In my opinion the job of an ending of a game with a continue is to make the player want to play the next part. And Shenmue 2 really did that job for 10 YEARS! So many people still want shenmue 3.

ALSO, by adding to the THING universe, it is saying that The Original Thing was incomplete or not good enough in certain respects. Maybe it wasn't, maybe new technology can improve certain things but that is beside the point... All art, all medias reflect the zeitgeist of their creation, it is what makes them what they are. And you simply cannot remake the past. All things should be left there as we move forward with originality or clever re-appropriation (adapting novels, philosophical ideas, debates etc...)

I used to be relaxed about remakes but when you really study media theory and all its subtext you begin to see how abhorrent the idea of a remake is... It is IP rape.... trading on an established name for money simply because they can't be creative enough to come up with something original...I am being purposefully harsh there because many remakes are created with the right intentions but i am more talking about the ideal of remakes....

Film Adapted from film is like eating your own tail. Thematic cannibalism is fine, make a film about cabin fever and trust but don't borrow wholesale...

Well...I hate to say it, but Kiba seems to have taken all the wind out of the "remake is IP rape" argument. As he is indeed right, the movie that you were so disturbed about being remade....was already a remake...

Not that I necessarily disagree with your point about wholesale remake's being poo generally speaking, however, my point was just: So what if they are poo? Forget about "IP rape" and all these dramatic terms, and you'll find that your appreciation for the original doesn't change one iota. If you just treat a modern or foreign remake for what it is- an entirely different piece of work- how can it bother anyone? If you saw some unofficial and cheap fan made remake of The Thing, would it have bothered you as much? It seems to me, that under certain circumstances people seem to (almost deliberately) make the task of distinguishing between two different pieces of work harder than it should be. Rip offs will always exist, it's how you view them that matters.

However, this is quite all beside the point, as in Shenmue's case the situation is a bit different. So OK, I admit, if it turns out that in Shenmue 3 Yu Suzuki's long awaited end game is Ryo reaching the end of his journey only to find it was only all a dream, yeah, it would be more difficult not to have your perception of the last two games altered (though it still wouldn't effect my love. As I seem to be quite good at not letting anything tarnish the things I love), but at least I would know that I had experienced Yu's saga in it's entirety . At least I now know .

But in reality, predicting what the game would be like is pointless, because none of us know what it would be like. Wouldn't you be willing to risk the unknown, to risk the chance of bitter disappointment or total elation, for Shenmue 3? Is it not cowardly to desire the story remain incomplete, just in case your hopes are dashed?

A victory is only sweet when it wasn't certain.

Haven't posted since all that HD tomfoolery earlier in the year (still expect it to happen eventually, HD release would most likely be associated with some sort of discussion about the future of the saga if Sega has any sort of business sense anymore...) but as others have already posted, this excluded fron Allstar transformed matter does rile the emotions a bit.

As the devs (Sol, especially) have noted, this racing franchise is heavily rooted in the idea of assembling Sega's greatest IP/characters from past, present, and future into one big fan appreciation kart racing game - a Super Smash Bros of kart racing for Sega if you will. Does everyone remember how hard everyone crossed their fingers to have Ryo included in the first title and how (rightfully) proud SUMO was when they officially announced that against all opposition they had gone ahead and included one of gaming history's most misunderstood/underappreciated IP/characters based almost on nothing but their very own unbreakable passion for the series?

All I'm saying is this - SUMO's exclusion of Ryo from Transformed is - if you didn't realize it already - a HUGE blow against Shenmue support/re-emergence. Heck, Ryo's inclusion in the first All-Stars racing was one of the huge events that got the gaming world talking about Shenmue again in recent memory. For SUMO to exclude Ryo for reasons I will touch upon coming right up is another glaring example of a gaming development club either not caring enough to put the effort into revitalizing the Shenmue name or buckling under the pressure to do so.

Ryo's inclusion in the first All-Stars racing not only enticed many of us longtime Shenmue fans to anticipate, buy, and honestly enjoy the game but also impressed many other longtime, hardcore Sega fans in general who saw the inclusion of Ryo and many other Sega classic characters as an awesome reason to anticipate the game likewise. Ryo is without a doubt, definitely a Sega All-Star - has always been and always will be.

For SUMO to cite the weak excuse of 'oh, bike characters were too unbalanced' and remove Ryo just becuase he rode a bike in the first game is a slap in the face of everyone involved. If they truly believed Ryo belonged in the game and truly had passion to revitalize the image and acknowledgement of the series they would have made Ryo work in this game. They are game developers, after all, correct? It is the job of game developers to program, design, and develop concepts to work within the game design, right?

Heck, here's an idea. And it's free. And it ups the nostalgia of Shenmue even more if they had actually had the creativity to include this in Transformed. Don't like bikes? Fine. Include both Ryo and Lan Di as a racing team. Now listen carefully before questioning that duo. Default racing mode is Lan Di's black car (not a bike!). Boat mode is Lan Di's powerboat. Plane mode is Lan Di's helicopter (hell it could be Shenhua's hawk). Add to the nostalgia and fan appreciation by penning a tenuous and comedic fragile alliance between Ryo and Lan Di in their attempt to win in the racing game by having quotes/lines like: Ryo: "I will have my revenge!" Lan Di: "Just drive." etc.

TL;DR - Ryo deserves to be in Sega All-Stars Racing Transformed. Citing that bike characters didn't balance the game correctly is an excuse. Shenmue is robust enough of a series to have enough resource material to allow the SUMO developers to exercise enough game developing creativity to make Ryo work - if they were truly passionate about keeping Ryo and the Shenmue franchise alive in the game. Unless they truly aren't.

PS. Really hope Ryo gets developed as an upcoming DLC character for Dead or Alive 5. If you get pass the brand's signature superficial T&A trappings fighting game fans will find that DOA5 is the best yet and certainly an extremely solid and competent fighting game. Ryo would fit well. Having Lan Di included as well would allow all of us to enact that final dream battle that we continue to day dream about ten years and going. Although being a DOA game, wouldn't mind seeing how Team NINJA would develop a Xiuying DLC character, if you know what I'm sayin'...

Did Sega not check the numbers on these jacket sales? Im super curious now lol.. shit just got stupid.

Just got stupid? They are the sole owners of a hugely popular legendary franchise, and they just sit on it. Whenever they (or usually other people) drum up interest in Shenmue (like announcing an HD release), they do nothing because they don't want to make money. They'e wholly inept as economic human beings. They've all got to be on drugs or something. Business is one area where Darwinism can provide a complete explanation. Do you know why Sega doesn't have a console right now? Because they're $ special needs.

Ryudo wrote: He might be in the 3rd.....

Ryo doesn't do too well with third installments.

Hi Guys!

I've written an article about Shenmue at http://newbreview.com/?p=21991 that you guys and gals may be interested in.

I'm really interested in what you guys think as there'll obviously be some tough customers - I'd greatly appreciate any praise or criticism.

I realise that this post could be construed as 'plugging' but you have to admire my audacity at least, right?

Right? :-"

This NEEDS to make the front page of the site and possibly a youtube video by ziming etc.

Any chance of this happening?

Wow, I'm absolutely beside myself by the responses! Thank you all for your kind words and I'm so pleased to see that I've inspired RyoHazuki84 to talk about his own experiences!

The article came about from a frustration, one that few people acknowledge that the two games were a gift, and have merits that are rarely articulated. When I do notice people discussing Shenmue I always hear or read things along the lines of: 'The game was alright, the forklift driving was the best bit' or, 'Where is the gameplay?' etc.

So I wanted to speak up about what Shenmue really offers and wanted to do everything I could to do it justice. I worked on this article for five days and struggled to keep the content under 2,000 words and had to cut entire paragraphs to tighten the pacing. It took me five days to condense my viewpoint as concisely as possible, so everything posted here means an awful lot to me!

I'm definitely interested in tackling Shenmue II, but first I need to play through the entire game again to completely refresh my memory. I still have my Dreamcast hooked-up and Shenmue II in its frayed-as-all-hell sleeve. I need to find a unique angle that tells a different story to justify writing this, but I'm certainly up to the task.

Special mention to Ziming for his/her incredible dedication and the promotion of my piece!

Cheers all!

We have until the end of the month, so everyone needs to spread the word around various gaming forums - not all Shenmue fans participate in dedicated communities like this, but are more than happy to do their bit when they're made aware of specific events.

Rllmuk again? Hahaha, I honestly don't think my soul could stand another blast of such potent cynicism and apathy. Though, as you may remember S0L posts there, and they have an active SASRT thread there, so it may be worth my while to post a lil something (and thus further reinforce my rep there as an 'ardcore Shenmue soldier :brutal2: )

Not at all. We are encouraged to promote it. Hopefully the facebook pages, and maybe Zim can get something on the Youtube site quickly and get this as much exposure as we can. I still think an email to all registered members will be the best thing. 6000+ members and all we need is a 6th of that to take 2 minutes and vote.

I found this funny, but I got Corey Marshall to sign the petition

Maybe, but it will lend some weight to the franchise if Ryo is included in another game thats been released to the public. I hate to be pessimistic, but as life on the current gen comes to a close, i become more negative that we will see Shenmue DLC for the 360/PS3. If they did get it developed in time (if Sega have even commissioned it), then it would be Shenmue II DC PAL all over again, releasing it on a console thats at the end of its tether. An extension of that again is no Shenmue news at all, years go by, and this place struggles to even talk about what it exists for. Things like this keep Shenmue conversations alive which is greatly needed around here.

But even on the face of it, if there is a poll going on for Ryo Hazuki to appear in a game, then as the self proclaimed number 1 Shenmue fan site, then we should be on this. If we hang the sign above the door, we should be following it through. Heavily. If we dont push this, who will? If there is no hype, does that mean people dont care about Shenmue in the now, or in the future? When people think of Shenmue, is it just for nostalgia and rembering the past? If they do then they may as well admit that they consider the franchise dead. Ryo in this game, will not result in Shenmue III, but it shows there is an interest in him. It shows even more that theres an interest in him with this poll because there as no way to gauge the number of sales of the original game to Ryos inclusion or exclusion. But this vote gauges the interest of Ryo specifically. There is a difference in saying "Ryo is in the game because the developers like Shenmue", and "Ryo is in this game because of the overwhelming demand from the fans of Shenmue". It may not result in anything major, but for all the campaigning that has went on over the years, and all the talk of making yourselves noticed. All the petition signing for franchise revival? Here it is.

I know this wont resul in something major happening, thats not the point i am getting at. What i feel is important is that here we have a development studio right, who after a profitable game release, we can assume has a goos working relationship with Sega, saying that they cannot garuntee the top 3 of a poll will appear as DLC characters, but what they will do after a period of 2 weeks is present the results to Sega. Now if the top 3 are Miku, Segata and and Ryo, then Sega will have been shown that the fan support for any character from any of their franchises lies with Ryo. Miku isnt Segas property, and Segata isnt even a character from a game. But he is also Iwao Hazuki. I just feel its a proper opportunity to make a statement to Sega which we will have seen, can be measured for a change. Its sure as hell better than any capsule posting campaign, and at the very worst, if Sumo can help it, there will be a little reward at the end of it with Ryo being included in another game.

Sorry for the rant, but thats how strongly i feel about Shenmue. You all know that.

Actually the bigger the numbers for any given character, the easier the conversation is to convince SEGA there is a call for that character, either as DLC or in a future game.

Put it this way, if we had 50,000 votes for any given character - that would be very hard to ignore when it comes to DLC requests. That's not a challenge BTW!

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S0L
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obviously no character is going to reach that figure, but lets continue to push ryo as hard as we can.

Good news in the sense this pretty much leaves all but Shenmue. Plus Skies is a great game. Nice to see an epic RPG getting a re-release in this fashion.

I used to joke that Sega would end up porting Toe Jam and Earl before Shenmue, but that's actually happening now. So really, what's left? :???:

Also, Ziming/Peter...if you have non-public info that you aren't sharing (sounds pessimistic anyway), the least you can do is not make vague, public references to it. Shame [-X [-(

http://i767.photobucket.com/albums/xx318/askvera/s2cd_sigbanner.png


DOWNLOAD - https://www.dropbox.com/s/8qkby011a3tkgg2/Shenmue%20II%20Character%20Database.rar

Yep. After nearly a decade, it's done, people :D

HISTORY OF THE SHENMUE II CHARACTER DATABASE PROJECT
Ever since casting my eyes upon screenshots of Shenmue published in the (now defunct) UK magazine Computer and Video Games, I have been absolutely enthralled by the series. This game was definitely something different. As the famous tagline proclaimed in the trailers before its release – RPG had changed. Sure, hailing the game as being its own exciting new “genre” with a somewhat silly acronym as its name (FREE- Full Reactive Eyes Entertainment) was being a tad overzealous perhaps, but you had to admire Yu Suzuki’s ambition for this game. When I finally got to play it on the Christmas morning of 2000, it did not disappoint. The atmosphere created was just amazing to me – a realistic, living, breathing town with over 300 individual characters – all with their own specific daily routines and, in supplementary materials, all named and given detailed biographies! Throw in the fantastic music and the engaging (if not completely original) story and you really had something special. And this was only part one of the saga...

Bundled with the game was the ‘Shenmue Passport’ disc. Through the Dreamcast’s internet connection, this enabled access to all sorts of information about the game, as well as ranking leaderboards for the various mini-games and the chance to get exclusive capsule toys. One of the best features was the character profile section however; as you met and conversed with the characters during a playthrough, their profiles would gradually be added to the Passport. Now to some, giving all 300+ characters names, stats, and biographies may seem extraneous, (especially given characters that Ryo can’t even speak to have detailed information about them!) but it really shows the love and care put into the game by the developers and the amount of depth to Shenmue that few games have matched.

PASSPORT EXPIRED
The Passport service was eventually taken offline in April 2002, but thankfully the character profiles had also been published in Prima’s strategy guide book for the game, so the information was still readily available to fans.
Which brings us to the sequel game, Shenmue II – which I got the following Christmas in 2001. This sadly could end up being the last game in the series, despite it ending on a cliffhanger and at a game-changing point in the saga’s story. Nonetheless, the sequel’s world was even bigger than the first’s– Ryo travels to Hong Kong to continue his quest, with most of its areas completely dwarfing Shenmue I’s in terms of size, as well as the amount of characters – around 700. There was also a lot more mini-games and sidequests to discover, and fans generally agree it is more action-packed and that the plot moves a lot quicker than the first game (though some will argue Shenmue I’s atmosphere has more charm) And what of these 700-odd characters? Were they all named and profiled as per the original game? As it turns out, yes – but these were not readily available to the fans outside of Japan.

Firstly, unlike the first Shenmue, there was no Passport. There was no Prima guide either, as the Dreamcast version had been cancelled in America. America eventually saw an updated version of Shenmue II on the Microsoft Xbox, and a Prima guide was finally published. However, unlike the Shenmue I book, there were only profiles on the main characters; Ryo, Shenhua, Xiuying, Fangmei, Ren, Joy, Wong, Lan Di, Dou Niu and Yuan. The Xbox version, with the new snapshot feature, did include profiles on some of the other characters; unlocked when you took pictures of them, but it didn't come close to having profiles for all the characters. Would we ever know the names and backgrounds of the reams of anonymous characters?

A FAN EFFORT
Shortly after I had completed Shenmue II, I looked around on the internet for fansites/information about the series, ultimately finding the excellent Shenmue Dojo website. I joined the forums, and this was in fact one of the first message boards I signed up to on the internet. My handle on the forum was (and still is) ‘Miles Prower’, as I am also a long-time fan of the Sonic the Hedgehog series of games (and Sega games in general). I made a lot of good friends through the Dojo community and have many fond memories associated with the forums. I think between us we have probably discussed every single aspect of the games to death, but as many fans will attest, you find or notice something new with every playthrough of these wonderful games. Not to mention the very active hacking/modding scene that developed, mostly headed by longtime member LanDC, in which reams of unused content was discovered and many interesting and or humourous modifications made to the game. I still get a warm nostalgic feeling every time I watch LanDC’s Road to Amihama videos in particular.

And indeed, the question of whether detailed character profiles existed for Shenmue II’s cast was raised in discussion. In a thread from 2003, a member named Eek the Cat shared some scans of a guidebook he owned published in Japan called the Shenmue II Perfect Guidebook. The scans showed that there were indeed names and profiles for each and every character.
Eek was even kind enough to put all of the scans together on a CD for me and mail it to me, and even threw in a couple of audio CD’s he had compiled containing music from Shenmue II (sadly the second game never had any official soundtracks released).

The problem? Being that this book was from Japan, the character names were in Chinese and the information in Japanese. Through discussion in the topic, another forum member called khien agreed to help with translating the character names as she could read Chinese. And so began the effort to translate the many character profiles. I began by gradually posting them within the topic, and then eventually creating a website (which, thanks to Web Archive, you can still view here , albeit with most of the images missing).

Continuing into 2004 and beyond, progress was quite slow, mainly due to me starting university. Khien’s life ended up becoming quite busy as well, but thanks to the efforts of another forum member, Oda Ryo, the translation work still continued. The forum member Kiyuu (possibly Japan’s biggest Shenmue fan, and often referred to as the ‘Shenmue Queen’), also informed me that another book existed, the Shenmue II Complete Guide, which contained profiles for characters not included in the Perfect Guidebook; namely those for the many pedestrians who wander the streets of Hong Kong. I made the effort to acquire this book myself and make scans for the remaining profiles.

RESSURECTING THE PROJECT
As the years went on, however, my free time became less and less. I studied for three years at university and after graduating in 2008, I was working full time; in short I was growing up. It was also looking increasingly unlikely that a Shenmue III would ever emerge. Life went on. However, my enthusiasm to complete the project was somewhat fired up again when Peter from the forums (who most likely owns the biggest Shenmue collection in Ireland) got in touch with me on Facebook asking if I was still working on it, as the Dojo staff had managed to get an interview with one of the voice actors for the English dub of Shenmue II (a very interesting read by the way, which can be found here , and they had requested that video clips be assembled of the characters he voiced, which he supplied a list of – but only by name and brief descriptions. Using the information from my project I helped with finding some of them. I then found myself wanting to get the project finished once and for all, and got back in touch with Oda Ryo who happily assisted me with getting the remaining names translated.

I had also spoken to the member ‘thegreatchai’, who had also been attempting to catalogue the character information on her wiki site, and over time we assisted each other greatly. I began transferring the information to an Excel spreadsheet with the intention of creating a complete database of all the Shenmue II characters – which after assembling a numbered list I discovered there are exactly 700 – surely a deliberate intention of the creators? At any rate, after a few months work the project was finally finished. I am glad that this information is now easily accessible to Shenmue fans, and while some may consider me obsessive or downright insane for pursuing with the project, it was worth it for a game series that I love so much and one day hope will be continued in some form. We can but hope. The saga may still go on....

DOWNLOAD - https://www.dropbox.com/s/8qkby011a3tkgg2/Shenmue%20II%20Character%20Database.rar

Please feedback and let me know if you spot any mistakes or errors, or any factoids about the characters that I may have missed. Most of all, enjoy :D

I remember being psyched when you originally announced this project. Years later, I remember wondering and worrying about what might have happened to this project. I eventually dismissed it as never being completed and with Passport gone, that part of Shenmue (the detailed NPCs) was beginning to be a memory of the past. You have put closure on the security behind retaining all of that information and for that, I thank you. This milestone shows how serious the Shenmue community can get when it comes to the storyline and detailed information. You deserve a lot of credit and a front page news bulletin on every existing Shenmue fan site.

Yu Suzuki would be proud, send him a copy.



=D> :mrgreen: =D>

Lan Di-sama wrote: Even if he doesn't make DLC, he won the contest and we've made our point.

Though the former is unjust, I completely agree with this point. The bigger task at hand has been completed, raising awareness. I'm also happy to see the communities unify on this effort, that's how it should always be.

They should throw us a curve ball and have Lan Di as DLC. A Black Car for driving, helicopter for flying, and.. a boat (to Hong Kong) for the water segments?

Sumo answered me this one, on twitter:

'Steve Lycett ‏@S0LSUM0
@ThyDarkAngel we couldn't get Lan Di in. Not after what happens in Shenmue 3. You know where.... Oh.'

Hehe.

I figured a topic is due considering that not only is Dark Souls one of the best games in this generation (IMO), but they've also announced a direct sequel, Dark Souls II

Hopelessness, Despair, and Impending Doom Arrives With Dark Souls II

SAN JOSE, Calif. – December 7, 2012 – Leading video game publisher and developer NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. today proudly announces that the critically acclaimed Dark Souls™ saga marches forward with Dark Souls™ II, currently in development at FromSoftware in Tokyo, Japan. Dark Souls II will continue a legacy of goading its passionate fan base with unrelenting challenge and suffering that are considered a hallmark of the series; while presenting new devilishly devised obstacles for players to overcome. Dark Souls II will be available for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, and PCs.

Built upon the foundation established by Souls series creator and Dark Souls II Supervisor, Hidetaka Miyazaki with development helmed by FromSoftware Director Tomohiro Shibuya, Dark Souls II will feature a new hero, a new storyline, and an unfamiliar world for players to survive in while delivering its signature brand of unrelenting punishment that players hunger for. Epic battles with gruesome enemies and blood-thirsty bosses await adventurers as they traverse through a devastated world filled with death and despair; only those who are strong willed or cunning can survive this journey to achieve great glory. Players seeking to share their experience will discover a revamped server-based multiplayer mode that will put a distinct Dark Souls II twist on the concept of playing with others.

“Dark Souls II retains the core essence of Dark Souls while evolving to present new twists and challenges that are sure to please longtime fans and attract new comers to the series,” says Carlson Choi, Vice President of Marketing at NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. “FromSoftware is going to take a very dark path with Dark Souls II; players will need to look deep within themselves to see if they have the intestinal fortitude to embark on this journey.”

“This new chapter in the Dark Souls saga presents opportunities for us to drive innovation in gameplay design, develop an entirely new story, and expand the scope of the world in which the player interacts with the game. We have taken these necessary steps with Dark Souls II in order to evolve the overall experience of the Dark Souls series,” says Tomohiro Shibuya, FromSoftware Director on Dark Souls II. “The entire development team is striving to make Dark Souls II an experience that is fresh while not forsaking its roots in presenting players with challenging gameplay. Our goal is to surprise and delight our fans with new experiences and plot twists while enticing new players to join our dark journey.”

More details surrounding Dark Souls II will become available in the months leading to its release. Begin your Dark Souls II journey at http://www.DarkSoulsII.com or join the Dark Souls II conversation on Facebook at http://www.Facebook.com/DARKSOULS or follow us on Twitter at http://www.Twitter.com/Filthierich

Official site: http://www.darksoulsii.com/

I cannot wait. As you all know, I love Dark Souls. It's a game that is uncompromising, dark and bleak with tons of atmosphere. Rarely do you play a game and feel so alone and helpless. But at the same time, for all of it's renowned difficulty (and it is difficult, believe me) it is also never unfair and the game does just enough to help you out along the way. More than that, you want to keep playing. You know that as you explore the world, there'll always be something new to find, and there will always be that feeling of "shit, I've ventured too far, these enemies are way more powerful, I shouldn't be here but....the loot!". You fight, you'll die, but you also learn from your mistakes. And there's never a greater feeling than going back to an area that used to give you so much grief in the early stages and be able to plow right through them with your upgraded gear and stats. The game itself is also really innovative in it's multiplayer and you see games like ZombiU now using the messaging system in it's game too.

If you've ever seen the gameplay and think it might not be for you, I urge you to at least try it. None of this 'mash A to win' crap. If you really want to test yourself, knowing that progression in the game is entirely down to your reactions and skills, this is the game for you.

I only just played through Journey yesterday, but the hype is completely warranted.
It's short. Very short. And the "story" is so simple that it's almost ( almost ) nonexistent.
But it truly is, as I'm sure has been expressed by others, the kind of game that makes you feel something. It's not the kind of thing that can really be explained in plain words; it looks great, sounds great, and functions well, but there's more to it than that.
The main thing you take away from it is how much it makes you feel uplifted, excited, or even worried within its short two-hour run, all without a single word being uttered. And the experience is even more incredible if you happen to be signed into your PSN account, as the game will drop other players into your game at random.
Now, initially this might sound like a bad idea. Why would you want some dumb, random kid dropping into your game and effing up your experience?
But it just doesn't happen that way. There's nothing they can really do to mess things up. They show up, and it's like they're just taking this journey along with you; you happen to be kindred spirits following the same path. That sounds cheesy, I know, but it's hard to describe it any other way. You help eachother, activate the game's puzzles together, and even, during the game's final stretch, keep eachother "warm" while traversing the game's frigid snow level (seriously, it's a gameplay mechanic). Truly the best use of online play I've ever seen, and it's so incredibly simple and innocent. You stumble across them and immediately bond without using words.
And the game's "ending" really is the kind of thing that will affect everyone a little differently.

It may be stylized, but it's immersive as hell, and it certainly will make you feel something. Don't judge it by the demo up on PSN; the full game has to be experienced to really "get" it.

Had you actually ever heard of Tuva before that dream? Its remarkable the kind of shit that we don't even realize we know until it slips out of our subconscious.

Also I can't help but imagine the imprint of the sword and two mirrors you described looking like anything but a giant phallic monument. I don't want to play armchair Freudian dream interpreter, but I think your dreams may be trying to tell you something....

Yeah guys, it might not live up to the previous, so we should just forget about it and so should sega. Guarentee you, the writer of this post has the tiniest balls in the world and never ever dares to fart for fear of shitting his pants. Not even worth reading.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwQoF105RO4[/youtube]

Better games? The WWE series has been shit for a while.


Just don't give it to EA.

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

1% of Miku's votes were fake, 1.5% of Ryo's votes were fake. But Ryo still had more legit votes. 8)

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 1st post is simply amazing.

http://i.imgur.com/52zmi.jpg

Always thought this was one of many overlooked gems of the PS2.From what I remember,there is no combat nor a health bar.But the story itself is what got me interested.I'm not good at typing out reviews so I'll just paste a summary of the gameplay from wikipedia.

The objective of Shadow of Memories is to guide player character Eike Kusch through the fictional German town of Lebensbaum (Life's Tree) as he travels through time to prevent his murder and unmask his murderer.The game takes place in three parts: a prologue, eight chapters,and an epilogue.In the prologue and each chapter,Eike dies,is resurrected by the non-player character Homunculus,and travels back in time before his death with the intent of changing events to prevent it.Shadow of Memories lacks traditional action elements,and Eike cannot attack nor does he have a bar displaying his health.The digipad,a time-traveling item given to Eike by Homunculus,requires energy units,which the player can find scattered around the town.The gameplay primarily consists of time-traveling through the different eras, finding items, and interacting through dialogue with the non-player characters.Actions taken in one time period affect future ones; for example,if Eike removes a seal from the squire's manor in 1580, the seal will not appear in the present era.

Additionally,the game keeps two digital clocks: one depicting the time in the present-day era and another for whichever era Eike time-travels to.The amount of time Eike spends in the different eras also passes in the present-day one.The cut-scenes and dialogue takes up varying amounts of in-game time.When the clock arrives at the time of Eike's death, the chapter restarts; however,if Eike is not in his time period at the time of his death, the game ends.

I've just started using Twitter abit so shall tweet on the 3rd as planned.

I liked that in the second game an NPC might actually answer the door when you knocked on a random one in an apartment complex.

I also really liked how much homework went into studying the martial arts aspect of the game. One of the move scroll store owners in the Thousand White building asks Ryo if Ryo has practiced martial arts. Ryo replies that he has and asks the store owner how he could tell. The store owner says he could tell by the way Ryo shifts his balance when he walks.

A couple of years ago when I was switching martial art schools one of the teachers asked if I had taken martial arts before on my first day there. I said "yeah, how did you know?" The teacher said he knew by the way I shifted my balance when I walked.

Much appreciated, Ziming. I've always felt that even if the tweetathon didn't help, it was a good outlet to display our disappointment with Sega over it, and that's a little something, at least. I believe we gotta stand up and not shut up about it. If you're not happy with something ya gotta speak up or you're forever getting your fudge packed.

There was a scene in the movie About Schmidt (later omitted) that echoes an earlier iconic scene from a much older Nicholson film, 5 Easy Pieces . In it Schmidt gives in to the demands of a waitress, instead of getting what he ordered. It was in early test screenings, but was pretty much deleted, yet a glimmer of it still remains in the movie at the beginning. In 5 Easy Pieces he's in a diner and asks for some toast, but the waitress wouldn't give it to him, and so he spoke up abut it. Here's the clip on Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvXVP5lSF1s


This was a normal way of doing things back in the day. Your parents ever embarass you by making a huge fuss over something in public? Same thing here. People don't do this often enough anymore. We're too conciliatory. You might be surprised how often and easily this works. I once got a mailed threat from Blockbuster Video that they would take the money I owed them to collections unless promptly paid. They sent me this for a late fee of about 4 dollars that was only 3 weeks old. Normally, you might expect your customer to pay it the next time they rented a movie, but nooooooo, Them fuckers wanted their cash right now. So I wrote out a check to Ballbuster Video (literally) and in the memo portion wrote " Blockbuster sucks fucking donkey balls. Netflix is better!" They cashed that shit. A few months later, Blockbuster got rid of all late fees. I must not have been the only one to complain. and not too much later, Ballbuster Video pretty much went out of business. That's what happens when you lose sight of things.

One time I was at my local grocery store when the old lady ringing me up (who, I might add, coincidentally looked a lot like the waitress in 5 Easy Pieces) looked at the back of my card, saw no signature (it was a brand new card, got it that day), and reprimanded me on not having my signature on it, She wasn't nice abut it either. So I asked her if I could use her marker, as to oblige her. she gave it to me and I wrote EAT SHIT on it. I handed it back to her and said "HOW YA LIKE THAT, LADY?" The look on her face was priceless! I kept it on my card, and for years wrote it on all subsequent cards, for it really was just a colorful way of writing check ID. This tactic worked like a charm as instead of just glancing at the back of my card, people would go "Whaaaa?" and actually check my id. You should try it if you're having card issues. Most people would just laugh, but once in a while I would get frowns, and one time I was even kicked out by the manager of a Subway for it. More like forbidden to come back to the premises, as I got to finish my sandwich before getting the heave ho. Not like it mattered, the place was out of my neck of the woods. Speaking of Subway ....

A few years ago I would often stop by the nearest Subway to pick up my lunch on my way to work, until suddenly they stopped taking Master Card, and would no longer accept my only form of payment (I refuse to walk around with cash. We live in the future, goddamnit!) The other Subway in town was owned by the same person and thus didn't accept Master Card either. I took it upon myself to send both stores a Txt-to-land-line message every day that read "I am boycotting your store because you won't take Master Card. Because of that, I now eat at Jimmy John's. I am an unsatisfied customer, hear me roar!" It was a celebrity impersonator txt to landline service, and of course I chose Arnold Schwartzenegger. Because when it comes right down to it, ya gotta go with the running man. This went on for 3 and a half weeks until I woke up one fine morning and actually got a reply from the Manager of one of the Subways. She said that they were in negotiations with Master Card, but that they'd take my card anyway. So I went and got me a muthafuckin sammich. Nice happy ending, eh? Years earlier they had a sandwich called the Southwest Chipotle Guacamole crunchamunchfuckafuckafoofoo or smething like that. Either way it had Guacamole, which I had thought was what made the sandwich so tasty, but I was probably just too intoxicated to know I was eating garbage. Anyhw, I only got to eat it three times, the first time drunk, second time right after having a wisdom tooth pulled and still flying high on sodium pentothol, the third time while taking shrooms. The first and only time I took shrooms, and I didn't even really get many visuals, though my senses went into overdrive, felt like I was the six million dollar man, could hear everything outside clearly, and my subway guaca crunchasouthwestafuckafoo sandwich was the best thing I ever ate in my life. It was like angels pooping golden daffodils in your mouth. Wait, that's kind of a shitty metaphor. Anyhow, the sandwich was a limited time deal, I guess. I wrote them an email every day for a few months begging them to bring back the Guac, but it fell on deaf ears. I would make up the dumbest reasons for them to bring it back, like my great grandma was on her death bed, and she had finally mustered up the strength to utter 3 or 4 whateverthefuck words "S-s-suuu-uubbway S-S-southwest G-G-guacamole C-C-cr-crunchamuncha fuckaduppadadippittydo sandw-w-w-wwich." Years later they did indeed bring back the Guac, but it tastes like a fart tart. Maybe it was because I was sober?

My dad used to tell me that if someone punches you, you HAVE TO punch them back, and it's advice to live by. It doesn't matter if they're bigger than you, or that you don't stand a chance. Fucking man up and retaliate, he'd say, otherwise they own you no matter what. We gotta be less like Schmidt, and more like the old codger in this video.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_-BoAw0l4Q

Thanks for giving us a reply and for agreeing to take part on the 3rd Ziming.

I'll try and address your concerns though, since you were good enough to explain. The purpose of the Tweetathon, and what makes it different to previous campaigns, is that our tweets aren't for the direct attention of Sega. A lot of people do @mention Sega's account, and that's fine (as long as Sega doesn't get them suspended for spam...), but the intention is to create a high enough volume of visible unrest, concentrated on one day on a platform as public as Twitter, that even Sega's higher-ups become acutely aware of how their company looks when they ignore the fans.

This is the entire point of our campaign, Ziming. It's not just about shouting at the brick wall that is Sega, it's about appealing to the rest of the world (NOT just existing Shenmue fans), and if we can get enough other people to listen to us then Sega will no choice but to take heed. Sure they can ignore a few hundred or even a few thousand Shenmue fans easily, but they can't ignore their image being significantly tarnished on a very public forum. Who knows, it may be just enough to finally push them over the edge and get them to at least release Shenmue HD.

It's important people understand this, as it's the core premise of this campiagn. We are not just appealing to Sega.

Also, where the hell did this Jack Burton geez come from? This is the first time I've seen him post, and what a knowledge bomb of a first post it was. :nice!:

It's non-news.

What it says is that in issue 226, which is out now, they said that: "SEGA is gradually remaking their previous gen games, and the Shenmue games are naturally on top of everyone's list, including ours (the magazine's). We're looking forward to see Ryo again, and we predict we'll see him again in 2013".

I mean, sure, anyone can say that. Rubbish piece of article.

Sounds like a job for you, mue26!

Ay, I would, as I think I've just about gotten over the horrors I saw down in the trenches of rllmuk...but alas Neogaf won't let me register as I have a "free email account". What the hell.

I have, however, taken the opportunity to briefly bring up the campaign on Statueforum yet again. Both bumping my og thread and mentioning the campaign in the dedicated thread they now have for the statue.

I mean, the british magazine are fine in the way that they had to answer something to the reader who asked them that. But for a french website to hop on to it like it had any sort of relevance is completely baffling.

Belinda Carlisle - Heaven Is A Place On Earth
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOGEyBeoBGM[/youtube]

Pop FTW

Guess I'll have to one-up you and make a Shenmue Edit that's translated into the Native American tribe of the Navajo

Here I am, once again, but this time with a different Shenmue: We're translating Shenmue II into Spanish. Or more like, we already have: All the subtitles are in Spanish (We're in the proofreading and testing process right now), but that's the largest part cleared.

This time the perpetrators are PASE, TheFireRed, el_capo, auron_roxas, xulikotony, Viola Rose, PacoChan, Viento and myself. Again, thanks to Manic, Sizious and Ayla.

Here's a couple of videos and a link to all the screenshots released so far:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLmIeX1KUYc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1-3FY4z9GU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaDfabKXggY

http://i.imgur.com/jkteEs.jpg http://i.imgur.com/9sL0Hs.jpg http://i.imgur.com/fEIQus.jpg http://i.imgur.com/KXGovs.jpg http://i.imgur.com/NHfVds.jpg http://i.imgur.com/RKHFIs.jpg http://i.imgur.com/ByEQws.jpg http://i.imgur.com/iX5g2s.jpg http://i.imgur.com/ekh75s.jpg http://i.imgur.com/Bwrh9s.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/CQ5Pbs.png http://i.imgur.com/7kQafs.png http://i.imgur.com/MX1Qus.png http://i.imgur.com/nur1ns.png http://i.imgur.com/HnaHbs.png http://i.imgur.com/wdOcJs.png http://i.imgur.com/k7XV5s.png http://i.imgur.com/SqClos.png http://i.imgur.com/2ay6Js.png http://i.imgur.com/DQxCVs.png http://i.imgur.com/r7JTBs.png http://i.imgur.com/bi7GBs.png http://i.imgur.com/0QVrNs.png http://i.imgur.com/adh27s.png http://i.imgur.com/3b40Qs.png http://i.imgur.com/P5p3gs.png http://i.imgur.com/f3leps.png http://i.imgur.com/nfySQs.png http://i.imgur.com/peTcWs.png http://i.imgur.com/qFmLts.png

Thanks for clearing that question up fer me. Time to tweet then

TWEETED MUDAFAKAZ!!

They are mostly reading, but from that perspective you need to go into them as if you're simply reading a novel. Remove the idea of them being about "gameplay" from your mind. They're the kind of thing you go into if you're specifically looking for story , so if that doesn't appeal to you, it might be best to steer clear.
That being said though, any reservations you have due to the "anime" nature of it ought to be dissolved by the fact that Henry is the same way. He loves the series in spite the the visuals being anime-style. The writing, characters, and plot twists tend to transcend the old anime cliches you're probably expecting.
And I'm not sure if this is what you mean about "space given to the environment," but the environments tend to be really well-fleshed-out. They're usually very important to the events taking place, so despite being presented with stills (in 999) or panoramic views (in VLR), great care is still given to making you aware of where everything is, how the locations are set up, etc. There's usually even an overhead view that you can check out at any time of whatever room you happen to be in.

Really, if you like a good, well-constructed story, 999 should be right up your alley (and I haven't played far into it yet, but I'd assume the same of VLR). It's not artsy or existential, but it is complex and intelligent. Just don't think too hard about its nature as a "game". It's a story, first and foremost, so clicking text boxes is just an intrinsic part of it all.

I twatted.