Not This Goro!

We love the Yakuza franchise. Love it. It’s consistently brilliant. But with a PSP Yakuza title in the works, we had hoped SEGA would take a break from their annual release schedule and take a bit longer with the next home-console entry in the franchise. They’re not — there’s a new Yakuza game in development right now for the PlayStation 3. Talk about cranking them out.

Unlike other games in the franchise, protagonist Kazuma Kiryu will be notably absent. The latest game will focus on Goro Majima, who you may remember as the crazy eye-patch dude from Yakuza 3.

It’s not going to be simple colour-by-numbers though. The new Yakuza will focus on “destruction”. The team’s apparently reworking the engine to fit this.

Yakuza 4’s due out in the US and Europe next year. No date for the new, new Yakuza.

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Yakuza 4 on PlayStation 3 Blow-Out Preview.

Yakuza is a franchise firmly fixed in familiarity. Of the three Yakuza games that have launched on the PlayStation in the past, not much has changed. Yakuza 4 hasn’t changed much either – instead it’s tweaked one pivotal element that separates it from its predecessors. Here, Kazuma Kiryu is no longer the lead protagonist – instead he shares that privilege with three other characters. That’s a big departure for the franchise.

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

SEGA’s just confirmed that Yakuza 4 will be launching in the West sometime next year exclusively on Playstation 3. 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.

Positive Yakuza 3 Sales In The West? Please Can We Have Yakuza 4 Then, KTHX!

SEGA’s made a comment on Yakuza 3’s sales, which launched earlier in the year exclusively on Playstation 3. The game’s overt Japanese nature made it a tough-sell for many consumers, and many were worried about how the game would be received.

But SEGA’s come out to say, “hey, it was all good”, providing the following statement on the SoA forums:

“As was mentioned a couple times above, SEGA doesn’t generally release any specific numbers in terms of game sales. (Even in Valkyria’s case, after a huge surge, we listed percentages.)

So, while I’m not able to give you any numbers, I can at least still confirm that the initial sales were really positive, and that all of the fans who jumped in to support the franchise in the west did a great job.”

We’ll keep our fingers crossed for Yakuza 4 then, which is already available in Japan.

5 Million Playstation 3 Consoles Are Out In The Japanese Wilderness.

How many Playstation 3 systems are there out in the Japanese wilderness? It’s a question we often ask ourselves. Thankfully, as of April 11th, Famitsu publisher Enterbrain has the answer. Over 5 million. That’s right – over 5 million consoles have been sold to Japanese gamer folks.

The biggest domestic games to date are Final Fantasy XIII, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Yakuza 4. Worryingly, of those three high-sellers, only Final Fantasy XIII has crossed the million sales threshold.

We'd Be Excited If SEGA Ported Yakuza 4, But We Ain't Holding Our Breath.

SEGA’s Yakuza 4 has topped the Japanese software charts for this week, shifting a hearty 384,000 copies. The numbers are a little lower than those of Yakuza 3, but still extremely respectable.

Elsewhere, the God Of War Collection managed to place 13th in the Japanese software charts this week, with Battlefield: Bad Company 2 not far behind it in 15th.

Cue Plinky-Plonky Midi Music.

Kotaku’s got their hands on an artist’s impression of SEGA Yakuza franchise all sprited up. Looks lovely, eh?

We Imagine The Driver To Be Shirtless, Showcasing His Rad-Ass Back Tattoo.

This stretch hummer rolled around Shinjuku, Shibuya and Roppongi in order to celebrate the release of Yakuza 4 on the Playstation 3. Is it awesome? You bet it’s awesome. (Now get to work on that Western port SEGA. Please. We only want subtitles.)

[Pic: Ryugagogotoku]

It Is Going To Rain Some In Yakuza 5 By The Looks Of All Those Umbrellas.

We only just got Yakuza 3 in the West last week. Japan gets Yakuza 4 this month. And guess what? SEGA’s just announced Yakuza 5.

SEGA announced the game at a press event in Tokyo last night. The trailer SEGA showed starts with a shot of Yakuza’s Kamurocho night-spot, followed by the words, “A young guy appeared in Kamurocho. The young guy knew it, the weight of the crimes he continued to commit. However the young guy didn’t know it yet. A cruel fate awaited him. And thus the young guy knew: battle is my destiny.”

The introduction of a new character is leading many to suggest that the game will be somewhat of a reboot without protagonist Kazuma Kiryu.

We’ve still got our fingers crossed for Yakuza 4 hitting the West. It’s certainly too early for us to get excited about Yakuza 5.

Hello Japan!

Hey folks, how are you finding the wait for Yakuza 3? Yeah, it’s been a long year hasn’t it? Still, at least we have a firm March release date to look forward to an announcement of a demo for, erm, Yakuza 4! Yep, Yakuza 4 is on the horizon for Japan, so if you have a Playstation Store account for the region you’ll be able to check out the next installment in the franchise on March 4th thanks to a nice demo SEGA’s announced. Lovely.

Let’s hope the wait for Yakuza 4 ain’t quite so long, eh?