Tag Archives: PC

Shenmue 3 Gets Five New Screenshots at Magic Monaco

Draikin February 27, 2016 Leave a reply

Y Suzuki gave a presentation today at the Monaco Anime Game International Conferences, talking about the Shenmue franchise and showing a bit more of Shenmue 3. In particular, five new screenshots have been revealed, showing some of the environments and lighting effects in the game. We included them below! Shenmue 3 Dojo has also been reporting live from the conference on their Twitter account, sharing more information and a few videos as well.

Shenmue 3 is scheduled to be released on the PlayStation 4 and PC in 2017. There’s also an on-going slacker backer campaign where you can back the game.

Phantasy Star Online 2 Gets a New Opening Cinematic

Draikin February 26, 2016 2 Replies

Dualshockers posted an update on their website showing the new opening cinematic for Phantasy Star Online 2: Episode 4. The cinematic was taken from SEGA’s live niconico stream, and again features a setting on Earth, but this time we get to see the game’s heroes fight against a battleship that looks suspiciously like the Japanese battleship Yamato, the largest battleship ever built, which was sunk during WWII. In addition, fighter planes similar to the Japanese “Zero” (although carrying a different, fictional, roundel) appear in the battle.

New Phantasy Star Online 2 Episode 4 Reborn Trailer

InTheSky January 30, 2016 Leave a reply

Sega has uploaded a new trailer for a large 2016 Phantasy Star Online 2 game update – collectively known as Episode 4 Reborn.

New promotional campaigns include a Valentine’s Day theme for the ARKS Lobby, with Valentine’s present boxes containing items (chocolates! Rappies!) littering the lobby. There will also be themed weapons and accessories for this Valentine’s event alongside a new set of Street Style Scratches. The Street Style coincides with the introduction of the new futurist Tokyo world introduced in Episode 4. Besides that, the first trailer introduces some new boss enemies and battle clips (the Summoner is briefly shown off.)

Eagle-eyed readers or fans of Phantasy Star Online 2 may have noticed a slight logo change for Phantasy Star Online 2 in our featured image. The change is being celebrated by Sega as the new year starts and even received its own web commercial video.

Check out the new trailer for Episode 4 Reborn below!

PSO2 Episode 4 Reborn

『PSO2』大型アップデート2016「Reborn:EPISODE4」紹介ムービーPart2

Watch this video on YouTube

Phantasy Star Online 2’s (PS4) Release Date, Closed Beta Info

InTheSky January 18, 2016 Leave a reply

Phantasy Star Online 2’s Playstation 4 version is set to release on April 20 of this year, according to Sega.

Leading up to the release of the game, Sega will be running a closed beta. 50,000 people will be selected through submitting an application to the Japanese Playstation Store. Applications will be accepted through from January 25 to February 15. The beta itself will run from February 25 to March 6, leading up to the wide release of Phantasy Star Onlne 2 for Playstation 4 in late April.

Additionally, a separate package for the recently released Episode 4 will be made available for all three of Phantasy Star Online 2’s platforms (PS4, PC, Vita) at ¥4,990. A costume scratch for original character Itsuki Tachibana (from the currently-airing PSO2 anime) will also be included in this package.

Still no word on an English-based release of the game from Sega! Hopefully something changes.

Credit for the information goes to this Crunchyroll article and this 4Gamer article.

Phantasy Star Online 2: Episode 4 – New Class, New Planet, Coming in the New Year

InTheSky December 24, 2015 1 Reply

The same Phantasy Star broadcast that unveiled some new details about Phantasy Star Online 2 for the Playstation 4 also formally announced the release date of Phantasy Star Online 2: Episode 4 for the PC.

Like Episode 3 which released last year, Episode 4 brings with it lots of new content. Episode 3 brought us the planet Hakubundo, and Episode 4 takes us to Earth! The adventures in this planet will take place in a vision of Tokyo in 2028, in its sprawling, mechanical metropolitan glory. There will even be a major enemy that is train-themed. While there are enemies such as a tank and a helicopter (with some crazy rotor blades) there are also Tyrannosaurus Rex’s and a new hooded enemy called the Phantom. Interestingly enough, the BGM music for adventures in Tokyo will change depending on whether or not it’s day or night.

And while the third episode brought us the new Bouncer character class, Episode 4 will treat players to the Summoner. This class summons and raises Pets to attack and provide support on the battlefield. You can summon more than one in battle, too. Individual Pets are customizable through a feature called the Candy Box, which is conceptually similar to the Navi Customizer from the Mega Man Battle Network series. and come with their own strengths and weaknesses native to their species. Only three Pet types are announced at the moment but more are sure to come – it’s hard not to see this idea becoming popular, and Pets do allow for lots of experimentation. Plus, the Pets announced so far look pretty cute.

January 27th is the expected launch date for Episode 4, following a regular maintenance period to update the game. Continue reading to check out trailers for the Summoner and the planet Earth – both of which are a few minutes long. And check out the PSUBlog entry linked at this article’s end for an even more detailed breakdown and more videos of the most recent Phantasy Star livestream.

PS4 Version of Phantasy Star Online 2 Scheduled to Launch Spring 2016 in Japan

Draikin December 23, 2015 Leave a reply

SEGA made a few announcements via their official Phantasy Star Online 2 Twitter account today, and one of them is the reveal of the release date for the PS4 version of Phantasy Star Online 2. The game will be launching in spring 2016, and SEGA will also be holding a closed beta test near the end of February. Additionally, they also stated that no PlayStation Plus subscription will be required to play the game.

Unfortunately, the game’s scheduled launch in the West on PC has been delayed indefinitely. To add to the disappointment, SEGA outright stated earlier this year that they are “currently not planning to release the PS4 version of Phantasy Star Online 2 outside of Japan”. It’s a statement that’s a bit hard to believe, given that of the 30 million PS4’s that have been sold so far worldwide, only 2 million of those were sold in Japan. Let’s hope that SEGA, despite their earlier claims, are in fact looking into releasing the PS4 version in the West.

Via: Gematsu

Official Music Video for The World End Eclipse’s Theme Song by May’n Released on Youtube

Draikin December 21, 2015 Leave a reply

The 12th single album of Japanese J-Pop artist May’n was released on December 16th, and aside from the opening theme song of the TV anime Yoake No Logos, it also contains the theme song for SEGA’s The World End Eclipse. May’n, known for being the singing voice of the character Sheryl Nome in the TV anime Macross Frontier, also performed the opening song for SEGA’s Valkyria Chronicles 3. Titled Zero Bun no Zero, the song’s official music video has now been made available entirely on Youtube. You can view it after the break.

Yakuza 0 and Phantasy Star Online 2 Recognized at Playstation Awards

InTheSky December 4, 2015 Leave a reply

The winning titles of this year’s Playstation awards have been announced, and certain Sega games have received some distinction for commercial performance or through fan recognition. These awards are based on the performance of games released from the start of November 2014 to the end of October 2015 and covers combined sales throughout Japan and the Asia commercial region.

Phantasy Star Online 2 (PS Vita version) received the Playstation Network Award for being one of the top three highest-selling downloadable titles.

Yakuza 0 received the the Gold Prize for shipping over 500,000 units, and the User Choice Prize for fans polled in the Asia region (Yakuza 0 being one of five recipients for this award.)

It’s worth noting that with receipt of the Gold Prize, Yakuza 0 earned itself recognition alongside some powerful competitors. Here are the other Gold Prize recipients:

Bloodborne
God Eater 2: Rage Burst
One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3
Grand Theft Auto V

While it’s true that Japan is generally regarded as a hostile environment for conventional “packaged games” (games on dedicated gaming platforms like Playstation 3, Nintendo 3DS, etc.) a number like 500,000 is quite good for a franchise that releases as regularly as the Yakuza franchise does. It also probably shows that Sega’s pivot towards more inclusion and marketing in the Asia region is going to pay off. With a strong Playstation 4 and PC userbase in North American and Europe, hopefully with some proper execution Sega can gain more footing in games in the West. I’m sure many fans can attest to the sentiment that Western Sega presence of its Japanese franchises could be better.

Toshihiro Nagoshi and Masayoshi Yokoyama were present at the event as representatives of the Yakuza franchise, per YakuzaFan. You can check out some nice images of Nagoshi and Yokoyama accepting awards at this DualShockers article.

Credit goes to the above-linked YakuzaFan post for the featured image.

Phantasy Star Online 2 to Receive 7th Dragon III Code: VFD Costumes

InTheSky November 3, 2015 Leave a reply

Sega has announced new collaboration content for Phantasy Star Online 2, featuring 7th Dragon II Code: VFD costume scratches. Alongside revealing Episode 4: REBORN (which is to be implemented further in the future,) a new livestream segment showcased the character costumes from Code: VFD for an upcoming event called Dragon Raid Chronicle.

These costumes are set to arrive in mid-November, while 7th Dragon III Code: VFD has just released in Japan not too long ago. Check out a trailer for them after the break. The 7th Dragon III Code: VFD-related content can be seen about a minute into the trailer.

Shenmue 3 Update Features Progress Report and New Screenshots

Draikin October 31, 2015 Leave a reply

The Shenmue 3 Kickstarter page has received a new update, explaining what the team has been up to over the past three months, and showing a few new screenshots. The game’s story and scenarios are out of the planning stage, and the team is currently working on map testing. This involves making decisions about how big a particular area needs to be. The development team is said to be in high spirits, with some people even working on Saturdays at times. You can take a look at the screenshots here (note that these are early screenshots, featuring character models and areas that will all be reworked later on):