Jump to content
N-Europe

Shenmue 3 finally announced! It's not what you think though....

flameboy

By flameboy
in Other Consoles

 Share

Recommended Posts

flameboy Newbie

flameboy

Posted
Posted

so erm...yeah

 

Don't get too excited. A 'third' Shenmue game has been announced in Japan, though those hoping for a fully-fledged new instalment will be disappointed to hear that it's a PC based social games service in Japan.

 

Shenmue City was announced by Yahoo! Japan and DeNa for its new Yahoo! Mobage service (spotted and translated by andriasang), released today in Japan.

 

There are few details about the game beyond a Winter release date – and although the official release touts it as the 'third entry' in the series it's unlikely to be the game that fans of the Dreamcast originals were hoping for.

 

The Shenmue series has previously flirted with the MMO space with Shenmue Online, a PC game announced in 2004 that never saw the light of day.

 

http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/112/1126348p1.html

 

although some reporting it as a mobile game:

 

SEGA has announced plans to release a new instalment in the Shenmue series.

 

The twist is that this one will be for mobile phones. According to Kotaku, it will be released for the Yahoo! Japan version of Mobage-town, a popular mobile social network.

 

The game is titled Shenmue Town and is billed as the "third" Shenmue game. It's due to launch in Japan this winter.

 

The last Shenmue game, released back in 2003, was rumoured to be the most expensive game ever made. Take a trip down memory lane with our review.

 

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-10-07-new-shenmue-game-coming-to-mobiles

 

seems to be some confusion as to how its appear via this mobile social network...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ShadowV7 Newbie

ShadowV7

Posted
Posted

Dammit give me Shenmue 3 already. I still don't get why they're so afraid of doing a sequel. Shenmue was destined to never make a profit anyway cause of the obscene development.

 

Whatever happened to Shenmue online anyway? Guess i'll go investigate again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Dante Newbie

Dante

Posted
Posted

Shenmue Sound Creator Responds

 

When you heard the first utterance of "Shenmue City" for Yahoo's new PC-based "Yahoo! Mobage" social gaming service, did you find yourself flagging the news with the old "do not approve"? Then your reaction might not be too far off from a someone a bit closer to the franchise -- sound creator Osamu Murata.

 

Murata responded to the news on Friday via his Twitter account. In addition to not appearing too favorable of the new project, he makes some surprising allegations based off conversations he claims to have had with people at Sega.

 

Wrote Murata on Friday following the announcement, "I have complicated feelings about Shenmue appearing on Yahoo! Mobage. I actually worked on Shenmue, working quite a bit with Yu (Shenmue creator Yu Suzuki). However, Yahoo! Mobage is being started up by a friend of mine.

 

"What makes this complicated for me is that Yu has lowered the quality. Shenmue above all else required top quality. There was no compromise for quality in Shenmue, and if there was compromise, Yu would get extremely angry as us. It was by being tossed around by this that the creativity of my current self was born. When I think about the the current state of Sega and Yu that required Shenmue to become a light game, I have complicated feelings."

 

Continued Murata in a following message, "I'm certain that he wanted to release Shenmue on PS3 or Xbox. This is definitely not how Yu feels about Shenmue. The sound of the bikes, the sound of glass, the facial motion of kids, how the flags were made to stand, the walking motion, the running motion, the pursuit of beauty for the female characters. He worked so hard even if he would collapse or get sick."

 

Murata claims to have spoken with people at Sega who told him that Sega does not officially recognize Shenmue City. From what he's heard, the game is being made as a venture between Yahoo! Mobage and another company that was formed by Yu Suzuki.

 

Wrote Murata, "The Yahoo! Mobage Shenmue is not Sega. I'm not sure what will happen at the time of formal release, though. If it looks like it will sell, Sega will probably make it official."

 

It's doubtful that a company as big as Yahoo! would publicize an unauthorized IP, so the way I'm reading Murata's statements is that Sega has officially authorized the creation of Shenmue City, but they'll be keeping quiet about it until determining its chances of success. It's notable that the announcement only came from Yahoo! and (Yahoo! Mobage partner company) DeNA. Sega has yet to mention the project anywhere on its official site.

 

Incidentally, throughout his Tweets, Murata refers to Yahoo Mobage! as "Yabage." It's typical to shorten and combine words in a long Japanese name, but in this case the term could be taken to mean "bad game." I'm not sure if that's Murata's intention, since he says the service was started by his friend.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 1 month later...
ShadowV7 Newbie

ShadowV7

Posted
Posted

I'm not sure if they'd make Shenmue III on the 360. Then again I think they'd be kind of stuck on what console to release this on. They will want to keep dev costs down. A lot. 360 has a bad user base in Japan so that might make them meh. PS3 will have high costs and might not sell terribly well in the US and Europe. On the Wii, might not be able to push what he wants from the Wii technically(though it still looks awesome on the DC), but better costs. But might get lost among all the crap.

 

Wouldn't be surprised for some sort of multiplatforming, made for the Wii/360 then ported over.

 

But make a Shenmue I & II compilation to help with the whole funding thing atleast, and get some new players in. Most Shenmue fans would rebuy it, especially if it helps with Shenmue III.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 1 month later...
  • 2 months later...
Happenstance Collaborator

Happenstance

Posted
Posted

SEGA will "probably" let Suzuki make Shenmue 3

 

Legendary game developer Yu Suzuki has said SEGA will "probably" let him create Shenmue 3.

 

"Probably SEGA will let me make it," he told an audience at the Game Developers Conference. "I think. It's simply a problem of budget."

 

SEGA put an end to the expensive, revered Shenmue series after a second Dreamcast instalment. Simply, sales didn't justify the investment.

 

"Well, I want to make it," Suzuki said of a third game in the series, as reported by Gamasutra. "About 200 people will buy it, I think. But funding is an issue."

 

The first Shemue game, apparently, "only" cost $47 million to make – and that was in 1999. "Well, maybe I shouldn't say only," he joked. "We spent it on development and marketing... actually where did we spend it again?"

 

Last year Suzuki tantalisingly teased that Shenmue 3 was much more than a fantasy - it existed. "The concept for Shenmue 3 already exists, so..." Suzuki said.

 

"Shenmue 3 doesn't expand outward, but inward," he said at the time. "A lot of the dialogue is used for the main character and especially dialogue with Shenhua [the girl]. They [shenhua and Ryo] talk about a lot of different, deeper things.

 

"This is not actually in the game, but 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."

 

Shenmue 2 was released in 2001, and may have been the most anticipated Dreamcast game ever.

 

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-03-02-sega-will-probably-let-suzuki-make-shenmue-3

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Jamba Newbie

Jamba

Posted
Posted

Oh dear.... that questions thing sounds like a HORRIBLE mechanic. Couldn't Suzuki think of a better way of merging it into the gameplay a bit rather than having it punch you in the face with an arbitrary and completely random question?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
nekunando Contributor

nekunando

Posted
Posted

The way your personality was tested in Silent Hill: Shattered Memories was fantastic.. so it could certainly work in a potential Shenmue III if done right :hehe:

 

I'm sure there are people who would love to see the Shenmue series completed on the HD consoles, but I actually wouldn't mind if it used the same graphics as the Dreamcast games and was released on either Wii or 3DS! I feel it would help make them all feel more connected..

Link to comment
Share on other sites
flameboy Newbie

flameboy

Posted
  • Author
Posted
The way your personality was tested in Silent Hill: Shattered Memories was fantastic.. so it could certainly work in a potential Shenmue III if done right :hehe:

 

I'm sure there are people who would love to see the Shenmue series completed on the HD consoles, but I actually wouldn't mind if it used the same graphics as the Dreamcast games and was released on either Wii or 3DS! I feel it would help make them all feel more connected..

 

Did the silent hill one actually work or not? From what I read it was kind of binary and a lot of answers would lead to the same consequences?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...