News Articles

Saturday5th Dec 2015

Tuesday27th Oct 2015

  • News Break Some Faces with Over an Hour of English Yakuza 5 Gameplay

    Killing it in Kamurocho

    Thanks to Sony, we're finally going to be playing Yakuza 5 in the (hopefully) near future. The PlayStation 3 adventure sees series mainstay Kazuma Kiryu once again kicking butt in the seedy Kamurocho, and publisher SEGA's whetted our appetite with over an hour's worth of English footage from the game. Our hosts jump straight...

Friday16th Oct 2015

  • News Yakuza 5 Feels the Heat in Mid-November on PS3

    Kamurocho's almost go

    Yakuza 5 is still due out on the PlayStation 3 this year, with SEGA attaching a mid-November release window to the oft-requested brawler. The game's currently available to pre-order on Sony's digital plaza, but is tagged with a place holder 31st December launch. "Unfortunately, it's a little later than we would've liked, and a...

Tuesday25th Aug 2015

  • News Yakuza 5 Will Launch with All of Its Japanese DLC Included

    Kamurocho calling

    We're eagerly awaiting a concrete Western release date for Yakuza 5 - which could well be the final PlayStation 3 exclusive that you really should play - and the game's newest video isn't making the wait any easier. Posting on the North American PlayStation Blog, Atlus' John Hardin has detailed a few of the title's finer points,...

Friday7th Aug 2015

  • News Yakuza 5 May Be the Last PS3 Exclusive You Must Have

    Let's all go to Kamurocho

    We know that a lot of you love your PlayStation 3, but there's no doubt that the device is on its way out. Several franchises are still launching simultaneously on the last-gen system and the PlayStation 4, of course, but we doubt that there'll be many more exclusives for the machine moving forwards. As such, Yakuza 5 may...

Thursday25th Jun 2015

  • News SEGA, Sony Knee Deep in Yakuza 5 Localisation for PS3

    Punch out

    Yakuza 5 is due out later this year for the PlayStation 3, a whopping three years after its release in Japan. And it looks like Third-Party Productions chief Gio Corsi is getting ready to kickstart the long overdue localisation's marketing campaign, as a new interview has been uploaded to the PlayStation Blog outlining a little more...

Sunday21st Jun 2015

  • News Yakuza 5 Busting Bad Guys on PS3 in Fall 2015

    King Kazuma

    Yakuza 5 is a massive game that's going to take time to translate, but Sony hasn't forgotten that it promised to bring the release overseas. While the PlayStation 3 may be starting to feel like old news these days, we're still looking forward to continuing Kazuma Kiryu's story – even if we will have to dust off the aging machine before...

Saturday6th Dec 2014

Sunday2nd Feb 2014

  • Rumour There's Still Hope for a Western Release of Yakuza 5

    Cloud Atlus

    We’ve been begging to play it for months, but a brand new rumour suggests that Yakuza 5 could actually be heading overseas. A translation of the gigantic PlayStation 3 exclusive – which dragon punched its native Japan all the way back in 2012 – has so far been ruled out by publisher SEGA, but EGM speculates th

Tuesday19th Mar 2013

  • News You Should Really Consider Signing This Yakuza 5 Petition

    We'll cry if you don't

    Petitions are almost always futile, but when they revolve around a franchise that’s dear to our heart, we suppose they’re at least worth a shot. A group of Yakuza 5 fans have started up an online campaign to get the latest entry in the gangster series localised. Over the past few years, publisher SEGA has stealthily...

Thursday14th Feb 2013

  • News Toshihiro Nagoshi Wants to Show Next Gen Yakuza This Year

    Fighting fury

    Fans of fisticuffs and dragon tattoos may be excited to learn that a next generation Yakuza title could debut as early as this year. Series producer Toshihiro Nagoshi teased in the latest issue of Dengeki PlayStation magazine [via Gematsu] that the recently released Yakuza 5 will probably be the last entry in the series on PlayStation...

Wednesday12th Dec 2012

  • News Japanese Sales Charts: Yakuza 5 Conquers the Competition

    Like a dragon

    Yakuza 5 landed a devastating blow on all of the other new releases in Japan this week. The latest title in SEGA’s seedy series registered 356,757 sales, which was enough to score it a spot at the summit of the region's charts. The hotly anticipated sequel sold more than the combined total of the top three Wii U launch games – but...

Tuesday27th Nov 2012

  • News Who Fancies a Trip to Yakuza 5's Club SEGA Arcade?

    Raises hand

    If you’ve played any of the previous Yakuza games, then you’ll know how hard it is to resist the lure of the local Club SEGA arcade. Who cares if Haruka's captured and there’s a rival gang stepping on the Tojo Clan’s toes? There’s always time for a session on Boxcelios. This video of Yakuza 5’s recently released Japanese...

Friday23rd Nov 2012

  • News Hatsune Miku Looks Really Scary in Yakuza 5

    Kill it with fire

    Don’t think that Kazuma Kiryu and crew are too tough for Hatsune Miku. SEGA’s announced that the fluorescent vocaloid pop star will make a number of cameos in the upcoming Yakuza 5. For starters, you'll discover snow sculptures of the character when you traverse Japan’s winter wonderlands. You’ll also be able to collect...

Wednesday21st Nov 2012

  • News SEGA Punches a Yakuza 5 Demo onto the PSN Next Week

    Heat action

    Kazuma Kiryu and crew will spring back into life next week, when a demo for Yakuza 5 fights its way onto the Japanese PlayStation Store. The playable teaser – set for release on 27th November – will allow you to sample the game’s opening moments, letting you roam the streets of Fukuoka as the aforementioned Dragon of Dojima. The...

Monday12th Nov 2012

  • News You Won't Feel Shortchanged By This Yakuza 5 Story Trailer

    How long have you got?

    Most story trailers run for a couple of minutes at most – but we suppose that the Yakuza series has always been eager to buck conventions. This brand new Yakuza 5 video lasts for a whopping 10 minutes, and you still get the impression that it could have been longer. In fact, this is fairly tame by the franchise's usual...

Thursday1st Nov 2012

  • News New Yakuza 5 Footage Plays Ball

    Home run

    One of the best things about the Yakuza franchise is the freedom it gives you to explore and participate in completely irrelevant mini-games. The upcoming Yakuza 5 will be no different – as has already been evidenced by the title’s taxi driving and hunting missions. This brand new trailer focuses on Tatsuo Shinada, one of the game’s...

Friday19th Oct 2012

  • News Check Out Kazuma Kiryu Driving a Taxi in Yakuza 5

    A to B

    One of the many side-activities in Yakuza 5 – alongside Virtua Fighter 2 and, er, snowball fighting – will allow you to put protagonist Kazuma Kiryu behind the wheel of a taxi. The brand new Japanese developer diary embedded below shows the mode in action, as the former Tojo Clan chairman weaves in and out of traffic on two wheels and...

Friday12th Oct 2012

  • News Yakuza 5's Club SEGA Expanding with Virtua Fighter 2

    "Maybe I'll play some"

    Yakuza 5 is taking a step closer to its spiritual predecessor Shenmue by incorporating playable Virtua Fighter 2 cabinets into its Club SEGA arcades. The fighter will be available in its 2.0 and 2.1 revisions, providing a tantalising treat for fanatics who can tell the difference between the versions. Other arcade cabinets...

Wednesday3rd Oct 2012

  • News Don't Worry, There'll Still Be Plenty of Dating in Yakuza 5

    Choose your words carefully

    You’d imagine amongst all of the taxi driving, hunting and fighting, the cast of Yakuza 5 wouldn’t have much time for dating as well – but luckily for us, they do. Publisher SEGA has revealed a little more about the upcoming sequel’s overhauled hostess side-missions, and, as with the rest of the game, it sounds...

Tuesday2nd Oct 2012

  • News We're Not Sure What to Think of This Yakuza 5 Branded PS3

    Garish, perhaps?

    The Yakuza franchise has a history of prompting some pretty spectacular PlayStation 3 bundles – but this latest redesign isn’t to our tastes. The custom console comes with a gold DualShock 3 controller, a copy of Yakuza 5, an 8GB USB drive, and a beach towel. Yeah, we don’t get the significance of the towel either. It'll...

Thursday20th Sep 2012

  • News Yakuza 5 Attacks Japanese Stores on 6th December

    Fans won't have to wait long

    SEGA has released two brand new Yakuza 5 trailers at the Tokyo Game Show, as well as confirming that the game will be available to Japanese consumers on 6th December. The story of Yakuza 5 begins with Kazuma Kiryu working as a taxi driver, and thus getting into some crazy car chases. The plot also somehow incorporates...

Thursday23rd Aug 2012

  • News Yakuza 5's Dance Battles Sound Absolutely Incredible

    Bust a move

    When SEGA announced Kazuma Kiryu’s adopted daughter Haruka Sawamura was going to be a playable character in upcoming PS3 exclusive Yakuza 5, we pondered how the mild mannered teenager was going to play. We figured the former Tojo Clan chairman might have taught her the art of self-defence, but worried that fighting didn't suit her...

Wednesday22nd Aug 2012

  • News Get Rough and Ready with Yakuza 5's Tojo Clan

    Avoid these men

    SEGA has released a batch of images of some of the members of Yakuza 5's Tojo Clan, including series veterans Goro Majima and Daigo Dojima, as well as three new characters Yuu Morinaga, Masato Aizawa and Minoru Aoyama, which you can see in the screenshots section below. Goro Majima, also known as 'Mad Dog Majima', made his debut in...

Thursday9th Aug 2012

  • News You'll Be Able to Play Taiko Drum Master in Yakuza 5

    Could this game get any better?

    Yakuza 5 has continued its pursuit towards ultimate epicness by announcing that Namco Bandai’s Taiko Drum Master will appear as a playable arcade cabinet within the open-world adventure. Arcade mini-games are no stranger to SEGA’s successful series, but this marks the first time that the publisher has teamed up...

Friday6th Jul 2012

  • News You'll Have to Deal with Drunks in Yakuza 5's Taxi Missions

    Don't puke

    Once again proving that the Yakuza franchise is arguably the best in games right now, SEGA has revealed a little more about veteran protagonist Kazuma Kiryu’s taxi missions in Yakuza 5. It’s still not clear why the former Tojo Clan chairman has switched the Sunshine Orphanage for a career behind the wheel, but the publisher has...

Wednesday20th Jun 2012

  • News SEGA Reveals First Yakuza 5 Mini-Games

    Crazy taxi

    SEGA’s Yakuza series is well known for its enjoyable mini-games. The heart of the franchise might lie with its self-serious narrative and wonderful characters, but part of what makes the series so enjoyable is its insistence on introducing alternative mechanics. Yakuza 5 is something of a reboot, and so it’s unsurprising to see the...

Tuesday29th May 2012

  • News Yakuza 5's Haruka Won't Engage in Fights

    Different formula

    We must admit, we did a double-take when SEGA announced orphan Haruka would be a playable character in Yakuza 5. The youngster is a world away from the angry men that typically populate the cast of SEGA’s niche adventure series. How is she going to fight? Many speculated that Haruka might have been trained by protagonist Kazuma...

Thursday24th May 2012

  • News First Yakuza 5 Screenshots Swagger Online

    So solid crew

    A lot has changed since the conclusion of Yakuza 4. Series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu is now working as a taxi driver, while his adopted daughter Haruka Sawamura has gone in pursuit of her dreams. One thing that hasn’t changed, though, is Shun Akiyama’s suit. That’s right, the recently revealed Yakuza 5 might take place a few years...

Wednesday23rd May 2012

  • News Yakuza 5 to Feature Five Playable Characters, New Engine

    Five is the magic number

    As promised, SEGA has revealed the very first details about the hotly anticipated Yakuza 5. The fifth entry in the series appears to be playing up to its title well, featuring five playable protagonists set across five different cities. The game’s due out later this year on PlayStation 3 and will boast – wait for it –...