonic’s take on the classic Flicky formula in Sonic 3D Blast. Even the digital sticker book Wacky Worlds gets some discussion.

So join us in a walk down memory lane (or is that “pain”?) as we relive and dissect Sonic’s SEGA Genesis spin-offs!

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

6 Comments

Persona 4 hits the Playstation 3 on April 8th

by

Persona-4
Last time we talked about Devil Summoner getting a re-release via PS3’s PS2 Classics brand and now people will be able to download Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 as well.

The game is set to come out on April 8th and cost a mere $9.99 through PSN  in North and South America. This will allow SEGA gamers who haven’t experinced the classic Atlus game to dive right in.

I suggest all gamers give this game a go, it has some memorable characters, writing and story.

4 Comments

Phantasy Star Online 2 Es starts open beta on Android

by

PSO2
Phantasy Star Online 2 might be well and out in Japan on PC and Vita, but their mini-version of the game called ‘Phantasy Star Online 2 Es‘ has met many delays. But don’t worry, the mobile version of the game has now hit open beta in Japan, at least on Android with a iOS version coming in the near future.

You can download here!

The mobile version is unique in the way it lets you connect to the Vita/PC version to download you character data and takes place at the same time as the story in full Phantasy Star online 2 and some items and experience you gain in the mobile version transfers back.

Continue Reading ➜

1 Comment

The Sound of Alien: Isolation

by


The music and sounds to the original Alien is perhaps just as integral and iconic part of the Alien franchise and SEGA seems well aware of that. In this latest video (Along with new gameplay footage to boot) Creative Assembly’s creative lead Al Hope speaks about the care the developer is putting into the sounds for Alien: Isolation.

Not only will it a soundtrack put together from it’s own personal orchestra (With some members of the group having worked with Jerry Goldsmith on the original film’s soundtrack) but also develop a dynamic sound system where the music changes depending on both what the player and the Alien is doing. It’s clear to see that SEGA is taking as much care as possible with this latest title after their mis-step in Aliens: Colonial Marines and having just won Eurogamer’s Rezzed Game of the Show award, they seem to be well on track to delivering a great Alien game.

No Comments

SEGA’s launch lineup for Amazon Fire TV

by

amazon-fire-tv-pricing
Amazon’s new Roku/Ouya killer Fire TV was announced yesterday with a lineup of software partners including SEGA themselves. We didn’t really know what the lineup of games were until the system got shipped to the public today. Here’s Sega’s list of games along with their prices.

  • Sonic CD ($2.99)
  • Sonic 1 ($2.99)
  • Sonic 2 ($2.99)
  • Sonic 4 Episode 1 ($3.99)
  • Sonic 4 Episode 2 ($4.99)
  • Crazy Taxi ($4.99)
  • The Cave ($4.99)
  • Virtua Tennis Challenge ($4.99)

Since the Amazon Fire TV doesn’t make use of Google services, some of the games won’t have Google Play Achievements or use Google’s leaderboards. That will also mean that Sonic 2 doesn’t have multiplayer since it used Google’s services. According to Taxman, the developer, Sonic 2 won’t even have a splitscreen mode due to ‘the projects scope’. The Amazon Fire TV is already shipping and you can purchase on here. Gaming controller sold separately.

No Comments

Sonic Talk #26: Genesis with SEGA’s Aaron Webber

by

[MP3] (iTunes Link coming soon)

Now with 100% more of Sega’s beloved Aaron Webber! In this months Sonic Talk Aaron, Shigs, Nuckles87 and Sonic Revolutions’ own Shayne Edwards discuss the Genesis Era of Sonic. Games include Sonic 1-3 and Knuckles, Sonic Spinball, Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, Sonic 3-D Blast, Sonic CD and Knuckles Chaotix. We also go into what makes Eggman tick and more!

CONTEST TIME! Listen in on this episode for a Sonic trivia question. Be the FIFTH person to answer (and answer correctly) to win an AtGames Sega Genesis (which I reviewed here the other day) with Street Fighter II and a Sega 6-Pack cartridge. Yeah, yeah. It’s not a great prize, but it’s better than nothing.

RULES: Be the fifth person to answer to win. Why fifth? I want more people to listen of course! If there is not a fifth person to answer, then the very first person will win the system and carts. Winner must join the Segabits forums and PM me their address. U.S. CITIZENS ONLY (I can’t afford the U.K. postage. Sorry.)

3 Comments