Hi everyone from a rather dreary part of London, where at the time of writing the skies are gray, overcast and rain is thumping down. Which is rather a pity really because what I’ve materialised to talk to you about is in fact blue skies. SEGA blue skies to be precise.

I’m pleased to confirm that the PSN demo of Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing is now available for you to download. The SUMO Digital team have been working hard to provide a truly luscious visual experience and you’ll be able to get a taste of what All-Star Racing action is all about.

The PlayStation 3 has its own track not available on any other platform’s demo which is based off of Blizzard Castle from Billy Hatcher & The Giant Egg. The track called Rampart Road has you quite literally racing all over the castle itself as you avoid rolling eggs, heavy snow drifts and devious crows – they may look like cats but they are indeed crows!

You’ll have two characters to play in the demo, Sonic The Hedgehog (obviously) and Dr. Eggman, their vehicles have their own specific traits – try both of them and see.

As an FYI, you can alter the difficulty settings, the demo should be set to “Advanced” from the get go but you can reduce this to Basic if you find the action a little too intense.

Master drifting around corners and pull off aerial tricks to get a speed boost. Use the range of weapons available to batter, confuse and generally slow your rivals and take that chequered flag. There’s even a sneaky shortcut at one point, see if you can spot it and make it work to your advantage!

Ladies and Gentlemen – start your engines!

Score:

• 17 Comments 6 Replies
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Facebook

It seems so long ago that I first wrote on here to let you know that Yakuza 3 was coming westward — specifically, to Europe. There was much celebration that, after much struggle, the title would be coming and most of you really liked the fact we’d be preserving the amazing Japanese vocal track with the addition of English subtitles.

Just to doubly confirm, there will be no English voice acting. I know some sources were quoting otherwise.

Anyway I’m back to divulge more about the PS3 exclusive – including the fact that when it hits shelves on 12th March 2010 it’ll be in a special Premium Edition!

“What’s in it AAUK?” I’m glad you asked that young Timmy (though I’m afraid you can’t buy it until you are 18, naturally enough) the pack will include the following pieces of rather nifty downloadable content:

• Battle for Survival: Take on all the bosses of Yakuza 3 as Kazuma, stand or fall – determine your own fate!
• All-Star Tournament: A 7 character tournament to determine the strongest warrior.
• All-Star Tag Tournament: Two heads are better than one! Prove it in this 8 team tournament.
• Haruka’s Request: This unique series of challenge missions will send you on a task of exploration throughout the entire Yakuza world, playing mini-games and entertaining Haruka.

It also includes a 31 track soundtrack (YES!) and a Yakuza Who’s Who; a fully animated guide as to how all the characters are connected and who turned from rivals to allies.

Want more? Pff, fine you drive a hard bargain. How about a pre-order incentive as well? Hopefully details will be revealed soon of the deals in your relevant territories for this, the “Challenge Pack”.

Now I know what you’re thinking; Y’know I’ve always wanted to dress-up Kazuma as a masked wrestler. Well the Challenge Pack features that, perhaps the funniest, of four alternative costumes for Kazuma as well as four for Haruka and Rikiya. Perhaps more intriguing though it will allow you to enjoy 2-player mini games, featuring Pool, Bowling, Darts and Golf.

That’s all from me for now, though I may with any luck be back soon on the PSB.EU blog with details on how you can get more directly involved in the world of Yakuza 3 with both SEGA and our friends at Sony.

From Okinawa to Tokyo, only the strongest survive the world of Yakuza – will you be among them?

- ArchangelUK -

Score:

• 51 Comments
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Facebook

Hi guys I’m Kevin, Online Community Manager at SEGA Europe and known to those in the SEGA fraternity as ArchangelUK (or AAUK for short) pleased to meet you.

One of my responsibilities as it were is dealing with our classic franchises, so I’m especially delighted to be able to at last confirm something that we’ve been working on for what seems like forever.

YAKUZA 3 IS COMING TO THE WEST!

Yes indeed, Europe and America will be getting the chance to take on the mantle of Kiryu Kazuma this time battling the Ryudo Ikka, and once again Yakuza will be an exclusive for the PlayStation 3.

Yakuza (or Ryu ga Gotoku as its known in the East) has a highly dedicated fanbase and the series has a very hardcore following over on this side of the globe. Yakuza 3 has already sold over half a million copies in Japan alone and whilst the wait has been long for our US, European and Australian fans you won’t have to wait much longer – the game will be out March 2010.

So yes your pleas for Yakuza 3 were heard loud and clear, I’ll allow Gary Knight – SOE’s European Marketing Director, to explain more:

“Yakuza 3 was one of the most requested titles for localisation by our European SEGA community, so we are delighted to be able to fulfil their wishes with this announcement. As well as delving even further into the rich narrative of the Yakuza universe, the development team have pushed the PlayStation 3 hardware to the limits to produce a beautiful and startlingly realistic depiction of the Japanese underworld.”

As part of the lengthy localisation work Yakuza 3 will feature full English subtitling, whilst maintaining the rich Japanese voice actors that bring an extremely engaging atmosphere to the game – this will no doubt please the purists out there!

Also using our incredible powers of persuasion and dark (blue) magic, we’ve been able to get you guys on the PSB.EU an exclusive interview with the developers of the game. So, if there’s anything you’d like to ask the team about the games production post it in the comments section below. We will then pick the best ones and send them over to Japan.

Yakuza 3 is coming – will you fight like a pussy-cat or more Like a Dragon?

Score:

• 178 Comments 9 Replies
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Facebook