Sega is bringing a modest selection of wares to show off at E3. Aliens: Colonial Marines will have a proper showing for the second year in a row. Jet Set Radio HD will make it feel like it’s the year 2000 again. The Cave will be on hand, giving old school adventure fans a fresh taste of Ron Gilbert and Tim Schafer for the first time in an age. What’s an E3 without a sequel? Sega’s got Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz, Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown, and even a quirky original, Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit. A pretty muted affair all told.
They’re all right there on Sega’s official blog. Keen minded folk might be wondering though: Where the hell are the rest of Sega’s games?
The first significant absence of note is Phantasy Star Online 2. The sequel to the Dreamcast’s trailblazing online role-playing game is due out in Japan this winter on PCs as well as iOS and Android handhelds with a PlayStation Vita release expected in early 2013. An open beta is scheduled for this summer, and since Sega has released English patches in tests before, a Western release is expected as well. Why wouldn’t the company want to lay the groundwork at the biggest trade show in the U.S.?
Then there’s Yakuza 5. The company recommitted to the series in the U.S. in the past few years with successful localizations of Yakuza 3 and Yakuza 4. Sega announced the first details about Yakuza 5, due out in Japan in December, on May 23. The game will use a new engine, feature five playable characters, and explore a swatch of new environments. Given the small but steady sales of the series in the U.S., it’s peculiar that a title that would finally see the west receiving new series entries in the same window as Japan is absent.
Finally, there’s Anarchy Reigns. We learned last Friday that Sega was delaying the release of the game in the U.S. from its original Jul. 4 date to an unspecified point in the future. Reigns creator Platinum Studios said at the same time that the game is complete and ready to ship around the world with no additional localization necessary. While Anarchy Reigns made its playable debut at last year’s summer press events, the finished product is mysteriously absent from Sega’s E3 line up.
We ask again, Sega: Where the hell are your games?
