Way of the Samurai 3 Coming to Playstation 3 in North America After All

After initially being cancelled for a North America release, Way of the Samurai 3 for the Playstation 3 is now back on track to come stateside. The Way of the Samurai video game series is considered to be best in terms of samurai virtual simulation. The games have two main components: choice and combat. Way of the Samurai gives players a choice in making decisions throughout the multi-branching story and thus resulting in multiple endings. Otherwise, you will spend the rest of the adventure fighting other samurais.

The original title was released in 2002 for the Playstation 2. It would later be ported to the PSP in 2008. A sequel would be released a year later in Japan and two years later in North America exclusively for the Playstation 2. A spin-off title called Samurai Western would come out in 2005 only for the Playstation 2 as well.

After the release of Samurai Western, developer Acquire decided to move onto the next-generation of video game systems. This is because the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 were right on the horizon in 2005.

Given the history of the series on the Playstation brand, Way of the Samurai 3 was released first on the Playstation 3. Although the graphics may be a bit lackluster, the series was never known for its visual prowess anyway. Way of the Samurai 3 did retain and expand upon the excellent gameplay established from previous titles.

Unlike the Playstation 2 era, however, there are very few third-party exclusive games on the Playstation 3. This is because developing a video game is getting more and more expensive. A small market game like Way of the Samurai 3 would have a hard time making a return due to the low Playstation 3 hardware numbers in households. As a result, Acquire had no choice but to port the game to the Xbox 360 in early 2009.

Way of the Samurai 3 was published by Spike in Japan. The North American release would be a stickier situation, however. UFO Interactive will only be publishing the Xbox 360 version of the game in North America. Many speculate that the Playstation 3 omission may have been caused by Sony's strict regulation regarding localization in which a game must include English voice tracks.

Fortunately, Way of the Samurai 3 did not stay exclusive for Xbox 360 in North America. Agetec decided to pick up the slack to publish the game for the Playstation 3. Therefore, both the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of Way of the Samurai 3 will be released simultaneously this October.