SEGA announced this week that their Ryu Ga Gotoku (Yakuza in North America) development team is working on two new titles for both the PSP and the PS3 – Yakuza: Black Panther 2 and Yakuza 5. Hit the jump to find out more about the two upcoming Yakuza games from SEGA.

According to an interview with leading PS3 and PSP game magazine Shukan Famitsu PS3 + PSP, Kurohyou 2: Asura Hen (Black Panther 2: Fighting Demon Chapter) is the sequel to the PSP-exclusive Yakuza game which featured a different cast, a different city (Osaka), and a brand-new storyline. It continues the story of Tatsuya Ukyo as he battles through Osaka’s underground fighting circuit called Dragon Heat. For those worried that the Kurohyou 2 has become a linear game, worry not as the game’s producer has said that it will still be a story-driven open-world game just like the other Yakuza games.

Also according to Famitsu, SEGA has indeed started development on the latest game in the main Yakuza franchise. SEGA has said that Yakuza 5 is undergoing various changes and what looks like a brand new storyline. Many thought that the series ended with Yakuza: Of The End which had the main protagonists fighting to survive a zombie-infested Japan.

While not as popular in North America as it is in Japan, the Yakuza series has been amassing a surprisingly larger hardcore following that’s been hard at work at proving to SEGA of America that the series CAN sell in American markets. Fans of the series are now waiting for SEGA to localize Yakuza: Kenzan! (Samurai side-story based with its characters based on the Yakuza protagonists) and the aforementioned Yakuza: Of The End (Which had Kiryu and his friends battling undead as a virus devastates Japan).