SEGA has released the first Yakuza 6 trailer! With the game now being a PS4 exclusive, the game demonstrates a substantial evolution in terms of graphics. Additionally, we can see some new gameplay elements, as Kazuma can be seen leaping from one rooftop to another. SEGA also posted a story trailer for Yakuza: Kiwami, the remake of the first Yakuza game for PS3 and PS4. You can see both trailers below, as well as screenshot taken directly from the Yakuza 6 trailer!
The official Japanese PlayStation blog posted an article today featuring Odin Sphere Leifthrasir, including two videos that show a glimpse of the game’s Classic and Refined mode. Both videos start from the beginning of Gwendolyn’s quest. The Classic mode offers essentially the same experience as that of the original Odin Sphere on PlayStation 2, albeit with HD graphics. The refined mode on the other hand offers revamped gameplay and content. You can take a look at both videos and a set of screenshots below!
Three years after its launch in Japan, Yakuza 5 for the PlayStation 3 is now finally available on the US and EU PlayStation Store! To celebrate the launch, SEGA of America posted a launch trailer on their Youtube channel, which you can watch below! For the EU gamers out there: while it wasn’t possible to preorder the game, PSN Plus subscribers can get the same 15% discount that US gamers got when they preordered, as long as you purchase the game before the end of the year. The regular price for the game is $39.99/€39.99/£32.99.
PSN Store link: Yakuza 5 EU
Dengeki Online recently revealed that Sega is planning DLC characters to coincide with the release of Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax Ignition on PS3, PS4, and Vita later this month. First up is (playable) and Ren of Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online who will be an assist character. Both will be free DLC for a limited time, but additional details such as date of availability and the specification of the free download period will be announced later.
Both of the new characters are on the left side of this image – Yuuki is on the left, and Ren is on the right, for reference. No word yet on Yuuki’s fighting style or any video footage of her in action, but it won’t be long before we find out since Ignition releases on December 17. It’s entirely possible that we’ll get another playable character or two, but we’ll have to wait and see.
Nice looking stage, by the way.
Credit to Dengeki Online for the information and images!
The winning titles of this year’s Playstation awards have been announced, and certain Sega games have received some distinction for commercial performance or through fan recognition. These awards are based on the performance of games released from the start of November 2014 to the end of October 2015 and covers combined sales throughout Japan and the Asia commercial region.
Phantasy Star Online 2 (PS Vita version) received the Playstation Network Award for being one of the top three highest-selling downloadable titles.
Yakuza 0 received the the Gold Prize for shipping over 500,000 units, and the User Choice Prize for fans polled in the Asia region (Yakuza 0 being one of five recipients for this award.)
It’s worth noting that with receipt of the Gold Prize, Yakuza 0 earned itself recognition alongside some powerful competitors. Here are the other Gold Prize recipients:
While it’s true that Japan is generally regarded as a hostile environment for conventional “packaged games” (games on dedicated gaming platforms like Playstation 3, Nintendo 3DS, etc.) a number like 500,000 is quite good for a franchise that releases as regularly as the Yakuza franchise does. It also probably shows that Sega’s pivot towards more inclusion and marketing in the Asia region is going to pay off. With a strong Playstation 4 and PC userbase in North American and Europe, hopefully with some proper execution Sega can gain more footing in games in the West. I’m sure many fans can attest to the sentiment that Western Sega presence of its Japanese franchises could be better.
Toshihiro Nagoshi and Masayoshi Yokoyama were present at the event as representatives of the Yakuza franchise, per YakuzaFan. You can check out some nice images of Nagoshi and Yokoyama accepting awards at this DualShockers article.
Credit goes to the above-linked YakuzaFan post for the featured image.
Sega has issued some new press materials for Yakuza 5’s English release that detail some of its supporting cast. Yakuza is known for cool gameplay traits like its evolving combat systems and minigames, but Yakuza is still also a story-heavy franchise, so its many characters are important in creating a rich mythology to engross fans with.
Continue reading to browse some cast profiles! Character descriptions drafted by SEGA are provided via this heypoorplayer article. We also have an image gallery of our own for you to check out at the end of the article after all of the character descriptions.
Sega has just released the opening video for Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax Ignition, the second iteration in their Fighting Climax series of games featuring Sega and Dengeki Bunko properties. The game is being released for dedicated gaming platforms (PS3, PS4, Vita) on the 17th of December in Japan.
A reminder that Blade Arcus from Shining EX also recently hit stores. With the gap in release dates, it’s not likely that Blade Arcus from Shining EX and Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax Ignition will compete with each other.
Continue reading to choose your envoy of hope check out the video! The video is about a minute and a half long.
Last month, Atlus and VanillaWare posted a character trailer for Velvet, one of the playable characters in Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir. For more information on that, and some details about the character’s background story, take a look at our article here. As a follow-up to that trailer, Atlus has now posted a new gameplay trailer for Velvet. As shown in the trailer, Velvet has a graceful fighting style, using a chain called Gravryl to launch attacks against her enemies. Her more powerful attacks may take up the entire screen (as you can see towards the end of the video). We included the trailer below.
Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir is scheduled to be released on January 14 in Japan for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PS Vita. A release in North America is planned in 2016.
A rather lengthy trailer has been released for Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax Ignition, featuring all of the game’s playable and support characters. The trailer also reveals that the game supports online play between the PS3 and PS4. Those who buy a first-print copy of the game will receive a free theme (specific for the platform it was purchased on). You can take a look at the trailer below!
The game is scheduled for a release on December 17 in Japan, on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. A release in the West hasn’t been announced yet, but the original Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax (PS3 and PS Vita) was released in the US and EU in October this year.
Sega has just published a new trailer for Yakuza Kiwami. It features narration from Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Majima’s voice actors. The trailer shows three battle styles for Kiryu – these are the ones that were present in Yakuza Zero. In addition, there’s a fourth battle style that can be seen throughout the video, marked in red in the upper left during fights. It also appears that you can speak to Majima in a hostess club. Alongside a new feature that allows you to fight Majima anywhere, this all seems to me a natural progression of their relationship, to be honest. Except for the whole being the first game in the series thing. Anyway, the rest of the trailer shows off the many minigames present in Yakuza Kiwami and a look at the revamped Kamurocho. It clocks in at four and a half minutes, be sure to check it out. The trailer also mentions that Yakuza Kiwami comes with a download code for a Yakuza 6 demo, in case you forgot!
Amazon Japan has updated the product pages for Yakuza Kiwami with boxart for both PS3 and PS4 versions. I can’t wait until we get product pages for localized versions of this game! *hint hint*
You can see all of the media after the break!