Sega’s organized crime epic blends high-stakes drama with goofy humor and absurdly in-depth minigames. The latest installment, Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, launched in January 2024.
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This is definitely a thing. More PS2 games—Yakuza 1 and 2—are getting HD versions for the PS3. The single set will be out later this year in Japan with HD graphics and tweaks like shorter load times. [ゲーム情報！ゲームのはなし]
Sega’s Yakuza series of crime games always pride themselves on top-notch voice acting and realistic faces. The games continually get some of the biggest names in Japan to lend their voices (and mugs) to the games. Today, Sega released a series of voice cast photos with their in-game counterparts. These are famous (and talented) folks,…
In the Yakuza series, the protagonists do many things: Lead mobs, beat each other up, meet porn stars in clubs… Now, in Yakuza 5, it looks like we’ll be offered another perspective on the multiple protagonists where they’ll partake in other activities while they don’t pursue suspects, solve mysteries, or uncover conspiracies. Yakuza 5 will…
Sega’s Yakuza gangster games and porn stars are no strangers. A few years back, adult film star Rio made it to the final selection process to see which hopefuls would appear in the game. Then, there was the Yakuza hostess who starred in an adult movie after appearing in Yakuza 4… This go round another…
With the announcement that Yakuza 5 will feature 5 main characters in 5 major cities across Japan, and a new game engine to upgrade the outdated look of the series, Sega has released a teaser site and revealed the back story of the new chapter. Back Story: 2010. The feud between the two yakuza clans,…
Sega’s Yakuza games (above) are wonderful. They have great dialogue. Great cutscenes. And cool combat. Yet, they feel like PlayStation 2 games. They’re not—they are PS3 games. But they feel so last gen, due to the tech that powers them. That is going to change with the upcoming Yakuza 5. According to the upcoming issue…
“You have to pet their egos,” said Elizabeth. “That’s what a hostess does.” Now, in her early 30’s and married, Elizabeth is living a very different life but was still eager to share her experiences. But only a few years ago, she spent six months working at a hostess club here in Japan. Elizabeth came…
Last year at the Tokyo Game Show, Level-5 announced they were making an RPG on the 3DS specifically targeted toward girls. I was interested by the idea. What exactly is a “girl’s RPG.” Would it present girls with a strong female role model or would it just be a traditional princessy love story? But whatever…
Every year, Sega holds a cattle call to select a handful of women to appear in its latest Yakuza game. This year, there’s a porn star in the running—not a Sega first. The women typically play hostesses players can chat up in night clubs. But, Sega, why not pick the number one hostess for your…
What is it with Sega’s Yakuza games and adult video stars? Whatever it is, another could be promoting the next one. Her name is Sakura Kiryu. Sega selected a host of ladies from across the country (Sapporo, Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and Nagoya) for its “Miss Yakuza” competition. Only five of the fifteen will be selected…
Yakuza: Dead Souls is goofy. It’s silly. It’s a parody. The game looks like it has borrowed pages from both the Left4Dead and Resident Evil handbooks. Yet wrapped inside that hammy exterior is something surprising: reality. When the game was originally about to be released, the Tohoku Earthquake hit. Yakuza: Dead Souls, with its images…
Japan is turning its attention to the one-year anniversary of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake. The tragic disaster not only destroyed lives, it took them. Last spring, Yakuza: Dead Souls (then, it was called Yakuza: Of the End) was slated for a March 17 release. Out of respect for the earthquake victims, the game was pushed…
Toshihiro Nagoshi has undergone many changes while at Sega. His latest? He’s now slated to become Sega’s Chief Creative Officer. Good news, because he said he’d never leave the company. [Famitsu]
Life is funny. It starts out one way, with you wearing Soviet uniforms, brandishing machine guns and wearing thongs, and then the next thing you know you’re wearing a frock and releasing a cookbook. See, funny. That’s exactly the odyssey of Yinling Yen—better known as Yinling of Joytoy, or Yinling the “ero terrorist”. Warning: This…
SEGA is currently holding an audition for to decide on a new female character to appear on is upcoming game, Yakuza 5. From last November to this January, Sega received over a thousand applications. It’s been narrowed down to 200 applicants from across the country. On the 18th, four judges oversaw the audition in Tokyo…
You might not know Toshihiro Nagoshi. But once you see his face, you’ll never forget it. Nagoshi is one of Japanese gaming’s more colorful characters, and over the years, he’s undergone a physical transformation—from a pudgy, floppy haired computer nerd to the uber-tanned gentleman standing before you. While so many Japanese games feature characters that,…
SEGA’s new trailer for the zombie-ridden Yakuza: Dead Souls skips the foreplay of human connection and solidarity. The shambling hordes come first, picking their way through Tokyo’s red light district with a hunger for human flesh… and bone marrow, and organs, and brains. Fans of splatter-house gore will enjoy gameplay footage of what seems like…
Developed by the same team that’s made Sega’s open-world Yakuza games, Binary Domain‘s a futureshock shooter that imagines the robot servants of the future rebelling against their human masters. You know, basic Skynet stuff. The twist in Binary Domain comes by virtue of ‘bots that are outwardly indistinguishable from humans, which puts everybody on edge.…
Today’s Shigeru Miyamoto news shows that not even the biggest names in development are around forever. One man, though, plans on sticking around forever. One very brown man. That man is of course Yakuza and Super Monkey Ball’s Toshihiro Nagoshi, now 46, who in an interview with Gamasutra, said, “It’s not that I’m satisfied at…
Sure, you know that the next Yakuza game from Sega is leaving any semblance of gritty crime drama behind. But did you know that the guy with the bionic machine gun arm likes to cook? We can only hope that there’s culinary side missions in Yakuza: Dead Souls when it hits next March. Using zombie…
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