VF5 Final Showdown update hits arcades next month

The new issue of Arcadia teases a new Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown update. They gave out some information.

  • The release window for the new update is April. Most likely to released before Golden Week.
  • The bound system will be reworked, no longer allowing you to bound a character more than once. Issue with the current build is that wall combos can take off up to 50% of your health, now when it’s down the second time they won’t bounce as high and stay closer to the ground.
  • All characters will be tweaked for better balance. Here is a promotional video teasing new the changes.
  • VF.net service will be upgraded. The match videos users create will now have info displayed if you turn on the ‘frame data display.’

This is all the information that we know about the newest update. We here at SEGAbits are still waiting for our console port. Lets do this SEGA. Hit the jump to see the top 10 played arcades according to Arcadia.

SEGA announces co-op shooter Renegade Ops


SEGA announced that it will be publishing Avalanche Studios‘ (Developers of Just Cause) Renegade Ops  later this year. The game will be a downloadable title on Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network and PC digital download.

“Renegade Ops is SEGA’s first new IP on the digital space and we are thrilled with the remarkable visual look and extensive features that the game has to offer. It has been a great opportunity to work with a team as successful as Avalanche Studios,”- Haruki Satomi, Vice President of Digital Business at SEGA.

The game will allow players to play co-op offline 2 player split screen or up to 4 players online.  The game has you trying to stop Inferno, a madman trying to take over the world.

For the press release, hit the jump.

IGN presents Yakuza 4: Fact or Fiction?

IGN has today released a feature entitled Yakuza 4: Fact or Fiction, where author Jake Adelstein and editor Daemon Hatfield sit down to discuss Yakuza 4. Jake has lived in Japan as a reporter covering the crime scene, and here he uses his knowledge to discuss the Yakuza and Yakuza 4’s relation to reality.

This is just a fun feature, nothing to get upset about, Yakuza fans. In fact it’s a genuinely interesting look at the Yakuza, how accurate the game’s hostess bars are, the possibility of the ramen shop scene being based on a real-life incident, and more. An interesting feature worth a look for fans of the Yakuza games.

XBLA has After Burner Climax and Crazy Taxi 50% off


Microsoft is holding a sale for XBLA, called ‘Extreme Shopping’. It will start today, March 29th and end on April 4th. There are a ton of games on sale, two of the SEGA games happen to be After Burner Climax and Crazy Taxi.

Each will cost you 400 MS points, half off what they originally cost. If you would like to see the rest of the games on sale, hit this link.

UK Resistance closes its doors

[1996 – 2011]

UK Resistance was a comedy site started by SEGA fan Commander Zorg. The site has a long history and was one of the sites that influenced me to start my own SEGA blog. You know, tap away at keys and bore you all.

UK Resistance has really been all over the place for awhile, but started off as a SEGA news and reviews site. Goodbye UK Resistance, you shall be missed. Why did the site shut down? Check out the video. Announcement is a bit too close to April 1st for my liking, might be a prank.

[Source: UK:R]

GeistForce Beta Acquired by Assembler Games

Geist Force was one of the earliest Dreamcast games that was shown as a tech demo at TGS and E3 prior to its launch. Reportedly 80% complete, it ultimately failed to impress former President Bernie Stolar and his team, so it was quietly cancelled.

Recently a former Sega Employee registered at Assembler Gamer discussed DreamPast in great detail. Along the way he revealed he had a copy of Geist Force, which Assembler acquired for 700$. Currently the Assemblers are working on bringing the game to the masses.

For More Information Watch This Video, Sorry embeding has been disabled.

Metacritic Scores Individual Developers

How annoying is it to get into an argument about how good a game is, only to have somebody throw a link to Metacritic at you? Well gamers can rejoice, as now that same thing can apply to arguing how good a developer is!

Metacritic has recently added the ability to search for individual developers, with each developer given their own score based on the games they’ve worked on. Of course, this is in no way a proper method of scoring how “good” somebody is, as even an assistant co-co-co-producer credit for an amazing game can bring up the score of an otherwise awful person. Also, some great retro games are not rated or credits are not yet given. For example, Morio Kishimoto is at a 69 but is only rated for his work on Sonic and the Secret Rings. He also directed Sonic Colors but has yet to be credited or scored for that.

After the break, check out the pointless numbers now assigned to our favorite (or least favorite) SEGA devs! It’s like in high school, when you’d rate the boys… or girls. I rated the girls. Yeah…

Round Table: Our favorite SEGA advertisments

SEGA has been around the gaming business longer than most companies and when they came into the home console business they changed the game. Especially in the 90’s with their marketing campaigns that really expanded the demographic for video games.

Now we tell you what our favorite advertisements are, you can share yours as well in the comments.

Steam has DC collection for 50% off

Following the SEGA Genesis Collection deal, you can also get the DC Collection for 50% off. On Steam, each title is sold for $8.99, if you add that together and take off 50%, it comes to roughly $20 for 4 games.

The only thing that sucks is that you can’t get the ones you want for 50% off, so you have to stick them all together.

[Source: Steam]
[Thanks: SEGA Dude]

SEGA’s eBay Auction for Japan Relief – Part 3

Even more great Sega collectibles have gone up on the eBay auction today and you can start bidding now! 100% of the proceeds from the auction will go to the Red Cross relief effort for Japan.

You can see the list of items for auction HERE!
All items start at just 99 cents and it is going to a good cause, get bidding!

Super Monkey Ball 3DS – Monkey Fight Trailer

As many of you may know by now Super Monkey Ball has three game modes: Main game, which plays much like any good Monkey Ball game should, roll the ball to the goal! Monkey Race, which looks like a poor mans’ ‘Sega All-Star Racing’ and Monkey Fight, which has more than a passing resemblance to Super Smash Bros.

This trailer highlights the gameplay found in Monkey Fight mode, which looks much better than Monkey Race. Still, is it really too much to ask for the fun gameplay of ‘Monkey Fight’ from Super Monkey Ball Deluxe?

Steam has complete SEGA Genesis Cassics for $9.99

If you really want to play Genesis titles on your PC and you want to give SEGA a nod that you appreciate them putting them up on Steam for sale, you can do that on the super cheap. You get over 40 games!

The package includes classics like Streets of Rage 2, Vectorman and Ristar. Cult games like Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair and Alien Solider. The package will normally run you $112.60, but $9.99 is a better price.

[Source: Steam]

5 SEGA Things Found on Etsy

It’s not surprising that Etsy, the popular online shop devoted to selling handmade and vintage items, has a number of video game related things for sale. I mean, the place is basically a hot spot for those trendy kids who like combining their love for Pac-Man and NES games with their creative talents.

In this week’s weekly five, I thought I’d share five SEGA related products that caught my eye. While I could have highlighted the worst ones, I thought I’d go the positive route and show off some of the best items. You never know, you might like something enough to buy it!