I am all right with a little wait. I would say to expect fewer updates this year, as anything they show will be expected to be tangible after a year of mostly fluff.

This is the year they need to make an impact, if there are more "Suzukis Favorite Socks" updates, people will start to get even more irritated.

Been a while.

I can attest to Peter's fears, now more than ever due to a personal event.

My father has been a small town doctor for 48 years, running his own practice. At age 84, time caught up to him and he knew he'd have to call it quits as his health declined.

He took time off to see if he'd improve. When that didn't happen, he started to plan out how he wanted to go about everything.

A reporter got wind of him being away and rumors, contacted Dad and my father told him "I will be retiring. I will announce my plans soon myself."

Suddenly, a hastily written article showed up in the paper by said reporter, disclosing things my father explicitly said he wanted to do on his own and closing with a statement that unhappy patients could complain to the medical board if Dad didn't announce soon.

After 48 years and a town that loved him, my father was forced to go into defensive mode and hastily announce his retirement to avoid possible tarnishing to his career..it's been a mess all because of penhappy journalists.


I tell this story because it's been Hell for me, devastating for my old man who had his own ending written.

I can imagine, literally, what it'd feel like for YsNet for assumptions to be made and actions forced just because you take a little quiet time to get your stuff togethee.

I don't think we have a right to see anything. I think this is just impatience on the part of some fans. I have confidence that when it is shown, we will feel a lot better about the state of the project.

I think some screens would suffice; hell, just a picture of Ryo's final model would be fine for me.

Some games have gone dark for a long time'--FFVII was shown way too early, the Resident Evil 2 Remake was announced two years ago and nothing yet. I do not see backlash towards those titles for lack of substance.

Yu will not show it until he feels it is in ideal position for himself and the people who backed it. I really, really do not think anything will be truly shown in motion until E3 to be honest.

I have caused a bit of a rift with the "right" comment from earlier.

I think of it like this. If folks say I've got a right to see this in action, but it isn't in the state Yu wants it to be, you end up with a MN9 debacle where people are furious that it looks nothing like what was promised or envisioned.

Granted, we haven't seen a "target video" but still I feel that is how people would react.

Basically done? Gonna be either announced in a few days or an "Available Now" alongside S3s E3 full reveal, I think.

No way it doesn't come to PS4. Maybe he couldn't say because Sony has a hand in it for exclusivity?

Very happy to see it still pulling in funds at a reasonable clip. Most slacker backers have slowed considerably by this time, I think.

The article about Shenmue HD helped, a March update will also help. Fingers crossed still for that $7 million.

Spags, I think I didn't phrase it properly.

I don't mean it to say it excludes console(obviously not), it just lends a little more credence to the existence of the game in my opinion.

This goes in line with the Atlus story about SHD being confirmed for PC only thus far..

I've got a feeling it's gonna go dark til e3

Another thread up on GAF with Sega commenting on their plan of revitalizing old IPs this year.

Assuming they aren't bullshitting, it lends credence to Shenmue HD being a real thing once more.

A remake would be near impossible to keep under wraps for this long, as it would have had to be in development for a while I'd think.

Quality remasters is what I think it will be. If it has transfer save capability that's huge.

In my old home, I collected gaming mags for most of my young life. They are all in a trunk at my parents home...visiting today i found this:


Wonder what value it has, haha

Some insider source about things are trickling into the Sony E3 GAF threads, specifically regarding unannounced IPs.

Anyone a GAF member that wants to speak in that thread to see if the source knows anything related to Shenmue HD?

Here is the key question:

Bigger and more beautiful than Yu anticipated, it seems he said.

From that, can we extrapolate that maybe features or areas that weren't initially reached are now going to be in the game? Will they move goals down that weren't achieved and cross off those that may have become possible with current funds? Exciting thoughts.

Huge news this morning. Happy to wake up to this before work.

What announcements will we get? Fully funded by an unknown party? Teaser reveal hinting at a full reveal at PSX?

I'd keep an eye on Sega as well. If their presence is confirmed in a bigger way
, maybe the 1-2 punch with the HDs will happen at Gamescom.

Honestly, that could be one of the announcements if you ask me, Kiske.

It is a stretch, but its possible it was as you speculate, thus one of the reasons for the delay so they could add it into S3.

Biggest thing folks need to remember regarding the nitpicking of these models is this:

There is still well over a year in development left and a lot can change in that time period. What we see now versus, say, PSX could be worlds apart.

"Raaagh this is bad. I want my money bacl!!!11 Mighty No 3 inc.."

Are people fucking serious?? This looked fantastic for a build that may not be as recent as you think. There is still well over a year in development left, maybe even longer than that if it gets pushed one more time.

I've waited almost half my life to see this game become real. The environments looked spectacular, the music was spot-on.

Ryo looked like Ryo, for the most part. Shenhua needs work, but they havent even done facial capture or any of that yet. Animations, voice work--its clear its early, but that gives me faith it'll be there after the environments and atmosphere are solidified.

Characters will be rock solid by the time this game comes out, I guarantee that.


NeoGAF and YouTube are cesspools of negativity. Yu has nailed a lot in this teaser, bur they are content to shit on it anyway.

It's like if my son(granted, hes only 4 but for example) were practicing martial arts and initially had good form, just wasn't there yet to break the board or brick. Doesn't mean he can't, doesn't mean he won't in time, but people were to pick on him anyway. Makes my blood boil. I know Yu will dive headlong and smash the naysayers in time.

Why release a trailer?

I think backers forced them to. We did. So many months in darkness, etc. caused people to light them up over paltry updates, skippage of large events(E3), etc. I think that pressure culminated in a need to show something, however unready it may be to show the project is progressing and money didnt dissipate to nothingness(like several Kickstarters)

I think they felt obligated to show something based on that. Damned either way.

I'm sorry--I think the game looks fine in recent screens, more is needed but it's 12-16 months AWAY from release..a lot can change.

Mass Effect: Andromeda made a lot of strides in the patches they did. Apples to oranges, but goes to show you much can change in a few months time.

Deep Silver publishing Mighty No. 9 has very little to do, it seems, with their involvement in Shenmue III outside od enabling Suzuki to realize his vision. I don't believe they have a whole lot of creative input.

What I mean by that is that Mighty No. 9 was already showing false promises, etc. because Keiji Inafune was riding the wave of support because people believed he was someone he wasn't. He wasn't the true father of Mega Man.

Suzuki is Shenmue. It was conceived by him and made reality by him. He is far more open and honest on Shenmue III and it's WIP than any project backed by Kickstarter yet, matched only by Koji Igarashi and Bloodstained.

Also, Deep Silver didn't get involved until very late in development of MN9, if I recall. Many lessons in life come in the toughest way. I think they had a hard lesson learned with the infamous MN9 ad.


Again--comments by the Executive Producer confirm what I've said before. Pressure by the backers(and some media) to show SOMETHING is what caused an early teaser to be shown, perhaps too soon.

Suzuki has been humble and understanding of the criticism. He hasn't backed down on the models and confirmed its temporary. Shenmue was a marvel of technology with character models. To think he'd accept what was shown as final with over a year remaining is absolutely foolish thinking.

This is very exciting news. It sounds like Deep Silver has granted him the budget to make the truly open world he originally envisioned at $10 million.

I can't think of any other explanation for the change from 50-60 NPCs to 200 than the Chobu goals are met.

My favorite part of this entire interview is how, when asked about the models and subsequent criticism, Yu simply opens his laptop and shows that what we saw was absolutely NO WHERE NEAR what is to come, and more improvement to come.

He basically silenced all naysayers with that one action, showing that he truly cares very much about this chance no one thought would ever come.

I am as excited as ever to see what is coming our way by the year's end.

It has been admitted the trailer was a hodgepodge of content far too early to be shown, but they were excited to just try and show something and jumped the gun.

I'm not worried--Deep Silver had a hard lesson learned for MN9, but let's be real--MN9 had already shown itself to be nothing like what was promised long before that. No self-admitted WIP, etc. It was a disaster far different than Shenmue III, which isn't even on the same course, honestly.

Shenmue III's environments and even preliminary character models show they are on track to make good, whereas MN9 looked absolutely nothing like the target renders. At all.

MN9 was announcing Kickstarters for games and animes before the actual game even came out that people had backed.


As far as polish, Yu has shown in at least one interview a character model far improved than the ones in the teaser were. We are still at least 12-16 months from release of this game, possibly more.

It *could* get delayed into 2019, but that depends on the extent of DS' pockets and if YsNet doesn't expand upon their dev team(which they may).

All eyes should be on PSX now. I have a feeling it will show up looking far better there, the start of all the magic to come.

So much negativity abounds, even with the most recent screens. Gotta tweak this, gotta adjust that. There is a lot, a LOT of development time left on the game. We *may* get the game by December 2018, but again we may not depending on how large the scope has increased.

"It's what they chose to show us..." No, it's what they felt they HAD to show us, no matter how early it was, or short notice in concordance with Deep Silver coming on board, because everyone was jumping on the Doomed boat because it had been so quiet.

"Another month of nothing..vaporware/jank confirmed"..this place was turning into GAF, where people just want to compete and see how big of a dump they can take on Yu Suzuki's passion.

I think Ryo looks well on his way to a successful render, especially considering time left. The style of Shenmue isn't the same as Yakuza, so that's a different comparison. We also do not know how old those "new" screens are. They might be recent, might be a month or two behind.

The signs point to us seeing what a true, more current build of the game looks like by year's end(PSX). I will reserve judgement until then.

You cannot judge too much on these models without motion. Lighting, facial expressions, animation..we need that kind of picture before we can accurately say it needs this or that.

Once a true trailer, replete with updated models and a glimpse of gameplay appears, we can commence on the speculation as to the status of the project.

Also, look at things from a personal perspective--an empathetic one.

Yu Suzuki was really trying to make this game something special, but realized he couldn't do it without outside help from someone like Deep Silver.

He cares so much about this series that he tried his hardest to make someone believe what he was doing was worthy of additional investment. To find someone out there.

Imagine the weight on your shoulders, having the expectations of the fans on you to deliver, but to know you cannot do it with the current funds, no matter how hard you try or want to. Rather than sit and say "Well, it's better than nothing(MN9), he went further.

How trying it must've been for him to ask for more help in this project. It takes a MASSIVE amount of strength to ask for help, especially on passion projects. I'm grateful that Deep Silver honored his request.

Another day, another rumor.

That being said--if it has been in development since 2016, then I don't think it's a straightforward port..looks like it'll get a nice coat of paint.

This isn't one SEGA probably wants to just shovel out, with all the expectations.

We have two possible scenarios of a reveal--Paris Games Week, or PSX. PSX would be the likely reveal, but would probably make it a digital only release, as an Available Now wouldn't bode for a simultaneous physical release, which I'd like to have.

Paris Games Week isn't as full of big guns, so it could have some spotlight there and gives time if it's both physical and digital. We shall see.

I embolden my conjecture based on Yu's statements in various interviews that he hopes to start the marketing push for Shenmue III by years end.

To me, that pegs PSX as the ripe time for both a true, up-to-date look at Shenmue III in action, plus a simultaneous teveal of the HD Collection. It just seems a bit more plausible this year because we've already seen Shenmue III(granted, early footage) as opposed to nothing being shown prior to PSX last year.

I appreciate them showing something. We are still a LONG way off from final release, folks. I don't know why people perpetually have their pitchforks out. Clickbaity articles from Pushsquare do not help. They don't look at the bigger time frame, just immediately nitpick.

It didn't matter to them that the models were still motionless, unanimated. It didn't matter that this video was simply proof they have it and will be beginning soon(we still have 12-18 months, guys). It was "Welp, garbage. 5 out of 10s confirmed, jank confirmed."

In regards to Technophilz, I respect his opinion, the worry is understandable, but I must disagree with the comparison.

The comparison CAN be made, but it doesn't hold potency. You cannot compare an indie developer to someone like Naughty Dog.

Naughty Dog is a veteran company for a singular platform with technology and budget far, FAR in excess of what Shenmue III has, regardless of Deep Silver's involvement. They have their own revenue stream, plus being owned by Sony themselves.

This holds true for many, MANY developers. Quantic Dream and Naughty Dog are pioneers in that field of facial animation and motion capture, unmatched by probably any other developer in the world. It is unrealistic to expect ANYTHING of that calibur, I'm afraid.

Slacker Backer is ongoing. Deep Silver, I believe, has injected the funds he needed as he now states he can make the game we imagined.

The only other injection of funds would be if the publisher they are seeking for Japan puts anything into the pot as well, but that's up in the air.

I must admit, I concur with Ryo.

The current state of this project is beginning to be a cause of concern for me. We already knew who Deep Silver was and what their purpose is.

We are now a year or less away from the release of this game, but we have seen absolutely nothing except for a trailer that was obviously very early(at least, it was said to be) at Gamescom.

We know nothing about the gameplay in action, what a theoretical graphical goal is, what stretch goals are now included with Deep Silver's funding(aside from commentary in interviews, nothing concrete), we just sit in the dark.


Bloodstained has been one of the most transparent Kickstarter projects out there, despite having a similar development timeline as Shenmue III. They have consistently communicated with fans, presented their work, addressed concerns, etc. It may make it's March window, it may not but you don't see the silence and fluff you see coming from YsNet.

Christ, they had the balls to allow people to play a demo when the game was at 10 or 15% completion. That shows true dedication from the BEGINNING.

We also, as of this point, do not know if they've even secured a publisher for the Japanese copies of the game upon release. This is with a YEAR or less to go.

The forum mainstays(Spags, Peter, etc.) have gone dark, discussion is at a minimum, where once it was bustling..I can only extrapolate that, though external reasons are always a factor, this worry isn't plaguing just me these days.

This is great news. Their resume shows an extensive line of visually pleasing titles(Bloodborne, etc.)

And let's be honest--outside of the largest developers out there, outsourcing work has been going on for many years.

One of the latest examples was CyberConnect 2 for the FFVIIR, which didn't end well but that's beside the point. The point is it exists on even the largest of games and budgets.

And there was logically no way that Yu and team could be devoted to intricately crafting 200 NPCs or more with the expanded budget without help and STILL make the late 2018 release, which I'm still on the fence about.

Kingdom Come will hit next year after over four years in development and it began as a Kickstarter as well. I think 2019 may be most reasonable for a fully fleshed Shenmue III and I'm okay with that.

HD Remaster fervor and nostalgia is at an all-time high as we head into 2018.

Dark Souls Remastered, Shadow of the Colossus HD, Devil May Cry HD Collection, even Assassins Creed: Rogue is getting a paint coat. We also have the Mega Man Collections coming this year. Reception to these announcements has been very positive for the most part..

To me, 2018 is the right year for it based on these trends happening, as well as Shenmue IIIs marketing ramping up as E3 quickly approaches.

It's gonna be a simulation game from a company called Two Point. Back to the dream, folks.. :(

I'm sorry. I love this series, but this is getting absolutely unacceptable. Announced in 2015, nothing shown at all for gameplay in THREE years, still WIP character models and in 2018 they are showing a trailer 6 months old or more??

I'll hold out until E3 and pray for a turnaround and to be floored. If it's a no show, then I'm asking for my $500 back. This is turning into a disaster. I don't want to hear defense of it--at this point the "it's still developing, just wait and see" argument doesn't work anymore.

This is true, and maybe not, but I promise you that I'm probably not the only one who is precariously close to voicing their displeasure over the state of this project.

This is ridiculous--even Spaghetti is questioning why this was the footage shown. Dodging of release dates, old footage, static screenshots in the same locations slightly improved and whether or not they are direct or doctored is up for debate.

At this juncture, we've seen more and obtained more details of Final Fantasy VII Remake and it went back to in-house development from CC2.

There's a time to be optimistic and there is a time to face reality.

I've calmed down a bit and realize asking for a donation back isn't very logical, but please understand why I and many others probably feel this way. Hell, I was so passionate about it that I donated plasma for the money to cover the substantial pledge and not delve into family funds. So you could say, in essence, that I paid in blood for this game to become a reality.


We invested out of our love for a series that died long before it should have and our return investment has been almost nil for going on 3 years.

There is absolutely no way this game makes 2018 and the fact they've been hyping it up as "The Year of Shennue"? and Cedric "playing the latest build"? What the Hell is he playing because I wouldn't be smiling if it's just like that Gamescom footage 3.5 years in the making and thaf build was BEFORE Deep Silver opened their wallet.

It's time for them to come clean. Is funding not enough for their realization? Do they need more time? Did the scale get out of hand? TALK TO US. No one got mad at Yu's heartfelt delay message last year. Talk again..thats all we want.

I'm really hoping that THQ Nordic and Deep Silver step in after this. I don't know if DS signed off on this, but it is a huge PR nightmare to hype an event for old videos and 4 screens.

Cedric Biscay needs to stop trolling fans and I hope he gets every bit of criticism for it this time.

It's apparent that communication and marketing are not working out. I hope the aforementioned publishers take over marketing and updates after this. Hell, even Sony should step in at this point...one of their hallmark titles of E3 2015 is becoming a laughing stock of "never coming out" in a sense. I know its not, but it is the closest term I could think of.

They do look good, but I'd appreciate a little more transparency going forward.

MAGIC was a PR disaster and showed footage that is, judging by comments from back then, at least 9-12 months old. For 2018 to be "The Year of Shenmue", I would expect a little more.

These could've been released and MAGIC skipped or untyped. I expect complete silence for March, April and only a slight update in May with a couple new screens and saying they are skipping E3...pessimistic but that's what I've come to expect.

It is worth noting that Kingdom Come didn't have a HUGE marketing push(it did have some) but even being a AA game from an upstart studio, it has had very good success in sales.

Well, let us remember two things---nostalgia is a VERY powerful thing. It's part of why HD Remasters have become so common. People love to go back and play the classics of their youth with a fresh coat of paint, even if it's a simple upscale.

It brings classics to newer audiences who may have never gotten the chance to play it.

Also--this is one of the premiere Shenmue fan sites around, with many passionate fans who had no small part in the series' resurrection in both III and the HD Remasters.

But it's only a small part--a quick glance at ResetERA, IGN, social media...the amount of people excited for the arrival of this collection is astounding. The fanbase for Shenmue is far larger than I think anyone realises and it will only go up, I believe.

No, it isn't for everyone--but somewhere out there, it will find an audience of thousands of new fans and that will all but guarantee us a proper conclusion to the series in the end with a fourth or even fifth entry, I think.


In terms of entertainment media, I can't think of a greater revival story brought about by passionate fans than this series. The only one that springs to my mind is the resurrection of The X-Files.

Clark confirmed that the same project development team at Sega Europe responsible for Valkyria Chronicles is leading the Shenmue I & II project.

Good tidbit of news here. Valkyria Chronicles was a very nice remaster.

Back on the topic at hand..

I'm still on the fence about a few things, but I feel a little better the more I read. We know they are 70(ish) percent complete, so the likelihood of us all playing Shenmue HD sooner than we thought is possible.

We still don't know a true reason of why Mr. Allan joined us. It could've been simple interaction and answering a few questions. I hope that no repercussions occurred from his appearance, because I doubt it was without some semblance of permission.

It could have also been to see what concerns everyone had so that they could spend some time in that last ~30% of development addressing what concerns or features we as fans are looking for, within reason.


I like the latter reasoning. Sega has been listening, so may be they are listening a bit more intently for this remaster.


The revelation of merchandise on the horizon tells me something big is coming for this series, mayhap this is the year of Shenmue as Cedric said.

dietsoap wrote:guys I don't think allan is ever coming back lmao

You don't know that. He could still be here, mayhaps not under an obvious name anymore, invisible, not logged in, etc.

I promise you D3T is still looking at this site and others.

This is massive, guys. Amazon offers 20% off for Prime members, which probably accounts for the spike in sales the last 24 hours.

Even discounting that, it was still in the top 50 best sellers in video games since it's announcement and that's WITH a megaton release like God of War out there.

I know there is no way to extrapolate a number, but nothing reaches #1 in Amazon best sellers in gaming I'd wager without moving a considerable amount. We also don't have any indication of how it is doing at Best Buy and GameStop, though I did reach out to my old boss and good friend who is still a store manager with GameStop since we parted ways about 4 years ago.

He said he can't speak for it as a company, but at his store he's averaged 5 to 6 reservations on it per day, many of whom were walk-up customers(i.e. He didn't pitch the game for pre-order).

He has over 25 reservations so far, which is impressive for a small title in his very low volume store, he said(he's in a mall that's basically on life support).


We are shaping up to send a clear message to SEGA, as I'm sure numbers will only increase as more information screens and trailers come out.

Currently ranking #14 on Amazon as of this morning, ahead of God of War and only a few Switch titles ahead, as well as the Switch itself.

I really think a Switch version would be in their best interest from a sales perspective, looking at the Switch performance. Even if it had to come later than the other versions, it would probably be a modest tick up in copies sold.

This could be a big indicator for how strong nostalgia really is, especially as an indicator for how well III could do in the market. We could very well see this collection surpass the sales of the original, taking into account all platforms available .