Peter,

I've had an idea for your streams. when you next stream why not have the character profiles at hand and whenever you come across an npc that you're curious about you can read their profile. there is tonnes of interesting info in those profiles. just a little something extra to do in the slower moments of the game. maybe this is more appropriate for the legacy steam.
keep up the good work, I'm enjoying them!

the GDC official youtube channel has recently released a higher quality version of Yu suzuki's GDC shenmue presentation from 2000. it contains some footage from the shenmue premiere event.

i like the trailer too, but i think this should have been a bonus on top of some other shorter trailer which had a more up-to-date build of the game, kind of like a comparison of progress to show people the improvements. its more for the fans i suppose than the wider public, which is probably why they didn't want it filmed, although many people did. it will be interesting to see what the update will include. i suppose e3 will be the big one, with a proper polished 'get hyped' kind of trailer.

-Passport features, (cutscene viewer, stats, music, talking heads, characer bios ect.
-Whats shenmue playable demo
-interviews with original developers
-uncompressed audio
-full Shenmue Premiere event bonus video
-Shenmue Saturn version bonus footage
- concept art viewer
- unlock the bicycle when you complete the game (S1)
- in-game checklist for the capsule toys, tapes
-retained licensing
- all the shenmue 2 bonus content and mini games collections, and battles (play from the menu)
- S1 70 man battle menu option time trial (from disk 3)
-retain the authentic weather option in S1 (i'm sure they will)

thats all i can think of for now

I just put together this helpful fact sheet of all we know so far.

Shenmue HD fact sheet

http://www.justpushstart.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/shenmue-1-and-2.jpg
includes both Shenmue 1 and 2

Technical:
-1080p for consoles
-Scalable screen resolutions for PC
-Trophy/Achievement support
-Dual control scheme - updated or classic
-Dual audio language options - English and Japanese
-French, German, Korean, Chinese, English, Japanese subtitles
-New HD UI (user interface)
-Port is based on the ORIGINAL DREAMCAST SOURCE CODE – no emulation

CONFIRMED:
- An artwork (?) poster comes with all standard physical copies of the game.
- NO collectors edition is planned
- Shenmue 1 will NOT include time skipping feature
- There are NO CURRENT plans to include a save transfer feature that carries over to Shenmue 3
- The version of Shenmue 2 included is based on the original Xbox port (the improved real-time shadows will carry over)

UNCONFIRMED:
-Gameplay supports 16:9 widescreen but cut-scenes only display in 4:3
-New sky box for Shenmue 1
- New lighting

The following questions remain unanswered:
-What aspect ratio will the games run at? will there be a choice? -UNKNOWN
-Will the bloom effect be included in Shenmue 2? if so will there be an option to turn it off? - UNKNOWN
-Will the motion blur effect be included in Shenmue 2? (i'd rather it wasn't) If so, will there be an option to turn it off?- UNKNOWN
-Will the passport features of Shenmue 1 be included? - UNKNOWN
-Will the 'Shenmue collection' extras from Shenmue 2 be included? - UNKNOWN
-Will the photo mode option of Shenmue 2x be retained? if so will the comics still unlock when one has collected all the required NPC photos? UNKNOWN
-Will there be any enhancements for XBox one X or ps4 pro? - UNKNOWN
-Will the audio be improved over the original release, e.g. uncompressed dialogue audio? - UNKNOWN
-Will the Guilin intro music from the xbox port be corrected? (the wrong track was used in the original xbox port - the cut-scene where Ryo steps off the boat)- UNKNOWN
-Will the skybox from Shenmue 1 be improved? (original was very pixilated) - UNKNOWN
-Were there any licenced products that had to be removed from the games? if so what? - UNKNOWN
- Will the loading times be significantly reduced? - UNKNOWN
- Will there be a greater number of save slots available for Shenmue 1 and 2? if so how many? UNKNOWN
- Will the 'save and exit' option remain for Shenmue 1 or will a 'save anywhere' feature be added? UNKNOWN
- Will an 'exit to title screen' option be added (rather than having to hold down face buttons and start)? UNKNOWN
- Will controller vibration feedback be added to the games? UNKNOWN
Publisher:
-Sega

Developer of the re-master:
-d3t - are located in Cheshire, England, whose previous work includes the PS4 port of Witcher 3, Little Big Planet 3 and Sega’s Mega drive collection.

“We can finally reveal that the d3t team have been resurrecting Shenmue from the original source code written over 20 years ago! We are bringing Shenmue and Shenmue II to modern platforms: Playstation4, Xbox One and PC. It's been a journey of discovery, delving into the original code, also an honour and a privilege to work on such high-profile titles, delivering this classic franchise to new platforms and new audiences.”
https://d3tltd.com/

Release info:
-Release date - 2018 TBA
-PS4 & XBOX ONE – both Physical and digital release (EU and North America)
-PC – Steam (EU and NA)
-Japan – PS4 ONLY

Price :
-US$29.99 (£20 -£25)

its a good price. I'm hoping they will announce an interesting collectors edition in the near future and include things like figurines, capsule toys, replica notebook, face sticking plaster, remote control forklift, replica mirrors. things like that.

Question: Will both games require a high end PC? i dont think they should since they are old games. I own a craptop hence why i am asking. I am stuck on whether to buy PC or PS4. The Craptop is mine but PS4 is my brothers, so i would prefer the PC version but can i run it is what im concerned about.

recommended specs have not yet been released, but as you say, given they are older games i don't think it'll be too demanding.

I updated the fact sheet, btw

i really hope they include the passport features. all those stats, character and location info, cut-scene viewer. wont even mind if its just a 4:3 straight port

also it would be great if they include the What's Shenmue playable demo. too much to ask i know. i hope the dev team look at the forums and consider some of the fans requests. these things could still be feasible within their budget.

I wonder whether vibration function will be added to the games.

I hope Eric Kelso returns to voice Ren. A future update confirming this would be cool.

I've been with contact with Robert Pontow from Deep Silver, who is working on Shenmue 3.
I told him about Eric Kelso, Paul Lucas, and Lisle Wilkerson, and how they want to return to Shenmue 3. This is his reply:

Hi, thanks for contacting me. Would you have any email addresses of the voice actors, their agents or any other means of contacting them? Unfortunately I wouldn't be able to discuss anything over FB, so we would need to take an official way to get in contact with the voice actors. But I am sure that Yu Suzuki would be happy if we can secure the same crew for Shenmue 3. Best regards

This means there is hope yet. I will try to find a way to get in touch with those three, I'll tweet Shenmue AM2 podcast who had been in touch with them recently. If you guys know anything that might help, let me know too


This also confirms my suspicion that they didn't know that the VA's wanted to return

I was talking to Eric this morning. Him, Paul and Lisle have been concerned for a few months now. They talk once a month and still haven't heard a word. Eric has his schedule cleared for the entire year waiting.

those who want to see Eric Kelso, Paul Lucas and Lisle Wilkerson (@lisleweapon) return for 3, please tweet requests to the following:

@deepsilver
@KochMediaNordic
@yu_suzuki_jp
@CedricBiscay

thanks

i maintain that the dynamic camera angles during the conversions with npcs in s1 and 2 has never been surpassed by any other game with a similar 3rd person conversion system. i hope this returns for 3. considering how dynamic and context sensitive it is, it almost never glitches-out, which is very impressive. maybe that code could still work in 3, heres hoping.

What do the Kanji say? Curious!
Well, I'm going by my knowledge of Chinese here, but 打開 means "to open". On the right side, we have 敵, which simply means "enemy". Obviously, it just means that's that particular enemy's health bar. I do wonder about that "open" thing, though...
I wonder if "open" refers to Ryo's stance in the bubble to the left. Maybe you can shift to different stances to pull off different moves.
Well, again, I'm going by my knowledge of Chinese, so it could be different in Japanese, but 打開 is not an adjective (as in "open stance") but rather a verb, "to open".
So, the most likely thing that comes to my mind is that that's some kind of prompt, so common in videogames, like, when you approach a box/door/whatever, you get an on-screen prompt saying "open".
The thing is, in that screenshot Ryo doesn't seem to be anywhere near an object that could be opened. But maybe, amidst all that action and movement, Ryo did approach something that could be opened and, by the time this screen was captured, the prompt still hadn't gone away.
This is exciting, because, to me, this hints to some degree of interactivity with the background during battles. Maybe we'll see something a bit closer to a classic Jackie Chan fight scene, with doors, tables, chairs and whatnot being integrated into the fight? I mean, Yu Suzuki keeps saying how much of a fan he is of Chinese/Hong Kong martial arts flicks and he once, when talking about this AI Battling thing, gave the example of Ryo jumping against a wall and then use the momentum from his jump back towards the enemy to kick him (you know, that classic martial arts movie move).

Speaking of the HUD, while it's likely that the HUD will suffer some changes before the final version (they always seem to do), I'm quite happy to see that they're going for something in the same vein as the original games, just with a new-gen, HD, cleaner look. It's small things like these that really help giving us that feeling that, yep, this is a bona-fide sequel of the game we loved. That sense of familiarity, even 20 years later.

the individual kanjis mean - strike, open.
but according to jisho.org when combined it means
だかい - dakai - 'break in the deadlock​'

so maybe this is an indication of a successful counter attack. ie. the opponent grappled Ryo and he successfully executed a strike reversal. just guessing, best to wait for the switch translation.

So I decided to get another Digital copy through the slacker backer, after paying the only thing I get is the PayPal receipt on my E-mail. No confirmation from YsNET, no survey... It's been 5 days and still nothing. Is this normal or should I contact them?

It's normal other than the lack of survey. Head over to here and see if you can request your survey https://fulfillment.fangamer.com/kindling/shenmue3/resend_survey
I did this, and it sent me this mail:

LOOKING IN DATABASE
HAIKU BOT DID NOT FIND IT.
TRY DIFFERENT EMAIL.
Hey there,

We did not find any surveys matching this email. Perhaps you may have used a different email address? You can try again with a different email on the Survey Support and Survey Resender.


:cry:

it takes 10 business days from pledge date to get survey:

*Backers will receive an email with instructions for the survey once preparations are complete. Surveys from Fangamer will be sent within 10 business days from the date of your pledge.