SEGAbits visits SEGA Arcade at San Diego Comic Con 2013

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The San Diego Comic Con is here and Sega’s back once again with the Sega arcade. Everyone’s invited weather your going to the Con this year or just visiting the city. They got a DJ playing along with several games to try including Rome: Total War II, Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F, Castle of Illusion and Sonic Lost World. Here’s your first look inside.

After Burner Climax mobile update adds new plane and in-game cinematics

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The SEGA Blog has announced that After Burner Climax for iOS and Google Play will be receiving a free update which will add a new playable plane as well as in-game cinematics. The plane, dubbed the X-47B, is desribed as being “the latest in stealth technology from Northrup Grumman”. The in-game cinematics come from the arcade and console versions, which until now were lacking from the mobile versions. All-in-all a great update, which gives app owners a reason to replay the game again. And again.

New Sonic Lost World Wii U screens reveal a return of Casino Night Zone

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The Sonic Stadium got their hands on nineteen new screens from the Wii U version of Sonic Lost World, and they’re quite revealing! Desert Ruin is seen in a few screens, showing off a new giant cactus enemy, as well as iconic loops, a sand tornado, and the drill and eagle Wisps in action. A wild jungle stage is seen, which has been previously revealed in the Color Power trailer, also seen is a night stage filled with robotic owls which are seemingly on the lookout for our hero. Sonic Gear Solid? [Update: ONM UK has revealed that this stage is named Silent Forest] Most exciting for classic Sonic fans is the reveal of a Casino Night inspired zone, a stage which was sadly not a full-on action stage in the console version of Sonic Generations.

After the break, check out a full gallery of all the images!

Nintendo trademarks point towards a new Seaman game

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In February of last year, we reported on Nintendo wanting bring other publishers’ classic titles to their handheld, and Seaman was said to be one such game. Even earlier than that in 2010, Seaman creator Yoot Saito hinted that Seaman could very well be seeing a 3DS revival. Now, the blog Esuteru reports that Nintendo has registered trademarks that read very much like the beloved SEGA Dreamcast game. The trademarks are for games entitled “Mysterious Pet: Legend of the Fish With A Human Face” and “Mysterious Partner: Legend of the Fish With A Human Face”. While Vivarium Inc., the Nintendo 3DS, and Seaman himself were not mentioned in the trademarks, the previously mentioned news stories do support the possibility of these trademarks being a Seaman sequel or spiritual successor to Seaman. Siliconera notes that Yoot Saito worked directly with Nintendo on the Gamecube’s Odama and most recently developed Aero Porter for the 3DS.

What do you think? Would you want a talking fish in your pocket?

SEGA teasing Shadow the Hedgehog for Sonic Dash

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SEGA posted the image above on their Facebook page with the message saying, “Get ready for the ultimate challenge!”. If you have played a bad Sonic the Hedgehog game in the last 10 years, you will probably know who the above character is. Shadow the Hedgehog!

Seems that Sonic Dash will be letting you play as Shadow the Hedgehog soon. If the character will be a free update or a pay to play, we don’t know yet. So far, Sonic Dash is only available on iOS platforms.

SEGA releases the last teaser for Project 575


SEGA has really been dragging this teaser for awhile, we reported on the first teaser almost a month ago, now SEGA is finally releasing its last teaser for its Project 575. The game is set to be revealed in 2 short days.

Well, the obvious is that it seems to be Vocaloid related music game. The song in the background is called ‘Fly Forward, Class!’ by Vocaloid artist Lamaze-P. The red female in the teases is called Azuki and the green one calls herself Maccha. According to hints in previous videos, the girls seem to talk a lot about going to class and practicing (for what?). Maccha also seems to mention evil spirits and demons. Kind of scary, no?

The game is set to be announced by Nico Nico Douga on July 18th.

SEGAbits Visits SEGA of America, Inc. in Sunny San Francisco – Part 1

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On the list of awesome opportunities that have presented themselves as a result of me becoming a SEGA fan site writer, a visit to SEGA’s San Francisco offices has taken a firm hold of the number one slot. I had already planned to take a trip to California starting in Los Angeles, heading northward via the coastal highway, and ending the San Francisco. When it came to San Fran, SEGA’s offices were at the top of the list of places to check out. At most, I figured I’d pose in front of the building, but given our connections with the SEGA community managers I went out on a limb and reached out. After a short correspondence, a date and time was set and I was in. I was going to visit SEGA’s American HQ! Through the powers of words and photos, come along with me as we step inside SEGA.

New Sonic Lost World trailer reveals color powers and release date

Courtesy of IGN comes a new trailer for Sonic Lost World, which based on the latest footage is very much a “Sonic Colors 2” in spirit. Before we get into the gameplay related bits, it should be highlighted that the trailer reveals a US release date for both Wii U and 3DS versions: October 22nd, 2013. New Wisp color powers are revealed, including Eagle – which allows Sonic to soar like NiGHTS, Astroid – a Void-like Wisp which sucks enemies and pieces of the game world into its orbit, and Rhythm – Sonic turns into a music note and moves through difficult areas to the beat. Drill, Laser, and Rocket are returning color powers. Also seen in the trailer are new zones and enemies.

Give it a watch and tell us what you think in the comments section, or discuss the game in our forums!

Operation Rainfall wants to know what SEGA game you want localized

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There have been a ton of Japanese SEGA games that haven’t made it West and the guys from Operation Rainfall want to know what game you guys want localized. If you never heard of Operation Rainfall, it was a huge movement started because Nintendo refused to localize Xenoblade Chronicles, after the huge response the campaign got, Nintendo eventually released the game in North America.

Seems they want to help localize other games and are aiming their cross-hairs at some SEGA games.  On their site they have a poll with the following games listed:

  • Valkyria Chronicles 3 
  • Yakuza 5
  • Yakuza 1 & 2
  • Shining Hearts 

Right now Valkyria Chronicles 3 is winning with about 50% of the votes. I, on the other hand voted for Yakuza 5,  since I really want to play that game in English. What game did you vote for and why? Leave your opinions in the comment section.

Crazy Taxi is out now on Android – Make that craaaaazy money!

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I know that SEGA doesn’t really promote these mobile releases, all they pretty much do is send a tweet or a blog post telling you that the title is out. But they really missed the mark with the Crazy Taxi port for Android, since they didn’t even tell anyone it was coming today. Well, don’t worry, we got you. Crazy Taxi is now on Android.

This port is a lot like the iOS version with Arcade Mode and Original Mode playable and music by Bad Religion and The Offspring. You can purchase your copy today for $4.99.

SEGA says THQ owes them $941,000 for Company of Heroes 2 pre-orders

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SEGA has recently filed a claim with Delaware US Bankruptcy court, saying that THQ owes them 941,710.93 for Steam pre-orders on Company of Heroes 2.

The claim says there were 20,755 pre-orders registered on Steam between September 2012 to January 24, 2013 that made the company $1.3 million in revenue, leaving $941k figure after Valve’s 30% cut. Also seems that Valve paid THQ $508,877.85 on December 19, 2012.

If you guys didn’t know, SEGA bought Relic and all its software catalog for a reported $26 million dollars. According to Eurogamer, this will be piled up on over $200 million dollars worth of debt that the company owes.

 

Sega Arcade returns to San Diego Comic Con

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The bad news is, I couldn’t find my pics from last year for this post, the good news is I LOVE THIS IMAGE!

The Sega Arcade will once again be returning to the San Diego Comic Con from July 17-21. Anyone with or without a badge can stop on by and check out some of the latest Sega games and say hi to Sonic and the very friendly Sega Staff. Also, come on by in Sega cosplay and you may be shown on Sega’s social media pages just like our own staff member Kori Maru shown here. Here’s the line up for this year..

Sonic Lost World

Rome: Total War II

Castle of Illusion

Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F

The Sega Arcade will be located at 200 Harbor Drive, Suite 120, San Diego, CA 92101. Very close to their location last year. Check out Sega’s blog page for more details.