Actor Michael Rosenbaum is not Japanese. Of course, he's not superhumanly fast or a complete joker either. It's called acting, kids, and it's what Rosenbaum does, whether its as The Flash in the Justice League cartoons, as Lex Luthor in Smallville, or as Nishiki in Sega's Yakuza, the American version of the Japanese beat-'em-up Ryu Ga Gotokui. It's a game that not only appeals to his Galaga-loving fingers, but one that has him co-starring with Mark Hamill, Rachael Leigh Cook, Eliza Dushku and Michael Madsen, which is just one reason he was so eager to yak about Yakuza.

GameSpy: How did you get involved in this game?
Michael Rosenbaum: One of the producers had worked on the game Gladius that I did a voice for a few years ago. We had a good time doing that game, so he called me to be in this one.
GameSpy: What was it about the game that appealed to you?
Rosenbaum: Before I signed on, they showed me the game, which was pretty much done at that point, and just blew me away. It's like a little movie. It's the kind of game I'd want to play. Honestly.
GameSpy: Does that actually matter? Like would you not do a game you wouldn't play?
Rosenbaum: It's not really about that, it's about whether it's an interesting game or an interesting character.

GameSpy: So would you do a game that looked like it was going to be a good game, even if it was a game you'd never want to play?
Rosenbaum: Sure. But it's much better if it's a game you'd actually like to play. Like with Yakuza, I felt like I really had to step up because I knew that I was going to be playing the game, and so would my friends. I also think this is going to be a big game, so I think I put a little more work into it.
GameSpy: Speaking of work, has there ever been any talk of doing a Smallville game?
Rosenbaum: No, but I actually went to the producers when we were doing the first season and suggested it to them. I think it would be a really good game. I don't know why they didn't do it.
GameSpy: A few years ago, when you did a voice for the LucasArts game Gladius, your co-star and love interest in the game was Linda Cardellini from E.R. and the Scooby-Doo movies. But at the time, you two had never met. Did you ever get to meet her?
Rosenbaum: Yeah, we finally met. We saw each other at a Golden Globes party, and we were totally like, "God, it was so good working with you." We just went into this whole thing. She started telling her friends, "Michael is such a giving actor..." Though after about ten minutes of that we told her friends that we'd done a video game together, and had actually never met before.