News roundup: A new Sengoku Basara 4 video debuts at Nagoya handshake event

Today is Saturday, which means that the second Sengoku Basara 4 in-store preorder event was just held in Japan! Game producer Kobayashi 'KobaP' Hiroyuki travelled to Bic Camera in Nagoya to meet fans and present a brand new video. I've been to that branch of Bic Camera a few times before and expect that there were more attendees; it's relatively accessible and the current Butai Sengoku Basara stage play is being performed in the same city all weekend!

Here are the rumours that fans have been sharing about the event from Twitter, 2ch and various blogs. I might add to this later if more details appear at the end of the event.

• Tag is confirmed! There are some restrictions but they weren't explained.
• Weapons can be upgraded. By combining them in some way, you can make them look the way you want.
• The Basara-ya shop will work the same way it did in Sengoku Basara 3 Utage.
• One person said KobaP mentioned not being able to talk about online gameplay yet while the event was being set up.
• The new PV seems to show some in-game content as well as the weapon upgrade system and something about levelling up your character.
• KobaP is trying to push Katsuie hard (i.e. he wants to make him more popular). But director Yamamoto is pushing Sakon!
• KobaP was asking attendees who their favourite character was during the handshake greetings.
• He refused to answer someone's question about whether Motonari was going to be in the game.
• There was a reference to Matabee having been in the Toyotomi army together with Kanbee at one point.
• One of the routes in the game involves the girls teaming up (note: this is probably the one we've seen in the third PV with Naotora, Magoichi and Tsuruhime all in a group).
• Shikanosuke has some kind of involvement with Nobunaga.
• Not sure whether this has been mentioned before but people were confirming that Sakon has a different taunt and Basara attack depending on whether he's in odds or evens mode (i.e. using his sword or his kicks).
• Some kid kept disruptively yelling that Kojuurou was awesome, which people found hilarious.
• The crossover with Geist Crusher was discussed at length too.
• Yoshitsugu has still not been formally announced for the game, of course, but in the PV he was shown as Kanbee's battle comrade. If they're only showing playable characters as battle comrades, this might be a hint.
• The PV included Hisahide again too, but there was no indication that he might be playable.
• KobaP (2), @puyootanau, @reitoumican and many others have been tweeting pictures of the venue.

Update 14:30: A little more news surfaced so here we go!

• Capcom have been showing off the full Hyakka Ryouran Tamatebako special edition of Sengoku Basara 4 at today's in-store event and @okayu_bsr managed to snap a picture. It looks great.
• As Bic Camera is one of the stores giving away Shima Sakon's DLC costume with preorders, there was an additional treat for Sakon fans; a sample of his official profile from the special edition game book. Twitter user @yzkyu888 provided a nice close-up of the sample character designs as well as a couple of Sakon's profile. Just like Katsuie's before, some parts are censored so they don't spoil the surprise.
• Sakon is described as a sociable young man, addicted to gambling. He acquires a future when he meets Mitsunari.
• Profile: Previously Shima Kiyooki, Sakon...(note: the next part is all censored). Having lost a bet for the first time, Sakon took hold of his own future. He would thereafter call himself Shima 'Sakon', a man close to Mitsunari, the Left Arm of the Toyotomi (note: the kanji in the name 'Sakon' are 'left' and 'near').
• There are headings for his relationship with Ieyasu, his position in the Toyotomi army and something about Kuroda Kanbee. The information is being kept secret for now. With regards to Shibata Katsuie, it's written that he reminds Sakon of himself back when he was wallowing in despair. If there's a way that Sakon can save Katsuie, he wants to try it.
• The chain of command in the Toyotomi army has Hideyoshi and Hanbee at the top, then the rest of the order is hidden.
• His colours are wine red and pink. One inspiration was a reddish version of Bruce Lee's yellow-and-black suit, except with asymmetrical colours. His clothing was designed to be suitable for kicking, hence the boots; there's only a little 'Sengoku-flavour'. The mismatched colours are to emphasise the two different sides of his fighting style and also to evoke an odds/evens gambling feel.
• Sakon's hairstyle is a 'rough, asymmetrical wolf-cut' with braiding on one side.
• After the in-store event, KobaP headed to the stage play venue, taking a picture of one of the posters when he arrived.
• During the stage play talk session, KobaP mentioned that he told the stage play director he wanted to try adapting the Gakuen Basara series one day. Will we see a Butai Gakuen Basara before or after a Butai Sengoku Basara 4, I wonder?
• KobaP also said that if Yukimura and Masamune are around 20 years old, Sasuke would be in his 20s but older than them. Nobunaga would be around 35 years old. These aren't official character ages, they're just the 'image' that the staff have in mind for how they appear.

I expect we'll see the video appear on the Capcom Channel whenever it's ready - last time it went up on Monday, but someone on 2ch suggested it would be Thursday this time. Because today was also the first of the HAL open campus game demo sessions, the Sengoku Basara team has been split to promote the game between two different cities.

This is a rather text-heavy news report so I'll finish with a picture that has been circulating on the official Sengoku Basara Twitter account for the last few days: it's the Yellow-Black Alliance!

Hoshi Souichirou to appear at the next Basara Matsuri event

The open lottery for tickets to January's Sengoku Basara 4: Basara Matsuri 2014 ~Shinshun No Utage~ event began on Friday, and if it's anything like the fan club lottery a couple of weeks ago it's going to be a real struggle for people to get tickets. There are simply far more people clamouring for a chance to attend than there are seats at the venue!

Capcom decided to exacerbate this situation by helpfully announcing another guest for the event just before the lottery began: popular seiyuu Hoshi Souichirou (Sanada Yukimura) will be attending for the afternoon show only. I bet he'll briefly appear at the evening show too as a secret guest (and Nakai will do the opposite) for old times' sake and to appease the fans who couldn't get a ticket to the right performance.

Busho Matsuri 2013 event DVD to receive a general release

Until now it was only possible to order the Butai Sengoku Basara Bushou Matsuri 2013 DVD from a limited number of specialist stores, but it seems that a general release (AmiAmi) is coming on 20th December 2013. I'm not sure whether this means that the DVD has slipped from its vague 'late November' release date at the Dais Shop, but I guess I'll find out soon! While ordering through Amazon Japan has the advantage that there's a discount on the price, if I can get my copy earlier then I won't regret having preordered from the official shop.

The Amazon listing also confirms a few details about the release. It will span two DVDs and last 250 minutes; 180 minutes will be the recording of the event while there will also be a generous 70 minutes of extra footage.

More and more merchandise is revealed ready for the launch of Sengoku Basara 4

Capcom don't intend to let the game's release pass without a ton of merchandise on offer for the fans to buy, and here are the latest additions to shop listings across Japan.

A 1000-piece 50x75cm Sengoku Basara 4 jigsaw puzzle. It will be released on 20th January 2014 and cost ¥3,360.

A set of four Sengoku Basara 4 badges. These are pretty cool; they're oversized at 75mm and the designs are better than usual. The badges will be released on 30th January 2014 and they'll cost ¥473 each. Masamune's says "Horse riding is prohibited", Katsuie's is a very glamorous mandala design to go with his theme, Mitsunari's simply says "If it's not about Hideyoshi-sama, I don't care." and Sakon's has an odds/evens gambling theme.

A set of four gorgeous new A4 clear files. They'll be released on 30th January 2014 for ¥368 each. There are designs for Masamune, Sakon, Katsuie and Mitsunari.