Sega's "Yakuza" Gets Hollywood Cast

Sega's upcoming action crime game will feature a cast of Hollywood actors. Michael Madsen headlines the cast as the game's main crime boss, Shimano. The actor has been immersed in videogames, of late. He starred in the movie adaptation of the "BloodRayne" videogame, which is now out on DVD. And he's made a steady living doing voice acting for games like Rockstar's "Grand Theft Auto III," Activision's "True Crime: Streets of LA," Atari's "Driver 3" and Midway's "Narc." Madsen will also reprise his big screen role in Sci's videogame adaptation of "Reservoir Dogs."

Rounding out the Hollywood cast is Michael Roenbaum ("Smallville"), who plays the lead character, Nishiki; Eliza Dushku ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer"), who plays Yumi; Mark Hamill ("Star Wars") as crazy crime boss Majima, and Rachel Leigh Cook ("Final Fantasy: Advent Children").

The new game offers an open-world Tokyo for players to explore as Kishiki, a gang member who serves a 10 year prison term for a murder he didn't commit. Once out of jail, the game's serpentine story unfolds surrounded $100 million and a missing little girl. Like Sega's Dreamcast franchise, "Shenmue," "Yakuza" allows the player to explore a large array of locales within Tokyo. While players can't steal cars a la "Grand Theft Auto," they can interact with characters in the game and partake in mini-games and side missions within this open world.

Already released in Japane, and first shown in the U.S. at E3 last month, "Yakuza" has a much better shot at finding a mainstream audience thanks to this Hollywood talent. It's not considered the norm to bring aboard Hollywood actors to voice crime story games.