Official Shenmue Thread

I reckon there could be substance to the rumours, if only from a financial point of view. Shenmue cost approximately a bazillion dollars to make yes? And sold about 83 copies. If they invest a small amount in a team porting it to Wii and throwing in some Wiimote novelties, it could stand a chance of clawing back some of those 9 year old losses. Even if it only sells modestly (to the Shenmue massif) it's a low-risk venture to get a distinguished and revered IP on the console with the largest installed user-base. It's easy money and (arguably) a relative no-brainer.

These rumours could show a revival for Shenmue. I'm not hoping for III, but porting a technically fantastic DC game with not much extra I can live with, considering the game.

I only hope Nintendo will help SEGA to push it if it's real. If they don't Nintendo are utter dickheads, and it's up to us, the fans, the help SEGA out by buying 5 copies each.

Exaggeration, but I'm sure some of us would buy 2 to show our dedication.

artmonkey said:
I reckon there could be substance to the rumours, if only from a financial point of view. Shenmue cost approximately a bazillion dollars to make yes? And sold about 83 copies. If they invest a small amount in a team porting it to Wii and throwing in some Wiimote novelties, it could stand a chance of clawing back some of those 9 year old losses. Even if it only sells modestly (to the Shenmue massif) it's a low-risk venture to get a distinguished and revered IP on the console with the largest installed user-base. It's easy money and (arguably) a relative no-brainer.

That's exactly what I said in the Wii Ware Dreaming Thread.

Linkyshinks said:

Oni-Ninja said:
Einhander looks awesome. As for Wii Ware games, I couldn't care less.

...until SEGA pull the fingers out and release Shenmue 1 and 2, which then could posibly lead to a third game on Wii Ware also. (this is a wishing thread)

I hear they invested 70m or thereabouts, if that's true you would think they would want to recoup that heavy investment in the cheapest way possible. SEGA like doing things cheaply these days, they have no choice, a couple of months back they were so in the red that re entering the console industry was proposed according to one "insider".

They still are in pretty bad shape, the rubbishy titles they have been spilling out have not helped. SSTennis looks to be yet another.

I reckon the same.

But SS Tennis actually turned out good, and then there\'s the partnership with Platinum.

I don\'t see how a Shenmue III would work well on Wiiware. Perhaps with episodic content, but some of the chapters are so huge that this would be a problem.

Like the first chapter of Shenmue II. Big enough to be a whole game, and the next chapters were shorter in comparison. Not to mention all the inventories and stuff (I have to admit I don\'t know how episodic games work, but I assume it doesn\'t carry save data over from the first episode does it?)

( Edited 16.05.2008 14:40 by SuperLink )

SuperLink said:
But SS Tennis actually turned out good, and then there's the partnership with Platinum.

I don't see how a Shenmue III would work well on Wiiware. Perhaps with episodic content, but some of the chapters are so huge that this would be a problem.

Like the first chapter of Shenmue II. Big enough to be a whole game, and the next chapters were shorter in comparison. Not to mention all the inventories and stuff (I have to admit I don't know how episodic games work, but I assume it doesn't carry save data over from the first episode does it?)

Why would it need to? They probably could, but if it's essential then it'd be for sure they'd have it by the end of the game and therefore could simply include it in the next. The Half-Life episodes got around that though because they had rather dramatic endings that could be used as a reset point, with just the gravity gun usually carried over.

Linkyshinks said:
That's exactly what I said in the Wii Ware Dreaming Thread.

Well i guess we all sure this comming.

Shenmue 3 rumours this time of year again.
Although, i assumed alot of you have heard already, sega re-newed/extended their relationship with Epic Games, buying the unreal engine for a longer period. Now why would sega need such an advanced engine?

Obviously their is also hope for shenmues return with alot of recent re-releases and reboots of certain franchises.

Although as of now i have little faith in a reboot of shenmue. If it happens it'll more than likely be after sonic unleashed, thinking about it, it'd make more sense, they want the attention at E3 on Sonic Unleashed more than likely.

Couple of recent rumours, one of which is the one you mention.

Rumour 1

Rumour 2

No-one here loves Shenmue more than me, and if the series did eventually see it's much-deserved conclusion, I'd shit a kitten. However, my heart's been broken many times over these sorts of rumours (as gay as that sounds), and these are less credible than those that have come before. I'm calling these rumours false. Don't expect Shenmue III at this, or any other E3. If it was to be announced though, I'd be straight out buying whatever console it was on.

-.-

Sifu Avenger, if you're going to make a post, we do ask that you be a bit more constructive with it. Just adding a smilie doesn't really add anything to the conversation, and as such is really just spam.

Thanks,
Jacob

I know what you mean, i mean shenmue online looked so promising aswell, but thats since been cancelled.

It's like Yu Suzuki can't get a break on this game.
And for the most part, we all know aswell as anyone now, these rumours have been comming ever E3 for the past 4 years, maybe more.

So it's less & less likely, yet people still believe? It's weird.
You'd think, why bother believing, wait for some hard evidence, hence why in my case i don't want to jump to conclusions over certain things.

And microsoft, developing shenmue, thats a laugh. I doubt Yu would allow it, it'd probably ruin the series.

As of now, i have higher hopes for skies of arcadia 2, what with the series having a somewhat decent rumours, with some evidence to back it, although even that could end up being complete bs.

Shenmue I & II port on Wii please. Must see what the awesomeness is about.

I'm afraid Wiimote controls would probably ruin it a lot. I'd be all for it if they allowed normal controls, along with the obligatory tacked-on Wiimote controls.

evilflame said:
I know what you mean, i mean shenmue online looked so promising aswell, but thats since been cancelled.

I agree with your post, except that bit. I never looked at Shenmue Online with anything but disdain. The fact that it even existed was offensive to me, and I was glad when it was cancelled. All it was was a smudge on Shenmue's good name. I can take Shenmue, the greatest most revolutionary game ever made, being a complete financial flop. I can't take it being turned into one of those crappy MMORPG things. That just cannot, and thankfully didn't, happen.

Shenmue Online simply looked cringetastic. My hate for MMOs simply would never mix with my love for Shenmue. The same reason I would hate a Pok�mon MMO.

Also ShenmueI/II on Wii just won't happen.

@ Marti/Superlink

Hmmm, i think it was a good idea, not for the online reason or the MMO part.

But for the fact it went into the games story susposedly between the first & second game. Besides the fact Yu Suzuki was directing it, i couldn't see it being such a big problem.

I heard it was suppose to be the parts we missed from the boat travel, since that was originally supposed to be in shenmue game, but they skipped that chapter for certain reasons.

I'm sorry dude, but this:

.. is just not Shenmue in any form. It's just the typical EPIC PHAIL that MMORPGs are. There was indeed meant to be a chapter on the boat, but I read everything remotely to do with Shenmue, and I've never come across anything about Shenmue Online covering this part of the story. That chapter was cut, as it wouldn't have been interesting, apparently. If it's not interesting enough for a slow-paced, obscure little adventure game, I faiil to see how it was deemed interesting enough for an online spam-fest.

Anyway it's irrelevant, as Shenmue Online has been cancelled. Good riddance. Bring on proper Shenmue, or I don't want it.

*bump*

Just realised- next year.. Shenmue is going to be ten years old. How depressing is that! In light of this, it's amazing how good the graphics still look. The game itself started to be shown in early 1998 (and many of these beta/pre-release screens are actually from scenes/places in Shenmue II, released in 2001!), and in those screens looked graphically the same as it did in the final game. So it can be assumed that the graphics engine is already over ten years old. Here's some of the pre-release screens from 1998:

^ Decade old graphics! How crazy is that shit? 3D graphics, no less (3D graphics age much worse than 2D graphics), as well! Just writing this post and looking at those pics, I remember looking at most of those very same pictures ten years ago in magazinez and being utterly blown away. Beyond blown away. I just couldn't conceive in my mind how a game could look so amazing. The fact that it has aged so well is another credit to AM2's vision and design.

I think, even now, it in some ways looks better than a lot of games you get now. If I was to really look for faults, I'd say that the models of some of the unimportant NPCs you talk to have low polygon models, and most of the textures are quite low-res (although the sheer variety of textures has yet to be matched, in my opinion). Other than that, I can't really fault it. All the animation is good, all the environments look superb, and the attention-to-detail is yet to be bettered.

Shenmue turns 10. Fuck. I feel old.

Note: All but one of those beta/pre-release pictures (I'm pretty sure) are actually of scenes/places in Shenmue II, released three years later in 2001! The sixth picture down is Yamanose from the first game. In fact, it's right outside the Hazuki Residence. Although that fight never happens in the actual game. Just the developers fannying about, I suppose. Also, the seventh picture down is really bad quality, but it's from a scene that never happens in the final Shenmue II, outside Man Mo Temple. Weird.

There's old beta footage of Ryo riding a bicycle around Dobuita on YouTube. I'll post it later if I can find it.

@ Martin

I've never actually seen any propper gameplay of the cancelled shenmue online, and after seeing that little tid-bit i'm completely glad it was cancelled myself.

The only thing that made me interested in it, was the fact the opening cutscene looks beautiful. Well in my opinion it just enjoyed the fact i saw ryo as he could be looking in this generation.

The gameplay in that looks completely shit.
Thanks god they cancelled it.

And i know, it would be nice to see some sort of update on the franchise for it's 10th year anniversary, but it is rather unlikely. In my opinion, if sonic unleashed rakes in alot of cash, sega may well be convinced to either port, the original shenmue, or even consider making a third one.

Although if they did port the game, i would to be honest like to see at the very least some graphical improvements, gameplay wise it was perfect, but if they added additional content too that would be awesome.

Well there were tidbits in Shenmue Online trailers for what would have been events in Shenmue III, such as some stuff about Shenhua.

And the Kamehameha thing.

( Edited 02.07.2008 16:27 by SuperLink )

Yeah those FMVs were just needless spoilers, really. And I'm well up for even 1-1 bog standard ports of Shenmue I and II. Simply because Dreamcasts break so easily. If it were on Wii, I would insist on normal controls (and Wiimote controls as an option, if they had to be included). I would like a wee bit of graphical sprucing, but to be honest, it basically still stands shoulder-to-shoulder with most Wii games, graphically. That's not a dig at Wii.

I would prefer it on the xbox me-thinks. For the fact it's also the sort of game the 360 needs, it could boost the graphics and i'm betting that if they got ahold of the 360 kit, that they'd be able to push the 360s graphics to the limit and i'd love to see that, then again, i would love to see how well the Wii would be able to be pushed with someone behind the game making sure to push them as far as they could.

Shenmue II on XBOX with "Sprucing" looked shit. I don't think they'll be ported to Wii anyway.

Shenmue had amazing graphics so I wouldn't complain if they had the same on Wii. Obviously it'd cost a lot to ground-up the game again,

The Xbox one looked great, I don't know what you're talking about. It looked exactly the same, except Ryo's character model had a few more polygons, there were a few more characters on screen, and no slowlown. Bloom was present in a big way, and was a love or hate thing. I really liked the bloom. Some hate it, though.

I think it has something to do with anti-aliasing. I personally think the DC version looks better sharper.

This is interesting:
Comparison

To be honest i'd say 50/50.

The xbox version seems in some places to have slightly better graphics, but in others it feels as if the dreamcasts graphics are dramataically better tahn the xbox version.