Tag Archives: Yakuza Kiwami

RGG Kiwami PS4 Model

Yakuza Kiwami PS4 Model Announced for Japan, Yakuza 6 Demo Scheduled After Kiwami Release

Sony has announced a new Yakuza Kiwami-themed model of PS4 for Japanese consumers, to be released on January 21st alongside Kiwami itself. If you didn’t remember, Sony produced Yakuza Zero-themed PS4’s too, to celebrate the release of the last major Yakuza game. What we’re getting here is basically the same idea as what we got with the Zero-themed PS4’s. The featured image for this article is taken from the Japanese Sony Playstation Store’s product page for the Yakuza Kiwami PS4’s; preorders are also being taken for the hardware now.

It will cost ¥36,980, and it includes a PS4 + Dualshock 4 controller (both of which are either Jet Black or Glacier White-colored, depending on your choice), HDMI and USB cables, a power cord, and added bonuses including a Kiwami-themed hard drive bay cover and a monoaural headset.

Let that sink in – Yakuza Kiwami will be out in Japan in less than a week!

Interestingly, it’s also been announced that a demo of Yakuza 6 will be made available for Yakuza Kiwami owners on January 28th – one week after Yakuza Kiwami is released. This is reported by Sega by way of Gematsu. The demo will feature Kiryu as a playable character. There isn’t really anything problematic about this decision in itself, in my opinion, but I’m not familiar with demos designed to accompany one game being made available after that game is released. I wonder if we may expect a similar situation for Valkyria Chronicles Remaster and Valkyria Azure Revolution? To be clear, we don’t have indication that such a course of action is set to happen, as of yet. Maybe it’s a reflection of a time that is increasingly relegating demos to the digital space rather than the physical space?

 

New Yakuza Kiwami Video Shows More of the Game’s Storyline

In December, SEGA aired a live stream to promote Yakuza Kiwami, and it’s now been uploaded to their Youtube channel. Toshihiro Nagoshi was present to show a bit more of the game’s footage, Rather than in-game footage, this video focuses more on the in-game cutscenes, including new story elements that weren’t included in the original game. Also shown was the Yakuza 6 trailer, which was revealed near the end of last year. You can watch the video here:

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Yakuza Kiwami Shinohara

Yakuza Kiwami: Shinichi Shinohara Short Interview Video

The Japanese YouTube channel for the Yakuza series uploaded a new brief interview with Shinichi Shinohara, the judo talent who is set to make a guest appearance as a character inspired by himself in Yakuza Kiwami. For those who are unaware, Shinohara’s character is from out-of-town and Kiryu will at times show him around Kamuro-cho, but under special circumstances Kiryu will also be able to fight him in an underground fight club.

The interview is about two minutes long, and in it Shinichi Shinohara answers a few questions. You also get some looks into the model design and face capture for Shinohara’s character, and Shinohara himself recording lines. It is a fun watch.

『龍が如く 極』篠原信一スペシャルインタビュー

Yakuza Kiwami Comparison Video Shows a Significant Graphical Upgrade on PS4

Yakuza producer Toshihiro Nagoshi appeared on a new video posted on the official Yakuza Youtube channel to show a bit more of Yakuza Kiwami, the upcoming remake of the original Yakuza game. First we get to see a comparison between the old game and the remake, and the difference is certainly remarkable. Additionally, some gameplay was shown which showcased the game’s combat and the “Majima Anywhere” system. The latter involves Majima making surprise appearances throughout the game to fight Kiryu. You can watch the video after the break. Fair warning: the last 5 minutes of the video involves some content that may be considered NSFW.

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Yakuza Kiwami Shinohara

Yakuza Kiwami: Story PV, New Character Introduction

Sega has produced a new promotional video for Yakuza Kiwami and uploaded it to their Japanese YouTube account for the Yakuza franchise. It’s an eight minute trailer that skims over the story of Kiwami, a remake of the first Yakuza title. We see here Kiryu’s sacrifice and Nishiki’s descent as he is overcome with guilt and inadequacy. While one man falls and then rises from the ashes, the other rises to power but falls into corruption.

Of course we see other key characters receiving some spotlight in this trailer, with Haruka’s introduction (“I am not ‘omae’/you. I am Haruka”) and Majima being his lovable self, who will be around to harass Kiryu at the player’s leisure. A new character introduced specially for Kiwami is Shinichi Shinohara, a videogame representation of a real-life retired judo talent. He’s the new face shown in the featured image for this article, but he’s not shown in the Story video. Kiryu is supposed to be his tour guide for Kamuro-cho, but Shinohara is also a participant in a underground fighting club and invites Kiryu to participate. Between him and Beat Takeshi in Yakuza 6, Yakuza’s certainly got its celebrity cameos covered. Not a bad look for the franchise.

Yakuza Kiwami’s Japanese release date of January 21, 2016 is fast approaching. Check out the trailer below!

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SEGA Reveals the First Yakuza 6 Trailer!

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!

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Yakuza Kiwami Majima

Yakuza Kiwami Comprehensive Preview Trailer, Boxart Available

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!

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Yakuza Kiwami Taiwan

Yakuza Kiwami Receiving Korean and Chinese Versions

While the West gears up for the English release of Yakuza 5, the next major Yakuza title to be released in Japan is Yakuza Kiwami, a full remake of the first Yakuza game. And this time it won’t just be Japanese Yakuza fans that will get to play the game – Yakuza Kiwami is set to receive Korean and Chinese localizations. The Korean-subtitled version was announced on the Japanese official website for the Yakuza series, and was noticed by KHHSubs. The Mandarin Chinese version was mentioned in this tweet from the Ryu ga Gotoku official Twitter account. This tweet also provides us with our featured image for this writeup. There’s a tall banner for Yakuza Kiwami on the right, and this banner is an advertisement in Taiwan.

Toshihiro Nagoshi has in the past expressed doubts about the sustainability of Yakuza maintaining a Japan-only presence, so this is a logical step. It also seems unsurprising given Phantasy Star Nova and Shining Resonance‘s Chinese localizations. It isn’t as if Sega’s had a strong console presence in China or Korea (especially the former, since laws against games have only recently been relaxed there) though we might attribute that to the relative weakness of console gaming nowadays compared to the past. So what we’re seeing here is Sega should be Sega doing their best to cement a foothold in Asia.

Ideally, what we should also be seeing is greater Western presence for Yakuza games too! Let’s hope that such a path pans out.

Yakuza 6

Yakuza Kiwami (Remake of First Game) Announced, Yakuza 6 Incoming

The Sony Computer Entertaiment Japan-Asia Conference has just concluded. It was a time for figures representing Sony and third-parties including Bandai Namco, Capcom, Square-Enix, Spike Chunsoft, and Koei-Tecmo to take to the stage and show off some of their future plans.

Relatively early into the conference, Sega’s Toshihiro Nagoshi came on stage to discuss some special Yakuza-related news. First, he played the trailer for Yakuza Kiwami, a remake of Yakuza 1. This remake will be an expanded version of the first game, featuring new side content and additional scenario offerings. Nagoshi mentioned that development of the first game on Playstation 2 was quite difficult, and after having released the game didn’t feel that he completed everything he wanted to do with Yakuza 1. That chance to make things right has arrived with Yakuza Kiwami!

The trailer that was played can be found after the break. Yakuza Kiwami, in keeping with Yakuza tradition thus far, will be coming out on both Playstation 3 and Playstation 4. An early promotional website is already live, and details pricing and release schedule too: ¥6,490, and January 21, 2016.

Additionally, Nagoshi went further and confirmed the development of the next mainline entry in the Yakuza series: Yakuza 6. While no additional details or media were shown during his speaking time slot at the SCEJA conference, he mentioned that more would be revealed when Tokyo Game Show 2015 opens.

Yakuza 6 will in fact be exclusive to Playstation 4 this time, deviating from Yakuza tradition thus far. It’s expected to release sometime in the fall of 2016 for Japan.

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