BitSnark

After a storied history on Sony’s home consoles, it appears that Sega is keen to extend the Yakuza franchise to the PSP too.

Japanese gaming mag Famitsu today outed the first details of Yakuza for PSP, previously known as ‘Project K’.

Set in the familiar neon jungle of series stomping grounds Kamurocho, you play not as harder-than-granite badass Kazama Kiryu, but instead as the eighteen year old Tatsuya Ukyou, a troublemaking youngster with dreams of making it big in the Yakuza.

Gameplay wise, pretty much everything that defines the Yakuza experience is intact for the series portable debut. Tatsuya can roam the streets, talking to people, take part in mini-games and of course, a good bit of foot-in-ass action.

Indeed, the combat system appears to have made it over without any noticeable functional impairment, with Tatsuya able to unleash his own type of unarmed, weapon and rage attacks echoing that which has been a hallmark of the franchise since it’s inception back in 2004.

At present this is a Japanese release and until we hear what the NPD figures for Yakuza 3 released last month were, we won’t know if Sega will have the motivation it needs to bring it over to Western shores.

We can but hope.