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Sonic Dash to play important role in LINE’s expansion plans

Rick Martin Rick Martin
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Last week we had a chance to attend Line Corporation’s Hello Friends in Tokyo event, where the company announced it would be adding video calls, music, and e-commerce to its repertoire of services. But also announced on the day were a wide range of new games, including perhaps the most recognizable franchise to come to the Line platform, Sonic Dash. It is expected to be released this fall for iOS and Android. Sega’s Sonic Dash is already a fairly established title (see its previous gameplay trailer below), having broken into the top five iOS games rankings in 15 countries since its initial launch back in March. When it launches in the fall, it will likely be Line’s highest profile game thus far. At the Line event, the company’s chief strategy and marketing officer, Jun Masuda, noted: Sonic is a famous character in Japan and abroad, and in order for us to move into the global market, I consider this title to be very important. In the subsequent Q&A session, Line CEO Akira Morikawa said that activity in its North American expansion can probably be expected around the end of this year. With a strong line-up of games, led by familiar…

line-sonic-dash
Line’s Jun Masuda announces the upcoming addition of Sonic Dash

Last week we had a chance to attend Line Corporation’s Hello Friends in Tokyo event, where the company announced it would be adding video calls, music, and e-commerce to its repertoire of services. But also announced on the day were a wide range of new games, including perhaps the most recognizable franchise to come to the Line platform, Sonic Dash. It is expected to be released this fall for iOS and Android.

Sega’s Sonic Dash is already a fairly established title (see its previous gameplay trailer below), having broken into the top five iOS games rankings in 15 countries since its initial launch back in March. When it launches in the fall, it will likely be Line’s highest profile game thus far. At the Line event, the company’s chief strategy and marketing officer, Jun Masuda, noted:

Sonic is a famous character in Japan and abroad, and in order for us to move into the global market, I consider this title to be very important.

In the subsequent Q&A session, Line CEO Akira Morikawa said that activity in its North American expansion can probably be expected around the end of this year. With a strong line-up of games, led by familiar titles like Sonic, Line’s mobile content portal looks well positioned to win over that market. The company is in talks with game developers around the world in an effort to create what it says is a symbiotic relationship, offering games wider distribution on a global scale.

Line is a newcomer as a game publisher, and it has only been in the game business for 12 months or so. But already it has seen considerable success as a sort of gateway to native app games. It was disclosed at the event that Line Games earned 2.6 billion yen (or over $23 million) in monthly revenue for July 2013.

Other games announced that last week’s event include the Rainbow Chaser (which will feature Line’s own characters), Puzzle Bozzle (from Taito), MapleStory Village (NHN), Let’s Golf (Gameloft), Shake Spears (from Russia’s Alawar Entertainment), and more.

For more information on the growth of Line and its vast repertoire of apps, please check out our interactive Line Timeline which chronicles its growth from its launch back in 2011.

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Classic game from Sega gets a refresh for iPhone

SCORE 1,766 Yukari Mitsuhashi Yukari Mitsuhashi
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Video game giant Sega had a hit game called Puyo Puyo way back in 1991 (it was called Puyo Pop in countries outside of Japan). So I think many people were pleased to see that the company released a new Puyo Puyo game on iOS on April 24th. It’s called Puyo Puyo Quest. The game has a strong fan base across a variety of age segments, and it quickly nabbed million downloads just ten days after its release. One of the biggest gaming portals, 4gamer.net has even called the puzzle game a national obsession. The game was the top free app in Japan for a brief period, and it retained a position in the top five until May 8. It has dropped off a little since, but still ranks fourth overall in the puzzle category currently. The game works sort of like Tetris, but it has now been optimized for smartphone. You basically erase one puyo (the slimy looking creatures) to bundle up four of the same color. By eliminating more and more puyo, you can build up power to damage your opponent. This bundle reaction is called Rensa in Japanese, which can roughly be translated as ‘chain reaction’. The…

Video game giant Sega had a hit game called Puyo Puyo way back in 1991 (it was called Puyo Pop in countries outside of Japan). So I think many people were pleased to see that the company released a new Puyo Puyo game on iOS on April 24th. It’s called Puyo Puyo Quest.

The game has a strong fan base across a variety of age segments, and it quickly nabbed million downloads just ten days after its release. One of the biggest gaming portals, 4gamer.net has even called the puzzle game a national obsession. The game was the top free app in Japan for a brief period, and it retained a position in the top five until May 8. It has dropped off a little since, but still ranks fourth overall in the puzzle category currently.

The game works sort of like Tetris, but it has now been optimized for smartphone. You basically erase one puyo (the slimy looking creatures) to bundle up four of the same color. By eliminating more and more puyo, you can build up power to damage your opponent. This bundle reaction is called Rensa in Japanese, which can roughly be translated as ‘chain reaction’. The initial navigation takes a while to get past, but once you get started, it’s a fun game to play.

For those people who are not familiar with the original Puyo Puyo game, the iOS version might remind you a little of that other puzzle RPG, Gung Ho’s hit title Puzzle & Dragons.

This is not the first time that Sega brought Puyopuyo to iOS, as Puyopuyo Fever Touch was released in Japan back in 2009.

PuyoPuyoQuest

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Sega goes retro with a Dreamcast backpack for girls

Yukari Mitsuhashi Yukari Mitsuhashi
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Japanese game developer Sega recently launched a new licensing brand called SegaKawaii. Segakawaii will leverage the company’s legacy games and characters and redesign them to appeal to wider range of fans, especially girls. The very first project is set to kick off on April 25th with popular apparel brand Galaxxy. The Dreamcast Controller backpack sells for 13,860 yen (or about $142) may attract some geeky girl gamers. A kickoff exhibition will be held from April 25th to May 6th at Galaxxxy Hi-Fi store at Shiuya, Tokyo. For more information, Checkout the Segakawaii Facebook page for more updates.

segakawaii-logo

Japanese game developer Sega recently launched a new licensing brand called SegaKawaii. Segakawaii will leverage the company’s legacy games and characters and redesign them to appeal to wider range of fans, especially girls.

The very first project is set to kick off on April 25th with popular apparel brand Galaxxy. The Dreamcast Controller backpack sells for 13,860 yen (or about $142) may attract some geeky girl gamers. A kickoff exhibition will be held from April 25th to May 6th at Galaxxxy Hi-Fi store at Shiuya, Tokyo.

For more information, Checkout the Segakawaii Facebook page for more updates.

Segakawaii-backpack

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