#ngp
The PSP2—or the NGP, as its currently codenamed—may be powerful enough to play PlayStation 3 games. At today's coming out party for the next-generation PlayStation Portable, Sony and friends showed just that. More »
Sega surprised us this afternoon, updating its "Spring 2011" release window for Yakuza 4 in North America with a March 15 release date. The title will arrive exclusively on the PlayStation 3, and, as promised, will bring back hostess clubs that were missing from Yakuza 3's North American release.
A new trailer for March's mafia brawler was also released, showcasing the game's eccentric personalities and their flashy fighting moves. We'd be lying if we said we weren't most excited to play as Kazuma Kiryu -- he's the dude you see above totally flipping out.
Sega is getting all the mileage it can out of its Yakuza 4 trailer narration guy, putting his gravelly delivery to use in a series of character-specific trailers, each introducing one character's motivation for random street fights. Three have been released so far; see them after the break.
#cultureshock
Yu Darvish, the half-Japanese half-Iranian pitcher for the Nippon-Ham Fighters, is a popular guy. He's tall, handsome and a brilliant pitcher. And he's being followed by Japan's biggest voice actress. More »
#ps3
There's a delightful little saying we have here in Australia, which goes a little something like (NSFW) "glass the c#@t". It's not pretty, but there you have it. Anyway, it features in this new trailer for Yakuza 4. More »
The atmospheric English-language narration in this Yakuza 4 trailer is a bit too effective. Now, instead of the Japanese language track and English subtitles the game uses, we'll want some grizzled old guy calmly intoning nonstop about what tough guys we are and how dangerous it is in Tokyo.
#japan
This year is the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. In the latest issue of game mag Famitsu, top game designers like Metal Gear Solid's Hideo Kojima and celebrities like popstar Mari Yaguchi congratulate the title. More »
#sega
There will be far fewer content cuts in the Western release of Yakuza 4 than in the previous overseas release of the Japanese video game crime series, a Sega of America representative told Kotaku yesterday. More »
#sega
Jake Adelstein, author of the non-fiction underworld yarn Tokyo Vice, got several gangsters to review Sega's crime game Yakuza 3. But how? More »
The Yakuza series may be exploring left field with the fanciful zombie-attack game Yakuza: Of the End, but American audiences still have one good old jaunt around Kamurocho to look forward to: this spring's Yakuza 4, whose major innovation of four playable characters seems comfy in comparison.
We spoke to producer Masayoshi Kikuchi, mostly about how Yakuza 4 has changed and improved on previous games in the series. Of course, we couldn't resist asking about Of the End, because seriously, what?
Joystiq: Yakuza 3 got a lot of complaints from American gamers for the content that was removed. Will Yakuza 4 have a more complete localization?
Masayoshi Kikuchi, Sega: One of the things that happened on Yakuza 3 was that the Yakuza team worked with the folks at Sega West to see how we can improve the product in terms of being able to be understood by users and broaden the user base, and one of the things that is part of the Yakuza franchise -- you have very Japanese parts of the game. They wanted to make the game easier to play. One of the decisions that was the result of that was that we decided to simplify the game by cutting sections of the game. Of course, based on the reaction that we received -- we heard the voices of our fans loud and clear -- and we will be doing as much as possible to bring the whole experience of Yakuza to the West in terms of the content, in terms of its Japaneseness.
We don't think it would really be all that nice to bathe in a hot tub of money. It makes for a pretty memorable image in this Yakuza 4 trailer, though. Head past the break to see the yen-soak. Plus guns! Explosions! Tattooed gangsters fist fighting! Men in black suits looking tough!
#coverstory
The last Japanese mobster game that Sega released for the PlayStation 3 came to North America noticeably scathed. Missions were missing, as were hostess clubs and any semblance of box art integrity. Fortunately, things are lookin' up for Yakuza 4. More »
#yakuza
Sega's Yakuza series began in 2005 when the first game was released in Japan on the PlayStation 2. A sequel followed the following year, and to date there have been five games. More »
#psp
Sony's PlayStation Portable has a lot of features: The ability to play games, to run movies, access the internet and more. Does it have beautiful women telling you what time it is? It will soon. More »
#japan
Japanese game publication Dengeki Online has released the results of a poll it conducted regarding the most interesting games so far of 2010. Let's dive in. More »
At some point, even die-hard Yakuza fans are going to grow weary of the series, and Sega is doing its best to determine exactly when that will happen. The latest Famitsu brings word from Toshihiro Nagoshi that, as development on Black Leopard: New Yakuza Chapter for PSP continues, the team is simultaneously working on another Yakuza game for PS3. This will be the seventh game in the series.
Even among those suffering from Yakuza fatigue, Nagoshi's announcement that this game would feature the eyepatch-clad Goro Majima as a playable character is likely to ignite some frothing demand. Majima, the "Madman of the Shimano Family" is notable mostly for being kind of crazy, and obsessed with fighting Kazuma Kiryu. Inhabiting his life will be pretty different from following the comparatively virtuous Kazuma.
"While I can't give a release time frame yet," Nagoshi said, "we're working to deliver it at a time Yakuza series fans will want." Whether he means the fans clamoring for an uninterrupted supply of Yakuza, or regular sensible people who think there should be some time between sequels, is unknown.
#sega
When Sega released the localized version of crime game Yakuza 3, it took out the hostesses. Some people made a big stink. (I hate it when jerks do that!) And now, Sega is releasing Yakuza 4. More »
As I played through the combat-only demo of Yakuza 4, I noticed a small group of onlookers gather around demo station. It's not that I was fighting exceptionally well, but the fighting in Yakuza games is something of a rare spectacle, with a single tough guy weaving through a crowd of gangsters, deftly punching, kicking, dodging, stepping on faces, and bashing them with weapons ranging from swords and stun guns to traffic cones, advertising signs, and beer bottles. Whatever's handy, really.
#sega
From what we hear, Yakuza 4 will make the journey to the West in a far more complete state than its predecessor. And I loved its predecessor, so this all sounds super. More »
