Toshihiro Nagoshi

Toshihiro Nagoshi Talks Binary Domain

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Binary Domain, Nagoshi’s new shooter, was revealed back in January. We saw a trailer that didn’t give much away about the game and we haven’t heard much about it since. Talking to Famitsu, Nagoshi didn’t give much away! Why? Because as much as he would like to tell you more about Binary Domain, he isn’t allowed to!

”To be honest, there’s very little that we can actually reveal at this precise time,” he admitted to Famitsu.
“There’s a lot I want to talk about; it’s practically all about to burst out of my mouth, but I just have to keep it all bottled up for now. All I can really say is that it’s getting better by the day.”

Hit the jump to find out more!

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Want to touch hands with Toshihiro Nagoshi?

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[Example: This guy could be you!]

SEGA is going to hold an event where you get to stand in line to meet Nagoshi, shake his hand, and get your Yakuza-related items signed by him. This event its being held to promote Yakuza of the End.

If you live in Japan and want to stalk all locations to be extra creepy, check here. You get extra internet respect if you dress up like Kazuma or don’t wash your hand for a week.

[Source: AndriaSang]

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Toshihiro Nagoshi throws praise at Sony’s NGP (PSP2)

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Nagoshi loves his Sony products. The Yakuza series has been exclusive to Sony, so it isn’t that big of a surprise to see him praise the ‘Next Generation Portable’ (NGP) that was announced last month. According to Nagoshi, 3G is a big deal.

“This is a big deal, Wi-Fi has gotten more accessible in Japan compared to before, but you could hardly call it enough yet. When it comes to Japan, if you want to be able to connect to the net no matter where you are, your mobile phone’s how you’re going to do it. Going with 3G allows the system to be on the same playing field as every phone out there in terms of connectivity, and I think that says a lot about Sony’s drive to make the NGP a success.”– Toshihiro Nagoshi

Some of the issues that Sony had with the Playstation 3 were the difficult and high cost of development, something they might have actually learned from. According to Nagoshi, porting titles is simple and cost effective. Nagoshi’s own team ported over a cutscene from Yakuza of the End running in real time on the NGP hardware for Sony’s Playstation Meeting last month.

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Unreleased Yakuza 3D was amazing says director

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Toshihiro Nagoshi was in Nintendo World this weekend to promote the upcoming Super Monkey Ball 3DS; if you didn’t know, Nagoshi is also the director for the Yakuza series.
He updated his blog while he was there, and this lead to readers posting about a Yakuza 3D title, and if there will ever be one. According to Nagoshi, the team has already worked with 3D for a Yakuza title. He teases us, “Yakuza 3D was amazing.”

Most of his blog post was about 3D technology and why it’s difficult to use. He explained that making the image come out in 3D is not hard, but since 3D has to use an image twice, you lose some visual quality. He said that they had to choose between using the full power of the game or degrading it to half for the 3D effect. Why not have optional 3D like all 3D PS3 titles?

[Source: AndriaSang]

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PlayStation Awards show honors Yakuza 4

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Sony always holds a ‘Playstation Awards’ ceremony to give high selling Japanese games a pat on the back. Yakuza 4 was amongs the best selling titles for 2009-2010. Actually November 1, 2009, through October 31, 2010 to be more specific.

Yakuza 4 & Phantasy Star Portable 2 where honored the Gold Award, which means they sold 500,000+ units. Yakuza 4 also nabbed a user vote award. That is two prizes! The Platinum Award went to only one game, Final Fantasy XIII (for selling a million plus).  That isn’t all though, Sony also awards highest selling PSN purchased content. SEGA nabbed three spots, one with After Burner Climax, Hatsune Miku Project Diva Add-On Song Collection Deluxe Pack 1 and Hatsune Miku Project Diva Dreamy Theater . Talking about Hatsune Miku, SEGA’s 2nd PSP game also got a user choice award.

What do they get for winning? A trophy (here is Hideo with his) and a cash prize (Platinum 1 Million yen, Gold 500k yen).

[Source: AndriaSang]

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Binary Domain screenshots and teaser released

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The days that we wait forever for a Japanese game are over, SEGA America have posted a blog entry announcing Binary Domain, even though Famitsu basically spilled the beans. Along with it is a teaser trailer (above) and some screens. Oh, and a message from Nagoshi himself.

“One of the key elements of this is the pursuit of strong and differentiated human AND robot AI. Aiming to have the world’s best AI was essential to bring a true realisation of the concept of life to the players, through the story and the action within the gameplay. The inclusion of online modes has allowed us to transform the game from a mere battle field into a field of survival.

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Yakuza Team’s next game is a sci-fi shooter?

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[Fanboy no more, Binary Domain is rumored for Xbox 360 & PS3]

According to 2ch, the latest Famitsu had a interview with Nagoshi about his upcoming new IP, which is being done with the Yakuza team and Western developers from SEGA. The new game is rumored to be called Binary Domain

The games plot takes place in Tokyo during the year 2080, Tokyo is split into classes, the poor and the rich. He said that poor Tokyo will look about the same as it does now, just more devastated.  The game is suppose to have lots of focus on AI and online gameplay. The image that is supposed to be in Famtisu is described as a monk, in third person shooting fashion, shooting a robot. CGI image, of course.

The western staff didn’t want to have the game take place in Japan, but Nagoshi said it had to be in Japan because that is where he is from and if he is going to make a human drama game, it has to be somewhere he knows.

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Toshihiro Nagoshi is now on TV

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Toshihiro Nagoshi, producer for the Yakuza series and Super Monkey Ball games is now a TV star. Well, he is a guest star on the TV show for Black Panther Yakuza New Chapter.

Nagoshi stated on his blog that he will not be a regular on the show, only appearing in some episodes.

This is the first time that Nagoshi has appeared in a TV show, but he has been on TV before. If you recall him being in the Sony Playstation 3 advert.

[Thanks: Knuckles]
[Source: AndriaSang]

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TGS round up would make Toshihiro Nagoshi proud

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[Nagoshi having a rest or tanning?]

So now that TGS is behind us and we are sprinting into fall, let us look back at all the awesome SEGA announcements and news bits we posted.

News bits:

Trailers & Videos:

Screenshots & Photos:

Don’t worry, there is still news to come. We will be stalking the internet trying to get all the Phantasy Star Online 2 information we can. As you can tell, I’m are most excited for this title. Best TGS in a long time?

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Nagoshi speaks his mind about 3DS

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Nagoshi isn’t afraid of saying what he thinks. He has stated that since the Nintendo Wii, Nintendo has pursued their video game consoles to be more toys than entertainment machines. He has suggested that he wants to pitch a few games for the newest handheld. Hopefully the new games aren’t Yakuza related.

“If future portable game machines demand that both social aspects and immersion be satisfied for when you play multiplayer and single player for instance, 3DS firmly answers these with Wi-Fi and 3D. I’d like to make a variety of proposals.”

Well, I guess its not that bad of a comment. Though, DS also had Wifi. Has Nagoshi used that? Read what other developers had to say over at andriasang.

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Get your limited Yakuza PSP edition signed by Nagoshi

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Toshihiro Nagoshi, producer of the Yakuza series, is  a pretty awesome dude. So awesome that the new  bundle for his Black Panther: New Yakuza Chapter game will have his name on it, literally. It will be signed by Mr. Nagoshi himself. The limited edition version will be called “Toshihiro Nagoshi Produce Premium Box.”

It will also come with a UMD with the theme song’s music video, different artwork than the retail game,  Yakuza branded cloth, and a woman looking purse to hold your PSP. Seriously, looks like a woman’s press, check out the pics below.  The limited edition will retail on September 22nd for ¥9,429 (standard edition will cost ¥6,279).

[Source: Famtisu via AndriaSang]

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Nagoshi talks Yakuza and Shenmue similarities

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I’m one of those guys that does not think Yakuza is much like Shenmue, I think it have small elements that barrow for Yu Suzuki’s amazing game, but much different in the end. What does Nagoshi have to say about the comparisons?

“Fans are free to judge the game as they like. All of these games were created by SEGA. We might have included game elements from past titles unconsciously. But all of those elements appear in an evolved style.”

I dunno about “evolved style”, Shenmue had a better weather system on the Dreamcast and more varied character NPCs. Just saying. You can read the SPOnG interview here.

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Yakuza 4: “First day sales are number one for the series.”

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Series producer and all time tan person, Toshihiro Nagoshi has hinted on his blog that Yakuza 4 has broken sales records for the series.

“Yakuza 4 was released on 3/18. It’s selling well. First day sales are number one for the series.” – Toshihiro Nagoshi

Yakuza 3 was the 3rd title to have the fastest selling first week in Japan with 350,000 units. Yakuza 4 has obviously beat that, but can it beat Old Snake, who sold managed 476,000 the first week? I would say maybe Final Fantasy XIII, but selling 1.52 million units the first week seems impossible.

[Source AndriaSang]

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