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Classic SEGA Ads: Shenmue! It’s so good, you’ll dream about it during sex!

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As the Dreamcast entered its second (and final) year on the US market, SEGA moved away from their awesome “inside the Dreamcast” ads and went back to a style somewhat more conventional. These later Dreamcast ads are reminiscent of some of the better Genesis era stuff, albeit they are typically cleverer and better written.

Here, we’ve got a man who’s clearly been playing too much Shenmue. I’ll admit this is a funny ad that conveys the immersion factor of the game pretty effectively, but at the same time I can’t help but think that this would have been a game better advertised as a dramatic, epic masterpiece than as a game you’ll be thinking about in bed.

There was an ad made in this vein…though I’m unsure if it ever aired on television. It’s a direct translation of the Japanese ad and a pretty epic piece of advertisement. It features a great vocal track called “Song of the Bay”, which was only ever featured on the Shenmue orchestral soundtrack. Check out this ad below the fold!

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Fighting Climax Developers Demonstrates Akira Yuki and Selvaria Bles’ Movesets In Action

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Dengeki Online sat down with French-Bread battle planner Kamone and game director Takaharu Terada from Sega showcasing Akira Yuki (Virtua Fighter) and Selvaria Bles (Valkyria Chronicles) movesets for the upcoming console version of Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax at Tokyo Game Show 2014.

As you can see from the video, you can see how the two characters moves transition from their own respective franchise including a few interesting combos. Not only normals and specials, they’ve also demonstrated the support character system for each character. Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax is schedule for release on November 13, 2014 for PlayStation 3 and PS Vita.

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SEGA’s Crazy Taxi: City Rush is the most downloaded iOS game for August

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It seems that Hardlight Studios has another hit on their hands with Crazy Taxi: City Rush, as it topped the most downloaded game lists on iOS for August. Even though most fans where disappointed that it wasn’t a full fledged arcade experience, SEGA and Hardlight did have the designer of the franchise (Kenji Kanno) was brought in to help in development. The new mobile take on the franchise seems to be a hit, we even gave it a good review.

Crazy Taxi franchise is 15 years old, so its nice to know that a new generation of gamers will know what Crazy Taxi is and hopefully the brand doing well on mobile will open doors for a brand new home console release. We can dream, can’t we?

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SEGA celebrating Total War weekend, let’s you play Rome II for free

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SEGA and Creative Assembly have launched ‘Total War Week‘ on Steam, through September 25-29th. This means 75% discount on all Total War back catalog, including titles like Viking: Battle for Asgard and Total War: Shogun 2.

Not only that, but if you click here you’ll be able to download the full Total War Rome II and be able to play it for free all weekend. That totally beats a demo, right?

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SEGA 3D Reprint Archives officially announced, with boxart by Ken Sugimori

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The retail release of the SEGA 3D Classics Line we reported on the other day has now been officially announced by Famitsu!

The details are the same as the rumour from beforehand; the collection contains 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, two Master System games that originally made use of the SEGA Master System’s 3D Glasses peripheral.

As if that wasn’t cool enough, the boxart has been released – and it features artwork by legendary Pokemon artist Ken Sugimori! This is a surprise on one hand, but on the other hand Ken is quite a bit of SEGA fan, what with having an amazing Dreamcast case for his 3DS, and his Twitter handle being @Super_32X, the Japanese name of the SEGA 32X, amongst other things. Anywho; Space Harrier’s never looked quite so good!

Overall, this looks to be an excellent package, and one that, unlikely as it is, I’m personally hoping makes it to the West.

The archives page on the official SEGA Japan site can be found here.

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Pier Solar HD coming out this week on PS4, PS3, PC and Ouya

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The HD remake of Pier Solar and the Great Architects, the 2010 SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive RPG, is finally set to release on September 30th on the PS4, PS3, Ouya and PC via Steam.

Sounds awesome but what about us that pre-ordered the Xbox One, Wii U and even the physical Dreamcast version? Publisher Watermelon Games said they will be announcing release dates on those platforms later this month.

Who will be picking up the game on these platforms?

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“Diggin’ in the Carts” interviews Hiroshi Kawaguchi and Yuzo Koshiro

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The new series from Red Bull Music Academy, Diggin’ in the Carts, that we previously reported on, has uploaded it’s fourth episode, in which we get brand new interviews with SEGA music legends Hiroshi Kawaguchi and Yuzo Koshiro.

For those unaware, Kawaguchi was behind the soundtracks to several of SEGA’s finest soundtrack work, such as OutRun, Space Harrier, After Burner, Power Drift… we could go on. To this day, he still works at SEGA, and still his output never falters. Suffice to say, he’s probably one of the most talented video game composers of all time, and his list of works is nothing to scoff at.

The same can be said for Yuzo Koshiro, whose works include the soundtracks to the Streets of Rage games, as well as The Revenge of Shinobi. In addition, he’s even worked on the new Super Smash Brothers for Wii U/3DS, and if that wasn’t enough, he too has generally kept a consistent quality throughout all of his work.

He also worked on Shenmue, which is of course no small feat, with the game boasting a breathtaking score.

The episode also mentions Masato Nakamura’s work on Sonic the Hedgehog; somewhat unsurprisingly, he was unavailable for comment. It is quite entertaining to see Flying Lotus and Thundercat’s rendition of Green Hill Zone. There’s also a bit of pretty rare SEGA merch in there, as the vinyl record “SEGA Music” with various arcade SEGA tunes turns up in the possession of J. Rocc!

Overall, it’s a fantastic episode, and one I personally recommend SEGA fans check out. And if that’s not enough, an upcoming episode also features Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, so stay tuned!

You can catch the episode by clicking here!

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SEGA and The Creative Assembly announce Total War: Attila at EGX London 2014 – game to release in 2015

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SEGA and The Creative Assemblyhave unveiled a new Total War title, Total War: Attila, at this years EGX London event. Described as “challenging” and designed for “Total War veterans”, Total War: Attila will obviously feature Attila the Hun, leader of the Hunnic Empire, and his one million horsemen. At the height of his reign, his control stretched from the Ural River to the Rhine River and from the Danube River to the Baltic Sea. Eurogamer, which went hands-on with the game, describes how diseases will play a part in the game. The cleaner and healthier a city you have, the less a chance you have of facing disease. The spread of disease will affect player’s soldiers, which will impact their performance in battle. Other features include a region overlay which provides regional details like wealth and disposition, the return of the family tree (a feature missing from Rome II), and dynamic fire, a new weapon which allows buildings to burn and fires to spread.

Total War: Attila is expected to release next year, and we’re certain a press release is on the way. In the meantime, enjoy the above trailer and get ready to welcome Attila into your homes.

Update: The official site for the game is live, check it out and learn more about the latest Total War title.

Update 2: Press release, screenshots, cover art, and concept art after the break.

Update 3: SEGAbits forum member JRcade19 spotted a mention on the SEGA Blog that the game is due for release in 2015 on Windows PC and Mac. An interesting development, given traditionally PC and Mac releases of SEGA titles are years apart.

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Retro Review: Shenmue (SEGA Dreamcast)

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Even with the ridiculous and almost unprecedented hype that surrounded the release of SEGA’s mega-budget Dreamcast title Shenmue, it’s tough to imagine that gamers first diving into the series back then would have any idea how legendary (or infamous) Ryo’s adventure would become. Who could have guessed that even nearly 15 years later, fans would be still be begging for more?

Love it or hate it, the still-unfinished saga that is Shenmue has become a legend in its own right: a mystery etched into the fabric of gaming that may never be solved. But it’s a game very much worthy of that legendary status. It may not have been for everyone, but for those who “got” Shenmue, there was simply nothing else like it.

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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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