http://www.gametrailers.com/player/41289.html

Yakuza has the same basic gameplay concept as Shenmue so no suprise there. However, Yakuza has been a big success for Sega while Shenmue was a big faliure for that same company. I'm suprised that Sega is willing to make a game that is similar to Shenmue, especially when they refuse to make Shenmue III. I will probably get into this series. I think this game will eventally get a US release while Kenzan stays Japan-only(despite the fact that the creator of the series saying that Kenzan will probably appeal more to Western gamers than the main Yakuza games since Westerns like samurai movies and what not).

^ I see some similarities in Yakuza, but when it comes to gameplay they're a whole new animal. I played both Yakuza 1 and Shenmue 1 and 2, but I couldn't bring myself to finish Yakuza, I was probably an hour or two away from the end, but the game just wasn't fun. Yakuza felt like a diluted version of Shenmue, Shenmue without ambitions or revolutionary ideas. Shenmue felt like life, Yakuza was a game.

GRAPHICS are over the top.

very like FFX GC graphics
=O

Toshihiro Nagoshi is awesome !

Daytona USA, F-ZERO GX, MONKEY BALL, YAKUZA...

He received 3 awards for Yakuza in japan...

very Shenmue like in my eyes. Not only is the fighting similar, it also has all that wacky stuff u can do like play darts and go to the arcades so u can win some edamn toys (in shenmue). I never played any of the Yakuza's but its look sweet.

Shenmue 1 may have been revolutionary but it had several flaws as well.  That game had terrible pacing(in terms of both gameplay and story), had akward controls(it's a Japanese developed game so no suprise), and in the case of the English version of the game, terrible VA.  Shenmue 2 was a big improvement from the original with a more in depth story and better pacing.

Just watched that Yakuza 3 trailer.  Just got one thing to say about it:Excellent.  Those cutscenes really take advantage of the PS3s power unlike Kenzan which, while a decent looking game, had graphics that didn't look all that next gen.  I even read somewhere that Kenzen started as a PS2 game before switching to the PS3.  Oh, and the story: while I couldn't understand what the characters were saying, the story looked very intruging and looks to be very compelling.

YAKUZA 3 WILL BRING DOWN THE HOUSE

@ Grahamsu )

I don't know about Yakuza 1, for I didn't play it, but Yakuza 2 feels like life.

From my favoritae french preview :

Yakuza will be very good

The only flaw noted so far : animation is old gen while the whole gfx are good.