'Yakuza 5' News: Sega Video Game Prepped for November North American Release

By Dondi Tiples, Christian Post Contributor Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Sega has announced it is preparing its "Yakuza 5" release for North America via PSN this coming November.

"Yakuza 5," the fifth main installment in Sega's action adventure video game will finally be coming to North America and Europe in a PlayStation 3 exclusive release sometime in November.

Earlier released in Japan in December 2012, the game sported a new graphics engine with five settings and five playable characters.

Sega did announce in one of its blog posts that its North American and European release may have been much later than they would have preferred, but the developer encountered a number of "development bugs" which were partly responsible for the delay.

There had also been issues involving the conversion of Japanese text into English, but as soon as the glitches have been fixed, Sega has assured fans "Yakuza 5" will be hitting the PlayStation Network next month all across North America and Europe.

The Japanese game developer also announced it was working on the next sequel, "Yakuza 6," which it is scheduling for Japanese PS4 consoles by Q4 2016. The original "Yakuza" title is also currently undergoing development for a full HD remake for PS3 and PS4 but it has only been prepped for the Japanese gaming market so far.

"Yakuza 5," which will take place across five fictional Japanese locales, including Kamurocho, which is part of the fictional Shinjuku's red-light district; Sotenbori, a fictional district in Osaka; Nagasugai in fictional Fukuoka; Tsukimino in fictional Sapporo; and Kin'eicho in fictional Nagoya. They will resemble a Japanese version of "Grand Theft Auto: San Andres," only of the "Yakuza" persuasion.

The storyline takes place after the events following "Yakuza 4," with Kazuma Kiryu having undergone a name change to Suzuki Taichi and now moonlights as a taxi driver in Fukuoka. Taiga Saejima is currently in jail, while Shun Akiyama is on an Osaka business trip, with Haruka Sawamura intent on becoming an Idol after having left the orphanage.

"Yakuza 5" is expected to be released in North America and Europe via PSN by mid-November.