Not much to say besides enjoy the visuals! Also just to note… this is different from the PC opening. Phantasy Star Online 2 PS Vita comes out Feb 2013 in Japan, with no date set for western territories.
Gameplay trailer after the jump
Hey folks! Since Sega was kind enough to send out their own Christmas card, I thought I’d send one out to them. Our main artist Jet at E.C.C. Comics (Sonic Eggs, Horse Power) worked for a long time on this piece, including a good chunk of Christmas day. Hope Sega and you guys like it!
How do you know something is big in Japan? When the above exists. I’m sure many of you have heard of Sakura Wars, SEGA’s series of strategy/dating simulator games that until recently never made it outside of Japan, but did you know that the franchise has also been used as the source material for a variety of stage shows dating all the way back to 1997?
The above video is from a Christmas stage show that the cast of the games performed back in 1998. In it, you can see many of the core cast members of the original Sakura Wars being portrayed by their voice actors as they sing a variety of Christmas tunes. Its hard to believe that there was once a SEGA franchise big enough to warrant this amount of production.
So pour yourself some eggnog, sit back and enjoy some pleasant Christmas-y SEGA tunes. Given that this is Christmas, we can’t exactly just give you one song now can we? Check below the fold for more Christmas music from both Sakura Taisen and Shenmue.
Not much to say about this one. Hope everyone is having a good Xmas! If you want to check out holiday cards from other video game companies, head over to this gallery.
Steam is having their holiday sales, which means all PC gamers will be broke by new years. If you want to join in on the sale, but where waiting for some SEGA stuff to hit discount then you are in luck. The Sonic franchise pack is 77% off, giving you 15 Sonic items (not games, since some of it is DLC). You’ll even get newer stuff like Generations and All-Stars Racing (not Transformed).
But hey, a big pack isn’t for you? Single items are being discounted up to 50%. Check it out. There is also the SEGA publisher pack for $70 (sadly low on the Sonic).
A patch was released today for Sonic Jump on Android devices. Fixes the text scaling issues that caused microscopic text, among other issues. So if you were having issues with Sonic Jump on your device. Go download the patch from the Play Store and see if it fixes the issues you were having. Let us know in the comments if the patch fixes the issues you were having or not. It fixed the issues I was having with microscopic text.
If you live in Japan, you might want to know that if you pre-order the next Shining RPG, Shining Ark, SEGA will be giving you a crossover character from Shining Wind for free. You will get Rouna Murasame, she won’t have story elements but will be playable during battle.
Sucks that we won’t see this game in the west. Shining Ark comes out February 28th on the PSP.
Above is the trailer for SEGA and Double Fine’s new game, The Cave. This is the second character trailer, if you missed the first one, you can see it here. This one introduces some of the characters you will be able to play as when the game comes out next month. I’m really liking the time traveling character. Which one tickles your feathers?
SEGA has released Sonic Jump to Android devices! Now Android users can see what all the fuss is about. The game is $1.99 on the Google Play store, and while the Android release doesn’t appear to have all the content that the iOS version currently has, the game will have free updates and will most likely get everything the iOS version currently has in time. Given the time it takes to level up, players probably won’t notice the lack of content until an update is set to appear.
And by “accident”, we mean run over your fellow racers with great disdain. Particularly AiAi because monkeys suck. Hey AiAi, get in a car already! At least get in your plastic ball and let it take some of the damage. Moron.
Via the SEGA Blog comes news that SEGA and Icelandic developer Gogogic are teaming up to release a browser/tablet MMOG game entitled Godsrule: War of Mortals. The game is said to combine “real-time player-versus-player combat with RTS (real-time strategy) elements, in a unique fantasy setting with an epic backstory.” At the moment, the game is asking potential players to sign up for a closed beta for the game. Just visit playgodsrule.com to create an account and begin playing. For more information on the game’s features and further information on the closed beta, visit the SEGA Blog for details. After the break, check out a gallery of screens and concept art.
While some fans have known of Alex Kidd’s upcoming addition to Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed’s roster, SEGA has finally officially announced themselves that we can expect Alex Kidd to unlock on Christmas day. The news came from the Sonic the Hedgehog Facebook page:
Happy Holidays from Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed! If you fire up Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed on Christmas Day, you’ll find a little surprise under your tree — Alex Kidd jumps into the race! He doesn’t need to pedal to take to land, air and sea — two powerful JanKenPon engines allow him to roar around like it’s Christmas in Miracle World. Surely this is a better present than some paper, scissors and stones!
Alex Kidd wasn’t quite a surprise for all, as it was learned early on that files for him existed within the game and eventually fans figured out that they could unlock Alex if they used their console offline and moved the date ahead to December 25th. However, once they logged back on and the clock changed to the current time, Alex would disappear. So don’t open your gifts early, be a good SEGA fan and wait until Christmas day!
Cover by: Patrick “SPAZ” Spaziante
Sonic the Hedgehog comic universe is nearly twenty years old, its about time it gets a “best of” trade paperback release. For those that waited this long, here is a preview of what you can expect in the full release on the 26th (yes, the day after Christmas). Retail price for the trade will be $14.99 and be about 144 pages long.
Sega has just released the Sega Ages 2500 Phantasy Star Complete Collection on PS2 Classics today just in time to celebrate the series 25th anniversary for digital download. The collection contains all 8 titles from the entire original series I-IV and the side-story games. It’s only 800 yen ($10) to download. If your interested in buying it, make sure that you have a Japanese PSN account and buy JP PSN cards from import sites or Ebay. Even though players can play the original four games on Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection in English, this is a unique gift for die hard fans of the series. Here’s the list of games that are featured in the collection.
Don’t freak out, we’re not turning into CAPCOMbits. However, this story may be of interest to some SEGA fans. Capcom wants to know what sorts of digital titles fans want to see, and to let them know all you need to do is take a survey. Of interest to SEGA fans is that the survey asks “From which Capcom franchises are you most interested in seeing digital games?” followed by a number of franchises that were popular on SEGA consoles, including Power Stone and Project Justice (aka Rival Schools). Once you select the games you wish to see digitally rereleased, you get to answer more detailed questions including your levels of interest for HD ports of Power Stone 1, HD ports of Power Stone 2, and an HD port of a Power Stone Collection.
So if you’ve ever wanted to see some classic Capcom titles that appeared on SEGA consoles rereleased, head on over to the survey and make sure Capcom hears you!