What he said.

I want to say something really positive to contribute to this thread, but I have come to hate Sega so much over the past decade, there simply is nothing positive left to say about those fucktards, other than to tell them to get their heads out of their asses and get their act together already.

So, so much potential, so completely and utterly squandard. To go from being the best game developer and publisher ever, to being just barely better than what Acclaim and Eidos were at their worst. It all just makes the part of me who grew up playing everything Sega, weep with frustration.

These guys better show at TGS with an American Y3 release date in tow, followed with a quality localization effort.

lol, that's funny. You know, I want to agree but I also want to understand them--somehow. While the previous two Yakuzas sold terribly in the west, they take part of the blame because of how poorly they marketed them. You can't expect people to just go out and buy a game no one's seen. You can't expect to sell a sequel without voice over, no marketing, and at the end of a console's life, a sequel to a game which sold badly. I mean, wtf were they expecting?

It's not guna happen.

AAA localization effort, plus AAA marketing effort, goes a long way in this day and age. Just look at Valkyria Chronicles. Fantastic game, halfway good localization effort, but in this day an age when a gamer can pick up the likes of Mass Effect or Fallout 3, which has complete voice over from end to end, even from the most minor of NPCs, to have anything less from a competing product, is not going to win any fans. In this department, VC gets so close to completely breaking with the tradition of so many of it's contemporaries from Japan.

And then there is the matter of marketing, or lack there of. While I can forgive not everything in the game being dubbed (after all, it is still a JP game), how many fans of VC can honestly forgive the lack of marketing on behalf of SEGA?

The Yakuza series pretty much needs what the Shenmue series needs here in the West. A reboot.

The best thing that could possibly happen to the series, is starting over from scratch on current-gen hardware. It gives them the opportunity to catch people up on the series, jumpstart the series with proper localization and marketing, and reach a much larger audience in the process.

I think the biggest problem at SEGA, and has been this way for a very long time, is they do not know how to market the product produced by their internal teams, to a global marketplace. So instead of investing the type of resources that another publisher like Square or Capcom or Konami would invest in making sure their games achieve great success on an international level, SEGA management sticks to the old and busted excuse they have been using for two decades now, and declaring a game "too Japanese" to give it the proper effort in making sure it worked out well overseas.

I have no doubt that if the likes of Capcom or Konami or Square or even Namco, were in charge of promoting franchise like Yakuza and Valkyria Chronicles, that all of those franchises (and many others) would be household names everywhere you went in the world where there are gamers and game consoles. However, in the hands of SEGA, who most of the time do not seem to believe in putting forward their best effort for their own game's success on the international markets, its like a death sentence for far too many games that do not feature a needle mouse, prominently.

So even having played both Yakuza games that came Westward on the PS2, what I would want to see most from SEGA at TGS 2009, is a current-gen reboot of the entire series for the international markets. Back that up with a AAA localization effort and a proper marketing campaign, plus a late spring 2010 to late summer 2010 release, and I think we have a real winner.

Awesome off-screen teaser here:
http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/26471

Loads of action and awesome character models as usual... waiting for a full reveal even more impatiently :)

Lots of improvements in this one, you can reach building rooftops or hide in sewers!!!

Here's what they say:
"(the city)allowing players to explore it more freely. Roof tops will now be accessible, and players will even be able hit the sewers to stay clear of any prying eyes."

More here:
http://www.ps3center.net/news/3729/yakuza-4-traile...

With 4 characters in the major spot-light, thats one damn big storytelling hurling at us :)

i'm amazing at the speed they make these games (they're not exactly crap looking or short), this is the third one this gen...it's kinda crazy tbh.

Man, you better not post any links containing story spoilers from Y3! I still have hope, so I wouldn't want to the best part of the series to be spoiled.

Well let's not try to hide it, I bought a PS3 with huge hopes of a Yakuza 3 (and why not Yakuza 4) west release, and I couldn't help but to look for details once again.

Amazon Germany has (had) a listing for Yakuza 3 to be released on March 2010. It's no longer there, but it was reported on several sites including:

http://www.vg247.com/2009/11/30/amazon-germany-lis...

and

http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2009/11/30/yakuza-3-he...

Screen: http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/156405-/screen-nos...

There have been rumors about a March release before, we can just hope, all three of us.

I'm hoping too! Give me Yakuza please.

lol. I'm not sure why they would even consider releasing the game in the U.S. after Europe. If it has English subtitles and or voice, they should just release it in both places. If not, they should make it region free (aren't all PS3 games region free?), and I'd import it for whatever it costs.

Simon has gone Ballistic, in a positive way that is :D

Amazing news. Will buy this 100% :)

That time has come, the perfect opportunity.
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Yey.

:)

Hmnn, looking at that gif again it makes sense. I think only Simon will get it but think about it. The people dancing could be said to be me (Van Dam of course), Simon (one chick, sorry man), and that other guy is the other chick.

It's very similar to our situation because everyone on the background is like "WTF is Yakuza anyways?"

Didn't know where to put this, but since there's no yakuza 3 topic:

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/62239

Cool trailer. Can't wait!

lol, not the trailer I was expecting but whatever. Good seeing anything Yakuza.

Amazing new longer Y4 video released, awesome visuals... Japanese rooftops gameplay, the rest you know:

http://www.gamekyo.com/videoen16308_yakuza-4-a-new...

Enjoy!

I just pray it makes it out of japan. I guess i should play through 3 first but 4 looks pretty sweet. I like the fact that there seems to be 4 playable characters this time around :)

I'll look at that video--or anything Y4 related--only after going through Y3!Yes, pray pray.