A little news on Shenmue III...

[bladerunner]

Saw this and I thought I would pass it on. Apparently Japanese magazine Famitisu 360 (which covers the Xbox 360 in Japan) caught up with Sega and discussed the possibility of Shenmue III ever seeing the light of day. Apparently its the same old thing that the first two games didn't sell well and of course they are hesitant to release a third for fear of bad sales. No one faults them there. The author speculates that Sega would like one of the major console manufacturers to help fund the project. I don't have access to the original article, nor can I read Japanese, so I can't confirm any of these statements. Thought none of this is particularly revealing or earth shattering, so I would assume it isn't BS. Anyway, I have little hope that we will ever see Shenmue III. I guess we have to make due with playing Ryo in Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing. Barf...

http://www.ps3center.net//news/4293/Seg ... enmue-III/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_%26_ ... ars_Racing

[jfe2]

I think a new Shenmue has real potential to be great. I personally found the first one to be a bit boring and difficult to control, but with the advancements in gaming mechanics since it debuted, a new installment could really be a "must have" game.

[corn619]

They made a bunch of sequels of Shenmue. They just renamed it Yakuza with a slick new protagonist who doesn't look like he's fighting with a stick up his butt. I own Shenmue I & II and really tried to get into it but just couldn't.

Maybe I was playing it wrong or something but, it was just very boring to me. The game has some really cool elements to it and has a great foundation for a sequel to be a true classic. They just need to cut the fat a little and most importantly make it fun to play. Just keep the people who make the crap Sonic games nowadays away from it. And hey, your from RI!

[Dakinggamer87]

It would be awesome if SEGA finished the series!!

[AARST]

Microsoft is normally the kind of company to jump opportunities on this. Let's hope they do.

[RCBH928]

I don't understand
everyone is screaming at Sega to release Shenmue 3,
yet sales are embarrassing. How can that be?

[jfrost]

I don't understand
everyone is screaming at Sega to release Shenmue 3,
yet sales are embarrassing. How can that be?

Because it's not "everyone" who's screaming, just the scant Shenmue fans. They happen to be loud.

[bladerunner]

Because it's not "everyone" who's screaming, just the scant Shenmue fans. They happen to be loud.

Too true.

They made a bunch of sequels of Shenmue. They just renamed it Yakuza with a slick new protagonist who doesn't look like he's fighting with a stick up his butt. I own Shenmue I & II and really tried to get into it but just couldn't.

The similarities between the two series are there, but, while I like Yakuza, there is a magic and epicness to Shenmue. It is probably just nostaglia, or the fact that when I played Shenmue, it was cutting edge. Regardless, if Sega were to apply modern gaming technologies to the series, it could seriously kick ass. But, I do see some difficulty in making a third game in series that requires the player to have either played or at least have knowledge of the previous events. Also, said game would need to make big bucks. It could be done however.

I would just be satisfied with a third entry even it employed the original engine. I don't see the need to make this another $70 million dollar game.

[Beak]

A new Shenmue would be reason enough for me to finally get one of the current-gen consoles.

[RCBH928]

well since there are dedicated fanboys, why don't they milk them?

they can release $70 shenmue, then 10 downloadable content each for $15 . THen you can buy stuff online for $5 , then they can make an online subscription based gaming for $15 .
I bet they would get that $70 million back.

I don't get it how it didn't sell, Shenmue was like '99 version of Alan Wake/GTA4 or similar. its not that it didn't sell to cover costs, it really had low sales.