Yakuza 4 Message Board older than one year ago

It's heading West, it's violent as all hell, and the hostess clubs aren't getting cut. Hallelujah.

Alright Yakuza fans — time for some good news.

After some amazing passion seen across the board from fans regarding the release of Yakuza 3, SEGA is proud to announce that the fourth installment of the Yakuza series is heading West, and will be releasing exclusively on the PlayStation 3 in the spring of 2011!

Yakuza 4 also builds on the style of the original Yakuza foundation by adding three new playable characters, each with a distinct personality and fighting style. They all have connections to the Tojo clan — but what those connections are, and what they mean with regard to a man named Kazuma Kiryu, is just one part of what will truly make things interesting.

We’d also like to confirm what we feel is important news for our fans: the Hostess Clubs will be returning in Yakuza 4!

Finally, we’d like to let you guys field questions to the man whose name goes hand in hand with the Yakuza (or Ryu Ga Gotoku in Japan) series himself: Nagoshi-san! Write your questions in the comments below, and with a bit of luck, your question will be among others asked after next week’s E3!

Good luck, and we hope all you Yakuza fans out there just found your day got a little brighter. If you’ll excuse us, that plush cat in the UFO Catcher at Club SEGA has been making fun of us all morning, and it’s about time we showed him our perception skills.

We didn't believe Sega would ever localize Yakuza 3. We also didn't believe Yakuza 3 would sell enough to justify a localization of Yakuza 4. We were wrong on both counts! Today, Sega announced that it's bringing the PS3's Yakuza 4 to North America and Europe in spring 2011, to the delight of everyone who likes beating up gangsters so severely that they feel compelled to apologize and offer money.

Rather than focusing entirely on the exploits of ex-crime boss/family man Kazuma Kiryu, Yakuza 4 splits the story between four different characters, including a homeless man, a detective, an ex-con, and Kazuma. If you don't mind paging through a bunch of Japanese text, you can try it out right now, thanks to a demo on Japan's PlayStation Store.

Localized title set for spring 2011 release.

#sega Following in the footsteps of its predecessor, Yakuza 4 will be making its way to the western market next spring, exclusively for the PlayStation 3, and this time Kazuma's got a posse. More »

#sega And it's covered in stickers. Because Japanese gangsters just love stickers? More »

#sega Having campaigned for months for a localised version of Yakuza 3, many fans of the series feared that releasing the game so close to other big PS3 titles - like Final Fantasy XIII - would hurt its sales. Nope! More »

#sega Project K is the newest entry in SEGA's Japanese crime franchise known as Yakuza. Unlike previous titles, it will not be a home console game. It is also getting a new protagonist. More »

#yakuza One at least is a porn star. But not Sayaka Araki. She's a fashion model, a DJ and a business tycoon. More »

In this post-Modern Warfare 2 world, a number like five million may seem insignificant -- even laughable, to some. But hey, don't knock the PS3's latest accomplishment of selling 5,001,598 consoles in Japan.

Famitsu brings us the news, along with the top-selling games on the platform so far: Final Fantasy XIII is first with 1,883,828 units, Metal Gear Solid 4 takes second with 706,461 and Yakuza 4 -- which was just released a few weeks ago -- comes in third, selling an impressive 526,093 copies so far. Gosh, the only thing that's missing is a Dragon Quest.

[Via Andriasang]

#ps3 Do you know? Would you like to? More »

DVR kit and Yakuza 4 cause surge in Sony's homeland.

#ps3 Meet The Hostesses of Yakuza 4! Because, you know, game publisher SEGA might cut them out of the Western release like it did with Japanese crime game Yakuza 3. So if you are going to meet them, here's your chance! More »

#yakuza4 Hana is a character in Yakuza 4. She is a clerk at in-game finance company Sky Finance. This is what she looks like in the game. What does her voice actress look like? More »

#japan In large Japanese cities, driving a big American car can prove challenging. There are endless narrow backstreets and fixing the car in a parking place can be a nightmare. Try imagining doing that in a Hummer. No, a Hummer limousine. More »

[Famitsu] Now that Yakuza 3 has been out in North America for a whole week and Yakuza 4 ia due to hit Japan in two days, it's definitely time for Sega to announce another one. At least, that's what Sega seems to think. At a Yakuza 4 event in Tokyo, Sega showed a teaser trailer for a new game in the series, with concept art depicting the familiar Kamurocho district of the other games. As usual, the next iteration will be produced by series creator Toshihiro Nagoshi.

Codenamed "Project K," the new game appears to star a young man who "knew the graveness of the crimes he continued to commit," and "that fighting is his destiny," but "doesn't know the cruel fate that awaits." Powerful stuff!

The video calls this new project "A new challenge for Ryu ga Gotoku" (Yakuza), suggesting that this new game will be different in some way. Perhaps this one will leave the story of Kazuma Kiryu behind entirely in favor of this new character. Or perhaps it'll be made for a platform other than PlayStation 3.

#japan For Japanese gangster game Yakuza 4, SEGA held an open casting call for wanna-bes to appear in the game. Among those selected was adult video actress Rio, star of films Squirting Young Wife and Let's Have Sex at School. More »

#projectk Like clockwork, SEGA churns out a new Yakuza game almost every year. With Yakuza 4 coming out in Japan this March, it's time for...another new Yakuza game. More »

#iphone From Yakuza 4 branded noodles to Yakuza 4 branded booze, PlayStation 3 Japanese gangster game Yakuza 4, like the prequels before it, has gone a little crazy with the promotional push. And it's not stopping there. More »

#yakuza ...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. More »

#clips Well, not officially. But while the West is getting Yakuza 3, Japan is getting Yakuza 4 on March 18. Here's a dude-heavy Japanese television ad, watch it! More »

Japan is still one Yakuza ahead of us. Find out what to expect from the next next installment.

Another Yakuza game means one thing: More Yakuza branded noodles. The last two Yakuza games have gotten instant noodles, so damn skippy Yakuza 4 is getting tonkotsu-style ramen. The noodles are the...

Japan gears up for the release of the latest installment of Yakuza with the Gameplay Digest video highlighting features and story.

Make it rain with this lucrative Japanese trailer.

It may seem like just yesterday that we learned the release date for Yakuza 3, but that's only because it was. Just one day after Sega finally announced a Western release for Kazuma Kiryu's third adventure, the Japanese side of the company demonstrated just how far in the future it lives, by announcing a release date for the fourth game. And both release dates are in the same month. Specifically, Yakuza 4 arrives in Japan on March 18. That means, if you don't mind reading Japanese, you can be exactly one Yakuza game better than everyone else. A whole new group of hostesses awaits! As do some new playable characters. In addition to Kazuma, this game features three other playable mobsters, each with a separate storyline.

A look at the neon city of Kamiyacho.

Adult film star Rio is doing something! What is she doing?

Showing three of the girls, Saito Shizuka, Ikki Chihiro, and Elena Aihara, along with Elena's little sister Koyuki, playing games in Sega's Joypolis arcade.

Japanese babes audition for hostess roles in Yakuza 4!