In another surprise at the RGG Summit, a new game was announced for 2023: Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name. The game stars Kazuma Kiryu in a story that takes place between Yakuza 6 and 7 with classic gameplay elements returning. The game is said to be smaller, about half the size of a mainline Yakuza/Like a Dragon title.
The game will release in 2023 to PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series and PC platforms.
In the early morning hours, at least here in the USA, SEGA of America dropped the trailer for the eighth game in the Yakuza franchise: Like a Dragon 8. The news dropped at Japan’s RGG summit event. Due out in 2024, the game will release globally to PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series and PC platforms. Ichiban Kasuga returns, and he brought a friend with him. Wait, it’s Kazuma Kiryu with a new haircut! Also, notably, the game drops the Yakuza name, which we also noted yesterday with the Like a Dragon: Ishin! reveal. It looks like the Yakuza franchise is now the Like a Dragon franchise!
What are your thoughts on the trailer? Did Kazuma get a haircut?
During Sony’s State of Play today it was announced that RGG Studio was working on a Like a Dragon: Ishin! remake of 2014’s PS3 and PS4 game Ryū ga Gotoku Ishin!. The remake, created in the Unreal Engine, is set to release on PlayStation and Xbox platforms, as well as PC in February 2023. What is exciting is that this is the first time a historical Yakuza title released to the West.
Spread out throughout the month of June 2022 was news that Persona 5 Royal, Persona 4 Golden, and Persona 3 Portable would soon be launching on Xbox consoles, PC platforms (Persona 4 Golden has already been on Steam since June 2020), and PlayStation 5. For Xbox and Windows PC users, all three will also be part of Xbox Game Pass following their launch on Microsoft platforms. It was finally also revealed at the end of Nintendo’s Mini Partner Showcase Direct from June 28th that all three will now finally release worldwide on Nintendo Switch as well. This is all part of Atlus’s celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Persona series of games.
If you’ve been holding out on Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis to play on PlayStation 4, the wait will soon be over. In a surprise announcement at Anime Expo 22, PSO2 NGS will finally launch on PS4 in the western world on August 31st 2022. Both NGS and PSO2 will be fully playable on all PS4 and PS5 consoles, including all updates that have been made to both games up to that point. The game will also extend its cross platform compatibility so that PlayStation players can play with Xbox and PC players. You can also purchase ARKS Cash, the game’s premium currency, directly from the PlayStation Store.
Since both Virtua Fighter and Tekken dominated 3D fighting games in the 90s, fans have been wondering when the company would create a Tekken x Virtua Fighter cross-over fighting game. Officially, neither game has crossed over in an official game, until now. Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown breaks that trend with the DLC “Tekken 7 Collaboration Pack” which is set to launch on June 1st.
This Tekken 7 Collaboration Pack includes:
19 Tekken 7 outfits: When you equip these outfits, character customization will be disabled.
20 full Tekken 7 background music tracks.
Tekken 7 UI interface
Two Tekken 7 collaboration titles: These titles are added into the “other” category when selecting titles.
While this isn’t a full fledge new crossover title, its nice to finally see an official Tekken cameo in some form within Virtua Fighter and maybe will open up the discussions for something larger in the future.
Yakuza 7 or Yakuza: Like a Dragon as its known in the USA, changed the Yakuza formula massively when it replaced its real-time combat with a new turn-based system. Yakuza: Like a Dragon would even change the main cast and city, taking big risks with long time fans. The gamble paid off for Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio as Yakuza: Like a Dragon reviewed favorably and has warmed its way into the hearts of long time fans. For me, Yakuza: Like a Dragon is already one of my top three favorite Yakuza titles and really excited to see what the Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has in store for the next game, especially considering that the studio has been known to improve their games with every new entry (for the most part).
I decided to ask people in the Yakuza community what they’d like to see for Yakuza 8 or what it might be called in the West, Yakuza: Like a Dragon 2. We are joined by The Tojo Dojo, Pseudochel and Yakuza Fan as they tell you what they’d like to see in the next blockbuster installment of the Yakuza franchise.
It seems that Yuji Naka isn’t happy with his time working at Square-Enix, which started back in 2019. Since then Yuji Naka and Square-Enix have announced Balan Wonderworld, had him removed as director before the game released and ended with Yuji Naka leaving Square-Enix last year. Yuji Naka has actually been rather silent over the whole thing, even if Balan Wonderworld has been getting trashed online for months after release, which dragged his name through the dirt.
Now Yuji Naka has taken to Twitter to discuss working with Square-Enix, saying that the company doesn’t value making good games and that Yuji Naka even tried to get his lawyer involved so they could get more time to develop Balan Wonderworld. The messages below are from his Japanese Twitter thread, translated via @Cheesemeister3k:
As you know, Konami is releasing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection which is set to feature 13 of their classic Turtle games. While not all 13 are original games, some are the arcades and console ports (Turtles in Time for example comes both SNES and Arcade versions), but its a pretty comprehensive list of Konami Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles classic games. SEGA fans should be happy to hear that the rare, SEGA Genesis exclusive “TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist” is included!
Now Konami has revealed that you can also get the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowbunga Collection Limited Edition which will cost you a whopping $149.99 to pre-order (Best Buy:PS5, PS4, Switch, Xbox). This version includes:
Lost Judgment is getting ready to release the upcoming ‘The Kaito Files’ DLC, so part of SEGA’s promotional is giving us fans the recipe for a cocktail inspired by everyone’s favorite Yakuza, Masaharu Kaito. Check out the video, sip slow and stay home!
You will need Japanese Whisky, orange juice, plum wine, mint and ice! The Kaito Files DLC releases on March 28, 2022!
During Sony’s State of Play stream today, Konami announced it would be releasing their long awaited Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection for (at least right now) Sony’s PS4 and PS5 (it has also been confirmed for Nintendo Switch, Xbox and PC).
The collection is set to have Konami classics ranging from their Arcade hits, NES, Gameboy, SNES and yes, even TMNT: Hyperstone Heist on the SEGA Genesis!
The new games will update on the PlayStation Store on February 28th. If you haven’t you can also add EA Sports UFC 4, Planet Coaster: Console Edition and Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep: A Wonderlands One-shot Adventure right now. As you can see, March is gonna be a way better month.
Atlus has announced Soul Hackers 2 for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series, Xbox One and PC (Steam). The first game, at the time titled Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers is actually already the ‘second game’ in the ‘Devil Summoner‘ series which itself is a side-series of the Shin Megami Tensei franchise which originally came out on SEGA Saturn and PlayStation, then getting a 3DS remake in 2012. Does all this confuse you? Probably why they decided a more simple, Soul Hackers 2 title instead of “Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers 2”
The game is set to launch pretty soon, on August 25th in Japan and the next day world wide with Japanese voice overs and English, French, Italian, German, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese subtitles. In Japan they already announced a special Soul Hackers 2 25th Anniversary Edition for PS5 & PS4 that includes a three disc soundtrack, 100 page anniversary book with artwork & interviews, and more to be announced soon.
According to Japanese website Nikkan Gendai, who has pushed the rumor that Japanese Network TV Asahi is in talks with Takuya Kimura to star as his video game character Takayuki Yagami for a real life Judgment TV series. The Japanese network had tried to get Takuya Kimura back for another season of the popular BG: Personal Bodyguard but refused, saying he wanted to do something new.
The project is sitting with a tentative title of 裁かれざるもの (Things That Cannot Be Judged) with no release date as of now. According to the description, it looks like the idea is to adapt the second game, Lost Judgment:
Atlus has dropped a new trailer for their upcoming port of Persona 4 Arena Ultimax which was developed by acclaimed fighting developer Arc System Works (Dragon Ball FighterZ, Guilty Gear, Blazblue). This is a dub trailer titled ‘Fight’.
Persona 4 Arena Ultimax is heading for Steam, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch on March 17!
