Atlus has recently published gameplay movies for Persona 5 to their official YouTube account, showing off Persona summons in battle and other important aspects of gameplay, including fishing. These videos arrive ahead of Persona 5’s release in Japan next month (!), while the West will receive the game early next year.
In a recent Seganama broadcast (also featuring Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice, and Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X), Toshihiro Nagoshi broached the possibility of remasters of Yakuza 2 through Yakuza 5 on Playstation 4. These comments come in response to strong sales of Yakuza Kiwami, the ground-up remake of the first game for Playstation 4. Of Sega’s Japanese brands that have a presence in the console games market segment, Yakuza has always been one of the relatively steadier and healthier names in sales.
It might seem like it’s been a while since we’ve seen an official update from the Shenmue III team. Recently, an interview with Keiji Okayasu was released by the team, announcing his new role as sub-director for Shenmue III’s development. While Keiji Okayasu works for studiofake (established towards the end of Shenmue II’s development), and Yu Suzuki still maintains his position as main director over Shenmue III, Suzuki approached Okayasu to assist in Shenmue III’s development as he has done in the past.
This interview offers insight into Okayasu’s involvement with the Shenmue games (previously a member of SEGA’s storied AM2 team,) including his past difficulty in understanding Suzuki’s creative vision. Additionally, he speaks about his journey to understand what he believes to make Suzuki an avant-garde developer, which is in part tied to Suzuki’s insistence on considering the vantage point of those who aren’t “hardcore gamers.” Now that Okayasu is part of the team, he is particularly striving to maintain the Shenmue series’ strong sense of atmosphere.
We’ve attached below the five-minute Okayasu interview by way of ShenmueDojo, a Shenmue community resource. Be sure to watch it! Spliced throughout the video are some quick glances at the development room. The interview is accompanied by a rather nice piano arrangement of the main Shenmue theme…
This week’s The King of Fighters XIV trailer features Team Psycho Soldier. Everyone here should be familiar to KOF fans. The composition of this team – Athena, Sie, Chin – surpasses the force of time itself. Athena has been an idol forever, Kensou has been in love with with Athena forever, Chin has been…in love with alcohol forever. Don’t ruin a good thing, right? Unless you want to go for a wardrobe change, like Kensou did for this game.
Check out the trailer and Atlus’s description for the characters below!
On August 3rd in Japan, Puyo Puyo Tsu will be available for purchase on the Japanese Nintendo 3DS eShop, per an announcement from SEGA of Japan. It will cost 800円. This release of Puyo Puyo Tsu is independent from the recent inclusion of 3D Puyo Puyo Tsu on the SEGA Reprint Archives Volume 2 (known as the Sega 3D Classics Collection in the Americas), which released in Japan last December and in the Americas last April.
The 3DS eShop release will include a new handful of new features compared to the original release. First, there is “Tournament Mode” wherein the player will be challenged to face off against a variety of Puyo Puyo franchise characters, articulated by way of ascending a tower. Players can also save a replay one of their games, and can create a save state for one-player games from which reloading and resuming play is possible at any time.
This past weekend saw the arrival of Wonder Festival 2016 Summer and a large haul of promotional images for SEGA, Atlus, King of Fighters, and Kantai Collection-related garage kits. We’ve included an exhaustive list of relevant announcement/work-in-progress images below. Please be advised that some of the garage kits and/or their source links are NSFW.
Sega has released a major promotional video for Yakuza 6, now officially subtitled as “inochi no uta” or “poetry of life.” The trailer bills the game as the final chapter of the legend of Kazuma Kiryu. What does this mean for Kiryu and the future of the Yakuza series…?
Yakuza 6 will take place in Jingaicho, based off of Onomichi, Hiroshima, alongside the series’ mainstay location of Kamurocho. This new location is important since Haruka is involved in a life-threatening accident in Hiroshima, and this prompts Kiryu to meet several new characters and discover a new world in Hiroshima. But as we see in the video, Kiryu and Haruka are still tied to the yakuza, the Tojo Clan, and Kamurocho.
Today is the release date for The King of Fighters XIV’s demo! If you’re sick of waiting and watching other people play, this is your chance to get a taste of the game. Additionally, this week’s trailer features Team China, featuring Tung Fu Rue, and two new characters. Shun’ei of Team China will be available in the demo. Below, find Atlus’s press statement, and the team trailer.
In a little over a month, The King of Fighters XIV will release around the world. The wait is drawing to a close.
Hopefully our anxious King of Fighters fans got to enjoy The King of Fighters XIV at EVO2016! Grand Finals concluded with fighting game expert Xiao Hai taking the victory – congratulations to him. If you missed out, then check out this archived twitch.tv broadcast.
A demo for The King of Fighters XIV was also announced at EVO2016 this past weekend! This PSBlog entry from John Hardin announces the news and offers some nice tips in terms of a brief character overview of the seven characters available. We’ll also attach a story trailer and a trailer for the new villain Antonov, alongside new screenshots (look at the PS4 theme!) and an Atlus press statement below – if you were watching the EVO2016 games on Sunday, then you might remember the story trailer!
This week’s The King of Fighters XIV team trailer features another round of unsavory personalities: Team South Town. Fan favorites Geese Howard and Billy Kane are present, along with new character Hein. There’s no introduction more suitable than seeing them throw down; check out Atlus’s character breakdown and trailer below. The South Town stage is pretty foreboding…
…but, before that! Don’t forget that this weekend is EVO2016, and that there will be a side event for The King of Fighters XIV there! It’s another opportunity to check out the game before it releases.