Shenmue 3!

[Julio III]

Apparantely the news comes from this video (which I haven't been able to watch yet) where some French fansite somehow actually managed to interview Yu Suzuki.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o4MHjEdYpQ

[fishbowlhead]

You just know that any interview with Yu Suzuki will inevitably lead to this thread being dragged out of its dark hole, its never going to happen guys, lets just let the dream die eh?

[Skull Commander]

Is this all connected to the end of the Mayan calendar?

[DJW]

I do wonder if they are preparing the ground for a Shenmue 3 game. For years it was a no comment or not right now or always in their minds but in recent months Yu Susuki has been talking and hinting about the future chapters. The video falls short of him saying there will be a Shenmue 3 but I do beleive there might be plan to do such a game. It would have to be a Shenmue 1 - 3 game and I do believe it will have the high production values of the orginal. Things are easier and cheaper now than they were then. I do think it can be modernised and updated but would the core gameplay stand up in todays gaming world?

[Guts]

I just wish they would release Shenmue 1 & 2 on Xbox Live/PSN (preferably as HD remakes)...

[wakka]

The real problem with the idea of making another Shenmue game is the cost. The first game alone cost $70m to make, an outlay which it had basically no hope of ever recouping. Suzuki may well be up for making another one (in fact I've no doubt he is), but the cash has to come from somewhere. Who'd invest in another Shenmue game? 'Weeelllll we lost about $150m on the first two, no one remembers them except an extremely vocal internet minority, and the nature of the game demands that any new players read a short novel informing them of the plot of the first two games before they can play the new one.'

Don't get me wrong, I want it to happen, Shenmue is my favourite game. But it's just not going to.

[eastyy]

funny thing is if they made say shenmue 3 using the exact same engine and tech as previously would probably cost a fraction of what it once did and i bet most shenmue fans would be happy with that

[bash]

But then you're talking about a labour of love rather than profit.

[EJG1980]

Is this all connected to the end of the Mayan calendar?

I'm pretty sure the release of Shenmue 3 is one of the signs of the apocalypse. It'd be a great way for the world to sign off though, what a way to go out

[Jimmyboi]

The real problem with the idea of making another Shenmue game is the cost.

If they keep turning out Yakuza games to a small but dedicated audience there is no reason they can't do a Shenmue 3. The game does not need to push the boundaries like the first two did, it just needs to borrow the basic Yakuza structure and Shenmue-fy it.

[Team Andromeda]

If they keep turning out Yakuza games to a small but dedicated audience there is no reason they can't do a Shenmue 3. The game does not need to push the boundaries like the first two did, it just needs to borrow the basic Yakuza structure and Shenmue-fy it.

Here the BIG differences . Yakuza project didn't cost $70 million for it's 1st 2 games, but more like $40 Million for the both , Didn't need a team of over 200 people , didn't need over 2 years to make a sequel and more importantly the sequel sold way, way better than the 1st game
Shenmue might have sold well, but Shenmue II flopped on the DC (it only sold something 60,000 copies in Japan) didn't sell that great in Europe and sold poor on the X-Box too and that's the trouble... when a sequel sells way worse than the original, its always going to be hard to get any planed 3rd game green lighted, never mind a game with the Budgets to that of Shenmue

Shenmue III would cost a Bomb need a massive team to make it and even then I doubt would finish the series since there's so many chapters left untold. So the project is as good as dead and people need to get over it and move on. Unless the likes of SONY, Microsoft want to come in and make it a 1st party game, but they've got too much sense for that tbh

[monel]

I'm pretty sure the release of Shenmue 3 is one of the signs of the apocalypse. It'd be a great way for the world to sign off though, what a way to go out

- yep, 'Bad news everybody, the world's about to end. The good news is that Shenmue 3's just come out!'.

[Dogg Thang]

Shenmue III would cost a Bomb need a massive team to make it and even then I doubt would finish the series since there's so many chapters left untold.

I really don't know if it would. I love the Shenmues but I'm not even sure they warranted everything that was reportedly spent on them back in the day. Sure, they're big but aren't a huge amount of games as big if not bigger? People discuss them like it would take most of the world's money to make a third and I guess I'm just not seeing it. Sure, games are very expensive to make and the ones that really aim for huge expect to be far bigger hitters than Shenmue was but a Shenmue sequel does not have to be the hugest most-ambitious game ever made. It just needs to be a decent game. On its notoriety alone, it would sell a bunch of copies just with people wanting to find out what the fuss is about.

I think Shenmue's problem was likely that someone was given a blank cheque when then they shouldn't have.

[Guts]

I really don't know if it would. I love the Shenmues but I'm not even sure they warranted everything that was reportedly spent on them back in the day. Sure, they're big but aren't a huge amount of games as big if not bigger? People discuss them like it would take most of the world's money to make a third and I guess I'm just not seeing it. Sure, games are very expensive to make and the ones that really aim for huge expect to be far bigger hitters than Shenmue was but a Shenmue sequel does not have to be the hugest most-ambitious game ever made. It just needs to be a decent game. On its notoriety alone, it would sell a bunch of copies just with people wanting to find out what the fuss is about.

I think Shenmue's problem was likely that someone was given a blank cheque when then they shouldn't have.

This is what I've been thinking. There's plenty of bigger games these days than Shenmue and with good budgeting and maybe cutting a few corners I don't see a reason a new Shenmue couldn't be made. It would be a risk in today's FPS/multiplayer centric market financially though.

[Team Andromeda]

Sure, they're big but aren't a huge amount of games as big if not bigger?

There's plenty of bigger games these days than Shenmue and with good budgeting and maybe cutting a few corners I don't see a reason a new Shenmue couldn't be made

These's days yes not so many back in before 2000 and to have game costing over 20 million and talking a team of over 200 hundred people was quite unheard of .This was the late 90's when Team sizes were nothing to what they are now, high def not a goer for consoles and where the average DC game cost $5 million to make , eye's were raised at Wing Commander IV $10 million budget never minds Shemmue's lol
Next to nothing of Shenmue III been rendered or developed it would take a team of 100 or more and at some $30 odd million to developer if we're to go on the likes of Mass Effect or the other big AAA games of this generation, each the Yakuza on the PS3 are costing SEGA over $30 million to developer and taking manpower of over 100 people . Big Risk to make a sequel to a game that sold less than 200,000 copies on 2 different platforms , never mind a game has big and vast has the Shenmue world - Which is not much to do with being ambitious in game design, but more with the rendering of each room and each character to painstaking detail almost anal detail (how many games ever today feature snow that builds up ) With the greatest of respect to the likes of Guts and Dogg and the rest. I SEGA cut corners here and then and just shoved a Shenmue III out the door you'll all have enough to say just like you do with sequels to the Sonic or NiGHTS and how SEGA is dead and killing off it old IP with poor sequels ECT,ECT

If SEGA was ever to make a Shenmue III it would have to be pushing the goal posts has much as the 1st two were doing for consoles of the 90's, the fans wouldn't really want anything less and aything less would just lead to the old SEGA is dead routine, lets face it most were gutted with the simple X-Box and how it never used X-Box better Chipset to push the graphics bar