Posts Tagged ‘Yakuza 3’

Recently the show has been in a state of flux. Regulars will no doubt have noticed, and any newer listeners who have heard more than two episodes will probably have been confused, by the total shifts in tone between shows. So to try and inject some stability to proceedings Darren and I have made a commitment to get back to the usual fortnightly format with just the two of us. Our theory is if we can’t provide quality we should at least aim for consistency.

With such a long break since Darren’s last outing we spend a little time getting reacquainted then it’s down to the game discussion. Having played plenty of games we handout some off the cuff opinions and then hit up the last months big news stories giving our own views, suggestions and fabrications (well factual errors to be more accurate). After that it is on to a quick featurette in which we discus the trails of localising with regards to Sega’s Western release of Yakuza 3. Finally we round it off with the long awaited return of Darren’s Old Games, which this time is Street Fighter The Movie (The Game).

Enjoy the show, and be sure to check back in two weeks to see if Darren and I can make good on our new commitment.

Dan is taking over. Really there is very little I can do. He swept in here with his fast-talking, smooth segueing ways, and now he is calling the shots. I will continue as a figurehead of the site only. All hail our new master.

Here hit discuss our recent visit to ‘Game Japan Festa’, plenty of news, and of course the games we have been playing.

Hopefully the coup will be unsuccessful and Darren will be back for a ‘normal’ show in time for Christmas. In the meantime keep your self entertained with this hour and a half of edited highlights. Enjoy.

Okay, I have finally taken over the reigns of editing, which is why the latest podcast is a tad late. Think I have it all down though, so here’s hoping you won’t notice much of a difference.

During the course of this show we manage to talk about institutionalization… and drugs… and sandwiches, all without diverging from the usual format of news and features. Frakesy, Darren’s old games and the song challenge are back as always and are joined this week by discussion of game prices.

A few extra notes. Every time I say Acclaim I mean Activision. It is a mistake I used to make when I was thirteen, I do not know why its rematerializing now. Also there is no such thing as morphium, thing my brain created a lovely mix of morphine and opium.

I really want a sandwich.

Enjoy the show.

Famitsu recently ran an article about a recent Sega event for the release of Yakuza 3. For those who don’t know about the series it’s basically a gang land fighter, set in Japan, with RPG elements. In the West it received limited commercial success, but critics enjoyed them and their faithful reconstructions of the Tokyo environments.

While the first Western release enjoyed a loving vocal translation, due to its poor reception meant the sequel ‘only’ received subtitles. This was no bad thing as Sega pulled out all the stops in their recruiting of top tier Japanese vocal talent.

Yakuza 3 is no exception. Though my knowledge of their names is limited all but three of the twelve cast members at the Sega event were immediately familiar. Disturbingly the three unfamiliar member of the cast were the hostess’s voices who even in the article were described merely as ‘talent’ (at least in the sections of the article I was able to read).

The names of those present would mean little too many. Voice actor Takaya Kuroda and veteran actor Tetsuya Watari both reprise their earlier roles in the series (Kazuma Kiryu and Shintaro Fuma respectively). Tatsuya Fujiwara would perhaps be the most recognisable present at the event to a western audience. He is a young actor, who stared in both the Battle Royal and Death Note movies.

The other surprise to see in the crowd was Ayana Tsubaki, who appears as a masseuse. Ayana is famous for being beautiful, and a transsexual. Her proliferation of TV talk shows would be enough exposure to be picked up by any pop-culture product by the fad prone Japanese media. If this game is successful enough to convince Sega to try for a western release her presence may prove controversial. Alternate lifestyles in Japan are usually greeted more with curiosity than bigotry. In the current immature gaming environment my worry is that people react negatively to her past.

The game looks fantastic. Hopefully the game will be successful enough for Sega to consider a western release, ideally a subtitled one.