223-460: Japanese video game developer Sega 's Yakuza media franchise, known as Ryū ga Gotoku ( 龍が如く , lit. "Like a Dragon") in its native Japan and other Asian territories, features an extensive cast of characters. This article describes notable characters who appear in the Yakuza main series video games and associated remasters or remakes, with characters sorted by organizations or groups according to
446-413: A ward of Kiryu's whose story arc is devoid of combat mechanics. The prequel installment Yakuza 0 featured two protagonists, Kiryu and recurring supporting character Goro Majima . Kiryu is the only playable character in Yakuza 6 , while an additional story played from Majima's perspective was added to the remake of Yakuza 2 , Yakuza Kiwami 2 . The 2 most recent mainline instalments , Yakuza: Like
669-409: A "fool", isn't he." As a result, he marks a major contrast with the game's dark setting. Auditions of the character started early in development to appreciate him sooner. Kazuhiro Nakaya was one of the multiple candidates to be seen. Yokoyama felt that Nakaya stood out to the character due to sharing a rebellious personality when the script was sent. After a discussion between Yokoyama and Nagoshi, Nakaya
892-664: A $ 1 billion stock swap whereby Sega would wholly acquire Bandai, was set to form a company known as Sega Bandai, Ltd. Though it was to be finalized in October of that year, it was called off in May after growing opposition from Bandai's mid-level executives. Bandai instead agreed to a business alliance with Sega. As a result of Sega's deteriorating financial situation, Nakayama resigned as Sega president in January 1998 in favor of Irimajiri. Nakayama's resignation may have in part been due to
1115-582: A 92% replay rate. While the eight-player Japanese version of the game was released in 1999, the game was reduced to a smaller four-player version due to size issues and released in North America in 2003. The cabinet was too expensive and the game did not entice casual users which are essential to the western arcade market. While the Japanese market retained core players, western arcades had become more focused on casual players, and Sega Amusements Europe,
1338-448: A Dragon and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth , features a new cast of characters. Players take control of a group of companions led by Ichiban Kasuga and the game introduces a new turn-based fighting style, opposed to the brawler free roam style of earlier instalments . The series originated from creator Toshihiro Nagoshi 's desire to design a game that would tell the way of life of the yakuza . Nagoshi initially struggled to greenlight
1561-668: A Dragon as a member of the Geomijul, a splinter group to the Jingweon Mafia operating out of Isezaki Ijincho. He is the strategist and second-in-command of Seong-hui, the Geomijul leader, who joins Ichiban Kasuga's group following a period of upheaval within Isezaki Ijincho's criminal underworld. A third incarnation of Joon-gi Han appears in Ryu ga Gotoku ONLINE as a major character. Koichi Adachi ( 足立 宏一 , Adachi Kōichi)
1784-670: A Dragon . Hiroki Awano ( 阿波野 大樹 , Awano Hiroki ), is one of the three lieutenants of the Dojima Family, and the patriarch of its subsidiary family, the Taihei Association. Shintaro Kazama ( 風間 新太郎 , Kazama Shintarō ) (known as Fuma in the English versions of the first three games and by his original name Shintaro Kazama from Yakuza 4 onward) was the head of the Kazama Family who had provided funding for
2007-669: A Dreamcast launch game . It was promoted with a large-scale public demonstration at the Tokyo Kokusai Forum Hall . Due to a high failure rate in the manufacturing process, Sega could not ship enough consoles for the Dreamcast's Japanese launch. As more than half of its limited stock had been pre-ordered, Sega stopped pre-orders in Japan. Before the launch, Sega announced the release of its New Arcade Operation Machine Idea (NAOMI) arcade system board , which served as
2230-418: A Ueno Seiwa-kai member to give him protection, but Mishima is shot and killed by Junji Sugiuchi. After being cornered by Sudo, Sugiuchi flees to the water and attempts to escape by speedboat but is pursued by Tanimura. Tanimura attempts to handcuff him but Sugiuchi escapes and the two fight. A defeated Sugiuchi reveals he knows what happened the day of the murder and that it was he who killed his father, though he
2453-619: A Wonderful Life , It Happened One Night , the original King Kong , Mutiny on the Bounty , Top Hat , City Lights , Red River , The Lady from Shanghai , Rear Window , On the Waterfront , Rebel Without a Cause , Some Like It Hot , and The Manchurian Candidate . The studio system and the Golden Age of Hollywood succumbed to two forces that developed in the late 1940s: In 1938, Walt Disney's Snow White and
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#17327915696112676-465: A cheaper alternative to the Sega Model 3 . NAOMI shared technology with the Dreamcast, allowing nearly identical ports of arcade games. The Dreamcast launched in Japan on November 27, 1998. The entire stock of 150,000 consoles sold out by the end of the day. Irimajiri estimated that another 200,000 to 300,000 Dreamcast units could have been sold with sufficient supply. He hoped to sell more than
2899-504: A compromise with Arnold in October 1940 and signing a consent decree agreeing to, within three years: The "Little Three" ( Universal Studios , United Artists , and Columbia Pictures ), who did not own any theaters, refused to participate in the consent decree. A number of independent film producers were also unhappy with the compromise and formed a union known as the Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers and sued Paramount for
3122-419: A computer and manipulate them digitally. The possibilities became apparent in director James Cameron 's Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), in images of the shape-changing character T-1000 . Computer graphics or CG advanced to a point where Jurassic Park (1993) was able to use the techniques to create realistic looking animals. Jackpot (2001) became the first film that was shot entirely in digital. In
3345-622: A computer, the SC-3000. Learning that Nintendo was developing a games-only console , the Famicom , Sega developed its first home video game system, the SG-1000 , alongside the SC-3000. Rebranded versions of the SG-1000 were released in several other markets worldwide. The SG-1000 sold 160,000 units in 1983, which far exceeded Sega's projection of 50,000 in the first year but was outpaced by
3568-485: A deal and told them that if they would leave town, he would spare their lives. However, a 12-year-old Kazuma Kiryu, thinking Kazama was in danger, ran into the room with a pipe with intent to attack the Jingweon boss. Thinking he had been double-crossed, the boss attempts to shoot Kiryu, prompting Kazama to shoot. This began the massacre. In Yakuza 3 , a man who resembles Kazama is involved in a situation where Daigo Dojima
3791-492: A decrease in profitability due to the investments required to launch the Dreamcast in Western markets and poor software sales in Japan. At the same time, worsening conditions reduced the profitability of Sega's Japanese arcade business, prompting the closure of 246 locations. Moore became the president and chief operating officer of Sega of America on 8 May 2000. He said the Dreamcast would need to sell 5 million units in
4014-679: A downturn in the arcade business in the early 1980s, Sega began to develop video game consoles, starting with the SG-1000 and Master System , but struggled against competitors such as the Nintendo Entertainment System . In 1984, Sega executives David Rosen and Hayao Nakayama led a management buyout , with backing from CSK Corporation . In 1988, Sega released the Mega Drive , or the Genesis in North America. The Mega Drive struggled against competition in Japan, but
4237-512: A former executive at Sony Computer Entertainment of America, became Sega of America's executive vice president in charge of product development and third-party relations. Stolar was not supportive of the Saturn, believing its hardware was poorly designed. While Stolar had said "the Saturn is not our future" at E3 1997, he continued to emphasize the quality of its games, and later reflected that "we tried to wind it down as cleanly as we could for
4460-612: A four-point plan: cut the price of the Genesis, create a US team to develop games targeted at the American market, expand the aggressive advertising campaigns, and replace the bundled game Altered Beast with Sonic the Hedgehog . The Japanese board of directors disapproved, but it was approved by Nakayama, who told Kalinske, "I hired you to make the decisions for Europe and the Americas, so go ahead and do it." In large part due to
4683-528: A homegrown supply of actors—lured west from the New York City stage after the introduction of sound films—to form one of the 20th century's most remarkable growth industries. At motion pictures' height of popularity in the mid-1940s, the studios were cranking out a total of about 400 movies a year, seen by an audience of 90 million Americans per week. Sound also became widely used in Hollywood in
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#17327915696114906-534: A hospital machine. Daigo awakens after Mine's defeat and saves the two from Black Monday syndicate leader Andre Richardson. During Yakuza 4 , Daigo holds an emergency meeting with the Ueno Seiwa Clan following Ihara's death. Isao Katsuragi, the head of the Ueno Seiwa, demanded from Daigo that, to make up for Ihara's murder, the life of Arai or control of the business Majima runs, but Daigo refused. He
5129-640: A major film production center. In Colorado , Denver was home to the Art-O-Graf Film Company, and Walt Disney 's early Laugh-O-Gram Studio was based in Kansas City , Missouri . From 1908, Jacksonville, Florida's motion picture industry saw more than 30 silent film companies establish studios in town, including Kalem Studios , Metro Pictures (later MGM ), Edison Studios , Majestic Films, King-Bee Films Corporation , Vim Comedy Company , Norman Studios , Gaumont Film Company and
5352-420: A million Dreamcast units in Japan by February 1999, but less than 900,000 were sold. The low sales undermined Sega's attempts to build up a sufficient installed base to ensure the Dreamcast's survival after the arrival of competition from other manufacturers. Sega suffered a further ¥42.881 billion consolidated net loss in the fiscal year ending March 1999, and announced plans to eliminate 1,000 jobs, nearly
5575-815: A number of theaters in the late 1920s, and would hold a monopoly on theaters in Detroit, Michigan . By the 1930s, almost all of the first-run metropolitan theaters in the United States were owned by the Big Five studios— MGM , Paramount Pictures , RKO , Warner Bros. , and 20th Century Fox . Motion picture companies operated under the studio system . The major studios kept thousands of people on salary—actors, producers, directors, writers, stunt men, crafts persons, and technicians. They owned or leased Movie Ranches in rural Southern California for location shooting of westerns and other large-scale genre films, and
5798-435: A popular form of entertainment among youths across East Asia , laying the foundations for modern selfie culture. By 1997, about 47,000 Purikura machines had been sold, earning Sega an estimated ¥25 billion ( £173 million ) or $ 283,000,000 (equivalent to $ 537,000,000 in 2023) from Purikura sales that year. Various other similar Purikura machines appeared from other manufacturers, with Sega controlling about half of
6021-527: A press release confirming it was considering producing software for the PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance as part of its "new management policy". On January 31, 2001, Sega announced the discontinuation of the Dreamcast after March 31 and the restructuring of the company as a "platform-agnostic" third-party developer. Sega also announced a Dreamcast price reduction to eliminate its unsold inventory, estimated at 930,000 units as of April 2001. This
6244-554: A promising career in the major leagues, but it was cut short in 1997 when he was set up and received a lifetime ban for a baseball gambling/game fixing scandal he didn't commit. Since then, Shinada earns a meager living as an adult entertainment writer in Nagoya ’s Kineicho district. But his life takes a turn when a disguised Daigo Dojima confronts Shinada and tells him to uncover the truth behind his ban and clear his name. Haruka Sawamura ( Japanese : 澤村 遥 , Hepburn : Sawamura Haruka )
6467-557: A quarter of its workforce. Before the Western launch, Sega reduced the price of the Dreamcast in Japan by JP¥9,100, effectively making it unprofitable but increasing sales. On August 11, 1999, Sega of America confirmed that Stolar had been fired. Peter Moore , whom Stolar had hired as a Sega of America executive only six months before, was placed in charge of the North American launch. The Dreamcast launched in North America on September 9, 1999, with 18 games. Sega set
6690-456: A record by selling more than 225,132 Dreamcast units in 24 hours, earning $ 98.4 million in what Moore called "the biggest 24 hours in entertainment retail history". Within two weeks, US Dreamcast sales exceeded 500,000. By Christmas, Sega held 31 percent of the US video game market by revenue. On November 4, Sega announced it had sold more than a million Dreamcast units. Nevertheless, the launch
6913-619: A second, faster processor, vastly expanded system memory, a graphics chip that performed scaling and rotation similar to the company's arcade games, and another sound chip. In North America, it was renamed the Sega CD and launched on October 15, 1992, with a retail price of US$ 299. It was released in Europe as the Mega-CD in 1993. The Mega-CD sold only 100,000 units during its first year in Japan, falling well below expectations. Throughout
Characters of the Yakuza series - Misplaced Pages Continue
7136-521: A set of still cameras placed in a row. Muybridge's accomplishment led inventors everywhere to attempt to make similar devices. In the United States , Thomas Edison was among the first to produce such a device, the kinetoscope and kinetograph . The history of cinema in the United States can trace its roots to the East Coast , where, at one time, Fort Lee, New Jersey , was the motion-picture capital of America. The American film industry began at
7359-636: A set-up. He and Chairman Jin Goda of the Omi Alliance are kidnapped by the Jingweon Mafia, but eventually is rescued by Kiryu and Kaoru Sayama. He then takes on a leadership role and brings the fragments of the Tojo Clan together, to lead them into Kamurocho to stop the Jingweon and the Go-Ryu from destroying the city. Prior to the events of Yakuza 3 , Daigo becomes the sixth chairman of the Tojo Clan. At
7582-543: A significant influence on the global film industry beginning in the early 20th century . Classical Hollywood cinema , which developed from 1910 to 1962, is still typical of most films made in America today. While French filmmakers Auguste and Louis Lumière are generally credited with the birth of modern cinema, American cinema soon came to be a dominant force in the emerging industry. With more than 600 English-language films released annually as of 2017 , it has produced
7805-481: A slight increase in the fiscal year ended March 1997, partly driven by increasing arcade revenue, while outperforming Nintendo during the mid-term period. However, in the fiscal year ending March 1998, Sega suffered its first financial loss since its 1988 listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange as both a parent company and a corporation as a whole. In the company's 1998 year end report, Irimajiri placed
8028-652: A time to theaters and use the lock-in to cover for releases of mediocre quality. Assistant Attorney General Thurman Arnold —a noted " trust buster " of the Roosevelt administration—took this opportunity to initiate proceedings against the eight largest Hollywood studios in July 1938 for violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act . The federal suit resulted in five of the eight studios (the "Big Five": Warner Bros. , MGM , Fox , RKO and Paramount ) reaching
8251-741: A twisted sense of loyalty. His temper and lack of mercy earned him the nickname "the Mad Dog of Shimano". Majima holds a strong rivalry with Kiryu, believing himself the only one who has the right to kill him, but over time becomes one of Kiryu's most stalwart allies. He appears in every mainline Yakuza game and a majority of the spinoff entries. He becomes playable for the first time in Yakuza: Dead Souls , with his first canon playable entry in Yakuza 0 and again in Yakuza Kiwami 2's Majima Saga. Ichiban Kasuga ( 春日 一番 , Kasuga Ichiban)
8474-401: A vacant lot near Georgia Street in downtown Los Angeles. While there, the company decided to explore new territories, traveling several miles north to Hollywood: a little village that was friendly and enjoyed the movie company filming there. Griffith then filmed the first movie ever shot in Hollywood, In Old California , a Biograph melodrama about California in the 19th century, when the state
8697-438: Is Katsuragi himself. The rounds Saejima used were rubber bullets, and all the men were only knocked unconscious after being shot by Saejima. After Saejima left, Katsuragi returned and shot them all in the head, but framed Saejima. Kido shoots Katsuragi and Saejima warns Kiryu and Yasuko of the bulletproof vest he is wearing, but the warning comes too late, and Yasuko is fatally shot protecting Taiga. Taiga later fights Kido on top of
8920-547: Is a fictional character from the series Yakuza . Introduced in Yakuza , Haruka was born to Yumi Sawamura and politician Kyohei Jingu in 1996, and grew up in the Sunflower Orphanage where Kiryu, Nishiki and Yumi grew up in. During the events of Yakuza , Haruka is looking for her missing mother. Kiryu finds her and protects her from multiple yakuza outfits from the Tojo Clan and Omi Alliance who are seeking her as she
9143-518: Is based on Cyberware 3D scanner , Softimage XSI 6.5 3D models and Sega's Magical V-Engine . Scenario editor Hasei Seishu assisted with the conception of Kiryu and Date in order to make them fit into the narrative. By Yakuza 4 , Kiryu was seen as "indestructible" by the staff, and as a result, he was made the last character playable in the game, following three new characters that stood out thanks to their different traits. Yakuza 4 adjusted several of these localisation changes, following criticism of
Characters of the Yakuza series - Misplaced Pages Continue
9366-444: Is considered to be quite lazy, often forgetting to clean his office and frequently neglects his duties. He also appears in Yakuza 5 , Yakuza 6: The Song of Life and during the events of the spinoff Dead Souls where he teams up with Kiryu, Majima and Ryuji Goda to stop the zombie plague. Taiga Saejima ( 冴島 大河 , Saejima Taiga ) is one of the four playable characters in Yakuza 4 . A 45-year-old physically imposing former yakuza who
9589-782: Is eventually blown and he dies from gunshot wounds inflicted by Arase of the Nishikiyama Family. Sega Sega Corporation is a Japanese multinational video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Shinagawa , Tokyo . It produces several multi-million-selling game franchises for arcades and consoles , including Sonic the Hedgehog , Angry Birds , Phantasy Star , Puyo Puyo , Super Monkey Ball , Total War , Virtua Fighter , Megami Tensei , Sakura Wars , Persona , and Yakuza . From 1983 until 2001, Sega also developed its own consoles . Having American origins, Sega
9812-655: Is one of Ichiban Kasuga's companions in Yakuza: Like a Dragon . Adachi is a former police detective who is demoted prior to the events of Like a Dragon . Suspecting that the Arakawa Family is involved in corruption within the Tokyo Metropolitan Police and that Ichiban's imprisonment is part of a criminal conspiracy, Adachi meets the latter on the day of his release in an attempt to persuade him to cooperate with his unilateral investigation into
10035-408: Is one of the playable characters introduced in Yakuza 4 . A former homeless person, Akiyama owns Sky Finance, a loan company, as well as the hostess club Elise, which he started up using the money he gathered that fell from Millennium Tower in 2005. Once helped out by the yakuza Hiroaki Arai, he looked up to Arai as a potential new leader of Kamurocho who could eventually succeed Kazuma Kiryu. Akiyama
10258-472: Is one of the world's most prolific arcade game producers and its mascot, Sonic , is internationally recognized. Its name and branding are used for owned or affiliated companies that operate amusement arcades and produce other entertainment products, including Sega Fave; however, these are largely separate ventures. Sega is recognized for its video game consoles, creativity and innovations. In more recent years, it has been criticized for its business decisions and
10481-616: Is referred to primarily by his family name, Kiryu, which more closely reflects the original dialogue. Many characters of the Yakuza series have had their faces modeled and mapped after their Japanese voice actors since the 2008 spinoff Ryū ga Gotoku Kenzan! . Cyberware Inc. 's head & face color 3D scanner is used in Hollywood's film industry and was exploited to reduce 3D model production time. Yu Suzuki introduced 3D scanning technology back in 1998 for Project Berkeley / Shenmue . Since Yakuza 6: The Song of Life concludes
10704-500: Is released from prison only to find that the Tojo Clan has collapsed, and nobody remembers him. He goes to confront Arakawa, who shoots him in the chest. Several days later, Kasuga regains consciousness and finds himself in the Yokohama district of Isezaki Ijincho, where he is unwittingly embroiled in a conspiracy involving multiple yakuza families and their connection to Japan's political figures. Shun Akiyama ( 秋山 駿 , Akiyama Shun )
10927-497: Is shot. This is later revealed to be his younger brother, Joji Kazama, who is an operative for the CIA . Osamu Kashiwagi ( 柏木 修 , Kashiwagi Osamu ) is the second-in-command of the Kazama Family who holds a deep respect for his patriarch, Shintaro Kazama. He is seen at the beginning of Yakuza trying to tell a tale about his boss but is silenced by Kazama. Kashiwagi is not seen again until end of Chapter 12, when he arrives with backup to
11150-534: Is the main protagonist in the series. Born on June 17, 1968, he was raised during the 1970s in the Sunflower Orphanage with Akira "Nishiki" Nishikiyama, who became his best friend, the latter's sister Yuko and Yumi Sawamura who joined in 1980. When he was a child, his parents were killed by Shintaro Kazama, a Tojo Clan affiliate Dojima Family lieutenant, who brought him to the Sunflower orphanage which he himself financed. In 1986, Kazama introduced Kiryu and Nishiki in
11373-533: Is the key to finding the missing 10 billion yen. After her mother's death at the hands of Jingu, Kiryu adopts her, and the two eventually start the Morning Glory Orphanage in Okinawa in 2007. Across the series, Haruka grows up alongside her adoptive father, debuting as a playable character in Yakuza 5 working as an idol, and starting her own family in Yakuza 6 . Several characters who bear
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#173279156961111596-484: Is the main protagonist of Yakuza: Like a Dragon . The character first appears in the Japan-exclusive mobile game Ryu ga Gotoku ONLINE (龍が如く ONLINE, lit. "Like A Dragon ONLINE"). Originally a member of Tojo Clan's Arakawa Family, he is asked by the family's patriarch Masumi Arakawa to go to prison for a murder that he did not commit, which he accepts as his way of repaying his patriarch's favor. In 2019, Kasuga
11819-459: Is the wife of Sohei Dojima and the mother of Daigo Dojima. In the events of Yakuza 2 , she becomes the acting Chairwoman of the Tojo Clan because of the murder of fifth chairman Yukio Terada, and she asks Kiryu to negotiate with the Chairman of the Omi Alliance, Jin Goda, for a truce. Later, she is taken prisoner by Koji Shindo, the second chairman of the Nishikiyama Family, who plans to sell out
12042-465: The Famicom and lagged behind Nintendo's Super Famicom and the TurboGrafx-16 , made by NEC , in Japanese sales throughout the 16-bit era . For the North American launch, where the console was renamed Genesis, Sega had no sales and marketing organization. After Atari declined an offer to market the console in the region, Sega launched it through its own Sega of America subsidiary. The Genesis
12265-515: The Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles County, California . Director D. W. Griffith was central to the development of a film grammar . Orson Welles 's Citizen Kane (1941) is frequently cited in critics' polls as the greatest film of all time . The first recorded instance of photographs capturing and reproducing motion was a series of photographs of a running horse by Eadweard Muybridge , which he took in Palo Alto, California , using
12488-1107: The Kalem Company began using Fort Lee as a location for filming in the area, other filmmakers quickly followed. In 1909, a forerunner of Universal Studios , the Champion Film Company , built the first studio. Others quickly followed and either built new studios or leased facilities in Fort Lee. In the 1910s and 1920s , film companies such as the Independent Moving Pictures Company, Peerless Pictures Studios , Solax Studios , Eclair , Goldwyn Pictures Corporation , Star Film ( Georges Méliès ), World Film Company , Biograph Studios , Fox Film Corporation , Société Pathé Frères , Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. , Victor Film Company , and Selznick International Pictures were all making pictures in Fort Lee. Such notables as Mary Pickford got their start at Biograph Studios. In New York,
12711-703: The Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens , which was built during the silent film era, was used by the Marx Brothers and W.C. Fields . The Edison Studios were located in the Bronx . Chelsea, Manhattan , was also frequently used. Other Eastern cities, most notably Chicago and Cleveland , also served as early centers for film production. In the West, California was already quickly emerging as
12934-497: The Lubin Manufacturing Company . Picture City, Florida was a planned site for a movie picture production center in the 1920s, but due to the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane , the idea collapsed and Picture City, Florida returned to its original name of Hobe Sound . An attempt to establish a film production center in Detroit also proved unsuccessful. The film patents wars of the early 20th century helped
13157-684: The Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and Sonic Team brands for several core franchise entries), Sega Sapporo Studio which mainly provides support for the Tokyo-based development teams as well as handling partial game development, and Atlus (including their R&D divisions, such as P-Studio and Studio Zero respectively) and five development studios in the UK and Europe: Creative Assembly , Sports Interactive , Sega Hardlight , Two Point Studios , and Rovio Entertainment (including Ruby Games). Sega
13380-584: The antagonist and protagonist may be blurred. The roots of post-classical storytelling may be seen in film noir , in Rebel Without a Cause (1955), and in Hitchcock's storyline-shattering Psycho . The New Hollywood is the emergence of a new generation of film school-trained directors who had absorbed the techniques developed in Europe in the 1960s as a result of the French New Wave;
13603-407: The studios and Hollywood grew. Before World War I , films were made in several American cities, but filmmakers tended to gravitate towards southern California as the industry developed. They were attracted by the warm, predictable climate with reliable sunlight, which made it possible to film their films outdoors year-round alongside the varied scenery that was available. War damage contributed to
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#173279156961113826-604: The "Sega!" scream, and holding press events for the education industry. Sega partnered with GE to develop the Sega Model 2 arcade system board, building on 3D technology in the arcade industry at the time. This led to several successful arcade games, including Daytona USA , launched in a limited capacity in late 1993 and worldwide in 1994. Other popular games included Virtua Cop , Sega Rally Championship , and Virtua Fighter 2 . Virtua Fighter and Virtua Fighter 2 became Sega's best-selling arcade games of all time, surpassing their previous record holder Out Run . There
14049-538: The 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde marked the beginning of American cinema rebounding as well, as a new generation of films would afterwards gain success at the box offices as well. Filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola , Steven Spielberg , George Lucas , Brian De Palma , Stanley Kubrick , Martin Scorsese , Roman Polanski , and William Friedkin came to produce fare that paid homage to the history of film and developed upon existing genres and techniques. Inaugurated by
14272-615: The 1969 release of Andy Warhol 's Blue Movie , the phenomenon of adult erotic films being publicly discussed by celebrities (like Johnny Carson and Bob Hope ), and taken seriously by critics (like Roger Ebert ), a development referred to, by Ralph Blumenthal of The New York Times , as " porno chic ", and later known as the Golden Age of Porn , began, for the first time, in modern American culture. According to award-winning author Toni Bentley , Radley Metzger 's 1976 film The Opening of Misty Beethoven , based on
14495-445: The 1980s. Former Sega director Akira Nagai said Hang-On and Out Run helped to pull the arcade game market out of the 1982 downturn and created new genres of video games. With the arcade game market once again growing, Sega was one of the most recognized game brands at the end of the 1980s. In the arcades, the company focused on releasing games to appeal to diverse tastes, including racing games and side-scrollers . Sega released
14718-527: The 1990s had access to technological, political and economic innovations that had not been available in previous decades. Dick Tracy (1990) became the first 35 mm feature film with a digital soundtrack. Batman Returns (1992) was the first film to make use of the Dolby Digital six-channel stereo sound that has since become the industry standard. Computer-generated imagery was greatly facilitated when it became possible to transfer film images into
14941-408: The 1994 release of the Atari Jaguar , and that the Saturn would not be available until the next year. As a result, Nakayama decided to have a second console release to market by the end of 1994. Sega began to develop the 32X , a Genesis add-on which would serve as a less expensive entry into the 32-bit era . The 32X would not be compatible with the Saturn, but would play Genesis games. Sega released
15164-404: The 2021 title Lost Judgment . Eri Kamataki ( 鎌滝 えり , Kamataki Eri) is the chief executive officer of Ichiban Confections who recruits Ichiban to assist her in managing her troubled company in Yakuza: Like a Dragon . She is modeled on and named exactly after her Japanese voice actress. Eri is available as an optional player character in Ichiban's party once the first milestone objective within
15387-413: The 30-million-yen Saejima needed. In exchange, Saejima had to become a member of the Sasai Family. A 29-year-old policeman of the Japanese National Police , Masayoshi Tanimura ( 谷村 正義 , Tanimura Masayoshi ) is one of the last playable characters introduced in Yakuza 4 , known as "The Parasite of Kamurocho" for his corruption and love of gambling. At heart, however, he is actually just and caring, using
15610-417: The 32X on November 21, 1994, in North America, December 3, 1994, in Japan, and January 1995 in PAL territories, and was sold at less than half of the Saturn's launch price. After the holiday season, interest in the 32X rapidly declined. Sega released the Saturn in Japan on November 22, 1994. Virtua Fighter , a port of the popular arcade game, sold at a nearly one-to-one ratio with the Saturn at launch and
15833-455: The 3rd , Case Closed , and Anpanman & Marza Animation Planet , which specializes in CG animation. In May 1940, American businessmen Martin Bromley, Irving Bromberg and James Humpert formed Standard Games in Honolulu , Hawaii. Their aim was to provide coin-operated amusement machines , including slot machines , to military bases as the increase in personnel with the onset of World War II would create demand for entertainment. After
16056-438: The Arakawa Family's activities. He is fired from the police force after Ichiban is shot by Masumi Arakawa but reunites with him in Isezaki Ijincho and starts a new life there. Yu Nanba ( 難波 悠 , Nanba Yū) is one of Ichiban Kasuga's companions in Yakuza: Like a Dragon . Nanba is a disbarred nurse who lives as a homeless man in Isezaki Ijincho. He uses his skills as a former health professional to nurse Ichiban back to health after
16279-626: The CEO and managing director, while Stewart was named president and LeMaire was the director of planning. Shortly afterward, Sega stopped leasing to military bases and moved its focus from slot machines to coin-operated amusement machines. Its imports included Rock-Ola jukeboxes, pinball games by Williams , and gun games by Midway Manufacturing . Because Sega imported second-hand machines, which required frequent maintenance, it began constructing replacement guns and flippers for its imported games. According to former Sega director Akira Nagai, this led to
16502-559: The Catholic watchdog organization The Legion of Decency —appalled by some of the provocative films and lurid advertising of the era later classified Pre-Code Hollywood —threatened a boycott of motion pictures if it did not go into effect. The films that did not obtain a seal of approval from the Production Code Administration had to pay a $ 25,000 fine (equivalent to $ 455,976 in 2023) and could not profit in
16725-467: The Dojima Family. Dojima was known for getting his way by any means necessary. He is Daigo's father, and Yayoi's husband. His death at the hands of Akira Nishikiyama in 1995 caused Shintaro Kazama, the Dojima captain, to absorb the Dojima men into his own Kazama Family. Kazuma Kiryu covered up Nishiki's murder and served 10 years in prison. It is revealed in a flashback during Yakuza 2 by Kashiwagi that he
16948-544: The Dojima and Kazama families respectively. Kazama became a father figure for Kiryu who supported him within the Dojima Family and years later when he was released from prison. Kiryu rose through the Tojo hierarchy and earned the nickname "the Dragon of Dojima" ( 堂島の龍 , Dōjima no Ryū ) because of the dragon tattoo on his back, but the main reason was because he gained the victory fight against Keiji Shibusawa who wanted to be called
17171-534: The Dragon of Dojima in Yakuza 0 . He was planning on starting his own subsidiary group until he took the blame for the murder of his boss, Sohei Dojima, to protect his best friend, Nishiki, and was imprisoned for ten years. These events lead into the plot of Yakuza . A lieutenant of the Shimano family and later head of the Majima Family, Goro Majima ( 真島 吾朗 , Majima Gorō ) is an acquaintance of Kiryu with
17394-449: The Dreamcast as much as expected, as many disappointed consumers continued to wait or purchased a PSone . Eventually, Sony and Nintendo held 50 and 35 percent of the US video game market, while Sega held only 15 percent. CSK chairman Isao Okawa replaced Irimajiri as president of Sega on May 22, 2000. Okawa had long advocated that Sega abandon the console business. Others shared this view; Sega co-founder David Rosen had "always felt it
17617-472: The Famicom. This was in part because Nintendo expanded its game library by courting third-party developers , whereas Sega was hesitant to collaborate with companies with which it was competing in the arcades. In November 1983, Rosen announced his intention to step down as president of Sega Enterprises, Inc. on January 1, 1984. Jeffrey Rochlis was announced as the new president and CEO of Sega. Shortly after
17840-688: The Fox Film Corporation owned the Fox Theatre . RKO (a 1928 merger between Keith-Orpheum Theaters and the Radio Corporation of America ) also responded to the Western Electric/ERPI monopoly over sound in films, and developed their own method, known as Photophone , to put sound in films. Paramount, which acquired Balaban and Katz in 1926, would answer to the success of Warner Bros. and RKO by purchasing
18063-522: The Genesis found success overseas after the release of Sonic the Hedgehog in 1991 and briefly outsold its main competitor, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System , in the US. In 2001, after several commercial failures such as the 32X , Saturn , and Dreamcast , Sega stopped manufacturing consoles to become a third-party developer and publisher, and was acquired by Sammy Corporation in 2004. Sega Holdings Co. Ltd.
18286-523: The Hollywood antitrust case, as did the Little Three studios. The United States Supreme Court eventually ruled in United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. that the major studios ownership of theaters and film distribution was a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act . As a result, the studios began to release actors and technical staff from their contracts with the studios. This changed
18509-466: The Hollywood studios. The Classical style began to emerge in 1913, was accelerated in 1917 after the U.S. entered World War I , and finally solidified when the film The Jazz Singer was released in 1927, ending the silent film era and increasing box-office profits for the film industry by introducing sound to feature films. Most Hollywood pictures adhered closely to a formula— Western , slapstick comedy , musical , animated cartoon , biographical —and
18732-649: The Kazama Family office in the Millennium Tower, but Kashiwagi is gunned down by a helicopter and sent into a coma for over a decade. He later tells Kiryu to find the man in the picture, who is the spitting image of Kazama (later revealed to be his brother, Joji Kazama of the CIA ). In the events of Yakuza: Like a Dragon , it is revealed that he awoke from his coma and opened up his own bar in Yokohama called Survive Bar to remind himself of how he miraculously survived that day. Kashiwagi also appears in Yakuza 0 , and he provides assistance to Kiryu and Nishiki during
18955-660: The Master System and featured a full-color screen, in contrast to the monochrome Game Boy screen. Due to its short battery life, lack of original games, and weak support from Sega, the Game Gear did not surpass the Game Boy, having sold approximately 11 million units. Sega launched the Mega-CD in Japan on December 1, 1991, initially retailing at JP¥ 49,800. The add-on uses CD-ROM technology. Further features include
19178-430: The Master System's successor, the Mega Drive , in Japan on October 29, 1988. The launch was overshadowed by Nintendo's release of Super Mario Bros. 3 a week earlier. Positive coverage from magazines Famitsu and Beep! helped establish a following, with the latter launching a new publication dedicated to the console, but Sega shipped only 400,000 units in the first year. The Mega Drive struggled to compete against
19401-545: The Millennium Tower. After serving out an additional 5-year sentence for assaulting the 18 Ueno Seiwa members, and the events of Yakuza 6 he officially becomes part of the Tojo again until its collapse in 2019. Although he did not make an appearance in Yakuza: Dead Souls , his name was mentioned by one of the Tojo Clan members stating that he was in China on business during the events that took place in Kamurocho. When Saejima
19624-603: The Nihon Goraku Bussan name. Around the same time, David Rosen , an American officer in the United States Air Force stationed in Japan, launched a photo booth business in Tokyo in 1954. This company became Rosen Enterprises, and in 1957 began importing coin-operated games into Japan. In 1965, Nihon Goraku Bussan acquired Rosen Enterprises to form Sega Enterprises, Ltd. Rosen was installed as
19847-598: The Nikkyo Consortium until 1989 when he was promoted to Tojo Clan Captain for his acquisition of the Empty Lot . He was regarded as a legend for achieving the position of chairman in his 40s and under his leadership from 1993 to 2005, the Clan prospered. In the first Yakuza , Nishiki calls an emergency meeting of all the captains of the Tojo Clan where he revealed that the 10 billion yen that the Clan had gained over
20070-467: The North American home console market without Sega games for over a year, with most of its activity in the country coming from arcade divisions. The Saturn lasted longer in some Europe territories and particularly Japan, with it notably outperforming the Nintendo 64 in the latter. Nonetheless, Irimajiri confirmed in an interview with Japanese newspaper Daily Yomiuri that Saturn development would stop at
20293-518: The SNES at release. Nintendo's dollar share of the US 16-bit market dropped from 60% at the end of 1992 to 37% at the end of 1993, Sega claimed 55% of all 16-bit hardware sales during 1994, and the SNES outsold the Genesis from 1995 through 1997. In 1990, Sega launched the Game Gear , a handheld console , to compete against Nintendo's Game Boy . The Game Gear was designed as a portable version of
20516-644: The Saturn an advantage over the PlayStation. At the first Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles on May 11, 1995, Kalinske revealed the release price and that Sega had shipped 30,000 Saturns to Toys "R" Us , Babbage's , Electronics Boutique , and Software Etc. for immediate release. A by-product of the surprise launch was the provocation of retailers not included in Sega's rollout; KB Toys in particular decided to no longer stock its products in response. The Saturn's release in Europe also came before
20739-478: The Sega Enterprises name used in Japan as well as transitioning to the Sega name used globally. Sega stated in a release that this was to display its commitment to its "network entertainment business". On January 23, 2001, Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai Shinbun reported that Sega would cease production of the Dreamcast and develop software for other platforms. After an initial denial, Sega released
20962-498: The Seven Dwarfs was released during a run of lackluster films from the major studios, and quickly became the highest grossing film released to that point. Embarrassingly for the studios, it was an independently produced animated film that did not feature any studio-employed stars. This stoked already widespread frustration at the practice of block-booking , in which studios would only sell an entire year's schedule of films at
21185-416: The Sunflower Orphanage that Kazuma Kiryu, Akira Nishikiyama (aka “Nishiki”), and Yumi Sawamura grew up in. In 1986, as Captain of the Dojima Family, Kazama inducted both Kiryu and Nishiki as his protégés, with Kiryu joining the Dojima Family proper and Nishikiyama joining the Kazama Family. Kazama remained a father-figure to both of them during their time in the yakuza. After patriarch Sohei Dojima's murder at
21408-497: The Tojo Clan to the Omi and take Yayoi as his lover. However, she defies him and is saved by Kiryu and her son Daigo, the latter of whom kills Shindo. Daigo Dojima ( 堂島 大吾 , Dōjima Daigo ) is Sohei and Yayoi Dojima's son. He holds a deep respect for Kiryu, and in Yakuza 2 , accompanies him to Kansai to settle a score with Ryuji Goda, the patriarch of the Omi Alliance's Go-Ryu Clan and the man who sent him to prison for 5 years as part of
21631-420: The US by the end of 2000 to remain viable, but Sega fell short of this goal with some 3 million units sold. Moreover, Sega's attempts to spur Dreamcast sales through lower prices and cash rebates caused escalating financial losses. In March 2001, Sega posted a consolidated net loss of ¥51.7 billion ($ 417.5 million). While the PlayStation 2's October 26 US launch was marred by shortages, this did not benefit
21854-464: The US film industry. They were able to make their mark in a brand-new business: the exhibition of short films in storefront theaters called nickelodeons , after their admission price of a nickel (five cents). Within a few years, men like Samuel Goldwyn , William Fox , Carl Laemmle , Adolph Zukor , Louis B. Mayer , and the Warner Brothers (Harry, Albert, Samuel, and Jack) had switched to
22077-482: The US. Sega was surprised by the success, and for the next two years, the company produced and exported between eight and ten games per year. The worldwide success of Periscope led to a "technological renaissance" in the arcade industry, which was reinvigorated by a wave of "audio-visual" EM novelty games that followed in the wake of Periscope during the late 1960s to early 1970s. However, rampant piracy led Sega to cease exporting its games around 1970. In 1969, Sega
22300-564: The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The major film studios of Hollywood are the primary source of the most commercially successful and most commercially successful movies in the world. Hollywood is considered to be the oldest film industry, where the earliest film studios and production companies emerged. It is the birthplace of various genres of cinema —among them comedy , drama , action , musical , romance , horror , science fiction , and epic —and has set
22523-602: The United States, as company revenues rose to $ 214 million. 1979 saw the release of Head On , which introduced the "eat-the-dots" gameplay Namco later used in Pac-Man . In 1981, Sega licensed Frogger , its most successful game until then. In 1982, Sega introduced the first game with isometric graphics , Zaxxon . Following a downturn in the arcade business starting in 1982, Gulf and Western sold its North American arcade game manufacturing organization and
22746-651: The Xbox. As part of the restructuring, nearly one third of Sega's Tokyo workforce was laid off in 2001. 2002 was Sega's fifth consecutive fiscal year of net losses. After Okawa's death, Hideki Sato, a 30-year Sega veteran who had worked on Sega's consoles, became the company president. Following poor sales in 2002, Sega cut its profit forecast for 2003 by 90 percent, and explored opportunities for mergers. In 2003, Sega began talks with Sammy Corporation –a pachinko and pachislot manufacturing company–and Namco. The president of Sammy, Hajime Satomi , had been mentored by Okawa and
22969-419: The actors who appeared in it; MGM , for example, claimed it had contracted "more stars than there are in heaven." Each studio had its own style and characteristic touches which made it possible to know this—a trait that rarely exists today. For example, To Have and Have Not (1944) is notable not only for the first pairing of actors Humphrey Bogart (1899–1957) and Lauren Bacall (1924–2014), but because it
23192-408: The beach where he is found by Haruka. Saejima gives his name as "Suzuki" to Haruka and Kiryu, and, after getting tickets and pocket money from Kiryu, heads to Kamurocho. Here he reunites briefly with Majima. Soon after he and Yasuko, his sister, are kidnapped by Katsuragi, where they see each other for the first time in 25 years. Here Katsuragi explains that Saejima did not kill the men; the real culprit
23415-480: The blame for these losses on the failure to transition from the Genesis to the Saturn in North America and Sega Enterprises covering the debts of Sega of America. Shortly before the announcement of the losses, Sega discontinued the Saturn in North America to prepare for the launch of its successor, the Dreamcast , releasing remaining games in low quantities. The decision to discontinue the Saturn effectively left
23638-456: The business management minigame is reached. The Tojo Clan or "Tojo Association" ( 東城会 , Tōjō-kai ), founded by Makoto Tojo, is the Kanto region's largest yakuza organization within the franchise's universe. Masaru Sera ( 世良 勝 ) is the third chairman of the Tojo Clan. He headed up all the affiliate families that made up the Tojo Clan. He first served as the head of his own yakuza group called
23861-406: The children of the people he kills, making them into orphans. Despite this, Kiryu forgives Kazama and calls him his true father. In Yakuza 2 , it is revealed Kazama participated in the 1980 massacre of the Jingweon mafia in at Sohei Dojima's behest, which he agreed to after much reluctance. During a flashback sequence, it is shown that Kazama, unwilling to kill the Jingweon boss, attempted to strike
24084-430: The company developing its own games. The first arcade electro-mechanical game (EM game) Sega manufactured was the submarine simulator Periscope , released worldwide in the late 1960s. It featured light and sound effects considered innovative and was successful in Japan. It was then exported to malls and department stores in Europe and the United States and helped standardize the 25-cent-per-play cost for arcade games in
24307-429: The company survive the third-party transition. He held failed talks with Microsoft about a sale or merger with their Xbox division. According to former Microsoft executive Joachim Kempin , Microsoft founder, Bill Gates , decided against acquiring Sega because "he didn't think that Sega had enough muscle to eventually stop Sony". A business alliance with Microsoft was announced whereby Sega would develop 11 games for
24530-601: The company's console, mobile and PC games on a year-to-year basis until the fiscal year of 2014. In order to drive growth in western markets, Sega announced new leadership for Sega of America and Sega Europe in 2005. Simon Jeffery became president and COO of Sega of America, and Mike Hayes president and COO for Sega Europe. In 2009, Hayes became president of the combined outfit of both Sega of America and Sega Europe, due to Jeffery leaving. Sega sold Visual Concepts to Take-Two Interactive , and purchased UK-based developer Creative Assembly , known for its Total War series . In
24753-503: The consumer." At Sony, Stolar had opposed the localization of certain Japanese PlayStation games that he felt would not represent the system well in North America. He advocated a similar policy for the Saturn, generally blocking 2D arcade games and role-playing games from release, although he later sought to distance himself from this stance. Other changes included a softer image in Sega's advertising, including removing
24976-743: The continued popularity of the Genesis; 16-bit sales accounted for 64 percent of the market in 1995. Despite capturing 43 percent of the US market dollar share and selling more than 2 million Genesis units in 1995, Kalinske estimated that, if prepared for demand, another 300,000 could have been sold. Sega announced that Shoichiro Irimajiri had been appointed chairman and CEO of Sega of America in July 1996, while Kalinske left Sega after September 30 of that year. A former Honda executive, Irimajiri had been involved with Sega of America since joining Sega in 1993. The company also announced that Rosen and Nakayama had resigned from their positions at Sega of America, though both remained with Sega. Bernie Stolar ,
25199-409: The current state of affairs when he was released from prison. At Masaru Sera's funeral, Kiryu meets with Kazama, but the latter is shot by Nishiki. Shinji Tanaka, Kiryu's former partner who is working undercover as Nishiki's lieutenant under orders from Kazama, takes him to a hospital to recover. At some point, Shinji turns Kazama over to Yukio Terada , a lieutenant of the Omi Alliance who is indebted to
25422-408: The decline of the global arcade industry in the late 1990s, Sega created several novel concepts tailored to the Japanese market. Derby Owners Club was an arcade machine with memory cards for data storage, designed to take over half an hour to complete and costing JP¥500 to play. Testing of Derby Owners Club in a Chicago arcade showed that it had become the most popular machine at the location, with
25645-399: The decline of the then-dominant European film industry, in favor of the United States , where infrastructure was still intact. The stronger early public health response to the 1918 flu epidemic by Los Angeles compared to other American cities reduced the number of cases there and resulted in a faster recovery, contributing to the increasing dominance of Hollywood over New York City. During
25868-403: The early 1990s, Sega largely continued its success in arcades around the world. In 1992 and 1993, the new Sega Model 1 arcade system board showcased in-house development studio Sega AM2 's Virtua Racing and Virtua Fighter (the first 3D fighting game ), which, though expensive, played a crucial role in popularizing 3D polygonal graphics. In addition, complex simulator equipment like
26091-506: The early New Hollywood films like Bonnie and Clyde and Easy Rider had been relatively low-budget affairs with amoral heroes and increased sexuality and violence, the enormous success enjoyed by Friedkin with The Exorcist , Spielberg with Jaws , Coppola with The Godfather and Apocalypse Now , Scorsese with Taxi Driver , Kubrick with 2001: A Space Odyssey , Polanski with Chinatown , and Lucas with American Graffiti and Star Wars , respectively helped to give rise to
26314-494: The early times of talkies, American studios found that their sound productions were rejected in foreign-language markets and even among speakers of other dialects of English. The synchronization technology was still too primitive for dubbing . One of the solutions was creating parallel foreign-language versions of Hollywood films. Around 1930, the American companies opened a studio in Joinville-le-Pont , France, where
26537-617: The end of 1998 and games would continue to be produced until mid-1999. With lifetime sales of 9.26 million units, the Saturn is retrospectively considered a commercial failure in much of the world. While Sega had success with the Model 3 arcade board and titles like Virtua Fighter 3 , Sega's arcade divisions struggled in the West during the late 1990s. On the other hand, Sega's arcade divisions were more successful in Asia, with Sega's overall arcade revenues increasing year-on-year throughout
26760-479: The end of 1999 —began to decline as early as January 2000. Poor Japanese sales contributed to Sega's ¥42.88 billion ($ 404 million) consolidated net loss in the fiscal year ending March 2000. This followed a similar loss of ¥42.881 billion the previous year and marked Sega's third consecutive annual loss. Sega's overall sales for the term increased 27.4 percent, and Dreamcast sales in North America and Europe greatly exceeded its expectations. However, this coincided with
26983-613: The end of the 19th century, with the construction of Thomas Edison's " Black Maria ", the first motion-picture studio in West Orange, New Jersey . The cities and towns on the Hudson River and Hudson Palisades offered land at costs considerably less than New York City across the river, and benefited greatly as a result of the phenomenal growth of the film industry at the turn of the 20th century. The industry began attracting both capital and innovative work forces. In 1907, when
27206-528: The end of their careers or used the same creative teams on their films so that a DeMille film still looked like one whether it was made in 1932 or 1956. Post-classical cinema is the changing methods of storytelling in the New Hollywood. It has been argued that new approaches to drama and characterization played upon audience expectations acquired in the classical period: chronology may be scrambled, storylines may feature " twist endings ", and lines between
27429-587: The entities of Service Games worldwide. The company expanded over the next seven years to include distribution in South Korea , the Philippines , and South Vietnam . The name Sega, an abbreviation of Service Games, was first used in 1954 on a slot machine, the Diamond Star. Due to notoriety arising from investigations by the US government into criminal business practices, Service Games of Japan
27652-733: The entity created to officially distribute and manufacture Sega's machines on the continent after the consolidation of its regional divisions, subsequently decided to develop more games locally that were better suited to western tastes. In 2005, the GameWorks chain of arcades came under the sole ownership of Sega, which previously was shared with Vivendi Universal , and remained under their ownership until 2011. In 2009, Sega Republic , an indoor theme park, opened in Dubai . Sega gradually reduced its arcade centers from 450 in 2005 to around 200 in 2015. Arcade machine sales incurred higher profits than
27875-617: The eventual shift of virtually all filmmaking to the West Coast by the 1930s. At the time, Thomas Edison owned almost all the patents relevant to motion picture production and movie producers on the East Coast acting independently of Edison's Motion Picture Patents Company were often sued or enjoined by Edison and his agents while movie makers working on the West Coast could work independently of Edison's control. In Los Angeles,
28098-477: The example for other national film industries. In 1878, Eadweard Muybridge demonstrated the power of photography to capture motion. In 1894, the world's first commercial motion-picture exhibition was given in New York City , using Thomas Edison 's kinetoscope and kinetograph. In the following decades, the production of silent films greatly expanded, studios formed and migrated to California , and
28321-548: The failure of the merger, as well as Sega's 1997 performance. Stolar became CEO and president of Sega of America. After the launch of the Nintendo 64 in the US during 1996, sales of the Saturn and its games fell sharply in much of the west. The PlayStation outsold the Saturn three-to-one in the US in 1997, and the latter failed to gain a foothold in Europe and Australia, where the Nintendo 64 would not release until March 1997. After several years of declining profits, Sega had
28544-482: The family-friendly GA rating to the more mature rating of MA-13, and the adults-only rating of MA-17. Executive vice president of Nintendo of America Howard Lincoln was quick to point out in the United States congressional hearings in 1993 that Night Trap was not rated at all. Senator Joe Lieberman called for another hearing in February 1994 to check progress toward a rating system for video game violence. After
28767-549: The film Titanic , Cameron wanted to push the boundary of special effects with his film, and enlisted Digital Domain and Pacific Data Images to continue the developments in digital technology which the director pioneered while working on The Abyss and Terminator 2: Judgment Day . Many previous films about the RMS Titanic shot water in slow motion , which did not look wholly convincing. Cameron encouraged his crew to shoot their 45-foot-long (14 m) miniature of
28990-418: The films and stories they told became much longer. The United States produced the world's first sync-sound musical film , The Jazz Singer , in 1927, and was at the forefront of sound-film development in the following decades. It was fully released to the public on October 6, 1927. Since the early 20th century, the U.S. film industry has primarily been based in and around the thirty-mile zone centered in
29213-414: The final battle of the game, where Kiryu is fending off Keiji Shibusawa to protect Makoto Makimura, the owner of the sought after Empty Lot. Akira "Nishiki" Nishkiyama ( 錦山 彰 , Nishikiyama Akira ) was born on October 8, 1968, known as simply "Akira Nishiki" in English versions of the first two games and by his original name in Yakuza 4 . He is the former best friend and sworn brother of Kiryu, and one of
29436-523: The final confrontation against Futoshi Shimano, ending with the deaths of both Shimano and Kazama. Prior to Yakuza 2 , Kashiwagi becomes the patriarch of the Kazama Family following Kazama's death. He is also the acting Captain of the Tojo Clan. He appears throughout the game, cooperating with Kiryu, Daigo Dojima, and Kaoru Sayama to solve the problems of the Tojo Clan and stop the Go-Ryu Clan and Jingweon Mafia. In Yakuza 3 , Kiryu visits Kashiwagi at
29659-459: The foreign language. The Spanish-language crews included people like Luis Buñuel , Enrique Jardiel Poncela , Xavier Cugat , and Edgar Neville . The productions were not very successful in their intended markets, due to the following reasons: Classical Hollywood cinema , or the Golden Age of Hollywood, is defined as a technical and narrative style characteristic of American cinema from 1913 to 1962, during which thousands of movies were issued from
29882-614: The fourth-largest number of films of any national cinema , after India , Japan , and China . While the national cinemas of the United Kingdom , Canada , Australia , and New Zealand also produce films in the same language, they are not part of the Hollywood system. Because of this, Hollywood has also been considered a transnational cinema , and has produced multiple language versions of some titles, often in Spanish or French. Contemporary Hollywood often outsources production to
30105-512: The game. UFO Catcher was introduced in 1985 and as of 2005 was Japan's most commonly installed claw crane game. In 1986, Sega of America was established to manage the company's consumer products in North America, beginning with marketing the Master System. During Sega's partnership with Tonka, Sega of America relinquished marketing and distribution of the console and focused on customer support and some localization of games. Out Run , released in 1986, became Sega's best selling arcade cabinet of
30328-447: The hands of Nishiki in 1995, Shintaro absorbed the remains of the Dojima Family, thus making his Kazama Family the most powerful in the Tojo Clan. This advantage helped keep the other affiliate captains in check. However, a year after the murder, a rift was created in the Kazama Family when Nishiki broke away and declared his own family. This caused many of Kazama's men to desert him and join the rival family. Kazama helped inform Kiryu about
30551-722: The hearings, Sega proposed the universal adoption of the VRC; after objections by Nintendo and others, Sega took a role in forming the Entertainment Software Rating Board . Sega began work on the Genesis' successor, the Sega Saturn , more than two years before showcasing it at the Tokyo Toy Show in June 1994. According to former Sega of America producer Scot Bayless, Nakayama became concerned about
30774-466: The high-profile urban areas of Roppongi and Ikebukuro . In 1993, this success was mirrored in overseas territories with the openings of several large branded entertainment centers, such as Sega VirtuaLand in Luxor Las Vegas . In 1994, Sega generated a revenue of ¥354.032 billion or $ 3,464,000,000 (equivalent to $ 7,121,000,000 in 2023). In 1993, the American media began to focus on
30997-544: The late 1920s. After The Jazz Singer , the first film with synchronized voices was successfully released as a Vitaphone talkie in 1927, Hollywood film companies would respond to Warner Bros. and begin to use Vitaphone sound—which Warner Bros. owned until 1928—in future films. By May 1928, Electrical Research Product Incorporated (ERPI), a subsidiary of the Western Electric company, gained a monopoly over film sound distribution. A side effect of these " talkies "
31220-487: The late 1970s, with revenues climbing to over US$ 100 million by 1979. During this period, Sega acquired Gremlin Industries , which manufactured microprocessor -based arcade games, and Esco Boueki, a coin-op distributor founded and owned by Hayao Nakayama . Nakayama was placed in a management role of Sega's Japanese operations. In the early 1980s, Sega was one of the top five arcade game manufacturers active in
31443-427: The late 1990s, but it was not enough to offset the significant declining revenues of Sega's home consumer divisions. Despite a 75 percent drop in half-year profits just before the Japanese launch of the Dreamcast, Sega felt confident about its new system. The Dreamcast attracted significant interest and drew many pre-orders. Sega announced that Sonic Adventure , the first major 3D Sonic the Hedgehog game, would be
31666-493: The latter is dumped in the district's homeless area. Nanba later discloses that he deliberately chooses to live as a homeless person in Yokohama as part of his attempt to investigate his brother's mysterious disappearance. Saeko Mukoda ( 向田 紗栄子 , Mukōda Saeko) is one of Ichiban Kasuga's companions in Yakuza: Like a Dragon . An employee of the soapland proprietor Nonomiya who runs a hostess bar he owns as its mama-san , she joins Ichiban's group to help with their investigation into
31889-414: The latter. Kazama is kept on Terada's yacht until Kiryu can meet him. Futoshi Shimano then attacks the yacht but is defeated by the Kazama Family's reinforcements. Kazama is killed while protecting Haruka Sawamura from a grenade thrown by Shimano, who is then killed by Terada. Shortly before he dies, Kazama admits that he was the one who killed Kiryu's parents and that the Sunflower Orphanage is where he sends
32112-518: The launch of the Genesis, Sega sought a new flagship line of releases to compete with Nintendo's Mario series. Its new character, Sonic the Hedgehog , went on to feature in one of the best-selling video game franchises in history. Sonic the Hedgehog began with a tech demo created by Yuji Naka involving a fast-moving character rolling in a ball through a winding tube; this was fleshed out with Naoto Ohshima 's character design and levels conceived by designer Hirokazu Yasuhara . Sonic's color
32335-478: The launch of the SG-1000, and the death of company founder Charles Bluhdorn , Gulf and Western began to sell off its secondary businesses. Nakayama and Rosen arranged a management buyout of the Japanese subsidiary in 1984 with financial backing from CSK Corporation , a prominent Japanese software company. Sega's Japanese assets were purchased for $ 38 million by a group of investors led by Rosen and Nakayama. Isao Okawa , head of CSK, became chairman, while Nakayama
32558-483: The licensing rights for its arcade games to Bally Manufacturing in September 1983. Gulf and Western retained Sega's North American R&D operation and its Japanese subsidiary, Sega Enterprises, Ltd. With its arcade business in decline, Sega Enterprises, Ltd. president Nakayama advocated for the company to use its hardware expertise to move into the home consumer market in Japan. This led to Sega's development of
32781-706: The main antagonists of Yakuza . Yuko (錦山 優子, Nishikiyama Yūko) was Nishiki's younger sister raised with him, Kazuma Kiryu and Yumi Sawamura in Shintaro Kazama's Sunflower Orphanage. She suffered from a disease which had her periodically going to the hospital since 1984. In 1995, her final possible surgery and reliance on her elder brother is the reason Kazuma Kiryu takes the fall for Sohei Dojima's murder. She dies in 1996, and her death coupled with Nishiki's inferiority complex spiraled his descent into darkness. Kazuma Kiryu's partner, Shinji ( 田中 シンジ , Tanaka Shinji ) looks up to Kiryu and helps him out when he can. He
33004-472: The major studios owned hundreds of theaters in cities and towns across the nation in 1920 film theaters that showed their films and that were always in need of fresh material. In 1930, MPPDA President Will Hays created the Hays (Production) Code , which followed censorship guidelines and went into effect after government threats of censorship expanded by 1930. However, the code was never enforced until 1934, after
33227-485: The market in 1997. Sega also made forays in the PC market with the 1995 establishment of SegaSoft , which was tasked with creating original Saturn and PC games. From 1994 to 1999, Sega also participated in the arcade pinball market when it took over Data East 's pinball division, renaming it Sega Pinball. In January 1997, Sega announced its intentions to merge with the Japanese toy maker Bandai . The merger, planned as
33450-508: The mature content of certain video games, such as Night Trap for the Sega CD and the Genesis version of Midway's Mortal Kombat . This came at a time when Sega was capitalizing on its image as an "edgy" company with "attitude", and this reinforced that image. To handle this, Sega instituted the United States' first video game ratings system, the Videogame Rating Council (VRC), for all its systems. Ratings ranged from
33673-453: The merger went ahead as both companies were facing difficulties. Satomi said Sega had been operating at a loss for nearly ten years, while Sammy feared stagnation and over-reliance of its highly profitable pachislot and pachinko machine business and wanted to diversify. Sammy acquired the remaining percentages of Sega, completing a takeover . The stock swap deal valued Sega between $ 1.45 billion and $ 1.8 billion. Sega Sammy Holdings
33896-567: The modern " blockbuster ", and induced studios to focus ever more heavily on trying to produce enormous hits. In the US, the PG-13 rating was introduced in 1984 to accommodate films that straddled the line between PG and R, which was mainly due to the controversies surrounding the violent content of the PG films Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Gremlins (both 1984). Film makers in
34119-420: The money from Jingu and prepared a will entrusting the decision of who became the 4th Chairman of the Tojo Clan to Kazama. He later entrusted it to Kiryu, which allowed Kiryu to become the 4th Chairman. Sera also appears in Yakuza 0 as a supporting character, which details his eventual rise as a dominant figure within the Tojo Clan. Sohei Dojima ( 堂島 宗兵 , Dōjima Sōhei ) was the cunning but violent head of
34342-404: The money he wins to finance the raising of orphaned Asian children. He is also fluent in several Asian languages, able to speak Chinese, Korean and Tagalog alongside his native Japanese, and it is revealed in a sub-story that his mother was half-Thai. In secrecy, he is also tracking Saejima's murder case 25 years ago, a case that his father, also an inspector, died following. He goes to meet Mishima,
34565-566: The monopoly they still had over the Detroit Theaters—as Paramount was also gaining dominance through actors like Bob Hope, Paulette Goddard, Veronica Lake, Betty Hutton, crooner Bing Crosby, Alan Ladd, and longtime actor for studio Gary Cooper too- by 1942. The Big Five studios did not meet the requirements of the Consent of Decree during WWII, without major consequence, but after the war ended they joined Paramount as defendants in
34788-543: The more arcade-like experience available on the Genesis, with slogans including "Genesis does what Nintendon't". Since Nintendo owned the console rights to most arcade games of the time, the second part involved creating a library of games which used the names and likenesses of celebrities, such as Michael Jackson's Moonwalker and Joe Montana Football . Nonetheless, Sega had difficulty overcoming Nintendo's ubiquity in homes. Sega of America sold only 500,000 Genesis units in its first year, half of Nakayama's goal. After
35011-516: The most successful film of its time, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs . This distinction was promptly topped in 1939 when Selznick International created what is still, when adjusted for inflation, the most successful film of all time in Gone with the Wind . Many film historians have remarked upon the many great works of cinema that emerged from this period of highly regimented filmmaking. One reason this
35234-533: The movie-making process. Nestor Studios of Bayonne, New Jersey , built the first studio in the Hollywood neighborhood in 1911. Nestor Studios, owned by David and William Horsley, later merged with Universal Studios; and William Horsley's other company, Hollywood Film Laboratory, is now the oldest existing company in Hollywood, presently called the Hollywood Digital Laboratory. California 's more hospitable and cost-effective climate led to
35457-568: The name and likeness of Joon-gi Han ( ハン・ジュンギ , Han Joon-gi) appear in the series. In Yakuza 6: The Song of Life , Joon-gi Han is the leader of the resurgent Korean criminal group Jingweon Mafia who has acquired the host bar Stardust as his base of operations. He is presented as an antagonist who clashes with Kazuma Kiryu on multiple occasions and is assassinated by an unidentified hitman shortly after his final fight with Kiryu. A former body double to Joon-gi Han from The Song of Life appears in Like
35680-509: The original works. The English-language adaptation equivalents are mentioned when available. In the first three installments, the sole playable protagonist is Kazuma Kiryu , a former yakuza who after ten years of imprisonment deals with chaos emerging from the yakuza organization he was formerly affiliated with, the Tojo clan. Yakuza 4 introduces three playable protagonists in addition to Kiryu. Yakuza 5 continued this trend and features five playable protagonists including Haruka Sawamura ,
35903-590: The overall market share in North America at the end of 1999. On March 2, 1999, in what one report called a "highly publicized, vaporware -like announcement", Sony revealed the first details of the PlayStation 2 . The same year, Nintendo announced that its next console would meet or exceed anything on the market, and Microsoft began development of its own console, the Xbox . Sega's initial momentum proved fleeting as US Dreamcast sales—which exceeded 1.5 million by
36126-511: The pandemic, public health officials temporarily closed movie theaters in some jurisdictions, large studios suspended production for weeks at a time, and some actors came down with the flu. This caused major financial losses and severe difficulties for small studios, but the industry as a whole more than recovered during the Roaring Twenties . In the early 20th century, when the medium was new, many Jewish immigrants found employment in
36349-437: The paradigm of film making by the major Hollywood studios, as each could have an entirely different cast and creative team. The decision resulted in the gradual loss of the characteristics which made Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios, Columbia Pictures, RKO Pictures, and 20th Century Fox films immediately identifiable. Certain movie people, such as Cecil B. DeMille , either remained contract artists until
36572-477: The play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw (and its derivative, My Fair Lady ), and due to attaining a mainstream level in storyline and sets, is considered the "crown jewel" of this ' Golden Age '. At the height of his fame in the early 1970s, Charles Bronson was the world's No. 1 box office attraction, commanding $ 1 million per film. In the 1970s, the films of New Hollywood filmmakers were often both critically acclaimed and commercially successful. While
36795-419: The popularity of Sonic the Hedgehog , the Genesis outsold its main competitor, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), in the United States nearly two to one during the 1991 holiday season. By January 1992, Sega controlled 65 percent of the 16-bit console market. Sega outsold Nintendo for four consecutive Christmas seasons due to the Genesis' head start, lower price, and a larger library compared to
37018-451: The previous games, and in particular the content excised from the Western release of Yakuza 3 . Producer Noguchi noted that there was an attempt to "bring a more complete localization that was more faithful to the source material". This included reversing several name changes. In addition, some conventions were changed; in previous Western localisations, protagonist Kazuma Kiryu had been referred to primarily by his given name. In Yakuza 4 , he
37241-441: The previously announced North American date, on July 8, 1995. Within two days of the PlayStation's American launch on September 9, 1995, the PlayStation sold more units than the Saturn. Within its first year, the PlayStation secured over twenty percent of the US video game market. The console's high price point, surprise launch, and difficulty handling polygonal graphics were factors in its lack of success. Sega also underestimated
37464-629: The production side of the business. Soon they were the heads of a new kind of enterprise: the movie studio . The US had at least two female directors, producers and studio heads in these early years: Lois Weber and French-born Alice Guy-Blaché . They also set the stage for the industry's internationalism; the industry is often accused of Amero centric provincialism . Other movie makers arrived from Europe after World War I: directors like Ernst Lubitsch , Alfred Hitchcock , Fritz Lang and Jean Renoir ; and actors like Rudolph Valentino , Marlene Dietrich , Ronald Colman , and Charles Boyer . They joined
37687-425: The project. Portrayals of the Japanese underworld were common in manga and movies, but not in video games. Nagoshi brought his story for Yakuza to scenario supervisor Hase Seishu two years before the game started development. Seishu had been a video game player since the days of Space Invaders , but over the past four or five years he had lost interest, as he was less concerned with 3D visuals and gameplay than he
37910-491: The quality of its creative output. Being the entertainment contents division of Sega Sammy Holdings, forming one half of the Sega Sammy Group, Sega also owns a toy and amusement machine company, Sega Fave , which comprises their arcade development and manufacturing divisions that were previously under Sega and two animation studios: TMS Entertainment , which animates, produces, and distributes anime such as Lupin
38133-501: The region, Tectoy . By 2016, the Master System had sold 8 million units in Brazil. During 1984, Sega opened its European division of arcade distribution, Sega Europe. It re-entered the North American arcade market in 1985 with the establishment of Sega Enterprises USA at the end of a deal with Bally. The release of Hang-On in 1985 would prove successful in the region, becoming so popular that Sega struggled to keep up with demand for
38356-509: The region. This was less market share in North America than both Nintendo and Atari , which controlled 80 percent and 12 percent of the market. The Master System was eventually a success in Europe, where its sales were comparable to the NES. As late as 1993, the Master System's active installed user base in Europe was 6.25 million units. The Master System has had continued success in Brazil. New versions continue to be released by Sega's partner in
38579-603: The rights to port games from other developers. To help market the console in North America, Sega planned to sell the Master System as a toy, similar to how Nintendo had done with the Nintendo Entertainment System. Sega partnered with Tonka , an American toy company, to make use of Tonka's expertise in the toy industry. Ineffective marketing by Tonka handicapped sales of the Master System. By early 1992, production had ceased in North America. The Master System sold between 1.5 million and 2 million units in
38802-453: The rotational R360 kept Sega competing with machines by rival arcade companies, including Taito . New official region-specific distributors and manufacturers, including the UK's Deith Leisure, allowed Sega to sell its machines outside of Japan with ease. Sega's domestic operations division also opened hundreds of family-oriented suburban Sega World amusement arcades in Japan during this period, as well as large over-18s "GiGO" facilities in
39025-449: The same creative teams often worked on films made by the same studio. For example, Cedric Gibbons and Herbert Stothart always worked on MGM films, Alfred Newman worked at 20th Century Fox for twenty years, Cecil B. De Mille 's films were almost all made at Paramount , and director Henry King 's films were mostly made for 20th Century Fox . At the same time, one could usually guess which studio made which film, largely because of
39248-477: The same sets and wardrobe and even mass scenes were used for different time-sharing crews. Also, foreign unemployed actors, playwrights, and winners of photogenic contests were chosen and brought to Hollywood, where they shot parallel versions of the English-language films. These parallel versions had a lower budget, were shot at night and were directed by second-line American directors who did not speak
39471-589: The same year, Sega Racing Studio was also formed by former Codemasters employees. In 2006, Sega Europe purchased Sports Interactive , known for its Football Manager series. In the console and handheld business, Sega found success in the Japanese market with the Yakuza , Phantasy Star Portable and Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA series. Sega began providing the 3D imaging for Hatsune Miku holographic concerts in 2010. Sega also distributes games from smaller Japanese game developers and sells localizations of Western games in Japan. In 2013, Index Corporation
39694-421: The same year, Hajime Satomi said Sega's activity would focus on its profitable arcade business as opposed to loss-incurring home software development. In 2004, Sega Sammy Holdings , an entertainment conglomerate, was created; Sega and Sammy became subsidiaries of the new holding company, both companies operating independently while the executive departments merged. According to the first Sega Sammy Annual Report ,
39917-490: The secret safe behind the bookcase in Akiyama's office and steals 100 billion yen in cash. Later in the game, Akiyama uses his own money to lure the men to the Millennium Tower roof, where he fights Arai. He is shot by Munakata at the end, but a thick padding of bills, his last money, stops the bullet and saves his life. Alongside Sky Finance, he runs a hostess club and is considered to be an entrepreneur of some sort. Akiyama
40140-473: The ship as if "we're making a commercial for the White Star Line". Even The Blair Witch Project (1999), a low-budget indie horror film by Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick , was a huge financial success. Filmed on a budget of just $ 35,000, without any big stars or special effects, the film grossed $ 248 million with the use of modern marketing techniques and online promotion. Though not on
40363-497: The sky. He gathered up a large amount of money, but it was stolen by a group of thugs. Arai retrieved the money for him, and he used it to set up a business. Akiyama meets a woman named Lily (later revealed to be Yasuko Saejima), who bears a striking resemblance to his ex-fiancée, Eri. Lily requests to borrow money from him. After a series of "tests" he agrees to lend her the money, though he knows he likely will not get it back. This angers Hana, his secretary, and she quits. Kido discovers
40586-499: The spread of film companies to other parts of the US, outside New York. Many filmmakers worked with equipment for which they did not own the rights to use. Therefore, filming in New York could be dangerous, as it was close to Edison's company headquarters, and close to the agents the company sent out to seize cameras. An alternative was Los Angeles , which had mild winters, a large selection of places to film, and, most importantly, it
40809-501: The start of the game, he is shot by CIA operative Joji Kazama, the brother of the late Shintaro Kazama. His fate is left uncertain until Kashiwagi reveals that he has stashed him in a hospital to recover but has not told anyone of Daigo's whereabouts. Mine Yoshitaka of the Hakuho Clan eventually finds his way to the hospital (as does Kiryu) and prepares to kill Daigo out of compassion as he holds too much respect to see him living off
41032-460: The story arc of recurring series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu , the franchise's developers Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio wanted to create a new lead character to continue the narrative of the fictional universe they have created, with chief producer and writer Masayoshi Yokoyama describing Ichiban Kasuga as a "catalyst" for change. Ichiban is described by Yokoyama as the opposite of Kiryu: "Ichiban is thoroughly uncomplicated, direct, cheerful, reckless. Well, he's
41255-451: The studios in order to achieve their artistic visions. The apogee of the studio system may have been the year 1939, which saw the release of such classics as The Wizard of Oz , Gone with the Wind , Stagecoach , Mr. Smith Goes to Washington , Wuthering Heights , Only Angels Have Wings , Ninotchka and Midnight . Among the other films from the Golden Age period that are now considered to be classics: Casablanca , It's
41478-425: The suspicious circumstances behind his apparent suicide. Tianyou Zhao (趙 天佑, Zhao Tianyou) is the leader of the Yokohama Liumang, the city's Chinese Japanese criminal group, and the proprietor of a Chinese restaurant in Isezaki Ijincho's Chinatown. Following a failed coup d'état by his lieutenant Akira Mabuchi, he joins Ichiban Kasuga's group in Yakuza: Like a Dragon . Zhao makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in
41701-675: The theaters, as the MPPDA controlled every theater in the country through the Big Five studios. Throughout the 1930s, as well as most of the golden age, MGM dominated the film screen and had the top stars in Hollywood, and they were also credited for creating the Hollywood star system altogether. Some MGM stars included "King of Hollywood" Clark Gable , Lionel Barrymore , Jean Harlow , Norma Shearer , Greta Garbo , Joan Crawford , Jeanette MacDonald , Gene Raymond , Spencer Tracy , Judy Garland , and Gene Kelly . Another great achievement of American cinema during this era came through Walt Disney's animation company . In 1937, Disney created
41924-487: The time was an independent city. In the Sultan's Power, directed by Boggs for Selig Polyscope Company, also starring Bosworth, is considered the first film shot entirely in Los Angeles, with shooting at 7th and Olive Streets, in 1909. In early 1910, director D. W. Griffith was sent by the Biograph Company to the West Coast with his acting troupe, consisting of actors: Blanche Sweet , Lillian Gish , Mary Pickford , Lionel Barrymore and others. They started filming on
42147-438: The war, the founders sold Standard Games in 1945, and established Service Games the next year, named for the military focus. After the US government outlawed slot machines in its territories in 1952, Bromley sent employees Richard Stewart and Ray LeMaire to Tokyo to establish Service Games of Japan to provide coin-operated slot machines to US bases in Japan. A year later, all five men established Service Games Panama to control
42370-804: The world proposed to be opened by 2000, however only two, Sega World London and Sega World Sydney , would ultimately materialise in September 1996 and March 1997, respectively. Following on from difficulties faced in setting up theme parks in the United States, Sega established the GameWorks chain of urban entertainment centers in a joint venture with DreamWorks SKG and Universal Studios during March 1997. In 1995, Sega partnered with Atlus to launch Print Club (purikura), an arcade photo sticker machine that produces selfie photos. Atlus and Sega introduced Purikura in February 1995, initially at game arcades, before expanding to other popular culture locations such as fast food shops, train stations, karaoke establishments and bowling alleys. Purikura became
42593-459: The years had been stolen. Sera went to investigate what had happened to the money but was assassinated when he found out what happened. The chairmanship was left open as a result, and the top captains - Kazama, Shimano, and Nishiki - all fought for the position. It was later revealed that the 10 billion yen actually belonged to Kyohei Jingu who used the Tojo Clan to launder money, and Sera worked together with Shintaro Kazama and Yumi Sawamura to steal
42816-549: Was a bit of a folly for them to be limiting their potential to Sega hardware", and Stolar had suggested Sega should have sold the company to Microsoft. In a September 2000 meeting with Sega's Japanese executives and heads of its first-party game studios, Moore and Sega of America executive Charles Bellfield recommended that Sega abandon its console business. In response, the studio heads walked out. Sega announced an official company name change from Sega Enterprises, Ltd. to Sega Corporation effective November 1, 2000, officially dropping
43039-462: Was actually a high-ranked yakuza. Yasuko's father demanded compensation in exchange for his kidney, 30 million yen. With no way to easily obtain the money, Saejima took to street fights to scrape up whatever money he could. On one such occasion, he decided to pick a fight with a middle-aged man. The man easily defeated Saejima, then asked Saejima why he was sad. Saejima then poured his heart to the man, who turned out to be Hideki Sasai. Sasai agreed to pay
43262-403: Was also a technological arms race between Sega and Namco during this period, driving the growth of 3D gaming. Beginning in 1994, Sega launched a series of indoor theme parks in Japan under a concept dubbed "Amusement Theme Park", including Joypolis parks sited in urban Tokyo locations such as Yokohama and Odaiba . A rapid overseas rollout was planned, with at least 100 locations across
43485-411: Was behind the Jingweon mafia massacre in 1980, ordering Kazama and Futoshi Shimano to kill all 46 members of the mafia. He appears again in Yakuza 0 where he and his family lieutenants fought against Kiryu, Goro Majima, Masaru Sera, and Tachibana Real Estate to acquire the Empty Lot, but failed to do so as Sera secured the lot with both Kiryu and Majima's help. Yayoi Dojima ( 堂島 弥生 , Dōjima Yayoi )
43708-468: Was chosen for the role. Nakaya described Ichiban as an energetic and vivid character when reading the script. The character's fascination with Dragon Quest serves as the reason for the series' change from action adventure to role-playing games. Tang describes him as a "whimsical" character who despite being the game's protagonist, he also serves the role of a supporting character due to how he often assists his allies. Kazuma Kiryu ( 桐生 一馬 , Kiryū Kazuma )
43931-432: Was chosen to match Sega's cobalt blue logo; his shoes were inspired by Michael Jackson 's boots, and his personality by Bill Clinton 's "can-do" attitude. Nakayama hired Tom Kalinske as CEO of Sega of America in mid-1990, and Katz departed soon after. Kalinske knew little about the video game market, but surrounded himself with industry-savvy advisors. A believer in the razor-and-blades business model , he developed
44154-399: Was claimed as the first to have been filmed in Los Angeles , in 1907. A plaque was unveiled by the city, in 1957, at Dearden's flagship store on the corner of Main Street and 7th Street, to mark the filming on the site when it had been a Chinese laundry. Bosworth's widow suggested the city had got the date and location wrong, and that the film was actually shot in nearby Venice , which at
44377-432: Was crucial to the system's early success in Japan. Sega's initial shipment of 200,000 Saturn units sold out on the first day, and it was more popular than the PlayStation , made by Sony , in Japan. In March 1995, Sega of America CEO Tom Kalinske announced that the Saturn would be released in the US on Saturday, September 2, 1995, advertised as " Saturn-day ". Sega executives in Japan mandated an early launch to give
44600-512: Was dissolved on May 31, 1960. On June 3, Bromley established two companies to take over its business activities, Nihon Goraku Bussan and Nihon Kikai Seizō. The two new companies purchased all of Service Games of Japan's assets. Kikai Seizō, doing business as Sega, Inc., focused on manufacturing slot machines. Goraku Bussan, doing business under Stewart as Utamatic, Inc. , served as a distributor and operator of coin-operated machines, particularly jukeboxes . The companies merged in 1964, retaining
44823-454: Was established in 2015; Sega Corporation was renamed to Sega Games Co., Ltd., and its arcade, entertainment, and toy divisions separated into other companies. In 2020, Sega Games and Sega Interactive merged to become Sega Corporation. Sega's international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe are headquartered in Irvine, California , and London. Its development studios include their internal research and development divisions (which utilize
45046-581: Was followed by further reductions to clear the remaining inventory. The final manufactured Dreamcast was autographed by the heads of all nine of Sega's first-party game studios, plus the heads of sports game developer Visual Concepts and audio studio Wave Master, and given away with all 55 first-party Dreamcast games through a competition organized by GamePro . Okawa, who had loaned Sega $ 500 million in 1999, died on March 16, 2001. Shortly before his death, he forgave Sega's debts to him and returned his $ 695 million worth of Sega and CSK stock, helping
45269-443: Was founded by Martin Bromley and Richard Stewart as Nihon Goraku Bussan on June 3, 1960. Shortly after, the company acquired the assets of its predecessor, Service Games of Japan . In 1965, it became known as Sega Enterprises, Ltd., after acquiring Rosen Enterprises, an importer of coin-operated games . Sega developed its first coin-operated game, Periscope , in 1966. Sega was sold to Gulf and Western Industries in 1969. Following
45492-550: Was installed as CEO of Sega Enterprises, Ltd. In 1985, Sega began working on the Mark III, a redesigned SG-1000. For North America, Sega rebranded the Mark III as the Master System , with a futuristic design intended to appeal to Western tastes. The Mark III was released in Japan in October 1985. Despite featuring more powerful hardware than the Famicom in some ways, it was unsuccessful at launch. As Nintendo required third-party developers not to publish their Famicom games on other consoles, Sega developed its own games and obtained
45715-404: Was launched in New York City and Los Angeles on August 14, 1989, and in the rest of North America later that year. The European version of the Mega Drive was released in September 1990. Former Atari executive and new Sega of America president Michael Katz developed a two-part strategy to build sales in North America. The first part involved a marketing campaign to challenge Nintendo and emphasize
45938-439: Was marred by a glitch at one of Sega's manufacturing plants, which produced defective GD-ROMs where data was not properly recorded onto the disc. Sega released the Dreamcast in Europe on October 14, 1999. While Sega sold 500,000 units in Europe by Christmas 1999, sales there slowed, and by October 2000 Sega had sold only about a million units. Though the Dreamcast was successful, Sony's PlayStation still held 60 percent of
46161-419: Was not a police officer, but really a yakuza. He is quickly shot by a mystery man on a speedboat (who turns out to be Hisai). Later, Tanimura defeats Munakata and his SWAT-uniformed squad (total 10 of them) on top of the Millennium Tower. After the events of the game he works with Date, who rejoins the force. Tatsuo Shinada ( 品田 辰雄 , Shinada Tatsuo ) is one of the five playable characters in Yakuza 5 . He had
46384-431: Was only 90 miles to the border of Mexico , in case they needed to run if Edison's enforcement agents found them. By 1912, most major film companies had set up production facilities in Southern California , near or in Los Angeles , because of the region's favorable year-round weather. The 1908 Selig Polyscope Company production of The Count of Monte Cristo , directed by Francis Boggs and starring Hobart Bosworth ,
46607-423: Was part of the Dojima Family but joined the Kazama Family after Sohei Dojima's death in 1995. While many of Kiryu's old friends forgot about him while he was in prison, Shinji did not, and he eventually works with Kiryu again after his release from prison. During the events of the first game, Kazama has Shinji work undercover as the Nishikiyama Family lieutenant to find out Nishiki's true intentions. However, his cover
46830-450: Was portrayed to be an elite in his 20s, during which time he dated his coworker, Eri, a woman who bears a striking resemblance to Yasuko Saejima (Lily). In 2005, he was framed for stealing from the bank and was fired. All of his remaining money was spent investigating who framed him, and his money eventually ran out without him finding an answer. He was then forced to sleep on the streets until one fateful night, when money appeared to fall from
47053-464: Was possible is that, with so many movies being made, not everyone had to be a big hit. A studio could gamble on a medium-budget feature with a good script and relatively unknown actors: Citizen Kane , directed by Orson Welles (1915–1985) and often regarded as the greatest film of all time , fits this description. In other cases, strong-willed directors like Howard Hawks (1896–1977), Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980), and Frank Capra (1897–1991) battled
47276-432: Was previously asked to be CEO of Sega. On February 13, Sega announced that it would merge with Sammy; however, as late as April 17, Sega was still in talks with Namco, which was attempting to overturn the merger. Sega's consideration of Namco's offer upset Sammy executives. The day after Sega announced it no longer planned to merge with Sammy, Namco withdrew its offer. In 2003, Sato and COO Tetsu Kamaya stepped down. Sato
47499-463: Was purchased by Sega Sammy after going bankrupt. The year before, Sega signed a deal to distribute Atlus titles in Japan. After the buyout, Sega implemented a corporate spin-off with Index. The latter's game assets were rebranded as Atlus , a wholly owned subsidiary of Sega. Cinema of the United States The cinema of the United States , consisting mainly of major film studios (also known metonymically as Hollywood ), has remained
47722-501: Was replaced by Hisao Oguchi, the head of the Sega studio Hitmaker . Moore left Sega in January 2003, feeling that the Japanese executives were refusing to adapt to industry changes, such as the demand for mature games such as Grand Theft Auto III . Hideaki Irie, who had worked at Agetec and ASCII , became the new president and COO of Sega of America in October 2003. In August 2003, Sammy bought 22.4 percent of Sega's shares from CSK, making Sammy into Sega's largest shareholder. In
47945-401: Was sentenced to death for having killed 18 members of the Ueno Seiwa Clan by himself in 1985. His tattoo is a tiger, a pun on his name. After serving 25 years, a few days before his scheduled execution, he is suddenly transferred to a secret prison off the coast of Okinawa, where he meets Goh Hamazaki, who persuades him to break out together. He agrees and, after falling into the sea, washes up on
48168-421: Was sold to the American conglomerate Gulf and Western Industries , although Rosen remained CEO. In 1974, Gulf and Western made Sega Enterprises, Ltd., a subsidiary of an American company renamed Sega Enterprises, Inc. Sega released Pong-Tron , its first video-based game, in 1973. Despite late competition from Taito 's hit arcade game Space Invaders in 1978, Sega prospered from the arcade video game boom of
48391-425: Was structured into four parts: Consumer Business (video games), Amusement Machine Business (arcade games), Amusement Center Business (Sega's theme parks and arcades) and Pachislot and Pachinko Business (Sammy's pachinko and pachislot business). According to an industry survey, as of 2005, sales of arcade machines were up for the previous four years in Japan, while down for nine straight years overseas. In response to
48614-452: Was that many actors who had made their careers in silent films suddenly found themselves out of work, as they often had bad voices or could not remember their lines. Meanwhile, in 1922, US politician Will H. Hays left politics and formed the movie studio boss organization known as the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA). The organization became the Motion Picture Association of America after Hays retired in 1945. In
48837-484: Was then asked by Katsuragi to use Majima instead since he is the "only one to measure up Ihara's murder." Katsuragi then leaves and tells Daigo to decide what he should do. It was later revealed by Majima that he told Kiryu that Daigo set him up by giving him away to the police. Later Daigo is fought and defeated by Kiryu on top of the Millennium Tower. Daigo also appears in Yakuza 0 , Yakuza 5 , Yakuza: Dead Souls , Yakuza 6: The Song of Life and Yakuza: Like
49060-444: Was under Mexican rule . Griffith stayed there for months and made several films before returning to New York. Also in 1910, Selig Polyscope Company of Chicago established the first film studio in the Los Angeles area in Edendale , and the first studio in Hollywood opened in 1912. After hearing about Griffith's success in Hollywood, in 1913, many movie-makers headed west to avoid the fees imposed by Thomas Edison , who owned patents on
49283-464: Was with story. Yakuza caught his attention though, and he decided to accept the project even though it came at the busiest point of his professional writing career. Nagoshi chose the focus on yakuzas due to the amount of violence the subject tends to incorporate. This was also done in order to attract more gamers with this theme, believing there were less gamers during the time the game was made. The PlayStation 3 installments' realistic character design
49506-531: Was written by two future winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature : Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961), the author of the novel on which the script was nominally based, and William Faulkner (1897–1962), who worked on the screen adaptation. After The Jazz Singer was released in 1927, Warner Bros. gained huge success and were able to acquire their own string of movie theaters after purchasing Stanley Theaters and First National Productions in 1928. In contrast, Loews theaters owned MGM since forming in 1924, while
49729-400: Was younger, he and his sister decided to run away from their caretakers and live on their own, as they felt they were imposing on them. One day, however, Yasuko got sick, and the doctors told them that she needed a kidney transplant. Yasuko had a rare blood type, and since she and Saejima were stepsiblings, their kidneys were not compatible. Saejima had to look for Yasuko's biological father, who
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