Ryu ga Gotoku Studio

Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami joining “PlayStation Hits” budget branding

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Growing up and owning the first PlayStation was a huge thing in the USA because Sony had the ‘greatest hits’ budget branding on games, making a lot of great games available for only $19.99. That tradition is now continuing with ‘PlayStation Hits’ brand games that will launch at $19.99 USD / $19.99 CAD / €19.99 / £15.99, the new budget brand hits June 28th in America and July 18th in Europe. In the past, ‘Greatest Hits’ was a badge that meant the games sold over a certain threshold in that specific market (PSone era it was 250k units in 9 months). No idea if they set one for these titles but they all seem to be rather popular games.

Hit the jump to see the full list of games, but Yakuza Kiwami and Yakuza 0 will be joining the new ‘rebrand’ budget title line-up!:

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SEGA News Bits: Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami & Valkyria Chronicles 4 Coming To PC Discussion

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SEGA Europe teased that they had a big PC announcement to reveal during the PC Gamer conference, usually I always assume this would have to do with their in-house titles like Football Manager, Total War series and so forth, but this time we got a massive surprise. SEGA is doubling down on Japanese PC games by releasing not just Valkyria Chronicles 4 but also Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami. On this video of the SEGA News Bits, we discuss all the information known about the ports and my general thoughts on the announcements.

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Yakuza: Kiwami 2 E3 2018 trailer shows the power of the Dragon Engine

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SEGA is really promoting Yakuza games now and it feels great from the standpoint of a long time fan. If you’ve been on here over the years, you are well aware of how I push this series all the time.Now we get a E3 2018 trailer showing off whats new in Yakuza: Kiwami 2!

“One of the most beloved storylines in the franchise’s history has returned in full HD in the Dragon Engine for PlayStation 4. Yakuza: Kiwami 2 features the return of mini games like Cabaret, a revamped clan creator and the original arcade release of Virtual-On, Kazuma Kiryu will have plenty of leisure activities when he isn’t taking on his fierce rival, the Dragon of Kansai, Ryuji Goda.”
As you can tell, Yakuza: Kiwami 2 is a huge leap graphically from the first Kiwami game based on being developed on the Dragon Engine! Yakuza: Kiwami 2 hits America and Europe on August 28!

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SEGA announces Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami and Valkyria Chronicles 4 for PC

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While Yakuza franchise has had a great lifespan being a PlayStation only exclusive franchise, it seems that SEGA is changing that to open the franchise to a brand new audience. Yakuza 0 will be hitting PC on August 1st! That will be followed by Yakuza Kiwami and Valkyria Chronicles 4 later. It will be great to play these titles with beefed up hardware. Yes, SEGA has confirmed that Yakuza 0 will run at 4k, 60 fps. Get hyped. Yakuza 0 will cost $19.99 and if you pre-order it now you get 10% off! The only negative about the announcement is that this title has Denuvo DRM, if that is an issue to you of course.

These two Yakuza games run on a older engine, what I really want to see is a PC port of Yakuza 6 since the new ‘Dragon Engine’ was a bit much for the PlayStation 4. But I’m pretty happy with Yakuza 0 and yes, I will play it again.

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SEGA confirms Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise hitting PS4 on October 2, 2018, includes optional English dub

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Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise was actually ‘leaked’ early thanks to an Amazon listing and today, SEGA Europe confirmed it is a reality. The game is set to hit western store shelves on October 2, 2018! Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise actually released in Japan earlier this year under the title Hokuto no Gotoku, which is a game developed by the Yakuza Studios.

Unlike Yakuza games that retain their Japanese voices and offer subtitles, it seems Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise will have an English dub, which has been confirmed to be optional. So users can play it with English voice acting or Japanese. Check out the trailer above for more a sample of the voice work.

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Amazon leaks ‘Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise’ Western localization

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It seems that SEGA has plans on localizing ‘Hokuto no Ken‘, the Fist of the North Star game created by the Yakuza developers considering that Amazon has listed ‘Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise‘ product page (which they have taken down). The listing was spotted by Twitter user @RedMakuzawa and it seems that the product page has now been pulled.

Don’t be shocked if you see it revealed during Sony’s E3 press conference tomorrow, considering that Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise will be a PlayStation 4 exclusive.

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SEGA News Bits: Yakuza 3, 4 and 5 Coming to PlayStation 4 Reaction

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It seems that SEGA have heard fans as they announce that Yakuza 3, Yakuza 4 and Yakuza 5 are heading to PlayStation 4 consoles. As of this recording, the three games have only been announced for Japanese release but I’m pretty sure they will end up coming to the West. On this episode of the SEGA News Bits we discuss our thoughts on these games getting a second chance, talk about the details regarding the releases and discuss other last generation releases that deserve ports. What are your thoughts? Will be pick them up if they come West? Let us know in the comments below.

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New IP from Ryu ga Gotoku Studio, the Yakuza studio, in development

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SEGA has released their 2018 performance summary, which falls under the “Road to 2020” initiative, and among the information contained within is a confirmation that Ryu ga Gotoku Studio, the creators of Yakuza, are working on an “unannounced new title” which falls under the New IP section. For comparison, other New IP in this section include Kotodaman and 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim – the former being a smartphone game and the latter being a console game.

Longtime Ryu ga Gotoku Studio fans might remember their previous attempt at a new original IP, Binary Domain. Binary Domain wasn’t the success Ryu ga Gotoku Studio had hoped it would be (in my opinion, part of the blame falls on SEGA badly marketing it in the west), but it is great to see that the studio is hard at work on another new IP.

Remember, it took Sonic Team a few attempts at original non-Sonic IPs before they found success, so here’s hoping Ryu ga Gotoku Studio’s next attempt is a success!

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SEGA America survey wants to know if you’re hyped for Yakuza Kiwami 2 and Fist of the North Star

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SEGA has put up a survey asking English consumers if they are interested in the newly announced Yakuza Studio titles: Yakuza Kiwami 2, Yakuza Online and The Fist of the North Star video game. If you really want these games to come over to the west, I suggest you take the survey and share it with other English speaking fans of Yakuza Studio’s games.

SEGA SURVEY HERE

I think its quite obvious that everyone that reads this blog would love to play Yakuza Kiwami 2 and Fist of the North Star console games, but how do you feel about the mobile Yakuza Online? I will also like to add that its fantastic to see SEGA acknowledge Japanese releases so quickly, before the management team pretended that Japan didn’t exist. Maybe studies are correct that Americans don’t have good geography skills? Glad to see we got some people with good navigational skills over at SEGA America now.

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SEGA News Bits: Yakuza Kiwami 2, Yakuza Online and Fist of the North Star game announced

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Today we have not one, not two, but three SEGA News Bits to enjoy. The Yakuza Studio had a big stream where they revealed their projects for the rest of 2017 and 2018. They confirmed the release of Yakuza Kiwami 2, revealed Yakuza Online and surprised us all with a Fist of the North Star game running on the Yakuza 6 engine! On these episodes of the SEGA News Bits we discuss all the information we know about these titles, how I feel about each project and complain about the Yakuza studio not announcing a new IP. Have a listen and let us know what you think about these announced titles in the comments below. Hit the jump for the other two videos!

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Yakuza Online announced for Smartphones and PC

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The latest entry in SEGA’s long running Yakuza has been announced, Shin Ryu Ga Gotoku/New Yakuza was shown off on the stream and gave us a look to the new protagonist Kazuga Ichiban. Not much was shown off but one scene depicting the tone of the latest game keeping in line with the gritty crime drama aspect but now with a slightly more laid back character as the lead.

KazugaIchiban

Interestingly, the new protagonist will not only be appearing on consoles on Shin (New) Yakuza but also the smartphone game Yakuza Online with an undisclosed release date. Yakuza Online will be heading to Android, iOS and even PC! I must admit the new character comes across as quite different from previous series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu and I’m looking forward to seeing more of him as we head closer to Tokyo Game Show where  SEGA will be showing off more of the project.

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Yakuza Kiwami 2 Leaked Early By PSN Store Page

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SEGA was set to have a big stadium announcement this Saturday, that was going to be live streamed world wide to announce several new games by the Yakuza studio. It seems that one of their surprises has been leaked early via the Taiwanese PSN store. The listing says the game will release on December 7th, 2017 in Japan.

Going through the rough English translation of the PSN store page description, it seems that they might have went back and recorded all the voice acting, much like the the first Yakuza Kiwami. But they are also teasing this one being on the new ‘Human Dragon Engine’ which means it could be using the new engine that powered the gorgeousYakuza 6! You already know I’m excited for Yakuza Kiwami 2, but are you?

[Via: Wario64]

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Yakuza Studio’s new titles presentation to be live streamed this Saturday

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With less than a week until SEGA kicks off it’s Yakuza Studio’s new titles presentation this Saturday, we’ve been given confirmation that the event will be live streamed on YouTube, Fresh, and Niconico from 19:00 Japan Standard Time. Having the presentation on youtube will be a godsend for fans who don’t have Niconico accounts and don’t know how to make it through the Japanese only sign up of the site.

Previously Nagoshi mentioned that multiple titles would be announced at the event “including something expected.” so what could it be, Yakuza Kiwami 2 with a new IP or perhaps something else? Gives us your thoughts and hopes on what you’re expecting this Saturday below.

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Yakuza creator confirms that his new game will be shown at Tokyo Game Show

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I know that some of the more hardcore SEGA fans are a bit upset that SEGA recently teased a new Hatsune Miku game. No fear SEGA fans, because during today’s NicoNico Live steam, Yakuza and Super Monkey Ball creator Toshihiro Nagoshi teased what to expect from Sega and his team next month:

“I’m so anxious for Tokyo Game Show! Although I’m not allowed to say why I’m feeling this way, yet. We’ll announce [a new title] at Tokyo Game Show, and it’ll be a good one and I believe that Sega’s live showing at Tokyo Game Show will be the most exciting one we’ve seen in a while.” – Toshihiro Nagoshi

The producer for Yakuza, Yokoyama Masayoshi teased this game in July stating that the studio was hiring new talent. As of right now, Yakuza Team (aka Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio) has over 150 workers under the Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio banner. Considering that they are hiring more, this might be one of SEGA’s biggest games ever. I guess we will find out more next month at the Tokyo Game Show, but as far as them teasing it, it seems this title will not be related to the Yakuza IP.

Like always, in Nagoshi we trust.

[Source: Silioncera]

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Yakuza Studio working on a non-Yakuza project

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In a new interview with Famitsu, Yokoyama Masayoshi (Series producer at Yakuza Studio (aka: Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio.) has confirmed that the team is recruiting for continued high end video game development.The team already housing 150 development staff, Masayoshi also confirmed that the team is working on a project not related to the Yakuza series albeit based on saying the team is making a non-Yakuza project.

With Tokyo Game Show around the corner and no major new Yakuza game being announced, is this the announcement that newly appointed SEGA Games Co CEO Haruki Satomi was hinting at? We’ll find out shortly as TGS is only a month away!

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