Kickstarter

Shenmue III music developer diary

by

A new video developer diary has been posted to the Shenmue III Kickstarter page. This one focuses on Shenmue III music and features a subtitled chat with Yu Suzuki on the subject.

The discussion ranges from Yu Suzuki’s taste in music, his history playing in rock bands that performed Deep Purple and Van Halen style music and covers, setting the tone with music in a video game, and how he directs his audio teams on a project. The video comes off like a nice, natural and unscripted chat with the legendary Sega developer.

Towards the end of the short video, Suzuki previews some of the new songs from the upcoming game.

Shenmue III is still targeted for a December 2017 release for PS4 and PC. Imagine that guys, we’re now just a year away from that target date! Are you excited? Do you think Suzuki and the boys will deliver on time?

1 Comment

[UPDATED] SEGA Genesis homebrew game Coffee Crisis hits Kickstarter

by

Are you looking to support interesting indie SEGA Genesis titles and want to see more games for the platform be developed? The team at Mega Cat Studios has now launched their kickstarter page for a brand new title called Coffee Crisis. Pledges start at $25 dollars giving you a PC download code and all the way up to a grand. M$ad Cat Studios has set their fundraising goal at $10,000, which at the time of writing this they are almost at 50% of their goal. So how much for the limited edition boxed SEGA Genesis version of Coffee Crisis? You will be dropping $55 buckaroos, with a ‘estimated ship date’ of December 2016.

Continue Reading ➜

1 Comment

Shenmue game director returns for Shenmue III

by

Shenmue game director, Keiji Okayasu was just announced as a new production team member for Shenmue III. This announcement is part of their new Kickstarter update, this time giving us a interview with Keiji Okayashu and what he will bring to Shenmue III. Keiji Okayasu describes his ‘game directing’ role as a sub director role with Yu Suzuki being the main director. This will continue with Shenmue III he has confirmed.

Keiji Okayasu talks about how early he was involved on the Shenmue project, saying he was there when it was still the Virtua Fighter RPG for the SEGA Saturn, which is considered pretty early on since it wasn’t even officially Shenmue at that point. I think if you are a old school Shenmue fan, the above interview is pretty interesting to watch since Keiji Okayasu talks about working with Yu Suzuki and how hard it was understanding what he wanted to do with Shenmue at the time. Got to admit, I love that this is how Yu Suzuki is spending Shenmue III’s Kickstarter money, bringing back old team members that made the first two games. Makes me excited to actually see gameplay of Shenmue III in the near future.

2 Comments

Yu Suzuki reflects on one year since the Shenmue 3 Kickstarter was funded

by

Screen Shot 2016-06-30 at 9.29.58 AM

In the latest Shenmue 3 Kickstarter update, Yu Suzuki shared a special backer exclusive video in which he looked back on one year since the campaign was successfully funded. Those expecting major revelations or exciting new information will be disappointed, but it is nice to see shots of Suzuki and his team discussing the game’s development. A few notable moments in the video include Suzuki stating “Your cheers at the Sony announcement still ring in my ears” and the mention that late last year the team began using Shenmue 2 characters for battle and conversation tests in Unreal Engine 4 – I would personally love to see these development videos someday. Suzuki also stated that the prototype build began development in January and that is has been six months since the project has really taken off. Elements that are beginning to come together include battles and facial expressions and the crew are said to be happy with development thus far. Suzuki ended the video saying he believes it will end up to be a good game, and he once again thanked backers for their support. No date has been decided yet for surveys, which would decide stuff like shipping addresses and shirt sizes and information needed for in-game appearances.

Overall, Shenmue 3 looks to be progressing well. The environments, while not jaw dropping as they were with the Dreamcast originals, look good and it is always nice to see Suzuki smiling and talking about the game’s development. Here’s hoping as time goes on we see more of the game in progress and get a peek at some cutscenes and battles.

No Comments

Kickstarter launches for Xenocider, a 3D shooter for Dreamcast, PC, Mac, Linux & 3DS

by

xenocider-kickstarter-spacebase

The Kickstarter campaign for Xenocider, a new indie SEGA Dreamcast game, has launched. The game is unique as it is one of the first fully 3D indie Dreamcast games, and the gameplay itself takes inspiration from classic SEGA arcade games including Space Harrier and Nintendo’s Sin & Punishment. The game’s development team Retro Sumus describes themselves as “a small, independent game development team who got together to revisit genres and concepts we felt were underused, or not explored in depth back in their time.”

The small team is a mix of individuals who are both new and old to the indie Dreamcast development scene, including Lead Programmer Daniel Lancha who reprogrammed Pier Solar for modern platforms and developed Hucast’s Ghost Blade. Also involved is Carlos Oliveros who heads up the team’s Communications and who in the past handled Pier Solar‘s Spanish translation. So it should be no surprise that Tulio Goncalves, former president and founder of Watermelon games and creator of Pier Solar, is on the team serving as the Producer. All-in-all, it looks like Xenocider has a solid team with Dreamcast development experience, but if that still doesn’t sway you they have put together a real working demo of the game for the Dreamcast that you can play right now! Just click on over to their campaign page for Windows, Mac, Linux and Dreamcast download links.

Dreamcast isn’t the only planned platform, as the game will also be playable on PC, Mac, Linux and Nintendo 3DS. The team hopes to raise $92,000 to realize their vision. After the break, a full list of what the team plans for the game to make it extra special. Check out the campaign today, and if you like what you see give them your support!

Continue Reading ➜

4 Comments

Shenmue 3 update shows off in-game environments

by

Above is early footage of Shenhua’s house from the upcoming Shenmue 3. The Shenmue 3 Kickstarter also sent out various photos of these environments (which you can see below) giving you a closer look at how far the game’s graphics have come along compared to what they showed previously. The Shenmue Dojo twitter account also did a side by side comparison of Shenua’s house from Shenmue 2 to Shenmue 3 and it seems like everything is where we last left it 15 years ago.

I’m not really sold on the over use of lighting, but its looking rather impressive so far for being this early into development. I really can’t wait to see more updates, so far color me surprise. What do you guys think of Shenmue 3‘s new environments? Let us know in the comments below!

7 Comments

Slipstream takes to Kickstarter with the spirit of SEGA’s sprite-scaling racers

by

slipstreamheader

We’re always ones for a good SEGA-inspired Kickstarter here at Bits, and it’s that time again; with Noctet Studio’s Slipstream being the latest object of our affections.

We’ve covered a few SEGA-themed racers such as Drift Stage and The 90’s Arcade Racer in the past, but rest assured; Slipstream is aiming for something very different to those games. It’s more focused on being a pure driving game than just a racing game, a la OutRun. And it’s not just in gameplay either; Slipstream makes clever use of sprite-scaling to deliver an authentic look that’ll be plenty familiar to fans of the 80’s and 90’s heydays for SEGA driving titles such as Rad Mobile, and the aforementioned OutRun, all on a custom engine at a smooth 60fps. The influences even stretch beyond the racing classics of SEGA’s past; because we can’t not look at that Casino district and see Casino Night from Sonic the Hedgehog 2!

Continue Reading ➜

1 Comment

Shenmue 3 Update: Kickstarter Rewards to remain exclusive and official site gets a refresh

by

687b144c-4c94-4b02-a729-17c0b2570517

Happy 2016! With the new year comes an update on Shenmue 3! While the latest Kickstarter project update doesn’t get into any of the development, the results are in for the survey asking whether or not rewards exclusive to Kickstarter backers should be made available to PayPal backers. Initially, this survey was held on Twitter, which many cited as being unfair since it was open to anybody and not just Kickstarter backers. Thankfully, Ys Net listened and held a new survey exclusive to Kickstarter backers. The survey shows that while the “Yes’s” outweighed the “No’s”, the “No’s” and “Either’s” were to great to be ignored and it has been decided that Kickstarter exclusives will not be made available to PayPal backers.

Continue Reading ➜

3 Comments

Ys Net releases Shenmue 3 progress report on the game’s development, featuring new screens

by

ca517d68a37d20177fb00617a5df315c_original

As Shenmue 3 enters the third month of post-Kickstarter development, a much welcomed progress report has been posted detailing what the team has been up to and what they plan to work on in the coming months. Most exciting are four screens of the game in-progress showcasing battle tests, a cutscene, and an environment which you can see after the break or at the above link.

Continue Reading ➜

12 Comments

Shenmue 3 kicks off three month PayPal Slacker Backer Campaign

by

main

For those that missed out on the initial Shenmue 3 Kickstarter campaign, Ys Net has just kicked off a second campaign which is set to run for a little over three months and utilizes PayPal. Dubbed the Slacker Backer Campaign, the campaign is described as follows:

For everyone who could not participate in the Shenmue III Kickstarter, we have heard your voice! Here is one more chance to show your support and make Shenmue III even better. All funding collected here will be added to the Kickstarter total for the game’s development.

Continue Reading ➜

No Comments

Shenmue 3 Kickstarter reveals development progress and future plans

by

a7ad0b7fce20334d14e1e221a1f64870_original

It’s normal for most Kickstarter campaigns to go silent for a bit following successful funding, mainly because those behind the campaign are now hard at work creating whatever it is you backed. Of course, in the case of Shenmue 3 which raised over $6 million, backers were more eager than usual to hear something new. Thankfully, the radio silence didn’t last too long as backers received an update last night on the development progress and future plans. Better yet, we heard it straight from Yu Suzuki himself!

Continue Reading ➜

No Comments

Round Table: Can Shenmue 3 live up to the hype?

by

Shenmue3Hype
Its literally been 14 years since Shenmue 2 made its debut and left many unanswered questions. Over the years the Shenmue fanbase has grown since more and more people have gotten a chance to try the franchise, it has reached some level of mysticism. Having this rabid fanbase, all with individual reasons as to why they like the Shenmue franchise waiting for the next evolutionary step can be daunting to a development team.

Can Ys NET and Yu Suzuki make a game that will live up to the hype? That’s this topic on this week’s Round Table.

Continue Reading ➜

13 Comments

Round Table: How much did you pledge to Shenmue 3?

by

shenmue3rt

It is hard to grasp that it has been over 14 years since Shenmue 2 came out and left us all with that cliffhanger in the end of the game. There has been a strong fan reaction for a third installment and Yu Suzuki stood at Playstation’s E3 stage to finally give fans what they have been asking for. Ys NET launched their Kickstarter campaign which broke funding records, cementing that fans are willing to give their hard earn cash in order to see a third installment of their favorite franchise. In this week’s Round Table we talk about how much we funded and why. You can let us know how much you funded in the comments below.

Continue Reading ➜

13 Comments

Swingin’ Report Show #81: Shenmue 3 Kickstarter Countdown

by

Join George and Barry as they count down the final hour of the record breaking Shenmue 3 Kickstarter campaign! It has been as wild month, from the game’s E3 Sony stage announcement, to the ups and downs of Awesome Japan’s handling of the campaign. Hear our thoughts on how the Kickstarter was managed, the new tiers, and the recently revealed details of what we can expect in the finished game. Also in this episode, the recent comments from SEGA Games president on the company regaining the trust of gamers.

[Download] [RSS] [iTunes] [Archive]

2 Comments

Shenmue 3 Kickstarter Ends At $6,333,295, 69,320 Backers

by

shenmue 3

The Shenmue 3 Kickstarter campaign has officially ended, earning a total amount of $6,333,295 with 69,320 backers.

Fourteen years after Shenmue II was released, and following two failed attempts at reviving the franchise (Shenmue Online and Shenmue Gai), Yu Suzuki was welcomed to Sony’s E3 2015 stage to officially announce the beginning of the Kickstarter campaign for Shenmue 3. Breaking the Guinness World Record for the fastest video game to reach $1 million through crowdfunding in one hour and 42 minutes (as well as initially crashing Kickstarter’s site), Shenmue 3 continued to break records by being the second fastest Kickstarter campaign in all categories to raise over $1 million. Less than nine hours later, Shenmue 3 continued to drop jaws around the world when it reached $2 million, its 100% funding goal. Since the announcement, the money has continued to flow in, raising almost $1 million more on its last campaign day.

The game has also become the most funded video game in Kickstarter History, a record previously held by Bloodstained, the third most funded Kickstarter campaign in the “Games” category, and, most impressively, the sixth most funded Kickstarter project of all time.

The Kickstarter campaign should be considered a massive success, and now we can all rest (if only for a little bit), and await a steady flow of Shenmue 3 news until December of 2017!

7 Comments