A few have called for this, and i certainly dont see a problem creating a topic for it. I mean after all, we are the Shenmue Dojo!
So in case a few reading this dont understand the origins of this topic, what happened last week was a potentially revolutionary move in video gaming, where an independent company raised funds from the general public (though a funding platform website called Kickstarter) and will now develop a game using those funds. This may seem like nothing majorly radical, or completely out of the ordinary, but what makes it somewhat innovative is that instead of reaching the $400,000 target the company had set itself, it past the $1million mark in just over 24 hours and as of now with still 29 days of fundraising left, its about to hit the $2million mark. If you would like to read more about the project, you can follow the link, HERE
Almost as soon as news broke of the amount Double Fine had raised in 24 hours, we were discussing the possibility of applying the same process to Shenmue (which you can view HERE.) Even though there may be a lot of serious complications regarding the franchises business and cultural roots of a future donation service taking place to aid the development of a future Shenmue release, it certainly wouldnt be of any harm to garner some sort of support level Shenmue would get, in terms of donations from both the Shenmue community, and also the entire gaming community. Some people look at the figures Double Fine have raised so far, and really believe that this method could provide the most realistic chance of ultimately seeing the release of a Shenmue III one day. IGN even took the liberty of including a "develop Shenmue III" option in an article & online poll, in relation to which projects should be funded in the same manner Double Fine have embarked. Currently at the time of writing this, its a clear winner, taking a third of the votes. (You can view the article and poll HERE.)
But just to be clear, this is just a hypothetical topic designed to gather a feedback of who would donate to a Shenmue Kickstarter project, and also how much? There are no current plans by Yu Suzuki, or anyone here of starting up such a campaign. But whos to say there may not be one in the future. Double Fines donators have discussed both the company and its future games within their own community, and i would like to think that if ever there was a legitimate push for Shenmue to be "kickstarted", then naturally it would be here at the Dojo where the hub of online discussion would take place.
So would you donate to a Shenmue project? How much... per week/month/year? Would you like a Shenmue HD port to download markets, or just a stand alone Shenmue III. Who knows what could happen, but maybe if we made enough noise.... someone out there may hear us.