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Editorial: False Positive: Sonic, the Media, and Wrongly Diagnosing the Problem

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False Positive

The Sonic franchise has an image problem. It remains disrespected, discredited, and broadly misunderstood for years, not because his titles are consistently good, but rather because the good titles are often swept away and ignored in favor of snark towards past failures.  In this sense, games writers might as well joke about airline food or women drivers.  I’m not a marketing wizard, nor do I claim to have all the answers, but I do think it is important to highlight what the problems are and are not.  At the very least, the culture could stand to be snarky and dismissive about something that happened six months ago instead of six years.

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Update: SEGA bringing Hatsune Miku: Project MIRAI Remix to the West in 2015

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SEGA today has announced that another entry in its successful Hatsune Miku series will be brought over, Project Mirai 2 for the Nintendo 3DS. The announcement came during a chat show based on Japanese streaming service Niconico and SEGA also revealed that to date the series has managed sales of over 2.5 million in Japan alone. Interestingly enough, this news of localization comes from a Japanese talk show and not an announcement from SEGA Western based subsidiaries of SEGA America or SEGA Europe.

The title is going to be brought over to North America and Europe as Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai Mix in 2015, however this does still leave question marks on wither we will see the original Project Mirai, released in March 2012 for Japan, or SEGA will skip the title and focus forward from Project Mirai 2.

Update: We’re hearing conflicting reports that this could be the original game, an extended version of the sequel, or even a mix of the two creating an all-in-one game. Once we have a firm answer, we’ll update the story.

Update 2: SEGA has sent us an official press release! The game is confirmed to be an enhanced version of Hatsune Miku: Project MIRAI 2. Check it out after the break.

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Phantasy Star Nova short cutscenes show off the main characters

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Gematsu recently reported that Sega broadcasted a set of three cutscenes through Nico Nico this past weekend. They are each not much longer than a minute, and all are voiced. It’s another opportunity for a glimpse at what the game is set to look like, but also to get a grasp on the characters’ personalities. Of the main three characters, Lutia and Phildia, both of the female charcters, have pretty distinct characterizations in the trailers. When you see someone like Lutia pose and sound her barbaric yawp before charging in on a (rather freaky and cool-looking) Gigantes, you know you’re in for a party. Given tri-Ace’s reputation for dynamic and unique gameplay systems, it will be interesting to see what surprises tri-Ace will reveal in the future for this game.

Hit the break for two other videos!

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Pier Solar HD gets delayed again due to failing Microsoft’s certification process

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Its hard to believe that games actually go through a certification process before you buy said product. I want to know who approved games like Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, but that isn’t what we are here to talk about. It seems Pier Solar HD has hit another bump in the road when they missed their certification from Microsoft.

“Microsoft already evaluated Pier Solar as well but we failed some internal requirements on the certification and we’re correcting them for the next submission. This also impacts Wii U and PlayStation(s) submissions since we want to send it as clean as possible so that we don’t get another failed certification. Luckily, the process doesn’t take as long as we thought, so the perspectives to getting a release date gets better. As soon as we’re certified on all platforms we’ll announce the date and put it on the street.”

Solar Pier HD is headed to Linux, Mac, Windows,  Ouya, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Wii U, and of course the Dreamcast. It seems only consoles will be affected by the delay.

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Persona 4 Arena Ultimax gets an official arcade stick thanks to Mad Catz

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Atlus announced today that Mad Catz are releasing a arcade stick based on Atlus’ upcoming fighting game Persona 4 Arena Ultimax. They say that the Persona development team supervised the creation of the sticks.
The sticks are supported on both Playstation 3 and Playstation 4 consoles. It will also be easy to open and support customizable faceplates and buttons. No release date or price point announced yet.

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Next Yakuza already in development

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While it’s a surprise to absolutely nobody, Toshihiro Nagoshi and producer Masayoshi Yokoyama have confirmed to Famitsu that they’ve begun work on the next Yakuza game, following the release of Yakuza Ishin earlier this year.

Details are scarce, with a more formal reveal likely to take place in the near future. For now, the two mostly discussed the process of auditioning the game’s hostesses.

As has become typical, it’s unlikely that we’ll hear anything about a Western release, though I’d love to be proven wrong.

Keep it glued to SEGAbits for the latest on the Yakuza series and of course all other SEGA news.

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SEGA Retrospective: Sonic the Hedgehog’s Classic Trilogy

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The following is a guest article from Sonic Stadium writer Brad, written as part of our intersite #Sonic23on23 celebration. Enjoy it, and maybe check out our guest article over at Sonic Stadium written by our own Ben Burnham.

Ah, birthdays. The perfect times for parents to get out those old, embarrassing pictures of you when you were a baby. Our spikey blue hero is no exception to this, however his own classic outgoings were never something to be embarrassed about. In fact, many fans still refer to the original trilogy of games as some of the best games the series has made. I’m not far removed from this ideal, and as such I wanted to look back at these old gems of classic gaming, chronologically.

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Alien Isolation: Accolades Trailer

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Hey look, an almost brand new trailer for Alien: Isolation! I say ‘almost‘ because all of the gameplay footage in this trailer is recycled from the E3 trailer. However now it has some choice quotes spliced in between the scenes from various trusted critics, for good measure.

Any Alien fan will be pleased to hear that Isolation has been nominated for over 40 E3 awards! And if you are at all excited for Alien: Isolation the trailer is worth a watch, even if it’s mostly old footage… Mostly.

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Aaron Webber leaves SEGA of America

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Today we learned the sad news that one of SEGA of America’s greats, Aaron Webber also known as Ruby Eclipse, will be leaving SEGA of America. SEGAbits and Sonic Retro staff were speculating that such news would hit (yes, this is what we do in our private chats, talk about Aaron, that’s how much we love him) when Aaron tweeted that his return flight from this year’s E3 Sonic Revolution was “The final trip!”. Sonic Boom Producer Stephen Frost also dedicated a White Castle meal to Aaron, tweeting “Here’s to good times and an awesome future”.

All of us at SEGAbits and Sonic Retro wish Aaron all the best, and we will cherish all the good times we shared. Oh, and Aaron? Let’s play a game of Spiral Knights or PSO2 soon.

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Strike the Blood’s Yukina & Black Bullet’s Rentarō added to Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax Cast

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Dengeki announced that two new playable characters will be featured in a update to SEGA and ASCII Media Works’ arcade fighting game, Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax, featuring Yukina Himeragi, a 14 year old middle-school Sword Shaman from Strike the Blood, and Rentarō from Black Bullet, a second year student in Magata High School and also a Promoter in Tendō Civil Security who lost his right leg, right arm and left eye in a fight with Gastrea to protect Kisara, and was saved by Sumire’s “New Human Creation Plan” which replaced his lost limbs with Varanium. He uses an XD and is a beginner in Tendō style martial arts.

Along with them will be two more support characters included which happens to be Kojō Akatsuki (Strike the Blood) and Enju Aihara (Black Bullet).

SEGA are still planning to release the game to consoles soon but nothing is announced on that at the moment. Hit the jump for screenshots featuring the two new fighters!

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SEGAbits Plays Episode #2: Sonic the Hedgehog, Tails, and Donald Duck SEGA Pico games

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SEGAbits Plays is back with another live stream of SEGA Pico games! While episode #0 played several licensed games, this time we’re focusing on Tails and the Music Maker, Sonic the Hedgehog’s Gameworld (the Japanese import and the American version) as well as a very special playthrough of Fishing Pico – Donald no Adventure. Yes, the SEGA Pico had a fishing controller. Joining Barry in this two hour Pico party is Sonic Retro’s Bartman. Keep your eyes peeled for Sonic recolors and an excessively gory drawing of Plucky Duck.

Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel!

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SEGAbits at E3 Preview: Bayonetta 2

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E3 is a great event filled to the brim with great games, but there can only be one game of the show. For me, that game is Bayonetta 2. I have been excited for Bayonetta 2 since that wonderful day in September when Nintendo had announced they had saved the game from its long-rumored cancellation. I’m happy to say that if the E3 demo is anything to go by, Bayonetta 2 is not only set to live up to the legacy of the original, it’s set to surpass it.

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