"This Japanese teenager witnessed the murder of his own father. What he did next will shock you!"

Run it on Buzzfeed and you'll have instant interest.

I still don't get why it's so controversial in the gaming world to show off unfinished, early or rough footage. I really appreciated the Gamescom teaser and took it for what it is.

If I was a pizza maker and someone wanted to see me make pizzas, I would demonstrate the dfferent stages, e.g. rolling the dough, applying the layers of ingredients and sauce and cheese, adding the seasoning and drizzling the olive oil, before baking the pizza.

I wouldn't make perfectly formed small slices of pizza to show off and then make the rest of the pizza, slice at a time.

I don't know if that analogy works, but it's a game IN development. It's a work in progress. As a backer, I want to see progress.

Maybe I'm cynical about games journos, but part of me thinks some will shit on the game regardless. Doesn't matter what PR moves are pulled, or how good the game actually may be, it'll be a matter of ego, a morbid desire to slaughter a "sacred cow", and to say "I told you so".

Some of those people are genuinely m-i-s-e-r-a-b-l-e .

It was the equivalent of handing an iPhone to a caveman. But honestly one of the things that gripped me so much was a completely different look at Japan. Up until then all I'd seen was either the samurai type shit from the feudal years and the almost cyber punk-esque style of Tokyo. 1980s Yokosuka just looked... "normal". It was a hell of a lot more relatable than any setting I'd seen on a game. Even more so than GTA III when it came out. Gettin told off for stayin out late, nippin to the market street to go to the shops, hoppin on the bus, goin to work at a regular job, all of it felt much more compelling to me than the almost montage-like "best of" approach that games, films, etc tend to take.

By living each day as it came rather than segue from cut scene to action set piece was the most immersive experience I'd ever had at that point so I felt engaged on an almost astronomical level. It's everything I never expected a video game could do on my lifetime, and as with a lot of people on here it had a huge influence on my life as a whole. It truly resonated with me in a way I assume it does for a lot of fellow Mancs, Englishman, and I suppose Brits in general. The scrotes tryna kick off in the park, shit weather, the drab greys... the only things I found ridiculously unrealistic in that first game was the fact you couldn't eat and that the busses came on time (though I've since found out that it's kinda the norm in Japan)

Also the graphics n music were pretty fuckin mint n'all.

In the grand scheme of things, Shenmue was one of those wish scenarios of what if a talented game designer was given basically a blank cheque to do whatever he wanted for as long as he deemed necessary for a sole game project. Thus came Shenmue, a dream come true for any young videogame enthusiast like myself at the time looking for the most immersive gaming experience they could get their hands on. That itself is special because looking forward, how many more insanely high budget and ahead of its time games like Shenmue was in 1999 will we even have from now on, specially without the strings of having to inflate them with live service and microtransactions?

I think the game will be out in about 8-10 months too. In terms of gameplay I've no idea until we actually see it.
Nice theories btw.