Sega Stuff: Project DIVA Arcade Future Tone on Test; Sega Card GEN MLB 2013 release ; Maimai Green Update

A little news from Japan today, in particular about Sega. They have announced a new version of their popular Project DIVA Arcade that has the subtitle Future Tone. You might recall that Sega did recently test out Project DIVA Arcade in the US at the Round 1 location in California although we have not heard whether or not it did well enough to warrant an official release here. If so, I imagine that going with this new version would be the way to go.

The game is testing at the Club Sega in Akihabara, Japan this Saturday and Sunday but they already have released a trailer showing it off. Admittedly what they show here for the improvements are a little amusing – such as improved facial expressions and hair physics. But aside from those things, they have also added a new control to it which is called the Touch Slider, giving this a little more depth than just hitting the buttons. This video was uploaded via Arcade Belgium; full details about the loctest can be found here.

On a more low-key release, Sega has launched the latest version of their baseball title called Sega Card Gen MLB 2013. Long time readers of the site may recall when they first introduced this game in the US but after it failed the location tests, they took it to Japan where it’s done relatively well. The game vends cards and allows you to create your own baseball team by inserting cards into playfield readers that access the player stats. Here’s a video of the 2012 version, which interestingly enough seems to retain plenty of elements from the original build. I imagine that if Sega wanted to give it another spin here, it wouldn’t be too complex of a process to pull off. The website for the new version can be found here.

For another update, Sega’s other music arcade title is getting a new version in July with MaiMai Green. This is another game series gaining steam for Sega where its been hinted at/teased that Sega would bring it out West but so far they’ve been hesitant to go that far. They also have annouced kits to convert Shining Force cabinets or MJ5Evolution cabinets over to the puzzle game Puyo Puyo! Quest Arcade, which will be released in November. [Maimai Source / Puyo Puyo Source]

Also on a final non-Sega note, the release of Skullgirls and Spelunker has been causing a stir in Japanese media, one for being an American video game breaking onto the arcade scene there and the other being a beloved title for the market there. They are actually releasing the original arcade version of Spelunker and not the HD remake that had been brought to the Playstation Network a few years ago…