Just downloaded the yakuza 3 demo and i wanted to share my impressions.

First thing to say is that the game looks incredible.  Kazuma's sideburns never looked so good.  The area the demo starts you in is the red light district part of town and it pulls it off well.  The neon lit signs and hosts handing out leftlets makes it feel like a real red light district.  Now onto the demo, it starts with Kazuma walking down the street and enters a club owned by some friends.  From what i've seen a gang whats proctecion money but the owners won't pay.  So Kazuma comes in a beats up the head guy and his goons.  The fighting is the same as in the past two games but it seems Kazuma can now carry 3 extra weapons which consist of a bamboo pole, Nunchakus and knuckle dusters.  The HEAT attacks are back and as brutal as ever.  Stomping a guy never felt and looked so good.  Another new feature is that once the main guy's health is neatly depleted Kazuma goes into a rage mode and can choose to do a special move on the guy.  I've only done one to the two available moves and it seems like a wrestling theme consisting of a german suplex and a range of choke holds and arm bars.  The only problem is that there is no auto lock so hitting thugs might be hard.  After the fight you now have a chance to explore the streets.  Most of the roads are blocked by the police so the entire red light district cannot be explored but the areas which aren't are good enough.  The first stop you can visit is the club saga in which you can play 3 games.  One is the UFO catcher, another is a quiz like game and the third is a 3D shoot em up which consist of shooting of blocks on huge machines to uncover the weak spot.  Another good place to visit is the hostess club, the whole game is in japanese so i couldn't understand what they where talking about but the prices on the dirnks and food where crazy high to the cash you have in the demo.  The last activity is the karaoke bar and i really like this, Kazuma can either sing by himself (which is depressing) or invite a friend who can sing and you provide back up.  There are two songs but only one where Kazuma sings.  Thr singing minigame is a simple match the button of the screen when the marker moves over it.  This is my favorite part because during the songs the background will can from the karaoke room to a stage and the singers will get really into the song and i think looks great.  The number of shops range from a fast food chain, a restarant or a conveint store which sells a wide range of items such as a collection of energy drinks, soft drinks and cup noddles.  When walking from shop to shop you might get into a random battle with yakuza thugs.  Once your done with the activities and found where to go you will fight your next battle.  This time you will be fighting against so American guys this battle is like the others and another time to use Kazuma's rage attack.  After the fight is done the demo will end.

So to end this the demo is pretty fun espically the karaoke part and i suggest you download the demo. 
PS to get the demo you must have a japanese ps account

Just downloaded the yakuza 3 demo and i wanted to share my impressions.

First thing to say is that the game looks incredible.  Kazuma's sideburns never looked so good.  The area the demo starts you in is the red light district part of town and it pulls it off well.  The neon lit signs and hosts handing out leftlets makes it feel like a real red light district.  Now onto the demo, it starts with Kazuma walking down the street and enters a club owned by some friends.  From what i've seen a gang whats proctecion money but the owners won't pay.  So Kazuma comes in a beats up the head guy and his goons.  The fighting is the same as in the past two games but it seems Kazuma can now carry 3 extra weapons which consist of a bamboo pole, Nunchakus and knuckle dusters.  The HEAT attacks are back and as brutal as ever.  Stomping a guy never felt and looked so good.  Another new feature is that once the main guy's health is neatly depleted Kazuma goes into a rage mode and can choose to do a special move on the guy.  I've only done one to the two available moves and it seems like a wrestling theme consisting of a german suplex and a range of choke holds and arm bars.  The only problem is that there is no auto lock so hitting thugs might be hard.  After the fight you now have a chance to explore the streets.  Most of the roads are blocked by the police so the entire red light district cannot be explored but the areas which aren't are good enough.  The first stop you can visit is the club saga in which you can play 3 games.  One is the UFO catcher, another is a quiz like game and the third is a 3D shoot em up which consist of shooting of blocks on huge machines to uncover the weak spot.  Another good place to visit is the hostess club, the whole game is in japanese so i couldn't understand what they where talking about but the prices on the dirnks and food where crazy high to the cash you have in the demo.  The last activity is the karaoke bar and i really like this, Kazuma can either sing by himself (which is depressing) or invite a friend who can sing and you provide back up.  There are two songs but only one where Kazuma sings.  Thr singing minigame is a simple match the button of the screen when the marker moves over it.  This is my favorite part because during the songs the background will can from the karaoke room to a stage and the singers will get really into the song and i think looks great.  The number of shops range from a fast food chain, a restarant or a conveint store which sells a wide range of items such as a collection of energy drinks, soft drinks and cup noddles.  When walking from shop to shop you might get into a random battle with yakuza thugs.  Once your done with the activities and found where to go you will fight your next battle.  This time you will be fighting against so American guys this battle is like the others and another time to use Kazuma's rage attack.  After the fight is done the demo will end.

So to end this the demo is pretty fun espically the karaoke part and i suggest you download the demo. 
PS to get the demo you must have a japanese ps account

I'll give it a try...

Did you have any issues at the "Now Loading..." screen? it took 2 minutes for it to load for me.

I still playing Yakuza 2, and I'm loving it.
I can't wait for Yakuza 3.

this game will be better than gta4 for me no doubt. its a "game" first and foremost not a real world sim/mob movie. for instance, even the mini games like bowling are way better than the ones in gta4, even yakuza 2!