We knew it was coming soon, but not this soon. If you already have a Japanese Playstation Network account, Japanese gangland fun is only a few button presses away.

And if you don’t already have one, they’re free and easy to create (just Google it).

Sega’s actually supplied two demos for Yakuza 3 (known as Ryu ga Gotoku 3 in Japan). This serves two purposes: to keep the overall download size down (together they’d weigh in around a whopping 1.8 gigs) and to accurately represent different aspects of the game.

One demo focuses on story and contains the prologue chapter of the game while the other emphasizes the free-roaming, NPC-interacting, mini-gaming bits that make the Yakuza series so much fun.

It should be noted that if you’re not fluent in Japanese, you’ll probably have little to no clue what’s actually going on (it’s heavy on the text and dialogue), but if you’re at all familiar with how Ryu ga Gotoku plays, it shouldn’t take long to figure things out.

For everyone else, well, you can stare at the pretty graphics as you stumble your way through 17th century Japan. You’re guaranteed to do some head-knocking along the way and, really, isn’t that what being a gangster is all about?

Tags: Playstation, Playstation-Store, PSN, ryu-ga-gotoku, SEGA, Sony, yakuza-3

• Madden NFL 09 and Facebreaker Demos Now Available On PSN and XBL
• US PSN Store Update – No Haze
• Yakuza 3 Playstation 3 Bundle
• Playstation Store Update – 01/10/08
• Full Playstation Store Update – 02/21/08
• Canadian Prices on PlayStation Store Adjusted
• US and European Playstation Store Update: 01/31/08
• US and Euro Playstation Store Updates – 01/17/08

2 Comments » ash on January 10, 2008 8:43 pm i downloaded these items from the japanese store, and i didn’t think much of them really. they aren’t anything to be exited about, that’s for sure. ash is gay on April 3, 2009 4:31 pm Your just a knob. This game is ace, having had 4 fights on it in the first go with great item interaction and weapons not to mention hilariously funny moves. I haven't seen the 17th century bit though. Shenmue style game. Quaiity. RSS feed for comments on this post. Comment Now Note: Commenting on Ripten does not currently require registration, however to be eligible for contests on the site, you must be a registered user. Name (required) Mail (will not be published) (required) Website Commenting Rules: No hate speech allowed. If you must argue, please debate intelligently. Comments containing selected keywords or outbound links will be put into moderation to help prevent spam. Ripten reserves the right to delete comments and ban anyone who doesn't follow the rules. Thanks. Notify me of followup comments Tired of the Goomba? Upload your own custom comment avatar.