The next Yakuza game that North America will get is Yakuza: Dead Souls for PS3, a review of which can be read here.

The Japanese PlayStation Network store has recently been updated to include a rather detailed demo of Black Panther 2. Players can explore a decent-sized portion Osaka (a departure from the Tokyo setting Yakuza games have usually been set in), check out a hostess bar, sample the fighting system, see the story’s introductory moments, and even fight the first boss.

Incredibly few websites have a review of the first Black Panther game, but you just happen to be reading one of them right now, so here you go.

[Via]

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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.

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This review is technically of Yakuza: Of the End. Sega has stated that the only change it intends to make is the removal of Japanese trivia game “Answer X Answer,” and the game is therefore the same as what will be called “Dead Souls” internationally. For that purpose, we will refer to it as such in the review.

The biggest change from other Yakuza games is that Dead Souls battles feature gun shooting almost exclusively. Guns in this series were a rarity prior to this, but now, they’re the stars of the show. There’s a small variety of weapons to choose from to keep things interesting and accommodate various situations; this gun selection grows for gamers energetic enough to go about the city doing more than just the main story. This exploration and quest hunting, while decent, doesn’t offer the depth that Yakuza series enthusiasts may be accustomed to. Too much of the game’s content — both in the main story and side quests — boils down to there being a lot of zombies, and the only solution being to shoot them. The lure of Yakuza games is the adventure as a whole. With the exception of perhaps Black Panther, you don’t play Yakuza games specifically for the combat, but more what happens outside of it. Dead Souls, however, puts an increased emphasis on fighting than previous entries in the series, which is unfortunate, because it also starts to get stale even faster than it did in Kenzan.

The exceptions here are the intense boss battles. Since this game can do things other Yakuza games couldn’t really get away with, the boss possibilities were off the charts by comparison. From an obvious homage to the Licker of Resident Evil, to a giant octopus, to a demon bigger than the roof of a building, and more, the bosses and mid-bosses constantly provide exciting fights.

Regular enemy variety gets better as game goes on, but the basic task doesn’t: shoot zombies until they die. Even with varying guns and the four characters switching up as the player progresses through the plot, the experience always has that faint flavor of same-old-same-old hanging around. I’m not saying we need constant friggin’ fireworks, unicorns shooting rainbows, and bear cavalry in here, but the formula just seems to rely too heavily on you being the only guy in the country who has figured out how to shoot a gun.

That said, it’s also increasingly hard to ignore all the plot holes that keep popping up. Dead Souls not only plays its Fiction Card constantly, but it apparently has a Defy Logic Card. A barrage of bullets from a half-dozen mafia guys can’t kill a single zombie, but when any of the main characters picks up their exact same gun and fires it, things die? The army with its machine guns and tanks can’t kill these things, but when G.I. Jane comes along, she can take ‘em out with no problem? There’s a zombie apocalypse happening on the other side of a wall, and nobody has, y’know, left town? Fiction and fantasy are keys in nearly any video game, but boldly defying common sense is a little bit silly.

Despite the logical loops, however, the story is Yakuza: Dead Souls‘ strongest aspect. Franchise fans get to see an amusing side story starring the characters they’ve come to love over the last half-decade, doing things they’ve never done and interacting in new ways. There’s also something entirely too fun about controlling series madman Majima and blasting things with a shotgun. At times, it has something of an identity crisis, like the creators couldn’t decide if they wanted to stick to Yakuza or bring in some serious survival horror, by and large, it’s a surprisingly entertaining, mostly serious story. The characters are as good as ever, and their interactions and dialogue are enjoyable.

Dead Souls should not be confused with survival horror games. There’s a touch of that, sure, what with it being about killing zombies and all, but it’s much more of a shooter/adventure game than survival horror. I say this only so that you don’t go in with confused expectations. There’s no element of surprise after Akiyama’s chapter (the first one). The first time a zombie fell from the ceiling, I jumped. The next 400 times, it was wholly expected, to the point that it became a joke. I’d walk into a room and say out loud to my wife “I’ll bet you a zombie drops from the ceiling in the next area,” and a lot of the time, I’d win. The first time I saw a zombie waiting for me around a corner, it was a little startling. By the end of the game, I was convinced that zombies hung out exclusively near corners and on ceilings. Talk about going back to the well. It’s almost like the team tried to create scares and atmosphere on par with Silent Hill or Resident Evil, but didn’t realize that the great things about those games is that the fright and tension are near constant. There is little comic relief, minimal zaniness, and even less karaoke to conflict with the feelings of those games. Having a zombie or two or nine drop from a ceiling would have been great, but this game overused it, as well as a few other tricks.

At several junctures, the main character will be accompanied by a computer-controlled ally. These characters handle themselves pretty well, and the majority of the time will impress with their AI. There are the occasional moments when they’ll cause frustration with the way they sit around doing nothing while the player gets stomped into the pavement, though. One instance in the latter stages of the game will have two characters just looking at Kiryu on the ground and saying stupid things like “He went up!” Yeah, I know, wanna take a shot at him or is that just me? The pistol has the range to hit him if I want to use that, and you’ve got a rifle, sport. Wanna chip in a bit? The complaint is lengthy, but thankfully not too severe.

As part of a series that has only so rarely included a gun, Yakuza: Dead Souls does an admirable job of being playable by people who are terrible at shooters. At any point in the game, practically any gun can be used with success — even the boss fights. Certainly, some guns are preferred to others, and there are definite times life will be made easier by using an advanced weapon, but the player constantly has a pistol that, slow as it may be, can eventually kill anything. This is a nice fallback, because the Yakuza fan base (especially the Japanese chunk of it) might not be too familiar with shooters.

Where Yakuza has made its money these last five years is being a solid action-RPG series with oddly realistic, deep exploration opportunities. In this game, however, removes too much of that. The opportunities to explore are few and far between, and what’s there is definitely gimped compared to other entries. Obviously the reason for this is, oh yeah, the zombie infestation and impending doom, but as Final Fantasy XIII taught us, the plot providing an excuse for something doesn’t magically make it more fun. Gamers will indeed get a fresh look at Kamurocho in all its apocalyptic glory, but don’t expect side quest opportunities quite as abundant or as appealing as they were in parts 3 and 4 of the series. Sticking strictly to the main plot will run a gamer about 14-18 hours, but one can more than double that with the side stuff. It’s just kind of demotivating knowing how much of it leads to simply repeating the task of shooting 200 more zombies in the head.

Yakuza: Dead Souls isn’t going to bring in any new blood to the Yakuza series, but for its existing fans, it provides an interesting story and gameplay elements that haven’t been explored previously. Combat against the common zombies gets old fast, but there are some great boss battles to balance it out. As a huge Yakuza fan myself, I somewhat enjoyed the game, but wish there would have been a little better pacing and more chances to explore. Dead Souls ends up being OK for what it is.

PlayStation LifeStyle’s Final Score + Awesome boss battles + A great side story for Yakuza fans - Regular combat becomes boring, demotivating to progress

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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.

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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?

© BigWoopMagazine for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2011. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us

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

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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]

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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?

© Cameron Teague for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2011. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us

Yakuza: Of the End, Sega’s spin on how the Japanese mafia would deal with a zombie-infested Japan, shipped 400,000 units during its two weeks on sale so far in Japan. The game was released on June 9 following multiple delays due to the devastation that Japan had to endure due to the earthquake.

With the shipments of this latest entry, the series has as a whole has now surpassed the 5 million mark. Started in 2005 with its first game on the PlayStation 2, the series has seen seven games released with four of those being made for the PlayStation 3.

With the series starting to finally see decent sales out West, we can hope to see games like Yakuza: Of the End and future entries reach our shores. Right now, the Yakuza team is hard at work on Sega’s Binary Domain, which is set for release on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2012.

© Cameron Teague for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2011. | Permalink | No comments | Add to del.icio.us

The month of June isn’t just for big news and demo conferences, as Japan is ready to get quite a few big software releases, one of which is a sequel in a series that consistently sells out during its first few days on shelves.

The first week of June doesn’t include much outside of Sengoku BASARA 3 and Tekken 6 hitting the PS3′s Japanese “Greatest Hits” line, called “PS3 The Best.” The 9th is when things really get interesting, and not just because of a new Evangelion simulation title hitting both PSP and PS3. That’s the day Yakuza: Of the End finally sees its release, special box and all. Since its story is presumably less important as those of other Yakuza games, importers can probably jump right into this one. Sega will be donating a portion of the profits to disaster relief, so hey, you can look at it as you being charitable too. Last but not least for the June 9 releases is Red Faction: Armageddon for PS3.

The immortal PS2 will get a new game on June 16, in the form of Romance of the Three Kingdoms: Art of Otome. This strategy series and subject matter are a lot more popular in the far East than in the Western world, for the same reasons American Civil War Chess Sets aren’t often seen outside the US. Level-5′s hotly anticipated RPG Tiny Battlers hits PSP that same day.

June 23 is when PlayStation is makin’ it rain software. The PS2, PS3, and PSP add up for 11 games that day, while all five other systems combine for seven. The PS3′s haul has five games, headlined by a pair of RPGs, Atelier Meruru and the port of Mass Effect 2. Meruru is a lock for high sales, as its predecessors Rorona and Totori were nearly impossible to find for about the first week that followed their releases. Hard to imagine the same happening in North America, isn’t it? Anyway, PS3 will also be getting Grand Theft Auto IV: The Complete Edition, Hunted： The Demon’s Forge, and Bleach: Soul Ignition. The lone PS2 game arriving that day is the adventure title Scarlet Riders X.

PSP’s June 23 is packed with Stein’s Gate and Mother Goose’s Secret House for adventure fans, Gundam Memories for the action seekers, and Gloria Union to satisfy RPG lovers. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories will be re-released on Rockstar’s own personal favorites line, the “Rockstar Classics.”

The last day of the month will continue to bring the heat, with PSP getting ToHeart2: Dungeon Travelers and a whole mess of adventure games and Initial D Street Stage moving onto “The Best” lines for both PSP and PS3. Also becoming great for PS3 is Senjou no Varukiria, or Valkyria Chronicles. (Well it’s about time.) PS3′s lineup is rounded out by tennis title Power Smash 4 and Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition.

Check the periodic sales updates to see how well these games do on the charts.

© Knifefight for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2011. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us

Here are a bunch of new screens of Sega’s PS3-exclusive Yakuza: Of the End (Or rather, Ryu Ga Gotoku: Of The End as it’s called in Japanese). These show off a pair of new characters, Hiro Rin and Tetsuo Nikaidou. The guy in the baseball cap is Hiro, who went missing some time ago and during that time, apparently became a zombie. Oh, video games.

Tetsuo, the guy looking all tough and checking out a sword up close, is an old but respected yakuza force who also disappeared from the scene and there are many a whisper as to why he’s suddenly back in Kamuro-cho. Let’s get to those screens:

After having been delayed due to the headline-making tsunami that wrecked a large portion of Northeast Japan, Yakuza: Of the End is ready to bust into retail shops nationwide on June 9, amid great expectations and high anticipation. It’ll sport a somewhat high price of 7,980 yen (about $90 US), but it comes with some small extras such as stickers and limited edition packaging, and gamers get the satisfaction of knowing that a portion of the profits are going to the disaster relief efforts.

[Source]

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Sega’s Yakuza: Of The End was originally planned for a mid-March release, but got, like so many others, disrupted by the headline-making tsunami. The game has now gone gold, and with its special “Be Strong Like a Dragon, Japan!” sticker included, Sega has sent out images of the retail box.

In addition to the box with its new message of encouragement, Sega has also shown off some limited edition stickers that will come packed in. These show series main man Kazuma Kiryu, and his adopted niece Haruka in their usual outfit,s and carry the same “Ganbarou, Nippon!” message that is found on the newly redesigned store packaging. Eleven stickers are on the sheet. Images of both are right here:

Ryu Ga Gotoku: Of the End will ship to Japanese stores on June 9, selling for 7,980 yen (roughly $90), though there’s no word of a stateside launch at this time. Interested members of the family are encouraged to click the series’ official website.

[Source]

© Knifefight for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2011. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us

When you think of the Yakuza series, you think of one thing: kicking Yakuza ass all over Japan. Right? Right! Friends and faithful followers of the series, Sega is about to blow your mind with the latest installment of the acclaimed series, as Ryu ga Gotoku: Of The End or Yakuza 5 for all of us American fans, pulled an M. Night Shyamalan size twist on us. ZOMBIES have invaded the world of Yakuza!

Famitsu teased Japanese gamers last week about the newest Yakuza and I don’t believe anyone saw this one coming. Instead of trying to be the japanese version of GTA, the series newest edition is taking a cue from the Resident Evils and Dead Risings of the world. Series producer Toshihiro Nagoshi explained to Famitsu why the series has received such a drastic overhaul.

We’ve been releasing Yakuza games at the rate of one per year. The engine’s been gradually improved down to the lowest of levels, and technologically it’s gotten a lot better, but we still need to evolve — and in order to evolve, we have to tear things down first. We need to find the right timing for that, but we don’t want to disappoint gamers by putting an ‘under construction’ sign in front of Yakuza. So with this game, I’d like to simultaneously tear things down and unfold some new developments in the series.

Ya know, if they really wanted to spruce-up the series, they could have added vehicles or made the world entirely open. When asked why they chose zombies (did ANYONE see that coming?), Toshihiro Nagoshi compared to the 2008 entry of the series,  Ryu ga Gotuku Kenzan! , which threw the game back in time..to fuedal Japan.

Kenzan blew away the classic formula by setting it in old Japan. With this game, I want to blow it away again in a different way. I think Yakuza is the sort of game you can play constructively in lots of different ways, and that’s exactly why I wanted to try something like this. This isn’t some kind of experimental work, though — it’s a fun, full game, and we’re very confident as we continue work on it.

I guess we shall see, won’t we? I promised some details, so here you go…

• The storyline takes place in April 2011. Japan’s ‘self-defense force’ has quaratined off the Kamurocho district of Tokyo, due to the zombie outbreak, leaving the citizens to fend for themselves.
• Just like Yakuza 4, there will be four seperate characters to play as. Series superstar, Kazuma Kiryu. Main villian from Yakuza 2, Ryuji Gouda. Crazy mobster Goro Majima and Shun Akiyama another crooked mobster.
• You will still carry out missions in the classic Yakuza game-style..but this time there’s guns! Blow those zombies to pieces, Yakuza style!
• Even though Zombies have taken over, there’s still going to be mini-games and the famous girl clubs. Go figure!

While Sega has confirmed that Yakuza 4 will be hitting the US and EU sometime next year, I can make NO promises that this entry in the series will make it here. But hey, never say never!

© The Great Thomasio for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us

Monday isn’t my favorite day of the week; and it might not be yours either – there’s still a long week ahead of you, and the glorious weekend is already over. However, on the bright side, 4gamer is giving PSP fans something to ease the Monday blues.

4gamer is giving providing early access to a PSP demo for Black Panther: Yakuza New Chapter — Ahead of an assumed PSN demo. Tatsuya, the game’s main character is yours to control; just as long as you have 200Mb of free space and are running at least firmware 6.31.  The demo allows you to roam Kamurocho, experience fights, and participate in various substories .

If you have the time check it out. Download the demo here by clicking on the pink button halfway through the page — After unzipping the file, you should copy it to the \PSP\Game folder on your Memory Stick. Happy Monday.

[Source/Via]

© repdetect2 for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us

The PlayStation Portable iteration of Yakuza is being touted as the best in the series, despite several installments already releasing on its console counterpart. To show off the game known as Black Panther: New Yakuza Chapter, SEGA has released a brand-new over 5 minute long trailer.

For more on the pint-sized version of Yakuza, check out PlayStation LifeStyle’s previous coverage. Also, don’t miss the game’s recently released screenshots.

© Zak Islam for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us