Don't know if anyone else has been following this game but Sega released some really sad news:

"The content between Yakuza 3 US/UK and Yakuza JP is a little different in that we took out certain bits in order to bring the game to the West in the time allotted for us to do so. The parts we ended up taking out were parts that we felt wouldn't make sense (like a Japanese history quiz game) or wouldn't resonate as much (such as the concept of a hostess club)," Sega told website IGN. "We didn't replace the parts we took out, but we made absolutely sure that the story continuity stayed intact so that the story experience was the same as the Japanese version and that it didn't take away the human drama so inherent to the Yakuza series"

Is there really any benefit [other than time] to removing content like this from such a unique game?

No Soapland in Yakuza 3??? I'm not buying it. The Japanese History game is understandable...but the hostess club? That's a selling point to most gamers!!

What is a hostess club? Is it a new kind of cup cake?

a hostess club is a place you go to have a few drinks and imagine that the beautiful women who are paid to keep you company actually give a damn about you.

I dunno.

they sound like modern day geisha--except maybe not as sophisticated. there are host clubs too for women.

I was too lazy to read the whole thing.

thanks, Wiki!

It was a joke.

Isn't that a strip club? They're cutting out the strip club scenes? Pass.

A Hostess club is like a strip club minus the stripping. You pick a hostess from a book of many and you basically pay to hang out with them.

There is an interesting doc on male host boys called "The Great Happiness Space"

http://www.thegreathappinessspace.com/

They're removing an important part of the fun of the Yakuza series... Sure the quizz would have been impossible to 99% of the gamers, but seriously... no hostess bars ???

I spent hours in the first episode there.

Yakuza 3 did not have a good review already, but without that, I've changed my mind and will not buy a PS3 just for this game... The XBOX 360 will continue to content me for a while.

Yakuza 4 is already scheduled in Japan by the way...

1st off glorifying fascist gangsters is wrong.
2ndly Maybe I am not very sophisticated but, doesn't this hostess club business sound like a colossal waste of time? Is 'stripping' legal in Japan?

Here is everything you ever wanted to know about the Yakuza but were afraid to aks.

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gang ... uza/3.html

I knew that...! I was just taking the opportunity to let the other .0001% of us out there know what they were... yeah...

It's weird that the first part of demo takes place in a Host bar, but they only mention it a few times.

New statement from Sega:

"Regarding Yakuza 3, we had a tight schedule to abide by for localizing and releasing Yakuza 3 in the west. Due to the limited time we were given we had to leave certain bits of the game out and we chose portions we felt didn't resonate with western culture i.e. a Japanese history quiz show and the concept of hostess clubs. We understand that this is not the optimum thing to do, but given the options of releasing the next chapter of a beloved game so that our fans can experience the story of Yakuza vs. not releasing it at all, we felt it was worth it to release it with 99% of the content intact. We made sure that the story in no way, shape or form changed from the lack of the quiz show or hostess clubs. You can still go into Cabarets and on dates with the ladies in the game and Kazuma still kicks major ass." [via Kotaku.com]

So it looks like the dating the host club girls is still in put the feature to run your own [with custom ladies] is out. The people who buy these games want this stuff!

i just received ryu ga gotoku kenzan basically yakuza kenzan samurai spin off before yakuza 3 its all in japanese but it playable with basic kanji understanding if you like it i say go for it

I would love to play that one.

okay update ive been playing it for a few hours today (yakuza kenzan) its quite easy to get around and do quests with hardly no understanding of japanese what so ever also there is a faq for the tricky parts on the net. I say bring on yakuza 3

Buy, Rent or Forget about it?

You can try the demo. It's on the PSN.

I played it at my friend's place. Wack as hell. Yakuza 2 is better to me.