Perhaps few were more passionate or more dedicated to the future of a series that launched in the US in 2006 than a handful of people who fought hard to make SEGA aware of their love for the brand. That series, as one could probably guess, is Yakuza, and one of those people is a guy who goes by DragonofDojima17.

Long before Yakuza 3 had been announced for the US, DoD17 created his own Yakuza style plaque, showing it on his youtube page (among numerous other videos) to prove his passion for the game. A number of us were watching, and when Yakuza 3 finally was announced for the U.S., we offered to mount his plaque on the walls at SEGA of America HQ if he wanted to send it in to us. That plaque now sits proudly right next to a huge Dragon cutout (the same Dragon tattoo that Kazuma has) in our production area.

We got to chat a bit with DragonofDojima17 about how that love for Yakuza came to be – his full interview is below!

Interview: DragonofDojima17

SEGA: When did you first notice Yakuza? What got you into the series?

DoD: I do remember when first the game came out for the first time here in the West. I saw it sitting on a shelf at a rental shop. The cover alone made me interested in giving it a try. I didn’t play it until sometime after the game was first released. I got to at least look at it one day because a good friend of mine had a copy of Yakuza, and I watched him play it. It was the battle mode that got me into it right away.

Was there a moment when you finally went “Oh wow, this is awesome!”, or did your love for the series grow slowly over time?

DoD: As I sat there watching my friend play the game for the first time, I thought it was okay until he got into fight. When I saw the battle mode I fell in love with the game instantly. It made me think back to those days when I used to play Streets of Rage on my SEGA Genesis. My friend let me borrow his copy, and I played it for a year, and I must have beaten it over 30 times, and then I went out to buy my own copy and beat that another 48 times. It took me a while to appreciate the story, but I fell in love with it after the third time I beat the game. I just couldn’t wait until Yakuza 2 came out. When I first played Yakuza 2 I grew to love the series even more, it became my favorite game series ever. I’m glad Yakuza 2 had the original Japanese voices, if it was dubbed I don’t even think I would enjoy it as much, Japanese language is so beautiful. I also want to add the I love Yakuza 2’s story the best, the romance between Kaoru and Kazuma was heart warming and Ryuji Goda is my favorite villain.

What do you think of Kazuma Kiryu as a character?

DoD: Kazuma is the my favorite video game character ever. He’s my hero. Kazuma is a real man, he’s tough as nails, he believes in fate, and he’ll push himself hard to help others. I just love everything about him, the way he talks, his personality, his fighting style, his morals, EVERYTHING. No other character has touched me the way the Legendary Dragon of Dojima has.

What are your favorite parts of the Yakuza games? Are you more into fighting, exploration, or a mix of everything?

DoD: Pretty much everything to be honest. It’s the fighting and stories I like the most. You just don’t find games like theseanywhere. I just love the setting, being able to explore Tokyo, what could be better?

Are you interested in going to Japan one day? If so, has that interest been piqued at all by what you’ve seen in Yakuza?

DoD: Going to Japan is my biggest dream! I loved their culture even before I played Yakuza, and the games just made me get into their culture even more. I hope to study Japanese after I graduate from High School this year. It’s my favorite country in the world. I love their culture so much, and their language is so beautiful. I really hope when I go, my two good friends Dexter-158 and Bellamyfanboy will be there with me. During our campaign which started on youtube we became good friends and we hope to meet each other in person.

Let’s say you’re in a tag-team arena and you can pick Kazuma and one other character from the Yakuza series to be your ally. If you could team him up with any character, dead or alive, who would it be?

DoD: Goro Majima all the way!!!

If you had to choose just one thing, what are you most excited about in Yakuza 3?

DoD: To step into the shoes of the Legendary Dragon of Dojima for a 3rd time roaming the streets of Tokyo and experience brutal battles. Also, to witness another great heat twisting plot and hear Majima scream “KIRYU-CHAN!”.

SEGA: Finally – if there was one thing you could tell Nagoshi-san, what would it be?

DoD: That he has created the greatest video game series I have ever played. There’s nothing better than Yakuza, I love these games more than anything. It changed my life, and I want to thank him for creating this masterpiece and that I will always keep it in my heart for the rest of my life.

And that’s that! In addition, we’d also like to spotlight another post that went up on our forums earlier this week, with regard to the many responses that continue to pour in from fans about the Hostess clubs and Answer X Answer. (To confirm as well, the Hostesses are in the game, and you can still go on dates, Karaoke, etc, with them.) Please know that while we aren’t able to respond to every comment, our community teams are reading and listening to all the comments, and we are passing those on internally for you guys. You can also add your comment to that discussion here.

As Yakuza 3 ships next week, we’d like to give a salute to DragonofDojima17 and all the people who worked with him on their campaign to help raise awareness of the game in the states. From one fan to another – a little shout out, and a job well done.

We’ve got some great stuff for you this week. On to the video!

On the Block

1. Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing Toy Prize Pack

Win a set of 3 toys from Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing! We’ve got Sonic, Knuckles, and Shadow along with their vehicles from the game up for grabs! These toys are currently for sale at Toys ‘R’ Us, but you can win them now!

Congrats to our winner @azrane!

2. Resonance of Fate Soundtrack

We gave away 2 songs from this soundtrack last week, but you can win them all!

Congrats to our winner @andrefpvs!

3. Aliens vs. Predator Pack (Must be 17 or older to win)

You’ll get a copy of Aliens vs. Predator for PC along with the Aliens Panel to Panel art book.

Congrats to our winner @smack6102!

4. Valkyria Chronicles Figurines

Your choice of 2 character figurines from the game.

Congrats to our winner @freijatheV!

5. Shadow the Hedgehog Messenger Bag

We just got these great Shadow-branded messenger bags. They are also for sale, but you can win one from  us!

Congrats to our winner @angolaman!

6. Napoleon: Total War Emperor’s Edition

Choose between a disc copy of the game or a Steam code for the game. Along with that, you’ll receive a detailed Napoleon statue and a foam-lined and branded box to keep it safe in.

Congrats to our winner @adventindulger!

How it Works

1. You must be following us on Twitter to be eligible. (If you don’t have a Twitter account, you can create one by going to http://www.twitter.com and click the green “get started — join!” button in the center of the page.)
2. At random times on Friday, we will announce the prize we are giving away, and what number of response you need to be to win. Send us a direct message (DM) via Twitter and be that number to win the prize. (@ replies do not count as entries!)
3. All followers are eligible to win all prizes, unless a restriction is noted. Restrictions are usually due to the prize being region-locked. For example, US games that won’t work on UK gaming systems. There may also be age restrictions due to the rating of the game.
4. We will announce the winner on our Twitter feed once eligibility is confirmed.

Make Sure We’re Following You on Twitter

If you are currently following us on Twitter, please be sure that we are following you as well. You can do this by making sure that SEGA is in your “followers” list, or by going to DoesFollow and typing SEGA in the first blank, your Twitter username in the second, and pressing the “check” button. You can reverse this to be sure that you are following us. If you are following us, but we’re not following you, please send a message to @SEGA and we will follow you. This is important, because only people we follow can send us direct messages (DMs), and DMs are the only way to enter the giveaways.

How to Send Direct Messages on Twitter

There are a few ways to send us a Direct Message on Twitter. The easiest way is to go to our Twitter page and select “message” under the “Actions” heading in the side bar. If you do not see “message”, this means that we are not following you. Please send a message to @sega to let us know, and we will follow you. When you click “message” you will be taken to a window where you can type a message and press send.

You may also select the “direct messages” tab from your Twitter homepage, and select SEGA from the drop-down menu at the top of the page. Again, if you don’t see our name there, it’s probably because we’re not following you. Let us know, and we’ll follow you.

There are also many Twitter clients that you can use instead of using the website. These include TweetDeck, Twitteriffic, Tweetie, and Twhirl. Each of these programs works differently, so you’ll want to figure out how to send a direct message on the program you use. If you want to send us a test message, we’ll let you know if we received it or not.