Tag Archives: Shenmue

Shenmue III – Reintroducing Keiji Okayasu

InTheSky July 31, 2016 Leave a reply

It might seem like it’s been a while since we’ve seen an official update from the Shenmue III team. Recently, an interview with Keiji Okayasu was released by the team, announcing his new role as sub-director for Shenmue III’s development. While Keiji Okayasu works for studiofake (established towards the end of Shenmue II’s development), and Yu Suzuki still maintains his position as main director over Shenmue III, Suzuki approached Okayasu to assist in Shenmue III’s development as he has done in the past.

This interview offers insight into Okayasu’s involvement with the Shenmue games (previously a member of SEGA’s storied AM2 team,) including his past difficulty in understanding Suzuki’s creative vision. Additionally, he speaks about his journey to understand what he believes to make Suzuki an avant-garde developer, which is in part tied to Suzuki’s insistence on considering the vantage point of those who aren’t “hardcore gamers.” Now that Okayasu is part of the team, he is particularly striving to maintain the Shenmue series’ strong sense of atmosphere.

We’ve attached below the five-minute Okayasu interview by way of ShenmueDojo, a Shenmue community resource. Be sure to watch it! Spliced throughout the video are some quick glances at the development room. The interview is accompanied by a rather nice piano arrangement of the main Shenmue theme…

Keiji Okayasu Returns for Shenmue 3 (Update #58)

Watch this video on YouTube

Shenmue 3 Kickstarter Celebrates Its First Anniversary with a New Update

Draikin June 30, 2016 Leave a reply

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.

SEGA Europe “Very Interested in Bringing All of the Group’s Japanese Content” to Europe

Draikin May 22, 2016 Leave a reply

In a recent interview with MVC, Sega Europe’s SVP of commercial publishing John Clarck talked about SEGA’s PC business and how it shaped the company’s future. Interestingly, he also commented on their desire to deliver Japanese content from the entire group within SEGA.

SEGA Europe Comments on Shenmue 1 & 2 HD: “Currently Investigating How To Make This a Reality”

Draikin May 11, 2016 Leave a reply

During the latest SEGA Central, SEGA Europe have answered some of the questions posted by fans during the #AskSEGA part of the video. Interestingly, community manager Dan Sheridan gave an answer with a bit more detail than usual on the question if SEGA was planning to release Shenmue 1 & 2 HD. Here’s a transcript of what Dan said exactly:

Shenmue 3 Gets Five New Screenshots at Magic Monaco

Draikin February 27, 2016 Leave a reply

Y Suzuki gave a presentation today at the Monaco Anime Game International Conferences, talking about the Shenmue franchise and showing a bit more of Shenmue 3. In particular, five new screenshots have been revealed, showing some of the environments and lighting effects in the game. We included them below! Shenmue 3 Dojo has also been reporting live from the conference on their Twitter account, sharing more information and a few videos as well.

Shenmue 3 is scheduled to be released on the PlayStation 4 and PC in 2017. There’s also an on-going slacker backer campaign where you can back the game.

Shenmue 3’s New Website Could Use Some Optimizations

Draikin January 4, 2016 Leave a reply

The latest Shenmue 3 update reveals a completely redesigned website, but people quickly reported problems trying to view it. While one may expect that this was due to the amount of people visiting it, that’s not actually the main reason. In fact, the website just hasn’t been properly optimized. I’m pointing this out in the hopes that someone working on the website can make the necessary changes to address some of the main issues. As we’ve seen with the initial reveal, a major news update that draws a lot of traffic could lead to the server being unable to manage all the incoming requests. Below, I’ll go into more detail on the exact issues with the website. The following explanation may get a bit technical at times!

Shenmue 3 Update: PayPal Backers Won’t Receive Kickstarter-Exclusive Rewards (UPDATED)

Draikin January 4, 2016 Leave a reply

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.

Shenmue 3 Update: New Rewards Poll, Extended Slacker Backer Campaign, and More

Draikin December 25, 2015 1 Reply

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.

Shenmue 3 Update Features Progress Report and New Screenshots

Draikin October 31, 2015 Leave a reply

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):

Project X Zone 2: New York Comic Con 2015 English Trailer

InTheSky October 9, 2015 2 Replies

The 2nd PV that Monolith Soft had been teasing for Project X Zone 2 was unleashed on the world earlier today. A large portion of it is dedicated to showing off the attacks of various Solo Units and Pair Units. The recently revealed characters Ryo Hazuki from Shenmue (Solo) and Ranmaru from Sakura Wars V/Sakura Wars: So Long My Love (Enemy) were also featured in the trailer. Some other cool tidbits featured include what appear to be stage hazards and the game’s shop system.

There’s been some concern among fans about this trailer suggesting that the known roster is the complete roster. Once the full roster of playable characters had been revealed for Project X Zone, a similar type of trailer showcasing attacks of each Pair Unit was developed and published. In addition, we can see segments of the opening cinematic (though not in its entirety) in this trailer – and particularly, a wide shot of the known cast of characters. That being said, I would caution against assuming it applies here. An official PXZ2 development team blog post released in conjunction with the uploading of PV #2 teases more surprises – while this wording is obviously ambiguous in what it’s referencing, it would at least mean that we don’t know everything about Project X Zone 2 that there is to know.

This trailer is being used by Bandai Namco Entertainement to promote the game at New York Comic Con 2015. They’ve actually been fairly supportive of Project X Zone and Project X Zone 2 at English gaming conventions, perhaps owing due to the English fans that have shown their support for these crossover titles.

The opening theme “All the World’s a Stage” by marina is also showcased in the trailer. Listen and watch after the break! And if you have any other characters that you might want to see, let us know!