If you have yet to try this iconic action game from the mind of director Hideki Kamiya, your time has come as Bayonetta is debuting at $19.99. Of course, Bayonetta truly shines when you see it in action. So here’s a trip back to the year 2010, when a certain Launch Trailer was just arriving…

Bayonetta is the story of the last remaining member of an ancient clan called the Umbra Witches, a group that has kept the balance between light, dark, and chaos for hundreds of years. Bayonetta awakens after 500 years of sleep to find herself in a world she no longer recognizes, with no clues to her past or how she got where she is.

Her awakening sparks a chain of events that soon reaches cataclysmic proportions. And with a 500 year-old war setting the background of the game and the lines of good and evil blurring fast, Bayonetta needs to discover the secrets of her past and work towards securing her future.

At the core of the game is an amazingly deep combat system, and Bayonetta comes well equipped for battle: wielding four pistols (collectively known as Scarborough Fair) and utilising her infamous fighting style – the ‘bullet arts’ – she’s one big, bad witch you don’t want to make angry.

If you haven’t played Bayonetta and you like action games, I implore you: don’t miss this one. Of course, since I work at SEGA my opinion may be a bit biased, so I’ll leave it to the tried and true fans in the comments to back me up on this.

Hit me up with any questions you have in the comments, and I’ll do my best (as always) to respond to as many as possible. Thanks as always, loyal PlayStation.Blog readers – we hope you’ll enjoy your trip back to Vigrid!

Why hello there, PS Vita owners! We heard you guys were hungry for an awesome multiplayer Vita racing game… and we’re here to deliver. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed hits PS Vita today, and we’re super-excited to share the game with all of you!

The game is out now both in stores and also on PlayStation Store. As you can probably guess, the game also isn’t your average kart racer. The reason we have that fancy “Transformed” in the name is because your vehicle is going to transform in every single race: from a car to a boat to a plane!

My last few blogs here revealed quite a few old school Sega fans, so it’s worth noting that the entire roster is essentially a love letter to gamers. Beyond your traditional Sonic cast, we’ve included the triumphant return of Vyse from Skies of Arcadia (a personal favorite of mine), Gilius from Golden Axe, NiGHTS, and many more. We’ve even got Wreck-it Ralph included as a playable character. (Don’t worry, though – he’s not going Turbo.)

One of the things I personally like most about the races is that “Transformed” doesn’t just apply to your vehicles. It applies to the tracks, too! Volcanoes will erupt, paths will get destroyed, and the terrain itself will change right in front of you, ensuring that every lap is something new and exciting. Add to that each track is based on a vintage Sega franchise or series from the last 20+ years, and you’ve got yourself some serious nostalgia stew cooking.

For PS Vita, the multiplayer features really bring the game together. Racing against friends (or rivals) in completely respectful (or heated and nerve-wracking) races is a ton of fun.

You can pick up the game now at most retail stores, and if you do so you’ll notice you get some bonus DLC content in there too – a little thanks from us to all those fans out there who pick up the game at launch to support it! The digital copy of the game will also come with this DLC, but it’s a limited time offer for both!

We’ve been off to a good start with reviews on PS Vita, so we hope you guys will enjoy it just as much as we do. Thanks for reading, and as always and if you have any questions, please feel free to post them below. Here’s to the launch of another great racing title for Vita owners!

Hey everyone, Aaron here from SEGA. If you, like me, are a gamer with fond memories of Super Monkey Ball (Did anyone else play hours of Monkey Target?), and if you’re a PS Vita owner, you’ll be thrilled to learn that Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz is out now!

If you’re new to the SMB scene, the game is a skill-based platformer at heart with over 100 unique levels, but is also packed with multiplayer mini-games that take advantage of the PS Vita features. For the first time ever in a Monkey Ball game, we’ve also included a custom level creator that uses the PS Vita camera! And yes, Monkey Target, SMB’s most beloved mini-game (and perhaps most hilarious drinking game) is back in all its glory.

Fans will recognize all the tried and true elements of SMB that you’ve come to love, along with multiple difficulty settings: easy, medium, hard, and oh-my-god-this-is-amazingly-ridiculous. Well, we actually just call the last one “advanced,” but it’s so difficult it’s sure to give you hours of challenge. I’d actually bet maybe one in a hundred of you could complete it. Challenge accepted?

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz is out now in stores and on PSN. We hope gamers of all ages will have a great time with it, both offline and on!

This is just the start of things for SMB on PS Vita, as I can reveal that we have eight different packs of DLC, all on their way to you in the very near future. The DLC packs will include a number of special additions to the Level Creator mode, from special floor pieces to a giant Sonic the Hedgehog statue! (See above.)

We’d love to hear your thoughts and comments, so hit us up below and I’ll do my best to answer all the SMB questions you guys may have. Thanks in advance!

So, what is Yakuza: Dead Souls all about? I traveled to the top of the mountains and spent two weeks meditating to bring you the answers. In the end, that failed, so I just played the entire game instead. It was awesome, and in doing so, I found that this game is a mix of:

• Zombies in Tokyo
• Yakuza with guns
• Beautiful Hostesses

And while I’m not able to reveal how much content from the Japanese version is coming over, let me just say that you fans are going to be very, very happy when you hear how much we’ve included.

The version we’re bringing to the west features the entire storyline, as well as its brand new mini-game: Pachislot. Yakuza: Dead Souls returns you back to the streets of Kamurocho, which is now under attack by hordes of Zombies. Though you won’t be restricted by Zombies as your only threat, as you’ll also face powerful mutants, and, perhaps most dangerous of all, members of the Japanese underworld.

The name Dead Souls has multiple meanings within the game, beyond the obvious “Oh-hey-that’s-totally-a-Zombie” angle. But did I mention the Zombies yet? Well, there are Zombies. Lots of Zombies. So many Zombies I’m going to start using a capital Z when I type Zombies, just to spite all those English professors back in college who said I couldn’t. Zombies, Zombies, Zombies!

Yet even for all the wacky and hilarious Japanese culture laden within the game – and in past Yakuza games, too – there is a strong layer of serious, emotional storytelling taking place here. This game has also convinced me that, without a doubt, Kazuma Kiryu is more manly than both Chuck Norris and Duke Nukem fused together – but that’s for another blog.

If you’re a fan of the series, we’d like to end by saying THANK YOU for going out there and picking up the western releases of Yakuza 3 and 4. Even now, every copy of Yakuza 4 sold, and every pre-order of Yakuza: Dead Souls helps this franchise continue to survive and grow here in the west.

Got a question about Yakuza: Dead Souls? Want to know more about the game or leave a comment below? Please do – I’m aiming to top my previous response numbers with a 100% response ratio this time. All I ask is that you keep the questions Yakuza related, where possible. Thanks guys – and stay tuned for more Zombie goodness from us soon!

If you’ve never played the Yakuza series before, I highly recommend you download the demo and give it a whirl. Today’s demo is built around brawling, and in it you’ll get to play as all four unique characters in the game. Oh, and if you’re glowing blue and you see the triangle button appear, make sure to press it – those are called HEAT actions, and they’re both brutal and pretty amazing.

Also, hidden tip – we’ve equipped each character with a special weapon to use! Tap down on the d-pad to equip a weapon, and you’ll find yourself armed with everything from nunchucks to spears to katanas. Kazuma Kiryu, the final character in the demo, also comes equipped with all three for you to try out.

If you own a PS3, you owe it to yourself to see why this series is exclusive to the console. And there’s even more good news: following the great positive support from fans who picked up Yakuza 3 last year, we’ve made a massive effort to include as much content in the game as possible this time – which means that you’ve got hours upon hours of bonus side-content and mini-games added in. Like Hostess Clubs? Worry not – we’ve got ‘em. Pachinko? Check. Baseball, bowling, a date at the hot springs, massage parlors, table tennis in kimonos – it’s all here.

Yakuza 4 is much more than just brawling, though we hope you’ll really enjoy just how deep the combat is within the demo. You can experience everything the game has to offer firsthand soon, on March 15th! (Our friends over at Gamestop also have a shiny Hostess premium theme if you support the game by pre-ordering!)

As always, thanks to you guys for supporting series like Yakuza and Valkyria Chronicles. Drop a line in the comments if you’d like to fire away any questions.

SEGA!

Long time no see, everyone! It seems like only yesterday we were talking about the original Valkyria Chronicles, the Yakuza series, and the announcement of Valkyria Chronicles II for the west. Today, we’re proud to announce that our massive 22 Mission DLC Pack for Valkyria Chronicles II is going live this afternoon on the PlayStation Store, and you can pick it up at an awesome value of $4.99!

If you’ve been following our Community BLiTZ over on the SEGA blogs, we’ve been updating almost every day with free codes to unlock new characters and tank stickers in the game. Today, because we love you guys, we’ve teamed up with Jeff and the crew here at the PS. Blog to post our BLiTZ Finale exclusively here – and with it, four brand new codes for you to enjoy!

Many of these codes are exclusive to the western version of the game. You can find all four codes in the Lotte Insider’s linked here, and also below:

• Free Code #1: After Burner Climax Tank Sticker: C9SAGP8M7PJ84H5S
• Free Code #2: Resonance of Fate Tank Sticker: UJH5YB4Z7E33VCJT
• Free Code #3: Nei (Phantasy Star II) Tank Sticker: 9H1FHVBV2YAZE3A1
• Free Code #4: Unlockable Character Emelia (From Phantasy Star Portable:2), two new missions, and a Little Wing tank sticker: FSHL2DTP1EVB52AN

You can enter these codes in the Extras section from the title screen (under “Password”), and yes, they *are* case sensitive!

Those of you savvy about the Japanese release might have also noticed that instead of charging $1 or so per mission, as was the case there, we have bundled all 22 of today’s DLC missions together and then made the price about as awesome as possible, at $4.99 – a little thank you to everyone here in the west who did their part, and who continue to support the success of Valkyria Chronicles here in the US and across Europe. There are few to no communities greater than the Valkyria community in terms of massive support and dedication, in my eyes.

Thank you guys for making all of the hard work that each of our teams – from the developers in Japan all the way to our teams in the US and Europe – worth every ounce of effort.

For all of you who have been with us from the first day a little thing called the ‘Community BLiTZ’ began, to those of you who are just reading about this for the first time – thank you for sticking with us. If you’ve never experienced the glory of Valkyria Chronicles yet – and readers, back me up here in the comments if you agree – you owe it to yourself to check one of the PlayStation’s best exclusive franchises.

As the codes go out and the DLC finally goes live, we proclaim amidst the softening roar of tanks, the echoes of fading footsteps, and the settling dust, five words that for us contain both happiness and sadness:

The Community BLiTZ is complete!

As Valkyria Chronicles II gets close to its August 31st release, we’d like to give you all a little sample of the game to try out and play for yourselves! If you’ve been wondering how Valkyria Chronicles II holds up to the first game, today you can experience the glory of getting those lovely headshots on a rebel (or ten) while on-the-go.

If you loved the first game, you’ll be glad to see that the feel of battle has been not only preserved, but also improved upon greatly. The new multi-field battle layout also adds another level of strategy, giving some missions a number of paths for you to send your squad through. Jeff and I also talked about the multiplayer in one of the recent blogs here, which offers both cooperative and competitive play in addition to the full RPG storyline.

Valkyria Chronicles II may be a PSP game in relation to its older PS3 brother, but trust me when I say not to take it lightly. This little gem not only manages to do justice to one of my favorite RPG Battle systems – ever – but also brings back the CANVAS system for a beautiful watercolor finish that looks just as good as it plays.

Finally, I’d like to include one other confirmation here on the blog: We’ve added a few new exclusive items to the Western version of the game! Among the many stickers that you can get for your tank or vehicle, we’ve added in a few brand new ones that both old and new SEGA fans are sure to smile at. Those of you who loved the first game will also be happy to note that we’ve included a few original characters as unlockable Easter eggs, just like in the Japanese version.

I could write about my love for this series for pages and pages – but the easiest way to experience Valkyria Chronicles is truly to play it. We hope you all will enjoy the demo when it goes live later today, and I’d love to hear what you guys think.

As always, hit us up with any questions or comments below, and I’ll do my best to respond to them all. All the best, and have fun!

After some amazing passion seen across the board from fans regarding the release of Yakuza 3, SEGA is proud to announce that the fourth installment of the Yakuza series is heading West, and will be releasing exclusively on the PlayStation 3 in the spring of 2011!

Yakuza 4 also builds on the style of the original Yakuza foundation by adding three new playable characters, each with a distinct personality and fighting style. They all have connections to the Tojo clan — but what those connections are, and what they mean with regard to a man named Kazuma Kiryu, is just one part of what will truly make things interesting.

We’d also like to confirm what we feel is important news for our fans: the Hostess Clubs will be returning in Yakuza 4!

Finally, we’d like to let you guys field questions to the man whose name goes hand in hand with the Yakuza (or Ryu Ga Gotoku in Japan) series himself: Nagoshi-san! Write your questions in the comments below, and with a bit of luck, your question will be among others asked after next week’s E3!

Good luck, and we hope all you Yakuza fans out there just found your day got a little brighter. If you’ll excuse us, that plush cat in the UFO Catcher at Club SEGA has been making fun of us all morning, and it’s about time we showed him our perception skills.

“If there’s one thing about Yakuza that these last few months have taught people,” I thought as I sat at lunch on Monday, “It’s that the fans are a force to take seriously…usually.” Fans can be the biggest allies and proponents of games that may not be the huge, multi-million sellers like (insert generic FPS here), or (insert additional generic FPS here). They can create amazing successes for games that were never expected to have them – looking at you, Valkyria Chronicles – and they can just as easily do the opposite, in some cases.

But more than anything, most fans just want to be heard. Fans want interaction, and to be responded to. So let’s begin this blog post by jumping right in to one of the biggest things fans have been asking about: the content.

Yakuza 3 is huge. Besides exploring Tokyo and Okinawa, you can also visit restaurants, pick up ramen at a local convenience store, go golfing, bowling, fishing, karaoke, or bust some heads in a local street fight.

As someone who enjoyed Shenmue, my love for Yakuza grows in knowing that some of the people who developed the original Shenmue games also work on Yakuza now. The similarity in feel between the two is no coincidence – and the epic feel of exploration, and Japanese culture, that the game offers are things you won’t find anywhere else. I’m also a big fan of playing darts while drunk – the extra level of difficulty is quite entertaining, besides being notably safer in Yakuza 3’s virtual world than it is in real life. (Note: I do not condone playing Darts while intoxicated. You’ll probably take someone’s eye out.)

Also, we’d like to make special note that while not everything from the Japanese version made it to the western shores, our community team has been – and will be– reading, compiling, and passing all of that feedback upwards here at SEGA. I can’t say more than that presently, but know that you are being heard, and we’ll make sure of that for you. To clarify additionally, as has been mentioned: Hostesses are in the game, and you can take them out on dates, build relationships, and sing karaoke with them to your heart’s content.

As Yakuza goes out the door and into the homes of hundreds of thousands of fans, I’d also like to take a moment to give some thanks to the people that really deserve it – and that’s you guys. It goes to the people who pushed from the beginning to show SEGA how much they wanted this game here. To those who post in the comments sections encouraging us, offering bright and helpful viewpoints even when the going got rough. And finally, to those who continue to support this PS3 exclusive by picking up the game, and in doing so give the franchise the legs on which to stand.

Know that we appreciate the support so many of you have already given to this series – and that we are now, and will continue to listen to your feedback.

That said – here’s to Yakuza 3!

What’s in store for those of us here in the US? A fair bit, actually – here’s what you score when you pre-order the game:

4 pieces of DLC will be packed into the game via a special code card. This will allow players access to the following content:

• Battle for Survival – Take on all the bosses of Yakuza 3 as Kazuma
• All-Star Tournament (7 character tournament)
• All-Star Tag Tournament (8 team tournament)
• Haruka’s Request – This unique series of challenge missions will send you on a task of exploration throughout the entire Yakuza world, playing mini-games and entertaining Haruka.

In addition to this, Yakuza fans who pre-order the game at their local GameStop will receive additional content via the Challenge Pack. This will allow them to enjoy 2-player mini games, competing against their friends at Pool, Bowling, Darts and Golf. They will also be able to customize their principle characters with four alternative costumes for Kazuma, Haruka and Rikiya.

Besides the pre-order content, are there any specific parts of the game you guys out there are interested in? Let us know here in the comments, and we’ll see what we can do to get some spotlights out there on the things you all would most like to see.

With just over a month until Yakuza releases, the wait is almost over. Until next time!