Yakuza 3 may have just recently released in North America, but Yakuza 4 has been taking over the streets of Japan for some time now. Finally, SEGA has announced today that PlayStation 3 owners in North America can get their hands on the next title in the series in Spring of 2011.

According to the blog post released, Yakuza 4 is considered the most powerful of the series in terms of story impact and features added to the title.

“4 is a very powerful number in this particular installment as not only will you experience the gritty atmosphere of Kiryu Kazuma’s experiences, three other characters will also be available to play. Each of them with their own engaging backstory and a gripping interwoven plot.”

This should be great news if you thoroughly enjoys Yakuza 3 — however, if you didn’t, perhaps Spring 2011 is as good a time as any to finally check out the franchise to see what it has to offer.