There appears to be Sega's new otaku oriented merchandizing line.

Trailer Vita Game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hD_ioAiFDJ4

Trailer iOS Communication Thingy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HE5co4rHVyU

Gematsu said:

Sega has announced Uta Kumi 575 (Song Builder 575) , a word puzzle and rhythm game set to launch for PS Vita in 2014 in Japan.

In the game, set in Kamakura, Japan, lyrics flow on the screen while the main characters dance and sing. As the lyrics go by, there are blanks for players to fill in by choosing the words that seem to fit. Because it uses Vocaloid, the game sings it in real-time no matter the word you pick. Players can enjoy the game however they like, find the best combinations, or just use words they like to make the song original.

The game’s two main characters are Azuki Masaoka (voiced by Yuka Ootsuba) and Maccha Kobayashi (voiced by Ayaka Oohashi), created by character designer Hiro Kanzaki. Azuki is a cheerful and honest girl who acts before thinking of the consequences, and Maccha is a quiet introvert with a peculiar view on the world and enjoys making doujinshi. A strange turn of events led the girls to form the happenings and feelings from their daily lives into haiku-like phrases and start “575,” mixing these phrases into songs. They’re leading a fulfilling high school life by uploading these songs to a video website.

...

In addition to the PS Vita game next year, a word communication tool called Uta Yomi 575 (Song Reciter 575) will be launched on iOS in Japan next Friday, July 26.

Click to expand...

Source: http://gematsu.com/2013/07/sega-announces-song-builder-575-for-ps-vita

This isn't a new Yakuza game for the Vita, Sega.

Miku money not good enough for Sega; sets sights on Idolmaster too.

Well, why not.

I don't think there's a game with less chances of localization lol.

Interesting idea.

However, I foresee a huge potential of abuse with this. How many songs about titties and penises are going to be made here?

2000 Yen to the first guy who recreates "My Humps" with this game.

hey dudes this looks super kawaii

No cyan twin tails = no significant sales

Now that is a game with 0% of localization.

This is very japanese.

Since the game seems to have bombed pretty badly in Japan, I wanted to give a few impressions for people that might be considering to import the game.

575 (go-shichi-go) is a really fun rhythm-game, the songs are catchy (if you can deal with the high-pitched voice of Miku etc., you're right at home), and you don't need to know any Kanji to have fun with the game.

What surprised me the most about the game was that it's actually pretty import friendly. I've played through the first half and the word-building part is more like the cherry on top of a very enjoyable rhythm-tapping-game. It certainly helps if you know the Kana and Japanese words, but you can absolutely get through the songs by blindly guessing and still have a average/good rating at the end. It's also pretty funny when you input word-parts in the wrong order; for example, if you're supposed to combine the parts なつ and かしい into なつかしい but chose the wrong order かしいなつ, the girls don't give a sh** and just sing it the wrong way. After the song is over, the game gives you a break-down of the lyrics, telling you where you went wrong. If you really wanna master a track, you can remember the words that gave you trouble and try again. But like I said, there's no need for that if you just want to casually have fun with the game. The flow of the game is modeled after a calender/diary. You watch a short cut-scene that sets the scene, then you get 3 songs, each available as a short/medium/long-version. You complete the short and medium songs to unlock the next entry in the diary. By spending the points you earned, you can unlock the long-version of the songs or buy new costumes/background/etc.

575 is one of the few games that really use the Vita to it's full potential. Multitouch on the front AND back combined with choosing words in between the tapping makes this a really unique experience. I can recommend the game to fans of rhythm-games, especially if you like Hatsune Miku and the whole vocaloid genre. I'm pretty sure the initial pitch within Sega was "let's combine K-ON! with Miku" ;-)