If you didn’t already know, Sega’s Yakuza and Yakuza 2 are being repackaged in an HD re-release that is coming to the Wii U in Japan (the collection previously was released for PS3). The Yakuza games are open-worldish action-adventures that follow the stories of Tokyo’s seedy criminal underworld.
What’s interesting is that the release of Yakuza 1 & 2 HD on Wii U is going to be an “experiment” according to series producer Toshihiro Nagoshi. “We’re not aiming to see if the game will be a smash hit. Our real intention is that we want to see how people respond,” he said in a recent interview.
The interest in this collection in Japan could very well mean a Western release of the package, as well as more games in the series coming to Wii U. However, Nagoshi doesn’t have anything of the sort planned yet. “[The Yakuza series] isn’t jumping ship to Nintendo hardware. Yakuza 1 & 2 are coming out on the Wii U, and this is what it is.”
Nagoshi also shot down the possibility of a Yakuza game coming to Nintendo 3DS, saying that the hardware just isn’t a right fit for the type of game that Yakuza is. However, a new PlayStation Vita game might be coming, since the series has always been a PlayStation mainstay.
But this Wii U experiment sounds quite interesting. With the new partnership between Sega and Nintendo, could we see more ports like this if the experiment does well?
Source: Kotaku via Nintendo Life
Long-shot dream: Panzer Dragoon U
:^)
I’m holding out hope for Shenmue U myself. ;)
I wish this every day of my life. The Nintendo/SEGA partnership will culminate in the release of the HD Shenmue trilogy for Wii U. That’s right, TRILOGY. Because the final game will be made and released, and all three games will feature the game save continuation in the original Dreamcast games. This is my dream.