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Demon Tribe iOS to shut down March 31, 2014 – four months after Western launch

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Despite launching in late November of last year for the West, and in late February last year in Japan, SEGA has made the decision to shut down services for the iOS title Demon Tribe on March 31, 2014. The announcement, made on Facebook and detailed on Demon Tribe’s website, stated the following:

Since we began service in Japan on February 28, 2013, we have put every effort into improving the game’s systems and operations, and providing enjoyable in-game events. Unfortunately, at this point we are unable to continue to give Demon Tribe the support it deserves. After careful consideration of all aspects of the needs of our players and the game’s development, we have arrived at the very difficult decision to end game services in all territories.

The development and operations teams are very grateful to all our players who have enjoyed and supported Demon Tribe, and we look forward to sharing future adventures with you.

In an FAQ following the announcement, the reason for service ending was “We are unable to provide a satisfactory level of service for our players, and have had to make the very difficult decision to end service.”

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SEGA has announced 2014’s Virtua Fighter tournament – the “SEGA CUP”

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SEGA of America is once again hosting a Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown tournament in the form of the “SEGA CUP”. The tournament, created in partnership with Alex Valle and Level|Up, is set to take place in Los Angeles, California at the Super Arcade on April 26, 2014 and The top 16 players will be rewarded cash prizes. The PS3 version will be the version used for the tournament, so start training those fingers on a DualShock!

SEGA says that details about how to participate in the “SEGA CUP” will be announced at a later date. For more information on the “SEGA CUP”, visit sega.com/segacup

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Xbox’s Fable was originally to release on SEGA Dreamcast

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Examiner.com shared an interesting bit of news today regarding the early development of Xbox’s Fable. According to Fable Anniversary Lead Designer Tim Timmins, the game was originally intended for the SEGA Dreamcast. In a recent interview with Examiner, Timmins revealed that he learned this during recent discussions with Prima Games, who were handling Fable‘s strategy guide at the time the game originally released. “Did you know that Fable was originally going to be a Dreamcast game, before the Xbox came along?” Timmins told Examiner, “There was also supposed to be a boss fight with a boss that was about 50 feet tall that mirrored your every move.”

These sorts of stories shouldn’t be new to SEGA fans, as several SEGA developed games in the early Xbox era were initially planned to be Dreamcast titles, including ToeJam and Earl 3 and Jet Set Radio Future. Still, it’s interesting to hear that one of Microsoft’s big titles could have appeared on the Dreamcast had the past gone in a different direction.

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First 4 Figures teases Virtua Fighter Akira Yuki statue

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First 4 Figures is at it again, teasing another statue in their SEGA All-Stars line. Shenmue‘s Ryo Hazuki was just recently released, and Vyse of Skies of Arcaida has been teased. Now, a new challenger approaches in the form of Virtua Fighter Akira Yuki! No additional information has been given, but it’s safe to say that pre-orders will go live sometime this year and the price will likely be in line with Ryo Hazuki – which sells for between $169.99 and $184.99. When we learn more, we’ll be sure to share it!

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SEGA in the Charts: MediaCreate Charts Jan 20 – Jan 26 2014

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SEGA’s latest dance rhythm title Utakumi 575 has entered the Japanese chart at 13th selling 9,701 units, managing to sell between 40% – 60% of the initial shipment sent to retailers (Roughly between 16,168 – 24,252) Considering the push SEGA is giving the title (Complete with an animated series that has been airing from January 8th this year) it is no doubt selling well below SEGA’s expectations. SEGA would be hoping that they could enjoy stronger sales in the coming month from their software. With Project Diva f 2nd, Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin and Phantasy Star Online 2 Episode 2 on the horizon, SEGA should hopefully make up for the failure of their latest stab at the dance rhythm genre.

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Yakuza Ishin Japanese tv spots released

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SEGA has released two 16 second ad spots for their upcoming PS3/PS4 game, Yakuza Ishin. These J-pop infused spots showcase Ishin’s slick PS4 graphics, game play and storyline, pumping Japanese gamers up for its impending release on  February 22nd. There is currently no word on whether or not Ishin will be localized for the West.

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Swingin’ Report Show #54: SEGA Retro Talk with GameSpot editor Peter Brown

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The SEGAbits Swingin’ Report Show is back for 2014, and boy do we have a good show for you!

SEGAbits editor/writer Barry the Nomad and SEGAbits writer, Sonic Talk host, and Sonic Stadium writer Jason aka Shigs are joined by GameSpot editor Peter Brown for a retro themed round table discussion. Peter shares how he got into video game journalism and gives us his thoughts on the Xbox One’s Panzer Dragoon spiritual successor Crimson Dragon – which he officially reviewed for GameSpot. We also discuss the many SEGA consoles celebrating anniversaries this year and share some good ol’ SEGA memories. Listen today, and while you’re at it subscribe to us and rate us on iTunes!

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

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Round Table: How we would like to see Ristar brought into the modern era

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Ristar week has been a blast, but it ain’t over until we throw a round table! This week, our writers answer the question: “How would you like to see Ristar brought into the modern era?” Despite Ristar’s short lifespan in the 90’s, the character’s popularity has endured, as evidenced by our full week of Ristar coverage and Ristar’s inclusion as a cameo in Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing and his second cameo as the flagman for Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. But cameos are not enough for SEGA’s star headed platformer, we think he deserves more.

Read on to see how we would like to see Ristar brought into the modern era!

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Indie Dreamcast game Redux: Dark Matters is now shipping

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It has been a long road, but Hucast’s Redux: Dark Matters for the SEGA Dreamcast has finally begun to ship out for Kickstarter backers at the $65 level. Funded in June of 2012, and originally expected to ship in December of the same year, Redux: Dark Matters saw several delays and some controversy over the game’s exclusivity to Kickstarter backers. But all that may be behind us as Hucast shared the following via their blog:

Redux: Dark Matters is the up and coming space shooting game with fresh scoring elements and an incredible soundtrack composed by Andre Neuman featuring legendary video game composer Chris Huelsbeck (Turrican, R-Type). Featuring Highres visuals with in-space, robot blasting, shooting game action. Developed by René Hellwig from NG:DEV.TEAM (GunLord, Fast Striker, Last Hope and DUX) and programmed by KTX Software Development. The game was now released, and is now shipping.

Those who didn’t back the Kickstarter project can purchase the game at the Hucast shop, or you can purchase the Redux: Dark Matters standard edition and the limited edition at Play-Asia.

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Puyo Puyo Tetris trailer drops from above to the internet

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Here is a trailer for Sonic Team’s Puyo Puyo Tetris coming out on Feb 6th for 3DS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, and Wii U. This trailer is actually a bit old, but we figured most people in the west haven’t seen it, so we would post it anyways. If you haven’t seen on our article on why you should be interested in Puyopuyo Tetris, check it out!

I played the demo last night on PSN for a bit. I found it quite fun. Forgot how fun Puyo Puyo and Tetris were. We really should make some noise to get this game localized… I know, another game to add to the huge list of games we want SEGA to localize, but this one should be fairly low budget compared to some other ones.

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The SEGA Five: Ristar’s Coolest Bosses

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Ristar has some of the most spectacular and varied bosses I’ve ever experienced in a sidescrolling platformer. Though they aren’t all hits (such as Scorch’s somewhat irritating Simon Say’s sub boss) the five bosses below will remain some of the most memorable experiences I’ve had on the Genesis (and Game Gear), Ristar’s rogues gallery has some star players that are worth highlighting. I’d like to note that I purposefully left out the final bosses of the games, partially to avoid spoiling people who haven’t beaten these cult classics, and to highlight some more varied experiences from the games.

Some of these bosses never received official names. This article will be referencing the names used in Ristar Star Cluster for this article.

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Retro Review: Ristar the Shooting Star

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 Ristar title copy

SEGA’s catalog is quite literally littered with spectacular characters and franchises that either never took off or never made it to the west. We each have our favorites and one of mine is a little game for the Genesis called Ristar, a glowing example of SEGA’s mascot aspirations that was unfortunately unable to find an audience.

Back in the early Genesis days, SEGA was looking for their Mario killer. After Alex Kidd failed to save the Master System from being anything more than a speed bump to the NES’s growing monopoly, SEGA knew it needed a mascot that could capture the imagination (and money) of gamers. As we all know, they would eventually come up with Sonic the Hedgehog. Along the way, however, they created some other concepts, including a bunny that could throw things at enemies. This concept would percolate within SEGA for years, until it was finally released in 1995 as Ristar.

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Petition to bring SEGA’s Japanese titles to PC!

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Following the response from SEGA in the above picture, GAF member TaroYamada (With the help of GAF member Grief.exe) has just started a petition to bring over SEGA’s Japanese output onto PC. The three initial titles suggested, Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown, Vanquish and Bayonetta, should be stressed are only part of a grander scheme. The true purpose of the petition is to adjust SEGA Japan’s perception of PC as a platform so that future Japanese made SEGA titles may also get a shot of appearing on PC. The mission statement of the petitions follows as such;

It’s targeting games that are a perceived lower risk, please note that even if you disagree with the initial suggestions a massive part of this effort is about adjusting SEGA’s perceptions of what the PC market is open to concerning their content.

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My Life with SEGA kills some time on the SEGA Genesis with “Time Killers”

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Introduction by A.J. Rosa: When Strata’s weapon-based fighter Time Killers hit arcades in 1992, my brother and I soon monopolized the cabinet. It was funny, violent, gory and ridiculously entertaining. Being SEGA boys, we were itchin’ to see this bloody whore ported to the Genesis, or even better, the SEGA CD. Hey, that was our new toy, and we thought it was AWESOME!

By the time it landed on our favorite 16-bit hero, 4 years had passed. SEGA Saturn, Sony’s PlayStation and the Nintendo 64 were already duking it out. On top of that, Time Killers had been surpassed by other fighters. Unlike its contemporaries, such as Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, it didn’t receive an annual sequel to keep the franchise alive.

So, was this port worth the wait? Lauren and I will share our feelings with you as we try to hack each other into pieces. Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel!

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