To coincide with the release of Yakuza 3 (in shops today!), I wanted to give you a peek into the world of Horitomo (real name Kazuaki Kitamura), real-life tattoo artist, whose designs have been used in all the Yakuza games.

Horitomo-san began tattooing in 1992, although at the time he was not versed in the art of traditional Japanese tattooing. Instead, he focused his studies on the western style of tattoo artistry at a street tattoo studio. At that time studios which advertised their services openly on the streets of Japan were a real rarity.

Following his initial studies, Horitomo-san went on to work at various tattoo studios based in Tokyo and Osaka. In the meantime, he was also actively taking part in various tattoo conventions, including shows in Amsterdam and Spain. In 2001, he finally began to learn traditional Japanese tattooing from a master of the style.

Four years later, Kikuchi-san (producer of the Yakuza series), saw some of Horitomo-san’s work in a magazine which featured several of the best traditional Japanese tattoo artists of the time. He was impressed by what he saw and decided to get in touch with Horitomo-san at his workplace in Yokohama and ask him to be a part of the team for the first Yakuza game. He has continued his relationship with the team ever since that time.

I’m also happy to be able to share with you some high-resolution imagery of Horitomo-san’s designs that were used in Yakuza 3. If you’ve got tattoos or want one and you’re feeling really adventurous, you could print them out and take them to your local tattoo parlour and have them re-created on your very own body.

If you happen to be on holiday in the USA and want to get ‘inked’ by the man himself, Horitomo-san is currently working at “State of Grace” in Japan Town in San Jose, California. You can view some of his incredible designs here.

Now, that’s not all; I’ve been given an opportunity to interview Horitomo-san and would like to give you guys a bite of the cherry. If you’ve a question for Horitomo-san, whether about his in-game work or real-life, post them here and I’ll collate the best ones and send them over to him.

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The big day is finally here. As Yakuza 3 begins the journey to stores across the west, we take another look at what makes Yakuza 3 something you’ll find only on the PS3. For this blog, I’ve roped in my colleague Aaron from SEGA of America as he’s a huuuuuge Yakuza fan. So, over to Aaron.

“If there’s one thing about Yakuza that these last few months have taught people,” I thought as I sat at lunch on Monday, “It’s that the fans are a force to take seriously. …Usually.” Fans can be the biggest allies and proponents of games that may not be the huge, multi-million sellers like (insert generic FPS here), or (insert additional generic FPS here). They can create amazing successes for games that were never expected to have them – looking at you, Valkyria Chronicles – and they can just as easily do the opposite, in some cases.

But more than anything, most fans just want to be heard. Fans want interaction, and to be responded to. So let’s begin this blog post by jumping right in to one of the biggest things fans have been asking about: the content.

Yakuza 3 is huge. Besides exploring Tokyo and Okinawa, you can also visit restaurants, pick up ramen at a local convenience store, go golfing, bowling, fishing, karaoke, or bust some heads in a local street fight.

As someone who enjoyed Shenmue, my love for Yakuza grows in knowing that some of the people who developed the original Shenmue games also work on Yakuza now. The similarity in feel between the two is no coincidence – and the epic feel of exploration, and Japanese culture, that the game offers are things you won’t find anywhere else. I’m also a big fan of playing darts while drunk –- the extra level of difficulty is quite entertaining, besides being notably safer in Yakuza 3’s virtual world than it is in real life. (Note: I do not condone playing darts while intoxicated. You’ll probably take someone’s eye out.)

Also, we’d like to make special note that while not everything from the Japanese version made it to the western shores, that our community team has been -– and will be -– reading, compiling, and passing all of that feedback upwards here at SEGA. I can’t say more than that presently, but know that you are being heard, and we’ll make sure of that for you. To clarify additionally, as has been mentioned: Hostesses are in the game, and you can take them out on dates, build relationships, and sing Karaoke with them to your heart’s content.

As Yakuza goes out the door and into the homes of hundreds of thousands of fans, I’d also like to take a moment to give some thanks to the people that really deserve it –- and that’s you guys. It goes to the people who pushed from the beginning to show SEGA how much they wanted this game here. To those who post in the comments sections encouraging us, offering bright and helpful viewpoints even when the going got rough. And finally, to those who continue to support this PS3 exclusive by picking up the game, and in doing so give the franchise the legs on which to stand.

Know that we appreciate the support so many of you have already given to this series – and that we are now, and will continue to listen to your feedback.

That said – here’s to Yakuza 3!

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It seems so long ago that I first wrote on here to let you know that Yakuza 3 was coming westward — specifically, to Europe. There was much celebration that, after much struggle, the title would be coming and most of you really liked the fact we’d be preserving the amazing Japanese vocal track with the addition of English subtitles.

Just to doubly confirm, there will be no English voice acting. I know some sources were quoting otherwise.

Anyway I’m back to divulge more about the PS3 exclusive – including the fact that when it hits shelves on 12th March 2010 it’ll be in a special Premium Edition!

“What’s in it AAUK?” I’m glad you asked that young Timmy (though I’m afraid you can’t buy it until you are 18, naturally enough) the pack will include the following pieces of rather nifty downloadable content:

• Battle for Survival: Take on all the bosses of Yakuza 3 as Kazuma, stand or fall – determine your own fate!
• All-Star Tournament: A 7 character tournament to determine the strongest warrior.
• All-Star Tag Tournament: Two heads are better than one! Prove it in this 8 team tournament.
• Haruka’s Request: This unique series of challenge missions will send you on a task of exploration throughout the entire Yakuza world, playing mini-games and entertaining Haruka.

It also includes a 31 track soundtrack (YES!) and a Yakuza Who’s Who; a fully animated guide as to how all the characters are connected and who turned from rivals to allies.

Want more? Pff, fine you drive a hard bargain. How about a pre-order incentive as well? Hopefully details will be revealed soon of the deals in your relevant territories for this, the “Challenge Pack”.

Now I know what you’re thinking; Y’know I’ve always wanted to dress-up Kazuma as a masked wrestler. Well the Challenge Pack features that, perhaps the funniest, of four alternative costumes for Kazuma as well as four for Haruka and Rikiya. Perhaps more intriguing though it will allow you to enjoy 2-player mini games, featuring Pool, Bowling, Darts and Golf.

That’s all from me for now, though I may with any luck be back soon on the PSB.EU blog with details on how you can get more directly involved in the world of Yakuza 3 with both SEGA and our friends at Sony.

From Okinawa to Tokyo, only the strongest survive the world of Yakuza – will you be among them?

- ArchangelUK -

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Hi guys I’m Kevin, Online Community Manager at SEGA Europe and known to those in the SEGA fraternity as ArchangelUK (or AAUK for short) pleased to meet you.

One of my responsibilities as it were is dealing with our classic franchises, so I’m especially delighted to be able to at last confirm something that we’ve been working on for what seems like forever.

YAKUZA 3 IS COMING TO THE WEST!

Yes indeed, Europe and America will be getting the chance to take on the mantle of Kiryu Kazuma this time battling the Ryudo Ikka, and once again Yakuza will be an exclusive for the PlayStation 3.

Yakuza (or Ryu ga Gotoku as its known in the East) has a highly dedicated fanbase and the series has a very hardcore following over on this side of the globe. Yakuza 3 has already sold over half a million copies in Japan alone and whilst the wait has been long for our US, European and Australian fans you won’t have to wait much longer – the game will be out March 2010.

So yes your pleas for Yakuza 3 were heard loud and clear, I’ll allow Gary Knight – SOE’s European Marketing Director, to explain more:

“Yakuza 3 was one of the most requested titles for localisation by our European SEGA community, so we are delighted to be able to fulfil their wishes with this announcement. As well as delving even further into the rich narrative of the Yakuza universe, the development team have pushed the PlayStation 3 hardware to the limits to produce a beautiful and startlingly realistic depiction of the Japanese underworld.”

As part of the lengthy localisation work Yakuza 3 will feature full English subtitling, whilst maintaining the rich Japanese voice actors that bring an extremely engaging atmosphere to the game – this will no doubt please the purists out there!

Also using our incredible powers of persuasion and dark (blue) magic, we’ve been able to get you guys on the PSB.EU an exclusive interview with the developers of the game. So, if there’s anything you’d like to ask the team about the games production post it in the comments section below. We will then pick the best ones and send them over to Japan.

Yakuza 3 is coming – will you fight like a pussy-cat or more Like a Dragon?

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