The Shenmue 3 Kickstarter page has received a new update, explaining what the team has been up to over the past three months, and showing a few new screenshots. The game’s story and scenarios are out of the planning stage, and the team is currently working on map testing. This involves making decisions about how big a particular area needs to be. The development team is said to be in high spirits, with some people even working on Saturdays at times. You can take a look at the screenshots here (note that these are early screenshots, featuring character models and areas that will all be reworked later on):

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The man behind the Shenmue HD fan project, known as Noconkid (or Kid Nocon), has now joined the Shenmue 3 development team. Noconkid is a 3D graphics designer from South Korea, and had been working on a Shenmue HD fan project for several years now. Running on the Unreal Engine 3 and later 4, the quality of his work and attention to detail had impressed many, including Yu Suzuki himself. Interestingly, this is the second time Yu Suzuki has hired a fan to work on Shenmue 3.

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YsNet uploaded a short, new trailer to promote Shenmue III to the official Shenmue III YouTube account ahead of the Kickstarter‘s impending closure. We’re now at just three days left (read: <3….or </3) to donate – if you haven’t already done so and want to contribute, be sure to stop by the Kickstarter page! The physical PS4 copy is now an option at the $60 tier, an update that was made quite a while ago. Be assured that the Kickstarter will certainly hit $5 million, in my opinion. At this point, it’s about if you want to contribute or not, and how much you want to contribute! Do note that electing to contribute will allow backers to offer opinions when Ys Net solicits them during the development process.

The trailer itself shows Ryo and Shenhua at a night scene. Ryo, while catching up to Shenhua, notices a firefly, and as he approaches the lake he witnesses a mass gathering of light around Shenhua. It’s the presence of a mass gathering fireflies, and it also serves to highlight the lighting work in-game and offers another work-in-progress look at the character models, to which Yu Suzuki is paying particular attention. Continue reading to check out the trailer!

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The Shenmue 3 Kickstarter page received a new update today, announcing a new PS4 physical copy reward. Those who pledge $60 or more will have the option to choose between a digital or physical copy of the game for either the PC or PS4. Before, only the PC version had an option for a physical copy. This has been one of the top requests from fans, so it’s good to see the option is finally there. Other new rewards have been added as well, though the high cost will probably put them out of reach for the majority of people.

In the same update Awesome Japan, the company managing the Shenmue 3 Kickstarter, has also posted an apology for the recent Twitch stream with Yu Suzuki. The Twitch stream in question suffered from bad audio and video quality, and the presentation itself left a lot to be desired. The company had this to say:

We offer our sincerest apologies for last week’s Twitch broadcast and any trouble it may have caused. This apology comes late, and we accept full responsibility. We promise we will do everything we can to help bring Shenmue back. We ask for your forgiveness and the opportunity to make amends. – from all of us at Awesome Japan

Pledges for the Shenmue Kickstarter had been going relatively slow over the past week, but the new rewards have given it a considerable boost, pushing the total pledge amount over $4,000,000. It’s also probably not a coincidence that this update went live just when the Shenmue fans had organized their recent Tweetathon on the 3rd of the month. In fact, Awesome Japan had called on its backers to join the Tweetathon. Additionally, the fans had also launched a new initiative to boost pledges by asking people to add $30 more to their initial pledge today.

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