Since announcing plans to bring Yakuza 2 stateside last September, Sega has been noticeably quiet concerning the sequel, which was first released in Japan in 2006 and will be making its European debut later this year. However, while Sega may be mum, online retailers Gamestop and Gamefly have given us reason to keep our imaginary ties to the Japanese mafia intact, with both listing Yakuza 2 for release this September.

As Siliconera points out, Gamestop's listing of the game at the criminally affordable price of $29.99 gives weight to suspicions that Yakuza 2 will not be getting the original's celebrity treatment, though if this means that the game could include the original Japanese voice overs, so much the better.

While the game's setting has been flung back to the 17th century, Sega's latest Yakuza title has successfully found a place on a modern console, with the PlayStation 3 saga hitting the top position in the Japanese software sales charts last week. Gamasutra notes that Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan! (Yakuza 3) sold approximately 181,000 copies during its debut, both in and outside of a special PlayStation 3 bundle.

Those not entranced by old-fashioned violence ensured a second place spot for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which shifted about 50,000 copies in its fifth week on sale. Fellow Wii title Wii Fit rounded out the top three, despite its documented opposition to all things round. Other Wii newcomers to the top ten were Metroid Prime 3: Corruption in fifth place and Minna no Joushiki Ryoku TV in tenth. The latter translates to "Everybody's General Knowledge Training TV," which either imparts useful trivia or advice on how to survive one of those insane Japanese game shows.

We don't know exactly how the Yakuza continuity is going to quantum leap from modern day back to feudal Japan for the third game in the series, but this trailer just does a little more to confirm for us that whatever the circumstances are of the time jump, we are definitely on board.

While watching it, we have to give a thumbs up to the heavy presence of samurai (if you're not up on your history, samurai are classier, less sneaky ninjas). There's one slight problem, though: We hope we're able to get past it, put when we watch Yakuza 3 stuff it's hard to put Onimusha and (more troubling) Genjii out of our minds. Anybody else?

How long will it be until you get to play Yakuza 3? Well, let's see, when did Yakuza 2 come out here? ... Oh, that's right. It hasn't. So, you're at least one game away from getting your hands on Yakuza 3. Until this new trailer from TGS, that didn't seem like that big of a deal. Like rocket sneakers, we knew it was on the way, but it was so far off that we weren't troubled. Now, to continue the analogy, our rich neighbor just imported a pair.

Maybe it's just us, be we love games with samurais and old men stopping swords with two fingers. So to say that we're intrigued by this trailer would be putting in mildly. Also, why is Yakuza in feudal Japan? The last time we checked it was about urban gangsters. If Yakuza 2 features some sort of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III time travel hi-jinx we just got even angrier that we haven't played it.

Though the report in the latest issue of Famitsu (which brought us this Eternal Sonata exclusivity nugget as well) doesn't specifically mention the Xbox 360, and even though IGN claims that Yakuza 3 will be a PS3 exclusive, we're not quite ready to call it an exclusive just yet.

Regardless of its status on that other console or its availability in a place that isn't Japan, Famitsu reveals that Yakuza 3 is indeed coming to the PlayStation 3 in Japan in the spring of 2008. And while they were at it, they thought you might be interested in knowing that it no longer takes place in the modern day, but rather in 1605 Edo period Japan. Don't live in Japan or own a PlayStation 3 but really want to play Yakuza 3? Don't know what to tell ya bub, we just work here.

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

Toshihiro Nagoshi walks with a swagger and dresses like a Japanese film star. A few years ago he was the Monkey Ball man; now he's the poster boy of Ryu Ga Gotoku (known in the West as Yakuza), and has achieved a Mizuguchi-like omnipresence within the Japanese game industry and media.

The reward for all his hard work is this, the movie of his massively successful Ryu Ga Gotoku games. (More than 500,000 units of Ryu Ga Gotoku 2 have been sold in Japan since the PS2 game's December release.)

Takashi Miike, who is reportedly one of Quentin Tarantino's favourite directors, has guided the production of Ryu Ga Gotoku: The Movie. Miike has previously directed flicks such as Ichi the Killer (a story of anarchic violence), The Guys from Paradise (a heartwarmer), and The Happiness of the Katakuris (a black comedy). Along with an A-list cast, Miike gives this game-to-movie transition more pedigree than most. Not that we have anything against Bob Hoskins...

Ryu Ga Gotoku: The Movie will be showing at cinemas across Japan from March 3. Click through to see the movie's official Japanese website, which now features a (very promising) preview clip.

A hit in Japan since it was released last winter, many of those who knew about Yakuza were ecstatic once they heard a version for the English-speaking crowd was coming stateside. Today, I was able to get up close and personal with a title that, on the outside, may resemble just another GTA clone, but really has the potential to be more than that. Taking players inside the hidden nightlife district of Tokyo, Yakuza is looking to position itself as one of the final standout games for the PlayStation 2 when it's released in the U.S. on September 5. But will it really pull that off based on hype alone?

What do Michael Madsen (Mr. Blonde), Michael Rosenbaum (Lex Luthor from Smallville), Eliza Dushku, (Faith from Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Rachel Leigh Cook (She's All That), and Mark Hamill (uhh, Luke Skywalker) all have in common? Yup, none of them are Japanese and all of them are lending their voices in Sega's American-ization of their Japanese crime-game Ryu ga Gotoku, now Yakuza. Thing is, none of em are playing Kazuma, the title's lead.

For some more on the selection process, check out Gamespot's interview with Justin Lambros, the US producer. Hoping to keep the Japanese dialogue track for that authentic Ryu ga Gotoku feel? Tough luck, says Lambros, "We were hoping to include the Japanese dialogue as an alternate track, but unfortunately there just wasn't enough room on a single disc to put both sets of voice files."

Sega's lauded Japanese Yakuza game Ryu Ga Gotoku ("Like a Dragon") is going to bring its distinct brand of gangster-infused street brawling to the US and Europe. Matt Woodley, Creative Director of SEGA Europe said:

"We feel that the street brawling gameplay in particular will impress everyone... Getting this spot on in games has proven hard for some developers in the past, but the Yakuza team have pulled it off with great style. Add to that some of the most evocative locations seen in a game and we have a title SEGA are very excited to be releasing."

The title has been described as a badass Shenmue, with similarly memorable city environs and a darker, more violent storyline. The game will be renamed Yakuza for its summer 2006 release on PlayStation 2.

See also:
Ryu Ga Gotoku prologue heads to DVD, no import plans
Ryu Ga Gotoku Website Launched

[Thanks, John]