YES! Yakuza 4's Coming To The West! Thank You SEGA!

The game released in Japan a few weeks ago to both critical and commercial acclaim. Meanwhile, after months of "will they, won't they" speculation, us Western gamers got our hands on the excellent Yakuza 3 in March - albeit a stripped down version.

Hopefully, given the backlash that caused, the same won't be the case with Yakuza 4 - though to be honest, we'd actually take some of the game rather than none at all.

For the first time in the franchise's history, Yakuza 4 takes protagonist Kazuma Kiryu out of the limelight, and introduces three separate playable characters, each with their own interwoven campaigns. Apparently, it's a design choice that works brilliantly, so we can't wait to check it out for ourselves.

We'll definitely see more of the game at E3, and given its exclusivity, it might even get a mention during Sony's press conference. We hope so at least, we love the Yakuza franchise and really are genuinely very excited about this announcement. Take note people, buy the games for goodness sake and stop making people like us sweat. We wish we didn't have to worry about whether or not the next Yakuza game would get localised.

But, honestly, we have to close this post with thanks. We're serious. Thank you Mr. SEGA. We'll be playing Yakuza 4 next year, and we're grateful for that. Genuinely.