Yakuza 3 is featured once again in the latest issue of Famitsu. This week, the magazine offers a look at the game's mini games and the new Okinawan play area.

The Yakuza series is known for offering players a variety of mini games apart from the main story. For part 3, Sega appears to be working on some robust games, including a golf game set on a golf course, billiards in a bar, and a fishing game on the coast. For the billiards game, you can select from a variety of rules and play against cabaret girls. For the fishing game, you use food items for bait. Fish that you procure can be used directly as items or sold for money.
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PS3Center writes:

The latest issue of Famitsu Weekly has confirmed that the latest entry into Sega's popular Yakuza series will be hitting shelves in Japan on February 26, 2009. Yakuza 3 will debut at a price of 7980 yen.
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ps3 fanboy write: Famitsu (translation via IGN) has unveiled in its latest issue details regarding the battle system of Yakuza 3. One of the major improvements is seamless transitions into fights. Another note-worthy addition is the foes you encounter may decide to run away from you (and vice versa, if you are chicken) -- you now have to option to engage in a "chase battle" to pursuit the enemy. This "chase battle" involves keeping your enemy in sight with your mini map and avoiding any obstacles that may appear in your path.

A "tag tournament mode" was also shown in the gaming magazine's pages. Your character enters a fighting arena where you must team up with a partner (whether this is a CPU partner or something else isn't clear) to unleash some co-op attacks on your enemies.

The last iteration of the Yakuza franchise on the PS3 sold fairly well over in Japan. Unfortunately, it hasn't received a stateside release (yet) -- here's to hoping Sega will bring both Yakuza games over to the Western market.
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Joystiq writes: "We're still recovering from our trip to TGS (in fact, we're still here in Tokyo). However, we thought you'd appreciate this list of new games which will definitely be supporting Trophies when they release on the PS3. Big first-party and third-party titles can be found on this list:

* Demon's Soul
* Derby Time Online
* Gomibako
* Quantum Theory
* Resident Evil 5
* Street Fighter IV
* White Knight Chronicles
* Yakuza 3

Unfortunately, the status of other big PS3 games, like Final Fantasy XIII, is still TBD."
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Spaziogames write:After a small travel in medieval Japan with Yakuza Kenzan, the series back to "home" and is ready to continue the events completed in the second episode. Vi mostriamo le prime tre immagini di Yakuza 3, ambientato due anni dopo il prequel. We feature the first three images of Yakuza 3, set two years after the prequel. In arrivo nel 2009 in Giappone in esclusiva su Playstation 3. Coming in 2009 in Japan exclusively on Playstation 3.
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Suntory, Matsuya, and Don Quixoti were cool and all, but Sega's bringing out the big guns when it comes to real world tie-ups for Ryu ga Gotoku 3 (Yakuza 3). The company announced today a tie-up with Japanese fashion magazine Koakuma Ageha that will see the top models from the publication appear as hostesses in the upcoming sequel's host club sequences.
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Sega is still keeping quiet on Yakuza 3, the true PS3 sequel in the Yakuza series, but today it did share one bit of news regarding the voice acting staff for the Japanese version of the game. the company revealed that Jouji Takahashi and Tatsuya Fujiwara will be joining the cast, playing as yet undisclosed roles.
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Kotaku: A third, proper Yakuza game? For the PS3? Exciting stuff. So let's go over a few of the game's finer details. While we already know the game will be an immediate sequel to the second, featuring the same characters and the same storyline, what we didn't know was that the game's going to be taking a pleasant break from the streets of faux-Tokyo. While the game will still be based around Kamurocho, it'll be adding a "second city": island getaway Okinawa (or, at least, a fictional take on Okinawa).
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In the latest issue of Famitsu, it was announced that SEGA's toasted Toshihiro Nagoshi has been working on Ryu ga Gotoku 3 (Yakuza 3). This isn't to be confused with Edo-era PS3 exclusive Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan!, which is actually the third Yakuza game in the franchise, but not actually Yakuza 3. Confused? According to the article, Kenzan! was a spin-off, and this newly announced game is actually the third one in the series, m'kay. Work began on the game commenced after development on Kenzan! finished, and the story picks up where Yakuza 2 left off. Well, that makes sense at least.

According to Neogaf post the game have a release date set for spring Spring 2009 and it's exclusive for PS3.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=323238
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This is far from the official confirmation like Sega of Europe sent out, but there is a fair chance Yakuza 2 will come out in North America too. Possibly in September. Gamestop and Gamefly updated their respective databases and Yakuza 2 is in both of them.
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