i really cannot understand how we went from "omg omg please just show us anything shenmue related at E3/TGS" to "i am not donating if i do not get a physical ps4 copy"!!! i want i physical ps4 copy also , and i am going to buy one when it is released. until then i will donate everything my wallet and salary allows me to donate to get the game i am waiting for the last 14 years...(i am talking in general)

I tweeted him about wanting to donate 10,000 but there are no dinner spaces left. I don't know how to use twitter but I decided to give it a shot and he replied. I'm hoping some good news comes of this!

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j290/PeterC2005/Screenshot_2015-06-23-16-17-24_zpsik8hbkga.png

SickOctopus wrote: Playing Fallout: New Vegas at the moment. I know I'm a bit late starting it, but I loved 3 and the hype around 4 has got me pumped to finish this in time for when it comes out.

JOHNNY GUITAAAAR!

For Christ's sake, could you please wait for the Kickstarter to finish, first? No offence here, but the panicking over here is starting to go over the top. Pour into the KS as much as you can, wait for it to finish. Await Ys Net's statement on it.

If, after July 18 you should still think we have made too little money, I reckon you will be warmly welcome to make your monthly contribution to Ys Net via Paypal.

So, over the years, my sporadic 'Shenmue 3' google search often yielded a hit from metro.co.uk. Their Games Inbox, which I think is posted twice daily, is a collection of reader submissions. Usually anything Shenmue related was rather negative in nature, and it definitely seemed like those who run the blog aren't fans either based on some of their responses and just the mere fact they frequently post about Shenmue and it's usually in a bad light. Anyway, I wrote in a response this morning after reading yet another downer post about Shenmue's kickstarter. Here's the post I responded to:

I don’t know If you’ve been following it day-to-day, but the Kickstarter for Shenmue III basically seems to have stalled. It may have broken records at first, but it’s been hovering around $3.5 million for days now and doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. Any chance of making it to $10 million seems to be out of the window and it’ll probably struggle to make $5 million.
I know that’s still a lot of money but I do wonder whether the popularity of the game was overstated a bit. It seems to me it’s more a meme and in-joke than anything else. I actually played the first one again recently and it is really pretty bad: awkward controls, terrible dialogue, pointlessly easy combat, and a story that goes nowhere.
That doesn’t mean I don’t like it. I do admire its ambition a lot, but I can’t imagine myself sitting down to actually play the whole thing again. I’m curious to hear from other readers that have also played it recently and what they honestly thought of it. To me it was a niche game back in the day and it’s probably going to be a niche game now too.
Iceman

And here's my response which was put in the evening edition:

Speaking on behalf of Shenmue fans everywhere: We get it it. You guys don’t like Shenmue.
In the past couple of years, typing Shenmue in the little Google searchbox to see if there was any buzz has usually yielded nothing more than an occasional outlandish rumour – or some Metro Games Inbox blurb about how overrated the game is.
Now that the sequel’s been announced, you’d think Metro would back off a little bit and let the game’s fans have their moment, but already I’ve seen a couple snippets about how hard it is to understand that people actually love this game.
Granted, no one’s trolling per se, and all opinions are valid, but still: give it a rest. All Kickstarters stall in the middle. It’ll get a rush at the end, and I’m confident it will reach a solid $5 million – a huge success, by all means. As a fan who has yet to make his pledge but certainly will be before the end of the campaign, I’m perfectly content with how this is panning out, and I look forward to see where it ends up.
The stretch goals are ambitious – but ambition is the first word that comes to mind when you consider Shenmue. Sure, I’d love to see this soar to $11 million, and though unlikely, after last Monday’s announcement I will say this: anything is possible. It’s been 10 days and I’m still basking in the glow of this unexpected announcement – and I haven’t played video games seriously since, well – Shenmue II on Xbox. This series very effectively dulled my appetite for gaming, because to me, it’s just that good.
So let us fans who have stuck this out for 15 years continue to bask – and perhaps Metro can stay quiet about their distaste for Shenmue for a while.
Michael Chenard


Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2015/06/26/games-inbox-mass-effect-andromeda-hopes-shenmue-debate-and-ghost-recon-wildlands-5268218/#ixzz3eCgXiSvl

I don't think I was too off-the-mark: Definitely seems like there's a disproportionate amount of anti-Shenmue rhetoric on this blog, although I don't really follow it, or gaming news at all, in general. Has anyone else ever noticed this? I do think there's no reason for the negativity when us starving Shenmue fans have a 30 day window for redemption.

Regardless, I encourage you all to send in your praises for Shenmue!

Here it is!

Surprised it's not here already but fuck it lets start talking about it innit.

So, what say you? Do you agree with what women say about the glass ceiling effect? Personally, in all employments I've been in it's never been an issue, that's not to say it doesn't happen but I've never seen it exist. I believe in feminism, but only on the scale of everyone being equal, and that's what feminists bleat on about all the time; "we only want everything to be level". Well... why don't we call it humanism... or equalism? It's because a number of feminists don't want that, they are keen to be above males, and it doesn't matter whether they're legitimately better, but because they've got a vagina in the 21st century that automatically makes them better than you. Try picking up something heavy. What? Can't do it? Make me a fucking sandwich.

mue26 is exempt from replying to this topic as he doesn't have prior experience with teh femz

This is not necessarily related to Shenmue 3 itself, but more the campaign and everything surrounding it.

Understandably, many people are excited and passionate for the game, and of course, many people have their worries or their criticisms about the marketing in regards to the Kickstarter campaign, and Sony's involvement, among other things. I just want to remind everyone to keep a clear, rational head about all of this. Remember that we all want the same thing; for Shenmue 3 to be good as it possibly can be given the odds. Bickering over trivialities and trying to be the right one in an argument can be counterproductive to the campaign itself if we're not concentrated on pushing this current Kickstarter campaign as strongly as we can. I am not saying we are not allowed to have disagreements, but don't let them get to the extent of becoming distractions from the goal. We have plenty of time to get this ball rolling, so lets not panic; keep it cool.

In the end, we're all on the same side. This goes for the forum, Twitter, Youtube, Kickstarter comments, and any other context in which we have to interact with one another. Let's try to make some history here.

How to Pledge for Shenmue Kickstarter without a Credit Card
Solutions
1) Buy a prepay card.

*Google Prepay card + your country name. You may find local store that sell them.

*You can also buy them at some stores like 7-11 or walgreens etc
https://www.7-eleven.com/Financial/Prepaid-Center/Western-Union-Prepaid-MasterCard/Western-Union-NetSpend

* Visit your local Western Union they offers Prepaid Cards!

For Germany & Austria
https://www.westernunionbank.com/en/reloadable-cards/

https://www.wuprepaid.com/wuprepaid/public/get.do?view=public/compare


2) Virtual Debit Card

Basically is not a physical card. You buy the virtual card that is just like a credit/debit card. You can put funds with paypal
Then use the card number just as if it was a real physical card online. The best Thing they accept paypal.
Also Other Shenmue fans have recommended the card.

https://www.entropay.com/


3)Gift Card

Buy a gift card you may buy them at your local bank or shops
https://www.wellsfargo.com/gift-card/


The fastest option for me is buying a prepaid card at your local shop but beware

###########################################################################################################
One thing I have seen trip people up with pre-paid visa cards is not reading the small print. Essentially, to use them online, you have to go to a website listed in the little piece of paper that comes with the card, there you open an account complete with user id and password, then you give the details that you would supply to a vendor if the card was just like a normal one, basically your name and address. Once that is done you can use the card with virtually any online service that accepts visa payments, they don't even need to know if it is a pre-paid card. As long as the card has enough money on it to cover all the fees etc, then the transaction will go through.

###########################################################################################################

Also Because of fees make sure you put into the card atleast 10$ extra dollars.
##########################################################################################################


For Portuguese try

https://www.mbnet.pt/site/do

Middle east

http://www.visamiddleeast.com/tn/en-tn/personal/cards/index.shtml

Peter wrote:Pledges made within 24 hours of the deadline cannot be cancelled, and contact has to be made with the developer to do so.

I'm sure AJ will respond very quickly to cancel troll pledges. Very confident.

Havel wrote: I'd rather hear Yu's thoughts but okay Cedric.

Cedric is great and deserves the spotlight for all the things he's done for this campaign.

I disagree that social links don't have consequences, especially for those that like to see special scenes. Then there is the fact that you can actually BREAK a social link, which is a far worse consequence than just reversing since it actually prevents you from partaking in the relevant arcada.

The next 24 hours is a fuck you to all Shenmue haters everywhere.

Despite a half assed ks campaign handled by morons, being FAR less known in gaming, HUNDREDS of articles spreading misinformation on why you shouldn't support Shenmue III kickstarter, it will go on to become the highest backed game kickstarter of all time and set a new record despite people telling us for over a decade that no one wants nor cares about Shenmue. Far more well known and celebrated franchises and creators have been surpassed and after tomorrow no one will be able to deny Shenmue, its fans, or continue to treat it like a meme despite being the great game franchise of all time.

Eat it.

You are not authorised to read this forum.

to buy a new shirt?

http://media1.gameinformer.com/filestorage/CommunityServer.Components.SiteFiles/imagefeed/featured/e32015/sony/Shenmue3/YuSuzuki610.jpg
http://www.shenmue500k.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/yu-suzuki.png
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/CN89K8ULca0/maxresdefault.jpg

Don't sailors wear a shirt like that?

I wouldn't worry about it. People are fucking morons.

To quote Peep Show; "people like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis. Don't trust people."

We're just not used to these idiots talking about Shenmue -- along with a new game comes dumb ass nerd culture and constant uneducated criticism. They have the chatter endlessly about something, this week it's Shenmue, next week it's some dumb ass Nintendo exclusive whatever the fuck. Just let them rattle until they realize their lives are completely devoid of any meaning or culture and they've wasted years talking about nonsense.

This is what those people want to see:

Like Theif was saying, we have now reached relevance in the gaming world again.
The project, Yu Suzuki, the fan community.. we are all open game now for trolls, fanboys and ignorant know-it-alls.

-The game isnt on Xbox and is console exclusive on PS4? = We will have Xbox fanboys try and discredit the worth of the game.
-The game doesn't have teh b3st gr4f1x evar?!1 = Looks like pong.
-They never heard of it before? = Doesn't matter whatever its like, it sucks anyways.
-They don't understand how the funding/development works? = Dr. Evil is controlling everything behind doors.

Eventually one of us are going to have a brain aneurysm fighting against the nay sayers. I will probably be that person eventually. Until then I'm going to save my energy for when the game is out and reviewers start slamming it for whatever dumb reasons.

does anyone still read gamespot? In the mid 2000's they were competing with IGN, mainly because IGN gave extremely lenient reviews. Once they fired their editor because he didn't sell a good review score in exchange for advertising, they lost all credibility- but of course it's been long enough that people forgot about that, BUT, by the time people forgot, there was a lot going on with YouTube and Gametrailers expanding and the rise of smaller sites like Kotaku- leaving a site like Gamespot irrelevant. IGN persists because of their seemingly infinite budget.

who even cares about Gamespot anymore?

Sorry to disappoint you but Gamespot isn't alone on this. Expecting a gamejourno in 2015 to enjoy a open world game without a mini map and a giant "GO HERE to advance plot!" X is simply wishful thinking.

The whole concept of a living town meticulously developed to represent 80s Japan not only in design but also in culture, flies between their ears at the speed of light and crashes into a pile of mediocrity they praise as state of the art gaming.

ok, so from what i can understand the actual 'controversy' was that certain 'idealists' dislike any project being on kickstarter that has an outside funding link with a big publisher - this goes against their 'ideals' of what kickstarter SHOULD be.

these idealist have a resentment against 'evil big publishers'. They want kickstarter to prove that games can be completely developed without any help from the big publishers - they have a kind of 'stick it to the man' philosophy.

What a stupid reason to try and sabotage the success of a much loved and desired project.

kickstarter is meant to 'kickstart' a project (not necessarily to completely fund it) and shenmue 3 was a very unlikely project that was a made a reality ONLY because of kickstarter.

shenmue 3 SHOULD be the finest jewel in the kickstarter crown but these weird idealists let their resentments of big publishers get in the way of their reasonable thought processes.

this is the biggest NON-controversy of all time.

it finally took this video to explain it , because all the previous articles by people promulgating the whole 'controversy' and 'scam' meme could not even coherently explain what it was that they found objectionable. turns out it was a bad and stupid reason.

i remember back in 2001, people bought multiple copies of Shenmue II. there was some guy who said he bought 7.

it didn't work.

don't waste your money, if it's successful it's successful. promote it in other ways. write a long blog post about why you think the game is great, and share it with people who haven't played the game.

Stop being a fanboy.

I remember the old days (prior to the actual Shenmue 3 announcement) when many Shenmue fans were saying that they will even sell their kidneys, or if they win the lottery they will donate all those money, in case Shenmue 3 ever gets a crowdfunding campaign... Ah, those were the good days, haha. :P

Now many of them howl with ethics/morality concern trolling, just because Ys Net Inc. decided to give another chance to pledge, for many fans who could not back Shenmue 3's Kickstarter. Drama, cynicism et cetera, are like a pandemia nowadays in the social media.

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

...What so your condoning fans selling their kidneys now???....wow

I'm not saying it's wrong to back the project but our emotions/nostalgia for things can get the better of us and makes us more vulnerable of giving more than we can really afford.

I remember reading some people would max out credit cards to fund this...now that is stupid as ****

I am ok with photos, but I don't want to watch a game play video. Pictures we can look at every little detail and have fun with our own imaginations, but seeing videos of something we will actually play is something that I will avoid. I will say as time goes on, we may have to have a global announcement written up regarding spoilers, and be harsh with making sure topics are clearly labelled, and/or spoiler tags used when necessary.

I think some die hard 'Muers have already died since the release of S2. Including the man, who recorded this here video. One of the best Shenmue piano videos. Makes me sad to think about him not having lived to see S3.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN4QFpKauq0

We should all be grateful to be alive and maybe when we play Shenmue 3 I hope that sometimes we will keep in mind that there are some fellow 'Muers who didn't live to see that lifetime dream come true.

I would say most people here are too biased to one side to be able to give an objective answer.

Ok, I don't know anything about this supposed secret fight sequence, but stop acting like visitors to the shrine is some super secret amazing thing. I'm sure most of us know some characters visit the shrine, like Liu-san first thing in the morning, and sometimes the kids in the neighbourhood.

Look Zoltor, I'm not trying to call you a liar. But this is really hard to believe as there were many Shenmue completionists before you who painstakingly went through every nook and cranny of the game, without noticing the fight loop you refer to. I think it's natural for all of us to be a bit skeptical, so that's is why I ask you of any video or pics you might have of your incredible find because it's incredible to me.

I think Suzuki is very conscious of spoilers

Looks like the complete opposite lol. His Nico Nico Douga interview spoiled already parts that annoy fans, not only the Chai's cameo. The Dreamcast magazines showed us that spoilers are a classic thing in the Shenmue universe. It's hard to give it the right promotion as you have to convince the newcomers and hesitating fans at the same time with spectacular trailers and clear gameplay presentations though.

gameplay myth creation is so 2003.

willing to eat several hats if anyone finds this.

@shengoro - agree, great idea for a mod though.

One of the most interesting things about Shenmue for me is the way it influences the player's behavior where there are no explicit rewards or punishments. Caring for the kitten, helping an elderly neighbor, and trying not to worry Ine-san, are all things we're compelled to do because it feels right, not because it affects our progress in the game. Incentivizing these selfless motivations would negate one of the key charms of Shenmue, in my opinion.

Well, when you're doing an interview, you always end up with less questions than you already had. To be totally honest, I had 30 questions and ended up with 16.

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 ! ;-)

Frankly, I don't think even Yu has a damn clue what he's talking about, when it comes to the battle system. He even goes on mention the stupid Ragdoll physics, first explaining what that is(so we do know, he knows what that is), and then agrees that such is goofy/unfitting for a Shenmue game, so he's going to edit the mechanic.


Yeah, because you know better for sure.

I'm honestly shocked by the low faith of some fans...

Yu Suzuki will deliver what he feels is the best to deliver in the form he thinks fits better. Period.

Good if he listens to fans requests but for god sake, leave him with HIS VISION and trust him.
He didn't give up on Shenmue for 14 (!!!) years, that's enough to deserve some respect.

To drunkensailor: It was very much documented on the net back then (It's what made all of us finally give up on so called professional review sites), but I suck at digging up info that is only a few years old on the net, nevermind stuff this old. I thought it was pretty common knowledge though, especially for people who were around back then.
so in other words: no proof at all.

I hate the fact only AAA games get decent treatment from "gaming journalists". Indie/smaller budget games always get crapped on and it's not fair.

I'm at a crossroads: I'd be interested to see how Life Is Strange, personally one of my favourite titles in many years with a lot of heart and soul - and an impossible choice ending - faired with the likes of Gamespot, Polygon and Eurogamer. But I daren't even look in case I get frustrated with them again.

Edit: It looks like Gamespot are at it again already. They took one sentence from Yu's recent interview and made it sound like he "is teasing an Xbox One release". =D> :roll:
yeah like limbo :roll: mother of god what a bunch of idiots here. companies paying traveling and food etc is normal. any company does this and it's not bribing it's called PROMOTION and it was also done 15-20 years ago. explain to me how a game like the witcher 3 get's such enormous praise yet had almost no money in promotion and advertising. better yet explain to me how certain games can still get low grades (mad max)despite companies treating reviewers like that.

Yeah, very pleased. I think it looks gorgeous so far.

And I think it's rediculous how nitpicky some people are about it. It's an indy title with a relatively small budget, and it's a miracle we're getting it at all.

Doesn't seem productive to complain about a few test shots taken three months into development. *shrug*

I am very convinced, it looks beautiful. But then again my expectations are not that high. They've done an awesome job and game's development is going well (comparing with the version I saw in Japan).

Thing is if they don't show development progress, people will complain and if they do, people are still going to complain because they're not satisfied. :-s

Ryo looks better and it's an old model, so I can't imagine how he's going tot look like in 2 years ! Considering the budget, the result is fantastic already. =D>

They're making "less" of a game based on some early shots that'll never be seen again when the game comes out. People around here just enjoy worrying.

December 2017 is just a slated release date. Do you expect them to not have a estimated release date at all? Because that's far worse. Why must you be so demanding of everything involved, even a reasonable release date that means two and a half years of development? Just seems like you're complaining to complain rather than just seeing where this all goes.

December 2017 is just a slated release date. Do you expect them to not have a estimated release date at all? Because that's far worse. Why must you be so demanding of everything involved, even a reasonable release date that means two and a half years of development? Just seems like you're complaining to complain rather than just seeing where this all goes.


He's refusing to accept a paypal window of more then a few months, because it will get in the way of his desired release date(that was Yu's reason he gave, for only having Paypal available for such a short time).

Trust me, Yu has "no" intention what so ever, in allowing Shenmue 3 to take longer the 2 years.

Either Yu is rushing or he truly has no clue on how long games take, when you don't have 300 people helping with it lol.

....I don't know where to start.

December 2017 is just a slated release date. Do you expect them to not have a estimated release date at all? Because that's far worse. Why must you be so demanding of everything involved, even a reasonable release date that means two and a half years of development? Just seems like you're complaining to complain rather than just seeing where this all goes.


He's refusing to accept a paypal window of more then a few months, because it will get in the way of his desired release date(that was Yu's reason he gave, for only having Paypal available for such a short time).

Trust me, Yu has "no" intention what so ever, in allowing Shenmue 3 to take longer the 2 years.

Either Yu is rushing or he truly has no clue on how long games take to develop, when you don't have 300 people helping with it lol.


Quite the contrary. Having a limited Paypal campaign makes a lot of sense to me. They need to have a defined budget and be able to prioritize the developpment accordingly.

Beside that, how do you think Yu Suzuki is going to pay his employees if the developpment lasts 42 month instead of 30?

You make your criticism sound so easy, but how would YOU handle this project given the unusual circumstances?

Zoltor, lay off of the Yu bashing. Quite tired of it frankly. You dont have a clue what Suzuki thinks, knows, feels, will decide, likes, dislikes, choses, rejects so stop claimijt to know.

It's the only time you will be told. Keep it up and you will be warned.

Well, I'm out. This bitterness and consternation is not why I participate in online discussions. Having my posts misrepresented and being told what I can and can't think/feel is where I'm done basically.

For the record: game looks great to me for 3 months. I can and do respect the views of those who disagree. I stand by what I said.

I'm just going to back the game silently and privately other than the tweet-a-thon regularly.
You're not going to stop posting are you? You're a great poster and I really like reading your views on things!