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Virtua Fighter x eSports Project Announced for Japan

Friday, September 25th, 2020

As part of their 60th Anniversary celebrations, SEGA has announced a new ‘Virtua Fighter x eSports’ project.

Sadly, there’s literally no more details than that; it’s unknown if this means a new game in the vein of Puyo Puyo eSports (Champions in the West) is in the works, or if it’ll just entail running games such as Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown within Japan’s eSports league.

At the very least, let’s hope we get some fresh Virtua Fighter ports out of this; only time will tell!

Yakuza Movie In Development at 1212 Entertainment and Wild Sheep Content

Thursday, September 24th, 2020

SEGA have started work on developing a movie based on the beloved Yakuza franchise, alongside 1212 Entertainment and Wild Sheep Content.

The new comes via Variety, who report that the project has already found its producers in Erik Barmack, Roberto Grande and Joshua Long. The team are currently looking for scriptwriters.

After the smash-hit that the Sonic movie wound up being, it’s arguably not too surprising to see SEGA consider adapting their other works to film and TV. That said, we are a bit wary of this project given the number of other projects in this vein that have gone absolutely nowhere in the past; as far as we can tell, that Rent-A-Hero movie isn’t any closer to happening, nor are any of the other SEGA and Stories International ventures.  Time will tell if this one fares any better.

SEGA AGES: Herzog Zwei is Out Now on the Western Nintendo Switch eShop

Thursday, September 24th, 2020

SEGA AGES: Herzog Zwei is now available to purchase in the West for the Nintendo Switch. It’ll set you back £5.99.

This port of the pioneering Mega Drive Real-Time Strategy game from Thunder Force creators Technosoft boasts a slew of new features, intended to ease those unfamiliar with the game or RTS in general into the swing of things. You can customise a number of game parameters to your liking, and there’s a new in-depth tutorial to go through the basics; an extremely charming one, and is frequently cracks jokes about other games in the AGES line, and about just how amazing giant transforming mechs are.

Herzog Zwei is the final release in the SEGA AGES line, but M2 are at TGS to discuss upcoming projects such as the recently announced Aleste Collection. Whether we’ll see what they and SEGA might be up to next remains to be seen.

IDOLA Phantasy Star Saga Now Available on Android and iOS In 140 Territories from Boltrend Games

Thursday, September 17th, 2020

IDOLA Phantasy Star Saga, the latest mobile entry in the beloved Phantasy Star series, is now available to download in 140 territories, including North America, for both iOS and Android. The release comes via Boltrend Games.

Via Boltrend’s PR:

IDOLA Phantasy Star Saga was produced by Shuntaro Tanaka, recognized writer and producer, Tomomasa Chin, the supervising director, and Sho Mutsuura, the art director together with the original team in SEGA, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Phantasy Star series in Japan. Soundtrack was done by Kenichi Tokoi, also composer of the music in the Sonic the Hedgehog series.

While the game is not available in Europe at the moment, Boltrend’s PR has now confirmed that a European release is planned for the future, which is great to hear. We’ve also received clarification on the game’s connectivity to Phantasy Star Online 2, or lack thereof; while the EN version of the game cannot connect to PSO2, SEGA has released a code for the Visiphone that will reward players with 200 SG. So that’s nice!

As soon as information becomes available on a European release, we’ll let you know.

You can get the game for Android devices here, or for iOS devices here.

Sonic 30th Anniversary Logo and Merchandise Plans Revealed, Including IDW Classic Sonic Comic Miniseries

Monday, September 14th, 2020

Merchandise plans have been revealed to celebrate Sonic’s 30th Anniversary, via BleedingCool. In addition, we also have the rather snazzy 30th Anniversary logo.

A range of partners will be taking part in the festivities, including Funko, Jakks Pacific, Dark Horse Comics, FiGPiN, and G Fuel. Perhaps most notably, IDW Comics will be releasing a new comic series featuring an all new adventure from Sonic’s Classic counterpart; perhaps akin to Archie’s wildly popular Sonic Mega Drive series.

A full list is after the jump, again via Bleeding Cool: (more…)

Panzer Dragoon Remake Coming to PS4 and PC “Soon”, Xbox Version Seemingly Planned

Friday, September 11th, 2020

Forever Entertainment’s currently Nintendo Switch exclusive Panzer Dragoon Remake will finally be making the jump to other systems, as it has been confirmed that a Playstation 4 and PC version of the game is ‘coming soon’. The PC version will be available via both Steam and Good Old Games (GOG).

In addition, Forever stated that these are just the ‘first’ systems that’ll now be getting the game, as a Twitter reply hints that an Xbox version is also planned at some stage. No release date information was given beyond the ‘coming soon’, but hopefully we won’t have to wait long.

[ Source – Panzer Dragoon Remake on Twitter]

Yakuza: Like A Dragon To Be a Launch Title for Xbox Series X/S, Launches 3 Days Ahead of Other Systems on November 10th

Wednesday, September 9th, 2020

Yakuza: Like a Dragon will arrive on the new Xbox Series X and Series S consoles three days ahead of schedule, it’s been announced. From what we understand, the release date for all other versions (PS4, PC and Xbox One) are still November 13th, with the Playstation 5 date still unconfirmed.

With the originally announced date being so close to the Xbox Series X’s date, it’s not too surprising to see the Xbox Series versions get shifted up slightly. Either way, it’s a nice boost for the launch lineup of the new consoles; because who doesn’t want a brand-new Yakuza game as the first thing on their shiny new box?

As soon as more details emerge on the Playstation 5 version (or if it turns out this is a wider-ranging date change) we’ll let you know.

[ Source – RPGSite ]

Crunchyroll and Adult Swim Announce Shenmue ~the Animation~, 13-Episode Anime Series

Saturday, September 5th, 2020

Shenmue is to get an anime adaptation from Crunchyroll and Adult Swim, it has been announced.

A joint venture between the two networks, Shenmue ~The Animation~ will be directed by Sakurai Chikara of Telecom Animation Film Studios (better known as SEGA’s own TMS), and managed by Sola Entertainment. Yu Suzuki is on board too, as executive producer.

From the sounds of things, it’ll be a 13-episode retelling of the original games; both Ryo’s search in Japan and Hong Kong are mentioned, suggesting we’ll be seeing Shenmue II adapted too.

No information on a projected release date is known yet, but we’ll let you know if anything is announced on that front.

[ Source – #Jobs ]

Final Batch of Astro City Mini Games Announced, Including Rad Mobile and Space Harrier

Thursday, September 3rd, 2020

The final set of games to be announced for the Astro City Mini have now been revealed, via Famitsu Live. They are as follows:

  1. Arabian Fight
  2. Ninja Princess
  3. Stack Columns
  4. Sonic Boom
  5. Scramble Spirits
  6. Flicky
  7. Puyo Puyo Tsu
  8. Quartet 2
  9. Thunder Force AC
  10. Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars
  11. Rad Mobile
  12. My Hero
  13. Space Harrier

An Astro City Arcade Stick was also announced alongside the final batch of games, which will be released for for 12,800 JPY (£90)… which is practically the price of the Astro City Mini itself. This joins the huge amount of other accessories announced for it, such as the Game Centre Style Kit. The other games on the unit are (after the jump): (more…)

SEGA’s Project B.L.A.C.K and Delightworks’ Nihon Dakkan Officially Announced as “Sakura Revolution: Flower Blooming Maidens”, A New Smartphone Title in the Sakura Wars Series

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2020

SEGA’s Project B.L.A.C.K. and Delightworks’ Project Nihon Dakkan have both been revealed; and it turns out they’re one and the same, as they were actually both teasers for a new Sakura Wars title for iOS and Android devices – Sakura Revolution (Kakumei). The game will also feature music from series composer Kohei Tanaka. For those unaware, Delightworks are no stranger to mobile titles; they’re responsible for developing Fate/Grand Order, a ludicrously popular title that’s grossed over 4 billion USD (as of the end of 2019). Given SEGA AM2 handled the arcade version of said game, perhaps we should’ve seen this collaboration coming. As far as we can tell, no release date for Japan has been given beyond 2020.

Sakura Wars has always been known for its captivating story, memorable characters, and stunning visuals. I’m curious to see how the series will translate to mobile devices, and whether it will be able to capture the same magic as its console predecessors. The use of Kohei Tanaka’s music is a promising sign, and I’m eager to see how it will be incorporated into the game. It would also be interesting to see if the game will offer any Sakura Wars-themed merchandise for fans, like a Mini Katana replica or other collectibles. With the series’ popularity and dedicated fanbase, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some Sakura Wars-themed items popping up in online stores soon.

The game seems to follow yet another new Sakura, Sakura Shino, and takes place in ‘the 100th year of the Taisho era’. It was revealed with a fairly lengthy and nicely animated anime short, presumably setting the scene for the game. It will be an RPG title (with gacha elements, going off the amount of ingame currency giveaways currently advertised on the site), and from the looks of things Shino and an all-new Imperial Combat Revue will be going up against the B.L.A.C.K. unit’s own Combat Revue shown in SEGA’s teaser, as they seek to take back Japan from the idol group’s apparently pretty bad influence. It also appears they’re forgoing the series’ usual mechas in favour of mecha suit… dresses.

Whether or not this game will see a localisation is anyone’s guess, but we said the same about IDOLA: Phantasy Star Saga and that actually turned up overseas – so never say never!

The game’s official website is here.

You can also watch the animated short used to reveal the game, animated by CloverWorks, here.

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