I'd love if Suzuki could just point blank say what is stopping the game from hitting development. I think the clarification would prevent a lot of confusion and worry if Suzuki just laid everything out with the fans.

I think it's as simple as Sega not wanting to risk more of their own money to fund a game that didn't prove it had selling power...or rather money making power. It apparently sold well. There are tons of variables as to why it didn't make money though.

The biggest in my opinion is the number of Dreamcast owners vs the number of PS2 owners. It basically showed that Shenmue sold very well and ended up being a great percentage of total Dreamcast owners. So if Shenmue had been released on PS2 it could have potentially sold better than the GTA games of its era.

So flash forward to today..you've got Sega which doesn't want to foot the bill completely but is open to other game producers funding a third game. But I have yet to hear any other company expressing interest in the game.

(5) Mega64 when making their “How Shenmue was meant to end” spoof originally meant for the script to be “Ryo bones Ling Shenhua in the cave.” Sega apparently took issue with this part asking for it to be changed to instead “Ryo explains the meaning of love to Shenhua.” On the day of filming, Mega64 asked Yu Suzuki about this section to which Suzuki explained that Ryo and Shenhua could fool around a little bit, but they absolutely must not have sex. This to me is a big sign of the two being related and Sega/Suzuki trying to steer away from jokes which later on might be deemed incestuous.


I know the guys from Mega64 and I just wanted to say that this is not entirely true.

Other than that, nice theory!

Good stuff. Thanks David. Points I found most interesting...

- Ziming is not a boss! We thought we had that one in the bag. That's really interesting. Makes you wonder whether that comic depicting Niao Sun and Ziming is even canon, and just how involved with the Chi You Men Ziming really is. Is he planning to double-cross them, or has he really joined them...?

- Starting point of Shenmue III; I always wondered what exact moment the game would start. I guess Suzuki's response indicates that there isn't anything else in that cave, at least not for the time being. I always wondered if there would be a time gap (a day; a week; a month) in which Ryo gets accustomed to life in Bailu Village or if we'd get to witness Ryo entering the village for the first time.

- Shenmue III wouldn't be sufficient enough to end the game. We always thought this, but figured they'd truncate the story and cram it in. I think Suzuki mentioned this earlier this year, but it's still a new-ish development. This can be seen as good and bad, Suzuki now needs to raise a budget for two games.

The most important bit: the main reason why Shenmue 3 isn’t being made has nothing to do with Sega having the license at all. Sega will apparently be more than happy to give the license to Suzuki if he wanted to do it. The main problem is that first Suzuki needs to raise a budget for the game.

I really don't think this is new information. I always felt this way - and thought that, however noble it was, the Give Yu the License thing was misguided. To me, it was always pretty clear that Sega wasn't holding Shenmue hostage, they just didn't want to fund the game. Glad we can hopefully finally lay this to rest.

Just read the interview. The most important bit: the main reason why Shenmue 3 isn’t being made has nothing to do with Sega having the license at all. Sega will apparently be more than happy to give the license to Suzuki if he wanted to do it. The main problem is that first Suzuki needs to raise a budget for the game.

Just throwing this idea out there but what if we were to organise a fundraiser to be used as a donation to YS NET for Suzuki? Maybe we could find out the actual amount Suzuki needs, take a year out to fundraise as much as we can and then have someone like David deliver the donation to him. Is this possible?

First: Way to go aizen59! Great job with this interview. I only wish you could have published all you saw and heard like more info on Tentei and Baihu.

That's comforting to know Sega will play along. Suzuki will have to crowdfund. I don't see any way around it because Sony and Microsoft just aren't going to foot the bill. So Suzuki needs to get going on some sort of crowdfunding like Kickstarter. Once we get news of the crowdfunding we can mobilize the fans and the online media.

The only concern is that he's wanting to make at least two games, but would like to make three. I could TOTALLY see crowdfunding be wildly successful for one game, but I think the other two would depend completely on the success of the Shenmue 3.

I've tried to ask the best questions while i still had time. We already knew some things but i couldn't expect to get exclusive informations only.

Yu Suzuki is really happy to see how fans are still there to provide support, seeing people that are still waiting for him to finish his game etc.

I have no details regarding his plan and even if i did, i probably wouldn't be allowed to post. But right now, i have no infos. All i know is that he's still working on finding a solution. Shenmue needs a specific budget (how much, i have no idea) but if he manages to gather enough money, nothing should refrain him from starting Shenmue III's development.

Regarding HD Remakes, no idea either. That question was one of the last ones, but i had no time to ask him, we were already done and both had to leave.

If i ever get the chance to meet with him again, i will ask him.

Maybe at some point, Ziming was a leader (i cannot confirm, i don't know, i am just guessing) and then the story has changed. I think that's possible.

But from what i have seen, the character on the upper left fits perfectly, there is no mistake. The last character i saw could fit into that supposed Ziming shadow, that's how i feel about it.

Yu Suzuki told me that he was not one of the leaders so UNLESS he plan to change it during the development, Ziming is, right now, not one of the leaders, i am 100% sure.

He also said this :

"You can tell them the following names : Koutei and Gentei. I want fans to imagine them."

So pretty much, as a gift to all of us, he provided names so you could try to imagine how they look like.

Giving us everything through an interview, artworks, all story details would pretty much mean he's giving up and as you can see, that's not the case.

Let's keep pushing Sega or any other company that could make Shenmue III a reality because, trust me, Yu Suzuki is a genius and i would feel very bad if Shenmue III never get a release date.

He only mentioned Shenmue V but it's still clear that investors who are ready to cover several episodes would be in his first list. That could explain why Shenmue III takes so long to see the daylight, Yu seems to be still highly ambitious and refuses any average project for the moment with Sega giving him a lot of freedom to make the right choice.

In fact, the problem has never been Sega but Yu Suzuki himself. At the other side, Sega is putting more and more pressure to Yu as the economic health of the company is getting worse, and Sega definitively need a big game other than Sonic to make money before it is too late.

So it's pretty sure to see Shenmue III as a videogame one day, with Suzuki or not at the head project. Now the question is when and at which level of quality ?

http://i.imgur.com/n3F2xMC.jpg

+

A NeoGAF user spoke with Giocorsi about Shenmue at PSX. He revealed that Shenmue was the most requested title from the #Buildingthelist campaign and there are a lot of issues restricting it's release. If anyone remembers earlier this year another NeoGAF user commented that legal/copyright problems prevented HD ports from happening.

http://i.imgur.com/vjJhB2u.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/vMSkiyc.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/oiSesQI.jpg

Naysayers can fuck right off. I'm a fan of it and anyone who actually partakes in it knows how relaxing it can be.

It's honestly no different from guided meditation, which I am also a fan of and been a fan of for many years prior to ASMR. I'm not too big on random sounds like paper rustling and all that, I prefer to hear whispering.

It's also a pretty big market in the YT community, I think the most popular ones have an income in the millions (could be wrong). So it doesn't surprise me more people are jumping on that bandwagon. All it takes is a microphone that can capture binaural audio and a person with a soothing voice (obviously the more attractive people get more views).

No it's the other way around. Lan Di is taller then Ryo and it's 185cm vs. 176cm actually.

Should be replaced with 'Speed Demon'

I emailed First 4 Figures asking if they could answer as to whether they are planning more statues after Lan Di, and they said they are: "sure to make more figures".

Woo!

If you like Dynamite Cop you should definately check out Zombie Revenge. It's quite similar but set in the House of the Dead universe. Punching and shooting Zombies and other monsters makes the whole gameplay even more fun.

Have this absolutely blasting through my headphones right now and still think this is my favourite Shenmue Music track/cover. The goosebumps on my arm just stand every time.