Peter, I think by "they" he means the magazine and by "what they don't have" he means a release date. He's not commenting on the existence of Shenmue HD.

Let's Get Sweaty - your friendly neighborhood translation service.

Yokosuka Martian wrote:

Who thinks that looks creepy

Yeah, you've got a point there.

It always frustrates me when people say Shenmue III shouldn't be made in case it doesn't live up to the originals. I mean, Christ. Are these same people afraid to cross the road? We'd never get anything done if we just played it safe to preserve the unchallenged and unproven image of how it "could" have gone in our minds. Shenmue itself would never have been made, for a start. Yu Suzuki would be talking about this epic open world adventure that "would" have captured the imaginations of gamers around the world, and we'd be saying, "Yeah, sure. Suppose you're going to tell us it would have been better than Crash Bandicoot 17? (Hope they don't make a Crash 18... Leave the memories alone!)"

It's from earlier this year, when the Internet was on the brink of exploding over a vague, non-committal remark from a PR rep whose job it is to make vague, non-committal remarks. You'd have to think that if there was any actual evidence to support this listing, it would have been more widely reported on by now.

That's not to say that Shenmue HD definitely won't happen. Just that this "mud at the wall" magazine snippet is, almost certainly, a red herring.

ShenmueTree wrote: It was evident from the start that this was fake

If only you'd imparted your wisdom a little sooner, you could have saved Kiyuu some time!

Omikron 2 (The Nomad Soul 2).

It's always been "on the back burner" at Quantic Dream but they keep moving onto new projects without resuming this one. There's almost certainly no commercial value in a sequel, but we're allowed to be selfish in this topic, right? I'd love to revisit that world with improved controls/gameplay.

Quiet in here today!

Here are the current tallies:

Segata Senshiro - 1896
Hatsune Miku - 1633
Ryo Hazuki - 796
Vectorman - 716
Ristar - 622
Bayonetta - 576
ToeJam & Earl - 437
Billy Hatcher - 352
Blaze Fielding - 278
Axel Stone - 271
Phantom R - 268
Alis Landale - 239
Arle Nadja - 213
Sakura Shinguji - 203
Selvaria Bles - 202
Ash - 196
Opa Opa - 188
Welkin Gunther - 171
The ChuChus - 141
Space Harrier - 141
Bonanza Bros - 140
Kazuma Kiryu - 138
Sketch Turner - 129
Amitie - 109
Rag Rappy - 65
Jacky Bryant - 54

The top two seem uncatchable, but Ryo needs to keep his pedal to the metal if we don't want Vectorman nipping at his heels again. As they always say, the best defense is a strong offense, so we need to keep pushing forward right up until December 1st.

For anyone who missed it before the Sanshiro/Chuck Norris talk, I made a video that you might like to share when promoting the petition. Maybe it's not deemed worthy, I don't know, but here's the link if you want it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj-3jUf3PLc

Ahem, you mean you shared the link so a few other, unique people could vote. Good for you, if that's what you did, which it is.

HOLY FUCK! 1600?! First time in a long time the community even some of the vets who are more known for being distant in these things contributed. Awesome.

Don't be so surprised. There's a world of Shenmue fandom outside the Dojo's walls. One thing I hope people take from this experience is that different groups should be working together a lot more often, instead of the insular, almost tribal attitude that some people seem to have.

Earlier in this thread, when Ryo was struggling to pick up steam, someone asked "where are those Twitter guys now?" - referring to fans who participate in the monthly Tweetathons. But the question could just as easily be asked every 3rd of the month - where are those Dojo guys now? While some members of this site embrace it as a proactive movement towards Shenmue III, others seem to look down their nose because it didn't originate at the Dojo. But we are all one fanbase, we shouldn't be thinking in terms of us and them within what is already a niche community. I post wherever I can - here, Shenmue 500K, Shenmue UK, and of course Team Yu. If I had more than even a cursory recollection of my French lessons at school, I'd be joining the conversations at Shenmue Master as well. Integration and co-operation makes us all stronger, as this All-Stars Racing petition has proven. No single website or group could have done it alone, and I hope that resonates going forward.

I can't speak for everyone, but its been a real fuckin long time, and many of us have been around the whole time. I don't think its people turning their nose up at something that wasen't started on the Dojo (we all got on top of this and it didn't start on the Dojo) its more that the constant campaigning doesn't seem like its making an impact to most of us.
I completely understand that. Time and disappointment breed apathy and cynicism. If anyone's got a right to succumb to those effects, it's Shenmue fans.

On the other hand, the Tweetathon was designed to be as easy as possible. Once a month, on the same day, post one tweet with the same hashtag. That's the bare minimum, and you're done for another month. The aim is for your tweet to inspire someone else, who might post their own which then gets retweeted. As the months go by, the snowball effect takes hold. We're seeing it happen, and while it's yet another Shenmue campaign, it has a whole new psychology behind it. One that ultimately may not even succeed, but in the meantime it's keeping the name active in people's minds until one of those people comes up with something better.

There's no good reason not to support this, but I take on board what you're saying - some people's hesitance certainly isn't about whether it was originally a Dojo project or not. My post above was about those for whom I still believe it might be. I just hope they're a minority who get over it soon.

EDIT:

Just had a look on Sega's forum, and there may be sticky times ahead for this petition.

Sumo's now saying that if more than three characters qualify past the 1000 mark, it won't necessarily be the top three who get presented to Sega. Other factors will be considered, with preference possibly given to those who have not already featured in the All-Stars Racing series. *GULP*

If it gets to that stage, fans will be invited to debate the matter on Sega's forum, putting forth arguments for why their favorite character should be chosen. My fear is that no amount of arguing will outweigh the fact that Ryo's already had a turn and, say, Vectorman hasn't.

So what we have to hope for, first and foremost, is that the "1000+ Club" remains pretty exclusive. Miku might be ruled out (to quote S0L: "If a character can't be done for licensing, legal or other reasons, we will have runners up as alternatives"), so that gives us a little breathing room perhaps, and I don't even know if they'd be allowed to use Segata Senshiro's likeness (it's a real-life actor, after all), so the chances are reasonable that it won't come down to a debate and preferential treatment. But lets all start sticking pins in Vectorman dolls to be on the safe side.

Ryo's edged ahead of Miku to nab second place. There's only a handful of votes between them at the moment so their positions may fluctuate, but Ryo's had the greater momentum for a while now. Senshiro, get ready!

Ryo's currently back in third place behind Miku. For ease of reference I've cobbled together a page that shows live rankings, although it is slow to load: http://teamyu.net/race

Is your sister wearing that bag, or is the bag wearing your sister?

Get your picture taken under the Ramsay Street sign and bring me Doctor Karl's autograph.

Ha, I loved the N64 controller but QTEs would be a nightmare: Right, right, A, C-up, right, C-left...

Change.org is down. I think Kazuma's gone into rage mode on their servers after seeing how badly Ryo's been kicking his ass.

Apparent magazine scan here:
http://www.gamereactor.eu/news/55061/Skies+of+Arcadia+HD+revealed/

Bear in mind however that this is the same website whose own interview with Ben Harborne started the whole Shenmue/Skies HD excitement back in March, so they're naturally going to encourage any rumor that adds weight to their initial scoop. For fans' sake I hope an official announcement follows.

I preferred the other recent article, IAmNotABot's, where the passion flowed off the page. This one's a little more restrained, written in a self-conscious style of forced analysis that barely reflects his motivation for such a pilgrimage. If you want to convert a non-believer, show them the other one first.

"Sir, people on the Internet are saying we're not as good as we used to be! Word's beginning to spread, sir!"

"Hmmmm... Very well, destroy all evidence of how good we used to be. Then we can blame it on rose-tinted spectacles!"

"Genius, sir, utter genius."

So what is the Dojo doing, actively, to engage the userbase it has gathered over the past ten years or so into voting for Ryo and spreading the word to their friends?

I see one tweet on the Dojo's Twitter account, back on the 19th. Of those 814 followers, I'd venture to say that this one tweet would easily have been missed by enough would-be voters to catch up with Miku now. Would it hurt to post another? Nobody's going to unfollow after reading the same thing twice, over a week apart.

Putting the news on the front page is good, but for those who don't visit on a regular basis, how about an email sent out to all 6200+ forum members? Isn't this the type of occasion that such a function was built for? Again, no Shenmue fan's going to abandon the Dojo for daring to darken their inbox with an urgent call to action.

If Ryo finishes second then he'll still be included on the list presented to Sega (probably). But if his fanbase proves more powerful than even the fearsome cult of Miku, that surely becomes a much bigger bargaining chip for Shenmue III. As long as there's more we can do to achieve unqualified success, is there any reason at all not to be doing it? If not now, then when?

Be that as it may, it's still a very useful promotional tool that should be exploited to its full potential for a cause like this.

Karma Chameleon?

S0L hath spoken, and sanity hath prevailed!

Another thing that I want to know is why the hell were non sega characters in the thread...

As far as I know, this game is called "SONIC AND SEGA ALL STARS", not "SONIC, SEGA & ALMOSTSEMINONSEGATALL ALLSTARS"... Well, I respect that but still don't find a reason...

When the petitions were set up, there was a rule against non-Sega characters but also some confusion around the licensing of Miku, so she was allowed to stay after it was later discovered that Sega don't own the rights.

That said, the actual title of this game is Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed - not specifically Sega All-Stars. And there are already characters in the game who aren't the property of Sega: Danica Patrick and Wreck-It Ralph.

So basically it was a series if ambiguities and gray areas that allowed the likes of Miku to proceed as a contestant. If she hadn't had the kind of support she did, then perhaps the organizers would have been firmer, but apparently an angry mob of anime schoolgirl fans is something to be feared.

I saw that.

S0L posted this on the Sega forum today as well, echoing comments he's made in the past:

If I was Yu Suzuki, I'd create a Kickstarter to obtain the rights from SEGA and fund Shenmue III...

On TV they were trying to interview one of the stars of this show, but she seemed to be a little hoarse.

You just beat me too it while I was typing, FourCartridge.

1% of Miku's votes were fake, 1.5% of Ryo's votes were fake. But Ryo still had more legit votes.

Not sure how many of you have seen the discussion on Sega's forum about Shenmue III following Ryo's win, but have a read here.

The Tweetathon went extremely well yesterday, so props to the forum members who made the simple effort. Here's a little more info about it.

As for Dojo management, what more can I say? I thought progress was being made with posts like this and the thanks received on this , but the silence of the website's official channels is now beyond conspicuous.

Nice attitude Ryudo.

The point however isn't about individual forum members, amongst whom there will always be a certain amount of apathy and pessimism. The point is about the Dojo itself upholding its position as a beacon for Shenmue fandom.

Don't get me wrong, the campaign doesn't rely on the Dojo's help. It would have meant a lot more when Team Yu was just getting started, and I emailed Yama to no response. So nothing's changed there, apart from the attention we've since garnered on our own. But it would still be nice if this site (as in, its official outlets, again not its members) would demonstrate some of that unity that was talked about during the All-Stars poll, for which I again had to kick and stamp my feet to get anything more than a solitary post out of each of the Dojo's official channels, while the rest of the Shenmue fanbase were plugging away day and night to earn and secure Ryo's place on top.

Although I wrote the item quoted in that post, I was a little nervous when I learned someone had pasted it straight onto Sega's forum, where the reception was always going to be frostier than amongst the Shenmue fans it was intended for. But all things considered I think the thread has turned out rather well. Those who've tried wheeling out the old excuses against Shenmue III have had no comeback against the logic of fans who've given more than a minute's thought to the conundrum. The accepted wisdom has been broken down and exposed for the lazy thinking it's always been, and I'm now pretty pleased that it was given the opportunity to happen on Sega's own official platform.

As much as people rave about Red Dead Redemption, I've always been hesitant to buy it due to the animal hunting aspect. There's just no part of my brain that can convince itself that such a thing is enjoyable.

Slaughtering women and children? Bring it on.

I recently played To The Moon, a short, inexpensive PC game with little in the way of gameplay but one of the most touching stories I've ever encountered. I'd recommend it in the strongest possible terms if you're looking for something that'll stick with you.

In a less profound way, one of my favorite game stories/settings was Omikron: The Nomad Soul on PC and Dreamcast. The terrific atmosphere and background detail made up for some iffy (yet ambitious for the time) gameplay. It became one of those gaming worlds that would be interesting to visit in real life.

Even in fans' dreams, Sega can't resist leaving Shenmue on a damn cliffhanger.

I wasn't overly familiar with the previous iteration, but for what it's worth I like the current design and don't have any problems with the interface. If I did, and I felt it warranted comment, I'd probably try and offer something more constructive than "it's very bad." What is it that you preferred about the old look, cube_b3? And what difficulties do you encounter when navigating the site? Answer those questions and your criticism might be taken as useful rather than inflamatory.

FAO: Dojo management... again.

Shenmue fans have adopted the word UNITY for you, in the hope that you'll remember what it means. The proceeds have gone to a charity that helps speechless children learn to communicate...

http://teamyu.net/dojounity.jpg

http://adoptaword.com/search-results.php?word=unity

If you decide you'd like to start representing a fanbase that's actively campaigning for this series - the name on the Dojo's marquee - then please do. It's not difficult or time consuming at all, that's the key to its continued growth, but I'm only too happy to help you get started if you have questions.

Otherwise, if Yama didn't mean these words and Ziming's finger slipped when he thanked this post , then I'll concede I'm wasting my time. But I feel those on the Dojo who support the Tweetathon deserve support in turn from the leaders of the website they inhabit and contribute to. That's what a community does.

I liked the example that someone brought up in another recent topic. The fact that we're never supposed to be awake at dawn to see it, but they programmed a full sunrise anyway. Why? Because Shenmue, that's why.

Team Yu, together with Shenmue 500K, promotes a regular Tweetathon asking fans to express their dissatisfaction with Sega's unwillingness to commit to Shenmue 3 by using the Twitter hashtag #GiveYuTheShenmueLicense on the 3rd of each month.

What we'd like from Dojo management is a response to our requests for them to support the event with the Dojo's official outlets, most specifically the @Shenmue_Dojo account on Twitter.

Ideally of course we'd like them to say "Yes, of course we'll do this. We run a website made by Shenmue fans, for Shenmue fans, and so there's no reason we can't take a few seconds out of our day once a month to help promote the only active and growing campaign for Shenmue 3."

But if they won't to do that, then we'd like them to at lease take responsibility for that decision and explain why.

Hope that covers everything, KiBa.

PS: Just this morning, the ShenmueFans page on Facebook with over 15,000 subscribers agreed to help promote the event, just as they did with the All-Stars contest. That's the kind of unity we're looking for between fansite managers.

The DS is a goldmine if you can weed through the hamster cooking sims.

Here are some of my favorites:

Soul Bubbles
Elite Beat Agents
Super Scribblenauts
Jewel Quest Expeditions
Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
Mario & Luigi: Brothers in Time/Bowser's Inside Story
Ace Attorney series (Phoenix Wright, Apollo Justice, Miles Edgeworth)

I've played very few games on my 3DS so far. You have Mario 3D Land, and I'm sure you already have an opinion on Ocarina of Time, so that just leaves me to say: "Lego Pirates of the Carribbean is not a series highlight."

So I've spent the evening totting up tweets, because I'm a dude who knows how to spend a Friday night, and it's good news again .

And call me an optimist Ziming, but I hope the number of retweets that your message received, compared with other recent output on the @Shenmue_Dojo account (32 vs 5, 4, 1, 0, 2, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0...), might give you pause for thought on what it is that Shenmue fans really care about. I think it goes to show that not everyone within your sphere of influence is as campaign-weary and jaded towards Shenmue III as you're feeling right now. I'd be delighted if this perked up your spirits, but of course I'll gladly settle for another tweet every 3rd of the month. :)

Is this a lost script for Keenan & Kel?

"It wasn't cheap the first time either, but since you lost all that money you can't afford to replace it yourself dear. It's OK, I didn't need that vacation anyway, there's always next year. You deserve to have the wallet after what you've been through."

The nVidia machine looks ridiculous and smacks of "me too" - their nose is just out of joint because none of the main companies are using their tech in their new systems. They're about to find out the hard way that it takes more than a good microchip to make a successful games console.

And flaunting a system like Android that's most commonly associated with mobile phones will turn away more customers than it attracts.

"I see" is a supremely useful phrase. When you need to register your understanding of what the other person just said, but don't wish to imply approval with "OK," this little gem will see you through. I use it often at work, and always think of Ryo.

Get the F out, mue.

I've only played one game on Steam thus far, so I was slightly alarmed when I started it up and was informed that my computer was "Preparing to launch To the Moon..."