First two pages, I skipped intro part. Also, I'll probably need someone to edit text.
I want to make translation as close as possible, and actually it is my first translation attempt from Russian.., so you know... :D

Title: Yu Suzuki Makes games about what he likes.
(The second detailed interview to western press, Strana Igr(Gameland) Exclusive.
We avoid the obvious questions, and trying to find out things that game designer never told anyone before!)

...Yu Suzuki glad, relaxes and ready to answer frankly to our questions, not how Japanese developers usually speaking with western press
I'm asking, how development of Virtua Fighter started, and how was it, to make first world 3D fighting game?

Yu Suzuki answering: Back then, 2D-fightings, like Street Fighter 2 was popular. 3D graphic in games was very primitive. You could only make models from triangles, that doesn't even had textures. And because of that 3D-characters resembled robots. There's wasn't opportunity to make graphics really beautiful, and because of that I decided to spend all my efforts to make character movements correct and realistic. Street Fighter had nice sprites, but we had very smooth movements and 60 frames per second. To make all animation looks right, I made all my designers take lessons of martial arts. Cause if they can't imagine how it's looks like in real life, they won't be able to draw and model it ! And it's important not only for designers. We gathered all our workers at office and created a real martial arts tournament. We gave a job to people who showed themselves at good side , and others was left with paperwork. I myself went to China, to learn martial arts, and tried all these punches and kicks myself. And because Street Fighter was very beautiful game, I decided to concentrate all my efforts on realism.

The answer probably will wonder a lot people in Russia, cause we have it's like: 3D, technologically cool graphics – this is good, and simple sprites – it is all in past century. Remember, how peoples criticized Duke 3D compared to Quake. But from Yu Suzuki's point of view polygonal graphic isn't main advantage. Rather, it's created additional problems

Yu Suzuki continued: We was making something new, something that nobody tried before, and because of that we had a lot of troubles. For example, programmers never worked on 3D games before. And even graphic designers for different requests, answered: “It's not part of my job!”. So I had no other choice but teach and explain everything to people I had at company and who was willing to work. And by the way telling them, that right now maybe it's not part of your job, but in future there's will be more and more work with 3D, and because of that, just for yourself it would be useful to know how it's works. Cause, anyway, sooner or later you will have to. And as you see, back then I was right.

Hi, all

I am the guy who interviewed Suzuki-san. :)

Our magazine covers Japanese gaming industry since 90s. We are also the only Western print syndication partner of Famitsu (i.e. we can buy, translate and publish their articles in Russian). We also have our own Japanese interpreter living in Tokyo and other guy in Osaka.

Therefore we have good reputation among Japanese companies and can organize interviews directly.

Suzuki-san's interview is the last in the series of our extensive interviews with people like Yuji Naka, Tomonobu Itagaki, Atsushi Inaba, Shinji Mikami and others. This issue of Strana Igr also has exclusive interviews with Capcom guys (Hideaki Itsuno, Shu Takumi) as we visited Capcom HQ on our trip around Japan this September.

The only guy we still cannot reach is Sakaguchi-san, as he seems to be on vacation at Guam each time we visit Japan. :)

We talked to Suzuki-san for 2 hours and we cannot disclose some of the talk, but there was actually nothing on Shenmue III other than seeing the folder in his list of projects on the notebook. The spiritual successor is another story, at least some artworks were shown.

It seems that Suzuki-san is planning to earn money for his studio by doing more mobile/social titles and and the same time keep trying to push at least one of his bigger projects to the publishers.

P.S.
We may sell this interview to other European magazines later (rewritten, without any inside jokes and possibly with a bit more details). You can send your favourite local press editors to me ([email protected]) for that. :) I can provide them with the original Japanese interview record if they'd like to do the direct translation.

The site doesn't allow any poster to make front page news, they're all hand picked. Keeps quality control high but far as I can tell the only active news poster is Ziming? Tells you all you need to know, I barely see him on the boards outside of YouTube updates..

Ziming is busy being a badass right now putting something together that will hopefully be a nice surprise for you all. I can't say that it'll make the front page, but I can say that its been long in the making and that the whole community will finally be able to enjoy it over turkey.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W6as8oVcuM

Ziming wrote: We have to get someone representing Shenmue Dojo into this postmortem event. Seriously.

Alimn may be still living in San Francisco. He would never miss the opportunity.

Hey all, wow all this news about Shenmue 3 coming to light now.

It's been a while since I've been on Shenmue Dojo. I used to visit back before Shenmue Dojo was on Gamespy... crazy. I can't believe Ziming and all the fans has kept the site running for so long! Well done! =D>

Anyway, this is so exciting. Mark Cerny's 3rd contact with Yu Suzuki in 2 years. It's certainly not coincidental I think. I tweeted Shuhei Yoshida about the recently announced GDC 2014 event and I haven't received a response from him. Usually he's very good to reply to fans. He'll call out rubbish if it's false and also positively encourage talk about subjects that are open. The lack of response I can only take as, Sony unwilling to announce anything since things between Sega and Sony could be in negotiation. I'm happy for Sony to take their time assuming things will progress so we'll see Shenmue.

Yesterday (Australia) I cracked out my original EU Dreamcast and played Shenmue where I had to fight Chai from an old 2002(!) save game. Unknowingly it also happened to be the Dreamcast's 15th anniversary, What nostalgia..

What is interesting is, next year around Dec 2014 is Playstation's 20th anniversary as well as Shenmue's 15th anniversary in the same month!

Wouldn't it be a spectacular birthday for all if Shenmue 3 was announced on the PS4 and we will finally see Shenmue's story continue after such a long hiatus. \:D/

What was going on here? I saw the thread but did something else before watching the video. When I came back it was gone... I almost thought I was hallucinating. Glad it's back up now!

I have to give a big thank you to Ziming and Rakim for making this. I've always wanted to understand what exactly Yu is talking about on the PD disc. Finally I can. Also great to have it in one part now and being able to pause and skip back and forth, unlike on the Dreamcast.

You are not authorised to read this forum.

I'm going to try and catch Mark, or see if someone will pull strings to get me in. Thats how I got into the Kojima talk last year.

I'm down to get pissed at GDC if you need info on parties and stuff let me know. You're better off emailing me, CavalierGames at hotmail.com since I'm stuck working so much of the time I don't get on here much.

Is it possible? Yes anything is possible, however..

1) The game actually is needing to be released in Japan to maximize sucess because the Shenmue brand is known in Japan well enough to be sucessful. I know because ive spoken to Japanese gamers while living in Japan and they enjoyed the games and want to see 3. Why minimize its sucess on a system nobody will buy there. Japanese are HIGHLY nationalistic people and no game can ever push them into buying an Xbox short of Monster Hunter or Final Fantasy being an exclusive to them. Even then I believe those emmensely popular titles would fail.

2) Xbox One isnt even available in Japan yet. That shows how much they care about the brand out there.

3) MS has shown no interest in the series.

4) It bombed in the U.S last time around when Shenmue 2x was exclusive here. What makes you think they want to fund/publish a game that bombed previously if Sega isnt even willing to make it themselves? This isnt Dead Rising, a series proven to be sucessful exclusively on Xbox. Its Shenmue, a series that fell on its ass because of it. Sega wouldnt want to risk it failing again after all this time aswell. What a waste of time and money that would be. Then Sega would look even more retarded then they already do.

5) Nintendo would be next in line after Sony as a secondary viable option if we still talk about exclusivity. They atleast have the Japanese market, a stronger relationship with Sega and the desire to apeal to the core gamer market that they so desperately need to get a hold of.


Now could be it multiplatform and release on XBO aswell? Ofcourse, that would make much more sense.
But PS4 exclusive is still way more likely.

Again with a series that's not seen as a system seller why limit to one audience rather than all?
Because releasing it on all systems doesn't get them funding from Sony. And once they have funding from Sony, they don't have to worry so much about "lost" sales on other platforms (which is irrelevant because with no funding there'd be no game and therefore no sales on any platform).

As for why Sony would invest in an exclusive that may or may not make a profit, not all benefits come directly from sales. Being the company that brought us the fabled, mythical, infamously impossible Shenmue III would be THE ULTIMATE demonstration of their "4 the Players" mantra. It would be a huge feather in the cap for the Playstation brand, boosting their image not only amongst Shenmue fans but other gamers who know what a big deal this is, whether they personally like the game or not.

Splendid, he's going to make a personal recommendation after one guy tweeted him... Sony, you sure it made it difficult for us!

Hello everyone! I know that I am new to these forums and the Shenmue Dojo as far as you all are concerned. However, I am a huge fan of Shenmue and this website and I have been viewing all of the news and forum posts for years and years! I guess I figured it's about time I finally joined you all officially! Anyway, I purchased the original Shenmue for Sega Dreamcast way back in 1999 before it was cool or a well-known game and I'm a huge fan of the series! And in addition to owning Shenmue for the Sega Dreamcast, I also have both the European version of Shenmue 2 for Sega Dreamcast as well as Shenmue 2x for Xbox. I have beaten each game numerous times and I'm looking forward to the conclusion as much as everyone else! If you haven't been able to tell by my user name, I am a martial artist in the Korean martial art of Hwarangdo. With that being said, I have also previously taken Shorin Ryo Karate, Taekwondo, and Aikido. Having trained in the martial arts all of my life thus far, I am also personally fascinated by the history of the Asian martial arts (whether it be Korean, Chinese, Japanese, or others). My love of the martial arts as well as being a hardcore gamer since the 80's originally drew me to the Shenmue series. Yu Suzuki is simply a genius and an extremely talented guy! I have personally researched the Shenmue story plot thus far and I'm amazed at the depth, research, history, and passion he has put into the story of the series thus far! I also believe that there isn't a better time than now to revive the series. However, because so many gamers haven't had the luxury of experiencing Shenmue, I don't see the series moving forward without one of two things happening....either Shenmue and Shenmue 2 are released in HD on Xbox Live and PSN....or the next release of Shenmue will be an all in one remake of the first two games (including the rumored missing boat chapter with Chai) as well as whatever chapters are left that lead to the conclusion. I have been waiting for news of the continuation of the series for years now! And, well, maybe I'm overlooking things here. But if 'Shen 3' is the license plate of Ryo's character in this new Sega racing game, something is clearly up! I'm not saying that Shenmue 3 is in the works right now. But if Sega is putting an easter egg like that into one of their games, regardless of what some official Sega rep says in some forum, at a minimum Sega is acknowledging a demand for Shenmue 3! Obviously, Shenmue Dojo's hard work is beginning to pay off! Maybe I'm just overly optimistic, but I haven't yet lost faith that someday in my lifetime, I'll get to see the conclusion of the series! In any case, I look forward to chatting with you all! I recently broke out my Dreamcast and am replaying Shenmue. After that, I plan on re-playing Shenmue 2x on my Xbox 360....getting prepped for what I hope will eventually be some good news! We've all waited long enough!!!

I'm currently working on the final phase of putting together a couple of videos with multiple rare, funny or otherwise interesting scenes and also other videos about Shenmue.

I'll start with what I've already uploaded in the past. Some of those are really old, starting in 2008.
This topic will house every Shenmue related video that I've made from now on. :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYUgJHfttbo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQBlHis9LI4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3bGDpukwCM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lePAYlRoTR4

His argument is basically that nostalgia will beat our expectations down? Sorry guy, im still playing these games to this day and finding them way more satisfying then anything out there. Besides the fact that I started playing it as a teenager, the games couldnt be more relevant for me to this day.
Perhaps this guy thinks Star Wars should have ended with Empire Strikes Back and Kill Bill should have ended with vol. 1.

Sure theirs a possibility for disappointment, but tell me nobody isnt curious and wanting to see the ending to Yu Suzuki's story. We've all loved it up until Shenmue 2, introducing magic elements is the progression we all need to realize is fact in the story. I trust Yu Suzuki to direct it right.

Had my operation. I'm still recovering, but i'm a lot more mobile then I was a few days ago.

The next step is for them to investigate the affected testicle and determine what type of cancer it is.

They said they would call me next week to come back into the hospital in order to have my blood checked. Apparently, once you have the diseased testicle removed, you blood levels should go back to normal after 7 days.

Next, they will give me a CT scan of my body to determine if the cancer has spread.

From there, I guess further treatment begins.

On the bright side, the chest xray that they performed a week ago was completely clear. Im guessing this will have to be reconfirmed with the ct scan, but it does make me a little bit more hopeful.

Tough times ahead.

Thanks for everyone's kind messages. It really does mean a lot.

ShenSun

Check out the new revised thread over at neogaf. Looks very nice. Everyone's work has been included.

Major props to Ziming with what hes done to it. Best looking thread on gaf.

but what we cant deny is that if their were to be an announcement this event would be a prime venue for it.

A developer talk VS an E3 or TGS announcement ?

Sure why not GDC? Why not after just going in depth with how he made the first, segway into a "Here's the all new HD version" and then go in depth about the development in making that aswell? Just a thought and yes most certainly wishful thinking as that's all we ever do around here.
Sure E3 and TGS would be a bigger and more traditional venue but would a new Shenmue really make a splash in the news with all the other hundreds of other games in the spotlight aswell? Shenmue HD or 3 etc is such a left field announcement for the majority of gamers out there that it would make sense to give it publicity in an venue all to itself. Then possibly go into further details, videos etc at TGS and E3. Flesh it out further there once the hype has built up.

Just some wishful thinking. We're all trying to justify why we're still active fans. This event checks so many boxes for us though that we cant help it. It actually makes alot of sense compared to anything we've EVER had in the past.

And to answer your question, Ya I care alot about the postmortem. Anything that sheds further light into this series is amazing considering not every game series gets this kind of session.

Just came across this on Eurogamer. Yu Suzuki is researching kickstarter to fund projects. (Shenmue 3?)

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-03-20-yu-suzuki-is-looking-into-kickstarter

He is also currently working on something.

What do you guys think?

Great news, competition is what pushes things forward. Outside of our gaming preferences and such, looking at this just from a Shenmue standpoint, there is no loyalty. Whoever helps finally bring this forward is who wins our hearts over, if you think otherwise you're not a fan. More fitting on the PS4? Sure. But does Microsoft have just as much if not more reason? Probably. They're going to need a boost in Japan and while I don't think something as such would completely give it, it'd help coupled with some other IP's. I mean, it's not going to the Wonderswan. While the One is trailing, it still has a big userbase which will only grow over time. Not to mention, this console war is a long and grueling race, not a sprint. The PS3 was said to have destroyed the PlayStation brand out of the gate, they recovered and everyone forgets. It's a bit different this time, obviously, but nonetheless it could succeed on the One. They've funded games like Dead Rising 3, they once had Shenmue (which does make it fitting, like it or not) and they need to win over gamers. At the end of the day I simply want to play the series to a conclusion, whoever helps make that happen has my support.

http://s27.postimg.org/zb7vxbzf7/10257077_721135517928980_88.jpg

Insert Coin clothing has just announced a new "Hazuki Tiger" jacket for 2014. Inspired by the same jacket worn by Ryo Hazuki from Shenmue. This jacket replaces their hoodie which is not available anymore.

Links: Announcement | Hazuki Tiger Jacket

The Shenmue Postmortem by Yu Suzuki on GDC 2014, is now* available on the GDC Vault!

http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1020805/Classic-Game-Postmortem

I think, it's the best version you can get out there to watch the postmortem. It shows, at the same time and separately, both the slides and Yu suzuki.

*You had to pay before (be a member), now it is free.

To add to the hype, could this possibly be a hint from Sony? Its a good acknowledgement, thats for sure!!

https://twitter.com/amboyes/status/471116437549879296

Deunan told me that the GDEMU shouldn't have any influence on the audio as it only transfers data and from the card into the AICA digitally. He suspects that it might be because the GDEMU draws less power then the drive and it could affect the opamps. But this is purely speculation. I hope he digs deeper into this and that there is a simple solution somehow by some setting in the firmware.

I think it's still very handy for recordings. You can easily apply some treble boost on the audio so it sounds just like it normally does for playback. But using it to really just play games you're limited by what your sound system can do.
I have a real equalizer portion in my stereo and treble is already turned up to about 85%. So I cannot compensate anymore.

In any case this tradeoff leaves a bitter taste and it really shouldn't ruin the experience. If it isn't easily fixable in time then I'm thinking about returning mine for now and wait until an improved version is ready to hit the scene.

Posted about this on assemblergames now. I really don't want to spread bad things about the GDEMU or ruin other peoples experience but I think it worth to this discuss this on a wide audience, because that way it's more likely that the issue get's resolved wich makes everyone happy.

So I'm still waiting for the good news from Deunan and I got annoyed by the broken fan in the Dreamcast I have the GDEMU in. So I made some mods to get rid of it and went the extra mile to reduce the heat inside the console.

http://fs2.directupload.net/images/141217/xsisopqr.jpg

I replaced the old PSU with a more efficent picoPSU that generates much less heat and hooks up to an external 12V power brick. To get rid of the fan I built a little rpm signal generator and to dissapate the heat better I stuck a little heatsink on the main plate with thermal grease. I admit it's not done very clean but it does work perfectly.
It's a completely silent Dreamcast now without any moving parts. \:D/

I have good news! Deunan gave me a new firmware yesterday for testing and I can tell you that the audio issue is gone. The GDEMU now sounds just as clean as the drive does, no difference at all. Perfect!

The firmware is up on his site now: https://gdemu.wordpress.com/firmware/

So much unused stuff. Really nice video, James, feels a bit like David letterman with a special guest - just that the special guest is Shenmue 2... =)


Also loads of unused sounds, music, ambient tracks and such. Ziming did an excessive cataloguing of the music tracks.

Personally i also like some ideas that "disappeared" due to time and money limitations, but in "What's Shenmue" you can still find an example of the original idea of what I'd call "Adaptive music" in English. The main FREE track exists in 3 versions and as far as i know it was originally intended to become more agressive the closer you get to your current goal, like it starts with light drums and the theme changes to moderate and then extreme drums in that musical piece to make the pace more intense. Some concepts like these were brilliant and even though they were dropped the game itself is still intense. But good to know they were there...

I'm very busy lately and I don't have access to my Pc as much as I used to, but I got some spare time to say Merry Christmas Shenmue dojo ;-D

http://i.imgur.com/TanqX9G.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/VKwR8EJ.jpg

Edit, I wasn't happy with the results so I changed his hat. ^^'

http://i.imgur.com/A8ElaFw.jpg

I was messing around Shenmue's ambient sound in hope I could find and isolate the shamisen tracks and I found one very interesting file.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/zzeaf651b52wah8/shenmueambient.mp3

It sounds like something that's supposed to come out of a radio or TV, like a weather report or commercial where someone is talking in Japanese. It's really low quality and hard to understand but maybe someone here can make out what the guy says?

I converted all the sound effects from Shenmue and What's Shenmue to DSF with Master Kyodai's gui took and packed them all together. To play these I recommend Winamp with the dsf plugin. I have tried it on foobar 2000 and they didn't play for some reason.

The archives contain every single sound file that got exported. That's over 3800 for What's Shenmue and over 9000 (no meme intended) for Shenmue. Since it includes everything it's unsorted and there's a great amount of empty sound files for the dsflibs that start with "F1".

Shenmue:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/0o5x2bmyye1hou5/ShenmueSFX.rar

What's Shenmue:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/cfbvc9ra4cy7dlc/WhatsSFX.zip

I found a few intersting things just by randomly listening through the files, like Virtua Fighter battle sounds, some guy humming (during the Jimmy chase QTE) and a doorbell, barcode scanner beep and cash register sound for the Tomato Mart.

SHENMUE MODDING/HACKING KNOWLEDGE

"Creating, collecting & preserving knowledge of hacking & modding Shenmue games."

Resources:

⋅  Dreamcast Information
⋅  Miscellaneous
⋅  Shenmue_I
⋅  Shenmue_II
⋅  Shenmue_IIx
⋅  What's_Shenmue
⋅  Links

Credits:

⋅  Giorgio
⋅  shengoro86
⋅  Switch
⋅  IlDucci

I found this on my Twitter feed,



Amazing!

I have a really hard time getting into anime from... well, just about the past 10 years. Something about the "newer" style of things just doesn't appeal to me as much as older stuff does. So I've been trying to get even more exposed to stuff from the 80s and 90s as of late.

Came across this 1993 OVA called Cyber City Oedo which is pretty goddamn cool. Just finished the last episode. It's not a long series at all; only three episodes, clocking in at about 45 minutes each. But in so many ways, it exemplifies the kind of stuff that turned me on to anime in the first place: a very lived-in, "hard sci-fi" world, tons of brightly-lit futuristic cityscapes in what seems like a practically perpetual nighttime, and a collection of violent characters doing shit you'd never have seen in western animation at the time.
It's the work of Yoshiaki Kawajiri, so obviously it has fantastic animation and design work. Tonally, it's very much a manly-man's anime, despite one of the main characters looking like just about the most feminine 80s rockstar imaginable.
Just a warning, the English dub is pretty fucking stupid. In an attempt to make it seem even harder-edge, I guess, the localization team felt the need to litter the dub with a ton of out-of-place obscenities that aren't even in the original dialogue. And given the generally stiff quality of English dubs at the time, it just comes off like it's trying waaaaay too hard.
Case in point:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2Q6AwrGUkQ

Yeeeeeeaaaaaahhh... watch the Japanese track if you decide to give the show a try.
Or watch it in English for a laugh. Probably entertaining either way. :lol:

When he drops it..... ohhh the tingles. He gets it! Huber Hype!!!! (2.43 if you dont want pre hype)

One of the proudest things i have ever seen. Thank you Yu for acknowledging the community!

http://shenmue.link/us-en/

https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtf1/v/t1.0-9/11257739_10153420809657269_2528854018526807156_n.jpg?oh=351e42785ac7ecc01a2f6154d23a4a3a&oe=55EF7B4D

https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xft1/v/t1.0-9/11427699_10153420809742269_1983519829995904545_n.jpg?oh=154735bd0cc38a9ee7f034253475872c&oe=562931AD

https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xft1/v/t1.0-9/11407240_10153420809772269_8740303766061667830_n.jpg?oh=d55e840d450ec04ee88159c2d6d86db5&oe=5630EE1F

https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xft1/v/t1.0-9/11391322_10153420809812269_6660361130253710408_n.jpg?oh=c9726a1c2ad98f59c44362d88f4edb36&oe=5632ED2D

https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xft1/v/t1.0-9/11391571_10153420809862269_5843973390018055457_n.jpg?oh=0ac732c7c832b1b8ccbc1c549cf09a66&oe=55FC6091

Well, fuck , guys. I still can't believe this is actually happening. It was around 3am here when I saw the news and watched the trailer, so I was already in bed watching it on my phone, and I was utterly speechless, before cheering and proceeding to be extremely hyper, leaving my boyfriend extremely confused (though he understood once I explained - he's heard me witter on about Shenmue enough times!). I can't believe after all this time it is finally a reality. I was 14 years old when Shenmue II came out...now that I'm a 28 year old with actual responsibilities and stuff, I could only really afford a $29 pledge, but I knew I had to pay at least something. Like many others, I'm not entirely sure about the way Ryo and Shenhua look, but I'm sure this is only something they quickly knocked together for the trailer and they will look more like their old selves in the final game.

But yeah...I kept daydreaming about the day when this would happen (even faintly when I was beginning to lose hope), and now it's actually here...Yu, you magnificent bastard. You can tell how much he cares about us as fans, and in this day and age that is truly refreshing. I've been very cynical about gaming in general lately,, this current generation failing to excite me really, but obviously I must get a PS4 now (I don't think I'll ever have a PC capable of running it in this lifetime!). I'm already getting excited about posting here again and being a part of all the pre-release buzz, where we will no doubt analyse every screenshot and trailer we receive to death and back. And now I can finally play through the first two games without getting depressed :P

It's been a hell of a wait guys, but hopefully it will be worth it. We only went and fucking did it!!! :mrgreen:

http://www.mediafire.com/view/6siygr66m2te2qr/i-wf0702_004.jpg#
http://www.mediafire.com/view/bp8911gv5b7y5a3/i-wf0702_005.jpg#
http://www.mediafire.com/view/zhehbcn73zhkp9a/i-wf0702_006.jpg#
http://www.mediafire.com/view/bf1trmgz7tejf1m/i-wf0702_007.jpg#
http://www.mediafire.com/view/6md3ql10x1ppiw6/i-wf0702_008.jpg#
http://www.mediafire.com/view/6iot4869ui62rdr/i-wf0702_009.jpg#

thanks to kurushii for the scans.

Famitsu Translation by Axm and Switch

Feature Story
- Ryo Hazuki is coming back -


Shenmue III has set off
The fundraising campaign has started on Kickstarter


E3 2015 is being held in Los Angeles from June 17th till 19th (Japan time). Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) press conference was held in June 16th, a day before E3 starts, and a game creator Yu Suzuki announced the new “Shenmue 3.” He also revealed his campaign using the crowd-funding site “Kickstarter” to raise funds for this game.
It’s been 14 years since the release of Shenmue 2. What will this eagerly-awaited Shenmue 3 be like? Why did he chose Kickstarter?--- I have asked the executive produce Mr.Suzuki. (Interviewer: Famitsu chief editor Katsuhiko Hayashi)


Finally setting off the official sequel “Shenmue 3”


---The impact of the name of “Shenmue 3” is so great and it surprised me when I first heard it. Well, it’s been 14 years since Shenmue 2 was released. Why make Shenmue 3 now? Would you give us the accounts on how it started?
Suzuki: I have been always looking for the way to launch Shenmue 3, so it is not like we just started this project. Although it’s been more than a decade since Shenmue 2, there are many enthusiastic fans still existing and when I attend autograph sessions abroad, they always come ask me “When is Shenmue 3 coming?” For example in France, 80% of people who come to my autograph sessions are the Shenmue fans. The rest of 10% are Virtua Fighter fans and the other 10% are Hang-on fans or so. There are fans who still manage fan communities. Every year around March and April, the rumor “They say that they are making Shenmue 3” comes out and it reaches me.. haha.


---The eagerly waiting voices turn to rumors.
Suzuki: Yes that’s right. But slowly the fan’s voices have changed to something wistful. They say “It can be just a novel, so please give us the sequel story at least” or “Just manga is fine. We want to see a new “Shenmue”.” Those voices made me think that I should push the project forward somehow for the fans, no matter if I couldn’t make a full-spec game.


--- And for the means to make it happen, you chose Kickstarter. Why?
Suzuki: About three years ago, one of the fans who has experience using Kickstarter suggested me using it for the Shenmue project. That is when I first learned about Kickstarter, and started researching it. If it comes to really making the game, I have to make sure it satisfies my fans. So I couldn’t go like “OK I’m doing this with Kickstarter!” I seeked other ways,--- for instance finding a partner, but I couldn’t find one that meets my requirements. After careful consideration, we decided that Kickstarter is the best way to set off, and we were able to announce it finally in 2015.


---So you were just saying that you wanted to make the sequel, but really you have been working on it already for a long time.
Suzuki: Yes. Strong feedback after the Shenmue lecture at GDC 2014 also pushed me into coming this far. Sega agreeably licenced it to me and SCE also supported us by saying “We will support you if you are making Shenmue.” I knew that announcing the Kickstarter project at SCE’s conference is a very remarkable thing and am so happy that many people still support Shenmue this much.


---The title “Shenmue 3” is very direct and has no twist.
Suzuki: I couldn’t think of any other name. Shenmue 1, 2 and 3. It is not a spin-off. It comes to PS4 and PC.


---Its an eagerly awaited official sequel and fans will be definitely delighted. What is the goal of the Kickstarter funding?
Suzuki: 2 million yen at the very beginning.


---It must be easy to raise 2 million if it is for Shenmue.
Suzuki: However, 2 million is the very least amount of money you need for a game to come to exist. If it’s just 2 million, it will be more likely a very story-driven based game. If we can raise more, it will be more realistic for me to be able to do what I want to do. I want to try something new.

--- Just like you.. Your stance of “making something new” has never changed.
Suzuki: Yes. I will do my best to make a new Shenmue.

--- We will talk about this “New Shenmue” later. What are the pledge rewards for donating to Kickstarter?
Suzuki: I would like to adopt everyone’s opinion into the game to the extent that I can. For example if there are two designs of one character, then I will ask everyone to vote for each of them. I will provide the participation privilege for that kind of voting. Also while Shenmue 3 is under development, I will prepare a trial-demo so they can take a sneak peak of it.

--- So you are creating Shenmue 3 with your fans?
Suzuki: I think every one of the people who invested in this project has a leading role in it and I hope each one of them enjoy it. Please visit Kickstarter’s Shenmue page to learn more about the pledge rewards.


F: Next, I would like to ask about the key content of Shenmue 3. What kind of story developments can be expected in Shenmue 3?
YS: At the end of Shenmue 2 Ryo visits Guilin, said to be the most beautiful region in China. The area is famous for landscape paintings, and it has a river called the Li river. Shen Hua’s house is located on a tributary of the river. The story of Shenmue 2 ends at the point where Ryo reaches Shen Hua’s house, and the story of Shemue 3 continues right from there.
F: So, Ryo and Shen Hua will make an appearance, continuing from the previous part.
YS: For people who have played the Shenmue series, those familiar characters will appear as they were.
F: Will the setting be Guilin?
YS: Yes. For example, visiting a town(s) in the Guilin area, or going back to the mountains. Also infiltrating the Guilin chapter of an underground organization, the Chi You Men.
F: It could be said that Shenmue is the originator of open world gameplay, and has influenced many games since, but for Shenmue 3 what direction do you plan to take the open world model?
YS: When I created Shenmue 1, I was aiming to create exactly what is now called an “open world”. Being able to stop freely at any location you wish, advancing if you wish to move the story forward, or just standing still if you prefer. Back then, we called the system “FREE”, but in time it came to be referred to as open world. In Shenmue 2, with advances and technology and techniques, the open world was expanded even further.
F: In Shenmue 2, it was possible to walk through many towns over a wide area of Hong Kong, wasn’t it.
YS: Actually, at that time, I had decided that for Shenmue 3 I would delve in more deeply.
F: More deeply?
YS: Yes. People might expect that the open world would be made even broader, but in contrast to that, I will focus on depth. For example, for the case of 100 characters, splitting the development budget among them would limit the elements that could be incorporated into each character.
F: That’s true, it would make it harder to create each with detail.
YS: However, if we reduce the number to 10 characters, a lot of possibilities are opened up. The amount of conversation could be increased 10 times, or detailed A.I. provided for each character. As a result, conversations could be much richer. As an example, in Shenmue 3 the person that Ryo will speak with most is Shen Hua, so I want to portray her with depth. I envisage an approach where, by settings parameters for Shen Hua, on-going conversations with her will influence events such as changing her attitude, or changing the way that quests relating to her unfold.
F: I see. I think a lot of support for Shenmue comes not from just the realistic towns, but from the realism of the people inhabiting it. From what you have described, this realism will be further increased, and the world will feel even more “human”.
YS: Yes. In Shenmue this time I will be focusing particularly on digging down further on such internal aspects.
F: This is your vision for the new Shenmue, isn’t it.
YS: Of course, that’s not to say it will not be open world. Stretch goals will allow the town(s) to be expanded. However, what I would like to try first is to develop something that everyone has not anticipated; a deep Shenmue world.

F: I can’t wait to see this new Shenmue. Speaking of Shenmue, apart from its open world, its QTEs and minigames made it special, didn’t they.
YS: QTEs were originally included so that even people who were poor at battles could enjoy them. I’m happy that various games have included QTEs since then.
F: QTEs also had their origin in Shenmue, didn’t they.
YS: This time, I would like to show new QTEs; ones which can played by anyone, and which have carefully-crafted event sequences. In addition, I’d like to change the nature of free battles. (I will think of a different name, as I don’t want to call them free battles). I’d like to make a battle that is won by making the correct decision, rather than by correct timing of pushing buttons.
F: I believe Shenmue was made with the concept of being a game that can be enjoyed by any player, and this new system feels to be in keeping with that.
YS: Also this time I am planning a “technique scrolls” system. Ah.... maybe I have said too much (laughs).
F: Not at all, we’d like to hear more! (laughs)
YS: For example, with the free battle it is tough to practice and input the various commands required, so simply by obtaining a technique scroll you can apply the technique to help you win a battle. In the case of a QTE, the new technique could be unleashed during the QTE. I would like to make it so that a technique can be used to your advantage in battle just by obtaining a technique scroll. Furthermore, I’d like to make that technique scroll connect with various elements within the game.
F: Could you explain a bit more with respect to “connecting with elements”?
YS: Shenmue has had a number of ways you could play around, such as mini-games and gambling spots, but I have always been thinking about how to connect these together in some way. Of course, they are connected in the sense that you can take a part-time job to earn money, then increase that amount by gambling, then buy weapons... but not that kind of connection, something much closer. If the stretch goals can be reached and more detailed elements incorporated into the open world, this will allow technique scrolls to serve as the pivot for connecting together the various side games. That’s the kind of direction I would like to take it.
F: I see. So various elements of the open world will be connected together in a more natural way. Apart from that, are there any other elements that you are keen to include in Shenmue 3?
YS: One particular part of Shenmue that fans seem to have fallen in love with is the forklift part-time job, which is extremely popular. So I really want to include it in Shenmue 3 too, but how can you operate a forklift deep in the mountains of Guilin (laughs). I haven’t stopped thinking about how to find some way to include a forklift (laughs).

F: Please tell us about the development set-up for Shenmue 3.
YS: This time, the main development company is Neilo. The representative for Neilo, Takeshi Hirai, worked as the chief programmer for Shenmue and has a good understanding of Shenmue.
F: Since Shenmue is an open world game, I had thought that working with an overseas development company that is experienced in open world games would have been an option.
YS: Yes, that may have been an option. However, the main distinguishing characteristic of Shenmue is its culture. I believe that users overseas also have taken interest in the culture and customs of Asia. People have said they appreciate it when Ryo says “Thank you” for the smallest thing, for example. Someone who has worked all along on creating Shenmue understands that kind of culture and values.
F: So this time, development will be using Unreal Engine 4, won’t it.
YS: I have been looking at various engines for Shenmue 3 for the past 3 years, but the colors of Unreal Engine 4 are closest to those I envisage for the world of Shenmue. Although that’s a pretty broad statement, given that it’s a technical topic. The feeling of slight dampness in the air, the skin colors, the feel of materials etc were closest to my ideal.
F: Apart from the Neilo staff, are there others participating who have worked with Shenmue before?
YS: Yes, of course. I wanted to build up the team with past members as I believe that gives the fans some reassurance. Among others are scenario writer Masahiro Yoshimoto, and Kenji Miyawaki who is in charge of the character designs.
F: Given that this project is coming to life 14 years after the previous release of Shenmue, everyone must be very surprised.
YS: Mr Yoshimoto has been active in the world of television, and reacted with surprise saying “With television, producing something new with a theme that is 14 years old is unheard of”. But Mr Yoshimoto told me that he made many discoveries through his experience with Shenmue. Later on, I plan to release a video with comments from Mr Yoshimoto and the rest of the staff, so please watch out for it.
F: We are looking forward to seeing it. The fans are sure to be happy.
YS: I have gathered together quite a few of the original key members who gave Shenmue that special feel. I’m sure this will bring a feeling of both reassurance and nostalgia.
F: By the way, it may be a bit impatient to ask, but do you already have in mind how things will progress after Shenmue 3?
YS: Of course, I have that in mind. But first and foremost, I’d like to put primary focus on Shenmue 3.
F: When is the planned release date for Shenmue 3?
YS: I’d like to release it by the end of 2017.
F: That’s quite some way off, but we can’t wait. From speaking with you today, I can really appreciate the challenges that you are taking on of producing a new Shenmue. Finally, do you have a message for all the fans who have waited all this time for Shenmue 3?
YS: The fans have told me over the course of 14 years how they wanted part 3 to be made, and I have always told myself that I had to find some way to make it. And now, through the crowd-funding of Kickstarter, at last I have been able to make a start on the Shenmue 3 project. In order to bring about a Shenmue 3 that incorporates a perfect blend of both a Shenmue that everyone desires, as well as a Shenmue with the new challenges I want to take on, everyone’s effort is needed. Thank you so much for your support.

Picture captions:
1) This image shows the figures of Ryo and Shen Hua walking on a mountain path. Note that Ryo has changed clothes from the leather jacket he wears in the first and second parts of the series.
2) Using a telescope, Ryo observes buildings below a cliff. According to Yu Suzuki, before Ryo lies the enemy’s camp, which Ryo is searching for a way to infiltrate.
3) Shen Hua and Ryo, drawn by Kenji Miyawaki who is in charge of character design for the series. Shen Hua, the main heroine, did not appear much in the first and second parts of the series. In Shenmue 3, she will surely take a principle role.
4) Niao Sun, one of the leaders of the underground organisation opposing Ryo, the Chi You Men. Although her existence has previously been revealed, she has not made an in-game appearance until now.

Wow omg I gotta pick up this famitsu locally right now!
This is the magazine cover.

http://www.famitsu.com/images/000/081/061/5580f83924151.jpg

http://www.famitsu.com/news/201506/18081061.html

It just came out today.
Need to find it here in Japan somewhere and buy a few of them!

BYE

Wow, my Internet was down for the last four days and i couldn't watch about Shenmue 3. I came here just to be sure that Shenmue 3 is real and yes it is. I can't describe how i feel about it: full of happiness and tears in my eyes. What for a nice, very nice E3 was this. I hoped every year for real News and no fakes and here it is. Oh god, i can't wait for buying this game for the PC (!) and for playing it. I will enjoy it. The newer Character models are good, it's okay. The Mainpoint is that the original story will tell, Suzuki wrote 14 Years ago. Best E3 since 2004, best year since 2004 in where many good games was surprisingly released. No rumors about Shenmue 3 and Sony let the Story goes on. What for a really good E3. :D

I was actually at the Sony Press Conference (I got on camera giving Yu Suzuki a standing ovation when he came on stage).

I'm so glad it's happening. I actually knew something was up with Shenmue a few days before E3 but I couldn't say anything for various reasons (and I kept pestering my sources trying to get new information). Once the announcement was made and the Kickstarter exploded, I told the French Sony PR that they should really try to get SEGA to release Shenmue I & II Remastered.

Seeing how much money the Kickstarter has gotten, I wouldn't be surprised if some eyes have been opened up at SEGA HQ.