I remember playing the demo version of the first release of this game series on PS2 and seriously wanting to get it. It was fun. It was innovative. One second I was beating up thugs. The next second I was playing baseball. A third second I was in a lounge chilling with girls. It was fun (sadly I never got it because it was rated M and I was young).

You know, this game was never meant to be something big either. Intended just to focus on Japanese adults(especially men), its popularity increased majorly, and now is about to come with a third edition to its series on March 22, 2010. This new release (although already out in Japan since March 2008) is going to be different in that it will use the full output that a PS3 can handle. Awesome cut scenes and realistic weather effects are a plus. Sega producer and designer Toshihiro Nagoshi comments that he “wanted to focus on making the city look as realistic as possible” (something that I think if Grand Theft Auto could somehow manage to make would be a crazy money maker).

It all now depends on how the Western environment reacts to the release of these games. Will Yakuza 3 do good? Only the market and the consumers will tell. If I have a PS3 by then, I bet I’m getting it.