Hey there, loyal fans and readers of the Playstation Blog! That one guy from SEGA is back again, here to talk all things Yakuza 4, answer your questions in the comments, and remind you of one very important thing: The free Yakuza 4 demo is going live on PSN today!

If you’ve never played the Yakuza series before, I highly recommend you download the demo and give it a whirl. Today’s demo is built around brawling, and in it you’ll get to play as all four unique characters in the game. Oh, and if you’re glowing blue and you see the triangle button appear, make sure to press it – those are called HEAT actions, and they’re both brutal and pretty amazing.

Also, hidden tip – we’ve equipped each character with a special weapon to use! Tap down on the d-pad to equip a weapon, and you’ll find yourself armed with everything from nunchucks to spears to katanas. Kazuma Kiryu, the final character in the demo, also comes equipped with all three for you to try out.

If you own a PS3, you owe it to yourself to see why this series is exclusive to the console. And there’s even more good news: following the great positive support from fans who picked up Yakuza 3 last year, we’ve made a massive effort to include as much content in the game as possible this time – which means that you’ve got hours upon hours of bonus side-content and mini-games added in. Like Hostess Clubs? Worry not – we’ve got ‘em. Pachinko? Check. Baseball, bowling, a date at the hot springs, massage parlors, table tennis in kimonos – it’s all here.

Yakuza 4 is much more than just brawling, though we hope you’ll really enjoy just how deep the combat is within the demo. You can experience everything the game has to offer firsthand soon, on March 15th! (Our friends over at Gamestop also have a shiny Hostess premium theme if you support the game by pre-ordering!)

As always, thanks to you guys for supporting series like Yakuza and Valkyria Chronicles. Drop a line in the comments if you’d like to fire away any questions.

SEGA!

Alright Yakuza fans — time for some good news.

After some amazing passion seen across the board from fans regarding the release of Yakuza 3, SEGA is proud to announce that the fourth installment of the Yakuza series is heading West, and will be releasing exclusively on the PlayStation 3 in the spring of 2011!

Yakuza 4 also builds on the style of the original Yakuza foundation by adding three new playable characters, each with a distinct personality and fighting style. They all have connections to the Tojo clan — but what those connections are, and what they mean with regard to a man named Kazuma Kiryu, is just one part of what will truly make things interesting.

We’d also like to confirm what we feel is important news for our fans: the Hostess Clubs will be returning in Yakuza 4!

Finally, we’d like to let you guys field questions to the man whose name goes hand in hand with the Yakuza (or Ryu Ga Gotoku in Japan) series himself: Nagoshi-san! Write your questions in the comments below, and with a bit of luck, your question will be among others asked after next week’s E3!

Good luck, and we hope all you Yakuza fans out there just found your day got a little brighter. If you’ll excuse us, that plush cat in the UFO Catcher at Club SEGA has been making fun of us all morning, and it’s about time we showed him our perception skills.

The big day is finally here. As Yakuza 3 begins the journey to stores across the west, we take another look at what makes Yakuza 3 something you’ll find only on the PS3.

“If there’s one thing about Yakuza that these last few months have taught people,” I thought as I sat at lunch on Monday, “It’s that the fans are a force to take seriously…usually.” Fans can be the biggest allies and proponents of games that may not be the huge, multi-million sellers like (insert generic FPS here), or (insert additional generic FPS here). They can create amazing successes for games that were never expected to have them – looking at you, Valkyria Chronicles – and they can just as easily do the opposite, in some cases.

But more than anything, most fans just want to be heard. Fans want interaction, and to be responded to. So let’s begin this blog post by jumping right in to one of the biggest things fans have been asking about: the content.

Yakuza 3 is huge. Besides exploring Tokyo and Okinawa, you can also visit restaurants, pick up ramen at a local convenience store, go golfing, bowling, fishing, karaoke, or bust some heads in a local street fight.

As someone who enjoyed Shenmue, my love for Yakuza grows in knowing that some of the people who developed the original Shenmue games also work on Yakuza now. The similarity in feel between the two is no coincidence – and the epic feel of exploration, and Japanese culture, that the game offers are things you won’t find anywhere else. I’m also a big fan of playing darts while drunk – the extra level of difficulty is quite entertaining, besides being notably safer in Yakuza 3’s virtual world than it is in real life. (Note: I do not condone playing Darts while intoxicated. You’ll probably take someone’s eye out.)

Also, we’d like to make special note that while not everything from the Japanese version made it to the western shores, our community team has been – and will be– reading, compiling, and passing all of that feedback upwards here at SEGA. I can’t say more than that presently, but know that you are being heard, and we’ll make sure of that for you. To clarify additionally, as has been mentioned: Hostesses are in the game, and you can take them out on dates, build relationships, and sing karaoke with them to your heart’s content.

As Yakuza goes out the door and into the homes of hundreds of thousands of fans, I’d also like to take a moment to give some thanks to the people that really deserve it – and that’s you guys. It goes to the people who pushed from the beginning to show SEGA how much they wanted this game here. To those who post in the comments sections encouraging us, offering bright and helpful viewpoints even when the going got rough. And finally, to those who continue to support this PS3 exclusive by picking up the game, and in doing so give the franchise the legs on which to stand.

Know that we appreciate the support so many of you have already given to this series – and that we are now, and will continue to listen to your feedback.

That said – here’s to Yakuza 3!

Hey there Yakuza fans, it’s been a little while, but we’re back with more news on Yakuza 3 – today, we’d like to show you guys what we’ve got set up as a pre-order bonus for all of the fans who support the game by throwing in their reserve ahead of time!

What’s in store for those of us here in the US? A fair bit, actually – here’s what you score when you pre-order the game:

4 pieces of DLC will be packed into the game via a special code card. This will allow players access to the following content:

• Battle for Survival – Take on all the bosses of Yakuza 3 as Kazuma
• All-Star Tournament (7 character tournament)
• All-Star Tag Tournament (8 team tournament)
• Haruka’s Request – This unique series of challenge missions will send you on a task of exploration throughout the entire Yakuza world, playing mini-games and entertaining Haruka.

In addition to this, Yakuza fans who pre-order the game at their local GameStop will receive additional content via the Challenge Pack. This will allow them to enjoy 2-player mini games, competing against their friends at Pool, Bowling, Darts and Golf. They will also be able to customize their principle characters with four alternative costumes for Kazuma, Haruka and Rikiya.

Besides the pre-order content, are there any specific parts of the game you guys out there are interested in? Let us know here in the comments, and we’ll see what we can do to get some spotlights out there on the things you all would most like to see.

With just over a month until Yakuza releases, the wait is almost over. Until next time!