Kotaku 
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Denver, 7:18 AM
Wed Dec 2
62 posts in the last 24 hours
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09/25/09
I thought that by the end of 3, the character's life was a little played out. As in, "it's straining me to believe that this guy can still be at the center of *everything* going down". In this game, it looks like you're that once-homeless guy, and K.K. only shows up as a cameo/background character.
That's really appealing to me: I love the writing of the first two games, and thought that if the same character kept starring in the series, that it would eventually feel washed/comical. But it looks like the novelist-author behind the series thought the same thing, and is fleshing out the world of Kamuro-cho (bringing in old favorites as NPCs and bit parts) and expanding the setting rather than dragging in the previous cast as central characters again.
Consider me sold. I'll import it the week it's released in Japan.
09/25/09
09/25/09
09/26/09
09/25/09
I should really check the series out. Hopefully, Yakuza 3 comes out over here and sells well enough to convince Sega to release 4 overseas.
09/25/09
09/25/09
here: [kotaku.com]
09/25/09
There are companies that speak of the shrinking Japanese market and the growth of the western market and how they want to capitalise on that (Square-Enix recently). But when we will actually see action taken?
There are alot of us in the West that inport titles because we have no other choice. We are showing our commitment to these companies but where is the commitment in return?
We put the effort in that helps stabalise their market (not to a massive effect, but it is there), It is about time that we see some of the Japanese developers do the same.
Yes, localisation can be time consuming and costly, but they make games, its part of the job.
I would hope that they begin to show a little more love to market they are hoping to save them.
Now, there are alot of games that we do get, but how long do we wait? In some cases, it gets beyond rediculous.
Most of my favorite, if not all of my favorite companies are Japanese developers. I've spent many a £ on there products and given my support to what we do get from them.
But its about time we started to see the same support back.
Come on Japan, we want to play too.
09/25/09
When Sega were talking about not releasing Yakuza 3 over here, they felt that because the last two games sold so little that the whole process and the extra costs weren't worth the risk, I can understand that too. They didn't market the first two games well enough overseas and that was their mistake but still, you've got to cut them and others some slack, sometimes a global release can be a waste of money.
09/25/09
There have been products all over the world that never were seen globally. Films,music, games, tangible electronics and a lot more. People have been importing some of these for a very long time now.
In fact a lot of companies that made products that failed in their domestic market but succeeded outside never even existed besides maybe a handful prior to the late 90s.
It'll take a while, before we see a 'global market' but it comes with a price. It comes with the price of uniformity and conformity. Games like these exist because they primarily intended to cater to the domestic market. They somehow crossed the border making it interesting beyond that market. When you set the goal higher the games will exist to cater to the wider market, titles will exist to cater to a broader market i.e. if they have bigger ambitions - and that necessarily isn't a good thing. It's not like the old days where cultural takeovers happened, the world is more uniform yet divided culturally right now. We are more aware of several things but not of others. But getting to the point, right now we are seeing more previously non-localized games coming over here. if you take a look back several games didn't make it through. Even more in other entertainment media.
I'd honestly say instead of complaining about it, be somewhat glad things are changing but also be wary that the direction of change may not necessarily be good. Also localisation costs sometimes aren't covered by the sales of the game. Plus people who want these titles are honestly a minority regardless how many people sign up for internet petitions and other things. Though I'll admit Yakuza 3 did somehow manage to get more people interested than the usual fare.
09/25/09
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09/25/09
You get a good dose of awesome during these games. It must be the brutal finisher-esque moves. Sometimes you cringe, but you feel awesome at the same time.
09/25/09
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09/25/09
Yakuza games are totally about the story, so not being able to understand what`s being said is missing out on a huge portion of it.
I do wish they showed more of Kiryu though :)
09/25/09
As far as Japanese trailers go, all the ones I've seen are ridiculous and don't invoke a 'must have' kind of feel. Only MGS4 trailer I've seen, was the battle with Raiden and the walking organic robots, and that simply was a cut scene haha.
09/25/09
This trailer looks fine to me, but to each his own I suppose.
09/25/09
09/25/09
09/25/09
I'm so hyped up for this game and I haven't even played Yakuza 3 yet (demo doesn't count).
09/18/09
09/18/09
09/18/09
09/18/09
I'd love for it to happen, though ... so, I'm wishing right along with you.
09/18/09
Though for a while it did almost seem like Sega was slightly averse to making money, celebrating lower sales (The wii titles sales may not have been that bad, but they should push for more sales not sit content on some 40k).
Still I think, we'll probably see this sometime in 2010/11. I guess they didn't really expect the games to have any demand. Just hope the demand stays or well the future of this title coming to the west is next to nothing.
09/18/09
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09/18/09
Though on a positive note, if there is open public discussion about it from Sega then that is a good sign though.
Also Nagoshi is not an idiot when it comes to knowing what the west wants also how the market has shifted. He had some real smart stuff to say 2 years ago when I attended a conference he was speaking at. So we can assume its just all the red tape and convincing those higher up than himself on the food chain that projects are worth undertaking.
09/18/09
09/18/09
Bring it on Sega!!! We PS3 owners are used to late releases by now. I don;t care if it takes another year, I'm gonna get the game day 1.