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Shining Force Cross: Elysion gets opening and tutorial

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SEGA’s ongoing Shining Force Cross have been given it’s third update in the form of Shining Force Cross: Elysion. Originally announced back in 2009, Shining Force Cross has gone to be one of SEGA’s strongest earners from sales and revenue generated from their own amusement centres and this latest expansion promises new character types for the player, new stages and of course, bosses and enermies. Unfortunately like many of SEGA’s arcade titles, the title has been left to stay in Japan and would be another in the long line of arcade titles people would like ported to consoles. Click after the break to see a video tutorial of the new features added to the title.

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Aliens: Colonial Marines on Wii U “has much more to offer”

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Seems that Gearbox Software CEO Randy Pitchford is going to pimp the Wii U version of their long awaited shooter Aliens: Colonial Marines. Pitchford told Vox Games that the Alien shooter will take advantage of the system’s ‘innovative’ tablet controller.

“The Wii U version has so much more to offer. No other platform can do what the Wii U can do. If you love [Xbox] 360 games, you are not used to being in a world where you have this new interface. But once you get used to that, you imagine the possibilities. There are some opportunities that are just not possible on any platform that does not have that device. I don’t want to give spoilers away on some of the things we are thinking of or thing we have actually implemented already, but there are a lot of cool opportunities with that device that are going to make a very unique and compelling experience on that platform,”  – Randy Pitchford, CEO of Gearbox Studios

What do I think about this? I think it is a bit of nonsense. Don’t get me wrong, the Wii U might be a good system, but selling me the same game from the Playstation 3/Xbox 360/PC on a Nintendo console with a new ‘second screen’ on my hands isn’t innovative. How is this better for me? Not only that, the game is coming this autumn to PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. The Wii U version is set to come out sometime ‘by the end of the year.‘

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Check out these hand painted Sonic the Hedgehog shoes

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lumpyheadedbunny over at Reddit has posted their ‘Sonic the Hedgehog‘ hand painted shoes. Oh, yes, they look nice and flashy. So how long did it take them to paint the shoes? 45-65 hours per pair. You are probably going to ask how much it would cost to have lumpyheadedbunny make you a pair. The answer is: $350+. Yes, too rich for my blood.

He says he is working on a site to put all his designs. That is cool, what do you guys think? Is he charging too much? Can you do better?

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Insert Coin shows off new SEGA shirt designs, including Ryo Hazuki inspired hoodie

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The fine folks over at Insert Coin Clothing have now released their concept art for their upcoming SEGA Reloaded shirts (and a hoodie). The hoodie above is inspired by Ryu Huzuki’s brown jacket in Shenmue. In the back it has the Hazuki tiger.

To see more of the shirt designs, hit the jump. Shenmue, Jet Set Radio, Streets of Rage, Shinobi, and Golden Axe? Yes, please.

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SEGA of America’s official statement regarding changes

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There have been a ton of questions flying around, people asking what went wrong. There is quite a bit that sadly went wrong, who is to blame? Probably not the people that got fired, but that isn’t the issue right now. The issue is what SEGA is going to be like in the future. The community has had lots of rumors flowing around. Some are saying SEGA is shutting down SEGA America, which isn’t true.

Now there are questions like, who gave the order? If you guess SEGA-Sammy, you are correct. Check out SEGA of America’s official statement after the jump.

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Check out these awesome SEGA Master System shirts

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SMS Power! forum member thoja has spotted  two SEGA Master System related shirts in his local mall. He said he found them in Bershka, a chain of Spanish stores from Spain. I have to say, I like the ideas but I don’t like white shirts all that much. I searched their site and only found a page for the Master System one, not the Alex Kidd one.

So what do you guys think of the shirts? Do you like in Europe? Maybe you should go out and check them out.

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Valkyria Duel gets trademarked by SEGA

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Looks like we may have more games in the Valkyria universe coming, if a recent trademark filing by Sega of Japan is any indication. Though the series of strategic RPGs has gained a fairly strong following in Japan, it never managed to attain more than cult status in the West, in part due to its move to the PSP after the first (incredibly well-received) installment on the PS3.

We’ll of course keep you posted on any updates should this trademark actually become a game, though whether it would come to the West, especially given SEGA West’s current financial hardships, would be another matter entirely.

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The Weekly Five: The Shenmue HD Wish List

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To wash the yucky taste of today’s big news story out of our mouths, let’s focus on something positive. Recently, SEGA has been hinting at an HD Shenmue 1 and 2 rerelease. Given the latest announcement of putting more focus on digital releases, Shenmue HD could become even more of a reality. As SEGA has yet to release an official announcement, we can do what Shenmue fans do best and speculate! This week’s Weekly Five will take a look at what we want to see in a Shenmue rerelease. Let’s begin, shall we? [insert sailor joke here]

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SEGA West Restructuring, Downsizing and Canceling Certain Games

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Ah, it’s Friday. Let’s check the news. Wonder if we’ll see a Sonic 4 trailer today… wait. What the fuck is this?! Pardon my language, but some breaking news!

SEGA Sammy announced today that it will carry out “structural reform” of consumer business. SEGA Sammy also said it will “streamline” video game operations in the west to “create a smaller company positioned for sustained profitability”. Part of this streamlining will include cutting the number of SEGA games produced and canceling some titles already in development.

The statement read as follows:

The Sega consumer business is expected to post operating loss due to the challenging economic climate and significant changes in the home video game software market environment in the US and Europe.

It is essential to streamline [our] organisation in the field of home video game software, while shifting to a structure that corresponds to a change in environment, including strengthening development in the field of digital content.

We decided to narrow down sales titles to strong IPs such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Football Manager, Total War and Aliens which are expected to continue posting solid earnings. In accordance with this, we are cancelling the development of some game software titles.

SEGA will still post profits of £152m for the 12 months ending March 2012. However, it will see a one-off “extraordinary loss” of £54m. This money will be spent on cutting back and restructuring. No word on what games are being cancelled or just who will be laid-off. Is this the end of crazy unique SEGA games? Or are the more risky games being relegated to digital services, and only the big IPs will get disc releases? Freak out in the comments section.

Update: According to IGN, with information said to come from sources within SEGA, all non-franchise titles will be dropped:

Earlier today, four franchises were overtly announced as being safe: Sonic, Football Manager, Total War, and Aliens. Our sources have revealed that any currently announced game that isn’t included on that list will not be published by SEGA, leaving a decent amount of the publisher’s upcoming publishing roster in jeopardy.

What does this mean for upcoming games like Rhythm Thief? At this point, it’s anybody’s guess. The source goes onto report that North America’s QA team has been axed entirely, with staff cuts also being made in the following departments: marketing, social, design, and development.

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Check It Out: Sonic the Hedgehog Medley Performed Live!

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Full disclosure: I know the bass player in this video, he’s marrying my wife’s best friend. But regardless of whether I know him or not, it’s a good set! I was there live the night they played this. The group is called Beta Test and they perform in and around the Philadelphia, PA area. The night they performed this, March 3, 2012, they also played music from Super Mario Land and the Zelda series. I asked my wife which set she liked most and she said the Sonic one. I asked if she was just saying that because I was the one asking, but she said she honestly liked the Sonic music the most! If she had said “Mario”, it would not have been a good night.

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Insert Coin to add new Sega line of clothing

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UK based clothing company Insert Coin is adding more Sega franchises to their Sonic line of clothing. This includes such games as Shemue, Golden Axe, Shinobi, Streets of Rage and Jet Set Radio.

All of these games are very special to us and so it is fantastic to be able to honour them with some slick new tees and hoodies – and hopefully we’ll be able to show you what we have planned very soon!

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Fan game: Sonic 2 HD gets alpha demo released

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Sonic 2 HD fan project has now released an alpha version of their demo. Sonic 2 HD has been in the works for 3 and a half years. Since this is an alpha demo, you will be limited in what stages you can play. Right now only Emerald Hill Zone. Also since its alpha, it’s not expected to be perfect. I have to say, it’s impressive work being done by the team.

So you are asking where you can download it? Right here. The demo only supports Windows XP – Windows 7. Sorry Mac and Linux fans. The demo clocks in at 85.36 MB.

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Japanese Charts: Yakuza on PSP debuts at #2, Shining Blade still charting

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The weekly Japanese charts came in and have Black Panther 2: Yakuza Ashura Chapter debuting at number 2. The Black Panther series is a spin-off of the Yakuza series on the PSP. This is the second title. Unlike console versions of Yakuza, the handheld version features its own playable main character and not Kazuma Kiryu. The game sold 104,937 units. The game came out March 22nd and since the chart ended on the 25th, the game only got 3 days of sales counted. We should be seeing it next week.

The second SEGA title to chart this week was another PSP game, this one Shining Blade. It’s funny actually, Shining Blade came out a week ago and charted at number 2 when it was out selling 122,257 units. So yeah, Shining Blade debuted better than Black Panther 2. This week Shining Blade dropped to number 10 and pushed an additional 19,032 units. So far Shining Blade has sold  141,289 units.

Not bad at all. I guess SEGA was in the right when they decided to still release PSP games in Japan instead of moving development to Playstation Vita.

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SEGA Tunes: Bayonetta’s Fly Me to the Moon

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Bayonetta had a great soundtrack, but it’s clear the game’s director had an obsession with one, All-American classic: Fly Me to the Moon, one of my favorite songs from the great American songbook. Originally written by Bart Howard in 1954, it’s been performed by all the greats, including Frank Sinatra.

Perhaps the most notable part about this song’s inclusion in Bayonetta is the fact that it was integrated so deeply into the game. It wasn’t just a once used track, or something used in the end credits, but a song heard constantly throughout the game. Bayonetta herself even whispered the song in a scene.

This version, performed by Belgian singer Helena Noguerra, gives this age old classic a nice little SEGA twist. The background music sounds like something that would be perfectly at home in a multitude of SEGA arcade titles. All that said, I must admit I do prefer the version in the end credits, a 1963 by Brenda Lee. That will be getting its own Tuesday Tunes one day.

Below is my favorite version of this song, sung by Frank Sinatra

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Daytona USA and SEGA Rally Online Arcade 50% off on XBLA

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If you log into your XBLA account, you will be able to purchase the fabulous Daytona USA and SEGA Rally Online Arcade ports for only 400 MS. These usually go for 800 MS. The sale will be good all the way till April 3rd.

What are you guys waiting for? No excuses, pick these games up now.

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