the second EN-subbed "Sega Seminar" video is online this one features long-time Sega Ages producer & current classic hardware producer Yosuke Okunari giving an inside lesson on Sega's home software circa the Japanese Saturn launch
icymi, these videos are a prelude to a Sega 60th exam being held in January—there are two more videos planned, one with a Sega brand manager whose name escapes me at the moment, and a bonus video with some of Sega's overseas community managers
original director Tomomi Sakuba & indie studio SmokymonkeyS (Ninelives, Triglav) are crowdfunding a iOS/Android remaster of the cult 1999 PC/Mac ADV Garage: Bad Dream Adventure camp-fire.jp/projects/view/…🇯🇵 they're already closing in on their ¥3m goal after one day
I've never played Garage and all I really know about it is that it gets mentioned as part of the "holy trinity" with Kowloon's Gate and Baroque, and that publisher Toshiba EMI left the games business right as it was done so it got an absurdly low print run & now costs a ton
fwiw, they say they're funding this new version with the intent of releasing English/Chinese-language versions, and the EN loc is already underway
M2's Aleste stream will begin in ~10 minutes 🇯🇵 icymi, it'll cover the gadgets & features of the Aleste Collection and show a demo of GG Aleste 3 with some of the devs including director Manabu Namiki
one cool gadget feature: the Player Info gadget (left-side center) includes a real-time indicator for invincibility time—Compile STG commonly give you a little invincibility after collecting an item & are somewhat consciously designed around that feature, so it's a nice to have
...and here's a full explanation of the OG Aleste gadgets, which I may or may not come back to later, but I'm sure most of it's obvious just from the images
btw, you can also choose between Aleste or Power Strike if you really want to
uhhh, just going off JP comments I've seen but apparently a company owned & funded by Saudi prince Mohammed bin Salman pretty much just bought SNK?! bloter.net/archives/483475🇰🇷
bin Salman's been hovering around the periphery of games forever and he has associated with Japanese devs & SNK in particular in the past
he's also obsessed with building some ridiculous autonomous cyber-city (to the point of forcing indigenous communities off their land, ofc)
since I see lots of outlets going with this story, some clarification: bin Salman's company Electronic Gaming Development Company (EGDC) is buying out SNK's primary shareholder (a company owned by their current chairman) as well as SNK's treasury stock for a 33.3% stake
I walked into every one of the replies I am already getting
oh, they're doing Return of the Ninja too! fwiw the two aren't connected, despite the name, and share no common staff (I think it was outsourced, even) so don't go in expecting to experience some unsung action masterpiece
a listing for Capcom Retro Station just showed up on Amazon JP: ten games, 8" screen, 329mm x 280mm x 315mm amazon.co.jp/dp/B08NXMXW25/🇯🇵
the games:
Mega Man The Power Battle
Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters
Mega Man X
Mega Man Soccer
Rockman & Bass
SF2
SF2CE
SSF2
SSF2T
Puzzle Fighter
some digging on Capcom Retro Station: it'll officially go on sale on December 1 and it seems it's coming from the same manufacturer as the Neogeo Mini🇯🇵 it was initially listed for for ¥21780(!) which I can only hope was not reflective of the true price
horror mangaka Rei Mikamoto's response to a viral tweet about how Choshu Electric Railway makes twice as much money selling rice crackers as it does operating a railway: "when I worked for a game company, their best selling product was their steam buns (& they were delicious)"🇯🇵
the product he's referring to is the Puyoman, Compile's Puyo-themed manju—this wasn't a mere licensed product; Compile eventually produced & distributed these in-house, and they were not only genuinely popular but the core pillar of Compile's business in their twilight years
as others pointed out, it's super beneficial for game businesses to have reliable side-hustles because it makes them more attractive to banks and so on