Today Sony Computer Entertainment revealed the upcoming 2.50 system software update for the PS4, nicknamed "Yukimura," and many are probably wondering what that means.

It's actually not a "what," but a "who."

The name is borrowed from Sanada Yukimura, a famous general of the Sengoku period. Nicknamed "A Hero who may appear once in a hundred years", "Crimson Demon of War" and "The Last Sengoku Hero," he's mostly known for having led the defending forces in the Siege of Osaka in 1615.

Incidentally, on the other side of that battle, there was Date Masamune, who lent his name to the PS4 system update 2.0.

Below you can see how Sanada Yukimura and Date Masamune probably looked like:

Interestingly, Sanada Yukimura's real name was Nobushige, and he never was referred to as Yukimura during his life. The "Yukimura" name was introduced by a Edo period novel, and it was then made famous by countless plays, novel, movies, anime and even video games.

In particular the Sengoku Basara series popularized a rivalry between Sanada Yukimura and Date Masamune, and is probably one of the main reasons why the two names have been chosen for the two consecutive big PS4 updates.

Their fictional rivalry (historically, while they fought on opposite sides, there's no record of them ever meeting face to face) has become so popular that there's a very prolific current of Doujinshi (fan-made manga) and fanfiction depicting them in an entirely different kind of relationship, but I'll leave that to your imagination.

At the top of the post you can see them re-imagined in Sengoku Basara. They sure look a hell of a lot cooler than their real counterparts.

It'll definitely be interesting to see if Sony will keep naming its major updates like Sengoku era generals, but at least now you know what "Yukimura" means.