Via NeoGAF and hokanko-alt.com comes news that SEGA has renewed the trademark for Shenmue. Fans will probably remember that back in February we reported that SEGA had lost the trademark for Shenmue – specifically in reference to “computer game programs and prerecorded discs and ROMs for computer game programs” and “entertainment services, namely, providing an online computer game”. We speculated that these trademarks refer to the original Dreamcast releases and the cancelled Shenmue Online. While we don’t have the specifics on this new trademark filing, such as country of origin or the specific uses, it is possible that SEGA has gotten back on track with releasing the rumored Shenmue 1&2 HD rerelease. Both games have been rumored to be complete and ready for release for quite some time, and back in 2012 when asked what the next SEGA Heritage releases would be, SEGA responded with “it’s gonna be Shenmue and Skies of Arcadia as well”.
Of course, this is speculation on our part, but if SEGA truly has renewed the Shenmue trademark then they must be making some sort of use out of it. As soon as we learn more, we’ll be sure to share it! For now, we’re filing this as a rumor, even if the trademark renewal is legitimate.
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IIRC, that quote – “it’s gonna be Shenmue and Skies of Arcadia as well” – was a Sega spokesman stating what he figured the most requested HD re-release titles would be, not a statement that those titles were actually next in the production pipeline.
Still, it’s a positive sign that there might be something Shenmue-related going on at Sega.
That guy is no longer at Sega, by the way. Not that it makes a difference, but if one believes he was advocating for those games, hoping that Shenmue and Skies of Arcadia HD are coming two years after the fact requires hoping against hope.
Which I don’t necessarily mind! My segabits sig is still the same since I’ve registered. =)
Well if they did renew the trademarks to Shenmue, that must mean they’re doing SOMETHING with it. Hopefully it’s related to actually having video games with the Shenmue name on them back in circulation again but I could easily be wrong. Although I certainly would not mind having Skies of Arcadia and Shenmue 1 + 2 HD remasters on my PC.
I’d love a Shenmue HD collection, even better, I’d love to see it on Wii U.
Skies of Arcadia would be great for the PS Vita.
Obviously nothing is certain with this, but personally I’d agree that it seems more like it could be something this time around, for one reason, timing, conveniently just before the E3 trade show kicks off again in the States.
Also, Shenmue is just one of many franchise games that’ve been re-trademarked very recently, again the timing before E3 is suggestive, but as we Shenmue is also not alone in recently getting it’s trademark re-issued, this adds further weight to the likely-hood of it being a reality in comparison to other suggestive rumour-like statements in the past few years.
Here’s hoping…
I guess no one looked on NeoGAF after the news broke that the trademarks get re-newed every 10 years in Japan by law…:\