Grave Gamer News & Views — yakuza studios

The Red Herb Roundup - May 27th Edition

Welcome, followers and perusing eyeballs alike, to the third installment of the Roundup.  Once again, I’ve taken the liberty of collecting, condensing, and listing news worthy happenings in the gaming world that the Herb missed throughout the week as a sort of bullet-pointed tribute to my failures as an internet blogger.  Enjoy!

• Assassin’s Creed III is coming and Ubisoft will be damned if you’re able to find an excuse not to get it.  Not only will the game launch in October for the PC and your major gaming consoles (Wii U included) but a recent online retail listing may have outed it for the PS Vita.  Take your pick.
• The ongoing legal war between Infinity Ward’s ex-chiefs and Activision revealed that the publisher had paid the Call of Duty developer $493 million in bonuses.  The ungodly amount is claimed by the plaintiffs to still not cover the wages their contracts demanded (which is reported to be enough money to grant the city of Detroit flight).
• Don’t expect to see Bungie at E3 in any official capacity.  They’re just sending guys over to drool over new games like the rest of us.
• On that note, annoying footage of what looks like Halo 4’s multiplayer surfaced.  You’ll see what I mean if you decide to punish yourself and watch it.
• Analysts think Grand Theft Auto V should have no problem selling 14 million copies.  Rockstar always knew how to profit off of crime.
• A brand new franchise in the Star Wars universe is set for unveiling on May 31st.  Lucasfilm confirmed we’ll see more at E3…Guess we abandoned Starkiller, huh?
• Yakuza 5 is happening, now with five playable characters and new improvements to gameplay mechanics like seamless transitions between adventuring and combat and I don’t know why I’m talking to America about this.
• Resident Evil: Chronicles HD Collection, bundling the once-Wii bound rail-shooters with new Move controls, hits PSN on June 26th for $26.99.  Should you want one game in the collection over the other (I mean Darkside), you can buy the titles individually for $14.99 each starting July 17th.
• Mass Effect 3 is getting the multiplayer Rebellion Pack next Tuesday.  The pack includes two new maps, new characters, and more weapons.  Here’s the part I love: if you redeemed the Online Pass code, the pack is yours for free, which is consistently my favorite DLC price point.
• A patent for “Game-Interrupting Advertisements” has been unearthed, filed by none other than Sony.  I can only presume the patent was filed in an attempt to ruin the fucking future.

Best Trailer of the Day: Binary Domain’s “Bigger Than You Think”

From the creators of the Yakuza series, we’re given a peek into the sordid future of 2080. Humanity has battled devastating climate changes by advancing technology beyond all precedents. Regulations were set in place to keep such technological growth in check with one rule held in sacred: machines can never fully resemble human...

I know every single American gamer in the country – without exception – is whiling the days away until Yakuza of the Dead (aka Yakuza: Dead Souls) finally comes out, but give a gander to Binary Domain (Feb. 28th), a squad-based shooter set in the 2080’s that looks to be ripped right out of an Asimov novel.

Yakuza Studios hopes to somehow find more international success with Binary.  I really don’t know how a third-person shooter where you blow away robots would translate better than the interpersonal relationships between Japanese mobsters, but I guess that’s why I’m not a game developer.