Yu Suzuki has provided a few comments regarding the latest Shenmue 3 trailer and the game’s new logo, on both the official PlayStation Blog and the Kickstarter page. You can read the comments below, as well as find a batch of old and new screenshots of the game. I also looked into the comments from Kickstarter backers on the latest update.
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Ys Net posted a new update on their Shenmue 3 Kickstarter page, announcing that they have signed a global publishing contract with Deep Silver for their game. This means that Deep Silver will apparently be in charge of publishing Shenmue 3 worldwide. SEGA and Atlus fans in Europe already know Deep Silver, given that they’ve been handling publishing of their titles there for a while now.
At the same time, the new title screen that comes with the press release finally reveals what appear to be the updated character models of Ryo and Shenhua, Previously, Ys Net had in fact resorted to changing Ryo’s face through Photoshop, replacing it with the one from Shenmue 2. So far, it seems the new models are receiving a mixed response from fans. What’s curious is that the Shenmue 3 logo on the new title image is also different from the new logo that was revealed in their June update.
After the recent Shenmue 3 update, where it was confirmed the game would not be shown at this year’s E3, many doubted that the game would still be able to meet its targeted release date of end 2017. In a new update on Kickstarter, Yu Suzuki has now confirmed that the game is indeed being delayed to the second half of 2018. Yu explains that “the game has become bigger and more beautiful” than he initially expected, but that they need more time to develop it. Gematsu uploaded the video with Yu Suzuki’s message to YouTube, you can view it below.
In its latest “Dev Report Vol. 3” update, the Shenmue 3 team has revealed a new character for the game, along with some basic character animation in the Unreal Development Kit. At the same time, the team also states that they won’t be present at any gaming shows this June. Instead, they want to devote their time to the game’s development instead. Many fans had hoped for the game to be featured at E3 2017, which takes place June 13-15, given that the targeted release date is still December 2017. However, given what little has been shown so far, it’s unclear if they can still manage to finish the game this year. Hopefully, we’ll get a new trailer sometime this year to give us a better indication of how far along the game is in terms of development. You can read the message from the devs below, as well as the video showing the new character.
After a long silence, the Shenmue 3 team has posted a new update on their Kickstarter page, titled “Dev Room Progress Report Vol. 2”. It shows us a few brief glimpses of the game, although it’s stated that all characters shown are used from older resources. Which is likely also the reason why the developers are still avoiding showing Ryo’s face. Other than showing us the development team at work, the video features Ryo performing some basic animations, and also reveals an in-game arcade cabinet. You can view the video below!
Shenmue 3 is still scheduled for a release in December 2017 on PlayStation 4 and PC.
It’s already been one year since the Shenmue 3 Kickstarter was launched, and Ys Net have posted an update on their Kickstarter page to celebrate the occasion. While the video posted with the update uses mostly footage of areas that we’ve already seen before, it does feature Yu Suzuki, who looks back on the work the team has done over the past year.
UPDATE: Ys Net have responded to a question from one of their backers, explaining why they made this decision. You can read it here.
The latest Shenmue 3 update delivers the results of a recent poll, where backers were asked whether or not the Kickstarter-exclusive rewards should in fact remain exclusive, or should also be given to those backing the Slacker Backer campaign via PayPal. Around 31% of the backers answered “Yes”, while 27% voted “No”. The rest of the 15,110 people who voted answered “either way is fine with me”. While this means that almost three out of four people who voted had no objection to making the exclusive Kickstarter rewards available for PayPal backers, Ys Net decided not to make the rewards available to PayPal backers due to the strong response from people voting No.
A new Shenmue 3 Kickstarter update includes a couple of updates from the Shenmue 3 team. First off all, they announced a redo for the Rewards Poll. Instead of using Twitter, they’ll now be sending a link to Kickstarter backers where they can answer the poll’s question. In particular, Kickstarter backers are asked whether or not the on-going Slacker Backer Paypal campaign should give also people access to the currently Kickstarter-exclusive rewards.
One example of such a reward is the $80 Kickstarter reward which includes “an international phone card (in-game item) to call Nozomi, Guizhang Chen, Ine-san, Joy, Fuku-san, or other characters from Shenmue 1 & 2”. Back when the Kickstarter was launched, I was disappointed to see that this reward in particular was locked behind a pay-wall. Even if it’s not essential for the story, I feel that this kind of throwback to the original games is something that should be available for everyone. While making the rewards available for slacker backers doesn’t really make that happen, at least more people will be able to get access to these and other rewards. Also worth noting is that the Paypal campaign still doesn’t offer a PC version of the game, so hopefully it will still be included for the Slacker Backer campaign as well.