Ben-DutkaWe're still not sure if Yakuza 3 was a hit in the US, but either way, the fourth iteration will still find its way here.
As announced at Sega's European Blog , Sega West will distribute Yakuza 4 for the PlayStation 3 in Spring 2011. This stands in line with the rest of the franchise's releases; the difference of time between the Japanese and American launch dates are typically about a year. For instance, the game in question is already available in Japan and we only recently got Yakuza 3 here in the US this past March. We have some new details on the fourth title, too: Kazuma Kiryu will return as the main character but in addition, there will be three other playable characters, each "with their own engaging backstory and a gripping interwoven plot." Last but not least, the blog is offering fans the chance to submit their questions to Yakuza series producer, Toshihiro Nagoshi. So if you have something you'd like to ask him, post the question in a comment over at the blog and you might just get an answer from the man himself after E3.
We're definitely fans of these games; they're always solid and wildly entertaining. We were worried that Yakuza 3 wouldn't perform so well, what with releasing in a month that held God of War III and Final Fantasy XIII , but it seems we needn't concern ourselves with that.
Related Game(s): Yakuza 4
Great news, I did enjoy Yakuza 3 quite a bit, and I tried the Yakuza 4 demo which was pretty fun, from what I could understand I liked, better combat, story, etc.
OH SWEET JEBUS!!!!
I have to change my pantaloons now.
Yes I know pantaloons are for women…I put some on to soil for this announcement…
I haven't picked up yakuza 3 yet… i'm still debating whether or not i should import it. I own yakuza 1 and 2… i haven't even finished them yet lol.
I must say… that it's a shame that ryu ga gotoku kenzan wont be released in america.. i imported that game…. BEST samurai game i've ever played. – i recommend importing that if u can understand some japanese…
also… the yak 4 demo was cool… i still play it from time to time… just to play the table tennis minigame… that girl u play against is a beast… she acts all cute… but she dominates that table…
I thought they will release it in March 2011.
Oh well i've already played the japanese version.
kiryu, u play yakuza kenzan?
Yes awesome story!
i loved the story too… it's 10x better if u know a little about miyamoto musashi and his 'book of five rings' – sword techniques
the third was impossible for me to platinum. the batting cages and karoeke was a pain. i might go back to trying for the plat later in the year.
Hallelujah.
I was really worried when non-Japanese sales of 'Yakuza 3' didn't impress (seriously, what does it take to get gamers to buy these?), but this is excellent news.
i'm glad no one here compared it to gta yet… i kinda hate that comparison…
it's nothing like it…
Yeah Ryu Ga Gotoku (Like A Dragon) or Yakuza is way better than gta and more Detailed and Dense!
I see you put the correct image this time Ben.
That month was GOW3 and Yakuza 3, SE can go to hell I'm never going to buy FFXIII .
Last edited by Oxvial on 6/8/2010 12:36:30 PM
This is awesome news but watch when Tokyo game show 2010 comes, Sega will anounce Yakuza 5.
Awesome!
If only this game was more popular in the US…
It's bothersome how US gamers don't appreciate games from Asia anymore
A trend I'm sure Squeeeenix has noticed
There are still those who love Japanese games, but mainly because they're sequels from well established series.
There is a god!
Let's hope that they don't chop anything out this time, like they did on some regional version of Y3.
I have a question for Nagoshi.
Can we have your games in English??
Yeah let's make the localisation that much longer just so the audio can be in English because people can't be arsed with reading subtitles now. Add my name to the list…
</sarcasm>
It won't hurt them to put their game in the language of money. Especially if they want some.
Shut the fu** up.Don't let them ruin a perfectly awesome series!
Yakuza series is about Japanese culture and the only way we feel like we're in Japan is when Japanese people speak Japanese.
English voice actors suck for anime or games!
Final Fantasy sucks mainly because of bad voice acting!
Are you so dense as to believe they couldn't have both languages on a Blu Ray?
I remember SEGA saying some time back that they were pleased with the sales of Yakuza 3 here in the West…so I guess this is why they came up with the quick decision in order to keep the fans hungry for more and to understand that Yakuza 4 will definitely come.
Great news to hear! JUST DON'T CUT ANYTHING!!!! DAMN IT!!! I wish there were hostess clubs in Yakuza 3 still…so please don't cut anything!!!
I hope Yakuza 4 will have English voice overs because I hate reading subtitles in video games and movies. This is the main reason I couldn't finish Yakuza 3. I really wanted to experience this game because I'm a huge Shenmue fan and Yakuza seems to be similar but it's just hard for me to be immersed in the story without English voice overs.
In that case…to have us both benefit since I enjoy hearing a Japanese game in the Japanese language – they should allow us to have the option of what language we can play the game in.
SEGA usually gives the option for players to choose what language they can play the game in. Remember Sonic Heroes? – You could play it in Japanese or English. Hella awesome experience!
Yeah, that would be nice. With the capacity of Blu-Ray it could be done. Eventually I would like to learn Japanese, then I would be able to enjoy games like Yakuza without English voice-overs and I could also import some Japanese games. Why stop there? I would also like to import some Japanese movies and maybe music.
HAHA we think alike my friend. I would love to learn Japanese…I know the very basics of Japanese. Just simple sentence structure – like subject, verb, object…or in this case…subject, object, and then verb.
It would be great if we did learn Japanese just so that we wouldn't have to wait like 3 months-1.5 years for a game or movie. As for music…considering the amount of JRock and JPop I listen to already…it doesn't matter anymore – however when I learn more Japanese words the song will start to have a bit more meaning…not that it already does with its sweet melodies and such.
Koi no Yokushiryoku – Nana Mizuki, that's the Japanese song choice of the day considering Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker just released today haha!!! SWEET!!!
Also on a side note…it's helpful to have subscriptions to the Japanese word of the day…I have 2 words coming into me each day. It's enough for now. One gives me a really random set of words like "taihuu" – for typhoon…while the other "hateru" – to come to an exhaustion period, or die.
Scarecrow, I think americans don't appreciate japanese games as much anymore because we played games like Yakuza.
Is Sega gonna release this one with a little less trivia? *Cough Cough 15%*
why do we have to wait a year?
it takes 12 months to translate the game from Japanese to other languages and change the region coding does it?
they better not chuck a yakuza 3 and remove half of the game than sell it at full price!
oh, and please this time can we listen to the dialogue and not read it!
i think 5 hours of reading through pesudo code and C++ code is about all i can handle for 1 day!!!
this is freaking 2010 not 1952 so get with the f*cking times and have all the conversations in audio.