Lets Talk Shenmue HD

[Anonymous81]

They had planned to do a series of Dreamcast remasters beginning with Crazy Taxi, Space Channel 5, Jet Set Radio and... uh, one of the fishing games... and apparently these didn't sell as well as they were hoping, so they haven't continued.

I had forgotten about this but feel it's also worth mentioning. They released HORRIBLE ports on PC of some Dreamcast games, with absolutely unforgivable technical issues, including controller support, which had to be worked around by users. Sometimes, as in the case of Space Channel 5, requiring users to change CPU core usage and priority to prevent input delay and other problems. And even then they were buggy.

That's the kind of quick and dirty upscale I fear we might get for Shenmue, and why I hope against hope that even if it means we don't see it until after (even long after) S3's release, we get true remasters and enhancements of the game with a modern QA team and support system in place.

On the other hand, that's why I'm so pessimistic about HD re-releases happening next year. And if they do, why I feel they won't be embraced by anyone but existing hardcore Shenmue fans... since they're likely to be as abysmal as those unless adequate time and investment is provided to make the ports shine.

[Centrale]

I had forgotten about this but feel it's also worth mentioning. They released HORRIBLE ports on PC of some Dreamcast games, with absolutely unforgivable technical issues, including controller support, which had to be worked around by users. Sometimes, as in the case of Space Channel 5, requiring users to change CPU core usage and priority to prevent input delay and other problems. And even then they were buggy.

I wasn't aware of those issues with Space Channel 5. I did read about the removal of the original soundtrack from Crazy Taxi, which was enough of an issue for me to not buy it.

However, the remaster of Jet Set Radio was excellent, with updated controls and a bonus documentary short. So hopefully that is the model of the approach they will take if they do remaster Shenmue I and II.

[Peter]

We have seen proper trolls, infiltrate as staff members and try to take the boards down permanently.
Some have posted images across 1000 separate topics which took days to clean up.

Please, tell me you're kidding.

Mention the word, "tubgirl" to any old skool Dojo'er and watch them shudder.

[mrandyk]

I had to google "tubgirl". I am glad I was not around for that.

[SlySpy]

Who is Dan Pilcher?

See Peter's previous post about a long history of trolls.

[shredingskin]

10.

No question about it.

Just some things I heard whilst in Japan that add to the logic of it all.

[Peter]

No rants.

10.
No question about it.

Optimism.

Just some things I heard whilst in Japan that add to the logic of it all.

Nothing significant. Just more guessing and optimism.

[SMDzero]

No rants.

10.
No question about it.

Optimism.

Just some things I heard whilst in Japan that add to the logic of it all.

Nothing significant. Just more guessing and optimism.

But Peter, 10/10 isn't optimism... it's dead on certainty. You don't need to be optimistic about something that is 100% guaranteed.

By saying 10/10 you're not saying you're merely optimistic... you're implying that you KNOW they will be released.

[RiGoRmOrTiS]

1/10 for coming out before Shenmue 3
5/10 for ever coming out at all.

It would take a lot of work for a proper HD re-release, licensing issues aren't a big deal, either they make an agreement with pencil pushers and include the original product placement or they change the textures.

But technically it's a large task. This isn't a simple game like jet set radio or crazy taxi, it's a large highly complex beast made with mostly custom tools that will be migrating to an entirely different architecture. Not only is Shenmue going to be a massive Q&A task due to this, they'll also have to push a PC release out which means testing on multiple hardware configurations.

If the licensing issues are actually on software tools they used and those companies don't exist anymore the problem could be insurmountable... Or require so much recoding they'd never make money on it...

If they havnt started now you aren't seeing it in 2017.

[Monkei]

1/10 for coming out before Shenmue 3
5/10 for ever coming out at all.

It would take a lot of work for a proper HD re-release, licensing issues aren't a big deal, either they make an agreement with pencil pushers and include the original product placement or they change the textures.

But technically it's a large task. This isn't a simple game like jet set radio or crazy taxi, it's a large highly complex beast made with mostly custom tools that will be migrating to an entirely different architecture. Not only is Shenmue going to be a massive Q&A task due to this, they'll also have to push a PC release out which means testing on multiple hardware configurations.

If the licensing issues are actually on software tools they used and those companies don't exist anymore the problem could be insurmountable... Or require so much recoding they'd never make money on it...

If they havnt started now you aren't seeing it in 2017.

Another thing that would add to it taking way more time than some are hoping for might be slow negotiations with different parties involved. Look at how long it took to add Shenmue III PC to the slacker backer page, just because a bunch of suits couldn't get their shit together and agree on things quicker.

@Peter: Post of the year.

That already goes to south carmain though.

http://www.shenmuedojo.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=50183&p=1136321#p1136321

[Kiske]

10/10 that it's now (While Shenmue 3 is in the limelight) or never.

If I was pessimistic, I would say 1/10. Matematically, it's a steady 5/10 though.

As for Sega ability to do a proper Shenmue remaster, they did a good job with Valkyria Chronicles Remastered, right?

phpBB [video]

At the end of the day, it's a matter of will.

[Sonoshee]

I'm confident it will happen. Not so confident it will happen before Shenmue 3. We all know how slow Sega are.

If the licensing issues are actually on software tools they used and those companies don't exist anymore the problem could be insurmountable... Or require so much recoding they'd never make money on it...

I think Spaghetti already quashed this possibility. The issue would be with branded in-game items such as Coca Cola and Timex.

[Centrale]

I'm confident it will happen. Not so confident it will happen before Shenmue 3. We all know how slow Sega are.

If the licensing issues are actually on software tools they used and those companies don't exist anymore the problem could be insurmountable... Or require so much recoding they'd never make money on it...

I think Spaghetti already quashed this possibility. The issue would be with branded in-game items such as Coca Cola and Timex.

Hardly. Spaghetti expressed their opinion that that was an unfounded rumor. However, so is the speculation that it's an issue of in-game branding. How does one user's speculation "quash" anyone else's speculation? At the end of the day none of us know for sure what the "licensing issues" are or even if the person who mentioned it actually knew what they were talking about. But we do know that in-game branding could be easily replaced. Obviously Sega has done this before, e.g. the Ferrari symbol in Out Run has always been replaced in re-releases. To me it makes more sense that it would present a more difficult problem if the licensing relates to middleware. At the time of Shenmue's development such middleware was still very much an emerging market, not like today when practices are well-established and we regularly see the logos of middleware developers on packaging.

[Testament]

As far as it being released, I'd say 8/10. It would basically be franchise suicide, I think, to simply release the third game in the series without any sort of easy access to its proceeding titles. This isn't a situation like Fallout 3 where idiots can blissfully jump in and pretend the first two games don't exist; Shenmue 3 is a direct continuation of an established story being directed by the same person/persons. Sony is a business and they wouldn't take such a big risk for the third entry of a franchise without the intent of re-releasing the first two. There's just no way.

However, I'd give it a 2/10 for any sort of possible "enhancements" that I've seen you guys discuss over the years on these boards. I really, honestly believe we'll get simple, upscaled ports of these titles. Despite their value in the investment Sony made as mentioned in the previous paragraph, I really don't think they're looking to turn these games completely around or get together a big dev team that will completely re-model or re-texture every single thing in this game. I've actually seen people here say they're hoping for a complete re-master in the Unreal Engine--trust me, that's not going to happen. I'm thinking more along the lines of Final Fantasy X HD or even the recent PS4 port of Final Fantasy VII. Upscaled assets, but not completely overhauled assets. The game will look great and play nice no matter what.

[Sonoshee]

Hardly. Spaghetti expressed their opinion that that was an unfounded rumor. However, so is the speculation that it's an issue of in-game branding.

"With regards to Shenmue (one) and II HD, of course we would love to release these tomorrow. Sadly it's not as simple as porting the games to the current platforms, as we would need to ensure any HD remaster lived up to quality of the original titles, and with games as immersive as Shenmue (one) and II, there are further complications from licenced products that were included in the original games.

That said, we would love to do it, and are currently investigating how to make it a reality."

~ Dan Sheridan, Community & Social Marketing Manager @ SEGA Europe, in May 2016.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZCOj24WGBM

"The issue is that it is a big game. It is a project from many years ago. If we are to do it, we’d want to do a fantastic conversion to the current platforms, and there are a lot of licences in the game, which were cleared many years ago, so we will need to renegotiate those contracts. We are looking into it. We haven’t given it a green light, but it has our full attention.”

~ Jurgen Post, Chief Operating Officer @ SEGA Europe, in September 2016.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/sega-europe-shenmue-1-and-2-remakes-have-our-full-attention/0171907

The source of the product licences "rumour" (it's actually an outright admission of what the holdup is) is SEGA itself. The source of the middleware rumour was a poster on NeoGAF which was never substantiated by another source, and was somehow picked up by blogs and other forum posters until it became "fact".