The Yakuza franchise has definitely been one of the most popular video game properties in Japan for the last few years. Not only has there been at least one main series game every other year, but there have been several spin-off titles as well (not to mention a live-action movie). One of these titles is a PSP Yakuza game called Yakuza: Black Panther. But when starting off this new side story in the Yakuza universe, Sega did more than just make a PSP game: They made an eleven episode live-action TV series to go along with it. And Yakuza: Black Panther turned out to be the most action-packed Japanese drama I have ever seen.

Good — A Story that Never Slows Down

Black Panther is the story of a young delinquent, Tatsuya, who lives with his sister. While trying to get a friend out of trouble with the local Yakuza-owned loan office, he instead ends up trying to fight them before eventually getting knocked out. When he awakens, he has a gun in his hand and everyone around him has been shot and killed.

As Tatsuya tries to evade the police and prove his innocence, he is picked up by the Yakuza and shown the security footage of him murdering the local gang. They offer him a deal: he can earn the money to buy the tape from them by fighting in an illegal fighting ring. There's just one catch: if he loses, he will be found as the victim of an unfortunate "suicide" the next morning.

That's all in the first episode and it never slows down from there.

Good — A Legitimately Good Mystery With High Stakes

From that point on, the plot rotates through several stories. Of course, the main plot revolves around each deathmatch—building up the hype and introducing the opponent and then finishing with the fight. Between fights Tatsuya looks for leads that will explain why the Yakuza at the loan office were killed and if he was truly responsible for the murders.

The other characters—villains, cage fighters, and allies have well-developed storylines as well. From the Yakuza princess trying to make a normal life for herself to Tatsuya's friend who is more handy when it comes to computers than fighting, everyone gets their time in the spotlight to prove they are more than one-dimensional characters.

Moreover, no character is safe in Black Panther, despite the time spent on developing each one. With deathmatches and an on-going murder mystery, well-developed characters can meet their deaths at a moment's notice—pulling you more and more into the story as there is simply no way to predict who will be the next to die.

Good — Light on the Melodrama

Most Japanese dramas ham it up, to say the least. Every emotional moment is overplayed to the point of melodrama, with someone crying at least once per episode. Black Panther bucks this trend. While there are a few heart-breakingly emotional moments, none are overacted to the point where they lose their emotional resonance.

Mixed — The Serious Side of the Yakuza You Know and Love

Black Panther focuses on the more serious side of the Yakuza games. There are no silly side jobs, playing ping-pong with hostesses, or hours of wasted time in a taxi. However, the crime plots, urban landscape of Japan, and massive amounts of street brawling are key to the setting of the drama.

And instead of taking the viewpoint of an older character returning to the Yakuza world after ten years in prison, Black Panther looks at that world through the eyes of someone being pulled into the criminal underworld for the first time—and not liking what he sees.

Mixed — Fight Scene Camera Work

The camera work for the fight scenes is just plain terrible in the early episodes. The camera is constantly moving and is way too close to the action to see what's going on. It feels like each fight scene was filmed on a shaky handheld camera. And with the camera cutting to a new angle seemingly once a second, it's disorienting, to say the least.

The quality of the fight scenes does, however, get much better as the series moves on—especially with the excellent use of slow motion at key moments. You are finally able to see the fight choreography in all its glory—at least most of the time anyway.

Final Thoughts

Going into Yakuza: Black Panther, I was expecting a run-of-the-mill Japanese drama. What I got instead was a compelling plot with excellent, well-rounded characters. And while many dramas have more than a little padding to fill out their 11- or 12-episode runs, Black Panther never slows down. It is a show that never wastes a single moment and the series stands out from the pack because of it. If you like the more serious side of Yakuza, then Black Panther is definitely the show for you.

Yakuza: Black Panther is currently available on Japanese DVD without English subtitles (though fansubs do exist). There are no plans for an international release.

Oh boy. If this is true (big if!), the PS Vita could be poised for, ahem, a monster comeback.

According to Japanese game magazine Game Lab, Nintendo 3DS exclusive Monster Hunter 4 was delayed to summer for a reason other than "improving quality". That reason is apparently that the game is also being developed for the PS Vita. Rumors say (via Game Lab) that the game's getting a simultaneous release on the 3DS and the PS Vita.

Why is this a big deal? In Japan, Monster Hunter is the reason why the PSP was so popular. Having it can make a system.

Game Lab's rumors certainly aren't always correct. It did correctly say God Eater 2 was going to the PS Vita before that was officially announced.

But to be honest, I do not believe that Monster Hunter 4 would get a simultaneous 3DS and PS Vita release. Nintendo, for one, would never allow it. But since Capcom does like multiplatform titles, I would not be surprised if Monster Hunter 4 made it to the Vita in some form or another. Eventually. Now that I believe.

Kotaku is following up with Capcom and will update this post should the company comment.

Update: When asked if Monster Hunter 4 is headed to the PS Vita, Capcom told Kotaku, "Capcom has made no announcements."

【すごい噂】 『モンハン4』 の延期はPSVita版も同発マルチになったのが原因らしい [オレ的]

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Cold rain drizzles outside. Inside, everything is pink, round, and frilly. The first floor of this otaku (geek) retailer is plastered with release info for new PC games—adult PC games. A young clerk in glasses near the 18-and-up section taps away on a computer, probably checking inventory. I approach, excusing myself for asking a sudden, if not seemingly random question: "Why is PC gaming in Japan so niche?"

The shop is located in Den-Den Town, Osaka's geek and gaming district, on a street known as "Ota Road", short for "otaku road". It's easy to stumble into shops like this and find an array of dating games, some of which are erotic. The vast majority of these games are not exactly mainstream in Japan, but their presence is palpable in a geek neighborhood like this. But what Western gamers think of PC games—the games from developers like Valve and Blizzard—aren't. It's not that those Western PC games don't exist; they just don't smack you in the face.

When many Japanese gamers think of the country's PC gaming industry, the kneejerk reaction is to think of either dating or Western games. "The image of PC gaming with many Japanese gamers is first-person shooters," the clerk replies, agreeing that it is niche in Japan. "That," he continues, "and they think PC gaming is expensive."

It's not only the perceived price, but the notion that game consoles are dedicated to gaming—that you don't have to worry about things like specs. Then there is the 42 year-old manga artist who loves video games, but tells Kotaku via email, "I don't play computer games at all. I use my computer for work, so I don't want to cause it unnecessary stress by installing a bunch of software."

PC gaming wasn't always niche in Japan. During the early 1980s, the PC was the only game in town—literally. Even after Nintendo's Famicom caused a sensation, games like Metal Gear were still being created for the home computer throughout that decade. Nintendo's decision to call its home console the "Family Computer" and release a keyboard and floppy disks for it shows just how much the computer dominated at that time (likewise, so does Sony's decision to name its console arm "Sony Computer Entertainment"). Electronics makers reappropriated the word "computer" for home consoles, and in the process left PC gaming behind.

With multiple domestic players—Nintendo, NEC, SNK, Sega, Sony, etc.—all making hardware in Japan for Japanese players, consoles eventually took over. Video games became inseparable from either arcades or consoles. Meanwhile in the West, game developers worked both sides of the aisle, whether that was game consoles or PC. Today, studios like Washington-based Valve Corporation and California's own Blizzard Entertainment are some of PC gaming's biggest developers—and champions. Yet, game makers of this stature turn up blanks in Japan.

"I have never played a single PC game," 34 year-old factory worker Maki says. "And if you compare to Korea or China, they have many more PC games than we do here in Japan." He notes that elsewhere in Asia, there was a Dragonball game for PC, which didn't make it to Japan. That isn't the only example of Japanese creations ending up on PC outside the nation's shores. For example, Ghost'n Goblins was released on PC in South Korea, a country where PC rules. This week, Namco Bandai announced it would be co-developing a Naruto game for China.

Traditionally, the most popular genre in Japan is role-playing games. With the Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy games, that genre has largely flourished on consoles. So when Japanese gamers think of video games, they most likely think of the default: the most famous or most popular games. And those games have appeared on consoles.

Spearheading the role-playing game charge is Square Enix. Square Enix is a remarkablable company. Even with a safe, successful run on consoles, Square Enix has branched out to massively multiplayer online role-playing games, such as Final Fantasy XI and more recently, Final Fantasy XIV. In the past year or so, Square Enix has released more and more browser games. Likewise, Sega has found success with its Phantasy Star Online games.

The Enix arm actually started out making erotic games in the early 1980s. Like many developers at that time, erotic games were a gaming experience players could largely get only on PC. But as Enix developed as a company, it stopped making erotic games and focused on role-playing games for consoles. And since consoles locked out much of the adult content, the PC remained a bastion for erotic games, offering players experiences they could not get on home consoles.

There's definitely an audience for online gaming in Japan—it just doesn't feel as palpable as in the West. "Now, I only play browser games," says Shima, who works as an artist in Tokyo. She has played MMOs, something that isn't always easy to do in Japan. "In Japan, Diablo was only in English," she says. "I don't understand English, but the game has a style you don't find in Japan, which makes it so cool."

Thus, unless you are hardcore into Western games (and increasingly, dedicated Japanese gamers are into Western games), there isn't much motivation to venture beyond the mainstream. Sure, these players might be missing great experiences on PC, but loads of Western PC gaming isn't localized in Japan, so what they are missing doesn't even show up on their radars much of the time.

Trawling through Akihabara or Den-Den Town, it can seem like the only PC games you can find are of the ero variety. It's not only Kotaku writers who feel this way: "For the longest time, I thought the PC gaming floor at retailers in Japan was the porn floor," says Mark McDonald of Tokyo game localizer 8-4 via phone. "It was the PC gaming floor."

Steam, while it exists in Japan, hasn't hit a wide audience. There's a bit of a chicken and an egg situation: the game titles are listed only in English, and the prices are only in U.S. dollars. Out of the 1,700 or so games Steam has for sale, only 105 of those can be played in Japanese. None of this makes a welcoming experience if you speak only Japanese and carry only yen.

So against this backdrop, it's not totally unexpected for a big name game developer like Bayonetta designer Hideki Kamiya not to be up to speed on, say, what Valve is doing—even if Kamiya's producer, Atsushi Inaba, is very familiar with the company. That's because in Japan the PC gaming scene is still niche compared to gaming on consoles or mobile devices. You walk into a Japanese game shop and, save for a few notable exceptions like Final Fantasy XIV or Phantasy Star Online 2, PC gaming as it exist in the West doesn't have much of a presence. Ditto for online.

Why does this matter to Westerners? As Mark McDonald from 8-4 points out, without a widespread delivery mechanism, that means fewer Japanese indie game developers can get their cool titles to a larger audience. It gives them one less platform.

That means that talented bedroom developers, like shoot'em up maestro Kenta Cho, must rely more on word of mouth. For years now, Cho has been well known for his freeware games, so he already has a sizable following. With a smaller indie scene in Japan and fewer developer mechanisms, that means it's harder to find the next Kenta Cho—or, perhaps, it confines more of their work to mobile platforms. It ultimately has a knock on effect that might mean fewer young developers are willing to strike out on their own and go indie.

I'm back in the porn floor, where everything is round and frilly, and the clerk is still checking inventory on the computer. In the West, some gamers might turn their nose up at these types of games, deriding them as simple pornography. But these games are part of the pulse of the PC gaming scene, however niche that might be, and they provide experiences, albeit adult ones, players cannot get on consoles.

I ask the clerk what games he likes. "Me? I like role-playing games," he says. "I also like playing first-person shooters on the PC. But not many of my friends play those kinds of games." They play role-playing games on consoles, he adds. I thank him for the chat and make my way through the shop.

PC gaming does have its diehard believers in Japan. There are those making games, guys like Keiji Inafune of Dead Rising fame, Final Fantasy XIV director Naoki Yoshida, and, of course, numerous staffers at Bayonetta developer Platinum Games, who very much believe in PC gaming. They see it as a way forward and a way to connect their games to the world. The walls that get thrown up for so many Japanese players are years of being accustomed to getting their games through closed platforms and even the English language, which enables World of Warcraft guides to spring up across the globe, but might make some Japanese players unsure about their own ability to communicate.

I think about this as the rain lets up momentarily, and I duck out from underneath the awning and head out onto the street, into a sea of manga readers, anime watchers, and gamers. Most likely, console gamers.

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Tsubasa Masuwaka is one of Japan's top gyaru models. Besides appearing in fashion mags, the 27 year-old also designs clothes and cosmetics as well as appears on TV. Even after she gave birth to her son, Masuwaka made motherhood fashionable, too, as a "charisma mom". Part of that appeal was her ideal family life. All of this was topped off by her fashion model husband, Naoki Umeda. Make that, her fashion model ex-husband.

In a recent blog post, Masuwaka announced that she is getting a divorce from Umeda. There have been rumors about their imminent divorce, especially after they stopped living together. Rumors of her husband's infidelity, lack of child rearing help, and lackadaisical work ethic persist, but he wrote on Twitter that he'll "take the truth to his grave." Whatever happened, it's obvious that these two just didn't work out.

On Yahoo! Japan, one Japanese entertainment industry rep gave a slightly different, if somewhat sad, reason for the divorce—namely, intrinsic character differences. "It was because in contrast to Masuwaka, who is sociable, Umeda is an otaku (geek), who was always reading One Piece at home." Oh yeah, that makes perfect sense. A shotgun marriage between two people who probably didn't really know each other very well? Less so.

One Piece: Wrecking Japanese marriages, since 1998.

離婚でバレた益若つばさの嘘ブログ [Yahoo! Japan]

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My name is Richard and I have a problem. When it comes to games, I am a completionist. If there is a nook left unexplored or some random item that needs to be collected, I feel compelled to spend hours getting the job done.

What's odd is I don't find it fun to do these things—I don't know if I have ever found them fun to do. Rather I feel that I need to do them just because they are there.

It wasn't like this when I started gaming. I'd play a game until I beat it and then move onto the next. It was simple.

But then, little by little, more and more "sidequests," "minigames," and "collectibles" entered the game worlds I visited—where often the promise of an extra ending was dangled in front of me as the ultimate goal. But it wasn't until the arrival of trophies and achievements that it really got bad for me.

Years ago I gave up on playing hard mode in games as it made them more stressful than fun (a blow to the old ego indeed). But trophies changed all that. Suddenly, there was a record for all the world to see "how much of a gamer" I really was. And while I never really felt the need to compare my "e-penis" to everyone else's, a quick glance at the trophy menu would often cause me to say, "Oh well, that trophy will only take an hour or two; so let's do it."

At first getting trophies was somewhat fun: They showed me cool things to do that I might had missed without the trophy incentive. But recently, they have become the work I have to do before I get to the part I really like: the story.

But over the holiday break, I took my first big step. I didn't master Assassins Creed III like I had the last three games in the series. Oh sure, I still wasted a few hours doing things I hated like collecting pages and feathers, and mapping the wilderness. But when the fun sidequests (read: building my homestead, playing pirate, and everything else even remotely story related) were finished, I beat the game and never looked back.

Of course, even then I spent more time sidequesting than I did on the main story—which made the game feel far more disjointed that it probably really was. However, I still feel I enjoyed the game far more than if I had spent numerous boredom-inducing hours hunting or crafting.

Then, last week I even managed to play Yakuza 5 without winning every taxi streetrace, mastering Virtua Fighter 2 in the game's arcade, and picking up every piece of trash to be found on the streets of Japan.

I don't know why I am this way. Maybe I am just a bit obsessive-compulsive. Maybe I just have too much of an ego for my own good and I refuse to let the game beat me despite its arbitrary, time-wasting goals. (It's probably the latter.) But the fact of the matter is I am ready to change. I am making it known now that I am done with useless sidequests and collectibles. Done for good.

My name is Richard and I am a recovering game completionist.

This is the work of Chinese artist Nkzhangwang, who did a masterful job of weaving a Chinese visual sense into the famed Japanese mecha. Just look at it! Stunning.

This "Chinese military commander style Optimus Prime" is Nkzhangwang's first uploaded work this year. The illustration mixes the vibe of the Three Kingdoms era with Transformers. And goodness, does it ever work.

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披挂丹青明光擎天柱来也！ [画画的张旺的BLOG via ロケットニュース]

Until I sat down and played Yakuza 5, my knowledge of the Yakuza series was limited, to say the least. I knew the characters and some of the story (from wikis, friends, and the movie), but when it came down to playing the series, the most time I had spent with it was in playing the demos of Yakuza 3, Yakuza 4, and Yakuza: Dead Souls. While I don't have particularly bad memories of playing those demos, none inspired me to go out and buy the full games.

But how long can a series go on before you begin to think, what did I miss? So as I started to play Yakuza 5, I was excited to finally be experiencing the highly acclaimed series. Sadly though, by the time I was a few hours in, that excitement had turned into dread as I realized little by little that Yakuza 5 was just not the game for me. And here are the reasons why:

#1 — Endless Brawling with an Aged Combat System

Following nothing but the story, there are a lot—and I mean a lot—of fights against random gang members. You fight through room after room, building after building, where each door is sure to have another wave of men waiting just behind it. While there are many different weapons, combos, and special attacks to deal with the hordes of enemies, they just aren't able to keep up. The entire combat system seems designed for you to fight two or three enemies at a time maximum as the vast majority of your attacks will only hit a single enemy. But in Yakuza 5 you commonly fight groups of five or more—sometimes many, many more. Thus, these battles become a time consuming slog.

#2 — Lack Of Checkpoints (And a Cheap AI)

Fighting through one building full of baddies near the climax of Kiryu's story took me a good thirty minutes. During that time I cleared three floors, watched several prefight cutscenes, and beat one miniboss. Then, suddenly, I came upon two minibosses with sledgehammers. In moments, I was juggled and killed before I was able to heal. So I loaded back to the check point, which is, of course, back when I first entered the building thirty minutes ago. Nothing—clearing floors, killing minibosses, or watching cutscenes—triggered a checkpoint.

So more than a little annoyed, I tried again. Nearly back to the two mini-bosses, I ran into a group of enemies with fire extinguishers—which knock you down and stun you if you touch the spray. As I fought one of them, another came up from behind, sprayed me, knocked me down some stairs, and then sprayed over my prone body. Every time I tried to get up, I took massive damage and fell right back down. I did this until I ran out of health. Again, I had to start thirty minutes back. This, as you may have guessed, was not fun!

#3 — More Random Attacks Than an Old School RPG

It seems you can't walk five steps in Japan with getting into a street fight with someone and seven of their best friends. With some of the characters, it makes sense that everyone wants to kick your ass. But in Kiryu's section of the game, he is just an ordinary cab driver who is constantly ambushed by Yakuza, hosts, and various street gangs. It's one thing when you need cash or to level up, but when you are just trying to walk from the cab company to the arcade and you get attacked five times on the way, it feels more than a bit annoying.

#4 — Start From Zero Again and Again

Each time you complete one of the game's five sections, you start as a new character in a new city. This would be fine, except you start again at level one and all your skills are gone as well. It felt like all my hard work had been for nothing and that I was being forced to start the game over. It was almost like being punished for playing the game as intended. It left me incredibly demotivated.

#5 — Unskippable Conversations

My final turnoff for Yakuza 5 is somewhat story related. The cutscenes—and in-game dialogue scenes that follow—are reminiscent of Hideo Kojima on his worst day, with many easily passing the fifteen minute mark. Perhaps if I was highly invested in the story due to playing the other games (like I am with Metal Gear), I wouldn't mind this so much. And in truth, all the scenes dealing with the characters' backstories and the non-Yakuza side of their lives were quite enjoyable. But there was only so much of men sitting around talking about Yakuza politics that I could deal with before finally asking, "Can I play the game now?"

The problem is that while the FMVs can be skipped, the in-game conversation scenes cannot. [Update: Apparently it is possible to skip the conversations by pressing R1 and X at the same time. Thanks whiteaudio for the info!] Even tapping as fast as I could to go through these conversations, many still took several minutes. Thus, I started to dread playing through the plot, knowing that the game's pace would be about to grind to a halt.

Final Thoughts

Playing Yakuza 5 became less and less fun the more I played it, but even then there were some things I really liked. The over-the-top action scenes, street races, and several of the different mini-games gave me a laugh at least and were generally pretty fun. But sadly, actually doing what I was supposed to do to move the plot forward was aggravating and felt like a waste of time.

However, in the game's defense, all the things I have problems with seem to be standard fair for the series at this point, which leads me to believe that fans of the series will probably find my complaints a non-issue. But for me personally, I feel no urge from here on to play a Yakuza game ever again. Simply put, Yakuza 5—and probably the whole series—-is simply not for me.

Yakuza 5 was released in Japan on December 6, 2012, for the PlayStation 3. There is currently no word on a Western release.

Face it. The best meal you can get at McDonald's is breakfast. And for a limited time, you can get just that at a McDonald's in Tokyo. That's all you can get. Wahoo!

The McDonald's in Tokyo's Shinjuku (the Meiji-dori Sutepa-ten, to be exact!) has put its regular menu on hold and is serving round the clock breakfast. In Japan, the McDonald's breakfast service is called "Asa Makku" (朝マック) or "Morning McDonald's". Website IT Media recently swung by to check out the fast food festivities.

The campaign is the latest in a string of ones from McDonald's Japan that has unintentionally resulted in french fry madness and hamburger horrors. This latest stunt seems like it won't end in fast food chaos.

If you live in the greater Tokyo area, you have until January 20 to enjoy the round the clock McDonald's breakfast in Shinjuku.

Or the giant Sausage McMuffin on top the restaurant.

24時間「朝マック」を提供するマクドナルドに行ってみた [IT Media]

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Last year, a pair of apps, Make Me Asian and Make Me Indian, raised eyebrows after they appeared in the Google Play Store. The original description (via Reappropriate) for Make Me Asian read:

Have you ever wondered to present himself as a person of another nationality? You can imagine, for example, Chinese or Japanese? No? Then immediately take your phone and download it [sic] amazing Android-application called Make me Asian.

This is just a fun app lets you indulge you and your friends! You can for a few seconds to make himself a Chinese, Japanese, Korean or any other Asians!

The apps allowed users to make themselves look "Asian" or "Indian" by superimposing outdated racist iconography. "These are nothing less than hateful and offensive stereotypes that are used to this very day to marginalize and humiliate people," wrote Peter Chin, who created the petition, on Change.org.

As Jezebel pointed out last December, a Change.org petition was created. Over eight thousand people signed the petition. Google listened and decided to remove both apps, reports NPR.

Sometimes there are those in the majority, no matter the country or the culture, who just aren't sensitive to possibly offensive iconography. Maybe they're careless or just don't know what it's like to be on the receiving end. Chin is correct in that dated stereotypes are used to marginalize and humiliate. They are.

Make Me Asian and Make Me Indian were both apparently created by Kimbery Deiss. On the developer's website, there are two new offensive apps, Make Me Auschwitz and Make Me Black. A message that reads, "Coming Soon to Google Play!" Both these apps are also incredibly tacky and offensive. Blackface and the Holocaust? Really?

As of posting, Kimbery Deiss, who also developed Make Me Old and Make Me Bald, does not seem to be listed on the Google Play Store.

Kotaku attempted to contact Deiss via the email address listed on the developer's site, but that email address no longer appears to be active.

"This may seem like a small victory, but it made an important statement: that minorities will not simply accept dated and offensive stereotypes that are wrongly foisted upon them," Chin added on Change.org. "We stood up, our voices were heard, and something changed."

'Make Me Asian' App Removed From Google Play Store [NPR]

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Doodle or Die is sort of like all those other drawing games you've seen and played, with one difference: it tends to be a lot funnier, because it's built around the idea of multiplayer "chains", whereby people write something, someone else draws it, then someone else bases the next inspiring line on the image that's been drawn.

It leads to rabbit holes that you'd think shouldn't be approached, but are actually awesome visualisations of the kind of things five year-old boys scream in a playground. Drawn, I'm guessing, by a lot of 30 year-old men.

Doodle Or Die [Site, via Laughing Squid]