YS NET

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 shows off in-game environments

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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!

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

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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.

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Shenmue 3 is the most funded video game in Kickstarter history with over $5.5 million pledged

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Despite many people considering the Shenmue 3 Kickstarter as being mishandled, it didn’t stop the game from reaching another legendary status milestone. It is now the most funded Kickstarter game of all time (at least until Hideo Kojima’s obvious turn to Kickstarter happens). The game has gathered over $5.5 million dollars in funding. At the moment of writing it has $5,733,751 pledged and over 63,477 backers.

That means that Shenmue 3 has beat the previous record held by Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night which got $5,545,991 in funding. As of this moment it is the third most-funded game on Kickstarter, being beaten by the top cat, Exploding Kittens card game that got $8,782,571 in funding. Sadly it doesn’t seem like Shenmue 3 will be getting anywhere near close to 8 million dollars since (as of writing) its still over 2 million shy of beating it with only 9 hours left.

So now the question is, do you thinking that whatever gets funded by the Kickstarter will be enough? While it gathered a bit more funding than Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, that game is a 2D Metroidvania style game, do you think that Shenmue 3 needed way more to complete its true vision? Let us know in the comment section.

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Shenmue 3 retail release not guaranteed, only backers guaranteed physical copy

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While we are approaching the final day of the Kickstarter for Shenmue 3, fans are asking if the game will have retail copies after its release and it seems that it might not be the case. According to a e-mail sent to Eurogamer from YS.NET:

“Whether Shenmue 3 will be available for retail or not is currently unconfirmed,”

The only way to secure a hard copy of Shenmue 3 when it comes out is backing the project on Kickstarter. If you don’t care about physical releases, you will always be able to purchase the game digitally.

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New Shenmue III trailer, less than 72 hours left in the campaign!

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Last night, presumably to feed off of the hype surrounding the end of Shenmue III‘s Kickstarter campaign, YS Net released a short clip of very early footage of a Shenmue III cutscene running on Unreal Engine 4.

Rather than new content, it seems Yu Suzuki was content with recreating another Shenmue II scene. The game does look quite brilliant in Unreal Engine 4, and can only get better as development continues! Check out the original Shenmue II scene here.

What do you think of the new clip, and how much will it push the Kickstarter in these final hours? Sound off in the comments below.

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Shenmue 3 updates: Interview with new project member Kenji Itoso and new reward tiers

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Shenmue 3 has added a new interview, this time with a new member on the project. Meet Kenji Itoso who used to apprentice under Hayao Miyazaki over at Studio Ghibli and has directed on many different multipmedia projects. He even worked on the popular hit anime Attack on Titan. Showing that YS Net is using the funded cash from the Kickstarter to pick up fresh talent like this is good and I think will further encourage more donations from those people questioning the Kickstarter. Check out the video and hear about his history with the Shenmue series.

The Kickstarter has also added 4 new reward tiers for users looking to upgrade their pledge. One has a guest book allowing you to share a 140 character message that will be displayed forever in-game, a capsule block toy with your beatiful mug and if that isn’t enough a higher award will make you into a chibi capsule toy version of yourself drawn by Kenji Miyawaki! Check it out and #SaveShenmue.

 

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Swingin’ Report Show #79: Shenmue 3 E3 Reveal & Kickstarter

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We’re still pinching ourselves, because we can’t believe this is real life. Yu Suzuki is finally set to make Shenmue 3, having just announced the long awaited game at E3 and launching a Kickstarter to fund the project this week. On this episode of the Swingin’ Report Show, George and Barry discuss their reactions to the news, share opinions on the Kickstarter, and tackle the misconceptions of Sony’s involvement. We also speculate what Suzuki has planned for the third game based on past interviews and recently revealed details.

Check out Shenmue 3 on Kickstarter at kickstarter.com/projects/ysnet/shenmue-3

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

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Shenmue 3 appears at Sony’s E3 2015 press conference, launches Kickstarter

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Shenmue is just one of those game franchises that make all SEGA fans sequel in delight, talk to any of the fans that played them and they’ll go on for hours about what makes the franchise so great. This year at Sony’s E3 2015 conference, Yu Suzuki announced that they will be doing a Shenmue 3 kickstarter and you can fund it right now! The budget of the game via the kickstarter is only 2 million dollars, so chances of reaching it are very high (since its at 150k right now and it hasn’t even been an hour!). But 2 million dollars seems a bit low of a budget and it also seems to have a new character models that seem out of place. This is obviously very early assets that will hopefully change down the road. The game will also be developed by Yu Suzuki’s new studio called Ys Net. It seems that the project will only be available on Playstation 4 and PC.

Regardless you can fund the game and enjoy some of the rewards offered. $500 dollars gets you a set of capsule toys, who doesn’t like capsule toys? Are you guys excited for Shenmue III? Let us know in the comments.

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Shenmue 3: Choices in conversations change outcome in game

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1up has published the second part of the Yu Suzuki interview, in this second part Yu Suzuki talks more about what Shenmue 3 would have been like and where he has been these past few years.

As for Shenmue 3:

“This is not actually in the game, but as an example to give you an idea of what I mean by deeper dialogue, when Shenhua and Ryo are at home, Shenhua will ask Ryo if he would like to drink tea or coffee and the player will select one or the other. Or, Shenhua will ask Ryo a hypothetical question like: “There are four animals; a monkey, cat, dog and bird. You are crossing the river but you need to leave one behind. Which one will you leave behind?” And the player has to choose one. Shenhua will ask lots and lots of questions like these and the answers will get stored in the game and affect the outcome of the player’s relationship with other characters. It’s like a personality test. For example, the person who leaves behind the monkey is the type of person who leaves their wife.” –Yu Suzuki

Damn, the man is brilliant. Makes me want to play it now. Other stuff in the interview are comments like 360 being the Dreamcast 2 and Yu Suzuki talking about Nagoshi. Some good stuff, read it here.

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Shenmue City goes live today

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That is right, Shenmue City is now up to play. The only issue is that the mobile version is the only one available. Meaning if you (like myself) are waiting for the PC version, you will have to wait. That version is still in development, no release date given.

But all is not lost, you can download wallpapers (like the one above) to celebrate the launch. Sure, not as cool as getting Shenmue 3. But bear with us! I hope this means we will get some gameplay footage online.

[Via: AndriaSang]

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