Sega of America has launched Yakuza for the PlayStation 2 to retail outlets nationwide. Yakuza is a third-person action game featuring a story created by award-winning Japanese novelist Seishu Hase and producer Toshihiro Nagoshi. The game follows the adventures of Kiryu Kazuma - a former Yakuza heavyweight, who is rebuilding his life after serving a 10-year prison term for murder. Kiryu suddenly finds himself caught in a plot involving a mysterious girl known as Haruka and a missing $100 million dollars. The only thing to do to get out of this situation is use his fists and his wits, while unraveling the complex web of truth and lies that surrounds the notorious Yakuza.

Key features of Yakuza include an authentic recreation of Tokyo that players can explore, the ability to build skills and attributes by gaining experience, the ability to collect weapons and items, take on numerous side missions, interrogate and bribe informants, gamble, and even hit baseballs in a batting cage. The game also promises a deep fighting engine that allows players to string together attack combos to take out multiple enemies simultaneously in street brawls or grab and use in-game objects to defeat opponents. You can learn more about the game by checking out www.sega.com .