Shenmue City update shows returning shops

[Flowers? Do you guys sale anything useful?]

Shenmue City website has been updated with a flash thing, that has scrolling city shops. If you put your mouse over the shop, you get a picture of the owner, see Nozomi up above.

It also seems the game will exclusive shops or at least shop owners. Tell me what new stuff you guys find. Also confirmed via twitter is that the game is in the last stages of development.  All I can say is, needs more Tom’s Hot Dogs.

[Thanks: Supa]

Interview: Corey Marshall, voice of Ryo Hazuki

Courtesy of our awesome community member Supa comes a great interview with the English voice actor of Ryo Hazuki, Corey Marshall! Fittingly, this interview comes the day after Ryo’s fictional birthday. Ryo would have been forty-two years old. Check out the interview to see what Corey has been up to, hear some great stories from the days of Shenmue 1 and 2 and his thoughts on Shenmue City!

Yuji Naka, Naoto Oshima and Takashi Iizuka hanging out


Those god damn hooligans. They are up to no good, with their blue spikes and their loud rock n’ roll music. Actually these photos where posted by Yuji Naka on his twitter, who was ‘chillaxing’ with Naoto Oshima (original designer for Sonic) and Takashi Iizuka (current boss over at Sonic Team).

Can you imagine what they talked about? Whatever it is, I hope its all three getting together for a game. Takashi Iizuka most likely has great ideas that evolve Shadow and aliens.

[Via: Sonic Stadium]

Super Hang-On coming west via Virtual Console

Super Hang-On was released for Japanese Virtual Console owners back in September, but what about us? I don’t know anything about Japan, but I want to play it! Well, seems that it will be heading soon to a Virtual Console store near you.

Australia’s Classifications Board has rated Super Hang-On, which will most likely end up being the Virtual Console game. Could it be a super awesome remake with HD graphics and all the trimmings? This is SEGA, don’t be silly.

[Source: Siliconera]

Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity crosses with Border Break and Shining Force


More of those tie-ins we all love, right? This time Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity will tie-in with Shining Force Cross Raid and Border Break Air Burst. Sorry for those thinking it would have been the original Shining Force.

The cross over content will be released as DLC, this will include costumes and weapons. Also Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity will have weapons, characters and costumes available for Border Break Air Burst  and Shining Force Cross Raid. Now that is how you cross promote a game. Sadly, no screens of the cross over have been made public.

[Source: AndriaSang]

SEGA to expand arcade business to China


China has like, a lot of people and SEGA thinks all those kung-fu loving communist would like to play some arcade games. So what are they going to do about it? Expand their arcade business to China, make exclusive arcade games tailored for the average Chinese consumer.

Should be interesting to see what arcade cabinets SEGA will launch with in China and what kind of titles they will develop for the country. Maybe some exciting stuff?

[Source: Kotaku]

Valkyria Chronicles 3 collector’s edition will get you buzzed

[Keychain? Easier to drink and drive]

SEGA has already announced the collectors edition for their next installment in their Valkyria Chronicles series. It seems to come with a shot glass because if there is any game that makes me want to get wasted, its Valkyria Chronicles.  What else does this edition come with?

  • Emblem 422 collapsible cup (we already know, pictured above)
  • Telephone Card
  • Mini poster
  • Nameless x Calamity Raven visual clear poster (pictured below)
  • PSP game

How much will this run you? 8,479 yen (about $100 bucks). But hey, its worth it, no? If you pre-order either version (collectors or regular) you will be able to get extras too, like the Gallia Secret Document file 422 book, which tells the story of Kurt’s first battle and a DLC code that unlocks Alias from VC2.

[Source: Siliconera]

Video shows how to make Sonic Sackboy


Sackboy was a nickname we used to call this kid in my high school with one testical, seems that the world has changed and given this name to Sony’s new family friendly mascot.

One of the gimmicks of Sackboy is that he can change his appearance, mostly when you pay Sony money for new items. One of the costumes Sackboy has received over the years has  been a Sonic the Hedgehog pack. Now you can make your own Sackboy Sonic doll at home. Follow the video.

[Via: Kotaku]

Sega Invites Destructoid Over For Cake

Sega continues to heckle Destructoid over Jim Sterling’s review of Sonic Colours by inviting Jon Carnage to Sega of Americas HQ and awarding Destructoid with a 4.5 cake.

Jim Sterling gave Sonic Colours a 4.5/10 while the average score was around the 8/10 mark amongst other (better) critics.

Recently Sega also sent Jim Sterling a review copy of Sonic Colours DS with a picture of Sterling depicted as a troll stuck to the cover. Not satisfied with that, Sega also sent him a giant poster of Sonic Colours after his (pretty terrible) review hit the net.

I think Sega have handled a rather poor review pretty well, showing they have a sense of humour and taking a few digs at Destructoid along the way. If anything I think it shows good faith in their product.
Well played Sega.

United Kingdom Charts: 21 – 27 Nov 2010

There was some concerns for the sales of Sonic Colours when it first charted on the British charts, heading at a lowly 36th at the beginning of it’s tenure in the charts. Well the game continues to travel upwards in the charts, now up two positions to 16th and it’s not simply just one version of the game going up, both Wii and DS version have moved higher in the individual charts from 35 to 31 for the DS version and 29 to 27 for the Wii version.

Other chart positions for Sonic Colours is 19th in the top 20 Irish Charts and in the top 10 DS charts for Netherlands, Sonic Colours comes in 8th. On an unreleated note, Epic Monkey failed to chart in Britain, perhaps Sonic Colour’s positioning is not due the damage done to the series, but the poor sale through for third party titles.

Football Manager 2011 has fallen down three places from 19th to 22nd but there was some good news for Vanquish, which has re-entered the charts at 38th, although I have a feeling that should be the last we see of Vanquish, unless more good deals come around to promote the game to could help it push it up the charts. Next week’s charts would be interesting to see if Sonic Colours can continue it’s climb up the charts, good word of mouth and being an enjoyable title shows what a positive reception a new Sonic game can have.

[Source: Chart-Track]

Yakuza Team’s next game is a sci-fi shooter?

[Fanboy no more, Binary Domain is rumored for Xbox 360 & PS3]

According to 2ch, the latest Famitsu had a interview with Nagoshi about his upcoming new IP, which is being done with the Yakuza team and Western developers from SEGA. The new game is rumored to be called Binary Domain

The games plot takes place in Tokyo during the year 2080, Tokyo is split into classes, the poor and the rich. He said that poor Tokyo will look about the same as it does now, just more devastated.  The game is suppose to have lots of focus on AI and online gameplay. The image that is supposed to be in Famtisu is described as a monk, in third person shooting fashion, shooting a robot. CGI image, of course.

The western staff didn’t want to have the game take place in Japan, but Nagoshi said it had to be in Japan because that is where he is from and if he is going to make a human drama game, it has to be somewhere he knows.

Bayonetta 2 teased again via Twitter

Kamiya loves to tease his fans on twitter. If he was a female, he would be posting half naked pictures, thankfully that doesn’t stop all males, like me.

He said we will be seeing more of Bayonetta soon. I assume that SEGA has a announcement ready before E3? Please?

[Source: NicaGamerz]

Super Monkey Ball 3DS Japanese site opens


The Super Monkey Ball 3DS website  has now open and with it is a few bits of information about the upcoming 3DS game. As most of you know, this is most likely going to end up being a 3DS launch title and will be launching this spring.

Confirmed modes:

  • Monkey Ball: What you come to expect from the games, single player mode that has you rolling and collecting bananas.
  • Monkey Race: Car racing where you can use power ups to screw up the other player. Up to 4 players can join in on the race.
  • Monkey Fight: You fight other monkeys, seems to look very much like Super Smash Bros. Object is to take their bananas.  Up to 4 players can play! Screen below.

As for playable characters, the site has 8 character slots, but only half of them are shown. Those shown are AiAi, MeeMee, Baby and Gongon.

[Source: AndriaSang]