PlayStation LifeStyle » Sega

Real Men Play Yakuza

Heath Hindman — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:45:08 +0000

The PSP’s Black Panther: Yakuza New Chapter sold very well and got great reviews, so a sequel announcement could only be considered a minor surprise at best. What might raise some eyebrows is just how strongly series producer/supervisor Toshihiro Nagoshi is endorsing the project. He feels that, in so many words, real men should play Yakuza: Black Panther 2.

The 16-second clip below begins with Nagoshi making his declaration that “I want all men living in the now to play this game.”(In Japanese: このゲームを、生きる男達に、是非、遊んで欲しい。 Romanized: kono geemu-o, Ima-o ikiru otokotachi ni, zehi, asonde hoshii.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

The game clips you saw were of the story sequences, which play out differently in the PSP spinoff Yakuza games than their PS3 counterparts due to the gap in hardware power. It worked well in the previous game and looks to do so in this sequel. From my demo experience at the Tokyo Game Show, Black Panther 2 also addresses the wonky camera issues that occasionally made navigation bothersome. Add in the fact that it’s in Osaka instead of yet another trip through Tokyo and I’m certainly looking forward to this one’s March 22 release.

Like the game before it, however, this has not been announced for localization in North America.

SEGA Developing Epic Revival of ‘Beloved IP’

Jonathan Leack — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:13:19 +0000

SEGA! Nothing beats hearing the muffled noise of a choir of people singing its name to you when you boot up a game. Despite the company’s withdrawal from the console market over a decade ago, their few years of excellence resonated into the hearts of many younger gamers, with some even wanting the company to jump back into the market. While that might not happen, SEGA still develop games, and now they’re planning what could be an epic revival.

Sega of America is currently hiring an executive producer for a special game in development. That might not sound exciting, but wait until you hear what it is. Below is the description of what the new executive producer will help manage:

a high quality product based on a reimagining of one of Sega’s most beloved IP’s

There were plenty of beloved games that spanned SEGA’s 10 or so years in the console market. A few games in particular come to mind, such as:

Streets of Rage
Echo the Dolphin
Bonanza Bros.
Shenmue
Altered Beasts
Jet Set Radio
Shining Force

Whatever it is, they’re asking for a high level of experience from who they hire, and a few of the above games would make a huge splash in today’s market of powerful hardware and online capabilities. Shenmue is one of the most requested games of today, but with the losses suffered by SEGA from the series, it’s unlikely. Bonanza Bros. and Streets of Rage could be excellent co-op games, and the successful advent of Rayman: Origins could have inspired SEGA.

What would you like SEGA’s upcoming game to be? Share your response in the comments below.

On the Horizon – Releases for the Week of October 25th, 2011

Cameron Teague — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 17:20:54 +0000

This is a strong week for PlayStation 3 owners out there, as EA is bringing the Battlefield to you, Sega hopes to scare you to death with an on-rails shooter, Disney hopes you like all things cute, all while Atlus takes everyone on a Crusade. Go ahead and grab your DualShock 3, then break open your penny jar – here are the PS3 and PSP releases for this week.

PS3

PSP

Invizimals: Shadow Zone

Battlefield 3 may be the monster release of the week, but don’t brush off the rest of that list just yet. House of the Dead: Overkill should bring that arcade feeling into your home, and Disney Universe looks like something worth playing with the wife or kids. Let us know in the comments below what you plan to pick up and why.

To keep watch on future releases, be sure to bookmark our Release Dates page and check back often.

Cruise the Carnival with The House of the Dead: Overkill

Tyler Minarik — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 08:04:27 +0000

Sega is bringing The House of the Dead: Overkill to the PS3 just in time for Halloween, and they want to show you how fun the carnival can be with your newest, most morbid friends.

The House of the Dead: Overkill is getting a fresh coat of paint with an HD update and Move controls, and is getting ready to release at the end of the month. Overkill is the fifth game in the long running series that started as an arcade light gun game back in 1997, and continues the series tradition with on the rails shooting against hordes of undead zombies and monstrous creatures. In anticipation of the upcoming release next week Headstrong Games has released a new trailer, inviting us to join the fun at the Carnival of Fun… dead.

The formula hasn’t changed much for The House of the Dead since 1997, but somehow these on the rail shooters remain fun to play with motion controls, and so Overkill should make a nice addition to the PS3 line up of Move enabled games. Besides the new visuals, Overkill is supposed to come with new levels and other extra features as well. The House of the Dead: Overkill is currently slated to release on October 25th in North America, and October 28th in Europe. The zombies never seem to stop coming, in games or in real life, so I hope you’ve got that shotgun ready for carnage.

Valkyria Chronicles III Cancels Trip to America

Cameron Teague — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:31:53 +0000

Fans of the Valkyria Chronicles series–if there are any fans after Sega shafted the million or so buyers of the first game on PS3 by bringing out the two sequels on PSP–shouldn’t hold their breath for VC3 in North America and Europe, because you will die. You read that right, Sega has announced that it will not be releasing Valkyria Chronicles III to western audiences, making import the only option.

Speaking to Gamespot, Sega team manager of console sales, Hiroshi Seno confirmed that low sales of Valkyria Chronicles II and the PSPs lack of popularity out West are the reason for this decision. This is no surprise as the PSP has never fully hit its stride in America, but it does leave you to wonder just how good the 2nd game might have done on the PlayStation 3, especially after the reception the first title received.

Seno was also asked if the third game would be made downloadable for the Vita, to which he replied that the next time Sega met with Sony, they would make that decision.

Are you surprised by this move, and are you planning on importing?

[Source]

PS3 Preview – Yakuza: Dead Souls

Heath Hindman — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 13:50:18 +0000

Yakuza: Dead Souls begins in the Sunshine Orphanage with which Yakuza 3 made us so familiar. Kazuma gets a phone call from his adopted niece Haruka, who’s being held captive by an off-screen yakuza boss who presumably isn’t going to live to see the end credits, if Kazuma has anything to say about it. Her distressed voice informs him that she’s being held in Kamurocho, which has been the primary setting for all previous Yakuza titles. Expressing his toughness and badassery with his hands, Kazuma crushes the phone while still holding it to his ear, and we’re on our way in the PS3′s latest Yakuza adventure.

Yakuza: Dead Souls (called Ryu Ga Gotoku: Of the End in Japan) will feature four playable characters, with Shun Akiyama up first. It’s not clear if this is going to work like Suikoden III where you could switch among the multiple characters at intervals, if you wanted to, or if their separate sagas must be played in a set order. Akiyama is keeping it real in Tokyo when he is suddenly required to accompany a fat chick named Flower. The subtle joke the game is trying to make is that fat people are constantly funny or annoying and need not be taken seriously. Oh, Japan! You so tolerant!

We later see this guy breaking into the HQ of some well-armed and well-dressed men. Non-spoiler: he’s a zombie. Non-spoiler: a lot of people are about to get killed. Upon arrival in the conference room, our unnamed villain is met with a barrage. I expected the bullets to kill the zombie and then see the end credits roll, but I was wrong. Dead wrong. Undead wrong. Ooohhh. Despite taking bullets all over his body and even one square in the forehead, the zombie doesn’t fall. Meanwhile, Akiyama and his chubby friend are going about their business when they notice a lot of flashes and hear the unmistakable sound of gunshots. A man gets hurled from the window of a building’s second or third floor and faceplants into the pavement not too far in front of them.

“Heh,” Akiyama jokes, trying to calm down his companion. “Looks like someone didn’t pay his bills. A graduate of the Kazuma Kiryu School of Ass Kicking, he’s seen this type of thing before. When the once-down man — a zombie now — gets up and starts eating people, everyone takes note that something is not normal. For whatever reason, a group of ten men emptying clips into zombies doesn’t phase them…but when Akiyama obtains one of their same guns and he fires it, they die. I suppose we just have to shrug and say, “It’s a video game.” We need to make a few allowances, I suppose.

As the game has gone on, it’s become clear that there is far less RPG and far more shooter in this game than previous entries. There’s usually been some way to go level grind if you really wanted to, but while this game still has experience points, levels, and customizable skills, I haven’t found a point where one can really go grind anything up. This is not a statement of opinion on the matter; it’s an observation. Another thing prospective players should be aware of is that so far, save points have been fairly uncommon. I did finally get a hideout though, so perhaps that ends after getting to this point.

Unlike previous Yakuza games which focused 90 per cent of their combat on the hand-to-hand aspect of things, fighting in this one is all about firearms. The cover has each character holding what will probably turn out to be a favorite gun of his. So far, Akiyama’s primary tool of death (“undeath?”) has been a 9mm handgun. Holding R2 brings up crosshairs, helping the player pull off head shots, which are one-hit kills despite the aforementioned inconsistency. When Akiyama’s heat gauge fills up, he can try “Heat Sniping,” which will trigger a Quick-Time Event zooming in on an item that, if shot, can cause some beautiful destruction. An early example of this is shooting the gas tank of a car, causing it to explode and take out the crew of zombies huddling around it probably talking about how they wish it had brains so that they could eat them and then listen to The Cure.

After meeting a comrade who runs a secret gun shop in what will surely become your weapon store of choice, then clearing a building with him in tow, Akiyama arrives in a relatively normal-looking part of the city, kept that way thanks to huge metal barriers that can be seen all over the place.

I’m about two hours in and have been having a good time with Yakuza: Dead Souls. It seems like, so far, this is a decently fun side story to the Yakuza series. You can find out my final verdict in the full review which will go up closer to, appropriately, Halloween.

Check Your Vents – Aliens: Colonial Marines Video Slithers In

Tyler Minarik — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 21:08:21 +0000

If you feel like you’ve been waiting forever to play a great Aliens game, you’re not alone, and the latest trailer for Aliens: Colonial Marines shows how close we are to finally accomplishing that.

Over the years, more than 30 Aliens games have been released since the franchise’s conception, and yet I still struggle to name a single good and memorable one from the bunch. That’s not to say they’re all terrible, but the majority of the games have failed to capture the feeling of terror the movies are so well known for, which makes the following trailer for Aliens: Colonial Marines that much sweeter. Gearbox Software has been hard at work for a long time (announced in 2008), and you can tell from Randy Pitchford’s narration during the demo that they’re treating the franchise with respect, and are excited to bring us this new chapter in the Aliens plotline.

If that didn’t get your blood pumping you’re probably already dead. That was the exact demo shown at E3 earlier this year, and if it looked that great, then it should be truly excellent when Aliens: Colonial Marines releases this upcoming Spring. The game will feature squad based play with local 2 player split-screen, an online 4 player cooperative mode, and a yet to be detailed competitive mode, so get some friends together for some alien hunting fun. Are you ready to fend off the impending doom of a xenomorph army?

Yakuza Journeys West, Brings Dead Souls to the Party

Tyler Minarik — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 19:34:49 +0000

Sega has just announced that Yakuza: Of The End is going to travel to the west soon, and along the way change its name to Yakuza: Dead Souls.

No matter where you live in the world there’s no shortage of zombies to be seen in the media, and now the Yakuza series is going to inject some more walking dead into our already saturated veins. Sadly, we’re not so saturated in Yakuza games over here, so this should be extremely welcome news for fans of the franchise. Unfortunately, details are rather slim on exactly what content will make it into the North American version, but we do know there will be zombies in Tokyo, Yakuzas with guns and, of course, attractive hostess girls. There will also be mutants to fight in the mix, and a mini game called Pachislot. For those of you who would like to learn about the game visually, Sega has also provided this intense introductory video:

Besides the obvious action that lies within, Yakuza: Dead Souls will also include a deep and emotional storyline, keeping it within the trend set by predecessors. Unfortunately, this announcement is also well ahead of the release of the game, so you’ll have to wait until March 2012 when it comes out in both North America and Europe. Are you excited for more Yakuza, and a new angle on fighting the zombie apocalypse?

PSN Review – Renegade Ops

Cameron Teague — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 12:22:38 +0000

Growing up, one of my most favorite things to play with were my Hot Wheel cars. Those same cars would be lined up in military formation as my brother and I raced them into battle over and over again. Sega has now taken that same level of miniature excitement and put it into a PlayStation Network package, titled Renegade Ops. With the game being developed by Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios, will the game pack the same level of punch as our imagination and pack of Hot Wheels?

Renegade Ops is a game that right off the bat does not take itself too seriously, putting you in the shoes of a rogue team called Maverick who is out to stop the oh-so insane Inferno, who – just like his name would suggest – likes to blow stuff up. You will then have to fight through nine highly detailed levels to stop this madman who is intent on creating as much chaos as possible.

Renegade Ops is a top-down vehicular shooter that has you driving one of four cars, each with their own ability and style of driving. Each car is given an amazing feeling of weight to them, allowing for players to spin out the back tires and fly around corners or do quick 180′s in no time flat. The game uses dual-joystick controls, with the left stick controlling your car and the right stick letting loose a barrage of bullets. These controls can take a bit of getting used to, especially the driving, but once you master them, you will be able to dart around the map, shooting everything in your path at high speeds. Through the game you can upgrade your car’s machine gun and pick up add-on weapons like the rail-gun or flame thrower, to go along with your car’s special ability, like one that has an EMP or another that can call in an airstrike. The upgrade points can be used in a three-pronged skill tree, with each car having one tree that is unique to them. These upgrades improve defense, secondary fire, and your special ability.

In each mission of the game, you have primary objectives like taking out incoming tanks, and secondary goals, like supplying guns to the locals. Complete each objective to gain points toward your score, with enemies killed also adding on points. Each of these 9 levels can also be played online with 3 other people or in a two-player split screen, with your level on a given car transferring over from the single player to the online. The game is a lot of fun solo but gets even better when you go online to play, especially when you jack the game up to hardcore difficulty, which is the only way to play it with friends as the game does not scale the difficulty with more people playing. The frame rate drops a bit when multiple people are playing as the action gets pretty intense, but it is never anything that hinders your enjoyment or the action. At one point, you can also hop in helicopters to take the fight sky-high, with the copters controlling extremely well.

Avalanche Studios did a great job in making this world look good, with everything from the water to the towns looking incredibly detailed and crisp. Explosions really pop on the screen and, when the action gets heavy, it is like a burst of fireworks on the screen. You will even notice blur effects around the ground as your car races around dirt roads or as the sun beats down on a desert road. The story is told through comic style cut scenes which look pretty good – but be warned if you have kids in the room, make sure they put on their ear muffs, as the language can turn a bit nasty. The voice acting in the game is well done, with the terrorist Inferno sounding exactly like the maniac he is portrayed as. The biggest issue found in Renegade Ops is with replay-ability, as the campaign can be completed in a few hours and you can go online, but you are playing the same exact missions with almost no difficulty hike from the solo campaign.

Renegade Ops is a fast-paced, non-stop downloadable title, that makes sure to leave everything it has on the table. Fantastic environments, explosions, and weapons make for an experience that is fun to play solo but better with friends. However, the game is around 3-4 hours to complete and the online is the same maps from the single player that can become way too easy as the game doesn’t jack up the difficulty for the amount of players that are taking part. For $15, or $12 if you have a PlayStation Plus account, this is a fun game that should afford you a weekend of enjoyment, but for the price could have provided a bit more longevity.

PlayStation LifeStyle’s Final Score

+ Detail Crazy Environments Give Life to Levels

+ Fast Paced Action and High End Explosions Provide Tons of Fun

- Lack of Difficulty Hike for Online Multiplayer Makes it Too Easy

PSP Import Review – Black Panther: Yakuza New Chapter (Kurohyou: Ryu Ga Gotoku Shinshou)

Heath Hindman — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 21:26:47 +0000

Having had tremendous success in Japan and even a spot of praise and profit from across the sea, the Yakuza series went from consoles to handheld with Kurohyou: Ryu Ga Gotoku Shin Shou (Black Panther: Yakuza New Chapter) for PlayStation Portable.

Rather than focusing on Kazuma Kiryu, Black Panther: Yakuza New Chapter tells the story of Tatsuya Ukyou. It’s a stark contrast from what we’re used to; Kiryu is a Certified Public Badass (CPB) who refuses to take crap from anyone and has the connections, money, smarts, and fighting skills to threaten all challengers, whereas Tatsuya is only 18 and pretty much without an ally in the world. Our boy is a hothead, seemingly always looking for a fight. He didn’t come from the best upbringing and before the game gets into full swing, players will learn that his temper and violent antics got him expelled from his high school and subsequently sent to juvenile hall. These did little reform Tatsuya’s attitude, and he’s been getting a bit of a reputation in Kamurocho.

In the first minutes of the game, Tatsuya bites off more than he can chew by messing with the wrong people. I guess he didn’t learn anything from the film The Departed when it taught us something of organized crime: “there are guys you can hit, and there’s guys you can’t.”

Being physically tough doesn’t make one kid who barely started shaving into a match for the type of mob bosses he pisses off, and Tatsuya is therefore at their mercy (though you wouldn’t guess it by the rough tone he still uses when talking to them). The players’ adventure will be one of watching Tatsuya go about his days in Kamurocho while being made to cage fight in the underground MMA matches run by powerful yakuza.

Fighting in Kurohyou is a pleasure. The same basic system is in place that most Yakuza games have used, but the player gets to customize Tatsuya’s fighting style a lot more than they could in previous games. After every fight, Tatsuya earns general EXP and style points, which can be used to level up certain fighting styles such as boxing, judo, jiu-jitsu, muay thai, and so on. Some are much more useful than others against certain opponents, but the possibility exists for a player to make Tatsuya into a wrecking ball with one or two styles heavily preferred over others. Think like something of a Royce Gracie back in the 90′s, how he had virtually no kickboxing skills to threaten anyone, but if he got a hold of someone, the fight was basically over. Likewise, one can meld Tatsuya to be a well-rounded fighter or sacrifice a few points in one area to really excel in another — a grappling artist with mediocre striking, or a one-punch-KO striker who has trouble on the ground. Whatever path is chosen, it’s pretty darn fun to think about how to go about it, then develop Tatsuya accordingly. As always, the heat actions are fun to watch.

At first I was thrown by how much the street fights can vary in difficulty, but upon reconsideration, I have to give a nod to realism. I mean really, some punks on any given street might very well be weaklings that take 10 seconds to dismantle, whereas others can in reality be unexpectedly dangerous. The expected end of things, however, has the cage fights being considerably harder than the street thugs; think of them as boss battles. Makes sense for trained semi-pro fighters to be harder challenges that random troublemakers, right? So while games are by no means expected to be realistic in every single aspect, Kurohyou scores a nice point there.

Mario taught us that genius can come from having to modify a game to bring it down to the specs of its medium or hardware. Being a PSP installment of a series that had previously been on PS2 and PS3, definite cuts had to be made, and an area where Black Panther sees great success in this is the story segments. Unable to pack in CG segments to rival PS3, Sega went with some hand-drawn scenes. Largely still frames will see movement as if on strings, a lot of scenes looking like a comic book came to life. These are not to be confused with a fully animated sequence, but rather, we’ll see something like a still picture of a big dude, then a cut to Tatsuya, then a cut back to the big guy with a stunned expression and Tatsuya’s fist under his chin. Nothing about the drawings themselves will change, but we’ll see his head moving slowly upwards, obviously powered by our hero’s uppercut. Or perhaps in an alternate scene, we’ll see a madman laughing maniacally, his arms outstretched; nothing will change, but his arms will be kinda moving up and down like someone made a cardboard cutout with moveable arms. It’s clearly lower tech and not for everyone, but the type of art within the scenes is something the series hasn’t used before, and more importantly, it’s done well. It tells the story admirably and looks good doing so.

A more difficult challenge in hardware inferiority was posed by the camera, however. Kamurocho is not only much smaller this time around, the camera angles are entirely fixed. Unchanging camera angles are fine, but the problem arises in the inconsistency. First, we’ll see Tatsuya running, for example, from right to left. Then two seconds later, the camera changes to an overhead shot, meaning the player needs to be moving the analog stick up instead of left. A mere three or four seconds later, it happens again, as the camera moves to an isometric shot in which the player must move Tatsuya down and to the right. The areas are incredibly small, meaning camera changes are frequent; since they happen instantly and can require the player to move in the complete opposite direction, this can be quite jarring, especially during chase scenes. Running from the police can be tough, not because of a tricky obstacle course, but because the player is battling the on-screen enemies while the camera proves to be an extra opponent. Accidental backtracking will happen quite a bit, which proves frustrating enough during regular navigation, but especially so when the current story task requires Tatsuya to evade pursuers.

Black Panther is aptly named, because its visuals are quite dark. As a side story or “new chapter” with a focus shifted toward the underworld whose existence most people don’t like to acknowledge, the color palette isn’t just well chosen, it’s symbolic of the game’s theme.

When walking about it in Tokyo’s fictional district of Kamurocho, the popular focal point of this series, it’s constantly night time. Again, “Black” Panther symbolism keeps piling up. The city is lit by street lamps and neon lights which look OK from a distance, but from mid-to-close range, they look way too fuzzy. You have to make some cuts to work around technological limitations, and doing this craftily is one thing that made the first Mario games so great, but when the cuts start to have obvious drawbacks like this, it’s time to rethink a few things. At least in the areas that matter most — combat and storytelling — the visuals do the job.

Kamurocho isn’t nearly as fun to explore in Black Panther as it has been in the past, but it largely makes up for that loss by featuring some of the most fun combat in the series and bringing a unique storytelling method to the table. The smaller medium may not allow for quite the depth PS3 gamers are used to, but as a portable not being unfairly yet inevitably compared to the most powerful console on the market today, it offers a fine amount of fun, and the classic Yakuza minigames are great for gaming on the go. Japanese comprehension is sadly a requirement for anyone wanting to know what’s going on in the story or how to do anything in the interface, so importers take note, as Sega has shown no interest in bringing this title outside of Japan.

PlayStation LifeStyle’s Final Score

+ The most fun to be had in Yakuza fighting systems

+ Pacing done just perfectly for a portable.

- Jarring camera changes every three seconds when in the streets

+/- Visuals so great in battle, story, and minigames yet so blurry during exploration

PAX Hands On – Binary Domain

Cameron Teague — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 16:52:46 +0000

Binary Domain has been a game on my radar ever since its announcement trailer, so at PAX this year I headed over to the Sega booth and got hands-on time with the upcoming robot shooter. The game takes place in 2080 Tokyo, where robots are everywhere and a group of them are now rebelling, causing all kinds of havoc between the top and bottom sections of Tokyo.

Immediately after picking up the controller, I was reminded of Vanquish in how it controlled and looked. That is not to say this is a fast paced game, because it’s not, but the way my character handled was somewhat like Vanquish. Before I started my mission, I was given the option to pick my two squad mates from a group, each member of which had their own skill sets and perks. For my mission I picked a girl with a sniper rifle and an in your face style guy. Who you select really makes a difference as you gain or lose trust with your comrades. The higher your trust with that character, the better they will fight, making it essential to work well with your teammates.

In fact, Binary Domain really pushes you to make nice with your squad and work together with them through their consequence system. In this system, for example, if you continue to die, your squad mates will get frustrated with you and at times will refuse to heal you. What this does is actually reward you for playing smart and not just running and gunning. The guy playing before me proved this when he died multiple times and was flat-out told by one of his squad mates “no” when he requested first aid. This system also affects your trust with characters through choices you make in the game. At one point in my demo, I acted with stealth and killed two guys, earning trust from one character but rubbing another the wrong way because he wanted me to go all out. During the game, you will also be given dialogue choices, where maybe a player says he will take lead and you can say “yes” or “no.” Your answer here will affect the trust with that character. With this system, I found myself really working hard to be a good leader, so that I could inspire confidence in my squad, which in turn made them bigger bad asses.

In Binary Domain, you’ll be fighting a ton of robots and just as you would expect, putting a few bullets into their bodies won’t kill them. Take out their legs and they will crawl after you, or take out an arm and they will just use the other. Most of these robots are fairly easy to dispatch as long as you use cover to your advantage, however if you stay out of cover too long, you will get smoked. I fought one boss in my demo, and this took some trial and error, but I was able to come out on top. The boss was a gigantic mech who I had to fire on from destroyed buildings and rooftops, while also fighting off smaller robots that flew down. At one point during the fight, I was able to shoot down an electric wire while the mech was standing in water, sending an electric shock his way and doing a lot of damage. The rest of the time I was taking aim at his various exposed wires and the top of his head from roofs, until I finally took him down with my very last pistol bullet.

Weapons in the game are pretty much your standard setup except that each one has a special alternate fire that uses power ups found on the ground. For instance, my assault rifle had the ability to charge up and send a shock wave at enemies, which threw them backwards and dealt a good bit of damage. Other than this, it was pretty much straight forward with assault rifles, pistols, sniper rifles, and rocket launchers. Even then, all the guns felt good and packed a lot of punch, though the sniper rifle had a weird habit of targeting the closet enemy automatically when you first zoomed in, making it extremely frustrating when trying to pick off other snipers while ground troops were charging.

The game looked good with environments doing a good job of showing the destruction that comes with any war. The story from what I was told would have a few really good twists, including someone maybe being a robot and not knowing about it. Characters voices were solid and fit the character they were coming from, and in-game sounds like gunfire and heavy mechs moving around were well done.

Sega is doing things the right way to offer a unique shooter and squad experience to gamers everywhere. The way your team reacts to your decisions will add another layer of depth to the game, and bosses look like they will be a lot of fun to take down. Binary Domain is set to release February of next year, so until then make sure you check in with us for all the news on this game.

Yakuza 5 Official; Major Changes in the Works

Cameron Teague — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 17:38:41 +0000

Sega has officially announced that Yakuza 5 is in development and that some big changes will be coming to the series. Also announced at the special Yakuza conference was a new studio called Ryu ga Gotoku Studio (Yakuza Studio), which will be headed by Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi. Additionally, a new game in the series, Yakuza Black Panther 2, was announced for the PSP.

In a group interview session following the event, Nagoshi commented about the drama of the series, saying it would not see any major changes. However, in terms of gameplay, he said the team is trying to innovate and push new things, with the changes not being too drastic.

Nagoshi went on to say that Yakuza 5 might take longer to create than past games, due to the fact they are trying to make a new experience. He went on to admit that the he felt the announcement of the game was made a bit early and that he was not sure if the game would appear at the Tokyo Game Show. No platform or release time frame was given, so we will just have to wait and see.

[Via]

Yakuza Series Likely to Never Stray from Sony

Cameron Teague — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 22:51:46 +0000

The Yakuza series has been around since 2005 and in that time the series has been completely exclusive to Sony platforms, which is something that probably won’t change any time soon. Series creator Toshihiro Nagoshi recently talked about how the franchise is unlikely to ever see a release on another platform, say the Xbox 360.

Speaking to Eurogamer, Nagoshi stated:

At the beginning of the project we spoke to all the platform holders including Sony and Microsoft. Every platform holder was negative about this prospect, but we kept on pushing because we believed in the potential, and as we kept going one platform holder that showed interest and saw the prospects of this title was Sony.
That’s how we started working with them, and that’s probably not going to change.

This might not even matter as Binary Domain director Daisuke Sato stated at gamescom that the team had become “fed up” with the Yakuza series. When pressed concerning the series and if it would return, Nagoshi simply stated that Yakuza: Of the End would be the last of its kind.

The basic style and mechanics is really an old game that started on PS2 and continued on PS3. Times keep changing, and if we started on some new games they would be in a very different shape – so the last game was the end of one particular era.

Good thing Sony stepped to that plate, allowing PS2 and PS3 owners to enjoy some really great Yakuza games. Do you think the series is over, and if it continues, where do you think it should go from here?

Virtua Tennis 4 Explains PS Vita Features in Trailer

Cameron Teague — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 16:43:43 +0000

A new trailer for the PlayStation Vita version of Virtua Tennis 4 has been released and it shows off the many different ways that the game will use the handheld’s numerous hardware features. The game looks impressive and the Vita controls appear to only strengthen that. Don’t take our word though, see for yourself below.

Sony described the game and talked about how it stacks up to the PlayStation 3 version.

Virtua Tennis 4′s core experience is nearly identical to its recently-released PS3 counterpart; you can create a character, start a career, and participate in tournaments while enhancing your skills through all kinds of bizarre tennis-related skill tests.

Sony continued by describing the touch-screen controls of the game.

Tap on the screen and your player will run to that spot. Once in place, you swipe in the direction you want to hit the ball, utilizing different gestures for topspin shots, lobs, backhands and more. Multitouch is employed to launch a lethal power shot – just swipe using two fingers to add an exclamation mark to a long volley.

Virtua Tennis 4 also has a top-down Touch vs mode, where you can lay the Vita down flat and it allows to players to face off against each other on one console.

New Binary Domain Screens Unload at gamescom

Ray Conley — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 01:25:44 +0000

Sega’s newest third-person shooter is aiming to wreak havoc amid the hapless streets in Tokyo. But before they start to shred android metal with full metal jackets in Binary Domain, they plan to warm their fans up with a few gameplay screens straight from gamescom.

In this futuristic shooter, players will be able to use the familiar duck-and-cover tactics as they fight their way with a squad of AI’s or their online friends. Should they find themselves short of a few online buddies, Binary Domain will be equipped with voice commands that can be vocally issued to your AI squad to lay waste of the robot invasion that plagues Japan.

Before we can punch holes in alloy armor when Binary Domain releases in February 2012, we’ll have to settle with action poses of our hero, Dan Marshall, as he fights his way to reclaim Tokyo. If this set doesn’t settle your appetite, head on over to our previous screens.