Sega's Binary Domain doesn't launch until February, but the company has already revealed one early-adopter bonus to Japanese players: a code to unlock Yakuza's Kazuma Kiryu within the game's online mode. The game's developer, Team Yakuza, apparently feels that you can take its games out of the Japanese underworld, but you can't take the Yakuza out of its games. Unless you only play offline, of course.
After Yakuza 4, studio head Daisuke Sato told journalists he and his team were “fed up” with the series for the time being. Binary Domain represents a departure for the studio, with the crime epics that made them famous put on the backburner in favor of some of that sci-fi shooting that does so well in the West. However, as the inclusion of Yakuza's protagonist within Binary Domain's online matchups shows, the team hasn't forgotten about its namesake – whose online get-up varies between Rambo-inspired duds or his trademark impractical white suit, depending on which side you're on.
And don't think Binary Domain means Yakuza is a dead franchise, as the studio's next projects include two further entries in the Yakuza series, which ought to sell well after newcomers find themselves repeatedly shot to bits by Kiryu online.
