14 DAY TRIAL // SEGA has officially announced that Yakuza 3 will be released next year and that it is going to take the concepts of the first two games in the series to the next level. SEGA representative Toshihiro Nagoshi stated that "In other words, 3 depicts the story of what happened after 2. All the characters who were living at the end of 2 will appear here as well, and favorite characters like Haruka and Goro Majima will be back".
Most gamers have been saying that Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan, which is only available in Japan at the moment, is the actual third game in the Yakuza series, even though the action takes place in Medieval Japan, somewhere around the year 1600. SEGA is now saying that the game is just a sequel and only games set in the present time frame will be considered part of the Yakuza continuity.
Kazuma Kiryu is the main character of the new game, which takes place mainly in Kamurocho, which looks a lot like real life Tokyo, and in Okinawa, which is presented as a tropical island that serves primarily as a resort. The developers said that "Okinawa has its own unique atmosphere and taste, and it's perfectly normal to see foreigners strolling around it. It's got its own sense of depth you can't find in the big city, and it's also got its darker side. People mainly have a sunny and bright image of Okinawa, but when we started to consider the other side of the coin, we decided that there's a lot more to explore here instead of recreating a city from some other region".
The game does not have a tentative release date in Japan or in the United States. The developers are stating that the graphical aspect of the game is very important, mainly because of the possibilities offered by the PlayStation 3.