Yakuza - Page 17 of 21

Hostess Clubs Are Invading Video Games (Host Clubs Too!)

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…

By Richard Eisenbeis Published April 17, 2012

Kotaku East

Hey Sega, Put This Lady in Your Games

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…

By Brian Ashcraft Published April 13, 2012

Kotaku East

Another Porn Star in the Running for a Yakuza Game

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…

By Brian Ashcraft Published April 9, 2012

Kotaku East

Why this Ridiculous Zombie Game Rings True

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…

By Brian Ashcraft Published March 14, 2012

Kotaku East

Is This Okay? Or Is Sega Being Insensitive?

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…

By Brian Ashcraft Published March 9, 2012

Yakuza Designer Now Has More Incentive to Never Leave Sega

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]

By Brian Ashcraft Published February 29, 2012

Kotaku East

From NSFW Erotic Terrorism to Cute Cooking

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…

By Brian Ashcraft Published February 23, 2012

Kotaku East

Are You a Woman? Would You Like a Role in Yakuza 5?

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…

By Toshitaka Tachibana Published February 20, 2012

Dudes of Japan, This Guy Wants You To Play His Game

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,…

By Brian Ashcraft Published January 20, 2012

This Yakuza: Dead Souls Trailer is a Feeding Frenzy

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…

By Pierre Bienaimé Published January 18, 2012

This Melodramatic Binary Domain Trailer Takes You into the Human/Robot Wars of 2080

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.…

By Evan Narcisse Published January 11, 2012

This Man Will Die Working For Sega

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…

By Luke Plunkett Published December 8, 2011

Find Out the Hobbies of Yakuza: Dead Souls’ Gangsters In This New Trailer

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…

By Evan Narcisse Published November 30, 2011

Yakuza 5 Sounds Massive

The next Yakuza game may be the first to spur a complete overhaul of the series, upcoming Ryu Ga Gotoku 5 to offer five playable locations, seamless transitions between battle and chit-chat and an overall game of “massive volume”. [Andriasang]

By Luke Plunkett Published November 22, 2011

Prepare to Yakuza in 2012 With Dead Souls

You’ve survived the perils of Demon’s Souls. You’re fighting your way through Dark Souls hell. And next year? Next year you’ll likely breeze through Yakuza: Dead Souls, the newly-renamed North American version of Yakuza of the End, as it is a completely unrelated product. Sega picked an oddly appropriate time to announce a North American…

By Mike Fahey Published October 5, 2011

Let These Gangster Hostesses Welcome You to Sega’s TGS Booth

Sega’s booth is busier and better this year than it has been in years. Part of that is because there’s a Yakuzapalooza going down, with the franchise’s PSP sequel drawing crowds, but it’s also because this year Electronic Arts doesn’t have a booth of its own. So it shacked up with Sega, adding the clout…

By Luke Plunkett Published September 16, 2011

You Probably Won’t Play This PSP Game

Unless you live in Japan or import it, that is. The last Yakuza spin-off PSP title, Black Panther: Like a Dragon New Chapter, wasn’t localized for the West. With the PS Vita coming out, smart money says this one won’t be either. If there’s one thing that makes me happy about a new Black Panther…

By Brian Ashcraft Published September 1, 2011

Sega Forms New Studio Just to Make Gangster Games

Sega’s Toshihiro “Brown Man” Nagoshi, the creator of the Monkey Ball series, has revealed today that he’s formed a new studio at Sega which will deal exclusively with games for the Ryu ga Gotoku (Yakuza) series. That studio’s name is Ryu ga Gotoku Studio (catchy!), and is currently working on two new titles. The first…

By Luke Plunkett Published August 31, 2011

But What Will the Yakuza Man Say?

Tomorrow, Sega’s Toshihiro Nagoshi, developer of Yakuza games and lover of tanning beds, is making a “serious announcement”—perhaps a brand new title? Dunno, sounds serious. Still, this is an announcement of that announcement. Consider yourself announced! [ファミ通]

By Brian Ashcraft Published August 30, 2011

After Yakuza Controversy, Street Fighter IV Studio Loses Celebrity Advisor

Shinsuke Shimada, one of Japan’s most famous comedians, retired from the entertainment industry this week after yakuza connections were revealed. Shimada was also an advisor at Dimps, the game developer behind Street Fighter IV, stepping down earlier this week. [Sanspo]

By Brian Ashcraft Published August 26, 2011