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Phantasy Star Online 2 producer tells us whats in store for 2014

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Satoshi Sakai recently wished all Phantasy Star Online 2 fans a ‘Happy New Year’ and briefly talked about what is in store for the future of Phantasy Star Online 2. He promised finishing off Episode 2′ final storyline (yes, it has a story!) and other lose ends. But you know what is also launching? Phantasy Star Online 2 es! What is that? Oh, its that mobile version they announced along with the PC/Vita versions of the game. Yes, that is finally coming out this year.

They will also have new events including Arcs Coalition Festivals that starts this month and around March they will introduce a new update that will allow people to team up with Mamoru Nagano (a mangaka that worked on Heavy Metal L-Gaim, Five Star Stories and Gothicmade). 2014 will also mark the 2nd year anniversary of Phantasy Star Online 2, which they promise will have a big celebration. Yes, the game is already reaching its 2nd year of release in Japan and here we sit waiting for SEGA West the English version…

But don’t worry, we already know that the game will be launching in full English later this year… in Southeast Asia! Since many Westerners already play the Japanese version with a patch, I assume many will just download the English Southeast Asian version and play that. I’ll catch you guys on those servers later this year!

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Greg Martin, Sonic the Hedgehog American and European box art illustrator, has passed away

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Yesterday evening we learned, via the Sonic Retro forums, that the Sonic the Hedgehog American and European box art illustrator Greg Martin had passed away in May of last year. While the news is delayed, the sadness many SEGA fans are surely feeling has not diminished. Greg Martin may not be a name fans recognize, but as soon as you see his work you’d instantly know his style. His SEGA career spanned the 90’s, with his art appearing on the covers of the SEGA Genesis Sonic the Hedgehog titles, Shining in the Darkness, Landstalker, Pac-Attack, and many more. Outside of SEGA, Greg did work for franchises including The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, Batman, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Winnie the Pooh, The Jetsons, and Looney Tunes. You can see more of his work at his official website. Learn more about Greg Martin in this NintendoAge forums post written by a friend of his.

Our thoughts are with Greg Martin’s family, he truly was a legend.

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Unboxing: Not Enough Rings – A Sonic the Hedgehog Parody Comic

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2013 was a big year for SEGA related Kickstarter projects. We saw the successfully funded SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis: Collected Works, as well as unsuccessful attempts at relaunching the Boogerman and Ecco franchises. Not Enough Rings joins the ranks of the former projects, as it was not only a success, but it is among the projects seeing completion in 2014.

Collecting all 93 strips from the online parody comic of the same name, Not Enough Rings follows Sonic as he speeds through his SEGA Genesis adventures. The strips are packed with funny nods to gameplay quirks, plot points, and character traits. The whole collection is really a love letter to the classic Sonic games with just enough naughtiness to retain that SEGA edge. Thanks to going over their goal, several improvements were made to the originally planned book, including a hardcover and higher quality paper. The book even includes a nifty little red and white placeholder ribbon, which resembles the one seen in the Sonic logo. Overall, despite what the cover image may say, we give the Not Enough Rings book a well deserved thumbs up!

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Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed hits iOS and Android tomorrow with Ryo Hazuki joining the race!

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While the rest of us nurse our hangovers, SEGA has announced that Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is set to hit iOS and Android devices tomorrow, January 2nd. What more, SEGA has also been teasing Ryo Hazuki the past week as an impending addition to the racing roster. While we knew about Ryo since Yogscast spilled the beans in a PC stream in mid December, the addition of Ryo to the mobile version is new to us. It is likely that the PC version will update tomorrow as well with Ryo added to the roster.

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“GO DANCE” in the new year with a new Sega iOS game

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Just in time to dance in the new year, Sega presents GO DANCE on iOS devices. Working a lot like the Just Dance series of games, GO DANCE uses your iOS devices camera to track your dance movements as you groove to artists like Flo Rida and Niki Minaj or if you have actual musical taste, there are some Sega tunes thrown in as well including four from Jet Set Radio. GO DANCE is a free game app (with microtransactions of course) and is available on iTunes now.

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SEGA Tunes: Fear (Rez Edit)

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The onset of a new year  will inevitably brings new experiences. Though a healthy amount of fear for new experiences never hurts, do not let it control you. Embrace the experiences of the coming year and embrace the challenges that you will face. Do not fear failure, because nothing is worse then simply refusing to try.

And if you are having an especially bad day, play a Dreamcast!

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SEGAbits Round Table: Our Favorite SEGA Games of 2013

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Since 2010, it has been a SEGAbits tradition for our writers and editors to share their favorite SEGA games of the year. This year, we aren’t breaking that tradition but we are adding to it. We’re introducing a couple of special digital two-dimensional trophies: the gold SEGAbits Editor’s Choice Award and the platinum SEGAbits Writer’s Choice Award. The gold award is selected by George and I, Barry the Nomad, while the platinum award will go to the game selected as a favorite by the most writers (this year we had a tie!). Not only is 2013 a special year with the introduction of our digital trophies, but we also have some new writers contributing including recent arrivals from Sonic Retro, Bartman and TimmiT, and the newest contributor to our YouTube channel, Liam “Tracker” Ashcroft. What SEGA games were our favorites this year? Read on!

Continue Reading ➜

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SEGA plans on bringing free-to-play games to the Nintendo 3DS

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SEGA seems to really have partnered up with Nintendo for this generation. With the Wii U getting exclusive SEGA IPs like Sonic Lost World, it’s hard not to notice. Where are all those Playstation 4 and Xbox One SEGA games? Well, it seems that SEGA has more games planned for a Nintendo product; the Nintendo 3DS, and these games won’t cost you  a cent! SEGA Japan already announced their first ‘free-to-play’ 3DS title with “Initial D: Perfect Shift Online“.

“We don’t intend to stop with this title, and after looking over its results, we’ll think about what to do next. However, unlike games for smartphones, I believe there’s a perfect shape of ways to do things, somewhere out there, for the Nintendo 3DS. I believe that finding it will be our challenge, and in many ways, Initial D will be our first step.” – Toshihiro Nagoshi

It is not surprising considering the fact that SEGA boosted about the success of their free-to-play titles in their last earning reports. It seems that SEGA’s catalogue for free-to-play games continues to grow, do you think it’s worth SEGA’s investment?

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ToeJam and Earl 3 Dreamcast Beta Released

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Christmas kept on giving this year for SEGA fans as Assembler user ZakhooiTM has released on the internet the unfinished build of ToeJam and Earl 3 running on Dreamcast hardware. The game was originally found on a dev-kit that was purchased for $1200. ZakhooiTM was initially looking to begin a fundraiser but has instead decided to release the build as-is.

The beta is noticeably different in that it lacks some of the finer details seen in the final Xbox version. It also makes the game mechanics feel much closer to the original ToeJam and Earl game seen on the Mega Drive as there is no jump button and no cutscenes to break up the action or provide hints, likely due to the date while in development drew closer to SEGA’s exit from the hardware business. Be sure to check out their forums for more information as well as a link to download the game.

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Valkyria Chronicles 3 Fan Translation Makes First Release

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Christmas came…on time apparently. The group behind the fan translation of Valkyria Chronicles 3 has put out their first release on Christmas day. Its not complete, but at least about 90% done. It is only compatible with the Extra Edition that can also be patched with a copy purchased and downloaded from the Japanese store. Further instructions and the patch itself can be obtained from their website.

The release has gone off to a slightly rocky start due to some ISO patching issues which have since been fixed, but congratulations to the team for keeping the project going for it’s dedicated fan base.

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Relic Entertainment Doing Work on an Existing Japanese MMO, Likely Phantasy Star Online 2

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A recent job posting for Server Engineer found by Nirolak on NeoGAF reveals that Relic Entertainment, a studio acquired by SEGA at the start of this year, is working on an existing Japanese MMO. According to the job posting the employee would need to establish working relationships with the Japanese developers, work for extended periods of time in Tokyo and be fluent in both English and Japanese among other requirements.

Right now the only ongoing MMO SEGA of Japan is running is Phantasy Star Online 2, so that’s most likely the game the job listing is referring to. While it doesn’t specify that the developer is localizing the MMO, it seems weird that SEGA of Japan would have a Canadian studio assist in development instead of one that’s closer to home. What do you think? The entire job posting can be found below the break.

Continue Reading ➜

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My Life with SEGA battles it out in Marvel Super Heroes for the SEGA Saturn

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Marvel Super Heroes was Capcom’s follow-up to their equally successful X-Men: Children of the Atom fighting game.

Like its predecessor, Marvel Super Heroes shares much in common with Capcom’s prolific Street Fighter series with over-the-top anime-style action, combo system and so on. While the arcade game was first released in 1995, console gamers wouldn’t receive a home port until late 1997 on Sony PlayStation and, of course, SEGA Saturn.

The Saturn version is fantastic. The animation is like an explosion of color that’s very faithful to the arcade original, with an energetic soundtrack and kick-ass sound effects. Now that Lauren’s joined the League of Extraordinary Dorks, I feel it’s high-time I make her suffer for NHL ’94.

FUN FACT: The American version is the one and only game outside of Japan that supports the RAM cartridge. To learn more about this delightful peripheral, check out the episode of My Life with SEGA dedicated to it!

Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel!

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SEGA Tunes: Ristar’s Planet Freon – Ring Rink

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As we near Christmas day, I knew a festive Tuesday Tunes was in order. The Sonic the Hedgehog franchise is filled with great wintery tunes, but I felt Sonic has been covered far too much on Tuesday Tunes (and for a good reason, Sonic music is awesome!). Christmas NiGHTS would be perfect, but it’s too obvious. Shenmue‘s Christmas tunes would be perfect, but we’ve aleady covered them. And that’s when it hit me, Sonic Team’s Ristar has an excellent winter tune. The game’s fifth stage, Planet Freon, is a planet made entirely of ice and snow. But you won’t find Imperial Walkers and Wampas on this ice planet, instead you’ll find downhill skiing and a bizarre alien enemy chucking snowballs. The music for the first portion of the stage begins almost as if you’re about to hear Jingle Bells, but what follows is a catchy tune with solid drum beats and a peppy tune perfectly suitable for a winter wonderland. So as the sun goes down on this Christmas eve, why not revisit this SEGA Genesis classic? It’s the best present you can give yourself.

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Art contest winners announcement coming soon

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I hate making an announcement of an announcement, but we’ve been getting some questions regarding this so I wanted to make a front page announcement.

This was originally supposed to happen last weekend, but I got caught up in other things and didn’t have time to choose a winner. We got some great entries after I last checked the submissions so I had to give some additional thought to who the winner will be. I will be going over all of the submissions and I will hopefully be able to announce a winner very soon. Though to answer some questions:

Any entries we got before today are valid for the contest and submissions meant for other things are also valid. See you soon with an announcement!

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SEGA Cinema Holiday Special: Sonic Christmas Blast

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Welcome to the third SEGA Cinema! In celebration of the holiday season, Barry the Nomad and Sonic Retro staff members David the Lurker and Bartman settle in around the fireplace, sip eggmanog, and enjoy two episodes of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. The first is the holiday special “Sonic Christmas Blast”, which released three years after the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog aired. The special was planned to be titled “An X-Tremely Sonic Christmas” to tie in with Sonic X-treme. But when X-treme was scrapped, the title was changed to tie in with Sonic 3D Blast.

The second bonus episode is entitled “Sno Problem”, a wintery themed adventure that sees Sonic and Tails taking on Robotnik who has unleashed his Ultra Freeze-O-Matic on mobius. His grand scheme? Watch and find out!

We’ve also added a few surprises, so sit back and enjoy! Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel!

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