Cowboy Bebop is also my favorite anime ever. It got me into anime and really set the bar for all future anime I would watch. Nothing has lived up to it, but I've certainly seen a lot of exceptional anime. I'd love for CB to be revisited. Shinichiro Watanabe said several years ago "someday... maybe, someday" when asked about more CB.

It would have to include the whole gang though. I'll be wracking my brain for the rest of the day to see where I think they should insert the movie. I LOVE how they put Knockin' on Heaven's Door between Cowboy Funk and Brain Scratch. To fans of the show it's clear when it takes place because Andy is now Musashi but the three old men are still alive. Subtle, but such an awesome way to stick in between two episodes. It might be cool if they pick up right after the Bebop lands on Mars after Toys in the Attic.

If they did decide to make another movie/series that not only means we'd be getting new story, we'd also be getting new MUSIC! And everyone knows that's just as good as the rest of CB.

I've been watching Terror in Resonance. I'm liking it so far. The music is great!

I think this is part of why the western-made games were just so unfit to be a part of the series; I don't think the devs really understood any of the deeper, implied details like this. They just thought "let's make with the jump scares!" and forgot that Silent Hill actually has a really deep lore behind it.

Absolutely! That seems to be the cycle every IP goes through. One or two games/movies/TV seasons(SH actually got three good games, one fun, but only slightly less SH-esque) before the suits take notice of it making money and come in with creative differences. Then sometimes there's enough blowback that they reboot it. I really hope they get back to all the subtext and lore.

And I think atmosphere trumps jump scares every time. Jump scares are momentary but atmosphere just saturates you in fear. A couple of jump scares are fine but I'd much rather something scare me through the atmosphere. Like the balcony ghost...just him looking but not approaching or "trying to get me" is totally terrifying. I am horrified by the thought of something looking at me but I don't know it's there yet. But by definition I would eventually have to see the whatever-it-is and that's when the jibblies are cashed in and I freak out.


Here's hoping the team behind the new one remember all of this important background stuff.
I finally watched a longer video of the teaser (I thought I'd seen the whole thing, but it goes a bit longer), and I'm more and more sold on it. The overall style still doesn't feel distinctly "SH" to me (the main jump scare, for example, looks more like something out of Condemned), but I love the direction of it anyway. And I'm not bothered about the first-person perspective anymore; it occurs to me that the Room areas in SH4 were first-person, and they were easily the most unsettling parts of the whole game.

Nothing in there except the baby seemed very SH. From what everyone is saying it's more of a tech demo to show what we can expect from SHs' gameplay, not necessarily story, characters or villains. I do remember how SH4 had first person parts. The room was really creepy when you'd see the ghosts appear and you'd have to light the candles.

I've come to the unfortunate realization that I just don't really care about videogames much anymore -- I spend too much time looking at games on the internet, reading about them and what not, but I don't really care. I don't want to play them -- even when I try to I quickly lose interest (Shin Megami Tensei IV or Tales of Symphonia recently). The only games that manage to keep my interest recently are the one's I'm trying to speedrun, Super Metroid and Symphony of the Night, and that's because once I start to speedrun them they become more of an illusion of a challenge to improve myself rather than a videogame.

There are games that if they were released I would play them without a moment's hesitation (such as Shenmue) but for right now I just don't care. This fuckin' sucks.

I'm in a similar boat. There are games I'd like to play but at $60 I just can't afford a new game unless I really want to play it. And there are few games that I really want to play anymore. Most of those are established franchises too.

Screw Sega if it C&Ds him. As long as someone isn't making money on it, what concern should it be to Sega? If they actually plan on making HD remakes then I'd understand, but since they care nothing about the series they should just go back to making Sonic games and leave this guy, his talent and his love for the game alone.

Goddammit, man. After listening to that, I just had to go listen to even more from the OST, and now it's taking everything I've got not to pop the DVDs in and give the show another watch.
Aside from being my favorite tv show ever (animated or otherwise, doesn't matter), it's also quite possibly my favorite soundtrack from anything as well. So much damn life in every track, not to mention the insane amount of variety present. I can't listen to anymore or I'm gonna break.

I've been wanting to for years, but I swear one day I'll have this tune actually made into a real music box. This, or Memory. I'm still not sure which I like better.

I echo everything you just said. There's no franchise I like out there more than Cowboy Bebop. I've also looked into making a custom music box too. But there are so many songs that would be great for a music box. I would probably flinch every time it stopped though, especially if it were Memory.

I don't know what it is about Yoko Kanno that makes her so great at writing music. She's just a genius. She writes better jazz music than jazz musicians!

I'd love if Suzuki could just point blank say what is stopping the game from hitting development. I think the clarification would prevent a lot of confusion and worry if Suzuki just laid everything out with the fans.

I think it's as simple as Sega not wanting to risk more of their own money to fund a game that didn't prove it had selling power...or rather money making power. It apparently sold well. There are tons of variables as to why it didn't make money though.

The biggest in my opinion is the number of Dreamcast owners vs the number of PS2 owners. It basically showed that Shenmue sold very well and ended up being a great percentage of total Dreamcast owners. So if Shenmue had been released on PS2 it could have potentially sold better than the GTA games of its era.

So flash forward to today..you've got Sega which doesn't want to foot the bill completely but is open to other game producers funding a third game. But I have yet to hear any other company expressing interest in the game.

They've finally released pictures of the Cowboy Bebop limited editions from Funimation and Amazon. I still can't decide, but the Funimation package is now $64 vs Amazon's $89. I don't really like the size of Funimations because it won't fit in my DVD/BD display shelves. I've got shelves full of other junk Bebop would have to compete with. So as of now I'll probably go with Amazon's set.

http://www.funimation.com/blog/2014/10/10/cowboy-bebop-premium-editions-revealed-see-bebop-at-its-best/

Just read the interview. The most important bit: the main reason why Shenmue 3 isn’t being made has nothing to do with Sega having the license at all. Sega will apparently be more than happy to give the license to Suzuki if he wanted to do it. The main problem is that first Suzuki needs to raise a budget for the game.

Just throwing this idea out there but what if we were to organise a fundraiser to be used as a donation to YS NET for Suzuki? Maybe we could find out the actual amount Suzuki needs, take a year out to fundraise as much as we can and then have someone like David deliver the donation to him. Is this possible?

First: Way to go aizen59! Great job with this interview. I only wish you could have published all you saw and heard like more info on Tentei and Baihu.

That's comforting to know Sega will play along. Suzuki will have to crowdfund. I don't see any way around it because Sony and Microsoft just aren't going to foot the bill. So Suzuki needs to get going on some sort of crowdfunding like Kickstarter. Once we get news of the crowdfunding we can mobilize the fans and the online media.

The only concern is that he's wanting to make at least two games, but would like to make three. I could TOTALLY see crowdfunding be wildly successful for one game, but I think the other two would depend completely on the success of the Shenmue 3.

I'm really excited about the movie. I feel like Hollywood is finally learning how to make good movies from past franchises(ie new Apes movies, Godzilla). So I hope JW continues the trend. I LOVE that this will be a fully functioning theme park and not one in development or some wildlife preserve. And that megalodon thing was awesome! It'll give me the heebie jeebies if(and you know they will) at some point the characters have to traverse the water it's in.

But I agree with Kenny on the graphics. The advent of HD really didn't help CGI any. For instance, the LOTR movies look so much more convincing than the Hobbit movies. You would think if any movie had the budget to push HD CGI into the believable realm it would be the Hobbit movies. I really don't care if CGI can emote more than makeup. The fact of having a live actor right there, in full costume with the human actor is loads more compelling than a green tennis ball. I'm positive 99% of actors would say the same thing. And that's why I wish del Toro had helmed the Hobbit movies, even though even he couldn't have saved them from the padded scripts.

And the T-rex from JP1 looks so much better than any of the other movies, mostly because so much of it was an animatronic. And that was perfect . When CGI became mainstream filmmakers(most of them) abandoned practical effects like animatronics.

The ship going to JP i says Isla Nublar which is the island from the first JP. The director tweeted that JW is a sequel set 22 years after the first. From what I've heard about the hybrid(called a D-Rex) is that it's a T-Rex crossed with DNA from an anaconda and a cuttlefish. The hybrid is due to people getting bored with the same ol' dinosaurs. We're seeing the park after years of success.

I think it would be awesome to do a chameleon/dino hybrid that could be seen in a kinda when-you-see-it-you'll-poo-bricks style where someone is staring at you somewhere you can't see. Those get me all the time. I hate the thought of someone looking at me but I can't see them. So when you view the movie again you can spot glimpses of the dino when the main characters aren't paying attention. Scary!

From the looks of the trailer it looks like they've trained at least the velociraptors because it doesn't look like they are chasing after Chris Pratt and he doesn't seem concerned with them at all. Looks like they may even race them given the gates they jump out of.

Here's a piece of concept art that some say is the D-Rex.

http://imageserver.moviepilot.com/diabolus-rex-dissecting-the-d-rex-jurassic-world-s-new-terrifying-dinosaur.jpeg?width=640&height=481

But I think the quickest way to ruin the JP movies is to add dino/human hybrids. Leave that for another movie. It has no place in JP.

1. Zelda: Ocarina of Time
2. Mario 64
3. Tales of Phantasia
4. Shenmue
5. Portal
6. Zelda: A Link to the Past
7. Dead Rising
8. Mario Sunshine
9. Resident Evil 4
10. Shadow of the Colossus
11. Red Dead Redemption
12. Gradius III
13. San Fransisco Rush 2049

SanFran2049. What a fuckin game! Probably shit to go back to now, but still...

Yeah. I loved Rush 1, 2 and 2049. I bought the newer LA Rush game but it was stupid. It tried to be like GTA. I just loved the ability to take shortcuts in the originals. My friend and I played the heck out of Rush 2. We turned off the HUD and played hide and seek.

It's sole hype for Shenmue HD, and if the stars align, a simultaneous release of Shenmue II HD.

If this is the case and Shenmue 3 isn't already planned as a definite followup we've got to be prepared to do everything we can to make sure the HDs sell. Do we even have a plan?

On a different note, is the thing about the site being hosted on an Amazon server true?

So judging by Yu's response to the question....Shenmue 4 confirmed!

Dear god I sincerely hope Shenmue 3 does well financially...

I'm already going to get it for everyone for Christmas 2017. "Merry Christmas, Grandma! No, it's pronounced 'Shin-moo.' No you can't play it on the Game Boy, but hey, I'm proud you know what that is. Just say thanks and open someone else's gift already. I've got to get back to the house to play mine."

So where are these on the map below? How far should this progress the story?

People think that 4.5 Million is the end of the campaign, when its really not. The video shows the other 2 locations with ?Million and we NEED to get them. We want Yu to make the game he has always wanted to, not a cut down version.

See, the Kickstarter was to make a point. That's all. Sony doesn't need our money for one game. They have deep enough pockets to fund the game if they see it's beneficial for the company. The Kickstarter was more successful than any of us could have hoped as far as getting Sony's attention. So the idea of hitting Kickstarter goals to attain the next level in the game is stupid. Sony is now fully awake to our desires. Just make the game.

I also expect a big push at the end. I didn't bite until today because I wanted to really think about what level reward I wanted. Once people see the end they'll make the purchase to ensure they get their fan merch. Also, a lot of people who live paycheck-to-paycheck can't drop $200 in a day's notice. This will give them a month to save up. I agree with the $5-6 million by the end. If they release more stretch goals I think that will also increase the amount past the $5-6 million. But again, that's stupid.

I also think they should add more reward tiers past $500. I certainly can't afford it, but I know others would love to spend $1,000+ if the rewards are...rewarding.

Graduated college, got my first job post-graduation, met a girl, married her. And now we've got the sweetest 21-month-old little girl. Those two ladies are the lights of my life. Now Shenmue 3 is the icing on the cake.

^Kingdom Hearts II tried catching people up on what happened on the spin offs between I&II and fucked it up.

The HD collections are out now so it's easy for people to catch up.

The thing I remember most about Kingdom Hearts 2 was that you play the whole prologue with Roxis and THEN you get the title card. It blew me away that it took that long for the title card.

We need to form our own campaign to get people who have donated to add $25-$50 to their donation. No shaming just trying to ice the cake. Instead of the monthly capsule push lets do a "$30 on the 3rd" and everyone donate an extra $30 bonus or no bonus. As people have said this isn't about goodies. Goodies are cool but we want the game.

If everyone who've already donated added $30 it would add $1.2 million to the pot!

I'll donate another $30. That's three trips to the fast food restaurant. Who will join me?

--- UPDATE 6/27/15 ---
Guys, I've been working feverishly today to get this site up. It's collaboration between me and my wife. She does the design, I do the coding. I think we make a good team. So, as you tweet and share about $30 on the 3rd please direct people to this website that will explain the campaign to people who may not understand:

http://www.30onthe3rd.com/


--- UPDATE 6/25/15 ---
I'm beyond excited about the response this campaign is getting! Thank you everyone!

As we're quickly approaching the 3rd of July we need to all step up our efforts to promote "$30 on the 3rd."

We need to focus on a different social media every day. Let's say days with an odd number focus on Facebook and even days focus on Twitter. If you see a $30 on the 3rd post share it. And every time you check the Kickstarter page for whatever reason leave a comment with $30 on the 3rd. I'm sure they get buried pretty quickly so the more often the more chance new people have to see it.

We REALLY need to get in touch with Yu and Awesome Japan and get them to promote the push. No one is going to have the audience they do. Can someone see if Aizen can tell Yu about the campaign and see if he can tweet it?

Also, don't dwell on the chance that this may not move the needle much. If you aim at nothing you'll hit it every time! Focus on $10 million! I know Yu is.



--- UPDATE 6/20/15 ---
So Yu Suzuki needs $10 million. This is NOT unreachable. It's actually VERY reachable. If they open donations to PayPal as they've suggested it will become the avenue to Yu's goal. If we continue with the monthly thunderbolt and focus our efforts on donating $30 on the 3rd of each month we WILL hit that number. I anticipate the Kickstarter will end up earning between $6 millon and $8 million because at the end everyone who hasn't donated will scramble to get their rewards and those who have extra cash to throw at it will do that. Even if it only makes $5 million that's fine.

PayPal is the ticket after July 17! If they keep PayPal open indefinitely we can continue to give month after month. And that's where the "$30 on the 3rd" makes BIG strides for the campaign.

$30 is nothing to most people. If you are struggling to make ends meet, please take care of yourself and your family first. But for those of us who are stable enough financially we can make a HUGE impact for Shenmue. $30 each month adds up, fast!

Mods, please sticky this. I really feel like this is the best route to take. We also need to get the Shenmue Kickstarter/advertising team, Twitter, Facebook groups, the Dojo homepage and any other non-English speaking Shenmue fansites involved to promote this idea.

Stay sweaty!

-- END UPDATE --

We need to form our own campaign booster to get people who have donated to add $25-$50 to their donation. No shaming for people who may not have donated very much, we're just trying to ice the cake. Instead of the monthly tweetathon on July 3rd let's do a "$30 on the 3rd" and everyone donate an extra $30(or more).

At the current count if everyone who've already donated added $30 it would add $1.24 million to the pot!

I'll donate another $30. That's three trips to the fast food restaurant or four trips to Starbucks. Who will join me?

My twitter is pathetic, so whoever organized the tweetathon feel free to take over in boosting this effort on Twitter and Facebook. And mods, move this post around if you want to use it in the News section.

http://i.imgur.com/ecLqB1X.png

http://i.imgur.com/KlfJwR6.png

http://i57.tinypic.com/2442qdf.jpg

Thief wrote:Shadow of the Colossus: Too much "artsy" praise turned me off -- that and it looks boring.

Shadow of the colossus is artsy yes but it's such an experience. Amazingly fun. Ico was ok. But please play shadow.

Someone should start an ama called "I'm waiting for the Yu Suzuki AMA so AMA."

If it's open world just walk back to Yokosuka and spar with Fuku-San.

I'm building a list of stretch goals to send to Yu and Ys Net to help improve Shenmue III's Kickstarter funding. Here they are:

Stretch Goal Suggestions
Feature Extra: Drive vehicles
Feature Extra: Customize Clothes
Feature Extra: Customize Room


While these may make sense in most open world games now, do we really want resources going to something trivial like Ryo changing clothes and driving vehicles? If we were talking about a multimillion dollar AAA game, sure throw it in. But we're lucky we're getting a third game. I'd much rather they put their efforts and money toward story-driven elements.

I'm trying to keep the 3rd of the month thunderclap going, except this time encouraging people to add $30 to their pledge. Check it out:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=47801

Check this part out. It seems to fit our situation.

https://youtu.be/xw6cMBzBSw0?t=229

We'd have to edit the video to skip a few parts, but if we can get someone to voice Fuku-san(shouldn't be too hard) and Corey to change a little of the dialogue it would be awesome! We'd also need someone to capture that part of the game, preferably in HD. What do y'all think?

I thought it would be cool for Corey to do a VO right after he says "it's not enough." The VO would describe the $30 on the 3rd campaign.

If we had to I could edit the flyer in after effects. That would probably be quicker than modding. I can also edit the video. I've got creative cloud and I'm good with premier.

As excited as I am I really don't want to know all the details along the way. Just updated in his the game is progressing. I don't even want all the input they want from us. I don't want yu to give us what we want. I want his vision to be made real. He gave us two awesome games and I trust him to do the same again. So maybe just a short trailer here and there and that will be fine enough with me.

We should get him to help us do the "$30 on the 3rd" Kickstarter boost. Anyone know any Shenmue situations that would make sense for him to do a dialogue with an NPC about money where we can put in the part about donating $30? Maybe where Fuku-San gives him money to go to hongkong? That might actually pretty funny.

If they open PayPal for us to donate this solves the 10 million issue. Each month we continue our 3rd of the month thunderbolt except this time we donate $30 each month. This is the solution if we all get behind it! Who's with me?

I wonder how much a Google ad would cost for a banner ad. I can get my wife to make some graphics. She's a graphic designer for a magazine.

EDIT

Also, in future ads do you think we should include something like "Be a part of video game history" as a call-to-action? We need something to entice people who don't know what a Shamoo is.

I would add pewdiepie and markiplier to the tweet. I can't seen Conan doing this because as others have said, it's an old game. I think it would be hilarious but I just don't think it'll work. It's even a long shot for pewdiepie and markiplier but I think they'd be more likely to do it.

Equal, absolutely. The same, absolutely not. Men and women are inherently different. That is not a bad thing for either.

Still no PayPal. I'm fine with Kickstarter for myself right now but I realize tons of others will only be able to make contributions through PayPal. So it's lame they haven't made that available yet.

Don't worry about the Kickstarter man. You need to take care if yourself first. There's no shame at all with dropping some of your pledge. Donate what your wallet says first, then your heart will be good with that too. I fully expect them to open PayPal after the Kickstarter. So you'll always be able to contribute.

Also...you just said these words: "Shenmue 3 could not have been announced at a worse time." Stop and think about that. Man, we're freaking getting Shenmue 3!!! Don't get stressed, everything's going to be fine.

I just registered 30onthe3rd.com. I'll create the site when I get home from work tonight. I'll let everyone know when I get it live and we'll start pushing traffic to it.

Guys, I've been working feverishly today to get this site up. It's collaboration between me and my wife. She does the design, I do the coding. I think we make a good team. So, as you tweet and share about $30 on the 3rd please direct people to this website that will explain the campaign to people who may not understand:

http://www.30onthe3rd.com/

Guys, I've been working feverishly today to get this site up. It's collaboration between me and my wife. She does the design, I do the coding. I think we make a good team. So, as you tweet and share about $30 on the 3rd please direct people to this website that will explain the campaign to people who may not understand:

http://www.30onthe3rd.com/

I'll probably do a little more tidying up in the morning but right now it's late and I'm going to bed.

Thanks for everyone's support! I've made a few suggested changes and even added a POLL! Go tell everyone how much you're going to donate!

http://www.30onthe3rd.com/

There's an easy way to settle this argument...like him or not, after seeing his performance last night would you hire him to do the marketing of a game that has one more chance to prove it's worth resurrecting after 14 years? No, none of us would. There is too much on the line to act like a 16 year old(no offense to you teenagers) especially when your in the presence AND WORKING FOR one of the top video game developers in the history of gaming.

I've got absolutely nothing personally against him, I'm sure he's an ok guy when you get to know him. But he made that interview last night HIS interview. Pure speculation but I wouldn't be surprised if Yu is related to one of them(my money isn't on Joel) because the only reason you wouldn't cut them loose after last night is family.

Because ff7 is a remake. Not a new game. So they aren't cutting new ground. Shenmue ftw.

chapter 1: yokosuka
chapter 2: boat to hong kong
chapter 3 hong kong
chapter 4 kowloon
chapter 5 guilin
chapter 6 Hong Kong Disney Land

We also need to think about one last campaign between the 3rd and the last day. I know most will be squeezing out everything they have on the 3rd but it seems to work with PBS and televangelists. It could just be for those who missed the 3rd campaign to make the last day count or something. And of course it would help if they added more reward tiers.

EDIT
Also be sure to follow me(@nicknichols2049), @shenmue_dojo and @thegamefor3. Then retweet our stuff like crazy. I really don't care about gaining followers and only used my employers Twitter before $30 on the 3rd but once I saw how bad awesome Japan was doing I figured it was only going to get better if WE made it better. So now I'm glad when I see a few follow me. I even got a follow from Corey Marshall. I sat up so fast in bed last night my wife thought it was a bug. That was really exciting.

I've just put up two additional languages on the $30 on the 3rd site. Thanks to sand4fish and PacemaŜinobo for translating the info to French and Portuguese. Please share the site to your friends who speak one of those languages if they don't speak English. I'll add more languages if someone wants to translate the text for me. Languages are selected right above the text about the campaign.

Thanks!

Right now we're trying to do awesome Japan's job. So I think we should focus all our efforts on Shenmue 3. After that's done we can hit the HD remakes. And hopefully we can contribute to Shenmue 3 on PayPaland that will be the other campaign after this month.