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Yakuza Kenzan could get a Kiwami remake teases producer

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Let’s start this article with a big old Tim Taylor grunt because we got Yakuza Kenzan back in the news. If you never heard of this Yakuza series spin-off, its a samurai themed Yakuza game that features characters from historical Japan’s Edo period and follows legendary samurai Miyamoto Musashi (played by Kiryu of course).

In an event in Taipei, Yakuza producer Daisuke Sato was there to celebrate the release of Yakuza 5 PS4 port over in China, which now means the whole Yakuza main series has been released in the region (when are we getting those Yakuza PS4 ports?). At this event people got to ask questions about the future of the franchise.

The following questions were brought up about a possible future Kiwami style remakes. Via Siliconera:

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Sonic Team’s Takashi Iizuka promises “The next big year for Sonic is 2021”

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Sonic Team’s Takashi Iizuka is making the news because he was asked at E3 when the next big year year for Sonic will be, considering that 2017 had us get not only Sonic Forces but Sonic Mania as well. He said:

“2017 was a big year for Sonic,” Iizuka says. “The next big year for Sonic is 2021. That’s the 30-year anniversary for Sonic. We are now preparing.”

When asked if 2021 will bring a game like Sonic Generations, that came out in 2011, Iizuka said “maybe”. What if he is throwing us a curve ball and is actually working on a Sonic Adventure remake? Or would you rather have Sonic Generations 2?

[via: Gamer Informer]

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Shenmue III will only complete 40% of Ryo’s story

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If you funded Shenmue III assuming that we would be getting a closure to a story that we (at least most of us older fans) have been following since early 2000s, but that doesn’t seem the case. We all know that Shenmue was always mean’t to be 11 chapters, but considering budgets and restrains, a lot of us assumed that Yu Suzuki had planned a more condense version of his story. I guess not:

During a interview with USgamer, Yu Suzuki revealed that Shenmue III will be about 40% of Ryo’s story:

“Whole story of this bottle, about here [sic],” Suzuki said via translator. I asked if he meant halfway. “40 percent,”

About the game’s length, Yu Suzuki had this to say in a Reddit AMA:

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SEGA stopping Border Break arcade support a decade after launch

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SEGA has just announced that they will officially close support for Border Break in arcades, the SEGA-AM2 game launched way back on September 9, 2009 on the RingEdge arcade board.

According to SEGA’s financial reports on the game, as of March 2012 it has grossed over $100 million dollars for SEGA, so its no surprised that it was still being updated till this day. The last ‘rename’ update the game got was Border Break X Zero back in 2017. Border Break will still live on considering that a PlayStation 4 free-to-play version of the game launched in Japan last year. What about us here in the West?

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Sonic Mania will be free for PlayStation Plus users this June

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Did you buy Sonic Mania on every platform besides the PlayStation 4? You are in luck if you are a PlayStation Plus user since Sonic Mania, the base game, will be free to play this June. Looks like SEGA is hoping users spend some bucks on the ‘Plus’ DLC. Kinda strange that Sonic Mania Plus wasn’t given away on PlayStation Plus, that would have made a nice headline. I guess two positives do equal a negative.

How many of you guys haven’t played Sonic Mania yet? I doubt there are very many of you.

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Platinum Games moving to self publishing and working on two new IPs

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While Platinum Games started life with a huge publishing deal with SEGA where they published four games including Bayonetta, Mad World, Infinite Space, and Anarchy Reigns. This exclusive relationship sadly came to an end in 2012, since then Platinum Games has worked with publishers such as Nintendo, Square-Enix, Konami, and even Activision. It seems that Platinum Games has bigger visions for their future as they are dipping their feet into self-publishing with two new IPs they are working on:

“I know a lot of people say that, but the game we’re working on truly is unlike anything else. Even for our varied history of veteran game developers, this is something that has never been designed before. So from a game design perspective, we’re very excited right now.” – Atsushi Inaba (Platinum Games, Executive Director and Producer)

According to Inaba they want to move away from publisher funding and be even more independent. In the interview they talk about how Platinum Games doesn’t outright own its IPs like Bayonetta (which is partly owned by SEGA) and these two new unannounced IPs will be 100% owned by Platinum Games. Platinum Games also said they are not done working with other publishers and are even open to co-publishing options.

[Source: Gematsu]

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Persona 5 Royal reveals tons of new content, coming West in 2020

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Atlus Japan had a full blown event to show off the latest update for Persona 5, being called Persona 5 Royal. The teaser above doesn’t show off any of the new footage, that on the other hand is teasing the western release of Persona 5 Royal in the West. Expect it sometime in 2020!

So what’s new in this version of the game? So far we know:

  • Joker has a grappling hook
  • Battle system upgrade
  • New character (Kasumi)
  • New social link (Takuto)
  • Third semester, includes New Years Shrine.
  • New city area (Arcade)
  • New date spot (Aquarium)
  • Twins can go outside with you
  • Memorable moments can be revisited via phone
  • PlayStation 4 Pro graphic enhancements
  • Darts (Shenmue, is that you?!)

If you waited this long to play Persona 5, there is no doubt you should be keeping an eye on this release. The original Persona 5 was jam packed with things to do, explore and a hecka of a fun JRPG. As for people that did play the original release, are you going to double dip on this one? Personally, can’t wait to see what new tracks this version has and the music alone is worth playing through the game again.

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New Judgment trailer reveals Pierre Taki’s replacement in-game model

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If you guys have been following Judgment, the latest game from the studio behind Yakuza, you would know that SEGA Japan halted sales of the game in Japan after one of the main characters was arrested on drug charges. SEGA said they would replace actor Pierre Taki from the game via an update, which included the model of the game character since it was based on the actor.

According to SEGA the new model isn’t modeled after any actor, which might be something SEGA should consider doing this moment forward. As far as the new voice for Hamura, we still haven’t gotten who will replace him in Japan and they haven’t completed the voice work as of now.

 

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Team Sonic Racing releases new ‘Team Up’ trailer

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SEGA Europe has revealed a brand spanking new trailer for Team Sonic Racing, this one being called ‘Team up’, giving you a overview of all the information we’ve been given the last few months including a overview at a bunch of race tracks.

“The race is about to begin! Join Sonic and friends as they speed across vibrant tracks and do whatever it takes to come out in first place. Race online with up to 12 friends, play with friends in your living room with split screen, customize and personalize your car for maximum speed, and work together as a team to unleash your Team Ultimate Boost. Gear Up. Speed Up. Team Racing at Sonic Speed. Team Sonic Racing arrives May 21st on Playstation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC!”

I will say that the game has been looking better and better each time they show it, but something about the game still turns me off. Maybe because one of the reasons I liked the All-Stars Racing series was because of all the fan service while this game is playing it more safe. I guess we shall see if it works out for SEGA.

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ESRB rates Yakuza: Kiwami 2 for PC release

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It seems that the ESRB is good at two things: Putting logos in front of boxes and leaking games early. Good for us because now we know Yakuza: Kiwami 2 will be coming to PC very soon considering its already been rated by the ESRB.

It is sort of weird that there hasn’t been something on Yakuza 6, since that game came out first on PlayStation 4 then it was Yakuza: Kiwami 2. Plus both these games run on the new ‘Dragon Engine’. Let’s hope its not a Epic Game Store exclusive. Should be interesting. Hit the jump for ESRB’s description:

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New Yakuza game with Ichiban Kasuga to be more comedic than dramatic

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The SEGA Fes 2019 event had a Yakuza Fan Meeting where the General Yakuza Director and Chief Creative Officer Toshihiro Nagoshi spoke about Shin Yakuza, aka the next Yakuza game staring Ichiban Kasuga.

He talked about how the team has been changing what it means to be a Yakuza type game, they said Judgement is the first experiment. The only specifics he gave was that the game will now aim less in ‘having teary moments’ and more comedic and goofy scenes that interconnect at the end of a story, which will have impact on player’s emotion. Hit the jump for the full quote:

[Source: Gematsu]

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SEGA confirms that ‘Project Sakura Wars’ is coming West

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SEGA has updated their twitter letting their fans know that the new Sakura Wars project, that just got a trailer at SEGA Fes 2019, will be coming West. Can I just say how much I love these sort of announcements that go along with Japanese reveals? I hope we have more in store.

It looks like SEGA’s Zack Reese had some tweets on how he will be working on Project Sakura Wars:

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If SEGA had to go console exclusive, which console would you choose?

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SEGA used to have their own platform, their own console and ecosystem that a lot of SEGA fans still fondly remember. Since the death of the Dreamcast SEGA fans have been nomads, seeking SEGA software on other platforms and for some its a big investment to play all their favorite SEGA games.

I posed this question to our audience on Twitter and this is the results:


As a joke I added the Google Stadia, but I should have really added the PC as a platform.Quite frankly I still think the PC would have lost to Nintendo. Seems that a lot of Sonic the Hedgehog fans have had fond memories with the franchise on Nintendo hardware that it swayed the results in a predictable manner. I think SEGA fans worry about going exclusive with Nintendo because they aren’t known for pushing hardware like SEGA tries to do. I mean, the new Dragon Engine in Yakuza 6 is gorgeous and is up there with Capcom’s RE Engine and Square-Enix’s Luminous. 

But what is your take? What console would work out best for SEGA in your opinion and why? Let us know in the comments below.

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Toshihiro Nagoshi talks about why SEGA pulled Judgment sales, no sequel planned

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SEGA’s Creative Officer Toshihiro Nagoshi talked more about why he voted to pull Judgment from Japanese store shelves after actor Pierre Taki was arrested on a cocaine charge.

During the latest Sega Nama stream, Nagoshi went more into why he voted to delay the game he worked as a director on:

“There is no correct way to deal with the situation. In the end, I also cast my vote for halting sales. Some thought and pointed out “This is going too far” and “It’s unrelated to the game itself,” and I don’t think those opinions are unreasonable either—I can see it from both sides. So when it comes to why I voted for halting sales, it’s because it was just after release. If it was an older game released a considerable amount of time ago, our priorities may have been different, but when it was something that had been released only several months prior, I think it’s a different conversation.”
He also talked about news outlets discussing that SEGA already had Judgment 2, 3 planned out which he said:

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New Sakura Wars to ‘reveal a little bit’ at SEGA Fes 2019

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It seems that Japanese SEGA fans can’t wait to see the new upcoming Sakura Wars title, which is being titled right now ‘New Sakura Wars‘ (tentative title). Is it surprising? Not really considering it was the Japan’s most requested IP back in 2016 by a large margin.

While back SEGA’s Chief Officer Toshihiro Nagoshi suggested that we would get a reveal during April 2019, but SEGA Fes 2019 takes place between March 30 to 31st… which is cutting it close. This is what he had to say during the latest SEGA Nama broadcast:

“People have been saying things like, ‘Let me see it!’ and ‘What’s going on?,’ but we’re going to reveal a little bit [at Sega Fes 2019],” – Toshihiro Nagoshi
Its going to be interesting to see what they show off at SEGA Fes and what they will keep for its April unveiling. Maybe they’ll show off some art assets and wait for April to show off gameplay? What do you think they’ll show off in a few days?
[Source: Gematsu]

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