We recently reported that Boltrend Games were bringing SEGA’s mobile title IDOLA: Phantasy Star Saga to the West, with a open beta. Well, it turns out there’s not long to wait until the full release; as pre-registration is now open for the game, with the iOS App Store giving a release date of September 17th.
There is a bit of a downside to this news, as the game sadly isn’t coming to Europe as of right now; it’s available globally everywhere save for Europe, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam. Trying to access the game via the App Store here in the UK turns up an error message. It might be too early to totally rule out a European release though – just look at Phantasy Star Online 2, after all. That, and Twinfinite states the game is actually planned to launch specifically in the UK, so this might change quicker than we think.
When Tracker isn’t playing SEGA games, he’s talking about SEGA games. Or drawing about SEGA games. Or all of the above. You can also catch him over on Twitter.
The first images of an unreleased Mega Drive Sonic spin-off called Treasure Tails have appeared online. These come directly from Craig Stitt who many may know as an artist on Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic Spinball. Stitt himself pitched the game back in February 1993. The game was meant to be a forced-perspective platform/puzzle/adventure game featuring Tails as the main playable character. It supposedly never made it to a playable state and the images seen in this article come from a VHS tape that Stitt have put together in 1995.
In addition to this discovery, the first concept images of Boomer the Turtle have also appeared. This was a character Stitt designed for Sonic the Hedgehog 2 as Sonic’s original sidekick before Tails was even conceived. The character was ultimately scrapped.
Also released is footage of another unreleased title that Craig Stitt pitched called Astropede. The game features a centipede protagonist that runs at high speeds through a stage that uses graphics from the then-unreleased Hidden Palace stage from Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Stitt had hopes that the character could exist as a part of Sonic’s Universe. Check out the footage from SEGAbits below:
Another officially licensed multi-game arcade cabinet from Arcade1Up appears to be on the way as a leak from a poster on Reddit has revealed an image of a cabinet which is made to play Virtua Fighter, Virtua Fighter Remix, Virtua Fighter 2, Fighting Vipers and Sonic the Fighters. The leak appears to have come from some advance promotional material for the cabinet. There is currently no other information on this release at the time of writing or even if this is a genuine leak or a hoax.
Arcade1Up are also due to release a cabinet featuring Golden Axe: The Revenge of Death Adder, Shinobi, Altered Beast, Wrestle Wars and the original Golden Axe. This cabinet was revealed at CES back in January 2020 and is also without a release date or price. However, Arcade1Up cabinets normally retail for around £300.
A fresh selection of updates have now gone live in the hardware and merchandise sections. See below for a full list of additions and direct links to each entry:
It’s a pretty good time to be a Phantasy Star fan, as the mobile title IDOLA: Phantasy Star Saga is getting an official English release!
The game, originally released to promote the 30th Anniversary of the Phantasy Star series, will be receiving an Open Beta Test, launching August 5th and lasting until August 10th. It’ll contain the first six chapters of the game’s story and the Arena Battle mode. Currently, there’s no solid word on what regions this English release is intended for, though our friend CorBond was unable to access the game from the Netherlands. We were able to join the Testing Program from the UK, but we lack an Android device to confirm whether we could actually access the game.
It’s certainly a surprising announcement; we do wonder if they’ll somehow incorporate the bonuses the Japanese version has for connecting the game to Phantasy Star Online 2. Only time will tell!
When Tracker isn’t playing SEGA games, he’s talking about SEGA games. Or drawing about SEGA games. Or all of the above. You can also catch him over on Twitter.
Phantasy Star Online 2’s PC exclusivity to the Microsoft Store is coming to an end, as the game will be launching on Steam as soon as next week, August 5th. It’s also been confirmed the game will support crossplay and cross-progress with other versions of the game, and that the Steam version will drop alongside the Episode 4 content update.
This also seemingly marks the official European release of the game, as the Steam page is available in select European territories. We don’t have a full list of who can and can’t access it right now, but we at least know that the UK is good to go, and the Netherlands are sadly out of luck as the page simply won’t load in that region.
The best part of this announcement however, is probably the new items announced to commemorate the launch. You’ll be able to get your hands on gear inspired by Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, Team Fortress 2 and Portal 2 as part of the game’s Steam launch. This isn’t wholly surprising, but it’s weird to see Gordon Freeman in PSO2 nonetheless.
PSO2’s PC launch was mired in technical issues, so hopefully the Steam launch will mark the end to that. Going off previous blogposts, it’s a safe assumption that Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis, the upcoming overhaul of the game, will also land on Steam at some point next year – though whether it’ll have timed exclusivity to Microsoft again remains to be seen.
When Tracker isn’t playing SEGA games, he’s talking about SEGA games. Or drawing about SEGA games. Or all of the above. You can also catch him over on Twitter.
Off the back of its box office success earlier this year, the voice of Sonic himself has confirmed the release date for the sequel to the Sonic the Hedgehog movie, which will now arrive on the 8th of April 2022.
The sequel was first revealed back in May, with confirmation that director Jeff Fowler is returning, with Pat Casey and Josh Miller also returning to write the script. Ben Schwartz effectively confirms his return as the voice of Sonic with this announcement. Jim Carrey has previously expressed his interest about returning as Dr. Robotnik but we have no official confirmation at this time.
The original Sonic the Hedgehog movie released back in February 2020 and is currently the 2nd highest grossing film of 2020 and the highest grossing video game adaptation of all time in North America.
Revealed during the Xbox Games Showcase, a brand new expansion for Phantasy Star Online 2 called New Genesis will launch worldwide for PC, Xbox One and Xbox One Series X in Spring 2021.
For North American players, Phantasy Star Online 2 is still a PC and Xbox One exclusive, but this new expansion will be launching on all currently supported platforms in Japan as well. These include Nintendo Switch and PS4, but only in Japan. You can watch the reveal trailer below:
Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis promises “limitless adventure and unparalleled character customization”. The expansion will launch in Spring 2021. A European release for Phantasy Star Online 2 is still unconfirmed.
SEGA has confirmed that Yakuza: Like a Dragon will be making its way to Playstation 5 some time after its release on PS4 and Xbox One/Xbox Series X. SEGA are currently making plans for PS4 owners to be able to upgrade to the PS5 version once it becomes available.
That’s arguably not the biggest news however, as Yakuza: Like a Dragon will also be receiving an English dub; the first time the series has done so since the PS2 days. Even more surprising, is that beloved actor George Takei will be lending his vocal chords to the game as Masumi Arakawa. Kaiji Tang will play protagonist Ichiban Kasuga.
Also revealed was a pre-order bonus. The Legends Costume Pack allows you to dress up the characters as those from previous Yakuza games, just in case you can’t let go of Kiryu’s iconic suit.
When Tracker isn’t playing SEGA games, he’s talking about SEGA games. Or drawing about SEGA games. Or all of the above. You can also catch him over on Twitter.
The show itself stated that the game will be releasing November 2020, so presumably Limited Run Games’s tweet about the release (seen above) indicates when pre-orders will go live. This is currently dated for July 31st 2020. There’s also no word on whether the physical version will include the upcoming Hatsune Miku DLC.
When Tracker isn’t playing SEGA games, he’s talking about SEGA games. Or drawing about SEGA games. Or all of the above. You can also catch him over on Twitter.
SEGADriven and its original content are copyrighted to their respective authors. Media related directly to SEGA is copyrighted to its respective authors. Any comments on SEGA-related materials do not represent SEGA themselves. All rights reserved 2008-2025.
We use cookies to analyse site usage, provide social media features and personalise content and ads. We may also share information about your use of our website with our partners.
