Alright Yakuza fans — time for some good news.

After some amazing passion seen across the board from fans regarding the release of Yakuza 3, SEGA is proud to announce that the fourth installment of the Yakuza series is heading West, and will be releasing exclusively on the PlayStation 3 in the spring of 2011!

Yakuza 4 also builds on the style of the original Yakuza foundation by adding three new playable characters, each with a distinct personality and fighting style. They all have connections to the Tojo clan — but what those connections are, and what they mean with regard to a man named Kazuma Kiryu, is just one part of what will truly make things interesting.

We’d also like to confirm what we feel is important news for our fans: the Hostess Clubs will be returning in Yakuza 4!

Finally, we’d like to let you guys field questions to the man whose name goes hand in hand with the Yakuza (or Ryu Ga Gotoku in Japan) series himself: Nagoshi-san! Write your questions in the comments below, and with a bit of luck, your question will be among others asked after next week’s E3!

Good luck, and we hope all you Yakuza fans out there just found your day got a little brighter. If you’ll excuse us, that plush cat in the UFO Catcher at Club SEGA has been making fun of us all morning, and it’s about time we showed him our perception skills.