What makes continuing Shenmue so difficult?

[Xandui]

After thinking about this for a while and following the "progress" of shenmue since the second i finished shenmue 2, i am now starting to believe the following:

I think that within the next 2 years episodic gaming will start to take off in a more significant way than it has managed to do so far. Another game that i love, Dreamfall: the longest journey, is similary structured in chapters like shenmue is and that game's future has already been announced in an episodic format. The problem is that no one has really pioneered the right way to do episodic gaming yet (im sure some sam and max fans, etc would disagree but those dont have the appeal of a full big name game release).

The mean reason i think we might see shenmue eventually take this route is because it is easily divisible into chapters, releasing one chapter at a time makes it possible for sega to retest the waters without having to pour an insane amount of money into a full release, and honestly i think if yu suzuki had even the tinniest soul and truely believed shenmue has no future he wouldve released the story in some way to his clearly die hard fans.

The economy sucks so we wont see anything for a while. Im predicting announcement by 2013.

Also i think our tone on the potential of a shenmue continuation needs to change. It needs to be clear that while any one of us would probably take a sega saturn version of shenmue 3 if such a thing existed, this franchise needs to be treated like something that can still make sega money, not just something to satisfy an insanely loyal fanbase. I think most of us hopefully agree no one is gonna watch shenmue 1 and 2 the movie and feel the same way about shenmue 3 as any of us would. They have to either release 1, wait a while, release 2, and then give us a next gen shenmue 3 in chapters (1 and 2 would be online probably on xbox live arcade). OR start from the beginning and simply release Shenmue: Chapter 1 as a new game with next gen prowess and go from there.

Until then keep on helping other people discover the series. At least 3 of my friends are die hard shenmue fans because i lent them my dreamcast and shenmue just to play it.

Also i hope sega isnt seriously considering the Wii. It may have the install base but the Wii is where 3rd party goes to die. The one thing 360 has going for it more than anything else is it's owners buy games like crazy. The attach rate for it is unbelievable and its great to see microsoft make a system where a truly good game generally sells well.

[dustinsheets1989]

Dude, took the words right out of my mouth. Kinda. I have been waiting for Shenmue 3 since I beat Shenmue 2. I even bought shenmue 2 for xbox again to play on my 360 just because its a great game. Sega definitely needs to get on the ball for both Shenmue and KOTOR 3. That would be amazing!!!!

[Crimson Ryan]

What does Sega have to do with KOTOR 3?

[darkfire716]

What does Sega have to do with KOTOR 3?

Isn't it obvious, Sega in the next Shenmue game wants to make Ryo a jedi with great power. When he is tempted by the darkside and eventually becomes a Sith lord during the Clone wars. Then a young patawon named Wong dules Ryo and eventually kills him. And all of this makes a cameo in the next KOTOR game. See obvious.

[JordanC]

Isn't it "Padawan" ?

[darkfire716]

We can spend all day fighting about it, but we all know thats how its gonna go down.

[JordanC]

We can spend all day fighting about it, but we all know thats how its gonna go down.

[OL]

Isn't it "Padawan" ?

That is the single dorkiest thing I've ever seen.
Someone correcting another person's spelling of a fictional Star Wars term.
Shame on you, son.
Shame on you.

[Siion]

i think it's just down to who owns the rights, so many different outsources have happened on shenmue that it's in a pickle, cannot remake cuse well u'd have to use the current stuff, and if u use the current stuff u gotta pay the people who made it, and well a lot did lol, atm just bout every game has a 2 or 3 on the end of it, bardly ever get new releases that would be as big as shenmue.

I think if economy didnt fuck up, we'd see some daylight.

We may always see it in future, you never know. We saw Fallout 3... that was 10 yrs after. tho 2 was a success. But shows people don't forget. Even diablo 3, but then that was a success too, maybe the failure of shenmue in a financial way will just delay it's return and not whipe it.

[darkfire716]

^
But then again, Fallout 3 was created by a different compay than the creators of the previous 2. I don't, but if Shenmue were to be done by a different company it might alter gameplay and/or story. Just like the differences in gameplay in Fallout 3 compared to Fallout and Fallout 2.

[Nick Tyndall]

Despite the game industry as a whole booming at the moment, many developers and publishers are actually going bust. Games take a lot more time to make, a lot more money and as they cost more to buy, games now have to be something special to turn a profit. I have said this before, the fact the Mass Effect was seemingly produced at a reasonable budget and sold enough to warrant a sequal, I don't see why Sega can't do the same for Shenmue.

I just worry about how it will be marketed. Despite being a big business, you have a lot of idiots. I can picture Sega just releasing a stand aloan Shenmue III expecting the world to care.

[Hazuki Legend]

I just worry about how it will be marketed. Despite being a big business, you have a lot of idiots. I can picture Sega just releasing a stand aloan Shenmue III expecting the world to care.

If it saw the end of the story then i couldn't care less.

[*Kenshin Himura*]

SHenmue 3 on the Unreal Engine!

OH EM GEE, I guarente it will sell over a million copies!

[Hang_On_1987]

I didn't realize that this series was in demand. By demand you must mean that there are pockets of people who want it desperately. This is probably coming from the same people who wish they had a lobotomy so that they can cherish Shenmue again.