Sega bigwig Mike Hayes tells CVG in an interview that has designs on “sequelising” many of its recent hits and some of its expected hits. That includes titles like Platinum Games’ Bayonetta, a series already identified by its creators as having sequel and spin-off potential.

“We’ve got our shooter with [Aliens Vs Predator] and our RPG with Alpha Protocol – we really want to make that into a franchise. That’s the area where we need some success, to sequel-ise that,” Hayes says. “If you think about it, we can sequel-ise Bayonetta, AVP, Alpha Protocol – if we can make a hit of something like Vanquish – then you add that to Football Manager and Virtua Tennis – we actually have a broad portfolio.”

Maybe not the type of sequels longtime Sega fans have been clamouring for, at least the kind raised on Alex Kidd, Space Harrier, Shinobi, Panzer Dragoon and Jet Set Radio. Those series don’t seem to get as much attention from Sega these days, at least not on par with Sonic the Hedgehog and Phantasy Star.

Hayes also gives the impression that Creative Assembly’s Total War strategy series is ripe for expanding.

“There is still a lot more we can do in the pure historic field,” he tells CVG. “But we also think we can take things in another direction [with Total War] – obviously I can’t give you any more there. But we want to branch into different areas.”

Sega’s Mike Hayes Pt. 2 [CVG]

If the latest update to the Sonic 4 website doesn’t convince you that Sega is on the right track, then nothing will. Just look at these screens… that’s the Sonic the Hedgehog I fell in love with right there.

The new update also includes profile information for the second major character in the game, bad old Dr. Eggman. From the description:

After losing the Master Emerald during his last encounter with Sonic, Eggman regroups with a new objective; to revisit and refine the best of his creations in an effort to finally rid himself of Sonic!

Let’s play with those words a bit, shall we?

After losing track of what made Sonic the Hedgehog great during its last several encounters with Sonic, Sega regroups with a new objective; to revisit and refine the best of its creations in an effort to finally rid itself of whining Sonic fans!

It’s an allegory, or something.

Head over to the official Sonic the Hedgehog 4 website for more information, and don’t forget to stop by the music downloads section for a free MP3 of the Splash Hills Zone music. It’s incredibly catchy.

SEGA held an open casting call, and a horde of young Japanese women auditioned for the part of in-game Yakuza 4 hostess. The finalists appeared in the title and given in-game counterparts. Let’s see how the Yakuza 4 versions compare with their real-life counterparts.

Rio

She is 23 years-old, half Japanese. Her hobby is music and she likes chocolate. Her blood type is A. (Blood type, the Japanese believe, denotes personality. Read more here.)

In real life, she is a half-Brazilian porn star.

Himeka Kawasaki

This 24-year-old hails from Japan’s Kansai region. She’s chatty and considers her life work to be hostess. Her hobbies include going to hot springs and collecting perfume. Her blood type is O.

In real life, Himeka works at Osaka hostess bar Zoo in the city’s Higashishinsaibashi district.

Shizuka Saitou

Shizuka is a 29 year-old classic Japanese beauty. For various circumstances, she has entered the world of hostessing. She likes sweet things, but dislikes spicy things. Her blood type is O.

She’s a Tokyo girl and claims to have a glasses fetish.

Noa Mizutani

Friendly and 21 years old, Mizutani loves fried food, but hates vegetables. Her blood type is B.

Mizutani has worked as a “race queen” (think booth babe for racing) in the past and is currently modelling.

Erena Aihara

Another Kansai girl, Aihara is described as being both “wound-up” and “womanly”. She loves perfume, and her blood type is O.

The Kyoto-native has been appearing on television – Take Me Out, for example.

Chihiro Ikki

This 20-year-old university student is moving into womanhood. She’s not a heavy drinker.

Chihiro seems like an upbeat young lady. Her favourite video game is Puyo Puyo.

Maya Mori

She is both gaudy and mature. Mori is 24 years old, and her blood type is A. She likes the nightlife and chocolate.

In real life, Mori is a model for Japanese girls’ fashion mag Jelly.

[Pics]

Torne went on sale as an individual peripheral and also bundled with the PS3.

By 9am this morning in Japan, over 200 shoppers lined up in front of the Akihabara Yodobashi Camera retail store to purchase either torne or Yakuza 4, which when on sale today. (Or both!) Torne sales were brisk throughout the morning, and shop staff expect torne to sell out.

Shinjuku, which also had a promotional meet-and-greet event for Yakuza 4, sold out of the torne in 20 minutes flat. And Ikebukuro was sold out of the torne peripherals even before the store opened. There seemed to be torne PS3 bundles still available, however.

The torne is a terrestrial digital tuner that connects to the PS3 via USB cable. Torne offers players an easy and colourful interface that lists programs. It’s possible to look up programs and search the menu by genre or keyword.

Using a timer, it’s also possible to record in advance, and torne automatically records when the console is on stand-by or even while games/DVDs/Blu-rays are running. Besides recording directly to the PS3’s hard drive, the torne can be used to record to an external hard drive as well.

Torne is priced at ¥9980 ($120) and bundled with the 250GB PlayStation 3 and available for ¥42,800 ($515).

【秋葉原】売り切れ必至のtorne！　外付けハードディスクも人気に

【池袋】torne単体はオープンまえに完売！ 出足好調で今後にも期待がかかる

【秋葉原】売り切れ必至のtorne！ 外付けハードディスクも人気に [Famitsu]

Like this.

Famed voice actress Aya Hirano is lending her pipes to Yakuza 4 for the character of Hana. Hirano is best known for two things: Voicing schoolgirl Haruhi Suzumiya in the anime The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and appearing in a calendar, wearing a bikini all wrong.

The bikini should be worn like this.

Hirano’s calendar was later corrected and released with the bikini Photoshopped correctly on Hirano. Phew!

PS3『龍が如く4 伝説を継ぐもの』、平野綾が声を当てた「花」がビックリするほどピザな件 [はちま起稿]

Better known as Horitomo, he’s a Japanese tattoo artist who, while working in Yokohama, was drafted in by Sega to design the trademark body art for the Yakuza series.

He’s worked on every game since, including the just-released Yakuza 3 (which I really enjoyed). If you’re a fan, either of tattoos or just the series, Horitomo’s currently working in San Jose. I’m not recommending this, but if you were going to get a gaming piece anyway, one from the guy who does gangster tattoos for the Yakuza series would be pretty awesome.

The Ink Of Yakuza 3 [PlayStation]

To draw stares, SEGA rolled out this Yakuza 4 branded Hummer limo on the Tokyo streets of Shinjuku, Shibuya and Roppongi. Yes, the car cruised the man drag so it probably wasn’t any more difficult to handle than, say, a city bus.

龍が如く仕様 ハマーリムジン走行中！ [RYUGAGOTOKU OFFICIAL BLOG]

Sega bossman Mike Hayes tells CVG that its Japanese studios have something “brilliant” up and running for Project Natal, which the company will show off at E3. That may be more of a prototype than a full fledged game, but Hayes calls it “genuinely entertaining”. Unlike Capcom’s core-targeted Natal plan, don’t expect Sega to show up with Panzer Dragoon, Virtua Fighter or a current-generation Seaman this year.

“I think Natal and the Sony Motion Controller allow us to do things that are more about multi, party gaming,” he tells CVG. “In a way, it’s a move away potentially from the core. That’s what we’re actually getting good at. Mario & Sonic is a multi-party game – but it’s actually good fun.”

Sega is just one of many top-tier publishers who have officially signed on for Natal support (and PlayStation Move), so get ready for a waggle-heavy E3 2010, folks.

Sega’s Mike Hayes Pt.1 [CVG]

Think about it. How many Japanese games have you played where the recorded dialogue is still in its native tongue? Or that are set in contemporary Japan? Or that forgo the fantastical, like magic powers or alien invasions, in favour of the everyday, like convenience stores and meat buns?

The answer is, outside of Yakuza 3 for the PlayStation 3, not many. And it’s this ironic sense of uniqueness that defined my experience with Sega’s epic gangster tale, a game that should have been about brawling but is instead more memorable for everything else.

Loved

Kick, Punch, It’s All In The Mind – You’ll sometimes hear people compare the Yakuza series to Grand Theft Auto. That’s wrong. It’s a brawler with walking and talking attached for context. Lucky for Yakuza 3, then, that calibre of brawling is good, a deft balance between strikes and grapples that combine nicely with objects you can throw and bludgeon opponents with. Best of all is the severity of the combat; the sound effects, impact and blood splatters make it all feel a little heavier, a little more real.

Virtual Tourism Board – The thing I most enjoyed about Yakuza 3 wasn’t the story, or the combat, it was the experience of simply walking around Japanese cities (well, small parts of them). While Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto townships are caricatures, designed for crazy driving and gunplay, Yakuza 3’s representation of places like Okinawa and Tokyo’s Kabukicho (a seedy red light district) are painfully detailed, each alleyway unique, each shopfront an individual entity. This transforms what could be – and I assume for many Japanese gamers is – a mundane experience of running errands and buying drinks from convenience stores into a bona fide tourist experience.

Soap Opera – Yakuza 3 doesn’t give you a story as an accompaniment to a game. It gives you a game as an accompaniment to a story. The amount of dialogue and cut scenes in this game is mind-boggling, and while at times it can get a little much (especially during a pedestrian opening section), on the whole it’s able to maintain your attention and drive your constant routine of run-brawl-run with a well-developed and executed tale of conflict and mistrust.

No Experience Required – Worried that, being the third game in the series, you’ll be lost as to what’s going on in Yakuza 3? Don’t be. Even without knowing a thing about the last two games, almost everything you need to know will be made clear to you over the game’s first 4-6 hours. And if you want to know more, there’s a handy primer on the events of Yakuza 1 and 2 included on the disc.

Local Tongue – The Yakuza series is well-known for hiring big-name Japanese actors to play major roles in the game, and in this game, it shows. The voice acting is of a standard rarely seen in other games, regardless of their origin, something you’ll notice early on when you hear men genuinely shouting – like, veins-popping-on-the-back-of-your-neck shouting – at each other, and realise how rarely you actually hear that kind of emotion in a video game.

Hated

Too Much Talking – There are some things I admire about the game’s approach to story-telling. The thing I don’t admire is how much time it soaks up, and how it results in huge periods of downtime, especially in the game’s opening acts. You can go five, 10 and sometimes even 20 minutes without so much as a button pressed in anger, which often leaves you feeling bored and frustrated.

Now On PS2 – A Yakuza game is released roughly every twelve months in Japan. Want to know how they get them out so fast? It’s because these games, despite in some places looking new, are in fact relatively ancient. The animation, collision detection and textures in many areas of the game are of PS2 standards, which wouldn’t be as big a problem were the principal characters not so lovingly detailed. This results in jarring moments where a contemporary Kiryu runs into a bystander that looks like he fell out of 2002.

Cut Content – It was well-publicised that some content has been cut from Yakuza 3 for its Western release. The good news is, there’s so much other stuff going on in the game that you’re not missing out on much. The bad news is, Sega could have done a better job of covering up the omissions, as mention is made of hostess bars by the game’s characters, and you can walk into a mah-jong club, you just can’t do anything. It’s a little sloppy.

For all the complaining, petitioning and howling at the moon fans of the series – and those simply wanting something a little different – hurled at Sega to have this game released in the West, it’s great to see that it’s not only finally here, but that it’s as good (maybe even better) as those people were hoping. Sure, content was cut, and that’s understandably upset some people who wanted the full experience of not just a Yakuza game, but a virtual tour of Japan, but to allow that to impact your decision on picking up Yakuza 3 would be cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Yakuza 3 plays a great brawl, backs it up with a solid (if long-in-the-tooth) story and lets Western gamers indulge in that rarest of treats: the gaming equivalent of a foreign film. As such, for all those who maintained a vigil outside Sega’s internet offices to get the game over here, well done. It was worth the effort.

Yakuza 3 was developed and published by Sega for the PlayStation 3. Released in North America on March 9, retails for $US60/$AU99.95. A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Played game to completion, which takes waaaaaaayyyy longer than you think it will.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

Decked out in evening wear, Rio appeared at the SEGA press event in Tokyo for the game, along with the other ladies who were cast as the in-game night club hostesses. “I’m extremely nervous right now,” said Rio on stage, “and standing here is a truly honour.” Rio went on to express gratitude for the opportunity to participate in the game and promotional events for the game. She thinks she has grown as a person.

Rio continued to work her day job during the making of Yakuza 4 and recently appeared in the self-descriptive flick Lingerie x Fuck. Wish her the best of luck in whatever profession she continues in.

The game also featured the appearance of popstar and former Morning Musume singer Mari Yaguchi. “There was a lot of me being sexy, and it was really embarrassing, but when the voice track was matched with the graphics, I thought, ‘I can be really sexy’, and that gave me confidence.”

Yaguchi has been portrayed more as a cutie than a sexy woman. While her catchphrase in Morning Musume was “sexy beam”, even the group could not help but notice her lack of sex appeal. However, he has been rumoured to been involved with comedian Takashi Okamura, who might be best known among games for his “Hot Mario” series of ads. (He is a comic genius!)

In the game, Yaguchi plays a massage therapist and lends her voice and likeness to Yakuza 4. Her role contradicts her more “pure” days as a Morning Musume idol. Yaguchi has expressed interest in doing more video game voice work.

In the gallery, there are photos of Rio, Yaguchi and the other ladies who appear in-game.

セガ、「龍が如く4 伝説を継ぐもの」発売記念記者会見開催 新プロジェクト「PROJECT K」も発表 [Game Watch]