I’m really pleased to be able drop by the PlayStation Blog to confirm some great news for all Yakuza fans; the much requested “Yakuza of the End” is coming to our shores. Renamed Yakuza: Dead Souls the iconic Japanese series returns, only this time it brings something we’ve felt has been missing – zombies!

If you find yourself not believing that zombies and Yakuza can mix, then take a look for yourself.

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It’s been many, many months in the making, but as you’ll have noticed yesterday, we’ve unleashed Renegade Ops onto PSN as part of the PSN PLAY promotion. We’re incredibly pleased to be part of this new promotion, and hope that you are ready to help General Bryant and the Renegades defeat the tyrannical Inferno and thwart his dastardly plans.

Hopefully you already have a good idea of what the game is about, you may remember I did ramble at length in previous blog posts such as Meet the Team, and Let’s talk about upgrades, but if not allow me to give you a quick reminder; Inferno is threatening to detonate bombs in capital cities around the world, unless his demands are met, and it is in the hands of the Renegade Ops team that the safety of the world now rests. General Bryant and his crack team are taking their range of vehicles, weapons and various specialities to the battlefields to destroy the Inferno threat once and for all.

If you haven’t had the chance to try the game yet, then please help yourself to the trial that is now available via PlayStation Store; we’re confident that once you’ve had this game in your hands for a couple of minutes that you’ll be converted. Not only does the game have a lengthy single-player campaign, but you can also play co-operatively via local split-screen, and you and up to three friends can tackle the Inferno menace online. This is where the game truly excels, as there’s nothing quite like teaming up with your friends and laying waste to countless enemies, destructible buildings and racing each other to upgrade drops and objectives. The game is about teamwork, but you don’t always have be the nice guy or gal.

There isn’t much more to say that I haven’t already, other than I hope you give this game a chance, we’ve enjoyed working on it, and the incredibly talented team at Avalanche have created a truly epic, explosively fun digital title!

It’s out now for £9.99/€12.99 (20% discount for PS Plus users) and below I’ve listed the trophies you can expect to be earning – if you’re good enough that is.

Trophy List:

[Bronze] Goody Two Shoes – Bring 20 Prisoners to the Church
[Bronze] Airbourn – Pilot a Helicopter
[Bronze] Sergeant Slaughter – Kill Inferno’s Sergeants
[Bronze] Jonesing for Relics – Return all the relics to the Museum
[Bronze] From Cold Dead Hands – Steal all Inferno’s Weapons Crates
[Bronze] Supply Problems – Destroy all Mining Carts in the Kaabe Mountains
[Bronze] Inferno’s Briefs – Steal all the Document Briefs
[Bronze] To Hell and Back – Complete Mission 9 on any Difficulty
[Bronze] The Daily Grind – Get a Character to max level
[Silver] Tough Stuff – Complete all Levels on Hardcore Difficulty
[Silver] Lord Master of Great Skill – Get “Skill Rank – Omnipotent” in a match
[Gold] Mega Kill Combo – Get a 100x Damage Streak in a match

Renegades out!

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Not content with simply revealing the first exclusive level for the PS3 release of House of the Dead: OVERKILL, I’m back to give you the scoop on the second one too. Set in the cosy confines of an abattoir taken over by a meaty disease of sorts, Creeping Flesh delivers you more of the additional awesome content we’ve lovingly added to the extended, and definitive, edition of OVERKILL.

We pick up the story with Varla and Candy again, and this time circumstances lead them to the local abattoir. I’m not going to spoil any of the story and the detail around what leads them there, but let’s just say it’s the standard House of the Dead fare; there are guns, motives for revenge and mutants galore, all wrapped up with the usual Grindhouse styling.

As you can see from the above image, there is something of a meaty infestation starting to take hold inside the building, and internally we’ve affectionately referred to this as the meat wall (there is also a meat tunnel later in the level, so that’s something to look forward to). Varla and Candy find themselves fighting amongst this wall of flesh, and as they proceed through the ‘meat factory’ they’ll be forced to take action against the new mutants shown above too. These mutants take the expression ‘meat shield’ to a new level, seeing as the additional flesh they’re lugging around makes them slightly more impervious to gunfire than your standard mutants: it’s body armour made of bodies, so to speak.

I also wanted to give you a sneak peak at the level boss, which is one of the most horrid creations I’ve ever seen in a House of the Dead title. Meat Katie is a savage hybrid of mutant and…cow. Yes, cow. I can only imagine where all that anger has come from, but my personal belief is that she’s harnessing the powers of all the lost cow souls from within the abattoir. Don’t mock, you come up with better!

Anyway, Meat Katie is armed with a massive cleaver, and has a nasty habit of flinging large chunks of meat at her intended victims; I imagine Varla and Candy have had plenty of practise avoiding unwanted meat, so it’s probably not too much of an issue though. In other words, you’re going to need good reflexes, steady aim, and perseverance, because this melee monster is going to take a lot of bullets until she’s beaten.

I hope this serves to only get you more excited about this exclusive PlayStation Move title, and confirm just how much effort the team at Headstrong have put into making the game even more brilliant this time round. You’re in for a meaty treat later this year!

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Hello again, I’m pleased to be able to drop back onto the PS Blog to supply you with more information about our PSN PLAY bound title Renegade Ops. So I’ve talked previously about the story, the characters and the vehicles, but now it’s time to give you the lowdown on the upgrades you’ll be able to pimp your vehicle of choice with.

First though, allow me to give you the first exclusive look at the latest trailer which surprisingly enough shows off some of these upgrades.

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It’s no secret that Avalanche have been busy working on their very first digital title, and us folks here at SEGA are incredibly pleased to be publishing this fantastic game. I’m here today to give you the low-down on the game, introduce the team that you’ll becoming familiar with, and basically let you know just how damn awesome the whole thing is!

Before I get into the narrative meat, I’ll run you through the core of the game; it’s a top-down twin-stick shooter, which sees you take control of one of four character specific vehicles. Each vehicle comes with its own set of attributes and specific play-style, all of which hinges around the special ability of each character. This is all focused around one thrilling campaign that can be tackled in single-player, two-player split-screen, and four player co-operative/competitive (co-opertition as we like to call it) modes. You’ll be working on levelling up your character of choice, unlocking various upgrades, and ultimately hitting the highest rank and ensure your place at the top of the online leader boards.

With the world cowering to the tyrannical madman that is Inferno, and with his impending global dominance on the horizon, it’s through a self-imposed purpose to rid the globe of this menace that we join the Renegades. As ever, when the safety of the world hangs in the balance you have to apply the best political minds and spend many intense moments in negotiation…unless you’re General Bryant that is, and in that case you assemble the best team possible and deal with the problem yourself, in true Renegade style – you’re going to be dealing out some good old-fashioned ass-whuppings.

As for the team in charge of metering out this corrective behaviour, allow me to introduce the team you’ll be taking charge of:

Armand

The Fearless Warrior
Nationality: Benin, Africa
Background: Armand is the definition of larger than life; his stature alone is enough to intimidate an entire room of hardened criminals. He’s an ex bodyguard for hire making himself available to crime lords in Benin, who lost his family at the hands of Inferno loyalists and is now hell-bent on getting revenge for the deaths of his loved ones. He’s in the best place possible to exact this revenge; he’s riding with the Renegade Ops team.

Vehicle: AFV (Armoured Fighting Vehicle)
Ability: Armadillo Plating

Roxy

The Cheeky Egotist
Nationality: USA
Background: Don’t let her appearance deceive you; Roxy is the daughter of a hard-nosed US Navy major and therefore spent her entire life living on various ships and military facilitites. Aged 16 she had acquired the equivalent training and skills of a Navy Seal. Aged 19 she joined the Renegades in search of purpose and adventure.

Vehicle: Buggy
Ability: Rocket Strike

Diz

The Methodical One
Nationality: Spanish
Background: Diz is a science prodigy, who was recruited into CERN at a young age. Her taste for extreme sports, and all things with wheels and souped-up engines created concerns for her superiors. Mistakenly thinking a stint with General Bryant and the Renegades would satisfy her, they didn’t anticipate that she would jump ship and sign up full-time with the team.

Vehicle: Utility Truck
Ability: EMP

Gunnar

The Big Game Hunter
Nationality: Swedish
Background: Professional mercenary for hire, who bonded with Bryant over a shared passion – hunting. It didn’t take too many hunting expeditions and campfire conversations for Bryant to lure Gunnar over to the Renegades. The attraction of taking on the biggest terrorist target in the form of Inferno was too much to resist for this big game hunter.

Vehicle: S.A.A.D. (Special Assault Artillery Destroyer)
Ability: Heavy Cannon

This crack team is led by the fantastically moustachioed General Bryant, and together they will stop at nothing to ensure Inferno is stopped for good. You’re going to be commandeering your character of choice (my preference by the way is with Roxy, she has an incredibly nimble vehicle, and her rocket strike is explosively effective) through nine luscious levels, each one completely different from the next, with the aim of stopping all of Inferno’s minions and ultimately ridding the world of this menace once and for all!

Finally, before I head off, I’m pleased to be able to confirm that we are proudly taking part in the PSN PLAY promotion, and the game will be available to download and play from the 14th of September. Also, don’t forget from the 10th of August you’ll be able to pre-order the game from the comfort of your sofa/chair/preferred method of sitting directly from PlayStation Store.

I’ll be back soon to take you through the full range of vehicle upgrades available, and confirm some cool details about Renegade Ops and Gamescom.

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