[NewsPoster]

Welcome to the Game Replay, the thrice-weekly look at the wider world of gaming by the staff of MacNN. In today's edition, Starbreeze is criticized for introducing microtransactions to Payday 2, Yakuza 5 takes almost three years to reach the United States, the South Korean eSports leagues are rocked by match-fixing arrests, and Nintendo prepares third-party developers for its next-generation of game console.

Yakuza 5 arriving on PlayStation 3 in United States almost three years after Japan launch

A port of a Japanese game is heading to the PlayStation 3 in North America, almost three years after it originally shipped. Yakuza 5 originally went on sale in Japan in December 2012, with Sega advising that the North American release will be arriving "in mid-November as a downloadable title, if all goes to schedule."

Revealed in a blog post, the development team claims "it's a little later than we would've liked," while also admitting it had endured a "few weird development bugs that pop up in localization" as being one of the last few problems stalling its release. Engadget reports part of the problem includes the on-screen text changed from Japanese to English throwing up some errors for the localization team.

A sixth game in the Yakuza franchise was announced during the Tokyo Game Show, with Sega aiming for a release in Japan for fall 2016 on the PlayStation 4. A HD remake of the first Yakuza game is also said to be on the way for both the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4, but will apparently only ship in Japan. Given the amount of time it has taken for the game to be translated for the US audience, it is likely fans will have a very long wait for the next installment of the game, if Sega decides to localize this newer edition.

Payday 2 microtransactions announcement prompts criticism by players

A recent decision made by the developers of Payday 2 has caused unrest among the FPS heist game's fans. Starbreeze Studios revealed it would be introducing a microtransaction-based system to the game, where players will have to pay for the chance to unlock rare weapon skins for the game, selected at random from a list.

The "Black Market" employs a similar mechanism to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, where players pay to unlock a container that includes one item from a randomized collection. Kotaku writes that the announcement of the mode by Starbreeze advises players will be able to pay $2.50 for a special drill to open these safes, with the rare skins also granting boosts to weapons, and associated mods that make the guns more powerful or better to use.

Player complaints on Reddit and the Steam Forums mostly center around how this appears to be a cash grab by the developers. Many point to a post made on Steam by the game's producer in 2013, where it was stressed the game would never include microtransactions at all.

Starbreeze has advising it is aware of the criticism, but it won't be issuing a response about microtransactions until the current community event ends.

WSJ: Nintendo providing developer kits for codenamed NX game console

Developers are being given a head start in creating games for Nintendo's next console, according to a report. It is claimed Nintendo is providing a software development kit for the device, codenamed the NX, with sources of the Wall Street Journal suggesting the hardware may get launched as early as next year.

The eventual form of the console is also teased by the report, with sources "familiar" with Nintendo's plans alleging it will have both a console and another mobile unit. While this sounds similar to the Wii U's second screen experience, there is also the suggestion this mobile unit could be "taken on the road" like one of the company's handhelds. In order to combat criticism that the Wii U was limited in terms of processing power, Nintendo will also apparently include "industry-leading chips" in the NX specification.

So far, there is one game confirmed as heading to the Nintendo NX, whenever it launches. In July, Square Enix claimed it will be releasing Dragon Quest 11 on the NX, as well as a number of other consoles, but did not go into detail about how the game would compare on that platform compared to others.

Players arrested over match-fixing allegations in major South Korean StarCraft II games

A number of people involved in eSports in South Korea have been arrested over allegations they were involved in illegal betting and match-fixing in StarCraft 2. The head coach of team Prime, Park Wae-Sik, and pro-gamer Choi Byeong-Heon, also known as YoDa, were taken into custody along with other former professional players, brokers, and gangsters.

The Changwon Regional Prosecutor's office discovered five major StarCraft 2 matches between January and June of this year were fixed, reported by YonHap News and translated by Team Liquid. The matches themselves were at a professional-level and viewed by many, and are said to include matches in GSL Season 1 and the SKT Proleague.

It is claimed coaches and players involved received between 5 million won and 20 million won ($4,400 to $17,000) to throw matches. Those involved in the betting side said to have made up to 40 million won ($34,000) per match, though the amounts involved could be far higher, depending on other wagers placed over the rigged matches.

The Korean e-Sports Association has been quick to bar both the named coach and player for life.

The rigged match allegations are only the latest issue to affect eSports, which is struggling as a whole to keep everything a level playing field for those involved. In July, the ESL became the first company to declare it would perform random drugs tests on players to make sure they are not using anything to enhance their performance.