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Sega software sales on the rise, for now
Sega Sammy's recovery continues: Despite the generally bad economy, the company is turning around -- just not at Sonic speed. For the first half of the company's fiscal year, ending September 30, 2010, sales in the Home Video Game Software division (the "Sega" you know) were up 19 percent over the same period last year to ¥18.7 billlion ($231 million). Now, imagine this group as a Russian nesting doll inside the "Consumer Business" division, which recorded net sales of ¥38.7 billion ($477.5 million; up 2.9 percent) during the first half, despite an operating loss of ¥1.3 billion ($16.1 million) -- though the full-year projection is a more rosy ¥7 billion in operating income. Three PSP games were highlighted as "Major Titles" for the period, including Kurohyo: Ryu ga Gotoku Shinsyo, a.k.a. Black Panther: New Yakuza Chapter, which sold 250,000 units; and a pair of licensed music games, Hatsune Miku: Project Diva 2nd and K-On Houkago Live, accounting for 340,000 and 210,000 units sold, respectively. Overall, total sales of 33 available software SKUs in the first half reached 6.6 million units, besting the 5.4 million mark set by 30 SKUs during the first half of the last fiscal year. However, the full-year projection -- 16 million units sold from 75 SKUs -- is significantly lower than last fiscal year's total, 26.75 million units sold (across 105 SKUs). In its report, the company said that the software industry has been "generally weak" in the US and European markets due to ... "headwind like sluggish personal consumption." The company's overview statement claims: "The Group needs to adapt to changing business environment in which the market demand for new content geared to social networking service (SNS), smartphone is expanding."
Japanese Yakuza PSP demo available now
4Gamer has posted a downloadable demo for the PSP's Black Panther: New Yakuza Chapter, allowing those interested in the dramatic tale of one teenager beating up a bunch of dudes to check out the game with ease. You won't need to load up the Japanese PlayStation Store or anything fancy like that -- just go to this site and click the pink box in the middle of the page. Andriasang reports that you'll receive a password following the completion of the demo, which will unlock unspecified content in the full game. This game features customizable multiplayer (and hostess) avatars, so we're guessing you'll get some kind of exclusive clothing item.
Yakuza PSP crosses over into TV and manga
Sega wants you to believe these three guys are tough. That's sort of a requirement for accepting them as protagonists of a new Yakuza TV series, based on the PSP's Black Panther: New Yakuza Chapter and bearing the same title. Japan's TBS and MBS stations will begin showing the live action adaptation, featuring an original story, every Tuesday night starting October 5. Later, the episodes will be available for rental on Japan's PlayStation Store. In addition to the TV series, a Yakuza manga will be released, also starring the PSP game's protagonist, Tatsuya Ukyo. It'll be serialized in Weekly Young magazine. That's ... a lot of Yakuza. And that's not even taking the other upcoming Yakuza game into consideration.
Buy Yakuza PSP, get ... a razor
You've heard of this old marketing technique: give away the razor for free with copies of Black Panther: New Yakuza Chapter, then sell the blades. Wait, what?
Yakuza PSP trailer features new art and fighting styles
Sega's latest trailer for Black Panther: New Yakuza Chapter reveals something that may come as a shock to longtime Yakuza fans: this one's actually a bit different! Sure, you're still punching people in the streets of Kamurocho, but there's new stuff to be seen.
