Yakuza 1&2 HD Wii U edition screenshots emerge

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It’s weird that SEGA has decided to port over Yakuza 1&2 HD to the Wii U. Maybe this is their first step in planning on bringing over the other Yakuza titles. Regardless, these two Yakuza titles (especially the second one) are the best Yakuza titles ever made. So if you never played a Yakuza game and they bring this over to America, do yourself a huge favor and pick it up.

Here we have screenshots. I know it isn’t fancy graphics, but they look rather nice for what they are; HD ports of Playstation 2 games. Hit the jump to see the rest of the screens.

Sony puts out a PS3 HD remaster trailer showing off Yakuza 1&2 HD

This trailer was posted a few nights ago about was taken down by Sony for unknown reasons. Don’t worry, the trailer is back up now. This is the first footage of Yakuza 1&2 HD I have seen yet. What do you guys think?

You can also see Zone of Enders HD Collection, Okami HD and that Ratchet and Clank HD collection. These last three HD remakes have been confirmed for Western release, Yakuza 1&2 has not, sadly.

Yakuza 1&2 HD Edition Trailer

Sega will release a remastered version of Yakuza 1 and Yakuza 2 exclusively for the PS3, the remastered version boasts HD graphics and a much needed cut in loading times for both games. Will it head West? It’s hard to say at the moment, we don’t really know Sega’s plans for Yakuza in North America and Europe but we can all hope, right? Heck I would take it as a PSN digital download if it meant we could get it in English.

The Yakuza series is one of my favourite new IPs from Sega in recent years, it’s such a shame that with each new release it feels like another heart ache over weather it’ll receive a Western release. Let’s hope Sega West sees the potential in the Yakuza series and continues to support it for years to come because by the looks of Yakuza 5, it’s not going anywhere.

Shadow the Hedgehog was aimed at US market

Takashi Iizuka’s masterpiece Shadow the Hedghog wasn’t received too well by critics, mostly because the game, well sucked. But now he explains why the game was the way it was…

“After Sonic Adventure, we had two studios, in the US and Japan. The Japanese Studio was to develop a Sonic game in the standard style, and the US studio was to develop something different which could contribute to the Sonic franchise. That background generated the Shadow game as he appeared from Sonic Adventure. We wanted to offer other game systems to attract a different audience from traditional Sonic fans. In the US, first and third-person shooters were popular and we decided to go with a character who could work with them.”

I honestly assumed that Shadow the Hedgehog was just ‘Sonic Team’ trying to put out a product like Ratchet and Clank or Jak & Dexter. Too bad the concept wasn’t why the game was bashed…

[Source:ONM]

The Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love Premium Pack!

I’m eight months late to the party, but who cares. I’m the first to feature it at SEGAbits!

While SEGA’s Sakura Taisen franchise is insanely popular in Japan, having a number of main series games and spin-offs spanning the Saturn era through to the Dreamcast and Playstation 2, it has had little presence in English speaking regions. The fifth game in the series, Sakura Taisen V: Farewell, My Love, hit the Japanese PS2 in 2005. It wasn’t until 5 years later that the game received a very unexpected English language version. The PS2 received a handsome special edition box (America only from what I can tell) while the Wii received a standard version (which hit both America and Europe). While the game released back in March, it wasn’t until this weekend that I got around to picking up a copy for $30 at GameStop, marked down $10.

So what does this awesome box contain? Let’s take a look!

Click here to read more!

Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love Trailer

As you may known NIS America have taken up the task of publishing Sega and Red Entertainments ‘Sakura Wars V: So long, my love’ in the West.

While Sega have passed up the chance to publish this game, It is still a Sega game at heart. So sit back and enjoy this five minute trailer!

The game releases at the end of March!