Shenmue Anime could release as early as November 2021 [Update]

According to Shenmue Dojo, we could be getting a release of the Shenmue Anime, which was announced last year, as early as November 2021. So how do we know this? Well, some keen eye Shenmue fans noticed a tweet by @TMSent_jp which is the studio animating the project

It sadly looks like the original tweet has been taken down by the studio. Maybe they had a upcoming announcement? Since we haven’t even seen a frame of animation, I assume this is a leaked announcement. We do know its suppose to be a 13 episode series that covers all of the first game and a part of the second.

What are your thoughts on the whole Shenmue Anime project?

Update: According to Adult Swim/Cartoon Network’s Creative Director @Clarknova1, Shenmue: The Animation “will definitely NOT release in 2021.” Meaning that TMS tweet was probably deleted for the obvious mistake. /Update

Data Discs Announces Shenmue II Vinyl Soundtrack and Optional Slipcase

Data Discs have announced the followup to their 2015 release of the original Shenmue score on vinyl. Shenmue II will be joining the Data Discs line with a selection of tracks from SEGA’s Sound Team. The release is presented on 180g vinyl with original cover art and two lithographic prints. The editions include: 180g Light Translucent Green and Orange (Limited Edition), 180g Light Translucent Green and 180g Classic Black. Data Discs have also revealed an optional “Dragon and Phoenix Mirror” slipcase built from hardboard and coated in a matt laminated varnish made to hold both releases, and retails for £12.50.

The Light Translucent Green and Orange (Limited Edition) of Shenmue II will be up for an open pre-order until MONDAY 21st SEPTEMBER at 13:00 (UK time), and retails for £20.99. The other two editions will remain available beyond that time (while stocks last) and retail for £19.99. All editions have an estimated shipping date of January 2021. Additionally, the original Shenmue vinyl is being repressed with a January 2021 release date.

Shenmue I & II releases in Japan, selling over 30k units its debut week

If you guys didn’t know, we actually got Shenmue I & II early in the West. Some folks say we got it early to bug test it for its Japanese release, who knows. What we do know is that Shenmue I & II hit Japanese store shelves on November 22, 2018 and charted number for on the Japanese Media Create charts. The top spot was given to Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee! (which seems to track both games as one) but the impressive debut this week came from EA’s Battlefield V which garnered 110,653 sales in its debut week, really making Shenmue I & II’s 37,529 units seem rather weak. But at the end of the day, Shenmue I & II is a port and Battlefield V is a brand new game, so comparing them sales wise is useless.

You can check the full media create chart on Gematsu or after the break:

Shenmue I & II HD PC fan made HD texture pack now works with Shenmue II

Just the other day we talked about Shenmue I & II getting HD texture packs by modder Dragean, the first released only supported the first Shenmue game. Now they have updated the texture mod to work in Shenmue II. Like last time, this is an ongoing project so there will be updates as time goes on.

Just like the first texture pack we outlined, Shenmue II‘s texture pack is focused more on the environments by remaking the textures from scratch. As of right now the Shenmue II texture pack has new textures for South Carmain Qt, 1 street in Green Market Qt, room textures in the Come Over Guest House and Aberdeen Pier.

As always you can download the mods here.

[Via: DSOGaming]

Shenmue I & II releases August 21 to PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC – pre-order today!

SEGA has released a new trailer for Shenmue I & II, as well as new screenshots and revealed an exclusive poster and release date. The game releases soon, August 21, 2018, and both European and American versions come with a two sided poster and a reversible cover. As revealed yesterday, save data will carry over from I to II, however save data from II will not carry over to the upcoming III. I do hold out hope that III will at least have some way to check for a save file from the remasters and give some sort of bonus for players.

Pre-Order Shenmue I & II:
PlayStation 4 | Xbox One | PC

How will modern gamers react to Shenmue I & II?

To our great delight, just last week Shenmue I & II were announced to be releasing to PS4, Xbox One and PC later this year.

Unlike most rereleases in the past few years, Shenmue I & II are not being remade from the ground up (as seen with Crash, Spyro and the PS2 Yakuza games). Instead, the games will be releasing as enhanced ports, thus retaining the graphical style of the Dreamcast originals. What more, the games will seemingly not be altered to cater to modern gaming sensibilities. Most notably, the ability to time skip (fast forward the clock to when a business opens) will not be implemented in Shenmue I while it will still be present in Shenmue II.

We wanted to ask you, the reader, this: How do you think the modern gaming audience will react to Shenmue I & II?

SEGA News Bits: Shenmue I & II HD & Bayonetta / Vanquish Double Pack Leaked Reaction

This weekend we had a couple of big retail leaks that we reported on, including the Bayonetta and Vanquish double pack and the Shenmue I & II HD; both are set to be coming out for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. On this episode of the SEGA News Bits we discuss both these leaks as we discuss if we think they are real, thoughts on the ports not being announced for Nintendo Switch and what other SEGA games we want to get double pack releases on modern consoles. Listen in and let us know what you think of the retail leaks in the comments below!

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SEGA News Bits: Everything We Know About Shenmue HD

The Shenmue HD remaster rumors are back, and on this SEGA News Bits George and Barry discuss the latest news and detail the long history of Shenmue HD leaks and rumors. Could there be a pattern emerging from all the remaster rumors? Is a Shenmue HD release imminent? Watch the video to hear our thoughts!

If you enjoy our SEGA News Bits segments and want to support us: Give us a sub and give this video a like so it shows up on more like minded fans YouTube recommendations. You know, how that new YouTube algorithm is.

Rumor: Shenmue HD Remasters are real says Just Add Water CEO

shenmueOver on the infamous video game messaging board, NeoGAF the CEO of Just Add Water confirmed  that the Shenmue HD Remasters of the first two titles are real. First you’d ask yourself who the development team ‘Just Add Water’ really is. Well, I did some journalistic google searching and found their wikipedia page:

Just Add Water (Development) Ltd., doing business as Just Add Water, is an independent video game developer based in Otley, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom. Founded by Stewart Gilray in 2006, Just Add Water has worked on different titles for the PlayStation 3 and PC, notably the Oddworld series. They have teamed up with Oddworld Inhabitants, to recreate the series in high definition as well as working on new installments in the series.

The Just Add Water CEO didn’t confirm anything outside of a short ‘Oh, it’s real… :-)’ message, so we made this a rumor considering that he could just be kidding with fellow board members. Though you’d think someone that is a CEO of a company that specifically ports old games wouldn’t be joking about Shenmue HD Remasters being the works. Considering Shenmue news is serious business to fans that have been waiting for SEGA to port the games since forever. Maybe Shenmue HD Remasters will be shown off in some form come E3 next month? What are your thoughts about SEGA possibly doing Shenmue HD Remasters of the first two games? Would you purchase them again? Let us know in the comments below.

SEGA News Bits: Shenmue I & II HD Remasters coming in 2017?

Hello everyone and welcome to a new episode of the SEGA News Bits. This time George and Barry discuss the rumored Shenmue I & II HD Remasters that are suppose to come out by the end of 2017. We discuss the details of the rumor, how we feel SEGA should treat these classic games and what the Shenmue I & II HD Remasters should include. What are your thoughts on this Shenmue I & II HD Remasters rumor and do you think its true? Let us know in the comments below!

If you enjoy our SEGA News Bits segments and want to support us. Give us a sub, if you are already subscribed you can always like the video.

Rumor: Shenmue I & II HD Remasters coming by the end of 2017

RoundTableShenmue2“But that’s none of my business”

According to Rice Digital, an online gaming shop who has had close sources in Atlus and leaked announcements in the past has said that Shenmue I & II HD Remasters are in the works. The source also tells Rice Digital that the games could be released together and should be out before the end of the year. The same person leaking this information over at Rice Digital also leaked that Atlus was publishing King of Fighters XIV, which turned out to be true.

Here is the weird part of the rumor, Shenmue I & II HD Remasters are said to be set for PC/Steam release but doesn’t indicate other consoles such as PlayStation 4, Xbox One or Nintendo Switch. While I personally game on PC and would be more inclined to play it on PC, it also needs to be on at least the PlayStation 4. Of course the rumor doesn’t rule out that it could be coming to consoles, only that they know there is a PC/Steam release. Shenmue I & II HD Remasters are looking more and more like a solid thing. Remember a few months back we talked about the leaked domains, last year in September SEGA teased saying the Shenmue I & II HD remasters had their full attention and now this rumor starts popping up. What is your thoughts on this rumor and what would like to see changed or updated for the Shenmue I & II HD Remasters? Let us know in the comments below.

 

SEGA News Bits: SEGA Registers ShenmueHD.com Reaction

Following the discovery that SEGA Europe registered ShenmueHD.com, we learned that SEGA had also registered ShemnueGame.com (misspelling intentional) and ShenmueRemastered.com. On this SEGA News Bits, George and Barry enter the dojo to discover what this all means. Is SEGA planning a rerelease of Shenmue and Shenmue II? Give the show a watch to hear our findings!

If you enjoy our SEGA News Bits segments and want to support us, give us a sub. If you are already subscribed you can always like the video.

SEGA registers ShenmueHD.com domain, impending announcement?

ShenmueHDdotcomShenmueHD.com domain has been picked up by SEGA Europe, as discovered by TSSZ News today. The whois on the domain says it was registered on September 07, 2016 and was last updated today. Which is funny because SEGA Europe President & COO Jurgen Post said back in September that Shenmue HD remakes had their full attention. Does this mean Shenmue HD remakes are in the works over at SEGA? Who knows, there is the possibility that SEGA just snatched up ShenmueHD.com before a domain scalper could and really have no intents in doing a remake.

I think its a positive sign, especially since SEGA as of late have been more willing to listen to what fans want. Maybe ShenmueHD.com will be put to good use and the internet will be happy? I guess we shall see, soon enough.

[update] After doing some more research, I found that SEGA Europe registered the domain with a certain email and when I reversed searched that email it said SEGA registered THREE Shenmue related domains including ShemnueGame.com and ShenmueRemastered.com. More info here. These Shenmue domains are the only registered domains they did in 2016. [/update]

The SEGA Five: SEGA Games That Would Thrive in Virtual Reality

SEGAVRWhile not every single gamer is sold on Virtual Reality just yet, mostly due to the fact that it is rather expensive to even get a headset and compatible computer, the people that have experienced it all think its the future of gaming. While this is still open to debate, what I do know is that Virtual Reality has opened the door for older types of genres that SEGA pioneered in their long history to thrive. So today on The SEGA Five we will be discussing five genres that SEGA can revive with the help of Virtual Reality.

Before we get started I just want to say that these ideas are to make the games Virtual Reality compatible and not exclusive. I think this would mean that more gamers will be able to enjoy the games, VR headset or not.  The number of gamers with Virtual Reality headsets is too low to spend money on exclusives right now. So let’s get to it.

SEGA News Bits: SEGA re-releasing legacy games like Shenmue?

SEGA Europe’s marketing director Jon Rooke said in a recent interview that SEGA was looking at opportunities to re-release Legacy titles like Shenmue. On this episode we sit and discuss the possibility of this being just PR talk, we discuss what is a SEGA legacy title and discuss SEGA legacy games we want to see re-released. Let us know what you consider a legacy title and what games you want to see re-released in the comments below!

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