Hey guys, I wrote a few words on Shenmue :)

UPDATED LINKS:

Part I: Of Dreams and Dreamcasts:
https://medium.com/@MoosaviAmir/what-s-shenmue-6145a484bbf1

Part II: The Death of the Dreamcast and Shenmue’s Uncertain Fate:
https://medium.com/@MoosaviAmir/what-s-shenmue-7415134fd9c0

Part III: The Brief Lives of Shenmue Online & Shenmue City, the Birth of Ys Net, and the Seeds of an Idea"
https://medium.com/@MoosaviAmir/what-s-shenmue-91b3add6dbbd

Part IV: Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt and Hope:
https://medium.com/@MoosaviAmir/what-s-shenmue-feb33078ef60

While Sega stopped supporting the Dreamcast with their final release, Karous, for the console in 2007, companies such as Hucast continue to publish games for the Dreamcast to this day, and a dedicated community of indie developers take advantage of the ease of coding for the system as well as it’s lack of software protection to program games for the cult system.

Another! :)

Thanks, looking at that first sentence as well it's too stop-start, changed it to:

While Sega stopped supporting the Dreamcast with their final release for the console in 2007, Karous, companies such as Hucast continue to publish games

Made a few more changes and decided to publish them on Medium, feel free to share!

Part I: Of Dreams and Dreamcasts:
https://medium.com/@MoosaviAmir/what-s-shenmue-6145a484bbf1

Part II: The Death of the Dreamcast and Shenmue’s Uncertain Fate:
https://medium.com/@MoosaviAmir/what-s-shenmue-7415134fd9c0

Part III: The Brief Lives of Shenmue Online & Shenmue City, the Birth of Ys Net, and the Seeds of an Idea"
https://medium.com/@MoosaviAmir/what-s-shenmue-91b3add6dbbd

Part IV: Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt and Hope:
https://medium.com/@MoosaviAmir/what-s-shenmue-feb33078ef60

You're not going to run into major spoilers when reading the interview HOWEVER, DO NOT read the question 14 if you don't want to know bosses that are going to be in the game. You've been warned ! ;-)

Thanks for warning us, please may you put question 14 in a spoiler tag when you post the interview? I'm looking forward to hearing more about the game but I still want to leave the story itself unspoiled :)

I asked about translations a few days ago:

https://twitter.com/HeroesdePapelES/sta ... 8547250177

Here's the full script (sorry about the mistakes, I've worked on it as fast as possible) :

Chaque semaine vous découvrez une personnalité qui veut changer le monde à travers les médias ou internet. C'est dans notre rubrique : "Le Tube d'avance".

Et aujourd'hui on va parler d'un jeune français : "Cédric Biscay". Il a 36 ans et il a récolté plus de 6 millions de dollars sur le net, un record, Pour relancer un jeu vidéo japonais culte : Shenmue. Shenmue avait disparu des consoles depuis 15 ans. Et bien Résapony Watcher (à vérifier, c'est ce que j'entends) a rencontré le français qui va ressuciter un des héros des gamers.

Cannes, au début du mois, la croisette déroulait son tapis rouge à l'occasion du Mipcom, l'Hypermarché international des programmes TV. Une centaine de pays représentés, 12 000 participants, dont cet homme : Cédris Biscay, ce jeune producteur qui a l'air perdu dans les couloirs du Palais des festivals, a rendez-vous avec une productrice japonaise d'un dessin animé culte. Un indice se trouve d'ailleurs sur la table.

- Il voyage tout le temps avec moi
- Il vous porte chance ? (rires)
- (rires) c'est la seule figurine que j'ai
- Il faudrait d'ailleurs qu'on envisage de créer de nouvelles figurines d'Astro Boy

Des figurines en préparation, mais ce qui les réunit ce jour-là, c'est surtout la nouvelle adaptation en série d'Astro Boy. Cédric Biscay devra en co-produire 26 épisodes.

- Ben en fait on a des scénarios, on a un teaser. Là le next step ce sera d'annoncer les chaînes de télévision qui vont participer à l'aventure.

Cédric Biscay ne se contente pas de remettre au goût du jour une icône de l'animation Nippone. Il y a quelques mois, il a fait sensation en participant à une levée de fonds record pour la création d'un jeu vidéo. Cet exploit lancé sur le site de financement participatif Kickstarter, ce français l'a réalisé avec Yu Suzuki, une légende chez les concepteurs japonais de jeux vidéo.

Petit retour en arrière pour mieux comprendre. 15 juin dernier, le Los Angeles Convention Center accueille l'E3, un des plus gros salons du jeu vidéo. Parmi les moments les plus attendus, la conférence de presse de Sony. Dans les coulisses, Cédric Biscay n'est pas loin. En plein milieu du show, débarque timidement sur scène Yu Suzuki. Devant 10 000 personnes conquises, le créateur annonce vidéo à l'appui, le lancement d'un financement participatif événement.
C'est officiel, le troisième volet de Shenmue arrive. Shenmue, un jeu vidéo culte, une saga lancée il y a 16 ans sur cette console : la Dreamcast, une relique de la marque Sega.

L'information abasourdit la foule. Certains sont au bord des larmes, d'autres qui suivent la scène depuis leurs ordinateurs sont même hystériques. En 24h, 2 millions de dollars sont prélevés, un record ! En grande partie grâce à Cédric Biscay, producteur officiel de Shenmue III quand il ne pose pas à côté de Yoda.
Monaco, à quelques minutes du Casino dans une rue calme du Rocher, nous avons rendez-vous dans les bureaux d'un homme plutôt content de lui.

- Bienvenue chez Shibuya Productions !
- Pourquoi vous être installé à Monaco ?
- Monaco c'est un cadre de vie agréable et en plus nous sommes la seule société de production d'animation et de jeux vidéo. C'est toujours sympa d'avoir un mini monopole sur un si petit territoire.
Ici à Shibuya Productions, une société une société lancée il y a un peu plus d'un an que ses employés et lui travaillent au marketing de Shenmue III. Une partie de l'équipe est au Japon. Une équipe assez prudente devant nos caméras.

- Anything new ?
- J'apporterai demain ici une nouvelle table plus grande. Ce sera un grand bureau.
- C'est parfait. On pourra organiser de grandes réunions comme ça !

Mise à part l'acquisition d'une nouvelle table, nous apprendrons ici que Cédric Biscay a rencontré Yu Suzuki il y a 5 ans, le temps nécessaire au producteur français pour convaincre le créateur qu'un financement participatif pourrait relancer le développement de la suite d'un jeu très attendu comme Shenmue.

- On a réussi à mettre en place un système avec la possibilité d'avoir une part d'investisseurs traditionnels et d'autre part le crowdfunding. Quand on a lancé ce crowdfunding en juin de cette année, on savait que ça allait cartonner mais ça a cartonné au-delà de nos espérances.

Au total, plus de 6 millions de dollars sont levés pour Shenmue III, du jamais vu. Une opération de communication réussie. Pour Cédric Biscay et sa société de production jusqu'ici inconnue dans le milieu. Mais l'aventure japonaise de l'entrepreneur a commencé bien avant, en 2002.

- Lorsque j'ai fait ma première rencontre au Japon, j'ai été taper aux portes et il y a un président de société qui s'appelle production IG qui est un studio très connu qui a fait "Ghost in the Shell" qui a bien voulu m'ouvrir sa porte. Et en fait j'ai commencé à travailler avec lui, il m'a donné une petite mission.

S'en suivront 12 ans de missions ou plutôt de conseils pour ce professeur de jeux vidéo. Cédric Biscay a depuis perdu sa frange, mais rempli son carnet d'adresse avec le gratin de l'animation japonaise.

- J'ai mon ami Yoshitaka Amano, le créateur des personnages de Final Fantasy. J'ai rencontré Reiji Matsumoto le créateur d'Albator. Go Nagai le créateur de Goldorak. Akira Toriyama le créateur de Dragon Ball.

Un large réseau qui lui permettra sûrement de relancer d'autres jeux et films d'animation japonais cultes. En attendant, la sortie de Shenmue III est prévue pour Noël 2017.

My stab at an English translation:

Each week in "Future Hits" we seek out the latest person who will change the world of entertainment and the Internet. Today we talk about a young Frenchman, Cedric Biscay; at just 36 he has set a record for Internet crowdfunding at 6 million dollars for the revival of a cult Japanese video game: Shenmue. It has been 15 years since Shenmue disappeared from consoles, and now Reza Pounewatchy meets the Frenchman who resurrected one of gaming's greatest icons.

Cannes: at the beginning of the month, the red carpet is laid out on the Croisette for Mipcom, an international conference of TV shows. 12,000 participants representing 100 countries, and out of them all this man: Cedric Biscay, a young producer somewhat lost in the corridors of the Palais des Festivals, who now has a meeting with a Japanese producer of a cult Japanese animé. A clue [as to the exact nature of the show] can be found on the table:

"He travels with me all the time"
"He brings you luck? <laughs>"
"<laughs> It's the only figurine I have"
"We have to come up with new Astro Boy figurines"

The figurines are being prepared, but the true purpose of this meeting is the new TV series adaptation of Astro Boy. Biscay will co-produce 26 episodes.

"So we have the screenplays, we have a teaser trailer. Now the next step is to announce the TV channels which will collaborate with us on this venture."

Biscay is not content to merely bring back a single Japanese animation icon to the mainstream. A few months ago, he made a sensation by being part of a record-breaking funding campaign for the creation of a video game. This great achievement, launched on the crowdfunding website Kickstarter, came about with Biscay and Yu Suzuki, a legend among Japanese gaming visionaries.

To better understand, let's go back a few months. 15th June, the LA Convention Center was host to E3, one of the largest gaming expos in the world. Among the most anticipated moments, the Sony press conference. Biscay was not far, waiting in the wings. In the middle of the show, Yu Suzuki walked timidly onstage. In front of a captive audience of 10,000, with the aid of a video the auteur announced the launch of a crowdfunding event.

It's official: the third entry in the Shenmue series is coming. A cult video game, the Shenmue saga was launched 16 years ago on the Dreamcast, a relic of the Sega brand.

The news stunned the crowd. Some were close to tears, others who were following the show on their PCs were similarly hysterical. In 24 hours, $2 million was raised, a record! Thanks in great part to Cedric Biscay, official producer of Shenmue III when he's not posing next to Yoda.

Monaco: a few minutes from the Casino in the quiet streets of Rocher, we have a meeting in the offices of a man who is quite pleased with himself.

"Welcome to Shibuya Productions!"
"Why are you based in Monaco?"
"Monaco has an agreeable living environment and we are the only Animation and Video Game Production company here. It's always a nice feeling to have a "mini monopoly" in a little place such as this."

We're here at Shibuya Productions, a company founded a little over a year ago, where its employees are busy at work on the marketing for Shenmue III. Part of the team is in Japan, and this team is somewhat cautious in front of our cameras.

"Anything new?"
"I'm picking up a new, bigger table tomorrow. It's gonna be a large office."
"Perfect. We can have large meetings there!"

Apart from the acquisition of a new table, we learn that Biscay first met Suzuki 5 years ago, the amount of time it took for him to convince the creator that a crowdfunding campaign could restart the development of the sequel to a much-anticipated game like Shenmue.

"We succeeded in putting in place a system with the possibility of having a mix of traditional investors on one side and crowdfunding on the other. When we launched the crowdfunding campaign in June of this year, we knew that it would do well, but its success exceeded our expectations."

In total, more than $6 million was raised by Shenmue III, a never-before-seen amount. A communications [and marketing] success. Cedric Biscay and his production company were unheard of in this field until now. But the Japanese quest of this entrepreneur had started long before, in 2002.

"When I made my first visit to Japan, I knocked on a lot of doors and there was the President of a company called IG Production, a studio well known for making "Ghost in the Shell", who then really opened the door for me. Then I started working with him, and he gave me a little TV programme [to work on]."

What followed were 12 years of TV shows, or rather lessons learned for this Professor of video games. Cedric Biscay has since lost his fringe, but his address book is filled with the cream of the crop of the Japanese animation industry.

"I have my friend Yoshitaka Amano, who is the creator of some of the characters for Final Fantasy. I've met Reiji Matsumoto who is the creator of Albator. Go Nagai, the creator of GOldorak. Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball..."

A large network which certainly will help him bring about the revival of other cult Japanese video games and animés. In the meantime, Shenmue III is set to be released for Christmas 2017.

Updated English translation.

Hi all.

After holding off for as long as possible, I decided to jump in a buy a copy of Shenmue 2 on EBay. It set me back over £60 but I just had to play it again. It's been over ten years since I played it last.

I received the game today in the post. The cardboard case looked in great condition. The discs, especially disc 3, looks chewed on to be honest, despite it being classed as 'good condition'. I thought I'd see if it worked anyway.

After watching Ryo depart the boat to touch down in Hong Kong, I was very surprised to hear him speaking in Japanese!

Now I understand that there was a Japanese version of the game, but I'm 99% sure that PAL shenmue 2 was in English with Corey Marshall. There are English subtitles, and an English game menu.

Am I missing something here? Was shenmue 2 always on Japanese? We're there 2 versions?

I'd greatly appreciate it if someone could help me.

Thanks.

The Dreamcast version is Japanese dub with English sub, the Xbox version is English dub. There's a fan-made Shenmue 2 for Dreamcast with English dub out there (though audio quality has been lowered to fit on CD-Rs).

I wouldn't be so hard on lower level guys at Sega Europe; it's obvious these guys love games like Shenmue and Skies of Arcadia and such games are most likely the reason why they went to work for the company, but at the end of the day decisions like these aren't up to them, have to be approved by higher ups in Japan, etc. If they don't comment on them, they're accused of being deaf to fan's requests, if they do comment on them and plans don't come to pass they're accused of being arseholes.

Here are links to the images in the highest resolution I could find them (from the shenmue.link/topics page):

http://shenmue.link/topics/%E3%83%90%E3%83%88%E3%83%AB%E3%82%B7%E3%83%BC%E3%83%B3%E2%91%A0.png

http://shenmue.link/topics/%E3%83%90%E3%83%88%E3%83%AB%E3%82%B7%E3%83%BC%E3%83%B3%E2%91%A1.png

http://shenmue.link/topics/%E4%BC%9A%E8%A9%B1%E3%82%B7%E3%83%BC%E3%83%B3.png

http://shenmue.link/topics/%E8%8C%85%E8%91%BA%E3%81%AE%E5%AE%B6.png

There's been at least 2, if not 3 Ryo models so far. The awful one in the E3 and KS video, then the one in the image with Shenhua, and then the Famitsu one which we see in these testing shots as well. We've already seen progress, I'm sure the final model will be great. I think the most important thing is to make him expressive; the Passport version of Ryo is nowhere near as warm and expressive as the in-game version on Dreamcast.

Here's the Sumo Digital guy rhetorically asking about a Shenmue III Kickstarter: http://videogamewriters.com/sega-all-stars-dev-wants-to-see-shenmue-3-on-kickstarter-45797

Here's Biscay with the "contrepartie" quote: http://shenmueangel.free.fr/news2.php?id=315

And here's another post from Biscay on the Shenmue Master Facebook from April 2013: https://www.facebook.com/Shenmue.Master/posts/576838789002463

He says that the photo with Mark Cerny was just a publicity shot for GDC 2013 (i.e. no confirmation of deal with Sony), and that Suzuki is thinking about Kickstarter as well as trying to find funding partners and convincing Sega.

Here's more context to Moore telling Naka to fuck off: http://www.gamesradar.com/when-peter-moore-said-f-you-to-yuji-naka/

Wonder if he'll sport his original look at any point in Shenmue III?
Was thinking about this too. While I'd love to see this at some point, at least in a demo, I don't think they should change Lan Di's look as it's now more then established with the way he has his hair.

Would be cool if it featured maybe in a flashback of the young Longsun Zhao training in his quest of vengeance against Iwao Hazuki:

http://www.shenmuedojo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/sou_02.jpg

Interesting to think that Lan Di's hair was supposed to be like a lion's mane but due to the Dreamcast's limitations they went with the ponytail. Wonder if he'll sport his original look at any point in Shenmue III?

Man, going through this GAF thread is a rollercoaster of emotions: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1062734

Fast-forward to page 45 if you want to see the moment when Shenmue III is announced, but starting from the mid-20s really lets you relive the hesitant anticipation before E3.

What a time to be alive.

Going through an old Assembler Games thread, found a few bits on Shenmue from DonnyK, the guy who leaked Sonic Extreme and Geist Force:

"I'll tell you this. We had a final, tested, and approved Shenmue 2 for the US that was scraped and never came out. The producer came around and got ever single burn and returned them to SOJ." - http://assemblergames.com/l/threads/old-sega-veteran-just-joined-what-did-you-want-to-know.31214/page-2

"US Shenmue was the same as the PAL version wtih American localized text (color vs colour) kind of thing." - http://assemblergames.com/l/threads/old-sega-veteran-just-joined-what-did-you-want-to-know.31214/page-5 [I did note while playing the UK version though that it used the US spelling "traveler"]

Later on a guy named Super Magnetic chimes in; this guy would later try to auction a Sega Pluto (a Sega Saturn/Netlink hybrid of which only 2 were ever made):

"Shenmue was such a massive (and miserable, if you ask people who worked on it) production, and things changed so much over the course of development, that things probably just got moved around in the timeline. Shenmue was really a beast of a project, and none of my SOJ friends have anything good to say about working on it, unfortunately... it was basically a development meat grinder, and the only person who could probably answer questions about the Shenmue timeline is Yu-san." - http://assemblergames.com/l/threads/old-sega-veteran-just-joined-what-did-you-want-to-know.31214/page-17


Unrelated to Shenmue, was surprised to hear that a top-down RPG was being developed... for the VMU!:

"there was a game I was directly working on -- "Shadows of Defiance," an RPG for the VMU. We got as far as making a world map and having a semi-running prototype before the plug got pulled. The code is long-gone, sad to say." - http://assemblergames.com/l/threads/old-sega-veteran-just-joined-what-did-you-want-to-know.31214/page-18

I did a quick Google and could only find these comments from Alexander Villagran who was a Senior Software Engineer at SegaSoft:

"AlexV: Right now the company called Access has developed DreamPassport for Japan, and DreamKey for Europe. When version 3.0 of DreamPassport is unveiled, I am sure that they will make a European version as well. I am working closely with PlanetWeb to offer the 2.0 version of the Browser (and possibly even earlier versions), to European software developers. It will be up to them to determine if they want to use it. There are some nice features that will be coming soon on Dreamcast Network. Once such feature is SegaPD under the 'Games' Area. We will start discussing on how to make an RPG. We will start with the initial design phase. Once that is complete, playable prototypes will then be released on the site so you can see what we are making as we make it. Eventually after following the whole saga you will have episode 1 of Shadows of Defiance!" - http://www.goodcowfilms.com/farm/games/news-archive/Interview%20-%20Alexander%20Villagran%20-%20Part%201.htm

"DCMann2 asked: What will the vmu rpg be like?

AlexV: Shadows of Defiance will be an episode based RPG. It will be Zelda like, where you see yourself from a top down view. Probably more like Final Fantasy 6 (or 3 for US). You can fight monsters, build up your character. Go on quests. Great stuff. It will be a totally free game, and Episode one will be available for everyone. Episode 2 through 6 will be released on the Dreamcast Magazine, and once VMU upload is in the Browser 2.0, it will also be available on DCN. Of course we will release on DCN two months after it has been on Dreamcast Magazine. They will always get the exclusive! I have heard rumors... that there is a secret Episode 7, if key things were done correctly in Episodes 1 through 6. I will need to play with the technology, but I might even get some 3D dungeon action going!" - http://www.goodcowfilms.com/farm/games/news-archive/Interview%20-%20Alexander%20Villagran%20-%20Part%202.htm

I assume by 3D he means 2D from a first-person view?

Made some gifs of my favourite moments (also included them in my Shenmue history articles):

Just seen this for the first time:

I think the reason Baihu looks so out of place is that he was supposed to be in a different location initially, but when that segment of the game was cut (the original Chapter 4? There are 4 fighters on that concept art picture, but one does look like Lan Di...) they decided to keep him because they liked the design and look of the character. Realising it wouldn't make sense for him to be a street fighter (hence the discarded photo data that was found on Shenmue IIX) he was put in the basement instead. Weber's theory about him being the initial test if Ren didn't beat up the scout makes sense as well.

Tweeted Fries a few days ago, got back to me, wonder what they were discussing publishing for, PC or eventual release of Xbox?: https://twitter.com/Ed_Fries/status/664702220605132800

https://twitter.com/Ed_Fries/status/664882373402587136

http://i.imgur.com/V8JihwI.png

https://twitter.com/Ed_Fries/status/664882523067953152

http://i.imgur.com/5iH9NJq.png

Looking at the Dorimaga interview at the time of the Japanese release of Shenmue II for Dreamcast, I'm guessing Suzuki planned for a PC port for a while, if not an Xbox port, and the PC-like architecture of the Xbox made it an obvious choice of console to port to (though it still took them 8 months, and Shin Ishikawa said they had a little trouble with transparencies):

Q: Hypothetically speaking, if there was the possibility again in the future, what would be your choice of hardware? Ah, before asking that - is there any potential for a port?

Suzuki: Porting Shenmue I and II across to other hardware wouldn’t be impossible, but due to the sheer size it would materially be a tough job to take on. The easiest and most likely option would be the PC, in a year or two. That’s because the PC has, in a sense, the ability to handle anything and has few constraints.

http://www.shenmuedojo.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=48967

I think this puts the Peter Moore thing in a new light; maybe Suzuki knew the Dreamcast was going to fail even before the release of the first game, and was considering other publishers/consoles early on, including Microsoft. Then someone at Microsoft probably asked for it to be an exclusive so people would buy their console, but seeing as the Japanese release was so close they settled on North American exclusivity.

Mandarin dub for 500% Authentic Experience

Now available on Amazon.fr, with shipping it's about £22 to the UK (not available on Amazon.co.uk currently).

http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B014UDN7ES/ref= ... P2000_1000

This photo is from TGS Spring 2001, so along with the news from Fries I think we can say that Suzuki was already considering moving Shenmue over to Microsoft before Moore made the final deal:

http://images.eurogamer.net/2012/articles/1/5/3/5/8/7/0/135541208424.png/EG11/resize/600x-1/quality/80/format/jpg

One of the most interesting events to watch during March 2000 was the under-the-table offer by Microsoft to buy out Sega of America. The reason was pretty obvious. Microsoft wanted Sega's expertise and technical ability to buck up its own XBox project. Speculators were even surmising that such a move would, in effect, turn XBox into "Dreamcast 2," since Sega probably didn't have enough money left to release a successor console. According to several independent reports reports, promising initial talks between Sega and Microsoft quickly broke down over two key issues: Dreamcast back-compatability and the Windows operating system. Sega wanted XBox to be back-compatible with Dreamcast if it was to have any say in XBox hardware development. This Microsoft refused to permit, and Sega reportedly balked at the high cost of making new Dreamcast titles compatible with the evolving XBox standard. Also, Sega did not want to have to be constrained to Microsoft's requirement that all videogame console development be done under the bloatware environment of Windows. Even WindowsCE was rather hefty for its claimed compactness, and that was the prime reason why Sega preferred to stick to its own proprietary APIs insofar as Dreamcast development was concerned. The whole affair began and ended in a matter of days, but it market an interesting juncture in the unusual relationship between the world's best known arcade videogame manufacturer and the world's largest software company. The move reportedly brought a temporary halt to Microsoft's XBox plans, but at the same time it left Sega free and clear on the 128-bit market for a little while longer. Sega was quite willing to work with Microsoft and would do so again, but in this case the asking price was just too high. In retrospect, the failure of the deal may have had something to do with the pulling of the planned ports of several popular PC entertainment titles by Microsoft on the Dreamcast, but Sega didn't mind the loss. It now had more than enough Dreamcast titles released or in the development pipeline to make up for their absence, anyway.

On 10 March 2000, Microsoft's Bill Gates officially unveiled the XBox. "Building on our strengths as a software company," Gates said during the official press briefing, "Microsoft has developed XBox which will offer game developers a powerful platform and game enthusiasts an incredible experience. We want XBox to be the platform of choice for the best and most creative game developers in the world." XBox was a DirectX/PC based videogame console running on an Intel Pentium III 733 MHz CPU, based on an nVidia G-Force derived graphics chipset. It had three times the horsepower of Sony's PlayStation 2; in fact, it was far and away the most powerful entry into the 128/256-bit nexgen wave, outclassing all other consoles in every category. XBox was slated to hit the videogame market in the fall of 2001 and had the support of practically every major Western third-party software vendor and a fair number of prominent Japanese ones. Microsoft announced a US$250 million ad campaign designed to promte its impending X-Box videogame console - a figure that made every other console vendor blanch in shock. SegaWeb's Craig Hansen was quick to quip, " Bill Gates is cursing both heaven and hell that he has no one like Yu Suzuki in XBox's corner ," due to the fact that it did not appear that all that many quality software titles would be available for the new console's launch; however, a few days later, however, MCV reported that merger talks between Sega and Microsoft have not broken off as previously reported, but were quietly continuing "along different lines." As the weeks and months rolled on and XBox news continued to build steam, rumors begin to surface that Sega and Microsoft were close to a mutual agreement regarding their respective consoles. Sega was rumored to have begun software development for XBox, and in exchange Microsoft was going to include some form of Dreamcast back-compatability with its new überconsole.

Two months later, on 25 May 2000, Sega's Isao Okawa set the record straight. Microsoft was not playing a major role in Sega's Dreamcast plans, including online gameplay, and never would. In response to questions, he also confirmed that Sega was asked to help Microsoft develop XBox. The deal fell through due to "mutual disagreements." Concerning the future of Sega and Microsoft's relationship regarding the Dreamcast, Okawa stated that "... Sega will not enlist the help of Microsoft. We're done with them." Many industry insiders promptly comment that Microsoft more or less used Sega and the Dreamcast as a proving ground for certain early XBox ideas and that Sega did not like this fact once the intrigue was discovered; however, Sega seemed to have realized the potential profits of software development for Microsoft's new console and decided to swallow its pride. In the light of what was to come for Dreamcast, it seems to have been a prudent move.

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=DbFxAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA335&lpg=PA335&dq=bill+gates+yu+suzuki&source=bl&ots=fkuZMjsmuL&sig=EE2aQVB0U-v-ldy0UHzHxoKUWQM&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=bill%20gates%20yu%20suzuki&f=false

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=19310624

I've added in English captions onto the video .

For the Chinese parts I've used the translation provided by Hyo Razuki.

Thanks for the translation. Hah, I just noticed Ine-san in the door-frame at the end! :P Wonder if that was a model made by Kid Nocon during his Shenmue HD remake time? Will be nostalgic calling the Hazuki Residence and being able to talk to her and Fuku-san.

Really hoping he scores some Chinese investment in this game, the more money the better! Thanks to everyone for their translations. Can't wait to go climbing mountains in Bailu and exploring the riverside city of Choubu.

Is Shenmue 3 confirmed for PSE? I know Gio and Boyes hung out with Yu & co. a few weeks ago, but I didn't think they were planning anything for PSE.

Not confirmed, just speculating. It's not on the list of games but Shenmue fans can still dream (2015 after all is the Year All The Dreams Came True ;) ).
I think we're more likely to see Shenmue HD really, though PSE has panels, correct? Yu could be doing a Shenmue 3 panel/presentation. Probably just an English version of the one this thread is about.

Hopefully he'll run the presentation on a faster PC before the Western clickbait press starts taking clips out of context with headlines of "SHENMUE III CAN'T MAINTAIN STEADY FRAMERATE KICKSTARTER WAS A MASSIVE SCAM LOSE WEIGHT WITH THIS ONE WEIRD TRICK"

gakucho wrote: Yu Suzuki Reveals Shenmue 3 Prototype(Completed version ) created by Chinese shenmue fans club
https://twitter.com/mantisjojo/status/666925117096660992

Video embed for the lazy:

Screengrabs of gifts for Yu Suzuki along with fan art (not sure how much of art was given as gifts or is simply fan art from Chinese Shenmue community):

http://i.imgur.com/2ugTHuo.png

http://i.imgur.com/tdI0Qmz.png

http://i.imgur.com/ocvbP8M.png

http://i.imgur.com/aFQRlUv.png

http://i.imgur.com/WaekWEv.png

http://i.imgur.com/GxM2Tbm.png

http://i.imgur.com/FI04Tfi.png

More here: http://imgur.com/a/LPDAA

Interesting how Suzuki says that Shenmue 3 will roughly cover chapters 5 and 6 of the saga. I thought Shenmue II covered chapters 3, 4 and 5?

I always thought it was like this:

Shenmue 1 = Chapter 1 (Yokosuka)
Shenmue 2 = Chapter 2, 3, and 4. (Wan Chai, Kowloon, and Guilin)

Now Suzuki says Shenmue 3 will cover 5 and 6.


I'm guessing the boat chapter is completely excluded from this count, as well as the discarded Li River chapter, so this new timeline takes into account only what we have seen so far.

Big thanks to Switch and sshen1127 for their invaluable translation work.

Yu tweeted a few more photos from his China trip:

Old well:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CUPUkDUUAAAOpWt.jpg

Old chairs:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CUPVES8UcAABr3y.jpg

Corn (hopefully not old):

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CUPU_q8UkAAVr6L.jpg

Hopefully this gives some idea of the level of detail we'll see in Shenmue III.

Book arrived this morning, wasn't expecting it to arrive until Wednesday. Looks to be in good condition, think Hyo Razuki got unlucky with the binding on his copy, will write a review once I've finished reading it.

https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/t31.0-8/12238082_10100613430432662_869591870587577375_o.jpg

Yu has always been an innovator, he's not going to ride franchises for an easy retirement unless he's doing something new with them. Remember the first Virtua Fighter was one of the pioneers in 3D polygon graphics, and by the time of 3 well...its, how do I put it....trite? For an innovator?

Yup:

The difference between Miyamoto-san and I is that he takes the same game and takes it deeper and deeper, like with the Mario series, while I like to work on different games and concepts. I don't like doing the same thing.

Pretty certain he's not referring to Shenmue I & II HD it comes to Magic Monaco, it's in the context of updates such as screenshots, trailers, etc., so I'm guessing this means we'll see some new Shenmue III footage at Magic Monaco, which will be awesome. Regarding the PayPal, seems he's adhering to the maxim of "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" :P

Weird how there's all this Chinese promo and they still haven't confirmed Chinese subtitles for the game. I'm hoping some Chinese investor is gonna throw money at the game on the condition that they add a Mandarin dub to help with sales of the game in the region, I'd quite like to play it with Mandarin dub/English subs as well since it's set in Guilin.

Is this Bailu? Can't wait to explore...

First time ever I visited the Moon Child Orphanage in Shenmue II. I beat this game possibly more than 7 times in my life but I always missed this story path

I came across it on my latest playthrough a few weeks ago, and I thought "I don't think I've been before, but is that possible?" I'd played Shenmue II at least four times before but somehow had never come across the orphanage before, it's so surreal when you do first see it.

Long Zha meet-up tonight in London was a lot of fun. Big surprise was Skype Q&A with Corey Marshall (I ended the Q&A by asking him if he knew any bars where sailors like to hang out, childhood dream fulfilled), lots of photos and videos here, big thanks to Robert Lewis for organising it and the great prizes: https://www.facebook.com/events/865242423551538/902967109779069/

Thanks for this, just to add that after the 5 minute mark he says the goal is to have a teaser trailer ready for Monaco in February, but at the very least there will be some new images and info.

Meh, I'd be fine with even once every 3 months, that's still more often than you'd hear from a lot of games.

Interesting that here at E3 2001 Suzuki says that Shenmue II went up to Chapter 6, just like Ishikawa said at TheNextLevel interview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rv5u3KUzNP8

I would think this was in the context of the total being 16 as opposed to 11 but then in the Twitter Q&A he talked about there being more than 11 because of branching. Maybe 16 was the total when chapters like the boat journey were considering being added and they thought the series would be a greater success?

I don't think I've ever done the not "orphanage" path.

Where do you get info on the bird shop without it ?

I can't remember, I think you ask someone about birds instead of bells and you go looking straight for bird shops instead.

Asked Corey Marshall a question at the Long Zha that didn't end up being recorded, was about differences between working on Shenmue I and II, wanted to know if team sizes were different, different directors, etc. He said it was the exact same team working on the dubbing in the exact same location, so it doesn't sound to me like Microsoft was involved in the dubbing, might have been put in place by Sega before the US version got canned, I don't know.

Snakiest wrote: Then the tshirt reward doesn't include the ost,is that right?

In Yu we trust.

Correct, they're 2 separate rewards.

I tweeted Mizuguchi a month ago asking about Rez VR and he liked it, didn't realise that was a hint....

https://twitter.com/resnate/status/662256028428443649