Yakuza

Here Is A Ridiculously Well Animated Video Game Jazz Band

When video games depict a musical performance, they usually half-ass the animations. The drummer waggles his sticks around, the guitarist scrubs at the strings, the sax player sways like a drinking bird. Not Yakuza 0, man. This game takes musicians seriously. In the video above, you can watch a brief, extremely well animated sequence where…

Without A Doubt, The Best Yakuza 6 Glitches

Not only is Yakuza a good time, but it’s glitches and bugs can be, too. And here are the best ones of all. Like any big game these days, Yakuza 6 has some glitchy parts. Such as this. Or this buggy bit when the main character went M.I.A., turning Yakuza 6 into a first-person game.…

Podcast: A Rain Of Games From Japan

This week on Kotaku Splitscreen, Jason’s out so I’m joined by our own Luke Plunkett to talk Nintendo Switch, Yakuza 0, and the hard rain of big new games coming out of Japan. It’s wild that in the space of a few months, we’ve gotten Final Fantasy XV, The Last Guardian, Gravity Rush 2, Resident Evil…

The day before Yakuza 6 comes out in Japan, its release in South Korea has been cancelled. It was supposed to come out in 2017. In an official release (via tipster Sang), PlayStation Korea said the decision was “due to the nature of the content.” Hrm…

Destroying Japanese Convenience Stores In Yakuza 6 Will Never Get Old

Never! Because in the Yakuza 6 demo, you don’t even need punches and kicks to wreak havoc on in-game convenience stores. You can just run up to them and watch stuff start flying.  See what I’m talking about in the clips below: I guess if you did run at a shelf filled with stuff, it…

Yakuza 6 and original Yakuza remake Yakuza Kiwami—the latest in the Sega-made crime series beloved in Japan and in the Luke Plunkett household—are coming to the West on PS4. Summer for Kiwami. Early 2018 for Yakuza 6 according to Sega.

Dating 101

If you don’t like Yakuza games then…look, I don’t know how or where you can get the help that you need, I just know that you need it. This is Yakuza 0, a game that’s out in the West in January 2017 (it’s been out in Japan since 2015). Don’t let the fact that it’s…

Sega’s Yakuza is getting a live-action drama in Japan. Details are scant, but it was announced in a recent live stream with Yakuza produce Toshihiro Nagoshi. 

Never Change, Yakuza

Yes, that is Beat Takeshithrowing a baby. Yakuza 6 cannot come soon enough. It’s from a trailer that Sega screened/streamed for the game at TGS yesterday, which has all the gravelly voice acting and head-punching you could ever need.

Yakuza 6 Features Cam Girls

Previous Yakuza games let players talk with virtual hostesses in bars and clubs. As a sign of the times, the upcoming entry in the long-running series features cam girls. Yep. According to Famitsu (via Siliconera), Yakuza 6 has some sort of “Live Chat” cam girl feature. It looks to be point-based, and details, which should…

Check out the latest trailer for PS4 exclusive Yakuza 6, which will be out in Japan on December 8. It’s slated to be the last entry in the Kazuma Kiryu saga. No word yet on a Western release.

Don’t Ever Change, Yakuza

Because it’s a prequel set in the 1980s, Yakuza 0 is hopefully going to be the perfect place for newcomers to jump into Sega’s story-heavy world of brutal combat and dumb-ass minigames. Because the more people who play Yakuza, the better Yakuza 0 is going to be out in English in 2017. Its E3 trailer…

Bringing Yakuza To The West Is Still Tricky

Sega’s Yakuza games are terrific. You really need to play them. Yet, they’re not always localized, and if they are, they arrive late. According to series mastermind Toshihiro Nagoshi, Sega is still trying to figure out how to appeal to Western gamers. I’d say keep doing what you’re doing, but it’s not that simple, I…

Sega said today that Yakuza 0, the newish prequel to the Japanese gangster series, will be released on PS4 in the West in “early 2017″ (it was out in Japan in 2015). If you want to know why this is exciting news, just look at this

Yakuza, Explained In Four Minutes

Yeah,this is pretty much the entire series, in a nutshell.

In Yakuza 6, You Can Beat Up a Japanese Convenience Store

Yakuza 6 isn’t out yet, but holy crap, it already looks incredible. In this footage from the demo, Kazuma Kiryu walks in on a guy brandishing a knife at a convenience store clerk. The guy tells him to buzz off and orders his goons to beat Kiryu to death. So, Kiryu punches the hell out…

Series creator Toshihiro Nagoshi showed off some Yakuza 6 gameplay on a Sega stream last night. The upcoming installment of the under-appreciated series is a PS4 exclusive due out this fall in Japan. Who knows when it’ll get a western release? Contact the author at [email protected]

Track: Comin’ at ya, my girl | Artist: Mitsuharu Fukuyama | Album: Yakuza 5 – Original Soundtrack Vol. 2 Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment. To contact the author of this post, write to: [email protected]

Now That We’ve Got Yakuza 5, Time To Start Drooling Over Yakuza 6

Released in 2012 in Japan, Yakuza 5 finallymade it to North American PlayStation 3 consoles last week, just in time for Sega to release this jaw-dropping trailer for the PlayStation 4 exclusive Yakuza 6 The general sense I got from fans of the series between the release date announcement post and Luke Plunkett’s completely true…

You Really Need To Play The Yakuza Games

The Yakuza series is one of the best in video games. Sad thing is, given their delayed localisation work and reputation for being a little…different, they’re also largely ignored by the wider gaming public. I’d love it if that could change. I’ve been playing Yakuza 5 this week, and I can totally understand why so…