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Sega talks Shenmue's Future in Famitsu

S

Segata Sanshiro

Member
DennisK4 said:
I think this could work. Release Shenmue 1+2 HD to pave the way for Shenmue 3.

A lot of people who never got to play games will have heard about them with the rep they have gotten over the years.

A lot of hype, promotion and a fair price for the HD versions and I think it could be a successful endeavour for Sega.
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They would need to make a lot of changes to Shenmue 1&2 for them to have a hope in hell of doing anything other than failing harder than before. Having Ryo control like a car is one of them. Then there's the voices. Do they keep the old dub for sentimental value? Do they redo it and risk losing some of the charm? Should it be in English? Japanese?

The only thing they've got going for them is that the games still look pretty good. Aside from that, without a major reworking, HD versions wouldn't be raising hopes, only squashing them permanently.
 
Vigilant Walrus

Vigilant Walrus

Member
rezuth said:
Nothing is ever dead when it comes to gaming. Even 20 year old IPs can be resurrected.
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That's what they egyptians said about dead humans, and looked what happened to egypt now!


some things should stay dead!
 
C

Conflict NZ

Member
At this point I think they would have to include an abridged version of the story of 1&2 maybe as the first half of the third game to have any success. It needs to reach people the first two didn't and there is no way a plot heavy game will do that if it starts where the previous game which came out 10 years ago finished.
 
Y

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
B_Rik_Schitthaus said:
I just want a port of Shenmue 1.
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You know I played this a few summers ago and I thought Shenmue STILL looked fantastic. The framerate in Doubuita is low but an XBLA port could work if it was done straight. I suspect Sega doesn't see value in the franchise (who could blame them) or doesn't have the manpower.

I think you could port it to Wii and have one of the most visually impressive games on the system. Shenmue was that ahead of its time.
 
S

Suzuki Yu

Member
it's easy guys

all they need to do is re-releasing Shenmue I & II as a digital content wit HD res , specially now with the direction SEGA is taking toward the Digital market .
then they can release Shenmue III , even more they can make special edition with Shenmue I & II included in a physical disk .
 
O

Odrion

Banned
With the popularity of Yakuza, they do have an opportunity to bring back the Shenmue series.

They would probably make it a lot more action oriented, but I'm fine with it.
 
F

Fuzz Rez

Banned
Suzuki Yu said:
it's easy guys

all they need to do is re-releasing Shenmue I & II as a digital content wit HD res , specially now with the direction SEGA is taking toward the Digital market .
then they can release Shenmue III , even more they can make special edition with Shenmue I & II included in a physical disk .
Click to expand...

Re-releasing Shenmue I & II won't do much without complete overhaul. Game mechanics of the orginal games are over 10 years old, writing is awful by todays standards and even the game world itself is kinda barren when compared todays open world games. Most likely it wouldn't attract enough gamers who didn't play the orginal games back in the day. I have nostalgia for the game and it isn't bad series but it is old.
 
F

Future PhaZe

Member
I still don't get the "Shenmue won't make money" arguments when there are 20 Yakuza games out.

Use the Yakuza engine, don't go crazy with the budget and put it out there on all systems. From hype alone it should make its money back.
 
X

Xater

Member
Odrion said:
With the popularity of Yakuza, they do have an opportunity to bring back the Shenmue series.

They would probably make it a lot more action oriented, but I'm fine with it.
Click to expand...

:lol

If GAF only represented the whole gaming populous.
 
S

Segata Sanshiro

Member
Dark FaZe said:
I still don't get the "Shenmue won't make money" arguments when there are 20 Yakuza games out.

Use the Yakuza engine, don't go crazy with the budget and put it out there on all systems. From hype alone it should make its money back.
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It would almost certainly come in higher than the budget of a new RGG game, since it would require the creation of almost entirely new graphical assets, and the budget of the RGG games is nothing to sneeze at. Even if it comes out cheap, say $5 million budget, I have serious, serious doubts it would sell enough to make that back. GAF hype =/= real world hype, and interestingly Yakuza/RGG is a fine example of that.
 
onken

onken

Member
It's probably been said to death already but I simply don't trust the Sega of today to make Shenmue 3, the Sonic 4 fiasco being the latest reminder.
 
R

rvy

Banned
Odrion said:
With the popularity of Yakuza, they do have an opportunity to bring back the Shenmue series.

They would probably make it a lot more action oriented, but I'm fine with it.
Click to expand...
Yakuza is only popular in Japan, really. It's a niche game in the West.
 
S

sonicmj1

Member
Jocchan said:
A short interactive intro would also be possible, of course, but would screw up too much the pacing and the buildup towards the third part. Still absolutely doable, but not entirely ideal if you ask me.
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The thing is, I don't really think there are that many new players out there who are willing to play through all of Shenmue 1 and 2 to reach a new chapter. Given that not a lot of people bought the Shenmue games, and that a third chapter of any reasonable size will be expensive, Sega has to bank on bringing in new blood. Making the barrier to entry for new players as low as possible has to be a must. That's why I think that if they want to do this, they've got to do something that's interesting and brief that exists as a part of whatever new game they make. The movie of Shenmue 1 that was packaged with Shenmue 2 Xbox won't cut it.

If they're not going to put money behind it, a third chapter won't be satisfying to anyone, and they may as well just slap a bit of HD shine on Shenmue 1 and 2 and see how many old fans they can lure back before they even commit to new content.
 
H

hokahey

Member
Segata Sanshiro said:
A highly cinematic, fully voice-acted, obsessively realistically-detailed adventure game with a deep combat system and generously seasoned with nostalgic SEGA references sounds like something Nintendo could do better?
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What the...

I said the only company that has ever made a better game than Shenmue is Nintendo, IMO of course. Not that Nintendo would make a better Shenmue than SEGA. Well actually, better than current Sega yes.

And of course Nintendo could do it justice. Shenmue is the only non-Nintendo game I've ever played that captured the same sort of wonder and awe a game like Zelda inspires. Epic story, engaging side quests, colorful characters... It's not a stretch.

They certainly aren't known for games with voice acting, but that's about it as far as things they don't do that Shenmue does.

In addition, the budget for it to become a Wii title would be much smaller, and a port of the first two with Wii controls would be a perfect fit alongside HotD, Samba, etc.

What I dislike about the current gen is that Nintendo is the only old school, for the love of gaming kind of company around anymore. As much as I was a SNES fanboy debating with the Genesis lovers on the school playground about mode-7 versus blast processing, I miss Sega. They "got it." They made classic, after classic after classic, just like Nintendo.

So YES, the only company that can do justice to what some consider the greatest game of all time, is a company that has and continues to make games that challenge that title with similarly magical storytelling and gameplay.
 
D

Dead Man Typing

Member
Port Shenmue I and 2 to the Wii, with Waggle QTE's.

Come on, House of the 2&3 Returns sold pretty well(and is a lot of fun). And even now, 3 years into the Wii's life, Shenmue I and II would look as good as(or better than) most of the Wii's mid tier games.

That's not a troll on the Wii, it's just that Shenmue looks that darn good.

EDIT: Woops, just realised I already posted, effectively, this same statement earlier in this thread. I'm glad to see I still agree with myself.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=19574764&postcount=320
 
S

Segata Sanshiro

Member
hokahey said:
What the...

I said the only company that has ever made a better game than Shenmue is Nintendo, IMO of course. Not that Nintendo would make a better Shenmue than SEGA. Well actually, better than current Sega yes.

And of course Nintendo could do it justice. Shenmue is the only non-Nintendo game I've ever played that captured the same sort of wonder and awe a game like Zelda inspires. Epic story, engaging side quests, colorful characters... It's not a stretch.

They certainly aren't known for games with voice acting, but that's about it as far as things they don't do that Shenmue does.

In addition, the budget for it to become a Wii title would be much smaller, and a port of the first two with Wii controls would be a perfect fit alongside HotD, Samba, etc.

What I dislike about the current gen is that Nintendo is the only old school, for the love of gaming kind of company around anymore. As much as I was a SNES fanboy debating with the Genesis lovers on the school playground about mode-7 versus blast processing, I miss Sega. They "got it." They made classic, after classic after classic, just like Nintendo.

So YES, the only company that can do justice to what some consider the greatest game of all time, is a company that has and continues to make games that challenge that title with similarly magical storytelling and gameplay.
Click to expand...
I'm sorry, I just can't agree. This kind of game is not Nintendo's strong suit at all.

And if you miss SEGA so much, maybe you should buy some SEGA games. This year alone SEGA has published Bayonetta, Yakuza 3, Infinite Space, Sonic & SEGA All-Star Racing, and Resonance of Fate, all wonderful, fun games that anyone who loves gaming should be able to love.
 
D

Dark Octave

Banned
Xater said:
Yes I bet alot of people will buy a game where they have no idea what is going on story wise. Sorry this franchise is dead.
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Again, Hat...er..I mean Xater, they can easily combine the first two games in movie form like they did the first one on Xbox.
 
S

Scribble

Member
They don't need to remake 1 and 2. Shenmue 1 can be summed up in a simple flashback, and 2's events (The Xiuying stuff) can be incorporated in 3 if they're creative enough. I got the impression that the end of 2 is where the whole thing really starts. Dou Niu is basically villain of the week.
 
T

Totobeni

An blind dancing ho
something Shenmue related still bugs me..

back in Jul 2006 , I remember that SEGA released the last trailer for Shenmue Online , and in that trailer there was huge spoiler for the story ending I guess , but was that ( the CG footage with Shenhua summoning the phoenix and other stuff ) canon ?

I mean Yu Suzuki was behind that project , I remember rage and crying all over ShenmueDojo because of that , but no one knew if it was canon or not.
 
R

riceandbeans

Member
Now's the perfect time to make Shenmue 3. The PS3's popularity is hitting it's peak in Japan now that's it's topping the Wii and Shenmue would go perfect at about now on the system. They've already got the Yakuza engine in place.
 
H

hokahey

Member
Segata Sanshiro said:
I'm sorry, I just can't agree. This kind of game is not Nintendo's strong suit at all.

And if you miss SEGA so much, maybe you should buy some SEGA games. This year alone SEGA has published Bayonetta, Yakuza 3, Infinite Space, Sonic & SEGA All-Star Racing, and Resonance of Fate, all wonderful, fun games that anyone who loves gaming should be able to love.
Click to expand...


I already made the mistake of buying Yakuza because of all the mentions it gets in relation to Shenmue. And while some of those games may be great, I'm not seeing that old Sega magic at play.
 
B

BlazeHedgehog

Member
AAK said:
After watching this, I really have no interest in ever getting into this game.
Click to expand...

It's definitely not for everybody. But if you let the game suck you in, it'll suck you in deep.

And, to be fair to the game, you can't really get a sense for what Shenmue is like just from a Quick Look like that. Like they say, the game is very "deliberately" paced. It's a huge thing that unfolds very (very) slowly. Especially Shenmue 1 - Shenmue 1 is more about experiencing a place. Shenmue 2 picks up the pace a bit more.

Really, I should probably just link my retrospective/review of both games, if I haven't already. It explains both games better than the Quicklook could (with some spoilers - but c'mon, Shenmue is 10 years old at this point).
 
taku

taku

Member
Sega1991 said:
It's definitely not for everybody. But if you let the game suck you in, it'll suck you in deep.

And, to be fair to the game, you can't really get a sense for what Shenmue is like just from a Quick Look like that. Like they say, the game is very "deliberately" paced. It's a huge thing that unfolds very (very) slowly. Especially Shenmue 1 - Shenmue 1 is more about experiencing a place. Shenmue 2 picks up the pace a bit more.

Really, I should probably just link my retrospective/review of both games, if I haven't already. It explains both games better than the Quicklook could (with some spoilers - but c'mon, Shenmue is 10 years old at this point).
Click to expand...
Great retrospective, dude. Much appreciated! Makes me miss Shenmue even more. Ugh, I still want a continuation of the series..
 
B

BlazeHedgehog

Member
linsivvi said:
It's called Yakuza.
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You're probably going to get lynched for that. There has been a great surge in people kicking and screaming that Yakuza is not Japan's "GTA". It's more like an RPG where random encounters play out in a battle system like Streets of Rage (which, in turn, sounds more like River City Ransom, to me).
 
R

RagolSlayer

Neo Member
Sega1991 said:
You're probably going to get lynched for that. There has been a great surge in people kicking and screaming that Yakuza is not Japan's "GTA". It's more like an RPG where random encounters play out in a battle system like Streets of Rage (which, in turn, sounds more like River City Ransom, to me).
Click to expand...

Yeah, I remember half my friends buying the first Yakuza thinking it was the Japanese equivalent of GTAIII. Boy, were they pissed! :lol
 
L

linsivvi

Member
Sega1991 said:
You're probably going to get lynched for that. There has been a great surge in people kicking and screaming that Yakuza is not Japan's "GTA". It's more like an RPG where random encounters play out in a battle system like Streets of Rage (which, in turn, sounds more like River City Ransom, to me).
Click to expand...

It's a sandbox game, with tons of side missions, collectibles, and mini-games. You can date girls, enter tournaments and be a hitman. The combat doesn't play like GTA and Sega added enough perks to differentiate from other sandbox games. As far as I am concerned those people can kick and scream all they want. It's still in the same genre as GTA, just not a direct rip off.
 
S

Segata Sanshiro

Member
linsivvi said:
It's a sandbox game, with tons of side missions, collectibles, and mini-games. You can date girls, enter tournaments and be a hitman. The combat doesn't play like GTA and Sega added enough perks to differentiate from other sandbox games. As far as I am concerned those people can kick and scream all they want. It's still in the same genre as GTA, just not a direct rip off.
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If someone were asking for a Japanese GTA, and you gave them Yakuza, do you think they would be satisfied? Combat is focused on stop and fight encounters that you cannot run from, the area the game takes place in is quite small, you don't have the same freedom to attack who you want, and, most importantly, there are no vehicles. All of these things make for a very different game from GTA, such that anyone I know who bought Yakuza looking for "a Japanese GTA" was so dissatisfied it prevented them from giving Yakuza a chance on its own.

hokahey said:
I already made the mistake of buying Yakuza because of all the mentions it gets in relation to Shenmue. And while some of those games may be great, I'm not seeing that old Sega magic at play.
Click to expand...
You shouldn't have bought Yakuza looking for Shenmue. I'm sure it's clear to you now that the games are very different and awesome for their own reasons. And it sounds like you haven't played the games I listed, so that makes you pretty poorly qualified to judge whether they have "that old SEGA magic", whatever that might be to you.

Yakuza is SEGA to its core, right down to the bizarre sense of humour that usually manifests in SEGA's games. Bayonetta, while not developed by SEGA, definitely has fun, easy-to-learn-hard-to-master gameplay with a lot of great references to SEGA classics, all wrapped in a cheeky sense of humour. Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing is Outrun meets Mario Kart, and is positively drenched in SEGA love. Resonance of Fate and Infinite Space carry on the fine SEGA tradition of deep, satisfying strategy RPGs.

Write them off all you want, but if you can't find the good games in SEGA's lineup, that's your blindness and your bias at play. If you really care about finding fun games to play, I suggest letting go of the meme-tastic hate of modern SEGA and actually playing the games.
 
IrishNinja

IrishNinja

Member
madara said:
Shenmue 3 will hit after Phantasy Star 5 and Skies of Arcadia 2!
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2ij1b0y.gif
2ij1b0y.gif
2ij1b0y.gif
2ij1b0y.gif


why did this fucking thread get bumped?
 
Freshmaker

Freshmaker

I am Korean.
Gravijah said:
Sega are like the best trolls ever.
Click to expand...
They'd need to say something about towns and release demo footage of a conceptual remake of Shenmue 1 that's actually never intended to be anything but a tech demo for them to be the best trolls.
 
S

sonikokaruto

Banned
i fucking hate this time a year, any company announcing any fucking game becomes a wet panty sensation for their favorite game.

fuck you sega (for not bringing shenmue) and fuck you square enix

You know what? i'm fucking pissed, i'm going to post the same on the weekly square enix thread.
 
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