Some quite interesting points there. I know most of us would settle for whatever we could get (as long it was a game version) of Shenmue 3.

Remember games can be updated and brought into the HD era all guns blazing. I feel Shenmue is one of those games, using mass effect maybe as a baseline of how to get the conversational element working well. While we all have an affection with Ryo's almost wooden responses to a conversation I don't think (in my view and only my view) that anyone would complain about introducing that kind of element. Would it require a small scale down in terms of the world and what Ryo can pick up and touch, maybe. However think in Shenmue 2 how much time was spent looking around in drawers for items or for the hell of it, not that much. So I think that can be done. S2 was much more story/action driven than 1.

We already know how good the game could look in HD, I have been informed of a topic on here of screenshots of 1080p Shenmue.

It is all there for Sega or someone else to exploit, I keep my hopes up because of the stir that we as a community keep making through Facebook and Twitter.

Essay over, and if you haven't already get involved in the tweetathon on June 3rd!

I liked the honesty about how everything came about. Us Shenmue fans have not been used to that for sometime.

Seems the guys a SUMO are actual fans of the game and understand why we are doing this. Lets be honest we are the only fanbase going that organises itself to get the game in the public eye. Just look at the polls we have won in the last year or so.

Scoot around ebay. I've seen individual discs on there. Cardboard sleeves not so much but worth a look

In a nutshell it has to deliver in terms of sales or we will not see another Shenmue game.

In terms of quality purposes what we saw in August was a trailer that was intended (if the rumours are true) for the PSX back in Dec 2016/Magic 2017. We then saw the delay not long after this. In terms of graphical presentation there's no way it can match the triple A titles we see today. It hasn't got the budget, however I would expect the game to be polished and have good tight mechanics.

Think originally this started out as a Kickstarter game backed by Shibuya productions, with some Sony involvement. Now it has eveolved into quite a large project with Deep Silver and now Layksha (excuse the spelling) doing the models. This will allow time to be diverted into the game by Yu and the team. What concerns me slightly is that Yu is caught between keeping us original fans happy, not changing too much and sticking to the routes, and attracting new players. Changes will have to happen but what I don't want is a game that tries to please all, fails and displeases all of us. It needs to be excellent in its own right and then marketing/promotion attracts new players. What woudl help is if SEGA decided to release the HD remasters to bring in new people or even old players who have forgotten about the game.

I firmly believe we will get a quality game given time and constructive feedback. Everyone knows this is last chance saloon here. Shenmue 3 has to deliver or the series is done. Yu is pulling out all the stops in terms of getting a competent team around him and knows the game has to deliver. I worry about the fighting as I'd love it to remain as free as the first 2 games but this is to be seen. I'd also take a delay into 2019 to ensure we get a quality product.

Also as a side note this raises the issue around the use of Kickstarter. Previously we have seen games riase money and be developed by said team and then released with varying quality. Say Shenmue 3 comes out and does well, does this change the view of kickstarter from developers eyes? Does it then say to them lets use this to get the game off the gorund and then seek backing from other sources. This might need to be another topic!

Yu has the licence to make 3 from SEGA. I would think that would include trademarks and copyrights.

In terms of the first 2 games he does not have the licence to make them but has access to the assests from the games as part of the process to make 3. I know he is using music previously recorded for 2 in 3 and was talking about having playable flashback scenes.

For me the reason I hold the game as my favourtie of all time is because it is the first time I actually felt invovled in the story of a game.

Don't get me wrong I loved Zelda OOT on the N64 and other RPG type games but none felt alive like Shenmue did. You felt a part of the journey the whole way through, had the freedom (which games take for granted now) to do as we pleased and work through the story at your own pace. It taught values of respect, friends and being brave to do what is right which I still hold to this day. Shenmue changed the way I play games and still influences the games I enjoy to this day.

I remember all the various Shenmue 3 is coming then not posts/news and each time it went quiet it would improve the resolve that we would get 3. Also what Shenmue did is indirectly form one of the most active and best communities I've been involved in.

I cannot wait for 3 to finally hit the shelves and to continue what is for me a great story.

Thats an interesting idea and one that is quite plausible given the situation & would as you say allow Sega to essentially do what they want within development.

I don't think that's the case, it wouldn't shock me within the agreement made that Yu has asked for full creative control over the game. It would make sense as it was his baby (owened by his employer) and they have so far had none of their brandings anywhere on the things we have seen from 3. It would suggest they are not actively involved.

They have done their part in terms of letting Yu make the game and having access to assets from 1 and 2. However given that until very recently they wouldn't even comment on anything Shenmue it suggests to me they are letting him get on with it. If it became a commercial success then I rekcon Sega may jump on it, what they are doing at the moment carries zero risk to them. In fact by not releasing the HD remakes they being unhelpful to promotion of 3.

Yu still has contacts within Sega the whole partnership with Deep Silver has come through a trusted source & Deep Silver have published a number of Sega titles in the west the last couple of years.

Seeing as it’s 2018 now and unfortunately we didn’t get an HD release for 2017, I’m curious as to whether people think there will be an HD release this year.

On the one hand, I believe it will happen because Shenmue 3’s release date is quickly approaching, and Sega should capitalise on that situation; however, on the other hand, wouldn’t it have been released by now if they were going to release it? They announced a long time ago that they will be looking into Shenmue HD; could it be that they gave up? Maybe because it was too expensive or complicated with all the licensing and legal issues?

Unfortunately SEGA doesn't often do much with any business logic behind it these days. Logically there is an opportunity to make a bit of money off of the remakes, especially if they were released in the same version as the DC games. Any tweaks wouldn't cost too much to do either. I wonder how much they have wasted 'investigating'.

Looking forward to this. Great work.

Entered. Thanks for the heads up.

I always find it a tad hypocritical that the same games media outlets who criticise Shenmue III's graphics mid-development don't ever seem to seriously criticise the fact that final product KC:D looks like a PC game from 10 years ago.

Annoys me to no end how willing they are to just jump on bandwagons instead of actually providing genuine researched work.

I've got Kingdom Come: Deliverance and its not a bad game though I've only spent a couple of hours on it. I have to say it does look like the game was made 5-10 years ago in terms of graphics but I personally don't care.

People jump at Shenmue because of the name and nothing else. Shenmue 3 will look better than Kingdom Come but I promise the media will say it looks like a PS3 game because I generates hits and also a game like Shenmue breaks the status quo of COD, Fifa etc annual instalments.

What we don't know is how far along the game is.

Would I like the aspect ration fixed sure, do I care enough to let it bother me... not a chance.

I'd like the shadows fixed but this will come in time. D3T will be working on this day and night it's a massive project for them and it is also in their interests to pull it off well. They know how passionate the community is and are responsive. Ask them questions, I have seem them respond to the idea of Spanish subs for example.

We are so lucky to have HD and 3 coming... appreciate what we have for just a moment (as the best damn community on the internet) and then think constructively. Help each other make this better for all of us and promote the hell out of this. The series has a major lifeline and if it doesn't do well now we can kiss it good bye.

Personally this sits well with me.

It could feed in to a wider strategy to ensure maximum exposure.

E3 the announce the HD collection release date (maybe a small Shenmue 3 teaser too)

Gamescom a fully voiced trailer.

Shenmue HD releases

Dec 2018 Shenmue 3 release date announced for Q1/2 2019.

I'd rather a polished finished game than something rushed. yes some of the gaming media will jump on this but I'm sure this was all done with the bigger picture in mind. Kingdom Come had lots of delays and turned out OK. It has to be right otherwise it puts the series at risk. Plus we know certain media outlets will slate anything Shenmue so it has to blow people away.

My best bet would be that he at least tore (or did a Kevin Nash for anyone who watches wrestling) his quad to shreds moving it unless he has some sick leg day at the gym we don't know about.

With the force of the weight going through the leg I'd expect some form of fracture, maybe not in the Femur but certainly in the lower leg. Though this was not implied by the fact his leg seemed to be pointing the right way and he said it would heal. We may see him again. Ren for sure. Joy and Wong.... maybe but not convinced.

Zhu.... that man has more information than he is letting on. We will see him again.

The NPCs and compression are the biggest issue, of course. And lack of direction. I really don't care who they get to do the dub, but I do hope it's 'passable' this time just so we're not dealing with the same "Shenmue sucks" bullshit we always have to deal with.

Hi there. I do not think that would stop the casual gamers from hating Shenmue. Ultimately, it is only understood by certain players with a certain mentality. The way Shenmue is, it's definetly more for the "hardcore" crowd. First post by the way!

Welcome :)

A long time ago I would have agreed that Shenmue is for the more 'hardcore' audience but now JRPG's are becoming a bit more mainstream I think it will appeal to a wider audience. The English dub does need to improve hugely on Shenmue 2's English dub. Some of it is plain awful, the first had a charm to it and some of the voices (Lan Di, Terry, Chai, Guizhang) were all done very well.

It begs the question that will most of the JRPG's coming over with Japanese voices and English subs, why are they doing an English dub? I've always enjoyed the Japanese voices in Shenmue 2 and the Yakuza games. Maybe an English dub will extend appeal but it needs to shine as otherwise people will jump on it.

$300 for a signed collectors edition but would happily go a little higher if they open that up.

I also ordered an extra digital copy.

This interests me as it sounds like Yu is trying to create a battle system for all.

The question is how is he going to do this. As we know the originals were based on the VF system which is quite complex. Now many of us enjoyed the learning of new moves and implementing them in a fight, however I have watched some playthroughs where people haven't bothered and sometimes struggled with the fighting.

How do you create a system that is easy to use but difficult to master so that those of us can go off and learn moves, practice etc.

The idea of being able to interact with surroundings sounds great but how do you make this challenging for people? All questions I am sure we will find the answer to very shortly.

Great article as usual

Hello,

Just a quick message to let everyone know that there is an issue with news posting and putting links in the main body of news on Facebook. The result is post reach is significantly reduced.

As a result (while a fix is found) we will be working around this by posting news and directing you to the first comment should the post have a link attached. This results in the news reaching as many as possible & continue to inform all of you.

Many thanks.

I have to say I think we will hit the $7m mark with all the upgrades people have gone for. Let alone others adding on bits and pieces while the slacker is still open.

Had deep silver not become involved there may well have been more of a push on this, time will only tell as to whether we make this or not. Remember the final surveys are sent on August 13th (Slacker closes then too) and then surveys end 30th Sept. We may get an update on the figure in August and then the final total in September/October.

I'd be surprised to see backer numbers in final sales figures, only because they are essentially distributed directly to us. Shops buy the games from distributors and then sell them on so sales figures can be somewhat skewed but by a good number of us already having Shenmue 3 ordered as backers the challenge now is to ensure as many as possible buy 3.

The HD releases are a good pointer that with the right interaction and engagement a market is certainly there for Shenmue and this should help 3.

Anyway this is now wildly off topic. I want AI battling it sounds good and we shall see if we get it!

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