-
CultureVirtua Fighter 5 Coming To PlayStation 4 Next Week
After teasing the classic fighting game franchise’s return last fall, this morning Sega announced Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown, a PlayStation 4-exclusive update to a game that’s almost 15 years removed from its original release at this point. Oh, and it’s launching June 1, also known as next Tuesday. Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown still…
By Ian Walker Published May 25, 2021 -
CultureFuture Yakuza Games Will Stick With Turn-Based Battles
Sega confirmed today that the Yakuza series will continue on as a turn-based RPG. This comes after the success of the last entry, Yakuza: Like A Dragon, which left behind the fast-paced brawling the series once featured for more tactical, turn-based combat. However, action-craving fans can still get their fill in the Judgment series of…
By Zack Zwiezen Published May 7, 2021 -
CultureSega Announces Judgment Sequel
It’s called Lost Judgment and once again stars celebrity Takuya Kimura as lawyer-turned-detective Takayuki Yagami. According to Sega producer Toshihiro Nagoshi, with this sequel Judgment has officially become a series. For Nagoshi, the keyword for these games will be “action”, in contrast with the RPG turn-based style of Yakuza: Like a Dragon. The difference between…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 7, 2021 -
CultureIt’s Very Important To Nintendo That Publishers Don’t Work For The Yakuza
After being delayed by technical issues that resulted in a conference call full of screaming Fortnite children, the long-awaited Epic vs Apple court trial is finally underway this week. As part of the proceedings, Nintendo provided documents that include a publisher contract—though honestly, “include” might be a stretch. Nintendo submitted 25 pages of nearly-nothing, blacking…
By Nathan Grayson Published May 3, 2021 -
CultureWhat Are You Playing This Weekend?
The weekend is about slowly and joylessly working through our backlog, somehow dripping with sweat and covered with coal dust. Where did all this sweat-enhancing coal dust come from? Speaking of backlogs, I’ll be spending my weekend free time with the newly released PS5 version (also out for Xbox Series X/S) of Yakuza spinoff Judgment.…
By Mike Fahey Published April 23, 2021 -
CultureThere’s A Full Console Port Of Virtua Fighter 5 Inside Yakuza
The Yakuza series has contained playable Sega minigames for a while now, from Outrun to Virtua On, but folks digging around in the code for Yakuza: Like A Dragon and Yakuza 6’s new PC release have found something a bit more substantial: basically the entire Xbox 360 version of Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown, which…
By Luke Plunkett Published April 21, 2021 -
AnimeTattoos Removed For Anime’s Chinese Release
In the anime The Way of the Househusband, the main character, former yakuza boss Tatsu, is covered in tattoos. But for Chinese release, all that ink has been removed. Tattoos are connected to yakuza culture, with members getting elaborate, expensive designs. Not all yakuza get tattoos, just as not all people with tattoos in Japan…
By Brian Ashcraft Published April 12, 2021 -
CultureSega Lawyers Threaten Wrong Website Over Yakuza Piracy [Update]
There are lawyers somewhere out there working for Sega HQ in Japan who have been tasked with hunting down the people responsible for pirating Yakuza: Like a Dragon. And they are not doing a good job. UPDATE March 30: A Sega representative tells Kotaku “Earlier this week, one of our games was incorrectly flagged on…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 29, 2021 -
CultureIf Sega Won’t Make A New Monkey Ball, These Guys Will
Monkey Ball creator Toshihiro Nagoshi is busy doing Yakuza stuff right now, and in his absence Sega has spent the last decade neglecting the series. Not to worry! Rolled Out is here, looking exactly like Monkey Ball only for the fact that there’s a rodent in there. Let me be clear: this is not a…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 24, 2021