Perhaps another Yakuza was expected but it was somewhat exciting news nonetheless as this incarnation features zombies instead of hooligans. However, as with Yakuza Kenzan that was in the samurai era, this zombie version may prove to be a refreshing change of pace while still retaining all the great parts of the series. This game was hinted at by the designer, Toshihiro Nagoshi, a couple years ago when he said it might be cool to have Kiryu Kazuma fight something strange like aliens. 

The TGS trailer didn't say why there were zombies but when in Rome, shoot zombies. There will be four playable characters a la Yakuza 4: Kiryu Kazuma the defacto standard in Yakuza games, Majima the eye patch ally, Shun Akiyama from Yakuza 4 and surprisingly Ryuji Goda, the antagonist from Yakuza 2. Ryuji Goda did die in Yakuza 2 (spoiler but it's an old game) so he appears to be a cyborg now with a chain gun arm. 

The setting is a destroyed and war-torn Kamurocho with giant, metal barricades in place to block off zombies and trap you inside. The bits of gameplay that were shown featured third person shooting with the entire player character in view. Zombies would come in streams opposed to battle events that have been a staple of Yakuza. How the shooting part of the game turns out will likely make or break the game. There are also playable vehicles including a tank and forklift. 

Zombies in the game are white with red, glowing irises. The game does seem to take a page from Resident Evil with mutant zombies. In the video, there was a two story high colossus and a wall crawling blind zombie with a huge tongue. In spite of all the commotion in the town, there still are all the mini-games that have become a part of the series. People can't stop having fun just because a zombie or two hundred are lurking in town. 

No solid word on a release date yet but it's safe to guess spring 2011 on Playstation 3 in Japan. With a new Yakuza coming out on PSP in less than a week, I'm all for having the developers take more time for a better game.