Shenmue III

New Shenmue 3 teaser trailer finally released

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With Gamescom going full swing tomorrow, PlayStation youtube channel has released a teaser trailer (And the first trailer since the project was announced way back!) for Shenmue 3. Featuring predominantly Ryo and Shenhua, we get to see the trailer kick off from where Shenmue 2 finishes and some delightful enviroments are showcased. I must admit for the budget of over $6 million, that is some fine looking areas the team have come and I can’t wait to get the chance to explore them. Let’s hope we get to see more of the game with Gamescom opening to the public tomorrow!

What did you think of the trailer? Comment below with your thoughts!

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Shenmue III to be published by Deep Silver

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It’s a bit late here on the east coast at time of writing, but it’s never too late to report on new goings-on with Shenmue III. The latest development is that publisher Deep Silver has partnered with the YS NET team to publish the game worldwide. Deep Silver has published several renowned titles, including Saints Row, Metro, as well as assisting with SEGA-related titles like Persona 5 in Europe, and Yakuza Kiwami later this year in the same region. At time of writing, a press release regarding this development has not been released, but once it has, we’ll work to update this article with updated information.

Other news includes definitive schedules for Gamescom-related events. If you’re heading there this year, then August 23rd and 24th will be the dates to mark for a Yu Suzuki meet & greet.

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Yu Suzuki announces Shenmue 3 release date delayed to second half of 2018

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Yu Suzuki has announced, in a message to Shenmue 3 Kickstarter backers, that the game has become bigger and more beautiful than he initially expected. As such, the development schedule has been revised and the release of the game has shifted from the end of 2017 to the second half of 2018. This pushes the release date back 6-12 months. Suzuki mentions that new technologies have allowed the team to discover new possibilities and expressions, and promised that details of the revised schedule will be detailed in a backer report later this month. Suzuki closed the video message by thanking backers for their understanding and continued support.

The Shenmue 3 Kickstarter was initially revealed on the Sony stage at E3 2015 and upon completion of the campaign in July 2015, the team had raised $6,333,295. That amount increased to $6,762,419 following a “slacker backer” campaign held on the shenmue.link website for those who missed the campaign. Development was said to begin early 2017, so fans like myself were not expecting the game to meet the December 2017 deadline. To be honest, it’s good news to hear an announcement of a delay, as it relieves the team the pressures of rushing a much anticipated game and gives fans warning of a delay a full 6 months before the originally anticipated release.

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New Shenmue 3 developer update gives us a peek at the game in action

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A new Shenmue 3 developer diary has finally hit for Kickstarter backers, and as seen above the game is indeed being made! Yeah yeah, I know, there was little doubt that the game is happening but I still have this suspicion that Yu Suzuki’s plan is to run off to a remote island with a luxury car. The latest video tells little but shows quite a bit. We see a developer working on a QTE arcade machine displaying Playstation buttons and arrows. We then see Ryo pushing something and then the player accessing the iconic in-game diary. A peek at a small village is given and the room appears to be littered with concept drawings of NPCs.

During a dialogue meeting, somebody is paging through the Japanese Shenmue 2 guide book and we see more NPC drawings on a white board. Quest test play shows off a messy room covered in dirt and debris. Ryo is seen from behind opening a cabinet and it is noted that all characters are tentative and are from older resources – so don’t judge the back of Ryo’s head! We then go to a meeting with Yu Suzuki where we see him talking with his staff and in the background there is a screen showing off what looks like Ryo outside and then a scene inside a small room with an arcade machine. We again see Ryo outside and a quick shot of a village at dusk with lights lit.

All in all, not much is revealed but it is very exciting to see the game being made! What did you think of this peek at Shenmue 3?

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Shenmue III PC pre-orders open on December 15, new footage soon

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Shenmue3While most of us hardcore Shenmue III fans already put up our money when Yu Suzuki launched his Kickstarter, it seems there are quite a few people demanding for the studio to put up pre-orders for the game. Yu Suzuki stated in the latest Famitsu magazine that Shenmue III PC pre-orders will open up in a few days.

“Development is entering the final stage headed towards full-scale production. Early in the new year, I think we’ll be able to show you things such as new videos.

“We will continue progressing with development so that our backers and those who experience the world of Shenmue for the first time can do so with pleasure.

“Also, at noon on December 15, we will start pre-order sales for the PC version of Shenmue III, which received a lot of requests.Those interested in Shenmue III, please check the official website.”

It is interesting considering that the studio hasn’t really put out much Shenmue III in-game footage. What they have shown has never been finalized. It seems that the work on Shenmue III is barely starting, if they are barely entering full-scale production, do you think the studio should be putting up pre-orders without actual in-game screenshots? Let us know in the comments below.

[Via: Gematsu]

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SEGAbits at New York Comic Con 2016: Shenmue 3 Interview with Cédric Biscay

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SEGAbits attended New York Comic Con 2016 and had the opportunity to speak about Shenmue 3 with Cédric Biscay, president and CEO of Shibuya Productions. Cédric was kind enough to sit down with our own Kori-Maru to tell us how he got his start in the industry, what it’s like to work with Yu Suzuki and more!

Enjoy our video content? Please give us a like and subscribe on our YouTube page. Thanks!

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Latest Shenmue III Update is a Developer Room Video

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The latest Shenmue III update that dropped this morning gave us a quick video of inside Ys Net’s Dev Room for the game.

In the video, we first see a developer animating a rather familiar QTE scene. The event in question, which features Ryu Hazuki hopping on stones to cross a stream, occurred in the epilogue of Shenmue II. It’s revealed that the team wanted to create the event for the third game, which brings us to a possibility of the entire last act of Shenmue II being playable again in the new engine.

The team member moves the scene’s camera around and discusses a future meeting with Yu Suzuki about cooler angles to use for the event.

The second part of the video takes us to another developer working on a scene situated on a mountain. An avalanche occurs and Ryu must run for his life as boulders of all sizes fly down towards him.

As the documentary ends, we see a few shots of devs at work and, finally, a quick glimpse of Yu Suzuki smiling.

The short film is titled Development Report Vol. 1, so hopefully this is the start of a new series of videos that Ys Net releases with some of the monthly Shenmue III updates moving forward.

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Shenmue game director returns for Shenmue III

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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Update: SEGA Europe marketing director says they are exploring opportunities for re-releases of legacy titles like Shenmue

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Marketing Week held an interesting interview with SEGA Europe marketing director Jon Rooke. The interview, which centers around the company’s recent changes and a shift in approach, also touches on the Shenmue series. SEGA allowing Yu Suzuki to use the license to make a third game and the Kickstarter campaign proving to be a success “shows that people love [SEGA’s] legacy”, said Rooke. The article adds that Rooke said SEGA is exploring ways to re-release the original two Shenmue titles.

Could it be that much like Valkyria Chronicles performing well on PC, it took the successful backing of Shenmue 3 for SEGA to rethink rereleases of classic titles? It has long been rumored that there are reasons for SEGA holding out on Shenmue and Shenmue II, chief among them being that there are rights issues standing in the way. Whatever the case, it’s good to hear somebody like Jon Rooke speaking publicly about a possibility of a re-release.

Update: The article’s author has shared the exact quote from Jon Rooke on Twitter:
When I asked about Shenmue being remade, I was told: “There are lots of opportunities for legacy titles. We are exploring. We know what fans want as they have a petition.” So it now appears that the quote wasn’t referring to Shenmue specifically, but legacy titles as a whole.

[Source: Marketing Week]

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Yu Suzuki says convincing SEGA to let him do Shenmue III was easy

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Shenmue3Yu Suzuki has done a couple of interviews about Shenmue III the other day, one of the more interesting ones was with Dual Shockers one in which they asked him about how hard it was to get the rights for the project which Yu Suzuki said:

” It’s difficult to explain. I am the one who created Shenmue, so Sega allows me to take decisions for the game. They trust me because I know more about the workings of the game more than anyone else. There were no problems. Sega is very helpful and collaborative with me. They hope the best for Shenmue III. I actually still work for Sega as an adviser, so we have a very good relationship.”

Dualshockers also posted a video of Yu Suzuki explaining the “AI Battling” which was a goal during their Kickstarter. Check out that video here. If you’re a big Yu Suzuki fan, I’d suggest you give the interview a read and if you’re Yu Suzuki and you are reading this, how about you answer our emails, bro?

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Shenmue 3 kicks off three month PayPal Slacker Backer Campaign

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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.

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