Sega attending ‘GAMEfest’

Videogame retail store ‘GAME’ are holding an event in Madrid this year, known as GAMEfest with hopes that one day it will be as big as Tokyo Game Show, E3 and GamesCom. (Good luck!)

Sega Europe will be attending bringing their upcoming releases to the event. Although no list of games has been announced I’ll bet Vanquish, Sonic Colours and Sonic 4 will be there amongst others. *Crosses fingers for a new Shogun 2 Total War demonstrations!*

If you’re interested in attending, the event is being held from October 8th to the 10th in the exhibition site Recinto Ferial Juan Carlos I de Madrid. Doors will be open from 10am to 8pm and tickets can be bought at GAME.es for 3,00€ each, but unfortunately only Friday and Sunday tickets are still available. Saturday appears to be sold out.

So if anyone is interested in going, Sega will be at booth 17! Here is the official site with info. (In spanish.)

[Thanks to Sonic Stadium]

Yakuza, Producer & Director Interview

Here is an interview conducted by Game Trailers at Tokyo Game Show with Yakuza producer Masayoshi Kikuchi and director Jun Orihara.

The two discuss the story and characters of Yakuza 4 and go onto talk about the direction of the series as a whole. They also confirm that like Yakuza: Kenzan, Yakuza: Of the End is indeed a spin off and not cannon. They mention wanting to continue both the main ‘numbered’ series and the spin-offs.

Yakuza Sci-fi anyone? Punch Aliens in the face? Or a Yakuza Fantasy with Japanese mythology maybe? Punch real dragons in the face?!

New Sonic Colors trailer shows the Eggmagineers accomplishments

The latest Sonic Colors trailer has arrived, and unlike previous released videos of the game, this one shows off a bit of the in-game cutscenes! If the opening map is anything to go by, it looks like each stage will be receiving a trailer which will also highlight Wisp powers. Tropical Resort is still looking to be an excellent first stage, and the drill power-up looks like a lot of fun. Like NiGHTS meets Mr. Driller. What do the fellow “bitters”* think of the latest trailer?

* I realize “bitters” is a terrible name for SEGAbits members, but I have yet to hear a better alternative.

Sonic 4 hits the Casino Street – Trailer & Screens

The latest reworked stage from Sonic the Hedgehog 4 has been revealed thanks to a video and written preview from the folks at Joystiq! Just as Lost Labyrinth replaced the much maligned mine cart, Casino Street has been confirmed to have replaced the itty bitty act 2 pinball machine with a much sweeter card focused stage. Sonic is shown to use cards as platforms, as a way to win an extra life and as a fast moving platform. Way past cool! In fact, the final moment of the trailer was the first true instance in which Sonic 4 made me say “wow!” aloud. I was pro-Sonic 4 before, but now I think I have been welcomed to the next level.

Vanquish Second Demo: ‘Challenge mode’ Available! [update]

You can now download the second Vanquish demo from the Japanese Xbox Live Arcade and Japanese PSN.  So if you haven’t already you need to make a Japanese account.

This is as simple as creating a new XBLA or PSN profile and setting your location to Japan.

This new demo dubbed ‘Challenge mode’ is made specifically for the ‘core’ gamers and the name pretty much sums it up. You must survive 5 waves of enemies and do it in the quickest time with the most points.

From what I have read around other forums some people are finding it hard just to finish! But that wont be a problem for us hardened Sega gamers right?!

[Update] Turns out it is XBLA Gold account only so unless you have a Japanese gold account you are screwed.

Video of Dreamcast Emulator running on PS3


We wrote an article about this before, saying that the emulator has been ported to the PS3. Now we have a video and the results aren’t that impressive. Sure, it has just been ported, but it doesn’t seem like something everyone should rush out and buy at this moment. This is only with a couple of weeks of work. Should be impressive as time goes on.

PSgroove is the device used to jailbreak the Playstation 3, only issue is that Sony has caught on, so if you update to the newest firmware (Right now 3.50) you most likely won’t be able to use the device, at least not till there is a work around. This means giving up access to PSN.

[Source: PSgroove]

Yakuza 3 producer sorry for cutting content


I don’t know what goes through the heads of producers, that think gamers want less content in there games. But it happens. Masayoshi Kikuchi, Producer of Yakuza 3, admits that their decision to cut content out of Yakuza 3 was wrong.

“We did what we thought would be good for the Western market, but after the game was released we received a lot of feedback from users in the complete opposite direction, asking for complete content. It was a big surprise for us. I’m definitely pleased that people wanted to see more, but at the same time, I feel sorry for the fans who were let down by the cut content.”Masayoshi Kikuchi, Producer for Yakuza 3

It is OK Mr. Kikuchi, just give us a patch to put in that extra content? No? Well, just give us a complete package with Yakuza 4 and we will call it even.

[Via: Destructoid]

Shining Hearts gameplay video

Check out this gameplay video of Shining Hearts curtacy of SegaOnline.nl

I have mixed feelings about this game, the new art direction of this series is not my thing. However I really like these old style sprites looking models with big heads like classic Shining series. Oh and I see at least one Beastman.

Time will tell if this game can live up to the classic shining series, but I wont be holding my breath.

TGS round up would make Toshihiro Nagoshi proud

[Nagoshi having a rest or tanning?]

So now that TGS is behind us and we are sprinting into fall, let us look back at all the awesome SEGA announcements and news bits we posted.

News bits:

Trailers & Videos:

Screenshots & Photos:

Don’t worry, there is still news to come. We will be stalking the internet trying to get all the Phantasy Star Online 2 information we can. As you can tell, I’m are most excited for this title. Best TGS in a long time?

Vanquish preview video (Spoiler warning)

This preview is in Italian… Thought I’d get that out of the way early. So unless you understand Italian you won’t take much away from the spoken preview.

But I think this is article worthy none the less. Simply for the sheer amount of new game play and cut scenes. Be warned, it may well contain a high level of spoilers. So if you don’t want possible plot spoilers, stay away! But I’ll tell you this, this game looks truly amazing.

Rumor: Bayonetta 2 to feature co-op?


Here is another rumor out of the blue. We don’t even know for sure if there will be a Bayonetta 2, but infamous Hip Hop Gamer has already pronounced it will have a co-op mode called “Twin Sisters”. This rumor will most likely turn out to be false.

Not only has HHG ran a ton of rumors, most of them have turned out to be false. Some have come true, but if you throw enough darts, you’re bound to hit something. Last big SEGA rumor of his  said that SEGA would announce a new Shinobi game running on the Bayonetta engine. Not only that, the game was going to be announced in 2010. With TGS already behind us, we can basically dismiss this.

[Source: N4G]

Rise of Nightmares teaser trailer

Here is a teaser trailer for one of the lesser known games Sega announced at Tokyo Game Show. Rise of Nightmares. The game is exclusive for Microsoft’s Kenect.

I can’t take much away from this teaser trailer; the graphics aren’t blowing my mind though… I guess I’ll have to see more.

H and Takenobu Mitsuyoshi at SEGA TGS 2010

Sorry I didn’t get this up sooner. Youtube was being really slow for me. For anyone who hasn’t seen this video yet, I hope you enjoy it! Songs that Takenobu sings include what looks like a Yakuza song, a Hatsune Miku song, and Daytona USA – Let’s go Away.

Seeing Sonic and the whole crowd dancing is awesome.

SEGA and Platinum Games plan more titles

It seems the partnership of SEGA and Platinum Games is not ending any time soon. The developer was quickly signed up by SEGA on an exclusive four game deal, three of which has received much critical acclaim although out of the three, only Bayonetta was suggested to have met its sale target, with the final game Vanquish launching later this year. The title has been building hype up slowly, mainly down to its impressive demo released some time ago. Speaking during the Tokyo Game Show the studio’s producer and executive director Atsushi Inaba said;

“[The] relationship between SEGA and Platinum Games does not end with Vanquish.”

A simple quote, but one that will most likely go down well with the general SEGA userbase. Speculation will surely be rife now, especially with the director of Bayonetta, Hideki Kamiya, has been hinting at a possible sequel to one of the most critically acclaimed title of 2010. What ever the case, fans can look forward to this partnership continuing for some time still.

[Source: Play.TM]