Ok, so i am at the airport now, ready to fly back to Ireland and the reality of mundane life. Of course, i don't want this weekend to end! But it must, and since i have quite a bit of time to kill i will try to go through an entire play by play of the weekend. I have no ides where this post will go, how long it will be, or if its even interesting. I just hope it gives you all an insight what it was like to be here in Monaco, and also at such an even like MAGIC, where Shenmue 3 was presented.
So, Thursday morning - 3am. I left Belfast by coach to Dublin where i flew to Nice from. The usual no sleep related fatigue, mixed with adrenaline and excitement! I arrived in Nice airport around... 10 i believe, and David DeVille had messaged me beforehand and we had worked out him and Maki (his wife), would be arriving from Paris around the same time! So i waited outside the terminal and shortly after, David and Maki arrived! It was great to finally meet David aster talking for so long online over the years. We spoke for quite a while, about the conference, and other things. So much so, that they missed their bus to Nice! Oops lol. So we came back inside and sat for a while longer chatting, but we all knew how tired we all were so we said our goodbyes and let him get to Nice to prepare for his bay day on Saturday.
Getting the coach to Monaco was pretty standard, and the Hotel was decent enough. I knew i hadn't splashed out top dollar for a 5 star hotel, so it was fine by my standards. So after getting settled, it was time to do the whole trail run practice, to the Grimaldi Forum, but since i was pretty tired i didnt make it that far on Thursday. Monaco is small, but its very elevated per road and street, so the walking was very demanding, even for 0.5km. I will be the first person to admit that i am not a fitness guy, so my legs are killing me right now in the airport lol. I had researched the quickest way to the Forum, and essentially walked about 3/4 of the way there. Getting lost of course the first time. Monaco is all very hidden, from winding roads, to every shop being underground or inside an unmarked building. Trying to find a place that sold toothpaste or body deodorant was a nightmare!! Plus, Monaco is of course, home of the rich. Its extravagance can be seen visually everywhere, with the same amount of car show rooms on every street corner as much as there is a pub/bar on every street corner in Ireland. Bentley, Ferrari, McLaren. They are all here. As well as property shops, with their ad cards in the windows, escalating from 3 million to 250 million was the most expensive looking in the window i can remember. Think the cheapest place i did see, was an apartment with a monthly rental of 30,000 a month. Alrighty then! You also have the fashion labels at every corner. Prada, St Laurent, Rolex, Gautier, Hillfiger, Vuitton, Armani..... More of these shops, and easily more recognisable than a shop where you can buy a loaf of bread thats for sure.
Anyways on Friday, it was finally time to meet the Grimaldi Forum. Inside the foyer, having my picture taken beside the MAGIC banner out of the corner of my eye i seen someone who looked like Yu Suzuki on the escalator going up to my level. He went past a pillar, and i was like, "nah. I hope thats not him" As i froze on the spot, Yu Suzuki and Cedric Biscay walked towards me and i shat enough bricks to build a house in Monaco. I wasnt ready to meet them! I turned the opposite direction and pretended not to notice them as they walked out of the Forum, behind me lol! After pacing around not knowing what to do, and with the shock of seeing them for both the first time, i decided to visit the Japanese Gardens across the way from the Forum, and as i entered, i seen them again!! They were having their pictures taken for the local press! Fuck that, i just turned around and left lol!
Friday night was when shenmuemaster.fr guys, Remy, Emmanuel, Catherine, David, Arnaud, and Mickael were to arrive and we had arranged to meet. But i knew they would be tired so we arranged to meet up at the Forum in the morning.
Then finally the big day arrived. With little/zero sleep, 6am hit and i was awake and ready. Met up with everyone from Shenmuemaster and it was great! Just being with other Shenmue fans who you have talked to, known of, or seen over so many years of posting online within the Shenmue community was an experience merited of making the trip as awesome as it was already. As we were standing at the door, Rob introduced himself and it was great to finally meet someone who was not only going to one of the Kickstarter dinners, but also the on in Monaco! We also then seen David and Maki arrive so it was great to have a quick chat with them again before letting them get inside before us since he had a lot of work to prepare for.
So skipping over a few details, we get inside, and head downstairs to the Conference Hall. It was great, being greeted by a HUGE projection screen with the MAGIC logo on it. (You can use the instagram pics for reference lol). I completely forgot to get one of those translation earpiece devices, so i legged it quickly outside to grab one. We all sat relatively near the front and before long Sebastian Abdelhamed appeared for the introduction. All of the guests were brought out individually, from Kavinsky, to Peter Cross, as well as Yu Suzuki! Also Cedric have a brief speech. Following that, the stage was set up for the Shenmue presentation, and away we went! You guys probably can remember it all right now, more than i can, because i havent watched any footage i recorded on my phone, or Shenmans posts here yet, and its all a blur. But the emotions felt sitting there listening to Yu and then his translation work by Kenji is as you can imagine. No words. Instead of watching an E3 video, or GDC video.... you are really there. Its insane.
After that, we left and of course were all in shock at what we had just seen. Yu Suzuki, Cedric Biscay, Shenmue 3 HD screens, videos, the music as loud as you could want it bellowing around the auditorium. It was amazing. We walked over to another area where interviews and the signings would be happening later, and as we were hanging around there, Cedric walked past and i gave him a shout. We shook hands, and when i said Peter he knew who i was, probably from annoying him on Twitter all the time lol. We chatted, and i had brought him a gift for all the work he has done for getting Shenmue 3 going. He looked surprised by it, so i hope he liked it. We took a picture and i let him get back to the event, since it was his day and i knew he would be busy lol. But before he left, he said to "make sure" to attend the "Crazy Time" segment he was presenting. It seemed strange, but it was easy to begin to think he was saying that specifically since there may be more Shenmue material to come! After that, i met quite a few Shenmue fans in that area, of course wearing a Shenmue 3 t shirt helped. It was great! So many enthusiastic people just as happy as i was. I wish i was more composed and organised to have taken pictures and get their names written down, but it was so chaotic all day, with conversations jumping from between 3 -10 people in quick succession! I still cant even keep up now!
Skipping some more details again, we went up to ground level and we all chilled out. Grabbed some fresh air etc, and i met Julien from gamerblog.fr. A really nice guy, and we had an in-depth chat about all things Shenmue, the gaming industry, our backgrounds, the dinner, Shenmue 3, his visits to friends in Ireland and e-cigarette advice which we went outside for a while to partake in lol. He gave me his business card and also exchanged details so hope to see him the next time he travels to Ireland!
We then went back downstairs to where Yu was doing the signing, and it was great to stand before him and get a few items signed. Although it was only 2 items per person, i went twice as i had stuff for other people to get signed who couldnt make the trip lol. Suzuki-san still seemed very jolly and laughed as i approached for the second time, and also commented on the specific pen i gave form him to sign something. It was a great interaction.
After some sitting down and relaxing, time came to attend the "crazy time" event Cedric had told us about. When we got in, the results of the Cosplay competition were being held, so it was great to watch that. There were some AMAZING outfits, so hats off to those guys!! The event was running late, and i looked at the manual to see what was going on. Crazy Time was next, so pretty soon, Cedric appeared on stage, and they started off with bringing out Peter Cross (played Spocks Father in the Star Trek remakes) to talk about his directed feature with Shibuya. He seemed like a nice man, and spoke in English which was always appreciated lol. It was confusing sitting there, since we didnt know what was coming! But then, after him, we heard Shenmue being mentioned and the excitement welled up inside! Suzuki-san was brought back on stage by Cedric, along with the interpreter, Kenji, and thats when we seen the Shenmue House trailer in full HD with the music cranked up to the max. I swear, thats when it hit me the most, like a tonne of bricks. This game is really, really going to justify Shenmue. It was unbelievable. I could not get over it, seeing the Shenmue tree, the cows and woks outside the house, then as the camera panned inside thats when my heart pounded and i could feel my eyes well up. Shenmue music is so emotional on its own (i have the soundtrack on right now, blasting in my headphones as i type this), but combined with how faithful, and BETTER Shenhuas home looked was simply astonishing! Yes, its not a full blown trailer, but we are only 7 months into full development, and my expectations were on such a level of what to expect and what not to expect. The new weather trailer, as well as the fishing pond trailer were excellent, and i expected something like that, which i was more than happy with. BUT that second trailer really went above anything i expected to see. Just, no words....
After that ended, the shenmuemaster guys had some things still to do, so we hung around for a little while longer and i seen Suzuki-san with them. David called me over for a picture, and after that i chanced my arm to get a picture of just me and Yu. Wow!!!! Where do i begin? I cant. I cant even speak about it, when i look at that photo each time...... maybe one day i will be able to tell you more lol.
I forgot i had to return the headset and get my passport back, so i went back downstairs and after returning it, Cedric was walking by again, so quickly said goodbyes, shook hands and said thanks for coming! Awesome ending! It wasnt too late, and despite being tired, i took everyone to McCarthy's Irish bar (hey, its what we do!!) and we all had a beer. Mostly everyone had a Guinness which was amazing lol! We then all said our goodbyes, and that was that. Back to the hotel to lie in bed and try to get my head around everything that had taken place that day. Rest assured, there is more information to come about the day, but not quite right now... i just wanted to give you guys an initial update on how the day went, and an insight into some of the thoughts and emotions of attending a live event with Suzuki-san present, and new Shenmue 3 material announced. I am now at the airport and all good things must come to an end. But fortunately we still have a very long road ahead, so enjoy it! Dont get bogged down in Shenmue HD, or wheres a full trailer! Or voice actors, or logos. Try and enjoy it, because one day this will all be over!
Final thoughts, i have to give heaps and heaps of thanks to all of the shenmuemaster gang. Trent was fantastic to chat to, and i hope again we can meet again in the future, and have more time to just sit down and relax instead of it being such a chaotic day! David is so jolly, and great to be around. My go outside for a smoke buddy lol. So passionate and motivating, it was great sitting beside him during the conference, and seeing the fist pumps of excitement and thumbs up when we got good info lol. Kenji and Catherine were a delight, and it was great to finally talk with Kenji after seeing his interview videos over the years! Mickael was great, and like Trent, a great balance to talk total Shenmue on a more intimate level. Last but certainly not least, Shenman (or Arnaud). You guys already know him from the guy having 4G inside the conference and posting the updates to twitter! He did such an amazing job, and it was great to meet him! He was so helpful during the day, taking my photos with Cedric and Yu, as well as being a huge Shenmue collector, and has also been to Tokyo! All of the guys were amazing, and hope to meet them again soon! Next year guys??? ;)
Of course, David DeVille was a pleasure to meet, and of course his wife. I wish them all the best in the upcoming months with their new addition to the family! He did a fantastic job, not just onstage, but the entire conference, working behind the scenes all day helping out Suzuki-san during his schedule. I hope he can get some kind of work in the Shenmue 3 team, and he is as passionate about Shenmue as anyone i have met!
Also have to say good luck, and enjoy, to Amir, Rob and Chao at today's dinner! It was great meeting you guys, and again i wish the day wasnt as chaotic as it was to get a more relaxed chat with you all. Today will possibly be one of the biggest days of your life so enjoy it!! Also to all of the Shenmue fans i met, it was amazing, and hope to do something like this again! E3?? Who knows! But this trip has definitely given me the thirst to attend more gaming events across the world if the money allows it.
Hope you enjoyed the write up. Any questions, i will do my best to answer, and stay tuned for more to come over the coming weeks!