Osamu Murata worked as a composer for Shenmue series and he has talked about the new Shenmue game announcement on his twitter account.
“I have complicated feelings about Shenmue appearing on Yahoo! Mobage. I actually worked on Shenmue, working quite a bit with Yu (Shenmue creator Yu Suzuki). However, Yahoo! Mobage is being started up by a friend of mine.
“What makes this complicated for me is that Yu has lowered the quality. Shenmue above all else required top quality. There was no compromise for quality in Shenmue, and if there was compromise, Yu would get extremely angry as us. It was by being tossed around by this that the creativity of my current self was born. When I think about the the current state of Sega and Yu that required Shenmue to become a light game, I have complicated feelings.
I’m certain that he wanted to release Shenmue on PS3 or Xbox. This is definitely not how Yu feels about Shenmue. The sound of the bikes, the sound of glass, the facial motion of kids, how the flags were made to stand, the walking motion, the running motion, the pursuit of beauty for the female characters. He worked so hard even if he would collapse or get sick.
The Yahoo! Mobage Shenmue is not Sega. I’m not sure what will happen at the time of formal release, though. If it looks like it will sell, Sega will probably make it official.”
It is odd that a company, like Yahoo! would take a franchise from SEGA and make a game. Even though SEGA has no desire, for what it seems like, to make this game. SEGA has not mentioned the game on their official site, the announcement made the other day was from Yahoo and them only.
Don’t know how I feel about the whole situation myself.
[Source: AndriaSang]
SEGA or Suzuki san or both! should stop the developing of this game! F*** Yahoo! How in the world copyrights and trademarks work? If they have no desire making this game it shouldn't happen right?
I mean you try to watch a video on youtube and if the music is copyrighted from Sony you can't hear anything :S I think if they want (SEGA and Yu) their game not to be destroyed they should STOP this! In the end the last everyone wants is a Shenmue spinoff!
I'd say Murata is looking at Shenmue City the wrong way. It's no different from any other Sega IP having a cell phone game. I'm certain City is just another way for Sega to keep the IP alive until a third game is made. I'd prefer to see Ryo appear more often than not at all.
So long as this doesnt some how continue the story of the series I don't see the problem with spin offs that could help keep the brand in the public eye.
Why call this game ANYTHING Shenmue related if you arent considering making Shenmue in the future?
I suspect this game to be some kind of simply mini game hub set in a Shenmue theme. If it helps grow brand awareness I'm all for it.
As long as it isn't the story continuation..
I do get the guy in a way. I think he feels that shenmue is worth 1000x more than this and shouldn't be used for little spin offs like this.
I think it should be used in any way to build the brand.
I hope they won't bring things to mediocrity
Guys its so simple.. Shenmue as CrazyTails said is worth 1000+ more than this and epic titles like Shenmue should stay FLAWLESS! There is no room for spinoffs or little games because its image will shatter! See Sonic the Hedgehog for example! So many games, so many errors from the 343 games(random number) 10(again random :P) worth only! Shenmue should stay intact until the time comes for a true and remarkable sequel just like the past 2 games!
Honestly it just shows the guys passion for the franchise. That's a good thing. Would be nice if all SEGA developers were like that.