With Halloween upon us, it is time to get into the spirit, so…

http://i.imgur.com/h5bmhPF.jpg

And yes, that is a Kenji Miyawaki original!

But one person who will not be going out to do trick-or-treat this year is this man.

http://i.imgur.com/MTKJBnJ.jpg

Yu-san has been hard at work to bring us the biggest treat of all, and now he has begun the momentous undertaking that is the signed rewards! Everyday Yu-san has been putting his signature to the Kenji Miyawaki illustrations, and thanks to your gracious and sincerely appreciated support, the number of illustrations to be signed is reaching the 5,000 mark!

Maybe next year Yu-san will be able to go trick-or-treating in his Ryo costume…

From all of us of us here, Happy Halloween!

I love the halloween art! So cute

I may have to print that out for a poster since the HD version was released.

Thanks for the update!!

I can only imagine the emotions Suzuki-san is going through signing everything for his fans. <3

I love the halloween art! So cute :)


Truly? Personally, from the start of the campaign I've wondered about the reason of this juvenile and, for the lack of a better word, corny theme, along with its corny fonts and over-enthusiastic, marketing-like exclamations.

As an appreciator of the overall imagery of Shenmue, from character and environment design to the cinematography, and also its immersive and enthralling atmosphere, I gotta say overly "cute", gleeful and jolly manifestations and exclamation points aren't really things I relate with the whole aesthetics and, more importantly, concepts of the series. It doesn't reminisce capsule toys and, for all of its quirky characters, this goofiness of sorts seems ill-placed in the world described in the original writing. As a crowdfunding project, I would say it detracts a lot more new fans than otherwise.

Trusting in Yu Suzuki, I'm confident this pertains exclusively to the campaign team's design and visual culture ineptitude and that it won't somehow seep through to the actual game.

Hopefully they finally start putting out the screens at a decent quality. Have we had *any* 1080P screens since the reveal?

As most of you have already said, I think we'll have a re-reveal trailer at psx, based on several tweets of Cedric. And about magic 17, they sure that will show some screens or a short video, after all, shenmue is the big project of shibuya, how couldn't be there?

That'd be cool!

A live demo would work better at MAGIC than somewhere like PSX. The audience at PSX would be wondering why nobody has been shot within the first minute of gameplay.

Maybe even a live demo of the demo.

Screens and hopefully details about the backer demo, if we haven't heard about it already by then.

We could have Shenmue 3 at both PSX and Magic. That's my hope at least!

However, I don't think Yu Suzuki will attend the Magic next Year.
(In part because of this tweet: https://twitter.com/cedricbiscay/status/775385801677045760)

Let's assume Shenmue 3 WILL be at the Magic. What can we expect?
Just new screenshots, or maybe a teaser showing the new characters models (if not revealed earlier)?

What LGS said.

Cedric doesn't seem to know exactly what will be at MAGIC '17 in terms of Shenmue III just yet. If it was the re-reveal I don't think he'd give that answer; because Shenmue III is a guaranteed ticket-seller and hyping it up as the first proper look at the game would be beneficial to him and MAGIC.

What we know for sure is that there are no plans for a big update before December. That doesn't guarantee a December reveal by any means, but when I asked:

Is it safe to say we may get something big in December, or is there no plan for that either?

His response was:

I am not a spoiler ! ;)

He's playing coy, but given he directly said they have no plans for a big update before December, I don't think he'd dodge my question like that if there was nothing in the pipeline.

Now, as for PSX, it's just educated guesswork that it'll be there based on Yu being in LA the same month, and the obvious Sony connection.

It could appear at The Game Awards (though I doubt it, PSX is a better fan-oriented venue), or just a big Kickstarter update around Christmas, but given what the Japan dinner backers have said about what they saw (and it being old material at that), a big, public re-reveal seems like an imminent inevitability rather than something we're just dreaming about.

So is it possible we won't get the big re-reveal at Playstation Experience in Decemer and have to wait until Magic Monaco '17 in Feburary?

Nice to know something Shenmue will be at MAGIC next year.

And it's all 'bout Shenmue :D

https://medium.com/@ShenmueForever/interview-de-c%C3%A9dric-biscay-novembre-2016-92caf44a4da8#.p9l8r21xa

SF — Will the fans once again be in for some surprises about Shenmue 3 at the next MAGIC?

CB —We have been working on this but I don’t know yet which form it will take exactly.


SF — We know that this has been asked to you on a regular basis, but will the PC version eventually be available as a reward in the PayPal Slacker Backer campaign?

CB —It’s planned, yes, but as I have been saying for months, I’m aware that time seems long on this matter.

I miss seeing random thoughts. Did that thread get deleted?

holy shit

http://i.imgur.com/P20PPQv.png

Digital Foundry Retro has published an extended 33 minute analysis of AM2's classic Shenmue 2. John Linneman covers the game's notable technological achievements, the changes made from the first game along with deep dive comparisons stacking up the original Dreamcast version with the Xbox port that arrived a year later.

On top of that, they discuss the options available for playing the game today, whether it's running the original Xbox release under backward compatibility on Xbox 360, or exploring emulation.

You can view the video here .

Links:
Forum Discussion

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ysnet/shenmue-3/posts/1751809

日本語の記事はこちらです。

Hello Everyone!

Shenmue would not be Shenmue without the music. The right song sets the tempo and the atmosphere, immersing you in the world and the moment.

This month, Yu-san gives an interview on the process of choosing music in the world of Shenmue, his experience and influences with music, and what music means in the creation of a game. Please enjoy!

https://youtu.be/2ePkAKD3gUI

Music heard at 3:06 in the update video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd4MyNqI0fo

http://i.imgur.com/ZK8BFix.png

In this months Kickstarter update, Yu Suzuki discusses the process of selecting music for Shenmue, his experience and influences with music - and what music means in the creation of a game.

You can view the interview with Yu Suzuki here .

You can view the update in its entirety at the Kickstarter page here .

Links:
Forum Discussion

True. Though you can see the reflection of the laptop screen in Yu's phone...

I will be massively amazed if anybody can even see anything in that reflection let alone make out words.

I zoomed in on this but couldn't make out any details on the screen due to glare from the window. When I adjusted the light balance and increased the zoom on the glare I found a reflection in a window across the street, of a noticeboard visible through another window in the Ys Net office. After clearing up some of the JPEG artifacting around the handwriting, I was still having a hard time deciphering it because I couldn't read Japanese. So I learned Japanese only to find that Yu's scrawl is too messy for even an expert like myself to decode, until in desperation I ran it through an optical text-to-speech converter. Anyway, to cut a long story short and skip over some parts that might begin to sound farfetched, the note on the board, once translated from Klingon, reads "Hello Shenmue Dojo."

I was reading this with so many hopes

There was this promise in the beginning that backers would have an unprecedented level of involvement with the development of the game, and they've done such a lousy job fulfilling it.
Thank God for that. I was never too keen on that idea. I don't want backers interfering on the game's development. I'm not paying to have a game made by us, but by Yu Suzuki and his team.

Personally, as a backer myself (who spent almost €200 on this project), the only thing I think Yu and co. owe me is a great game which lives up to the Shenmue name. In fact, I quite dislike something that is very common in the videogame industry and that is the fact that games are announced way before their release dates. I understand that they need to hype them, for marketing reasons, but, as a gamer, I just want the game and I want it to be good, not to spend 2 or 3 years getting screenshots and videos. Obviously, since this was a Kickstarter project, it had to be announced at a very early stage, so, as someone else mentioned already, it is only natural that it seems to be taking longer than usual for them to come up with something substantial to show to the public. Fine by me. After all, I'm a Shenmue fan. I know how to be patient. And I assume everyone else here knows too (or should know). And I'm fine with these Kickstarter "non-updates" we've been having too. Just let them focus on making the game. All I'm interested in is the final product.

And if this means that, when they finally do show some video which is more representative of what the actual game will look like, they're going to show us a proper trailer, with gameplay, cutscenes bits, different characters and whatnot, then great.
Because fuck teasers videos! They just... well, tease. Either show us something proper, or nothing at all. So I'd rather have nothing now and later have a proper trailer which will blow me away and give me an actual idea of what the game will be like, than having a teaser that shows nothing and just teases.

Anyway, this game won't come out for a very long time (we'll be lucky if we get it in 2018), so there's plenty of time to hype it and market it. No need to worry (yet) about the possibility of development being a mess which will result in a shitty game. It simply wasn't shown at PSX. Big deal. No one said it would.


The optimism in this thread made even me believe despite flat out being told 'no.' Doesn't change anything though, a lot of these things are approved last minute, for instance TLOU2 was NOT on the list either. Still, no surprise here despite some last minute hope, so I'm not heartbroken. Missing last E-3 and this PSX only means the initial reveal will be both polished and impressive, I'm okay with that. I too want the game to get much needed exposure, but if that's the case save it for E-3 2017. We're getting Shenmue III, a game most of us would have taken in the form of a half baked novel at one time or the other. Relax, it's coming.


Glad to see some reasonable thoughts amidst all the panicking and complaining. I've got nothing to add.

I'm not talking about refunds now. Read what I wrote earlier. If there is nothing of real meat for this game released before or during the kickstarter's two year anniversary, expect non-fans - particularly the game press - to throw this game under the bus Mighty No. 9 style. It's very predictable and given the teams penchant for showing nothing this entire year except 5 measly screenshots and video footage only to people who paid 10k dollars, things are not boding well for them having anything ready for reveal for E3. If they do not have a reveal of this game before June 2017, this game is fucked. I can feel it.
I mean, you did mention non-fans rescinding their donations, but okay.

What you're saying ignores exactly where MN9 went wrong, though. Showing stuff too early was one of the many sticks (rightfully or wrongfully) used to beat the game with, with many comparisons being drawn to the much more aesthetically pleasing concept art and early UE3 test footage, and later when the early versions of the levels looked too simple.

MN9 was bad for a lot of reasons that I don't think could ever apply to Shenmue III (see the difference between stretch goal structures for one), but without a doubt the early footage for that game was used against it, and I think YSnet have done well in terms of the bigger picture resisting the urge to fire their load too early. In the short term, it sucks. Long term? Probably going to work in their favour.

Let's not deal in "what ifs" when it comes to showing or not showing something by such and such date either. Have you heard of the term confirmation bias? If you permanently put yourself in a mindset that if we don't see anything by an arbritary date the game is categorically busted, then you're going to be seeing "evidence" to that effect with little to no basis on logical reality. Again, see the guy who thinks Yu spent the money on wine. He's an extreme example, but you get what I mean.

Likewise, we shouldn't start getting into extremes like saying they've shown nothing this year. I've just gone back and watched the Keiji Okayasu and August Dev Room videos and will periodically refresh myself on the text updates from last year through May. Why? Because together in the bigger picture they provide a fuller context of the game's development rather than as bitesize updates. I'd recommend anybody feeling a bit worried to go back and look at these updates, actually.

I know the next week on here is going to be particularly sore, but we cannot lose our heads. Shenmue fans are possibly the best organised and tightly knit fans in the whole of video games, falling apart when we have a new platform to promote the series (Twitch) and a new game for the first time in 15 years is like tripping at the final hurdle.

Cedric has broken the silence.

http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k488/williammlees/Mobile%20Uploads/Screenshot_20161204-085537_edit_1480841795816_edit_1480841842768.jpeg

It may be a misinterpretation, but is Cedric implying that they tried to get something shown at PSX but Sony wouldn't/couldn't show it?

He's also asked fans to wait for the developer update at the end of the month.

Interesting.

Really think it's time to stop reading into Cedric's Tweets. He clearly has very little to do with the game's development and nothing to do with its PR. He's not implying anything; he's flat-out saying he has no control over anything that happens.

You're probably right. A combination of language barrier and fans clutching at straws.

It could be read - I have nothing to do with PSX or the development of the game so you're going to have to wait until the next update.

I'm one of the 10k backers, and I did get to see some content that's not been released publicly. What I've seen has personally reassured myself about the project, and I believe that's the same sentiment everyone else who went to the dinners felt. Unfortunately we've been asked not to disclose them outside so can't force you to feel the same, that's just something you'll have to trust us on.

I'm only speculating here but I guess either the project has hit some difficulties recently such that a video wasn't possible, or it was deemed not good enough by Suzuki-San.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed as well, but I ask of people to have a bit more patience, and try not to spread this negativity into something the media can make up as newsworthy. We managed to wait more than a decade didn't we?

I think Cedric has good intentions, but his Twitter is being unfairly scrutinized because Awesome Japan/whoever isn't doing their job. He made the mistake of trying to communicate with a pretty hardcore group of fans. I think one great trailer will fix all these months of heartache and dsappointment, so hang in there.

Yeah come on guys, let's give it a rest. What happened was disappointing but we're just going to make ourselves feel so much worse if we convince ourselves that it's all doom and gloom from here. Yes, it's worrying that we've not been shown anything substantial for a while but that's always been the way Yu's done things from the very beginning of the campaign. I don't think he quite understands the importance of marketing and believes instead that we'll have faith and 'trust in Yu'. I'm not defending that point of view, marketing is very important and the idea that we should just have faith completely neglects the idea of any potential newcomers to the series.

What I'm trying to say is yes, we have the right to be disappointed. This will probably have ramifications and it feels awful. But let's suck it up. There's noting we can do about it now and if we keep coming up with all these stupid theories that production has stopped or that the game is going to be awful, we're just going to make things so much worse for ourselves. It's like rubbing salt in your own wounds. Let's not do that.

And Peter, thank you so much for the stream! Apart from the no-show I really enjoyed your commentary and the community spirit I felt there was top-notch. It really helped soften the blow too, haha.

Defence of logical debate is one thing, but the promotion of a pitch fork conspiracy theory attitude is not called for in terms of the bigger picture. As I've said, it's all well and good to have a kneejerk moan about it all, but considering this is a game that's been asked for for 14 years... we finally had what we have dreamed for and people still moan. Children still whinge. Get over yourselves honestly, and THINK ABOUT THE BIGGER PICTURE ONCE AND FOR ALL.

Enough is enough. The criticisms may be warrented but you haveall had a moan. I have too, but move on. These guys are busting their asses day and night on a budget for us, and TRUST ME, I've seen it and it's so fucking glorious it surpasses the dreams I've had for 14 years, as someone who has the damn thing tattooed on his arm. Just let it go. It's coming. Try.... just try and be patient. Please.

I won't apologise for what I have seen, nor what I was told, but I didn't give that money for the privelidge of seeing some extra content early. I gave it to something I love, in good faith that it would help all of us be rewarded in the long run, and you know what?? We will!

Really guys, you are talking as we haven't had any kind of update at all, we've had a couple of images, a couple of videos, and various videos/documentaries.

Most KS just show some concept art or an image every 5 months or so, specially for a big tittle like shenmue that there's a lot at stake it's quite a bit.

There was some missinformation and the hype did the rest, but whatever, people are just talking like if YS is laughing while in an island in bahamas. It has entered production less than a year, if he doesn't think that the trailer will represent the quality of the final game we should trust (specially that people are very sceptic about KS games, and first impressions can be what builds or breaks the marketing for a game).

I feel sorry for the people in here having a go at Rome, when he was a very upstanding member since 2004

PayPal support is closed? Whats happening...? :|
Their SSL certificate, used for website encryption, expired on Friday.

PayPal's API for payments needs to be able to communicate with their end over SSL in order to make a callback to notify their site when a payment is made. PayPal's systems will refuse to talk to a website with an expired or invalid SSL certificate. It will remain broken until they renew their SSL certificate.

Disclaimer: I don't know how they integrate with PayPal, but the certificate being expired is true and it's likely that this was just a timing coincidence. I'm guessing their admin who would do that probably won't take care of it until Monday.

Before anything else, this is a Kickstarter project. Disappointment on delivery of updates on game development and the delay of the final product is almost 100% to happen. Here's a link for an article to show you the statistics (though a bit old, it still applies today). I think I can consider myself a veteran Kickstarter backer (for what's worth) and I've backed many high profile game projects like Torment Tides of Numenera (backed since 2013) and Bloodstained Ritual of the Night, Kickstarters older than Shenmue 3 that still were not released. Speaking of Bloodstained, which dates just months prior to Shenmue 3's crowdfunding and appears to have some serious big time investors behind the project, has a window release for Q1 2018 so it'll be no surprise to see Shenmue 3 being pushed way beyond December 2017. Another title that I backed, Divinity Original Sin, had only a partial Kickstarter campaign to extend game features and it still was delayed for almost a entire year from their original projection (and very sparse on updates as well). That's simply just the nature and historical track of crowdfunding projects.

The comparison of Shenmue 3 to Mighty Number 9 is fair, given both were unexpected successful campaigns and were received with great hype. But Yu Suzuki is not Keiji Inafune. Inafune's most acclaimed feat to date is to have worked on character designing for the Megaman series (sorry if this offends Megaman fans), and later producing or creating series like Onimusha and Dead Rising. But he is no director and game designer. Foremost, the man is a beyond ambitious businessman trying to spawn an entire MN9 universe (with animes and side games simultaneously) before proving his initial product. Meanwhile Shenmue 3 has most of its key original staff and Yu Suzuki at the helm as director and designer. So the worst that can happen to Shenmue 3 is to be a generic looking game (graphically) and to have a disappointing small world to explore compared to contemporary peers. Because gameplay and vision wise, the game has its concept locked down since the first game's inception more than a decade ago. It's pretty much a safe bet for a Kickstarter project for people to invest their money on, specially if they are fans of the previous games.

On even a brighter side, given that Yu was handed total freedom to do whatever he wants with the series (without any need for approval from Sega) this might turn out to be the most ambitious and fleshed out Shenmue we have yet to experience. I'm saying this because some of the best games (pushing their genres forward) I played these past few years were Kickstarter games: the aforementioned Divinity: Original Sin (one of the best RPGs I played and I don't particularly like the genre) and Planetary Annihilation (RTS with battles with a scope that can go from a determined planet to beyond even a solar system).

Well, what trying to say in the end is that everything will eventually be sorted out, updates will come and the game will be fine to say the least.

FYI in case anyone doesn't know, dojo member Sappharad noticed it was the SSL certificate that has expired on the paypal donation page. This can be easy done and has probably been missed /forgotten by who over administrates the website. Hopefully they notice and fix first thing on Monday!

Time for some Shenmue music to put everyone at ease.

I know it's very disappointing we didn't get anything new at PSX but without wishing to sound patronising, please let's all just stay calm for the minute and put it into context. Hopefully we'll get some sort of update soon!

Best wishes, as always, MJ

Spare me. My "complaining" is from accepting the situation as is. Would I prefer it not be a KS game? Yeah. But it is. And because it is, they have certain ogbligations and that's it. Their communication has been terrible and if what Gio said is true is more poor communication.
For what it's worth I've backed numerous Kickstarters over the years, although Shenmue 3 is by far the larger sum of money that I've ever pledged to a crowd funding project. As such, I've observed many different kinds of approaches to communication, some projects communicate quite regularly and others operate on radio silence for months before posting anything new.

Amongst these I have to say that the level of communication displayed in regards to Shenmue 3 has actually been really good. We get monthly updates and occasionally even more, thanks to Yu Suzuki's evident appreciation for the Shenmue fanbase. So while PSX might have been a bust it doesn't matter that much in the greater scheme of things, there's still plenty of time between now and Shenmue 3's release to find the right time and place to reveal a new trailer.

Maybe I feel this way because it's my first KS and it also happens to be my most anticipated game of all time. Thanks for the clarification on how KS usually works.

Without wanting to reignite the PSX thread, Cedric has responded to a fan on Twitter. Sometimes, I think we forget that Cedric is one of us - a fan.

His position is different to your average fan in that he was influential in reviving the series and has landed the 'co-producer' title in the process. But his tweet all but confirms that, in many respects, he is as much in the dark as us all when it comes to the game's development.

Feel free to lock the thread if you think it might turn into a witch-hunt - it wasn't my intention - but I felt his tweet justified its own discussion.

Cedric is as disappointed as the rest of us and has blamed it on his own fan instincts.

http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k488/williammlees/Mobile%20Uploads/Screenshot_20161205-075837_edit_1480924807040.jpeg

i thought id make this topic to add my personal perspective on the Shenmue 3 situation. I'll start off by saying this.

There will be no Shenmue 3 until E3 2017!!

I say, Don't expect it, dont build any false hype, dont buy in to teases from the team, media, producers, Sony, Sega, dont expect any major KS updates, etc etc.

I've invested about $5000 now into the project and if im being honest, i wasn't expecting Shenmue 3 to be at PSX at all. Now granted, the teases from Cedric were indeed misleading and i can see why people were anticipating it, but look, the PlayStation 4 has so much varied content and there are games right now that deserve more exposure and coverage than shenmue 3 at this point in time.

Off the top of my head, Sony have to continue to push support for

Resident Evil 7
Horizon
Last Guardian
Uncharted 4
Street fighter 5
Gran Turismo
Nioh
Snk titles
Gravity Rush 2
Danganronpa
Yakuza
VR
Playstation classic / PSN
etc
etc

These games are near complete/completed, released/near release and need much more exposure, marketing and support than shenmue right now.........especially the last guardian......

Games like the last of us, which i really do enjoy, but also believe is overrated is a much bigger mainstream attraction than Shenmue 3, so it makes sense to show it.

I think we shouldn't expect anything significant from the KS updates. This isnt a typical KS, it has major investors behind it, mainly SONY & their 3rd party production team. We are only gonna get snippets from the team until SONY decide to show it off properly, and even then, im pretty sure Ys net will only release screenshots and short videos. All the major reveals will be through SONY when the time is right.

Final Fantasy 7 wasn't even shown at PSX. Then again, if i was square, i wouldn't show that off as id want all the attention to stay on Final fantasy 15 for as long as possible. Likewise with sony, lets focus on the current spotlight of games and then move on to the next batch. The next batch presumably has Shenmue.

My prediction is still that Shenmue 3 will be revealed properly at E3 2017, along with an instant release of Shenmue HD a. It makes the most sense. From there on, continuous exposure until release.

Those who are constantly saying "Im an investor. I want real updates, etc etc". As i said before, this isnt a typical KS, so dont expect anything significant unless the big investors say so. We're getting our dream game within a year or so. Waiting a few more months for a trailer is better than waiting for nothing, like we have been for the past 15 years.

Now if Shenmue 3 doesnt get shown at E3, which is highly unlikely, then we can get the pitch forks out. Hell, i'll be at the front causing the most havoc. I promise you that.

The battle for Shenmue 3 will continue even after Sony reveal it. I got a feeling that the marketing will be shit, like it has been for the last guardian. I've hardly seen anything for that game and its lineage is similar to shenmue. We have to make sure this doesn't happen with Shenmue 3. So keep the pressure on even after we see it properly. It's really fuked up when No man's sky can get marketed and pushed to the heavens and a game like the last guardian gets a few trailers. Damn.

I think there will be no Shenmue 3 until E3. No good KS updates, no proper reveals. Nothing. Dont listen to the media, dont build any false fan hype. Don't read to much into what cedric, sources, or sega say. Don't expect anything at Monaco etc etc.

If you do, then you're gonna have a ton of ups and downs going forward.

If something does come out before E3, which i doubt it will, then hell, we got ourselves a nice treat.

In the mean time, let's focus on the community and what we do have. We have a shenmue 2 movie, which is bloody amazing. I always wanted that. We have a Shenmue reshade HD project, campaigns, music etc. we'll shift to Shenmue 3 when its revealed.

Shenmue E3 2017. I believe we'll see it then

Made a few edits in case people interpret this in the wrong way or believe it comes across to harsh. Hopefully, you can see my point. All my opinion of course.

Back up and running. No changes.

I will try to be really thorough this time. I noticed some here took Bloodstained KS to compare and critique on that of what is being done in Shenmue 3. As I am a backer of both projects, you should know that Bloodstained has a total of three entire development studios behind the game and a playable demo already available for the backers. That's why there's much to talk about it at the moment. I have mentioned before that there was some serious outside investment on this project behind the scenes. That's just the power draw that a Castlevania title (not officially but) can command.

Unfortunately that's not the case for Shenmue. Let's not pretend the series has been a commercial success. Right now it's being developed solely by Ysnet, a company which most of their work (if not all) comprises of mobile titles (correct if I am wrong). It's seriously understaffed for a project like Shenmue 3 (they are still hiring after all if you look at their website). Basically what you are looking is: one development team versus three, one fully 3D game with the size of a small town roughly vs a 2D sidescrolling platform. What about the difference in game mechanics? That's an entire level of complexity apart from each other. Do you see the disparity on scope versus resources? You just can't have Shenmue 3 at the same speed process as that of Bloodstained (marketing or development wise). That's like trying to squeeze water from a stone. Wanna really run Yu Suzuki dry till the man loses all the remaining hair he still has? That's cruel.

But why not show some footage of some kind at PSX just to please and reassure backers that the project is on track? Sure, showcasing gameplay of of two twitchy wireframed Minecraft characters fighting each other on a background made on MS Paint or release a new trailer based on the models of that "awesome" early E3 footage could surely gain the hearts of new adopters and appease the existing fan base. But well, Yu decided not to. What are we gonna do? Complain? By the way, I didn't actually see that much of exposure from Bloodstained on the big events like you guys expect Shenmue 3 to have.

Now on the failings of Shenmue 3 campaign. Are you kidding me? What failings? All I saw was one shy dude (Yu) and his small team managing to snag a known IP from Sega and put into crowdfunding in front of one of the biggest gaming events in the world, and breaking a world record in the end with the help of a clumsy group called Awesome Japan (they were part of it after all and hired by Yu with his own money). To date, the project managed to attain most of the key staff from the original games, including the original voices (English and Japanese) of the protagonist! To top it all, it's one of the very few Kickstarters that managed to retain the original IP name and not be one of those spiritual successor bs titles. This is no short of a miracle and a great accomplishment by Yu Suzuki and his team.

What about promoting the game? Well, if the initial E3 in US was not enough, how about MAGIC Monaco and China's Chuapp Conference? That's basically worldwide reach, and a stroke of a genius (reaching out for an untapped huge market). Do you guys really know that many crowdfunding projects that had that much success? I sure don't.

We're not going to have to wait till E3. Unless something drastically changes, the next Kickstarter update will include the footage Peter and I saw on the bus. After Yu showed us the footage, he said everyone would be seeing it (and more) "in December." He never specified PSX, but Peter and myself clearly thought that's what he meant. The last $10,000 dinner was already confirmed for San Francisco on the week of PSX, so it seemed like a no-brainer. But this goes to show that we should never expect anything until we have 100% official facts, no matter how logical what we're expecting may seem. Let's keep a cool head and wait a few more weeks! We'll see this month's update sooner than usual, I'd imagine. The team should be afforded a good holiday break, so they won't even be there to update on the very last day again.

to the lack of actual game updates
You keep saying this even though it isn't true.

It's like the updates are done only for Shenmue fans rather than communicating anything about the game to newcomers. It's like, why should anyone besides Shenmue fans buy the game? According to the updates I'm not seeing any reason at all. I find it all piss poor, being honest.


This. And that sucks hard because there will come the day we have to point out this reason for the poor sales this game will continue to have.

The updates are meant for the backers, that's the whole point..