Update. Download link.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_v8TiFb835KUDVzSll0VWpOWDQ/view?usp=sharing

mirror.
http://www.mediafire.com/download/awld54696m4hc1a/widescreen.7z


Original Post.


Hi, I am just crazy and I can't stop getting involved in new things.

Right now I need help to test Shenmue II on Xbox, this is a quick and dirt attempt to make the game run Widescreen and/or at 720, hex editing the default.xbe.

I need people with a softmoded Xbox, an HDTV cable and if possible, an upgraded ram Xbox.

The goal is mainly to achieve propper widescreen support, 720p is a plus.

My setup is somehow a mess ( Xbox v1.6....) so my console hangs at the first loading screen. I could be either bad video config on my end or just that the Xbox ran out of ram, so that's why I ask for upgraded ram xbox to test, anyway anyone can test and post their results.

Here it is the default resolution.

http://i.imgur.com/QYM9F9z.png

And here the widescreen 853x480 one.

http://i.imgur.com/fEPMISe.png

As said my Xbox hangs at this screen and I need people with different set ups to test it.

Links

720p .xbe
https://mega.nz/#!lF42yRiT!mv4uM7Pj-si2b06awYkD5tZHqgzv4w-CFnExbRoTM4k

853x480 .xbe

https://mega.nz/#!BNggyRAR!zVLNE-CjTRswYEO7kpydTSz_d6DiZKP45CDd0lMFp2Q

Just drag and drop the default xbe on the root of the game and overwrite, remember to make a backup of your original .xbe just in case.

Thanks.

Hello and welcome !

I've talked to Cedric Biscay (Shenmue III co-producer) recently and he told me that the PC version is still planned and they're working on it.

I can't tell you if you will be able to switch if you pay right now but they plan to add a system so people can upgrade their pledge (downgrade won't be available). If I were you, I'd just wait until the PC version is added, that'd be the best move to do and you won't have to worry too much about it. ;-)

Welcome on board again and if you have any other questions, feel free to ask ! :)

It's definately an improved model.

The lightning is defo tricky.

Let's try and sort that out then:

http://i.imgur.com/pz9w2yW.jpg

The nose profile, where the eyebrows meet, the jawline, the band-aid, well...

- Face looks much more defined and chiselled down, particularly the jaw
- The nose has a smooth slope in the second image compared to the prominent bridge in the first
- The hair has a slightly messier look compared to the Yamcha look
- The plaster on his face appears to have been smoothed out, given more depth, and an added blemish
- Thicker eyebrows (though that could be down to the lighting)
- The shape of the head has gone from a lemon to a curvier look

^^ What he said ^^

The jacket they need to fix, still shiny like it's made out of PVC. Also, if you look at the Dreamcast texture, I always had the impression it was designed to look bulkier than its presented and they should model that too. Atm its a flat straight jacket.

But it definately looks better, come'on guys. I'm more concerned about his dislocated thumb in the battle images :lol:

I think his hair also was a little more straight up, it didn't use to curve inside like it does there

9th Generation Brylcreem rendering :lol:

http://i.imgur.com/alu8cci.jpg
If it really is the lighting making the model look different, that's some ninth generation shit right there!

Then again...

- Face looks much more defined and chiselled down, particularly the jaw
- The nose has a smooth slope in the second image compared to the prominent bridge in the first
- The hair has a slightly messier look compared to the Yamcha look
- The plaster on his face appears to have been smoothed out, given more depth, and an added blemish
- Thicker eyebrows (though that could be down to the lighting)
- The shape of the head has gone from a lemon to a curvier look

I'm 95% sure it's an updated model. It looks way more like the Ryo we all know and love.

Hi everyone! I just finished reading Benjamin Berget's extensive Yu Suzuki Biography and since an English version of the book is coming too, I wanted to share some thoughts about the book with the Shenmue community. Here we go!

First off, the presentation of the book is outstanding and far more than one can expect from a small publisher such as Geeks Line. The book comes in a beautiful book jacket with the words "Yu Suzuki" printed in a slightly convex way which gives the reader an interesting feeling while touching the book's cover. The paper is pearly white and the font size makes it a very agreeable reading experience. The book spans 500 pages plus a roundabout 30 color print pages which show pictures of advertisement flyers for Yu's Arcade machines. The quality of those pictures is very good and the colors come out vividly. Unfortunately there are no pictures of Yu Suzuki himself in the book.

The book's content covers Yu's entire life starting with his childhood in a small coastal town, his beginnings at Sega, Yu at the peak of his power at Sega in the late 90's/early 2000's all the way till the emotional E3 followed by the succesfull KS campaign for Shenmue 3 earlier this year.

As a long time Yu Suzuki fanboy, I wasn't expecting a lot of new information from the book, but there was actually a lot of small details in the book which I had either previously overlooked or forgotten about as time went by. Anyway, Benjamin Berget did one hell of a job accumulating heaps of old interviews from magazines dating back as far as the 80's and also loads of online interviews and other source material.

Also, I think most western readers didn't know a lot about Yu Suzuki's early years, unless they were able to read Japanese and thus understand Yu Suzuki Game Works. I found it really interesting to learn that Yu was a die hard fan of Ritchie Blackmore's in the 70's and in his teenage years spent most of his time practing guitar, trying to become a guitar hero just like Blackmore. But fortunately for all of us, just before the final exams in high school were about to happen and with his parents worried about his long hair and indifferent attitude towards studying, young Yu came to the conclusion that despite all his dilligent practice, he lacked the musical talent to become a rockstar. So our Yu got a haircut and enrolled for programming in University. The rest is history.

Benjamin Berget covers all the games of Yu's career, regardless if he was involved as a director, producer, supervisor or something completely different. He gives detailed information about the development, the technical specifications of each arcade machine, the console conversions and the commercial performance (sales) of each game. That alone is an achievement in itself but it is the small anecdotes and details where Berget's book shines. Hitting the letter G in the fourth stage of Hang-On gives you a million extra points, not just Nintendo but also Sega was super close to striking a deal with Sony in the early 90s but the narrow-minded executives of Sega of Japan fucked it up which led to Sony taking bitter revenge on both Sega and Nintedo by releasing the Playstation. Yu worked for Lockheed as an advisor and helped them create a tank simulator of which Sega released a civilian version as "Desert Tank". Shenmue 3 was almost announced for Xbox at E3 2004 and for some reason we still don't really know the announcement got cancelled at the very last minute. Yu initially wanted to do a Shenmue 3 Kickstarter in 2012, but Sega asked too much for the license.

Granted, all those things may not be new to some of us but as I said before I had either forgotten or never learned about them. And God, how much this book made me hate Peter "I put the nail in the Dreamcast's coffin in order to take its IPs to Xbox" Moore and Hajime "I want Sonic on my Pachinko machines to seduce a younger audience to gambling" Satomi and Sammy again. :lol: Yeah, I know, I need to calm down and there's nothing I can do about Peter Moore being an asshole and Sammy being a money-grubbing piece of shit company which unfortunately has taken over Sega. :D Still, the truth needs to be said from time to time. :)

Shenmue gets most attention of all games in this book with S1 & 2 being covered in a massive 100 pages chapter, Shenmue Online and it's cancellation being examined in great detail and Shenmue 3 being the finishing sub-chapter of the book with about a dozen pages. I also found particularly interesting the way Yu underwent the development of Shenmue. He first took a ton of location pictures which he showed them to the composers (Mitsuyoshi, Iuchi, Koshiro and so on) who he would then ask to compose some music for those locations. After they were done, Yu listened to what the composers had created and when he found a track he liked, he would play it to everybody involved (graphic artists, programmers,etc.). He asked them to listen closely and to go to work with the music in mind. In that sense, Shenmue's development started with its music and the incredible athmosphere could be created because everybody had the music in mind while working on Shenmue.

With its sheer amount of information and all his little dietails, this book is a great read for every Yu Suzuki fan and all those interested in Sega or Shenmue. However there is one thing about the book I didn't like one bit. While the price (25 Euros) is reasonable, the binding is very cheaply executed and very poor quality. Geeks-Line really need to find a new partner for their bindings. I read about 20 to 30 books a year, some digital but most of the still physical. I have never before experienced this with a new book. I have only read it once and I've treated my copy in an absolutely normal way but still the binding is so bad, some of the pages just came loose and fell out of the book! :no: :2gunfire: :letitallout:

However, I'd like to stress, that this is in no way related to Benjamin Berget's work or the contents and reading value of the book. It's an issue the publisher needs to deal with.

I advise every Shenmue fan to read the book, but if you buy the original version, treat your copy with extra care. Hopefully the English language publisher will do a better job with the binding.

This is ridiculous. I can't believe that there are people here who actually think that it would be viable to make Shenmue III using the original Shenmue engine.
One minute, you complain that these pre-pre-alpha screenshots don't look good enough and point to a shit Shenmue and then next you suggest that using the DC engine would somehow make it all better? As if that engine is completely flawless? Do you not understand just how limited that would make the game. Remember all of those stretch goals that we so hope to achieve? They wouldn't be possible using the old engine. Maybe Shenmue III could have been done back in the day on that engine, but we need to stop living in the past. Shenmue III isn't a game from multiple generations ago, it's a game for the current gen and that needs to be expected and accepted otherwise it isn't going to be an enjoyable experience for anyone.

And for those who think that these incredibly early screenshots suggest that YS.NET don't know what they are doing, can we please use this as a reminder of just how much things can change:
Lan Di (Project Berkley)
https://i.gyazo.com/fa42c18bb253a2dc20e3bc889efe78b5.png

Lan Di (Final)
http://www.vgnetwork.it/images/Shenmue/Shenmue-landi.jpg

Hey Guys, new to the forums (Kind of. Registered years ago but forgot the username and password but never posted!)

Anyways, I write tutorials (C++) over at Epic Games for Unreal Engine 4 and help people out on the AnswerHub and work on projects all the time with this Engine. I've done so for quite some time now. Why am I telling you this? Because hopefully I can provide a little insight on what you're seeing and why.

The reflective properties on Ryo's Jacket is just the material. The material hasn't been properly adjusted yet and even so let's not forget about the lighting that goes into a scene. Typically it's something you'll want to play with over and over again until you can get it just right. I'm assuming they're going to have a day to night cycle and that means a scene will have dynamic lighting. This can effect a material whether it's on a character, a static mesh actor( Think of an object) or general decals (assuming they want them lit or not.). This means it will constantly be tweaked from now until release.

The jacket will probably be toned down abit but it is obvious that they're still experimenting with the lighting. They're also not utilizing any Post Processing at the moment and if they are it's only for a slight color node but I don't think they're using any in the second and fourth screenshot. I think it goes without saying that this will change and right now they're experimenting with an engine that they probably never used before so it takes abit of time and energy to figure these large frameworks out.

It's an exciting time for all of us as Shenmue fans and of course we want this to be the best it can be but try to remember that this project is going to see alot of changes from now until release.

The jacket will probably be toned down abit but it is obvious that they're still experimenting with the lighting. They're also not utilizing any Post Processing at the moment and if they are it's only for a slight color node but I don't think they're using any in the second and fourth screenshot. I think it goes without saying that this will change and right now they're experimenting with an engine that they probably never used before so it takes abit of time and energy to figure these large frameworks out.


Hey, welcome. So in your personal opinion, do you think there's plenty of time for Yu and his team to master Unreal and learn to use it to its fullest (or at least to a high degree of proficiency) before Shenmue 3 releases? I know Yu has been out of the loop a while, and I don't think refusing to play modern games helps that, but, I'm curious to ask, from someone who has experience in UE, how realistic it would be for Yu and his team to catch up fairly quickly? What do you think?

Thank you for the welcoming! Oh of course! It took me about a full year to learn everything and that was me going in with very little game development experience. Team Yu will be able to figure it out quite easily i'm sure. Even if it takes a year to learn the minute details it will still leave them with plenty of time for polish and effort.

If I had 6 months, a full animation set and the 3d models necessary and a few level designer's I could probably re-create Shenmue 1's systems entirely from the cutscenes (Minus the voice acting and lip syncing), to a combat system to the general movement and transitions in Unreal Engine 4.

Working with C++ in UE4 is great. Typically with alot of Engines you end up with some sort of... well, a high level language but a minor scripting language at that without the ability to use pointers. I won't turn this into a programming lesson but let me just say that pointers is why C++ is still around after all these years which makes everything pretty easy!

It's true Yu Suzuki has been out of the modern game market for a while... but Shenmue wasn't really like any other game was it? That could've been why it did so poorly but it was easily the best to me. Mixing RPG elements into a fighting game while taking HUGE risks on an emphasis of building an atmospheric environment (Not just the levels but the NPC's) while giving you a variety of options on how you wanted to perform. Shenmue was way ahead of it's time by a decade at least. I don't know the specifics but if I had to speculate i'd say the budget went over originally because of the technology switches from the Saturn to the Dreamcast, the re-creation of thousands of textures and hundreds of models and easily thousands of lines of code. People seem to forget that building an engine (A stable one anyways) takes years to do and is easily one of the hardest type of frameworks to make that requires huge teams.

So what is my point? If I could do this then Team Yu should have no problem. I wouldn't worry about it at all... plus we're all forgetting one important fact here. IT'S SHENMUE 3!!!

If I had 6 months, a full animation set and the 3d models necessary and a few level designer's I could probably re-create Shenmue 1's systems entirely from the cutscenes (Minus the voice acting and lip syncing), to a combat system to the general movement and transitions in Unreal Engine 4.

Do you know many people do it took, how long to make the Infiltrator cinematic? Some serious work there.. but an amazing result. To think Shenmue 3 is made with the same tech is very reassuring.


So what is my point? If I could do this then Team Yu should have no problem. I wouldn't worry about it at all... plus we're all forgetting one important fact here. IT'S SHENMUE 3!!!

I know right! \:D/

I'm sorry I don't know the answer for the Infiltrator cinematic question... but if you'd like to read on i'll explain a little bit about the process.

I know the same result could be achieved by at least 5 people. You'd need at least one director and four artists. 2 for particle effects who can work on textures and level design, 2 for character modeling and animations (And rigging) -- assuming both people are together and can make use of two or more kinect cameras for motion capture data and lastly a camera manager / director to over see the matinee cycles. From there you could record it and throw it in something like Adobe Premier or Vegas to give it anything extra that you might want.

Edit: But I can assure you that the Infiltrator Cinematic was done much more professionally and more then 5 people had contributed to it. After all, they were going to present it to the GDC.

Is it easy to do? No way! But if a team of people are dedicated enough then really anything can be done it just depends on how much time you've got and how much you're willing to put into it but I think that could be said about anything really.

08th MS Team and Stardust Memory are damn good. U.C. era is my favorite.

Open World Fatigue and Shenmue III: A Gaming Pioneer's Answer To Growing Homogeneity

http://naomidaniels.kinja.com/open-world-fatigue-and-shenmue-iii-a-gaming-pioneers-a-1740232568

A pretty good article on Kotaku's Talk Amongst Yourselves feature. Makes a good case for where exactly Shenmue and by extension Shenmue 3 would fit in to the open world genre.

PSA: I helped proof read the article. Still agree with it pretty much from top to bottom though, and it's worth reading.

Hi Guys,

With the annoucement of Shenmue 3, I made a fan art of our favorite character, Ryo Hazuki :)

When I started this project i was woundering what if Shenmue 3 has a more realistic design.

You can see the result here :
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/31BVB

When i ll have the time i ll try to put the character in the UE4.

Gotta love how much extra dialogue you can get out of the move instructions. This one even has a longer alternate scene after learing it when you've failed for a while. I actually like that more then the regular one.

I'm glad you guys enjoyed it!

PSA: I helped proof read the article. Still agree with it pretty much from top to bottom though, and it's worth reading.

I'm sorry to point that out, but the article is riddled with typos. And while I like the point it's attempting to make, I don't think it's particularly well written to be honest. On the contrary.

I have edited the post and it's now typo free! Could you tell me exactly how it isn't well written? I could always use constructive criticism.

great article, i'm going to read it a couple of times to absorb.

what i will quickly mention is that shenmue gives you the impression and therefore the feeling that the world is living and that there are events occurring even when you aren't directly seeing them. you really are viewing this living world from one mans perspective and following his particular story. you are constrained to behaving in ways that are within the limits of Ryo's character, but you have complete freedom within this range. this really assists in drawing you into the story. its congruent and therefore compelling. definitely not a power trip type of game.

most other open world games you feel that the world exists only for player, stuff happens as the player initiates it. this maybe convenient for the player but lessens the immersion hugely.

I completely agree and this was exactly what I was going for. Open-world games, from GTAIII up until now, have largely existed as simple playgrounds for the player. But that sort of restriction on the environment actively limits the genre's fullest potential.

This mires the genre with power fantasies and wish fulfillment, two emotions gaming abuses. By making their scope larger, often these games limit the emotions and diversity of play that could benefit from smaller worlds. That isn't to say the open-world game as it is shouldn't exist - quite the contrary. It has its place, but it shouldn't be seen as the only true interpretation of the genre.

Outside of a few, all of my friends complain about how so many games these days are just busy work and how they feel like they're wasting their time. As it is, some of the games become gaming for the sake of gaming - literal time wasters.

Surely there's room for a little more than that in gaming?

https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAACAAADVHklwJocEQ

Well since we are sharing fan art figured I would share my recent work..

I think a great way to open up shenmue 3 would be to have ryo washing his clothes at shenhuas house. Just washing his jeans, t shirt and leather jacket and then hanging them out to dry by the shenmue tree. Not only would it give relief to the fans concerned with ryos hygiene and add realism, it would also open the game in good humour!

Just imagine the epic shenmue music playing, the sound of water splashing. Camera fades in to see ryo washing his clothes in a wooden bowl in shenhuas modest kitchen, wringing them out and then going outside into the morning sun and hanging them up to dry. The camera pans up towards the sky and an eagle flies overhead. The eagle gives its iconic shenmue "caaaawww caaaaaaawwww". The camera follows the eagle as it flies towards the sun. Camera zooms in on blinding sun and the shenmue 3 title screen fades in as the music reaches a crescendo.

http://i.imgur.com/C2FZ9m4.png

Today is the 15th anniversary since Shenmue was released in North America on the Sega Dreamcast. (December in Europe) To commemorate this day we are sharing a special video that goes behind the scenes in the making of Shenmue. Back in the late 90's NHK aired a TV program on the development of Shenmue at SEGA. They spent 6 months with Yu Suzuki as he was developing Shenmue on what would be Sega's last home game console. English translation provided by Switch .

Making of Shenmue: Youtube | DailyMotion | Vimeo

Available Captions/Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, German, and Portuguese.

Amir wrote:Made some gifs of my favourite moments

You weren't tempted by this early version of the Suzuki Death Stare then?

Translated subtitles are now complete for the Making Of Shenmue video, in multiple languages. Thanks to everyone who was involved in the project!

Shenmue 15th Anniversary (North America) & Making of Shenmue

Love that we see why the QTE sounds were changed in Guilin. For some reason the different QTE sounds really impressed me like Shenmue was evolving.

Thanks for everyone's positive feedback to the team on the video captions.

I guess Suzuki wasn't asked to review the voiceover commentary for the video, or he probably would have asked them to change the part stating that Shenmue is an RPG, rather than FREE. :)

One new thing I learned was that the number of channels on the Dreamcast's sound chip was driven by the requirements from Suzuki for Shenmue. It just shows the influence that he had in SEGA at that time.

In the scene at 52:00, Suzuki talks about wanting to deliver a "properly-finished, beautiful work" and presses his staff for some ideas about what to do for the last part of the harbor area. I believe they discussing the ending of Shenmue I (one of the developer's also mentions boarding the boat). Fascinating to see an important part of the game being worked out.

http://i.imgur.com/wNqxpAqm.png

One funny thing about the original Japanese voiceover is that the actual names of any companies or products are never spoken - instead they are shown in text on the screen. Even "Shenmue" is never mentioned directly. So for example Yamaha becomes "a large firm that manufactures musical instruments" and so on, leading to some amusingly round-about descriptions.


I took a load of screenshots as there was some interesting beta stuff/differences, I might post some of the more interesting ones along with observations when I get the time :D
Looking forward to seeing them!

Yes, I really like the idea of ditching the English voice acting. But what the heck is the point of "revealing" stretch goals that have long been reached? :roll:

That's like saying: 4.7 million=Hiroaki Takeuchi returning. ](*,)

Seriously, ditch that lame-ass English dub already, and allocate those funds toward full voice-acting in JPN.

Would anyone here even have considered passing on Shenmue 3 had it been JPN-subbed only?!
…I think not.

Also, since we’re retroactively revealing the obvious:
$3.6M = Manabu Takimoto (original environment designer) returns for S3! ;)

Mandarin dub for 500% Authentic Experience

After many hours of trying to figure this out, I may have finally done it...or atleast....one way of doing it.
Just so everyone knows, I will be trying to explain a way to get the move scrolls (Heel Sweep and Monkey Roll) in Dragon Street Kowloon, from the Lucky Hit Challenge stand.

Before we begin here are some things you need to know.

1) This method is for those playing on Demul v0.7 Alpha Emulator (specifically demul07a_230915 on the gpuDX11ng plugin). Those on the actual Dreamcast (or Xbox) can still try this out but it might be harder to figure out where to place your ball.
2) This method is trying to replicate exactly what was done in this video: "Lucky Hit Board (Kowloon)" - Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80d1k7C5Y4w
3) The game DOES NOT center the ball in the true middle of the lucky hit board. In fact it it centers it in slightly different positions each time at random. This is one of the reasons why it takes so god damn long to get the move scroll.
4) The ball bounce is also random i.e. even if you hit the pin at exactly the same point everytime, the ball may bounce differently each time. Therefore it may still take quite a while to get the move scrolls, but it won't be impossible.

My method to getting the move scrolls is by trying to find the exact position the ball was dropped in the video listed above. After hours of playing I noticed (by carefully looking) that the game doesn't center the ball in the same place everytime and so I didn't get the right initial bounces that were in the video. This means that you can't just press A blindly and it also means you'll have to try to reposition the ball everytime. Then the next big discovery is that many positions on the board contain graphical errors on Ryo's arm which is extremely helpful in finding the same position the ball was dropped in the video. Here's some images I've slapped together to hopefully help you understand what I'm talking about.

Note:
- On Demul, you must unmap all the left (and/or right) analog controls for your controller (don't worry if you use keyboard) so that the camera is exactly fixed. Sometimes your controller's analogs are a bit too sensitive and moves the camera slightly which changes the graphical errors.
- You need to use the gpuDX11ng plugin for you to see these errors in the way it's shown below. You can still see these errors with the gpuDX11 plugin but the "+1 to the right" image and others have a vertical line aswell. The main one to look out for is the "+3 to the right".

Image with highlighted errors. Red circles are errors, blue circles are the center pin.
+1, +2, +3 corresponds to button presses on the D-Pad from "The Lucky Hit" position. I.e. "+2 to the right" = pressed right on the D-Pad twice from "The Lucky Hit" position. View in fullsize to see it clearer.
http://i.imgur.com/z5L2G0k.png

Image without highlights
http://i.imgur.com/NCByv86.png

The aim of the game is to find "The Lucky Hit" position above. When you get to the third lucky hit board you'll have to shift a few spaces right or left around the center to find a graphical error that you can recognise. If you can manage to find the pattern of graphical errors then position yourself in "The Lucky hit" position. Again, I usually find the "+3 to the right" the easiest one to find. Once you are in "The Lucky Hit" position you'll have to try for an hour or so to get that scroll since the bounces still have a bit of randomness to it. You'll notice however that the first two bounces will be exactly the same as the video's first two bounces on the exact same pins. You'll also notice that this happens everytime you are in "The Lucky Hit" position.

I spent 4 hours trying to get the scrolls with no luck but once I figured this out I got both scrolls in 1 hour. On the first scroll I got, the ball took a slightly different path than the one in the video but the I managed to replicate the video exactly when I got my second scroll.

To those on console, I don't know if these graphical errors show up. If they don't show up then I'm afraid all I can say is that you need to position the ball slightly right from the true center of the board and hope for the best.

Also if no-one else can see these graphical errors on Demul then I'm sorry and I'll delete the post.

Personally no, but Sleeping Dogs was notorious for it at one point...

I just backed up the video to my Youtube channel for those who have issues with the website.

Someone named Shanghai Shen has made an interesting translation of a conference recap in the Youtube comments :

http://games.qq.com/a/20151116/029040.htm

http://img1.gtimg.com/14/1428/142847/14284763_980x1200_0.jpg
it will use unreal 4

http://img1.gtimg.com/gamezone/pics/hv1/63/228/1966/127897353.jpg
it take place in china. most story take place in guilin. and explain how the people and the culture of the people lives there

http://img1.gtimg.com/gamezone/pics/hv1/34/229/1966/127897579.jpg
open world and will introduce a kowloon like place and a village around guilin

http://img1.gtimg.com/gamezone/pics/hv1/39/228/1966/127897329.jpg
more traditional Chinese fighting style

http://img1.gtimg.com/14/1428/142847/14284779_980x1200_0.jpg
the story progression.

http://img1.gtimg.com/14/1428/142847/14284784_980x1200_0.jpg
shenmue 3 forest. and wealth system and earlier video footage

http://img1.gtimg.com/14/1428/142847/14284770_980x1200_0.jpg
mian story start in bailu

http://img1.gtimg.com/gamezone/pics/hv1/117/229/1966/127897662.jpg
fighting background

http://img1.gtimg.com/14/1428/142847/14284796_980x1200_0.jpg
game interior design

http://img1.gtimg.com/gamezone/pics/hv1/23/228/1966/127897313.jpg
fans gift

http://img1.gtimg.com/gamezone/pics/hv1/118/229/1966/127897663.jpg
talk about how much he like the gift and think about adding the gift in the game and the release date.

Tried to translate this screen as well as I can (can barely read some parts due to quality) :

http://s29.postimg.org/41i6cs493/translate_1.jpg

Info :

*江の支流、**山をの*たところにある山村

民家 (FR : Résidence privée / EN : Private house) **　戸　＊＊　寺

村人 (FR : Villageois / EN : Villagers)

大人 (FR : Adultes / EN : Adults) *　*　人 ((FR : Personnes / EN : People) 　
子供　(FR : Enfants / EN : Children) *　*　人

過去のフラッシュバック (FR : Flashback du passé / EN : Past Flashback)

白鹿村へ向かう山道 (FR : Sentier de montagne qui mène au village Bailu / EN : Mountain path leading to Bailu village)

白鹿村　入口 (FR : Entrée du village Bailu / EN : Bailu village entrance)

白鹿村　探索 (FR : Village Bailu - Investigation, recherche - / EN : Bailu village - Inquiry, investigation)

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

蚩尤門の情報 NA (FR : Information concernant les Chiyoumen / EN : Information about Chiyoumen)

*の情報　NA (FR : Information concernant * / EN : Information about *)

*の情報　NA (FR : Information concernant * / EN : Information about *)

*１９時　*マップチェンジ (FR : Changement de la carte à 19h / EN : Map changing at 7PM)

*２３時３０分　F.O　ｰ　F.I 莎花の家 (FR : Maison de Shenhua à 23h30 / EN : Shenhua's house at 11:30PM)

順不動

EV*****************

EV 古寺　技伝授 (FR : Temple Initiation aux techniques / EN : Temple Moves Initiation)

EV 絵馬寺 (FR : Temple Ema / EN : Ema (Shinto))

EV 国際テレカ (FR : Carte téléphonique / EN : Phone card)

EV 釣り (FR : La pêche / EN : Fishing)

PC **********
Q　XX　********
PC　********　F.O

２ｋｍｘ２ｋｍ

順不動

EV 燕 (FR : Hirondelle(s) / EN : A swallow)

EV 石跳び (FR : Sauts de pierre en pierre (à vérifier) / EN : Jumping from a stone to another (like the first trailer where Ryo and Shenhua were jumping))

EV 鹿（救済）(FR : Cerf, biche (Secours, assistance) / EN : A Deer (help/relief)

**********

泉探し (FR : Recherche d'une source/fontaine / EN : Searching for a spring/fountain)

山道 (FR : Sentier de montagne / EN : A mountain path)

森のメイズ (FR : Labyrinthe de la forêt / EN : Forest maze)

Cedric Biscay has been interviewed by France Live.

Here's the video (in French) :

http://www.francelive.fr/france/france- ... kr0FY6G_h4

Hey Community,

So i'm still relatively new here and I thought i'd introduce myself this way. I like to Develop games for fun which includes both 2d and 3d. I'm a programmer first and foremost.

So in commemoration of Star Wars and it's return I thought i'd try to make a little game in about a month's time just to see how quickly I could put something together. I don't really feel like releasing it elsewhere and I seem to have grown quite fond of this community so I thought why not share it here?

http://www.MarkJamesG.com is where you can download it.

The game is by no means perfect and should / could be completed in less than 5 minutes, so expect some bugs and a lack of polish for obvious reasons. It isn't a commercial project after all so i'm not going to painstakingly correct every little thing. Since i'm abysmal at 3d modeling and the likes...i'll pre-warn you. Collision boxes are not perfect so there is a chance of falling out of the level.

This project was made in Unreal Engine 4 using nothing but C++ and the standard editor and worked on during the weekends for a month. So in total it has about 8 days worth of work. Modeling and textures were worked on with Maya and Photoshop. The assets used in this come from Epic Games, JKA, KOTOR and Shadows of the Empire.

The textures/materials use only a diffuse map (except for the rocks) and as a result it might appear flat.

Phew. Anyways, enjoy.

P.S

I am a terrible level designer and artist! Haha. But this was just for fun so it isn't a big deal. \:D/. Though if I really wanted to make this a commercial level type of product I would have brought more people on the team then just myself onto the team to split the workload and add much, much more.

http://s23.postimg.org/99homid3d/Highres_Screenshot00000.png
http://s23.postimg.org/la34n8ki3/Highres_Screenshot00001.png
http://s23.postimg.org/7iynl0vkb/Highres_Screenshot00002.png
http://s23.postimg.org/u007o31zd/Highres_Screenshot00003.png
http://s23.postimg.org/r238udubt/Highres_Screenshot00004.png
http://s23.postimg.org/mu8glmswb/Highres_Screenshot00005.png
http://s23.postimg.org/hb5x4evux/Highres_Screenshot00006.png
http://s11.postimg.org/wgudghecy/Picture1.jpg
http://s11.postimg.org/69t6kiw36/Picture2.jpg
http://s11.postimg.org/7z29slbsi/Picture3.jpg

gakucho wrote: Yu Suzuki Reveals Shenmue 3 Prototype(Completed version ) created by Chinese shenmue fans club
https://twitter.com/mantisjojo/status/666925117096660992

Video embed for the lazy:

Yu Suzuki Reveals Shenmue 3 Prototype(Completed version ) created by Chinese shenmue fans club
https://twitter.com/mantisjojo/status/666925117096660992

Screengrabs of gifts for Yu Suzuki along with fan art (not sure how much of art was given as gifts or is simply fan art from Chinese Shenmue community):

http://i.imgur.com/2ugTHuo.png

http://i.imgur.com/tdI0Qmz.png

http://i.imgur.com/ocvbP8M.png

http://i.imgur.com/aFQRlUv.png

http://i.imgur.com/WaekWEv.png

http://i.imgur.com/GxM2Tbm.png

http://i.imgur.com/FI04Tfi.png

More here: http://imgur.com/a/LPDAA

So the recent news is that Mr. Suzuki is in China trying hard to get investors http://www.shenmuedojo.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=49320

Now I wonder if there's something that we can do? Offcourse not actually going there but dragging attention to the game. Contacting chinese fans? Tweetathlon sort of thing? Capsule toys? A flashmob... I don't know... We've got to be able to do something! The dojo community has been doing similar things in the past already.
Sure there's their "own internet" in China. Is it possible to get there anyhow?
Shenmue is like is almost all about China! There has to be a way to let the chinese people/government/investors know that this is a great opportunity to advertise the countra all around the world and we -the fans- would be very grateful if this happens!

Peter 蔡 has responded to my request to join the dojo forums. He says he'll be here tomorrow.
Hello everyone, I am so happy to be here :D :D :D . Shenmue dojo is very famous in Chinese shenmue fans club. Today another member or myself will share some pictures about the conference, such as the gifts and paints.

Monaco Hebdo interview
http://www.monacohebdo.mc/16513-shibuya-productions-leve-plus-de-6-millions-de-dollars

"I made a lot of advisory work in video gaming and animation because they are interesting sectors for me. My idea has always been to create my own contents."

"Shibuya is the name of the most busy place of Tokyo so the most cosmopolitan. We know that Japanese people are not that attracted by the international. But Shibuya is a neighbourhood where a lot of things happen. And we work a lot with Japan. That's why I wanted to associate this image with my company."

"I moved to Monaco because the Principality is pretty well-known in the world, especially in the US. It's also much easier to meet decision-makers in Monaco where the network is rich and tight at the same time. In Japan, the Principality is especially known for the Formula One, its luxury goods and tourism. "

"We work also on 26 Astroboy episodes of 26 minutes each. The name will be Astroboy Reboot"

"We are a young company. But in 2014, we will be the company which made Shenmue and Astroboy Reboot. Thus, the eyes turned towards us will be more interested. But starting off with these two big releases (Astroboy is planned for september 2017), we earn reputation and reliability. And a lot of time."

"The real revenue will be in two years. If all goes well, it should be around 5 million euros."

"The network is the origin of everything. This is what makes possible all we're doing. Since 15 years, I build my network in Japan."

"To raise confidence, you need time. In Japan, there is a lot of codes you have to comply. My chance is that, very often, people get bored and look for China instead... where they usually fail. It's been 10 years since we talk about China as almost an Eldorado. But who really managed to establish itself in China ?"

"I played a lot of games, especially Japanese games. Shenmue had a deep impact on me. I spent sleepless nights on it. There was also Shenmue 2. But with the Dreamcast disappearance, Shenmue III never happened.

"I don't know how to draw, nor write a story or a program, neither animate... However, I know how to connect people and generate a network, especially in these sectors."

Shibuya Prod work with 4 employees. The company's role is to outsource its productions, notably in Japan, Bulgaria, United States and France. To fund a project, convince co-producers is needed. These co-producers are usually studios that employ 100 or 200 people to, for example, create and program a game.

"Sega did nothing with Shenmue. The idea was to make Shenmue III and create a huge buzz around this game".

"The budget is about several million euros, funded widely by Shibuya Prod's own funds."

"At the moment, no Mac version is planned. I can't tell you exactly but Sony put less money in the project than Shibuya".

"We target to sell one million copies. This is not what we need to earn money but that's my goal."

About piracy : "But I still have faith in the true players, those who want beautiful packaging and look to gain a beautiful object. But I keep dreaming. Those who usually hack will continue to do so. For a game sold 60 euros, the packaging is 2-3 euros. Piracy is cultural. In Japan, downloading is still less common than selling CD.

"Our productions need teams of 150-250 people. It's still far from Disney"

Biscay has the advantage of knowing everyone since 10 years. As he worked already with them (the right owners of Astroboy), the young boss decides to opt for audacity. He asked if they would let him make a "reboot". Surprise: he gets a "yes" in minutes. In three months, the first contract is signed. Which is pretty amazing since, in this kind of business, negotiations sometimes last 2 or 3 years before reaching a signature. "This is why I love Japan. There, everything is a matter of trust. However, if we betray the word, you're dead, can pack your bags and return in Europe."

Then everything is on track and Astroboy becomes a 9 million euros budget funded by co-producers : a Japanese one, two TV channels and Shibuya Productions. Caribara Productions (based in Paris, Annecy, Liège and Montréal) takes charge of the animation.

Other project, this time focused on cinema : "Lily and the magic pearl" by Anri Koulev, directed with Bulgaria and co-produced. The story is written by the poetist Valeri Petrov (1920-2014). Ben Cross (Star Trek 2009) is one of the dubbers. Biscay : "I want to offer a more confidential production, an auteur cinema which would never happen without our help."

"On the technical plan, the animated film is the neighbor of gaming. However, about the funding, it's very different. It's not the same intermediaries neither the same partners or the same mounting methods for budgets. Video games are still the most profitable : the potential gain is greater than an animated film. With television, it's difficult. Whereas with the cinema, when you see the complete success of The Minions..."

"We have already a big project for 2019. But from 2017, we hope to do one release per year at least."


http://i2.wp.com/modogameur.fr/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Affiche-MAGIC-francais-small.jpg?resize=852%2C600

Modogameur interview
http://modogameur.fr/interview-cedric-biscay-organisateur-du-magic/

Q : Can you tell us more about you ?
CB : Above all, I am passionate of Japanese animation and video games. In order to work in these sectors, I founded two companies. The first in Nice in 2002 (2003 in Japan), specialized in advising between Europe and Japan. The name is Shibuya International. The other in 2014 with as primary goal the creation of video games and cartoons and whose name is Shibuya Productions. The latter company has the distinction of being located in Monaco and Japan. I also give courses in Master video games at the École Polytechnique de Nice-Sophia Antipolis.

Q : Do you think that Magic can become an event as not-to-be-missed as the Paris Games Week ?
CB : If you believe the articles following the 2015 edition, the MAGIC is already a must-see event in regard to its guests, the cosplay contest and video game creation competition endowed with € 100,000. We have to work hard to go even further. Our event offers free entrance with a broad focus on the conferences and round tables, we have no plans to expand the stands and to welcome tens of thousands of visitors. Our aim is to always offer more quality for true fans. That year we had notably Yuji Naka (Sonic), Yoshitaka Amano (Final Fantasy), Shinji Hashimoto (Kingdom Hearts), Eric Chahi (Another World), Alain Damasio (Remember Me), Frederick Raynal (Alone in the Dark), Viktor Kalvachev (Blue Estate), Philippe Buchet (Sillage) without forgetting Yoichi Takahashi (Captain Tsubasa) who comes to France and Monaco for the first time.
The 2016 edition will announce the presence of Buichi Terasawa (Cobra), Yu Suzuki (Shenmue) Kavinsky (Drive), David Lloyd (V for Vendetta), Didier Tarquin and Christophe Arleston (Lanfeust) to name a few."

Q : Your favorite mangas and games ?
CB : So much to say ! But ok, the first that come to mind are Dragon Ball Z, Cobra, Death Note, Hokuto No Ken, Saint Seiya, Hikaru no go and many others ! About games : Shenmue, Enemy Zero, Bio hazard, Radiant Silvergun, Zelda Ocarina of Time, Virtua Fighter 4, Sega Rally , Super Mario Kart, F-Zero, Street Fighter Zero 3, Uncharted 2 … this is it I can not stop !

Q : How did you selected the prestigious guests for this second edition ?
CB : I must admit that it is mostly the likes of the team. We refuse to take the easy path and don't try to follow current mainstream topics for example. Most of our guests are not into a promotion logic but come to share a good time with their fans. The undeniable advantage is that it provides a greater depth to exchanges with the public. Similarly, we do not accept pay dedications or other system that would encourage our visitors to pay for the right to photograph or signature.

Q : What are your ambitions for future editions ?
CB : We would like to pass on two days because we are beginning to refuse a lot of opportunities because of too short time we have now. However, our will is to remain a free admission event, we are not financially able to do so now. We have to find more sponsors because remember that MAGIC is an event that we fund entirely by this means.

Q : Have you never thought about exporting the Magic outside Monaco to do big conferences like Japan Expo or even Paris Games Week ?
CB : For now this is certainly not news, but we do not exclude any serious track. I myself implanted Japan Expo in Marseille and Montpellier MIG, we want MAGIC retains its specificities. With us all guests are VIP!

I also find it weird how people rationalize that Ryo and Nozomi's relationship takes precedence over Ryo's grieving over his father's murder. Having a parent die is hard already. But having your father murdered in front of your very eyes?

Yet, from what ShenmueTree described, Ryo merely has "his own agenda", when for most players, Nozomi's confession comes not even a month after the murder of his father.

I think a lot of you are far too used to games overloading the player with romance idealization. Ryo's going through a lot, but Nozomi should be pissed because her childhood friend is on a person journey?

If Nozomi should be mad at anyone, it's Lan Di. Ryo and she were close before Iwao died. Ryo was close to her and told her things. Now he's guarded. Lan Di is why she was sent back to Canada, because her parents feared for her safety. Lan Di is what made Ryo distance. Lan Di is what made Ryo leave Japan. Lan Di is what took Ryo's innocence and turned a caring, respectful boy into an aggressive teen who fights people.

Are you sure we've been playing the same Shenmue?

Hear me out.

You're Nozomi, and you're childhood friends with Ryo. Suddenly, his father dies, not only that, he's murdered. You try to comfort him but the more you try, the more you're pushed away. You try to understand him but he's obsessed on exacting a lone revenge mission, you notice this guy start making more dangerous and careless decisions as the days go by, dragging himself down into a world of trouble. You tell him that soon you'll be leaving for another country, in the extraordinary small chance you can get through to him and have your feelings requited but again, he has his own agenda, he doesn't have time for an old friend who's in love with him for the most part... and then one day you're fucking kidnapped. Because of his dumb careless actions.... but that's not all.

Ryo goes to Hong Kong and immediately upon arriving there he meets some biker who is all over him, making all kinds of innuendo and sexual invitations. Ryo doesn't recuperate these invitations, sure but he does stay in the ComeOver Guest House on her suggestion.

Not long after, he meets his teacher, and sleeps in her apartment.... in the very same room no less! He then enables some kids crush on him by trying to make her happy and debatably even flirting with her, that's insane. why is he even putting thoughts into this poor girls head?

And after that? At in the end of Shenmue 2, he's met some mysterious girl and begins to tell her about his whole life, family, friends, even Nozomi. Opening up and pour his heart out to at total stranger, and then she's making him dinner and imo cooking is a very intimate thing to do so, if you're Nozomi you see this as being very affectionate and you're wondering just why the fuck this guy wouldn't open up to you when he was in Japan, and pissed because in Shenmue 3 he's presumably even living with this girl.

I mean, when Ryo calls Nozomi and tells her what he's been doing in China I think she has a right to be upset. Ryo is kind of an asshole.

Here's an English translation from the Japanese (so hopefully it retains most of the original meaning!)

Hello Master Suzuki,

We are big fans of the Shenmue series. You have come to Shanghai this time to tell the young people of China about your experience with game development. On behalf of everyone, I would like to welcome you and express our thanks.

Most of us were part of the Dreamcast era, and so we have deep feelings for your creation, Shenmue. We experienced this wonderful game and Ryo’s adventures. It would not be going far to say this was a part of our life experience. In Shenmue we have seen many experiences of loneliness, growth, love and strength, and they won’t be forgotten as long as we live. It was such a shame that the story of Shenmue did not continue at that time. We felt as sad as if we had lost part of our family, or a girlfriend/boyfriend. We thought this regret would stay with us for the rest of our lives.

In the 14 years that followed, we avidly followed all news about Shenmue. Although occasionally we could not bear to see the reports, as our raised hopes would always be dashed. Little by little, we tucked Shenmue away deep in our hearts. As the Chinese poet Guo Moruo once wrote, “Disappointed year after year, Year after year, my hope's still fierce”.

At last, there was a turning point. At the 2015 E3 conference, you announced the Shenmue III Kickstarter project. At that moment, tears overflowed from everyone’s eyes, and we smiled with joy. We have a saying in China, “A man cannot cry easily. But when he can, it is true sadness”. Actually we have already turned 30, and have not cried for many years – some of us probably have not cried for 10 years. However this time we cried plainly. Tears of emotion, tears of happiness. We are really grateful to you for your efforts. Without these we would not believe we would ever cry so much again.

From the time of the Kickstarter project announcement, we have gathered together again and have continued to support Shenmue III. Everyone is putting in maximum effort, I am happy to say. The funds gathered in China may not be great compared to elsewhere, but it represents the hearts of the Shenmue fans across China. We will never leave the Number 1 Shenmue club. Thanks to Shenmue, we have all become friends, which has made us happy. We are grateful to you for this also.

We have one request for you, which is that we would like Shenmue III in Chinese. Naturally this will require budget but please consider it. It will please all the players who speak Chinese. We are also hoping for HD versions of Shenmue I and II.

Finally, we celebrate the smooth development of Shenmue III, and pray that it will be a big hit. We pray for great happiness and health to you, your staff and families from the bottom of our hearts.

Shenmue Fan Club of China

http://imgsrc.baidu.com/forum/pic/item/47800ad162d9f2d3a50ee203afec8a136227ccb0.jpg

love this image :heart: :heart:

would it be possible to have a synopsis of what the letter to Yu Suzuki says?

This letter has translated to japanese by me on that time , I show this to everybody. But my japanese is not very good, please ignove some mistakes. And please translate this to English by sb.

鈴木先生、こんにちは：
わたしたちはシェイムシリーズのビッグファンです。今回、あなたは上海へいたたきまして、中国の若い人たちにゲームの開発経験を伝授する。この機会に、ひとりメンバは代表として先生にご挨拶と感謝の気持ちを差し上げます。
　　皆さんはほとんどドリームキャストの時代を過ごしまた、だから先生の作品シェイムに深いの気持ちを持っています。巴月さんの冒険が、素晴らしのゲーム体験を受けました。その体験は人生の体験と言い過ぎではありません。シェイムの中で、たくさんの孤独、成長、恋愛と強さの経験を見まして、これは一生忘れないことです。残念で、シェイムの物語があの時に続かない、私たちは家族、恋人を失ったみたいで非常に悲しです。何回で、私たちは終生遺恨を抱くことになると思いました。
この十四年の間、皆はシェイムに関して全ての二ユースをきにいってました。でも偶にはそのレポットを見たくない、だって毎回の期待は最後まで失望になりました。徐徐に、シェイムのことは心の深い場所に眠った。中国の詩人、郭沫若、“年年失望年年望，事事难成事事成”を書きました、終に転機を現われました。
2015年E3で、鈴木先生はシェンムーⅢのキックスタータープロジェクトを発表します。その時、皆は目から涙があふれ出た、そして笑います。中国でこの言葉があります、”男として簡単に泣きことはできません、できる場合は本物の悲しことです。“事実はね、僕たちはもう３０歳ぐらいになりましたか、涙はずっと前のことです、一分の人は多分10年ほど泣かないのんで、今回ははっきり泣きました。感動の涙、幸せの涙、本当に感謝します、先生の頑張ることがなければ、自分はもう一度こんなに泣くことが信じなれない。
キックスタータープロジェクトから、我たちは改めて集めた、今までずっと一緒にシェンムーⅢを支えています。皆一生懸命に努力します、自分でも嬉しです。そのお金のほうが、中国は他の国に比べて少ないかもしれません、でもこれは全国のシェイム愛好会たちの心です。わたしたちは一番シェイムクラブ、絶対に離れることはできません。皆はシェイムのお掛けで、友たちになりました、本当に幸せのことです。これはも先生を感謝します。
また先生にひとつ願いがあります、それは中国語のシェイムⅢを欲しいです。当然これは予算にかけます、先生はぜひ考えてください、全中国語使いのプレーヤは喜んでのことです。なお、シェイムＩとシェイムⅡのＨＤversionを期待いたします。
最後、シェイムⅢは順調に開発するを祝う。シェイムⅢの大ヒットを祈ります。先生とスタッフの家族の皆様方のご多幸とご健康を心からお祈り致します。


中国のシェイム愛好会
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　 2015.11.04

Here's an English translation from the Japanese (so hopefully it retains most of the original meaning!)

Hello Master Suzuki,

We are big fans of the Shenmue series. You have come to Shanghai this time to tell the young people of China about your experience with game development. On behalf of everyone, I would like to welcome you and express our thanks.

Most of us were part of the Dreamcast era, and so we have deep feelings for your creation, Shenmue. We experienced this wonderful game and Ryo’s adventures. It would not be going far to say this was a part of our life experience. In Shenmue we have seen many experiences of loneliness, growth, love and strength, and they won’t be forgotten as long as we live. It was such a shame that the story of Shenmue did not continue at that time. We felt as sad as if we had lost part of our family, or a girlfriend/boyfriend. We thought this regret would stay with us for the rest of our lives.

In the 14 years that followed, we avidly followed all news about Shenmue. Although occasionally we could not bear to see the reports, as our raised hopes would always be dashed. Little by little, we tucked Shenmue away deep in our hearts. As the Chinese poet Guo Moruo once wrote, “Disappointed year after year, Year after year, my hope's still fierce”.

At last, there was a turning point. At the 2015 E3 conference, you announced the Shenmue III Kickstarter project. At that moment, tears overflowed from everyone’s eyes, and we smiled with joy. We have a saying in China, “A man cannot cry easily. But when he can, it is true sadness”. Actually we have already turned 30, and have not cried for many years – some of us probably have not cried for 10 years. However this time we cried plainly. Tears of emotion, tears of happiness. We are really grateful to you for your efforts. Without these we would not believe we would ever cry so much again.

From the time of the Kickstarter project announcement, we have gathered together again and have continued to support Shenmue III. Everyone is putting in maximum effort, I am happy to say. The funds gathered in China may not be great compared to elsewhere, but it represents the hearts of the Shenmue fans across China. We will never leave the Number 1 Shenmue club. Thanks to Shenmue, we have all become friends, which has made us happy. We are grateful to you for this also.

We have one request for you, which is that we would like Shenmue III in Chinese. Naturally this will require budget but please consider it. It will please all the players who speak Chinese. We are also hoping for HD versions of Shenmue I and II.

Finally, we celebrate the smooth development of Shenmue III, and pray that it will be a big hit. We pray for great happiness and health to you, your staff and families from the bottom of our hearts.

Shenmue Fan Club of China

Thank you so much for this translation. Every shenmue fan has the same emotion, also thanks everyone who read this letter.

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

Most interesting parts :

(5:10) About MAGIC 2016 in February
There will be a progress statement. Normally, we have the ambition to show a trailer... well rather a teaser I'd like to clarify, with the first true reliable images so we're ambitious. At least, we'll see new things like images, explanations about the game, story, etc.

(16:29) About Yu Suzuki
He's very nice, infact we are basically great pals, that's the reason we work together as well and he's a very humble person ( note : Cédric stresses this point during the video because not all the creators he knows are friendly in the gaming/anime universe and sometimes act like divas ). I think he is humble because he did everything that was possible to do in the sector of gaming. I was always fascinated when he showed me photos of him with Spielberg or Mickael Jackson but with calm, not as someone like a stalker. And you know what, it was those people who were happy to be pictured with Suzuki because his games provided them a lot of fun and they wanted to collaborate with him. So he doesn't boast at all about it, he's really supercool, we get on very well, and above all, we often drink good wine together. He likes wine, so I do. It's generally the common lot of our discussions (laughs).
Question : Which wine is his favorite ?
Cédric : Well it's a bit of expansive wine (laughs). He enjoys the really great wines, the Château Margaux, etc.
Q : And Romanée-Conti, and goes on...
C : So, yeah I admit we didn't reach this level together yet but we drunk some Château Margaux from his own wine cellar.
Q : His Tokyo-based wine cellar, isn't it ?
C : Yeah, a mini wine cellar in his office at his home but I will say nothing because I own a wine cellar in my office too so I refuse to make fun of him (laughs).


(18:35)
C : The production is progressing well, we're not late at all, it's still planned for Christmas 2017 as we decided. You know, a big interest is there, it's a traditional month for the players. Ok there are other moments in the year but it's usually better to release a game at Christmas.

Q : Since when you're working on Shenmue III before the announcement exactly ?
C : I admit we're not talking a lot about things like that, I don't want to be already impolite but (laughs) it's kind of confidential.

(19:51)
Sega is the IP owner. So for us, making Shenmue III is a huge risk because we don't own the IP. If you own the IP, that means you make a big return on investment. In our case for example, our return on investment will only be from the sales, period. We will not see the money generated by the goodies for example.

I think there are 200 000 big fans.

About AAA status
(Shenmue III) will not be Call of Duty but it will be a really good PS4 game and will easily meet the current PS4 standards.

My hidden goal was $5 million (for kickstarter).

(23:45)
What I anticipate is that Sega releases Shenmue I & II HD. Of course I must make clear that's not official but just what I wish. For me, it's the only viable way for selling well Shenmue III, so beyond the fans network. We also thought about doing a little manga or animation based on Shenmue I & II story but that's nothing compared to remake Shenmue in HD version. About the question you ask me about the hype, while it did not influence us, I think it can for others. I have the feeling that now everybody is interested in Shenmue, for example, at the companies level, to release related goodies.

Q : When was your first encounter with Yu Suzuki, how, and around which wine you seduced him ?
C : Basically, I was interested to meet him. I met him in Tokyo thanks a common friend. Then we talked about a lot of things, firstly Shenmue of course as a fan but I'm also fan of Virtua Fighter so we had a lot of common things to talk. I also bring him to an event in the south of France, then the Anime Game Show at Monaco in 2013 where the official discussion about Shenmue seriously started out because before this moment, it was really impossible as Sega didn't want to let the IP at all. So we're become real friends and we met again several times at San Francisco. We also did together the GDC , the Napa Valley as you mentionned wine. So we indeed drunk all the great American wines while discussing about how to find fundings for Shenmue III. Well it looks quite simple but you know, I do my business since almost 15 years in Japan, you can't meet Yu Suzuki so easily but thanks my job, the doors open a little more easily.

Q : Indeed, a bit like the Jet Set. The hardest part is to get in, and you did it.
C : I would say rather the Jet Set of Gaming (laughs)


(40:08)
Q : How many people are working on Shenmue III development, currently and actively ?
C : Well, our friend Suzuki didn't allow me to talk. He said to me "Don't talk about it, they will discuss again, etc". So sorry I can't answer your question (laughs).

Q : But it's a lot of people, isn't it ?
C : Yes of course, it's a video game so there is a minimum. Moreover, since the annoucement in June, we received so many requests from people who want to participate in the developement, that never stops ! There are even developers who want to work FOR FREE, it's insane. Then it smoothed down a little. For the Shibuya Production mail, I receive personally only 3 or 4 emails per week while in June, it was crazy, they were dozens and dozens of people per day, phone calls with "We want to participate in Shenmue III". [...] There were Australians, Japaneses, Ukrainians... they weren't random guys in their garages but true studios !

Q : Can we suppose that the team, although mainly Japanese, is pretty international ?
C : The team is essentially Japanese but with indeed some foreigners who live in Japan, who speak Japanese. You know that if you don't speak Japanese, it's very complicated... well I'm saying but I don't speak Japanese (laughs), but if you're working among a team, it's difficult.


(41:57)
Q : Will the PC version be optimized compared to the PS4 version ?
C : Good question, I would say "Yes".

(56:15)
Q : Outside the kickstarter, will a physical version be available ?
C : Yes absolutely.

(59:10)
Q : Will the PS4 and PC versions cost a different price ?
C : No at the moment but it's something that can change for multiple reasons. But at the moment, no.

Such a warming image. The book looks really beautiful to own.