What's up people,

Let's end 2016 on a high.

Today, i bring you another Shenmue Visual novel inspired by the festive season.

http://i.imgur.com/FNxZc0N.png

This is a short game that I created over the last week. I was originally going to release this on Christmas day, but was unable to due to some game breaking bugs. That and ive been working like a madman over the holidays, so i haven't had much time at all. Got there in the end though, so all its all good.

Keep in mind, this game is very lighthearted and fun and is not suppose to be taken seriously. Sit back, enjoy and have a good time.

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

http://i.imgur.com/nRPU24j.png

You've been invited to a Christmas party in Dobuita by your old friend Fuku-san. Upon arriving, you agree to help with the party preparations. A mysterious figure watches you from the shadows. It's up to you and Santa to #saveshenmuechristmas

http://i.imgur.com/6bi3dUm.png

One major difference you'll notice between this and the last game is that YOU are the player. Once you arrive in Dobuita, the game will ask you to enter your name. From that point on, all NPCS and character will refer to you by your actual name.

http://i.imgur.com/S7AyfkI.png

http://i.imgur.com/3uTQuaK.png

http://i.imgur.com/P2uIdnE.png

Like all great games, there will be various choices to choose from when interacting with characters. Each one giving a different response. Choose wisely

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

http://i.imgur.com/ii8cqnu.png

--The game is played by simply clicking the mouse on the screen once a character finishes speaking
--Choose from the various choices to affect the game's direction.
-- Left click continues
-- Right click opens up the option menu
--- Play in fullscreen for desired effect

http://i.imgur.com/2TbgVKs.png

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

Do not skip transitions or click at a fast pace due to impatience. The game has a deliberate pace. At some points you may think the game is hanging or taking long to load. If this happens, an event is about to occur. Sit back and enjoy the ride.

Also play in full screen.

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

http://i.imgur.com/4MBqfkm.png

1) First install the Arlrdbd font. Download here http://www.fontsupply.com/fonts/A/Arlrdbd.html

Unzip font

Windows XP Font Install:
Drag arlrdbd.ttf into C:\Windows\Fonts - The font will automatically install.

- Windows 7/Vista Font Install:
Right click arlrdbd.ttf and then click "Install".

2)Download the game using the link below.

3) Extract file and open the main file (.exe file)

4) Enjoy

http://i.imgur.com/ln6LFTh.png

Due to a limited amount of time, i was unable to address all the bugs and glitches in the game. I'll fix them at a later date. You may run into the following issues.

Extra large menu choices - Sometimes, the menus appear stretched for some odd reason. If this happens to you, restart the game.

Sound lowers by itself - At certain points of the game, the sound will lower. I noticed this on my desktop but not my laptop. If this happens, raise the volume on your speaker.

Menus - Some menu buttons are not functioning as they should. Will be updated at a later date.

I've managed to find good consistent results with the game using the following settings.

http://i.imgur.com/w0ylkW4.png

Other issues

I need to clean up some of the portraits, adjust the voice clips to sound more consistent and not super loud.

Also, apologies, i still need to proof read the game. Will do so soon.

I also left some save files in the game. Dont load them if you have not already finished the game

If you come across any other issues, please let me know

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

Here it is people. This is my Christmas present to all you. Wish I had more time to work on the project, but i'll be busy for the next month or so.

Let me know what you think and post any bugs or issues you encounter.

DOWNLOAD

http://tinyurl.com/j2rlhhx

Thanks alot and have a wonderful new year.

Best wishes

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

This topic is pure Shenmue Dojo circa 2005.

Was great to make the stream last night, in case anyone wanted it this is the mix that was played at the start:

When you get information from Yu and the producer himself about Shenmue related content appearing at a gaming event, and it turns out not to happen, you learn the hard way not to take anyone's word about when or where footage of this game will appear. Plans change, and it can be upsetting. Frustrating even. At the end of the day everyone is entitled to their opinion. But at the same time, everyone should realise this is going to come out at some stage, and that will be a glorious time, so until then, all i can ask is to try and see positives whenever you can, and also try to remain patient. This is a long process, and none of us are going anywhere.

As for the video, i just shrugged my shoulders. It is what it is, and there are positives there. As the person said, they were testing for polygon dents and movements. Thats what i want from them. Thorough testing of all movement variations. He wont be doing jumping jacks in the game for gods sake. I thought it was great, watching the characters various muscle elements flex and expand with the relevant movements. Theres going to be fighting in this after all. As for the look, hes just a made up skeleton with a prototype shell essentially. There will be lots more detail added so im not concerned about that. His clothes looked cool too, as Switch pointed out in his update.

One thing to think/hope for is that since a delay announcement is inevitable now, they will need to counter that announcement with something to give us some positivity along with it, so a trailer may be included then. Perhaps Gio told them that was a better plan, or perhaps he wanted Shenmue at E3 and YSNET said no. Either way, im over E3 now, and looking forward to what the summer has in store overall for Shenmue.
As i always resort back to... one day we will finish Shenmue 3, and be praying to go back to the exciting times of monthly updates when we didnt have a clue what was coming. Its hard in life to stop and take stock of the now, but try to with the Shenmue 3 development process, because, one day in the blink of an eye, it will all be over and life will be very different.

I personally don't understand all the fuss over a clearly unfinished character model.

Maybe this is why we aren't seeing a lot of backer updates. If this is what it's like on the Dojo I daren't even guess what the KS comments are like. I'd expect this sort of behaviour from ill-informed 'journalists' from IGN or Eurogamer, but not those claiming to be Shenmue fans.

I personally don't understand all the fuss over a clearly unfinished character model.

Maybe this is why we aren't seeing a lot of backer updates. If this is what it's like on the Dojo I daren't even guess what the KS comments are like. I'd expect this sort of behaviour from ill-informed 'journalists' from IGN or Eurogamer, but not those claiming to be Shenmue fans.

It's like football you know.
Around World Cup time.
500 million fans, 500 million coaches... and every single one knows better than Yu. :mrgreen:

Please people, have faith. Realise that a screenshot from the development environment will look completely different from the compiled game, remember that we don't know where or when this character will be introduced, remember that the game is still in early development, but most importantly remember that Shenmue III is REAL!

Shenmue III is going to look different. It's going to look very different because it's not being programmed in 2001 and it's not running on a Dreamcast. But I don't care. It's common sense that there's going to be stylistic differences and I'd much, much rather have that than no Shenmue III. But now is NOT the time to judge these differences because the game is in such an early stage of development. When you get your hands on a copy of Shenmue III and boot it up for the first time, that will be the time to judge.

But until then lets remember what's truly important. Let's remember E3 2015 when we all lost our fucking shit when Yu Suzuki walked out on stage and announced the game. Let's remember that one day, the third installment of Shenmue will be posted through our letter boxes, and after over a decade, we'll actually get to play it.

The amount of toxic posts I've read tonight is disgraceful and I honestly wonder why some people are pumped for the game when they can't accept that there's going to be change. If you can't accept that, I have news for you; you're probably going to hate Shenmue III, and that would be a real shame.

I don't like ranting like this, but seriously, come on. What happened to that sense of community that these forums once had. I would have thought that the announcement of III would bring everyone together further, but it seems to have divided us beyond belief and I don't like it.

Despite whatever Shenmue 3 throws at us, i love the people in chat who make these stream what they are. Thank you everyone!


Also mind blowing that anyone can be watching in any type of environment. Even broadcasting live in an office! Thanks for the photo Garvello!

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

Scoot around ebay. I've seen individual discs on there. Cardboard sleeves not so much but worth a look

I know its more expensive (stupid Ebay sharks) but it'd be easier just to buy the games in their complete state. I don't think I've ever seen the sleeves themselves on Ebay...

Was literally about to post what Sono said. If you have patience, wait until HD remasters are announced and the price will drop.

Some disappointing news, but for the greater good! Yu Suzuki has announced that Shenmue 3 will be delayed until at least the second half of 2018.



Media Articles

IGN
Eurogamer
Metro
Kotaku
MCV
VG247
Dualshockers
PSU
Destructoid

UK Twitter Trends:

The HD Remasters are not going to be announced at this E3, and probably ever . Hope you guys realize it before the crushing disappointment tonight...

Why do you think the remasters will never come out?

Because Shenmue 3's big moment at E3 is 2 years old, and in those 2 years we didn't get the slightest clue about the remasters being in production (not 1 leak, not 1 pic, nothing, zero), aside from some guy on Neogaf fucking about in a thread.

If Sega doesn't make the remasters during what is arguably the best period they'll ever have for Shenmue's popularity (between the KS announcement and Shen 3 release), when will they ever make them?

I understand the lack of faith from anyone. Heck I sometimes feel the same because ya know.... Sega.

But I've tried over the past few weeks to word my posts as best I can, to try and give you guys hints as to what a few people behind the scenes either know, or are at least aware of. My name may be green and I am just seen as someone who steps in when conversations go sideways around here, but rest assured that's not the case at all. Behind the scenes, I work endlessly developing contacts, relationships and try to get a feel as best I can in regards to what's happening with Shenmues future. This ranges from industry employees, journalists, and even Awesome Japan and YSNET on occasion.

I don't keep information to myself either, I also share what I find out with certain people I trust and feel should know within the community. Anything I hear ahead of time, I use to get ready from a community standpoint. Write a post and set up the mindset of how to present that. That trust goes a long way, and shows that not all of us want to run and post what would be considered a leak, on NeoGaf or to a media website. I hold Shenmue very close to my heart and that of course includes the integrity of both the game itself and it's creators.

In regards to Shenmue HD, I have tried to point you guys in the direction of positivity. You don't have to listen to me, and be as skeptical all you want, but rest assured my positivity doesn't come from a fanboy passion based on hopes and dreams alone. I take what I hear and base my aspirations on that. Whilst I protect the information and their sources on the one hand, i also try and be as reassuring as I can to you guys on the other.

I have said before to forget Blitworks. Also, it's very.... Very simply a question of WHEN, and not IF Shenmue HD comes along. It may not be tonight at Sony's conference. But it will come. Keep the faith.

Hi I bring you an hex fix to patch a Shenmue I 1ST_READ.BIN/ISO/GDI/CDI.

This hex hack will make Shenmue display in Widescreen aspect ratio without clipping or glitches unlike NullDC extra geometry option or previous action replay codes, it will basically render the extra geometry necessary for 16:9 TV's.

The hack works great on emulators, as do on a real Dreamcast. (Click Show for download links)

Shenmue PAL Disc 1 (GDI) - FireDrop | Mega.nz
Shenmue PAL Disc 2 (GDI - FireDrop | Mega.nz
Shenmue PAL Disc 3 (GDI) - FireDrop | Mega.nz
Shenmue PAL PassPort (GDI) - FireDrop | Mega.nz
ISOZONE: http://theisozone.com/downloads/dreamcast/dreamcast-gdi/shenmue-pal-169-widescreen---hex-hacked-by-esppiral/
SHENMUE, E MK-5105950, V1.00120001005

So with an hex editor find and replace the following values.

Value 1
Find

CCCCCC3D AAAAAA3F
Replace

CCCCCC3D 398EE33F
Render fix
Find

203F090C 8BC78AD4 FFE55224 51145214
Replace

303F090C 8BC78AD4 FFE55224 51145214
Render Fix
Find

09000900 09000900 09000900 09000900 09000900 09000900 09000900 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 09000900 09000900 09000900 09000900 00000000 00000000 00000000

Replace

09000900 09000900 09000900 09000900 09000900 09000900 09000900 00008C42 0000F042 0000803F 0000803F 09000900 09000900 09000900 09000900 0000803F 0000803F 0000803F

Old Widescreen hack
http://i.imgur.com/Xv2I3OU.jpg

New Widescreen hack
http://i.imgur.com/AS3NBC5.jpg




http://i.imgur.com/PhuFLsP.png
http://i.imgur.com/xPF0drC.png

http://i.imgur.com/6Uzml7M.png
http://i.imgur.com/pGZNsyL.png

It's been mentioned here and there for many months, but now it's official. With Peter's series complete, I will be taking up the reigns and starting a new one with the English version of Shenmue I. The first stream will be this Friday at the same starting time as before (9pm BST/ 4pm EST/ 3pm CST/ 1pm PST). I hope to see lots of you there!

I've said it so many times, but when real footage of this game emerges and trailers are made public, true fans of Shenmue are going to be completely blown away by how amazing this game is on a "Shenmue" level.

It really will be a true successor to the previous two games.

To commemorate the 1500th edition of their weekly magazine, Famitsu is running a new Poll for Best Game, across all platforms, years and genres.

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KVzG13n1fPw/WWNQ8vL_jZI/AAAAAAAACks/TtuYKdA_zCQpVQjqcNEzZhiKPZRIawPNwCLcBGAs/s1600/l_595f2f7225954.jpg

You can vote for up to 3 game titles, so get casting! Deadline is July 18th.

A short guide to the poll, which is in Japanese, is available on the Phantom River Stone blog here:
http://www.phantomriverstone.com/2017/07/vote-shenmue-as-best-all-time-game.html

Direct link to the poll (use of automated translation recommended):
https://ebssl.jp/fm2/election/gameall/index.php

Hype!

http://i.imgur.com/M14BmIe.jpg

Starting this Friday at 9PM BST/1PM PT/3PM CT/4PM ET, our very own Jibby will be taking us on a tour of AM2's finest games, until Mr357's Shenmue II stream begins in September.

As with the Shenmue streams, Virtua Fridays will be streamed on the Shenmue Dojo's Twitch and YouTube channels.

Hope to see you all in chat for the inaugural stream this Friday!

http://twitch.tv/shenmuedojo

http://youtube.com/ziming

Got my press pass approved this morning. Now time to make plans.

I'm gettin far too old for this shit. I haven't slept in 2 days and the amount of stuff that the human brain has to take in, I just can't manage at the moment. How people do this for a living I do not know.

I tried to keep up with the community as a whole these past 48 hours, but with being here and trying to update the Dojos social media it's been a hard task and I'd say live missed 90% of it all. I know about the negative backlash though. I think even Suzuki-san knows too. He keeps saying "environments good, character temporary". I said it on NeoGaf in a post I am far too tired to dig up. But seriously, criticize all you want. I am not blind to see the issues with the characters. But where is the patience. Where is the 4, Wude. You are not helping the already unwinnable position Suzuki-san is in. He is damned if he does and he is damned if he doesn't. The game is not ready yet and with any other normal game in development, so you shouldn't even see this stuff. But with every Kickstarter update, it's the same comments if they are not showing enough, we want more. We want a trailer. Really, you sure you want a trailer now at this stage of development? Ok here you go, and bam, it is still as bad a reaction as ever. It's an unwinnable battle the man has to face, and I feel sorry for him.

I literally don't know what to do anymore in trying to steer you guys towards the things I am seeing and the things I hear. It's a waste of time. I do honestly give up at this stage. Not singling out any one comment, its just gotten to the stage where I have no words anymore. The negativity has gone from critical to venomous and toxic. Hey, that's people's right, you are entitled to your opinion. My opinion of that though is just one of sadness rather than anger and confrontation now.

Ok so finally back and had a decent amount of sleep for the first time in a week.

There is a SHIT load of material to read through, so instead of drafting up a million replies, I am going to make a video reading through all of the comments and whatnot. It's easier then for me to articulate my thoughts and responses.

The banner presentation

We did it!

I just want to give a huge thanks to Yuc02 and everyone else involved in this. Seeing Yu-san with the message from all of us was a great thing to witness indeed. This is why i love the shenmue community!

Do you remember this picture of "Manabu Takimoto" Bailu concept drawing posted by Switch back in June 2016?

http://i.imgur.com/y7UhGUO.png

http://www.shenmuedojo.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1134422#p1134422

How many theories about the meaning of this scene and which characters were depicted?

Well... mystery solved I guess. :mrgreen:





















http://i.imgur.com/K1XEsce.jpg

I'm genuinely amazed by how much the WIP (!) result looks better than anything I was expecting.
Everything feels so Shenmue to me in this scene. :heart:

Those screenshots are gorgeous, I really like how Ryo looks now and would be completely fine if that was his final model and looked like that in the game. I'm very satisfied with how he looks

Get out of here

I hate to be really negative but If he looks like that in the final game which I know he wont then I wont be playing it. I'm actually serious, he straight up looks like someone else. There are models used in spin off games featuring Ryo Hazuki that look more like him and were even probably easier to make. No need to worry though because its definitely not final.

Some people need to get real.

This is actually what you get when you play Shenmue. Not talking about emulators, VGA cables or who knows.
You hook up your Dreamcast (if you are lucky enough to still have one working) to your TV and that is what you get.

http://i.imgur.com/vq3lK6u.jpg

Now, if you think this modern Ryo isn't good enough to make you play Shenmue 3, you should probably forget about Shenmue and move on to something else.

https://i.imgur.com/pGxSuj6.jpg

The latest post on the Phantom River Stone blog picks out seven details that appear in the Shenmue III teaser and digs into them a little further.

http://i.imgur.com/oFyAxZLl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/WCSNQeLl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/gwABoSul.jpg


Read the article here:

http://www.phantomriverstone.com/2017/08/seven-interesting-details-from-shenmue.html

Credit to LelouchViBritannia over on NeoGaf for the comparison shots with Yakuza 0.

http://i.imgur.com/fX5zn4t.png

http://i.imgur.com/pm9jT2e.png

If this is where the model design is right now, at this stage of the development process, then I am over the moon. Throw in touch ups, lighting, facial animation and voice acting......

Definitely good times.

Kiske wrote: Is someone able to translate this sign?
.

It says "Shop Name Wanted" i.e. they haven't decided it yet.

Underneath the characters (店名募集) is the pronunciation in Japanese: "ten mei bo syu".

https://68.media.tumblr.com/c76cd8e09ccbe5c284a877f39c982a54/tumblr_ovoeetc4Sy1vilcqco1_400.jpg

At the Gamescom 2017 event, we were very lucky to have a quick interview with Shenmue 3 director Yu Suzuki. Unfortunately, over the 3 days available with Suzuki-san, it was very hard to secure an interview with the team due to the general media already having pre-booked all of the time slots available with Suzuki-san through their new publishing partner, Koch Media. But thanks to a few people behind the scenes (especially the community's own Shenmue Ambassador Ali Novin!), we were able to be squeezed in for some quick interviews at the end of the final day, and got to experience the Deep Silver media area! (and rub shoulders with other developers in the area. 5 points to who can guess the developer in the chequed shirt.) Possibly a happy accident, but quite hilarious that Shenmue 3 was allocated Wareho...errr room number .08!

https://68.media.tumblr.com/e10f0bec5012af5650278ed6617f3ea1/tumblr_ovoeetc4Sy1vilcqco2_500.jpg

For this interview, we are unbelievably thankful, as both Suzuki-san and Harry-san were understandably extremely tired, and in light of that, our time with them was very short. Despite having upwards of 20+ questions prepared, i only had time to ask a very short number so apologies in advance that i did not get an opportunity to ask a lot of gameplay based questions. I didnt get to that stage, and before i was out of the "introductory" questions stage, it was time to wrap up the interview! Either way, its always an honour to be in the company of Suzuki-san, and we are so grateful for his time at Gamescom. Enjoy :)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SD. So hello Suzuki-san. Welcome to Germany! Have you been to Germany before? Have you been to Gamescom before?

YS. It’s my first Gamescom, but however, for Germany, I don’t remember… 2 or 3… around 3 times. I have a feeling the number grows with each interview (laughs)! It’s around 5 times… I think. Although, just before when you asked the question, I said twice! But I think 5 times is the right number.

SD. So we know you are in Cologne for Shenmue, but I know you have a love for art and architecture. Do you have any plans to do any sight-seeing whilst you are here?

YS. On the day we arrived, or maybe the day after, I went to see the Dom (Cathedral). It’s splendid! I also walked around the Old Town. Yes, it was amazing. It was more impressive than the Tokyo Tower (laughs). I am joking! But it was amazing. I could say amazing over and over.


https://68.media.tumblr.com/d9b32515d8c7f5ffadb78bf509d9ff0c/tumblr_ovoeetc4Sy1vilcqco3_500.jpg

SD. We are at Gamescom for Shenmue 3. But I have to ask, why Gamescom? We just had E3, and Gamescom is a little bit after, so did it just feel right?

YS. The reason for the timing was that I wanted to make the announcement in conjunction with the forming of the contract with Deep Silver. The agreement, to put it simply, was not ready in time for E3.

SD. Ok, so I just want to bring it back a bit, to the Kickstarter update where you announced that you had to delay the game. How hard was that decision, and were you worried about disappointing the backers?

YS. Hmmm, yes of course. I was most concerned about the backers. At the time, we had already made progress in our partnership talks with Deep Silver. So for us, being able to aim for something above what had been the plan with the original Kickstarter, it would have been extremely difficult to implement an open world with the initial plan we had at the time of the Kickstarter. So I continued to look for a partner after that. I really wanted to create an open world somehow. So I kept searching, and eventually we were able to form a partnership with Deep Silver which enabled us to upwardly revise the plan.
So at that time, I took into account what we would be able to achieve with Deep Silver. I felt positive we would be able to achieve a “scaled-up” Shenmue 3. If conditions improved after forming a partnership with Deep Silver, we would be able to expand our plans. That would bring along with it more tasks to complete, and I hoped to announce the good news to everyone along with the schedule change. But at that point the contract with Deep Silver hasn’t been finalized, so I wasn’t able to mention it. That was the situation.

https://68.media.tumblr.com/02ed8d4d4c19b506b54b42ccf5da6441/tumblr_ovoeetc4Sy1vilcqco4_500.jpg

SD. In the same video, you mentioned “new technologies, possibilities and new expressions” for Shenmue 3. Could you tell us more about those, and have they changed what you originally thought Shenmue 3 would be like?

YS. We have a complete set of basic shaders, although these need to be tuned for Shenmue. But having a full set of basic shaders is one of its (Unreal 4 Engine) advantages. Also it’s an engine designed for games, so there are all sorts of libraries for 3D games. So when you’re at the prototype/building stage, it’s very quick and efficient. That’s another benefit.
With Shenmue 1 and 2, my program forms the base, so I understand all parts of the program. However this time, the innermost working are a “black box” so I can’t obtain a full understanding of every part, and that can sometimes be a problem. From an overall perspective, it’s a really marvellous engine, especially when it’s used by multiple people. For example, we take the case of 30 or 40 people, or more, are developing the game simultaneously. It can handle management and so on, and do things like analysing the workload, rendering load, CPU usage and various others. Product management has also been made easier too, so overall, I think it’s a superb engine.


SD. I’m glad you mentioned shaders because I remember a conversation we once had about how important the colours of Shenmue were important to you. How difficult has it been to achieve the “look” and “colour” of Shenmue with Unreal 4?

YS. The basic attractive colours in Unreal 4 are formed with High Dynamic Range, and there is a wide range of colours from light to dark which can produce images where you can really feel the light and shade. This was the key deciding factor for my selection of the Unreal Engine. For me, the light and the shade are the most important part. For Shenmue, there are 2 things which are necessary to add. The next stage is there has to be a feeling of humidity. Shenmue has to have a slightly “wet” feeling to it. A damp kind of feeling in the air. I don’t mean actual rain, but the air should have a kind of moist feeling to it.
It’s difficult to achieve this with the standard Unreal 4 shaders, so I think we will have to write our own. The Shenmue teaser we have shown has achieved that look of “wetness” I think. We have now reached the second step. We are not yet at the third stage, but that will be images that you can smell. For example, in China they may chop up a pig like this, and then, without storing it in a refrigerator, sell it under the hot sun. It has that kind of raw stink, and that’s something I think we managed to achieve in Shenmue 2. Shenmue 3 will also be going onto this stage next. A “smell shader”, or a “stinky shader”! (laughs).

https://68.media.tumblr.com/9d51b582086d5bd4cb64552253c54f48/tumblr_ovoeetc4Sy1vilcqco5_400.jpg

SD. I have a lot of questions to ask, but I know time is very short, so I will ask my final question. With being president of your own company, you have hired new staff members to work on Shenmue 3. How does it feel to pass on all those years of knowledge and experience to young new developers? Have you had any difficulties managing a team like this?

YS. Well not all of our staff are young, there is someone who is 50 years old… all ages really. But management is the most difficult part. They have entered the company going through interviews, and it’s hard to get to know someone properly at the interview stage. So after that process it turns out there are some people who speak extremely little, for example, so yes it can be pretty difficult. Various strategies are needed in order for each person’s performance level to reach 100%, and that’s the part that’s most difficult. I would prefer to lose myself in the creative work, but quite a bit of time is used up on management.

SD. Suzuki-san, thank you.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


...and in the blink of an eye, it was all over! Apologies again that we could not have had more time to ask more questions, but there maybe more inverviews coming out from the Shenmue Online Community in the near future with lots more questions so stay tuned for that! ;-)

But before we left, as always, we had to surprise Suzuki-san with a gift! Thanks to a fantastic idea from 500k owner Aaron Barstow, we decided to try and somehow put Suzuki-san into one of his favourite bands, Van Halen. So working together, we came up with the idea of having an artist design an image of the band members but also insert Yu Suzuki in amongst them! After contacting one of our contributors to the Instagram page, @r_wuying, he understood the concept, and very quickly came though with an awesome piece of work!

https://68.media.tumblr.com/0909930dd8da47c5b51aaf4011880926/tumblr_ovoeetc4Sy1vilcqco6_400.jpg

Of course, we couldnt give Suzuki-san an image on a PC, so we had it framed and brought it to Germany to present it to him from all of the Shenmue Community, for which he was extremely surprised and thankful (as always!)

https://68.media.tumblr.com/2e40913861ed15c10f8431df35f79231/tumblr_ovoeetc4Sy1vilcqco7_500.jpg

https://68.media.tumblr.com/5d4165cea5becd3cdfd3c367fa97797f/tumblr_ovog4lS9W61vilcqco1_400.jpg

My Gamescom experience was one i will always remember, and i have to say thank you to so many people including David and Kenji from Shenmue Master, Aaron and James from 500K/Team Yu, Silvia from 500k, Chao from the community and of course Ali Novin for all his hard work behind the scenes to make the interview happen. On a personal note, it was fantastic to meet long time Dojo members YS, Snoopbob, B-Ren and Bluemue at the event too!! Its a shame we couldnt have all spent more time together! Also, of course how could I forget (which I did :oops: ) the amazing Switch for being on point with translating duties as always!

But with that, another event has ended, and the long journey continues! See you all again soon :D

https://68.media.tumblr.com/b234f70ac010c1b6abbdc429c3014c6e/tumblr_ovoeetc4Sy1vilcqco8_500.jpg

Yu Suzuki interview by Eclypsia.com (French)

Original interview: http://www.eclypsia.com/fr/shenmue/actualites/shenmue-3-interview-de-yu-suzuki-a-la-gamescom-2017-23773

Shenmue 3: Interview with Yu Suzuki at Gamescom 2017

At Gamescom 2017, we were able to talk with Yu Suzuki about Shenmue III.
A few days ago, Yu Suzuki was present in Cologne for the Gamescom 2017. For a few minutes we were able to talk to him and ask him some questions about Shenmue III.

Here is the full report of this exchange.

Eclypsia: Before speaking about Shenmue III, is this your first time in Cologne and / or Europe?

Yu Suzuki: This is actually the second time I've been here in Cologne and as for Europe, I came here 5 to 10 times, I cannot remember exactly. As for the Gamescom itself, I do not have enough time to go for a walk in the public area, being caught by the interviews for the game. I should nevertheless be able to take a few hours to go see what it is, see what happens overall.

E: Let's get to the heart of the matter, are you satisfied so far with the direction of development of the game?

YS: Things are going very well. Recently, and thanks to the signing of our partnership with Deep Silver which will publish Shenmue III, I can devote myself fully to the development process.

E: What have been (and still are) the most complicated challenges in the development of this sequel, so long after the previous episode? Has your vision of the game (Shenmue III) changed during this time or are we going to be entitled to what you had initially in mind?

YS: As for the general concept of the game, it has never changed in my mind and I have kept the same line in mind from the beginning. At the same time, everything related to technology, gameplay as a whole and even my development team has changed. My real challenge has therefore been to adapt myself as much as possible to what had evolved drastically during all those years that separate Shenmue II from Shenmue III.

E: At the level of history itself, you have kept the original idea?

YS: Exactly. With regards to Shenmue, everything works through chapters and from the beginning, I imagined the sequel from a certain angle, which I could not change.

E: Many fans of the Shenmue franchise have been waiting for this game for many years and are probably having high expectations, are you afraid to disappoint this specific part of hardcore fans?

YS: Totally. I really have a lot of pressure, but at the same time, I attach great importance to it. I can’t necessarily do according to the desires of the players, but my goal is obviously to satisfy everyone, especially the fans of the first hour.

E: Shenmue in his time revolutionized the genre with an utterly realistic and coherent universe. Virtually 20 years later, how have you gone about offering a game of the same caliber again?

YS: I sincerely believe that the work I do is unique. My goal is not necessarily to create something fundamentally new or which is considered new, but I think that by simply following my instinct, I can create something meaningful. Generally speaking, when I share ideas with my development team, we often have big debates about how to approach things, and they sometimes have a hard time understanding my point of view. By continually exchanging our views, we come to find the perfect balance between my way of seeing things and the way they have to apply it. It is surely this complete alchemy that allows us to propose things of this sort.

E: For a few years now, Open-World games have swarmed from everywhere, even being for some, real gold mines at the level of the present characters, possible interactions and global coherence of the game. Did this force you to revise upwards the third episode realization?

YS: In reality, I do not pay much attention to it and hasn’t a lot of impact, simply because I don’t really play a lot of games myself. As you know, Shenmue III is developed on Unreal Engine 4 and if I had to do a research work, the focus was more on that side. Indeed, I gave priority to the technical aspect in order to avoid any weakness from this point of view, rather than watching what was done from the competitors to find where to position myself.

E: Have you planned some kind of system that would allow players who have never played Shenmue I and II to still enjoy the III as it should?

YS: Let's make a quick parallel by using a film saga like Spider Man. If you start watching the saga with the third episode, you will understand the movie, even if you have not watched the previous episodes before. But at the same time, you will appreciate it even more if you have followed the adventure since the beginning of the saga. It was necessary to make sure that the people who would start playing Shenmue with number III would still be able to enjoy the experience at its best. However, you will really enjoy the game to the fullest if you have played previous episodes. Because of that we have incorporated a lot of features that will link to the previous opuses, such as the ability to pass a phone call to Shenmue characters or Shenmue II.

E: Last question about music. How important is this aspect to you in developing the game?

YS: I'm really convinced that the music and the sound atmosphere have an essential role in the development of a game and this is one of my priorities. For me there are three highly important aspects to abide by: Everything that concerns the interactivity within the game, then the graphics and finally the music. These three things are an indissociable whole for me to really make a special universe.

________________________________________
Shenmue III is planned on Playstation 4 and PC at the end of 2018



Note: I've first google translated the French interview and then proof read the result and made some adjustments to ensure that no questions or answers were distorted.
Please, keep in mind that English isn't my first language and therefore, I cannot guarantee my translation is 100% accurate.
If something sounds odd in the interview, just ask and I'll double check.

We will resume streaming on the Dojo's Twitch and YouTube channels this Friday, the 8th of September at 9 pm BST/ 4 pm EST/ 1 pm PST. We'll be playing Sm1th's Shenmue II in English.

Live Stream: Twitch | YouTube

Interview by John Linneman (Digital Foundry) for Eurogamer.net

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-09-08-sitting-down-with-shenmue-3-and-yu-suzuki

Sitting down with Shenmue 3 and Yu Suzuki
I see.

https://i.imgur.com/y2DsU8k.jpg

"As Suzuki noted earlier, however, Unreal Engine is more flexible when it comes to prototyping ideas. It's much easier to gain an understanding of how a certain mechanic or concept will function within the game and it will be interesting to see how this freedom influences the final product. With two years of work complete, a full staff and the financial backing of Deep Silver it feels like the team is shifting into high gear."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0blSBgpRUg

I've translated a early design diagram for Shenmue II into English. It's quite fascinating to compare some of the early ideas they were considering for the story. (The diagram can be found in the Shenmue art book).

In particular:

- The little girl who Ryo saved from Chai in the boat chapter side-story & her mother were originally going to help Ryo more, assisting him with finding Xiuying / Master Tao.
- There was going to be more interaction with the "two butchers" who always argue with each other, as part of the main story.

Here are the first 3 sections of the diagram:
https://i.imgur.com/3dLAGu5l.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/1ztPXFkl.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/1Al2nkZl.jpg

Analysis & the rest of the diagram can be found at the blog:
http://www.phantomriverstone.com/2017/09/ryos-arrival-in-hong-kong-shenmue-ii.html

Not sure if this has been posted here before, but I was just leafing through the Guinness World Records 2017 - Gamer's Edition (my sister got it for me last Christmas) on a whim, and happened to come across these:

https://i.imgur.com/k2vzYrB.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/9aQnNCj.jpg

Neat!

Hey guys! Happy new year everyone.
Could someone suggest me a gpu that works well with Demul?


I have an old i7 920
8GB of ram
750 corsair psu.

thanks ;-)

Your 920 may end up being another bottleneck, but definitely go with an NVIDIA card if you want to use Demul a lot. Shenmue II in particular hates AMD cards, and will throw lots of texture bugs at you unless you use Demul's newer DX11 plugin (which you don't want to do because then you'll lose access to a few graphics options which are crucial for making Dreamcast games look presentable at resolutions above 640x480). I would recommend a GTX 970 or higher. If you don't want anything older than a 1000 series, I wouldn't get anything less than a 1060. Keep in mind that Demul is very demanding and not perfectly optimized, so even with powerful hardware it won't run at a stable 30 or 60 fps 100% of the time.

Last week it snowed in Yokosuka! I jumped on a train to capture photos of as many "after the snow" Shenmue locations as I could. Everything looked remarkably like how it's depicted in the game.

https://i.imgur.com/U5zDzpp.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/OdhQzVh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/3GP9kmT.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/1kukw71.jpg

Full gallery (20 images) at Phantom River Stone:
-> http://www.phantomriverstone.com/2018/01/a-visit-to-yokosuka-after-snow-image.html

Hey everyone,

I'm excited to announce that the Dojo will be moving forward starting today and into new hands. Congratulations to Peter, a dedicated member willing to put Shenmue first at all costs. This has been in the works for quite some time and I have 110% faith and comfort in this decision. I'll remain an administrator and contribute more freely going forward, however he will be leading the overall project from here on out.

I want to be clear when I say in no way is the original vision from when I took over Shenmue Dojo changing, but instead being built upon. There's no brighter time to do so than now. When I originally took the site over, Shenmue was in a dark place but I pushed to make the site Shenmue centric again in hopes of the series regaining relevance. I believe that challenge was achieved, however now with Shenmue at the literal forefront thanks to Shenmue III, it's time for the site to move forward along with the series.

For the sake of transparency, I'd like to be clear on why I'm doing this. In no way is it a lack of passion, my heart has always been with Shenmue and still is. I've since however created my own business that has consumed every second of my time and then some, so while that goal was achieved and I'm thankful for it, I believe Shenmue Dojo deserves more time than I'm able to dedicate. It's with a heavy heart I'm doing this, but the passion Peter has shown for the project filled it with joy and excitement.

Over the past year or so I did work on a new site. The idea was to be a mobile first, responsive site and bring things up to date with a central focus on community, social integrations and the like.

https://i.imgur.com/rZxnGcX.jpg

With a site as historic as Shenmue Dojo, it's tough to pull the trigger on anything quickly or without heavy consideration. While this will likely just end up as inspiration or a base for the future project at this point, I fully support Peter and the rest of our teams ideas going forward. Having so many working iterations to brainstorm with, the future will only benefit from it and with Shenmue III nearing, it'll be perfect timing.

I ask that everyone approaches the new leadership with respect and the willingness to think outside of the box. Please trust that the entire team, not just myself or Peter, is leading with our heart and has the best interest of Shenmue at the forefront of our minds every step of the way.

Thank you for all of the support over the years, I really do love and cherish the relationships I've built here.

Take care.
Yama

Thank you so much Yama for the opportunity, support and kind words. Thank you as well to everyone for their messages.

I will be making a more detailed post over the weekend about, well, everything really, in terms of the site, structure, and future. Its no easy task, thats for sure, and i will need a lot of help and support from anyone willing to offer. But this site and all the great work done by Yama will be built upon, and bring this place in line with where it should be. This is a place for Shenmue fans first and foremost, and as we edge closer to Shenmue 3 (and hopefully HD releases!) i want this site to be ready.

We are a passionate community, and this once was a passionate site. Its my aim to get that Shenmue passion back, encourage positivity, and make The Shenmue Dojo a place where Shenmue fans can hang out and talk absolutely anything and everything about this great series. Keep an eye out for a more detailed post over the weekend in the News section, where i will cover specific aspects of the site, forums and branches of social media in a lot more detail.

Grab a cup of coffee or some snacks. Its about to get detailed!

So, hello everyone!

A lot of visitors here may recognise my name, but for anyone who doesn't, or is unsure, allow me to introduce myself. My names Peter Campbell, im 34 years old and live in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Life was going swimmingly until one day i picked up a copy of Official Dreamcast Magazine off of the shop bookshelf, and my life changed course from that moment on. I have been a huge Shenmue fan since that day, and it wasnt too after finishing the games back in the early 2000s that i found this site, The Shenmue Dojo. Over the course of the past 14 years i have regularly contributed to this site, firstly as a registered user, and then as a staff member. After a brief hiatus last year, i was contacted recently by the then current owner, George aka "Yama", and offered the chance to become the owner of the site and begin to get this place ready for the crazy future we have soon ahead of us. If you missed his topic, you can check it out HERE!
Shenmue has been a huge part of my life for the past decade and a half, from playing the games beyond any sort of countable number, to finally realising a dream come true, meeting Yu Suzuki in Japan during the Kickstarter Backer Dinner. This series and this site was dead just a few years ago. It really was. 8 years ago Yama took over and did an outstanding job making the site more appealing and accessible for anyone who visited, and all during that time we lived in hope that it wouldn't all be for nothing. It really did begin to look like a waste of time and effort, but thanks to excellent fan spirit and great community building and campaigning from the 500k Facebook group, Team Yu group and longstanding French partner site Shenmue Master, a relatively impossible dream came true and we are well on the road to actually holding a controller in our hands and walking down to Bailu Village to get some clues on the hunt for Lan Di. Its been an insane ride! But the rides nowhere near over yet!

In this post, i will be going over a few key areas in detail, about what the aim of this fansite is, and any subsequent changes may be coming in relation to the future release of Shenmue games. One of the key words i hope to always stick to is transparency, so everyone knows exactly what is going on. So like i said at the top, i hope you got some food and drink!

______________________________________________________

~~~~~FORUMS~~~~~

We may as well start where we are, and that's with the place most members, if not all members visit the most; The Forums. Its where we all talk and get to know one another. Realise each individuals reactions to all things Shenmue. In terms of changes here, it will mostly be structure based, with a few cosmetic tweaks for reason i will explain.

First off, before even taking over me and Yama discussed at length the staffing of the boards, and what their roles are. A lot of users within the roles were either AWOL or just didnt bother to make any decisions or act when needed to. So we put together a list of names that we both felt from the beginning of my tenure that we felt comfortable with, and also what role they will play. Below is our selection, and what that role means:

Shenmue Dojo Owner & Administrator - Peter
Administrator - Yama

The role of myself and Yama as administrators means that we have access to the ACP, and can make relatively any decisions in terms of usergroups, permissions, cosmetic look of the forum makeup etc. Its all pretty much behind the scenes stuff. We also take the wheel of the ship, and help make sure the site has the right tone and feel in terms of staffing and making sure this place serves the best interests of Shenmue and the site itself.
Yama has kindly offered any advice 24/7, but as owner, the overall look of the site design and any future changes to anything i will have to decide upon. That means everything, from a new site, social media ideas and direction, forum upgrades and design, listening to members, staffing members.... its no easy job thats for sure, and these past two weeks, i could count the hours of sleep ive has with just my 2 hands. I will be active on the boards, that goes without saying, but i wont be as active as i was back years ago as a regular member. Gone are the full weekends of chatting, bottle of wine, and nude pictures (dont ask!).

Global Moderators - BlueMue, Henry Spencer, James Brown, Jibby, OL, ShenSun, Sonoshee, Spaghetti

The team selected i feel is a great mix of everything. Old members, new members, full of ideas and all sing off of the same hymn sheet. First and foremost, this is a Shenmue fans website. We come here for our love of the series, and as of late, it doesnt seem to be that way. Open troll comments which differ from constructive criticism, and branding the entire Kickstarter as a scam are not topics of conversation that serve both Shenmue and this website well. Theres a fine line between keeping negativity off the boards and censorship, and the reason ive selected this team is because i feel they have the experience and intelligence to make a call and do whats right. We are a site for the fans by the fans, and i hope the staff sets the tone and attitude for people who contribute to the site.
If someone is just joining up here to troll for some giggles, or get some hits on their Youtube site by badmouthing the series then they will act swiftly and appropriately. All staff have been given instructions to be as transparent as they can. If a user gets warned, or banned, their post will be edited by the moderator taking action, so that everyone can see. Sadly until the forums are upgraded this is the only real way of being transparent with other users so until then, please bear with us. Any more issues or questions, please dont hesitate to ask!

News Posters/Veteran Contributors - alimn, Axm, Bysby, Kiske, Kiyuu, LanDC, Sonikku, Switch

These members have the ability to post in the current News and Updates forum, where we try and bring any and all Shenmue news to the public as quicky and clearly as possible. It was an original group, which has been merged with longtime veteran contributors of the site whom also have been given the same permissions. They have no moderator permissions outside of this.

Shenmue 500k Staff - Shenmue Stare, shengoro86
Shenmue Master Staff - Shendream
Team Yu Staff - Team Yu

The Shenmue Community has grown a lot over the past 6 years, and i will be trying my best to make sure we remain as a team. Any sort of mentality of "us versus them" i want put to bed from the start. We all co-exist and form one entity, and it offers every Shenmue fan their own unique platform to which they want to contribute to! If you dont like the Forums here, Facebook has you covered with 500k. If you want to help with the #SaveShenmueHD campaign, then Team Yu is the spot for you. Shenmue Master has any French speaking Shenmue fans covered and has been around for as long as the same time the Dojo has. It doesnt matter where you contribute, it matters that you contribute in the first place, be it here, there or anywhere! The one common goal here is the success of Shenmue, and thats all we want together. But wait, doesnt the Shenmue Dojo have a Facebook page? Yes it does! But its a page, and we use that primarily as a news outlet extension to the forums. 500k offers a group platform, to talk about everything Shenmue in a more hot take/smaller post type of fashion. The Dojo forums offer intense debate into any little aspect of Shenmue, so again, its all there to cater to the Shenmue fan. Its not a competition if we are all trying to reach the same goal with the same intention.


Shenmue Dojo Coder - MrRod

I finally had the pleasure of speaking to MrRod on social media over the past few weeks, and he is a great guy. I cannot stress enough the work he has done in the past, and to be honest, it would not be online if it was not for him. He has kindly offered to continue on serving as our coder when we need him in the future, which i will touch upon in more detail in a little bit.

But for now, thats what will make up the structure of the site.


One other thing i need to mention is the option users have had in the past to donate to the forums for upkeep and maintenance. Now let me be clear on this topic, this isnt a negative take on Yamas tenure, where he introduced this feature. It just feel that if anyone has any money they would like to give to the site, give it to the Shenmue 3 PayPal campaign. Or hold onto it and buy the game when its released!! I will cover all costs of the site, and look at any upgrades to the service if we get to that stage and need it. Anyone that knows me, knows what i am like with money. If this site is mine, its my responsibility to cover it financially, and it will continue to be 100% free for all members to use. I do this out of love for Shenmue and thats where i stand.
With removing the donation option, i have decided to remove the various "donor" usergroups, and the relevant username colours and titles, and i humbly thank you all for any support you have given in the past. I know this is the Shenmue Dojo, and change usually brings with it a 15 page argument with nothing but popcorn bags left in its wake. But i do have reasons. This site is on the cusp of its biggest moments in its history. Yes we are in a lull now for many reasons, but Shenmue 3 is fast approaching, and possibly Shenmue HD with it. The attention the series will get, and as an extension the community and this site, will rise to numbers we may not have seen before. When get have new members join here, i want them to see clearly who is who, and what is what. The only people with any sort of distinction are those with key roles, and the colours simply make them easy to identify. Green = moderator. White = newsposter. So on an so forth, This means people know who to go to if they need anything, and also who is making staff decisions at any given time.
Another reason the groups have been streamlined and tidied up is because of something that i touched upon earlier. With a site thats been online this long, and one which started out on its own before becoming part of a community, its inevitable that a hive atmosphere can develop over time. Like i also said, we are all friends, but we are all here for Shenmue, and ultimately on the same page. I want things to be as transparent as possible, and as clear and straightforward as possible, so any sort of special privelidges or cosmetic changes have been removed. I dont want a hierarchy here, and if i could run the place without any sort of groupings then i would, but unfortunately thats not how the way the world works. But, outside of the staff, we are all human being. All together. All Shenmue fans, and i dont want anyone seeming like they are above someone else. It cant be helped when a user joined, or how many posts they have made. We all contribute equally, and great users come along at anytime. Being here for 10 years doesnt give you a badge of honour or any sort of hierarchical standing. We are all Shenmue fans, regardless of if you picked up the controller last week, last month or last year.

The last thing i have to say about the forums is it is currently on an old version of PHPBB. Thats why it looks the way it does, doesnt have Emoji support and other bells and whistles which other more modern platforms may have. The plan is to upgrade the forums ASAP, but it will take a lot of work. As i touched upon earlier, MrRod has kindly agreed to help out with this, and we will try to get to work on it as soon as we can. In preparation for future Shenmue games, we know we also have to move forward. We will have more information on that in the future as it happens!

______________________________________________________

~~~~~WEBSITE~~~~~

The website runs off of both links of shenmuedojo.net, with shenmuedojo.com as a redirect. We pay and own both domains, and each will take you to the website designed by Yama almost 10 years ago. Along with the forums we will be aiming to update them and bring them in line with modern day sites. At the beginning of the process of the handover, Yama had designed a brand new site which i had seen at various stages along its development. Yama has done a great job with a new website design, with a more clear structure, greater social media integration, community partnership and mobile response.

https://i.imgur.com/rZxnGcX.jpg

As much as i would love to use the new design (it would be in place right now!), its been designed on a Wix site for ease of access and user friendliness. The problem is however is that its not our first option. The most ideal method would be to build a new website from scratch, but if anyone who has any experience knows, this is indepth and time consuming. As well as needing knowledge of HTML, CSS, databases and other such technological wizardry.
Another major issue with the Wix site is that the forums cannot be brought along for the ride, and the support isnt there on the Wix end. This would mean one of two things; the forums as we know them would be deleted with new forums created over on the Wix end, or, the furrent forums have a domain change, and run separately on another link. This could be an option, and linking it to the main site would be straightforward, but that means the new domain would be starting from scratch. All previous links that exist across the internet from the past 15 years would essentially be broken. We would also lose our Google hit rating and for a time, the new link would not show up for any searches.
The option i think is best, is to build a new site with Wordpress, and retain everything together. I have been reassured by a lot of people supporting me that its more then accomplishable, but despite that, its a much deeper job then just putting a few things in place. Ive toyed with the idea of a new logo, and that means design work. Then theres the look and tone of the new logo defining the look and tone of a new site. Image assets need to be obtained, a new layout needs to be designed, what plug in options are available and how will they be implemented, all links to social media, community sites, wiki links, forums etc all need to be working. All of that takes time and effort not just from me,but from anyone willing to offer help and support. Will i get that? I dont know, and if i have to i will outsource a new site to a company here in Belfast, which could compromise the Shenmue feeling this place has always had. All of that is in the future which i will have to decide on, but for now i just wanted to keep everyone updated.

~~~~~SOCIAL MEDIA~~~~~

The site has various forms of social media, which are generally used to post news updates as well as other content.

Facebook Page (Shenmue & community news posts)
Twitter Account (Shenmue & community news posts)
Twitch Channel (Streaming service)
Instagram Page (Shenmue artwork & image service)

We did have a YouTube Channel, which i would like to go into in a bit more detail in the interests of transparency.
The second owner of the website was a person by the name of Hellraiser, whom you would know better here now as Ziming. In 2009-2010 he then passed the website to Yama who built it to its current stage. Unfortunately i am not sure of the arrangement they had or how we was still involved with the site. But he did own the YouTube Channel which, for many years was under the title of The Shenmue Dojo. There is a difference between just a title change and an actual domain ownership, but it doesn't change the fact that he does, and always owned that channel. He also was responsible for all of the content added to the channel, and no one can argue it is a huge Shenmue resource.
Recently during the MAGIC 2018 conference a video was shown with a disclaimer for it not to be recorded. The video was an extended cut of the released Shenmue 3 teaser from last August, and was only shown to journalists at the event. Of course people either missed the instruction or chose to ignore it, the video was recorded and it appeared online, including the YouTube channel owned by Ziming. This wouldn't be an issue except not only was the disclaimer clear for it not to be recorded, but i spoke personally with Deep Silver staff after the event as well as Yu-san himself and both said that the trailer was not to go online. Other members of the community at the event were also told the same thing, and we all have refused to host the video as per request. Of course, individual people posting it was inevitable, but a YouTube Channel with the content and subscriber size that's supposed to stand for Shenmue going against the wishes of both the creator and the publisher is not something i can support or endorse.
Ziming has been a unique character over the course of the history of the Shenmue Dojo, and an opinion on him will very to neutral to negative depending on whoever you ask. But in terms of the YouTube Channel not being owned by the Dojo exclusively, it was asked of Ziming to remove all Shenmue Dojo links and branding in light of not removing the video. 2 days ago, i sent him a message asking for him to remove the video and explained the reasons why. As far as i know, i am certainly not the first person to do so. If he feels differently to the hosting of the video that's his business, but with no responses to my messages i will be banning his account here, with no promotion of that Shenmue outlet. If anyone posts a video that's linked to his channel, and its in the context of a conversation at that point in time, then it will be allowed to remain. We are not going blanket banning videos to his site at the punishment of the user. But there will not be dedicated topics to videos that appear on the site.
This was not an easy decision, or one that was quickly made. Nor was it a personal decision, and the list of people i spoke to about the matter for advice should emphasise that. I should also say that i understand if it was such a huge issue, then perhaps Deep Silver or YSNET should issue a copyright strike against it and i shouldn't be making this decision. That may be true, but that's their business, and maybe they don't want the hassle. Again i don't know, but what i do know is i need to make the best decision for both this site as well as Shenmue. One final point is that this call does not reflect or represent the Shenmue 3 team in any official way. This is a site decision, and I wish him all the best with his Channel.

That brings me onto the resulting matter.

Its because of this, that we will need to build a new Shenmue Dojo YouTube Channel. Now as tempting and as easy it would be to begin ripping content or duplicating the channel we once had, its a messy road to go down, and one which benefits no one. There's no point confusing that platform for a user searching for Shenmue related videos. So, the idea which Yama had for the entire Dojo will carry over to the new channel. It will serve as a fan service, with playlists and links to fan created content. A Rolodex for the amount of excellent fan content that's on YouTube. We will of course have our own content being added to the site, aiming to serve as an introduction to Shenmue for new users which, again, we will be expecting with the release of the new games and the attention it brings. Also on there will be a library of live streams and Shenmue Lets Plays both conducted by ourselves at the Dojo, as well as across the web. All content not ours will be play listed only so that when people click on any said video, the proper content creator will get the view, not us, which is fair.
Again, that's the plan, which will take time and manpower to create so bear with us. That applies to all forms of social media which i open the doors to any fans who feel they could contribute to the brand. From updating Facebook and Twitter with news, posting images and artwork to our Instagram etc. I used to stream and work across the board on all sorts of social media when i was a staff member but i very much doubt i could handle it all on my own now.

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TL;DR

Yea i know. A huge intake of words. I know. I apologise if i've rambled in any areas but its been 3 days and i cannot remember what sleep is like.

One last personal request i can only ask for is from everyone, to help get this site to whats generally regarded as its former glory. I don't want to see people at each others throats and attacking each other which the Dojo seems to bring out in people throughout the years. Also, if you can keep in mind I've never been in a position such as this before, and to please help be supportive. We are all human and make mistakes, and again in the interests of transparency, I've already clicked the wrong button and deleted a forum which was created for a members work, so i am reluctant to even type on this keyboard right now in case i nuke the site by some mad ass command. I apologise to Mittens too for the forum deletion. He undertook a Shenmue Project with other fans of the site to make a fanmade shenmue game. The project was dropped a while back, and no valuable content was lost thanks to him having back ups, but still, i made the mistake of deleting them instead of hiding them in the ACP and humbly apologise. Even if i mess up, you will hear about it. Theres no brushing of anything under the rug anymore. Not even from me.
But in the run up to this, i can only say thank you to the numerous people that have said the kindest things to me, encouraged me, and gave me confidence that actually makes me believe that i can do this and make this place a success!

I genuinely hope we can all move forward together towards Shenmue 3, and hopefully Shenmue HD. I don't think i need to reiterate that i will be giving this my all, and if you ever want to talk to me about anything then drop me a message on here, or do a search on Facebook for me and drop me a message!

Oh and thank you for lasting this long if you read through it all!!