HOLY FUCK! 1600?! First time in a long time the community even some of the vets who are more known for being distant in these things contributed. Awesome.

Don't be so surprised. There's a world of Shenmue fandom outside the Dojo's walls. One thing I hope people take from this experience is that different groups should be working together a lot more often, instead of the insular, almost tribal attitude that some people seem to have.

Earlier in this thread, when Ryo was struggling to pick up steam, someone asked "where are those Twitter guys now?" - referring to fans who participate in the monthly Tweetathons. But the question could just as easily be asked every 3rd of the month - where are those Dojo guys now? While some members of this site embrace it as a proactive movement towards Shenmue III, others seem to look down their nose because it didn't originate at the Dojo. But we are all one fanbase, we shouldn't be thinking in terms of us and them within what is already a niche community. I post wherever I can - here, Shenmue 500K, Shenmue UK, and of course Team Yu. If I had more than even a cursory recollection of my French lessons at school, I'd be joining the conversations at Shenmue Master as well. Integration and co-operation makes us all stronger, as this All-Stars Racing petition has proven. No single website or group could have done it alone, and I hope that resonates going forward.

Change.org is down. I think Kazuma's gone into rage mode on their servers after seeing how badly Ryo's been kicking his ass.

If Iwao didn't die, we wouldn't be in this mess anyway. On the 29th, we should all unsign the petition. That would really send Sega a message.

So what is the Dojo doing, actively, to engage the userbase it has gathered over the past ten years or so into voting for Ryo and spreading the word to their friends?

I see one tweet on the Dojo's Twitter account, back on the 19th. Of those 814 followers, I'd venture to say that this one tweet would easily have been missed by enough would-be voters to catch up with Miku now. Would it hurt to post another? Nobody's going to unfollow after reading the same thing twice, over a week apart.

Putting the news on the front page is good, but for those who don't visit on a regular basis, how about an email sent out to all 6200+ forum members? Isn't this the type of occasion that such a function was built for? Again, no Shenmue fan's going to abandon the Dojo for daring to darken their inbox with an urgent call to action.

If Ryo finishes second then he'll still be included on the list presented to Sega (probably). But if his fanbase proves more powerful than even the fearsome cult of Miku, that surely becomes a much bigger bargaining chip for Shenmue III. As long as there's more we can do to achieve unqualified success, is there any reason at all not to be doing it? If not now, then when?

lol at the people saying ryo shouldn't of been included because the people voting for him want shenmue 3, I can taste their jealousy of our win from here

To be fair though, there was similar backlash against Miku. Almost everyone in the top 3 got loads of flak, except Segata and that was only cause a YT personality plugged him in. Someone there is even blabbing about console exclusives and Calling SUMO the worst devs ever when he was just fine with Banjo last game.

Still, enjoy your victory, Shenmue fans, you earned it. =)
I really don't get why people are giving sumo and sol shit when they are going out of their way to make fanservices and actually take time to communicate directly with the fanbase :roll:

It's *all* in the bag, folks. In many, a lot of ways, we all need to be particularly thankful for Sony's ongoing support. Check it out:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CHmLY5RVAAAVnkN.jpg:large

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CHl8Lb0VEAEtBN5.jpg:large

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CHljk1wUYAMgHjz.jpg:large

I've never seen Yu this happy in a long while. What's even greater is how sincere it seems the smiles are on Shu, Corsi, and Boyes' faces' too. Phenomenal times we live in.