is there an XSeed/rising star like company for HD consoles

Well Atlus... but Yakuza is quite more expensive that the things that they usually work. (They're bringing Demon's Soul if it's a sucess maybe can take bigger risks in the future)

Yakuza 4 is suppose to have new protagonists so I think Yakuza 4 would be a great starting point for newcomers if that is true.  It's a shame Yakuza 2 sold as poorly as it did.  To be fair though, it's Sega of America's fault for not marketing it/

No :(. I recently bought the Yakuza games; they're some of the best games on the PS2.

Yakuza 2 was released in NA two years after all three next gen consoles had come out and it was released with no English voice acting (merely subtitles) and no marketing whatsoever. What kind of sales were they expecting for the title?

The only reason Yakuza 3 won't sell is because of how badly they handled the past Yakuza games stateside.

Guess I should've expected that. Why did the demo have to be so much fun...?

At least we're getting Mafia II.

=(

I guess I should start learning Japanese...

Mafia II looks great.  Should be awesome when it comes out.

Why not? Ps3 owners are hyped for that game