Had the same problem here. I got confused and went to bed.

It was bad. And yes, unfortunately, I think to strangers to Shenmue it probably makes the project look like a joke. At the very least it makes it look unprofessional and like those involved don't know what they are doing. And while maybe that's true about Awesome Japan (I don't know them personally) it certainly isn't true of Yu Suzuki or the original development team.

That is what bothers me most. This guy is representing SHENMUE - this amazing game series that Yu created. This game that Yu never gave up on. This game which after all this time he is working hard to make happen properly. And this game series which represents a large portion of his life's work - has this guy looking very inebriated whilst representing it. It's a shame. And I don't like calling people out, because usually people are trying, and just may not be succeeding. He doesn't seem to be trying. But honestly, Awesome Japan is probably just out of their depth.

I had to stop watching it. And then I see it looks like they only did like 5 questions. Sigh. Questions which have mostly been answered 20 times.

Currently sitting at $185 +$10 for Wude. Really want to up it to the $300 edition and get the signed illustration as well, but my wife and I are both only part-time at the moment, and we are paying rent & a mortgage. LOL. So, technically we are already kind of using "emergency" funds for living expenses. That being said, obviously others are making much greater sacrifices.

There's an ongoing poll on Twitter about the Shenmue vs Shenmue 3 font:
https://twitter.com/ShenmueForever/status/684695285096943616

Anyway, if YS ever wants to get rid of the old logo, they would hire a professional graphic designer to make a new one instead using the Papyrus font.

FWIW, it's been a mix of Papyrus & Bradley Hand fonts (the one in the poll shows Bradley Hand, I believe). As a graphic designer myself...I don't like either of them, but Papyrus is worse. Hopefully it does not ultimately replace the true logo.

Hopefully we don't wind up seeing Comic Sans thrown into the mix.

I understand where Peter & GYO6161 are coming from. If it were strictly about me playing the game, I wouldn't care.

However, as a graphic designer, my education & profession have taught me that aesthetic appeal can have a major affect on whether some people will even pick a game up from a shelf to look at it, let alone buy it.

I am not attached to the original logo purely for the sake of nostalgia. They can change the logo. However, to use either Papyrus or Bradley Hand looks amateurish and I believe could affect sales to some extent. And while I'm still very grateful that we are even getting Shenmue III, I want to be able to play Shenmue IV. I don't want sales hindered by something as simple as effective typography.

Certainly my viewpoint is tainted by my profession, but this world we live in does (for better or worse, usually worse) judge many things by their appearance.

Well, I'm not the best graphic designer in the world.

But here's a quick idea done in about 15 minutes. Main font was free for personal use, I'm sure there's a paid option. I modified the S a little. There are plenty of other options out there as well. And I could do better than this if I thought it mattered.

I'm guessing Yu and whoever came up with that logo just don't understand that in the U.S. those fonts have a certain generic quality. I'm sure I'd have no idea what looks generic in Japanese.

http://s23.postimg.org/w9x40a4yj/shenmueiii.jpg

I guess my only point is that while I don't exactly think what I just posted is "amazing" or worthy of being put on a Shenmue cover...it still looks better (in my opinion) than Bradley Hand or Papyrus, and was done in short time. I'd think someone close to the project could have done better before going live with Kickstarter, or in time since.

Lump me in with those who really would prefer to have both.

While I accept that the English voice acting wasn't that great, it was also how I played Shenmue I, and fell in love with the game. So to some extent in my brain Corey Marshall's voice is Ryo. I am hoping for better direction/localization/etc. I also appreciate that Corey has stuck with the series through thick & thin, along with the fans.

I also played Shenmue II in Japanese since I imported the PAL version, rather than waiting for the Xbox version. So Masaya Matsukaze is also Ryo in my brain. Usually when I watch anime, I prefer Japanese with subtitles. A lot of the reason I like anime/Japanese games is for exposure to the Japanese culture, which just seems better reflected hearing the original dialogue, even if it's not how they talk in "real life".

So if I had to choose (I didn't vote) I would say Japanese, but I greatly prefer to have both options.

Yikes.

I mean, I was busier than usual the last week or so, as I started a new job. And today was the first I even checked to see if there was any news. Didn't expect to see this mess.

I'm not devastated. In the end, I will just always know that Yu Suzuki has way more invested in Shenmue III than I do. Emotionally, physically, financially – in every way.

Sure, I hoped for years and years that III would get made. I checked for news every few months (heck sometimes it was probably a year) for over a decade. Yu never gave up when it was all but hopeless. I doubt he's letting things fall apart now. I don't need huge updates to continue to believe in him.

Sure, Awesome Japan could have handled a lot of things better - they also had a lot on their plate. I'm not going to complain about backer updates being aimed at fans though. By definition, I'm guessing most backers are fans (or already interested) or they wouldn't have backed.

Gaining new fans probably won't be achieved with mediocre looking materials in this stage of development.
But that's just my opinion.

I'm honestly not even upset that Shenmue wasn't at PSX. Maybe I should be more "concerned" but honestly, I'm pretty much still just basking in the warmth of knowing that it's happening at all. And I trust Yu Suzuki's knowledge of video gaming far more than my own. So, I'll be happy when we get more updates, whatever they are, but I'm not grabbing a pitchfork.

I haven't posted anything for awhile, I avoided saying anything after the Deep Silver character model reveal thing. Certainly my first impressions of that were very rough, and I felt Shenhua looked a bit bulgy eyed...blah, blah, blah. I mean, just look at the image in the top of this forum. Those are Shenhua's eyes! But I digress...

I can certainly see where there are issues in this trailer...if you watch it as a trailer for a game about to be released or something. But yeah, with over a year to go, I'm pretty sure Yu will have things in hand.

My main impression is just a sort of giddiness. It looks like Shenmue, it has a Shenmue vibe (even if it's a WIP). I am confident I will feel like I'm playing a Shenmue game when it is released. A few years ago what hope did we have of that ever happening? We had only ridiculously foolish dreams.

Not super stoked about the logo. I don't really understand why in June they'd reveal they are using the original (that fans have been clamoring for, and to our great relief) only to use this on in the trailer. Hopefully that gets rectified, but in the end...the logo is relatively minor. This is Shenmue III. It's happening, and for a kickstarter funded F.R.E.E. game, I'm pretty impressed with how it looks for the time being. I say that with the trust that the models (specifically Shenhua) and animations will look much better in the future. Because they will.

EDIT: Forgot to mention my complete lack of surprise at someone's mention of Kotaku crap article. I used to visit Kotaku daily (years ago), and eventually they just kept turning into more and more of a clickbait worthless rag. A certain reviewer had such inconsistently applied ideas - trashing something in one game, only to praise it in another - ridiculous biased trash. Anyway, the internet in general is full of people who just look for opportunities to spread hate, outrage, promote discord, etc...but now I'm getting off topic. YouTube (and honestly most gaming website) comments being full of said nonsense.

http://ift.tt/2wiBzGg

Kotaku with the first dagger. Prepare for a lot of this. I truly feel bad for Yu Suzuki, but I think he'll pull it off in the end.

I vowed a couple years ago (or something like that) to stop giving Kotaku clicks. They're only out for the clicks these days, just like all the other worthless media.

It's an unwinnable battle the man has to face, and I feel sorry for him.

Absolutely with you here. My least favorite thing about all this mess is thinking of Yu getting discouraged. I know the man has been patient and perservered over the last 16 years, but it has to be frustrating to hear some of the backlash (constructive criticism is one thing - even with a work in progress - but the hate/toxicity/unreasonable idiocy...). As a fan, I can ignore a lot of it pretty easily. As the creator of the game who has devoted (along with his team of course) countless sleepless nights over the last couple years getting the game to look as good as it does (which I'm overall very happy and excited about), I'm sure it's much more difficult to ignore. Honestly, I probably won't bother giving them feedback on the logo, because I don't think it's worth it to distract him over. If he is happy with the newest one, I think I'm willing to just give in. It's not going to affect the in-game experience.

I know you will, given the chance, let Suzuki-san know how grateful MOST of us are for his tireless efforts. I could go on, but really, I just hope he knows that most (at least I hope most) of the Shenmue fanbase is still very happy and has faith in him. I want him to be happy with his game, he deserves it. From the looks of it, I'll be quite pleased as well (even if I'm not 100% loving everything about how things look in a WIP).

I think it looks great.

I can't even fathom how someone could feel like it looks so bad (or non-Ryo) to not even play the game. If that's the case for someone...you'll probably never be pleased. Ryo is looking great. The city looks great. If they get Shenhua looking as much like Shenhua as this Ryo looks like Ryo - I'm good. More than good. :D