Stepan

Nice article! Looking forward to Shutoko Battle on PS5!

@tameshiyaku Yeah, I hate Pirates as well.
I guess the fighting in Kiwami 3 is not that bad. But sometime during Judgments the system started to be lighter and more athletic and quite different from old games.
Regardless, I agree that K3 is well engineered (especially considering it is only a side project for the studio) and if someone never played Yakuza 3, it is a no brainer.

@nessisonett Just what I thought.

But yesterday I tried the demo, the graphics seemed ok, but I really don't like the overly crazy and 'light' battle system similar to Pirate Yakuza. Original Yakuza 3 had slow and weighty brawls. What happened to the Virtua Fighter heritage? (just when they are working on new VF). This game is strange.

@PaperAlien Why would Sony be reviving Ridge Racer? If anything, the opposite happened when Namco licensed Everybody's Golf or Patapon from Sony.

To be honest, I don't like this trailer. But I have fond memories of Genki racers on PS2 and I have even placed digital pre-order so I hope the game turns out to be good!

@Reeneman It's over 140 GB now, at least on PS5.

Looking forward to play GT7 tomorrow. Even though I personally prefer road cars.

@Silenos That's right, the game is getting quite big, but it is still not as stupid as Tekken 8, which occupies the space with single-use story videos forever.

@Rich33 That's right, for example Mark Cerny talks about AI data processing and data exchange between chips and memory, the principles, speeds.. Things like this can be worked upon even when there is final chip architecture, memory size etc.

It would make sense to take the time. Just look at the position Steam machine found itself in and the hardware market is going to be only more complicated in the future!

Where are SEGA's lawyers?

@tameshiyaku 'Yakuza has un/fortunately reached the level of popularity where it's become cool to slam it. Gamer internet discourse is just the worst.'

That's just what I think. Until the series was niche (or semi-niche) in the west, we were just extremely happy new title releases in english at all and no one was nitpicking about details!

So, I get it the game gets review bombed because of Kagawa and not bright colours? I hope it is like that. Anyway, on PS store it is not that bad, actual Yakuza 3 having 4.39 and Kiwami 3 demo at 4.23 is not that big a difference.

@RoomWithaMoose It can be said that Yakuza has been annual since the beggining, Yakuza (2005), Yakuza 2 (2006)... No problem with that for me. Maybe it is more like western fans [on this forum] who got into the series in the last decade became a bit tired of it?

@1UP-HUSKY Right, true SEGA blue sky aesthetic.

It seems like SEGA bet on demos recently - last year there were ones for everything from Pirate Yakuza and Shinobi to Sonic Crossworlds.

I just hope there are some Power Surge titles slated for the rest of the year.

I think the only way is to not make only big, 7 years in the making titles like Intergalactic or Physint or but also something a bit smaller like Astro Bot. After all, Clair Obscur was smaller by budget and team size and it 'overtook' the biggest AAAs.

Great news! I am looking forward to another newly emulated racing game after Daytona 2! For me, this is much better than all the new sidequests.

I thought Nagoshi will go for somthing a little different and here we are in Kamurocho again. Just..

• with Nagoshi's current small studio, the game will be either very small, or - it will take many many years until this is released, or, maybe AI?
• the main hero looks too godfather-like antagonistic for me, doesn't seem that relatable like Kiryu, Ichiban or Yagami

@johncalmc Wow, platinumed them all? I don't know, I always complete the story and that's it.

@themightyant That's curious, I think the jump from PS2 to PS3 was huge for these games, so I can't imagine not trying 3 or 4.

@PuppetMaster Do you think Kurohyō would be worth it? I was always under the impression it was typical PSP game in being just diluted and simplified low budget PS2/PS3 game.

Firstly, I played Yakuza on PS2 in 2006 and.. I was not a big fan at the time, I played mostly racing games and platformers then.

In 2012 I bought Yakuza 4 for PS3 and I totally fell in love with it - roaming around real-life city, visiting shops and bars etc. and enjoying the captivating story. It was all very fresh then.

Later I bought all the games and I liked both Judgment games above all the rest. Now, I am not sure about all these remakes and remasters, but I very much look forward to new titles!

Strange thing is, now when I know it's completely fake, all the small nonsenses like invisible washed plate, forward-loaded crate on forklift or gargantuan bicycle annoy me .

@Chip-Douglas Maybe they mentioned legal actions to backup their claim they don't have anything to do with the whole thing, just to distance themselves completely? Another thing is, it misuses not only Ys', but also SEGA's intellectual property.

I'm looking over and over and most of what is shown is really in line with Shenmue III. The only non-traditional scene is the battle with many soldiers. The clothing customization feature looks quite similar to Air Twister, that would also align.

Strange thing is that the trailer is dubbed in english. I can't see any other possible reason than it is becuse the video is meant for possible publishers or backers.

I suppose we will see if there is a trailer at Game Awards next week, I am sure that would be the place of announcement, so we will see if Shenmue IV is real.

As for this video, to me it looks like Ys' pitch for publishers or backers and not so much final game, but I can be wrong. It is not even that big of a stretch to think Ys could have used AI for pitch video as mentioned above?

I was hyped by arcticle in Retro Gamer, then downloaded the demo on PS5 as soon as it was available and it was big disappoinment, visuals are interesting, but the handling didn't suit me at all, so it was deleted right away. Arcade racers are all about the smooth handling for me.

Yay, what an early Christmas gift!, the only problem being the game is getting bigger and bigger on PS5's storage, may be time for additional SSD or PS5 Pro for me .

@Tasuki Why last Sony console if you do like it?

As a longtime fan I have to say they are doing just what Mr. Yokoyama says they won't. With LaD8 they moved most of the story overseas and also hired stars like Danny Trejo, who was heavily used for marketing. Pirate Yakuza is completely Hawaiian. So, they are already starting to lose the original appeal of japanese game made for japanese players. I don't blame them, they obviously want to make something new every time and find more and more players. Still, Stranger than Heaven is no.1 on my wishlist and I really hope it can bring back the excitement one felt when playing PS2 and PS3 Yakuza games.

One more thing, funny is that Mr. Yokoyama said almost exactly the same about new Virtua Fighter project. He stated that if the game turns out to not be good and exciting, they can just stop the development anytime. And now he says they can even dissolve the team if LaD games won't stay true to their origins.

@mattitudemf @T-Bone09 Of course there will be add-on disc drive, but my point was: if majority of PS6 owners won't even be able to play discs, why bother with investment into discs-based PS1-PS3 back compatibility. That is sound argument, isn't it?

This story of Mark Cerny very much reminds me similar tale of Astrobot's Nicolas Doucet, who also said that he pitched himself to Japan Studio, because he thought he is the right person. Mr. Doucet even said he completely skipped his bosses in Europe and wrote straight to Japan.

@PuppetMaster I don't want to crush your hope, but I am afraid PS6 won't take discs at all.. At least that seems to be the trend.

Hm, what they intend to do with the series... , could it be.. doing more remakes and side stories?

I mean, really, the story of latest installments still circle around the end of proper yakuza clans and even in the real world, the clans are getting smaller nowadays. So, it would make sense to stay in the past with remakes or stories from older times.

@PuppetMaster Small indication would he that Hirogami has 65 reviews on PS Store, which is really not much, almost on par with Dreams of Another, which seems like a major flop.

But, it is also worth mentioning that Hirogami was just a side project of several Bandai Namco employees not official Bandai Namco game!

@themightyant Thanks for making things clear!

So many news about Yakuzas 0, 1, 2 and 3! But, am I the only one left unimpressed with all the remasters and remakes? I played most of the games when new and now somehow can't get excited about them. I get the series became quite popular nowadays, but I wish SEGA started to diversify it's portfolio. Maybe on Game Awards, there will be some news on Power Surge.

About Asa gao - Morning glory name, I don't get what are these 'perhaps obvious reasons'?

Great! I have never played any title from Shutoko Battle series, but I loved Genki's Kaido Battle on PS2, so I this is on my Wishlist now!

@LikelySatan A few years ago, I felt the same about GT7. You can do literally nothing without connection. But then I just backed down, purchased the game and enjoy it very much. When you get over the fact it is online service game and not traditional game on disc, you realize it is really well put together.

And, the servers are really robust, some games (for example Tekken 8 in my experience) can't estabilish the connection from time to time, whereas GT7's online service is very stable and reliable.

For me, this doesn't feel like a game, but a chore. Maybe if there was more story to it, but this looks just like manipulating cans and reading boring lines. Yes, I know it was inspired by Shenmue and Shenmue games can also be a little repetitive, but they are backed by very strong story, characters and places - none of that seems to be here.

They are really leaning into making GT7 'game as a service'. The new tracks and this mode looks like they were planned for next game in the series, but they maybe realized it is better to invest into GT7 and wait for PS6 with new installment!

@bossuche9 Ok, but Yen depreciated almost 50% to dollar during 2020-2025! Considering that, the new price is super low.

New mode for GT7 and confirmation of Tokyo Xtreme Racer on PS5 are great, but I would hope for some new game from japanese Sony or SEGA. Well, I eagerly await Game Awards now!

Yeah, they definitely took the inspiration from Nintendo, which does the same with Switch 2. I hope it works, because the battle against Switch and mobile in Japan is really tough.

@Vyse_the_Legend Well, it depends on the love the brand will get from players/customers!

@awp69 REVO World Stage is 22,3 GB download and includes everything, even all the DLCs (except 30th Anniversary pack), you just need to 'activate' or buy them.

@Jrs1 True, 30th anniversary pack should have been available separately at the same price point as older DLCs, let's hope for sale soon.

@KingPev I am button basher, but I still enjoy Virtua Fighter in single player or locally

@PuppetMaster I bought for the third time, 10 dollars equivalent really isn't that much. And it is not bad value, this price even includes new set of costumes (different from paid swimsuit set).

@awp69 Yes, the whole thing is noticeably sharper, be it characters, stages or menus. And textures are definitely more detailed with slightly richer colours. There is even motion blur effect, which was not present in PS4 verison. Online-wise, there is new rollback netcode, but I really can't judge that, because I play only offline. And also crossplay, that was not present on PS4, because the game was not available elsewhere

@cainhurst94 Right, but seeing these numbers, I can't help but think how new Crazy Taxi would fare - not as big name as Sonic, but the project seems even more ambitious and would require solid online player base to succeed. And I don't know if that's in SEGA's Power [Surge].

Is one million for first month really that good? Sonic is SEGA's biggest brand after all, and Mario Kart sells in 10s of millions..

At first, the project seemed interesting and different. Then I saw the gameplay and it started to fall apart - the concept looks quite shalow - I can picture minigame like this as a part of another game. And this review nails it.

@AinsleyE With Virtua Fighter 5, SEGA chose quite friendly PS5 upgrade price, so why not here?

Will I play it on PS5? For me, it very much depends on what else is unveiled at RGG Summit - if we'll get Stranger than Heaven or other new title (or Yakuza 3 PS5 remake?) next year, I'll give 0 a pass..