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Not All Yakuza Girls Are “Just” Hostesses
One at least is a porn star. But not Sayaka Araki. She’s a fashion model, a DJ and a business tycoon. Japanese crime game Yakuza allows players to visit night clubs and chat with hostesses. Araki, who appeared in Yakuza 3 as a hostess, is the president of her own beauty products company that sells…
By Brian Ashcraft Published April 21, 2010 -
Dubbing Or Subtitles? Take Your Pick!
Typically, there are two ways to bring media from one language to another language. One is to subtitle. The other is dubbing. Do you have a preference? Subtitling allows the original language (and in turn, mood) to remain in tact, while dubbing allows players to take in the visual elements without having to worry about…
By Brian Ashcraft Published April 16, 2010 -
Get Inside The Real-Life Yakuza
With the release of Sega’s Yakuza 3 going down well with many, let’s take a look at the actual Yakuza, Japan’s “mafia”, and see just how powerful – and accepted – they are in contemporary society. American author and journalist Jake Adelstein knows more about the Yakuza than most Westerners, having studied them closely for…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 22, 2010 -
Japan Lines Up For…Digital PS3 Recorder
Noodles. Toy figures. And grab bags at New Years. Japan loves lining up for stuff, and the PS3 torne digital recorder is no exception. Torne went on sale as an individual peripheral and also bundled with the PS3. By 9:00am this morning in Japan, over 200 shoppers lined up in front of the Akihabara Yodobashi…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 18, 2010 -
Meet Yakuza 3’s Real Life Tattoo Artist
One of the most interesting things about Yakuza 3 is how you keep running into men with enormous, fantastic tattoos. Well, those tats are the work of one man: Kazuaki Kitamura. Better known as Horitomo, he’s a Japanese tattoo artist who, while working in Yokohama, was drafted in by Sega to design the trademark body…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 18, 2010 -
Reviews
Yakuza 3: The Kotaku Review
It’s funny, for all the Japanese games you and I have ever played—and they number in the hundreds, if not thousands—few of them are Japanese in the way that Yakuza 3 is. Think about it. How many Japanese games have you played where the recorded dialogue is still in its native tongue? Or that are…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 17, 2010 -
Yakuza 3 Players Say A Lot More Was Cut Than Hostess Bars
Sega has made cuts to the Western version of gangland brawler Yakuza 3. The publisher says that hostess bars are gone. People playing the game say a lot more than that is missing. Sega’s official message board for the site is home to complaints from early-bird purchasers of the game, who say that along with…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 12, 2010 -
Yakuza 3 Has More Cuts Than You First Thought
So you thought the hostess bars were the only thing cut from Yakuza 3, a very Japanese game that’s being brought to the West by Sega? Nunh unh. There are way more changes than that. As you’ll see below, the edits are everywhere. And before you complain, remember: Sega did so because if it had…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 10, 2010 -
Five Yakuza Movies You Must See…
…before you cut your pinkie off! With Yakuza 3 coming out in North America and Yakuza 4 coming out in Japan, is there a better time to talk about Japanese gangsters? No, no there isn’t. These films are grounded in yakuza mythos, fantasy and, yes, fact. And like Hollywood mobster films, these motion pictures have…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 3, 2010 -
Yakuza Creator On Grand Theft Auto
SEGA’s PlayStation franchise Yakuza (Ryu Ga Gotoku) has often been called “The Grand Theft Auto of Japan”. Like GTA, players are in large urban environments in an underworld setting. That doesn’t mean designer Toshihiro Nagoshi is a fan, though. In a recent forum, the game designer referred to GTA as a game in which you…
By Brian Ashcraft Published October 19, 2009 -
Yakuza Designer, Your Customer For A Day
Bar girl magazine Koakuma Ageha (yes, Japanese night club hostesses have their own mag!) is running some sort of contest. You’ve never guess what present number 19. Well, you might! SEGA is offering a “customer for a day ticket” with Toshihiro Nagoshi, designer of the Yakuza franchise and Super Monkey Ball. We imagine that Nagoshi…
By Brian Ashcraft Published October 13, 2009 -
Leaked Documents Discuss PSN Imports, Date PS3 Motion Control
The (allegedly) leaked Sega-Sony documents from earlier this morning contain mention of a release date for the PS3’s motion controller, along with the possibility of a PSN “import store”. Of the PS3’s motion controller, the alleged Sega document says (and remember, this is neither confirmed, nor from Sony): Motion Controller • Spring 2010 launch (March…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 22, 2009 -
Sega Still Teasing A Yakuza 3 Release For The West
For the past few months, various comments from Sega have people hoping for a Western release of Yakuza 3 bummed. Today, however, things are sounding a little more optimistic. Popping into the comments section of a post on the PlayStation Blog, Sega of America assistant community manager Aaron Webber has said “Yakuza 3 is not…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 18, 2009 -
Which Girls Are In Yakuza 4? Well, A Porn Star Is…
Japanese game maker is making a new Ryu Ga Gotoku (aka Yakuza in the West) and held a cattle call for those females hoping to appear in the game. There were 1,500 applicants, and semi-finalists appeared in an online poll, including curvy pin-up model Chiri Arikawa and porn star Rio, star of blue movies like…
By Brian Ashcraft Published August 27, 2009 -
Sega Updates Us On Wii Strategy, Aliens, “Sega-ness”
Kotaku sat with the new chief of Sega’s American and European divisions yesterday to get an update on everything from Aliens to Yakuza. Only on his new job for about two and a half weeks, Mike Hayes is the man who now oversees Sega West, the combined domain of Sega of America and Sega of…
By Stephen Totilo Published August 12, 2009 -
Ryu Ga Gotoku Bar Hostess Audition Trailer
You’ve seen the publicity stills. You’ve seen the finalist. You’ve seen just how brown Ryu Ga Gotoku (Yakuza) creator Toshihiro Nagoshi is. Now what the Ryu Ga Gotoku 4 audition trailer. Just look at Nagoshi examine those applications. This is serious stuff!
By Brian Ashcraft Published August 10, 2009 -
Behind The Scenes of Making Ryu Ga Gotoku 4 (Yakuza 4)
Earlier today, SEGA detailed Japanese crime game title Ryu Ga Gotoku 4. As we previously posted, it will use the latest motion capture technology so that not only the actor’s voice will appear in the game, but 3D models of them as them in character. SEGA has released pics of Hiroki Narimiya and Kenta Kiritani…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 24, 2009
