1UP's Shenmue Anniversary Celebration

[*Kenshin Himura*]

Shenmue III!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Andy Hughes]

Very nice interview! An interesting read, I really hope Shenmue Gai is a success and Suzuki goes further! I think it's very possible we will see a third instalment eventually

[Henry Spencer]

And so many people doubted Suzuki all this time...
READ the interview, he was trying to do Shenmue, he was trying to do other games, original ones at that, they just kept closing all the doors on his face.

Read the interview, he would do Shenmue III tomorrow if he had/has the chance. The only condition? That they give him freedom to do THE GAME HE WANTS and envisions. No freaking compromise. That's how much he wants to make Shenmue, 'our' Shenmue, HIS Shenmue, a proper, full scale Shenmue honouring the Dreamcast games and his original project.

Doesn't surprise me. It's just what I expcted really. SEGA weren't exactly full of money after the hardware business anyway.

It may explain why Suzuki stuck around with SEGA for so long though; he wants the original creators of Shenmue to help him make it. I bet the poor guy pitched Shenmue III so many times...we only know about Online and Gai (which he has now confirmed in this interview to be a platform for III ever getting made). Heck, it really is his life's work, ain't it?

[Wanderin']

Yeah, so Suzuki literally came right out and said it: he very much so wanted to do Shenmue 3 right after Shenmue 2, but it was ultimately Sega who literally closed the project indefinitely because they thought sales were too poor.

But golly - Suzuki has so much of Shenmue 3 planned and thought out in his head that it almost sounded like he was discussing the legitimate development of the game with Mielke (the interviewer - and on a side note, one of my all-time personal favourite games journalists since his GameSpot, EGM, GMR, and 1Up days) on that first page of the part 2 interview. Can you imagine just how deep, intricate, philosophical, and heady Shenmue 3 would be if Suzuki was able to incorporate everything he talked about there?

His paradigm of having Shenmue 3 "expand inwards" is quite honestly genius. In a time when our contemporary mass gaming audience simply expects each sequel to be bigger and better (ie. read each new Call of Duty, Halo, Assassin's Creed, FallOut, Mass Effect, etc.) - or to "expand outwards", as it were - Suzuki would seek to innovate with a 3rd Shenmue title by once again changing the core concept of what a game could be, as he had previously done with Shenmue 1 and 2.

What do I really mean by that? Well, when we read about what Suzuki envisions Shenmue 3 to be in this part 2 interview, he goes into detail about how he would "expand [the game] inwards" by having deep and richly detailed character interactions in which say Shenhua would ask Ryo all sorts of questions (just as real people do when interacting) to which players would be able to choose each and every response. Every response affects how Shenhua and others react to Ryo and ultimately how the course of the game would turn out. So, it would seem that if Suzuki made a Shenmue 3, it would have an even greater degree of freedom that may involve branching in the game's progression, and certainly a lot of research and implementation of advanced game AI in which NPCs and story events would respond spontaneously and in an idiosyncratic manner to Ryo/the player's each and every decision. By the time we finish the game, we'd have ultimately learned so much about just what type of person Ryo (and conversely, of ourselves, since we do choose a lot of Ryo's responses) is, grown so attached to other characters like Shenhua and have such fond memories of our relationships with these videogame characters that Shenmue 3 would very much so be more than just a game where we normally only remember literal things like "that boss we had to fight", or "that level that was so hard".

But that really has always been the crux of the discussion, hasn't it? That Shenmue really is more than just a mere game. Now, before even I flame myself for sounding so naive and idealistic, give me a chance to explain. This isn't a debate about whether games are art or not - that discussion is beyond the scope of this post. But when we lay the facts out, Shenmue really isn't just an action adventure game with a stereotypical mystical JRPG kung-fu revenge story, is it? The story isn't about Ryo searching for revenge from his father's murderer. As Suzuki states, it's a tribute to the beauty and mystery of Asiatic cultures and it's a coming-of-age story wherein the murder of Ryo's father serves only as a catalyst that propels the young man into searching not for revenge, but for an understanding about how he, as one simple man, fits into this large and mysterious world.

And we can clearly see this message in the games: when Nozomi, Naoyuki, and Ryo's other friends fret over the positively staid and trivial (compared to what has happened to Ryo) concern about which university (of course education is important kids, but we are discussing how Shenmue's themes relate to the greater human condition, right?) they can get into, we can look at Iwao's death as a sort of darkly opportune chance event that frees Ryo from the ordinary life he was living and instills in him the necessary determination and drive to set out on his great adventure to see just what the rest of the world looks like, to gain the friendship of so many friends he could have never imagined having, and just how much he can learn and achieve together with these friends when he puts his mind to it. By the time the end of Shenmue 2 rolls around, we know that our belief in this theme is right: when Shenhua inquires about what school must be like and of all the civilized conveniences that Ryo takes for granted (ex. pharmacies, electricity, ready made food, etc.) both Ryo and the gamer soon realize that it's not about looking for revenge - it's about taking the chance to experience life fully: from taking the time and fancy to inspect an ornate flower vase from every angle in all its details to doing your best to help anyone in need of help to the best of your ability (as Ryo does), Shenmue is really about how we all could live our lives to the fullest, about what life could be like if we all at least tried to help each other and listened to each others' advice, and not just what we think life should be like when we put on the shirt and tie and work 9-5 to have our lives justified with monetary rewards. In short, Shenmue's extravagance and detail makes us yearn to experience life, and not just live it, for posterity's sake.

And for this, Suzuki darn well deserves infinite praise. For a man whose resume is primarily associated with visceral, in your face, physical arcade experiences about racing, shooting, and punching, the one time he decides to turn 180 degrees and put all of himself into making a masterpiece gaming experience that is as much about traditional gaming conventions (ie. virtua fighter style fighting, RPG exploration, QTEs, etc.) as it is about teaching gamers about how to live one's life with dedication, conviction, and morals - the world wasn't ready for it and he had to quote "convince [his] own development team" to make the project at the time and his own company shuns his ideas for the rest of his career after he makes it. To date, no one else has made a game of this scope. Miyamoto, although proficient at making games that are objectively fun, he typically shies away from projects with more substantial plots or themes. And Kojima has and continues only to make Metal Gear games (make something else for once already!) that are technically just third person cover shooters with plots that honestly need much more editing to make more sense than they really do.

Sorry, sorry, sorry for the length here! But Suzuki is really such a modest man and Shenmue really deserves so much more recognition. Regardless of whether it's the anniversary or not, Shenmue and Suzuki always deserves celebration. It's too bad that Sega doesn't support Suzuki in any way and that he himself doesn't have any gaming capital or resources to speak of, because it's clearly evident that he wants to make Shenmue 3. Having him simply collaborate with an outside company is harder than you think, because Sega owns the rights to anything related to Shenmue and as evidenced, most, if not all, of the original Shenmue development team is no more. Shenmue is important to me as it is to many of us, but making Shenmue 3 with the same quality, and thematic, stylistic, and aural themes at the moment is much harder than we think and requires a lot of working out.

[UnHoly Bible]

I rather enjoyed the interviewer's answer to Shenhua's question. Although I didn't get a lot of time to think about it before I read the answer. Who knows what I would have come up with.

[ThyDarkAngel]

Yeah, so Suzuki literally came right out and said it: he very much so wanted to do Shenmue 3 right after Shenmue 2, but it was ultimately Sega who literally closed the project indefinitely because they thought sales were too poor.

But golly - Suzuki has so much of Shenmue 3 planned and thought out in his head that it almost sounded like he was discussing the legitimate development of the game with Mielke (the interviewer - and on a side note, one of my all-time personal favourite games journalists since his GameSpot, EGM, GMR, and 1Up days) on that first page of the part 2 interview. Can you imagine just how deep, intricate, philosophical, and heady Shenmue 3 would be if Suzuki was able to incorporate everything he talked about there?

His paradigm of having Shenmue 3 "expand inwards" is quite honestly genius. In a time when our contemporary mass gaming audience simply expects each sequel to be bigger and better (ie. read each new Call of Duty, Halo, Assassin's Creed, FallOut, Mass Effect, etc.) - or to "expand outwards", as it were - Suzuki would seek to innovate with a 3rd Shenmue title by once again changing the core concept of what a game could be, as he had previously done with Shenmue 1 and 2.

What do I really mean by that? Well, when we read about what Suzuki envisions Shenmue 3 to be in this part 2 interview, he goes into detail about how he would "expand [the game] inwards" by having deep and richly detailed character interactions in which say Shenhua would ask Ryo all sorts of questions (just as real people do when interacting) to which players would be able to choose each and every response. Every response affects how Shenhua and others react to Ryo and ultimately how the course of the game would turn out. So, it would seem that if Suzuki made a Shenmue 3, it would have an even greater degree of freedom that may involve branching in the game's progression, and certainly a lot of research and implementation of advanced game AI in which NPCs and story events would respond spontaneously and in an idiosyncratic manner to Ryo/the player's each and every decision. By the time we finish the game, we'd have ultimately learned so much about just what type of person Ryo (and conversely, of ourselves, since we do choose a lot of Ryo's responses) is, grown so attached to other characters like Shenhua and have such fond memories of our relationships with these videogame characters that Shenmue 3 would very much so be more than just a game where we normally only remember literal things like "that boss we had to fight", or "that level that was so hard".

But that really has always been the crux of the discussion, hasn't it? That Shenmue really is more than just a mere game. Now, before even I flame myself for sounding so naive and idealistic, give me a chance to explain. This isn't a debate about whether games are art or not - that discussion is beyond the scope of this post. But when we lay the facts out, Shenmue really isn't just an action adventure game with a stereotypical mystical JRPG kung-fu revenge story, is it? The story isn't about Ryo searching for revenge from his father's murderer. As Suzuki states, it's a tribute to the beauty and mystery of Asiatic cultures and it's a coming-of-age story wherein the murder of Ryo's father serves only as a catalyst that propels the young man into searching not for revenge, but for an understanding about how he, as one simple man, fits into this large and mysterious world.

And we can clearly see this message in the games: when Nozomi, Naoyuki, and Ryo's other friends fret over the positively staid and trivial (compared to what has happened to Ryo) concern about which university (of course education is important kids, but we are discussing how Shenmue's themes relate to the greater human condition, right?) they can get into, we can look at Iwao's death as a sort of darkly opportune chance event that frees Ryo from the ordinary life he was living and instills in him the necessary determination and drive to set out on his great adventure to see just what the rest of the world looks like, to gain the friendship of so many friends he could have never imagined having, and just how much he can learn and achieve together with these friends when he puts his mind to it. By the time the end of Shenmue 2 rolls around, we know that our belief in this theme is right: when Shenhua inquires about what school must be like and of all the civilized conveniences that Ryo takes for granted (ex. pharmacies, electricity, ready made food, etc.) both Ryo and the gamer soon realize that it's not about looking for revenge - it's about taking the chance to experience life fully: from taking the time and fancy to inspect an ornate flower vase from every angle in all its details to doing your best to help anyone in need of help to the best of your ability (as Ryo does), Shenmue is really about how we all could live our lives to the fullest, about what life could be like if we all at least tried to help each other and listened to each others' advice, and not just what we think life should be like when we put on the shirt and tie and work 9-5 to have our lives justified with monetary rewards. In short, Shenmue's extravagance and detail makes us yearn to experience life, and not just live it, for posterity's sake.

And for this, Suzuki darn well deserves infinite praise. For a man whose resume is primarily associated with visceral, in your face, physical arcade experiences about racing, shooting, and punching, the one time he decides to turn 180 degrees and put all of himself into making a masterpiece gaming experience that is as much about traditional gaming conventions (ie. virtua fighter style fighting, RPG exploration, QTEs, etc.) as it is about teaching gamers about how to live one's life with dedication, conviction, and morals - the world wasn't ready for it and he had to quote "convince [his] own development team" to make the project at the time and his own company shuns his ideas for the rest of his career after he makes it. To date, no one else has made a game of this scope. Miyamoto, although proficient at making games that are objectively fun, he typically shies away from projects with more substantial plots or themes. And Kojima has and continues only to make Metal Gear games (make something else for once already!) that are technically just third person cover shooters with plots that honestly need much more editing to make more sense than they really do.

Sorry, sorry, sorry for the length here! But Suzuki is really such a modest man and Shenmue really deserves so much more recognition. Regardless of whether it's the anniversary or not, Shenmue and Suzuki always deserves celebration. It's too bad that Sega doesn't support Suzuki in any way and that he himself doesn't have any gaming capital or resources to speak of, because it's clearly evident that he wants to make Shenmue 3. Having him simply collaborate with an outside company is harder than you think, because Sega owns the rights to anything related to Shenmue and as evidenced, most, if not all, of the original Shenmue development team is no more. Shenmue is important to me as it is to many of us, but making Shenmue 3 with the same quality, and thematic, stylistic, and aural themes at the moment is much harder than we think and requires a lot of working out.

Five stars post right here.
It's what I have been saying about Shenmue for so many years now.

Good job, Wanderin.

[Ryo's Room]

Well dang, I wish he'd ask about SI and II on PSN.

[alimn]

I call this the last missed secret page of 1UP's articles...

http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=9065726

And oh, btw did anyone here won anything?

http://www.twitter.com/1upsweeps

Best Regards, Ali M.N

[Supa]

I won Digital Dance Mix! Awesome! Brother tried to win Shenmue but failed. :(

[Dorian]

Yeah, so Suzuki literally came right out and said it: he very much so wanted to do Shenmue 3 right after Shenmue 2, but it was ultimately Sega who literally closed the project indefinitely because they thought sales were too poor.

But golly - Suzuki has so much of Shenmue 3 planned and thought out in his head that it almost sounded like he was discussing the legitimate development of the game with Mielke (the interviewer - and on a side note, one of my all-time personal favourite games journalists since his GameSpot, EGM, GMR, and 1Up days) on that first page of the part 2 interview. Can you imagine just how deep, intricate, philosophical, and heady Shenmue 3 would be if Suzuki was able to incorporate everything he talked about there?

His paradigm of having Shenmue 3 "expand inwards" is quite honestly genius. In a time when our contemporary mass gaming audience simply expects each sequel to be bigger and better (ie. read each new Call of Duty, Halo, Assassin's Creed, FallOut, Mass Effect, etc.) - or to "expand outwards", as it were - Suzuki would seek to innovate with a 3rd Shenmue title by once again changing the core concept of what a game could be, as he had previously done with Shenmue 1 and 2.

What do I really mean by that? Well, when we read about what Suzuki envisions Shenmue 3 to be in this part 2 interview, he goes into detail about how he would "expand [the game] inwards" by having deep and richly detailed character interactions in which say Shenhua would ask Ryo all sorts of questions (just as real people do when interacting) to which players would be able to choose each and every response. Every response affects how Shenhua and others react to Ryo and ultimately how the course of the game would turn out. So, it would seem that if Suzuki made a Shenmue 3, it would have an even greater degree of freedom that may involve branching in the game's progression, and certainly a lot of research and implementation of advanced game AI in which NPCs and story events would respond spontaneously and in an idiosyncratic manner to Ryo/the player's each and every decision. By the time we finish the game, we'd have ultimately learned so much about just what type of person Ryo (and conversely, of ourselves, since we do choose a lot of Ryo's responses) is, grown so attached to other characters like Shenhua and have such fond memories of our relationships with these videogame characters that Shenmue 3 would very much so be more than just a game where we normally only remember literal things like "that boss we had to fight", or "that level that was so hard".

But that really has always been the crux of the discussion, hasn't it? That Shenmue really is more than just a mere game. Now, before even I flame myself for sounding so naive and idealistic, give me a chance to explain. This isn't a debate about whether games are art or not - that discussion is beyond the scope of this post. But when we lay the facts out, Shenmue really isn't just an action adventure game with a stereotypical mystical JRPG kung-fu revenge story, is it? The story isn't about Ryo searching for revenge from his father's murderer. As Suzuki states, it's a tribute to the beauty and mystery of Asiatic cultures and it's a coming-of-age story wherein the murder of Ryo's father serves only as a catalyst that propels the young man into searching not for revenge, but for an understanding about how he, as one simple man, fits into this large and mysterious world.

And we can clearly see this message in the games: when Nozomi, Naoyuki, and Ryo's other friends fret over the positively staid and trivial (compared to what has happened to Ryo) concern about which university (of course education is important kids, but we are discussing how Shenmue's themes relate to the greater human condition, right?) they can get into, we can look at Iwao's death as a sort of darkly opportune chance event that frees Ryo from the ordinary life he was living and instills in him the necessary determination and drive to set out on his great adventure to see just what the rest of the world looks like, to gain the friendship of so many friends he could have never imagined having, and just how much he can learn and achieve together with these friends when he puts his mind to it. By the time the end of Shenmue 2 rolls around, we know that our belief in this theme is right: when Shenhua inquires about what school must be like and of all the civilized conveniences that Ryo takes for granted (ex. pharmacies, electricity, ready made food, etc.) both Ryo and the gamer soon realize that it's not about looking for revenge - it's about taking the chance to experience life fully: from taking the time and fancy to inspect an ornate flower vase from every angle in all its details to doing your best to help anyone in need of help to the best of your ability (as Ryo does), Shenmue is really about how we all could live our lives to the fullest, about what life could be like if we all at least tried to help each other and listened to each others' advice, and not just what we think life should be like when we put on the shirt and tie and work 9-5 to have our lives justified with monetary rewards. In short, Shenmue's extravagance and detail makes us yearn to experience life, and not just live it, for posterity's sake.

And for this, Suzuki darn well deserves infinite praise. For a man whose resume is primarily associated with visceral, in your face, physical arcade experiences about racing, shooting, and punching, the one time he decides to turn 180 degrees and put all of himself into making a masterpiece gaming experience that is as much about traditional gaming conventions (ie. virtua fighter style fighting, RPG exploration, QTEs, etc.) as it is about teaching gamers about how to live one's life with dedication, conviction, and morals - the world wasn't ready for it and he had to quote "convince [his] own development team" to make the project at the time and his own company shuns his ideas for the rest of his career after he makes it. To date, no one else has made a game of this scope. Miyamoto, although proficient at making games that are objectively fun, he typically shies away from projects with more substantial plots or themes. And Kojima has and continues only to make Metal Gear games (make something else for once already!) that are technically just third person cover shooters with plots that honestly need much more editing to make more sense than they really do.

Sorry, sorry, sorry for the length here! But Suzuki is really such a modest man and Shenmue really deserves so much more recognition. Regardless of whether it's the anniversary or not, Shenmue and Suzuki always deserves celebration. It's too bad that Sega doesn't support Suzuki in any way and that he himself doesn't have any gaming capital or resources to speak of, because it's clearly evident that he wants to make Shenmue 3. Having him simply collaborate with an outside company is harder than you think, because Sega owns the rights to anything related to Shenmue and as evidenced, most, if not all, of the original Shenmue development team is no more. Shenmue is important to me as it is to many of us, but making Shenmue 3 with the same quality, and thematic, stylistic, and aural themes at the moment is much harder than we think and requires a lot of working out.

Beautiful. This is the best post I've read on this forum. Thank you so much for writing what I always wanted to write but was never able to. ｍ（．＿．）ｍ

[Henry Spencer]

Yeah, Wanderin' is the one guy speaking the most sense to me too. We all want the same thing but whether Suzuki can pull off what he creatively wants is another thing since it seems a lot of the original development staff have gone on to other places. Who is to say he can't bring back some of them especially for Shenmue 3 though? I hope Suzuki gets to one day do what the hell he wants.

[Wanderin']

Thanks folks - but I must also reciprocate the thanks here as it certainly is refreshing and energizing to be able to participate in such constructive and meaningful discussion about the future of Shenmue with so many other like-minded and courteous fans here. Honestly, it hasn't felt like this since, what - 2000-2003? And - there really is much to discuss at the moment.

Despite all the recent excitement surrounding the small description of what Suzuki envisions Shenmue 3 would play like (if you have the time or desire, you may read my impressions of that vision in the "Shenmue 3 Concept Already Exists" thread in the Shenmue 3 forum - shameless plug, I know!), many others are right to have pointed out that this is really no different than when Suzuki was quoted as having said that he had an idea of what Shenmue 3 would be like many years ago now.

But - the difference now is that he is sharing with us specifically what that/those idea(s) are. And that excites most of us because it appears as if Suzuki has seemingly so much of Shenmue 3 planned out/thought up from a creative standpoint that it is as if Shenmue 3 is already virtually made/completed - in Suzuki's mind (as intangible as that may seem...) - and could therefore enter production at a moment's notice, if given the necessary physical resources and capital to do so. And even if it never gets made, it's exciting because - short of reading the rest of the manuscript of the core Saga to us like a grade-school teacher would to his kindergarten class - Suzuki is seemingly literally sharing/offering a descriptive look into what just Shenmue 3 would have/could be. And for so many of us who have been starved of new Shenmue experiences so long, this is almost equivalent to actually playing the darn game.

Still others howver, suggest that Suzuki's recent description of Shenmue 3 as a game that would branch its events based on the decisions players made Ryo make are too much of a copy-cat of various contemporary 'high-concept' games like Mass Effect or Heavy Rain. Fair enough - but even at its worse, even if Suzuki is merely copying the current trend of games, then we can at least take solace in the fact that he has in fact been keeping up to date with the latest advances in game design and at least desires to make Shenmue 3 competitive with its contemporaries. On the other hand, Suzuki seemed honest enough about his description and did not sound as if he was just making up random ideas. And if we - as his fans - can at least afford him enough faith and trust, then that is why we praise him for revealing some of the ideas that he has had brewing in his mind for over a decade now regarding Shenmue 3.

Nevertheless, although speculation as to what Shenmue 3 may be like based on what Suzuki has said recently can be entertaining, it is ultimately fruitless because the game may very well never be made and/or we may have interpreted Suzuki's ideas completely incorrectly and not know at all what he really evisions for the game. So, if we ought not spend too much of our time speculating about indefinite game concepts, lets move our discussion series forward and speculate about something much more concrete.

Just how, specifically, would Yu Suzuki possibly make Shenmue 3 in this day and age?

All of the recent interviews and comments regarding Suzuki and Shenmue by former Shenmue programmers/team members like Osamu Murata and Tak Hirai suggest that much - if not all - of the original development team is no more. They don't work together anymore, and certainly not under the same company anymore. And if the same core team were not to develop Shenmue 3, then it would be very difficult for the game to have the same/similar cohesive level of artistic/graphic/visual/aural/musical and thematic quality/design as Shenmue 1 and 2. In short, it would be very hard for it to 'feel' like the previous Shenmues - and the Shenmue 'feel', ladies and gentlemen, is what it's all about, right?

Now, this is not to say that the core original team of developers and programmers couldn't re-unite like a long defunct rock band - but it'd be difficult. Most of these individuals now work for other companies now and on ongoing projects that hinder their ability to freelance for Sega to make Shenmue 3, unless Sega became serious about dedicating a truly meaningful budget to a Shenmue 3 project that would adequately cover the costs of these developers' time. But - would Shenmue 3 really be Shenmue if even one of the original staff didn't return? After all, we all know that the Shenmue project in general was an almost incomprehensibly immense project wherein every programmer involved was so closely associated with whatever portion of the game they were working on that it must have become impossible for them not to have left their unique signature on what ultimately coagulated into the unmistakable Shenmue experience that we all know and love today.

Of course, none of this means that Suzuki couldn't assemble a new team, perhaps a mix of veteran Shenmue developers and new talent alike that could make an even better Shenmue experience than ever before. In fact, that prospect is rather enticing: it would be incredibly exciting if Suzuki - once he is finally in a position to make Shenmue 3 - was somehow able to initiate a collaborative project between Sega and various other companies and hand-pick/recruit developers and programmers (veteran and new alike) who have a true personal attachment to Shenmue/are fans to make the megaton Shenmue experience that all our current gaming technology can afford us. After all, collaboration is all the rage at the moment: Namco X Capcom, Konami X Capcom, Nintendo X Team Ninja, Konami X UbiSoft, etc.

This is opposed to as if Suzuki had to make Shenmue 3 only with Sega employed programmers who may have never been involved with the previous Shenmues. In this case, these programmers would make Shenmue not necessarily because they like it or 'got' what Shenmue was about, but simply because they worked at Sega, and Shenmue 3 just so happened to be the next project they were scheduled/assigned to do. And can you imagine that? Shenmue 3 made by mostly new programmers at Sega who have no experience with the series other than hearing unsavoury rumours about how the series nearly brought the company to bankruptcy years ago?

Wow. I am infinitely sorry for the length of this post! If you haven't the time or slightest interest in reading it, feel free to ignore it. It is just that the daily grind that is life for me at the moment makes it difficult for me to follow developments at the Dojo regularly, and thus I often have to unload a week's worth of observations at a time. But - I am extremely interested to hear what everyone else thinks about this issue.

How do YOU think Suzuki could literally and specifically make Shenmue 3 in this day and age? And remember - he can't just jump the Paciifc Rim and make Shenmue 3 in partnership with BIoWare or Bethesda or something because the rights to Shenmue ultimately remain the property of Sega...

[Panda_rapist]

do you work in advertising or politics wanderin? if you dont you should give it a try
also people saying yu suzuki copied is utter bullshit, when you write a game script its different from other scripts you need to properly explain everything that is in the game if not the people who fund (in this case sega) wont get the general idea and refuse to fund because they dont know exactly what there money is going in to, also its obvious that yu made the whole story at once it would be rediculous to write the story's as he went along, and if he did change the story/concept then in my opinion you can be pretty sure he has the green light to make shenmue 3 if not that decision would be pretty pointless

[Dorian]

Making Shenmue 2 is easy from the team point of view. There are many possibilities to form a team that would be able to make a great Shenmue game. The simplest and at the same time the best way is to give Suzuki the so-called Yakuza Team (who consist of many people who had worked on Shenmue!). Nagoshi can have a vacation or something. His games are good but he made so much recently that he is becoming boring and he really should - in a sense - lend his team to Yu. But we all know that won't happen because greedy bastards from Sammy won't ever allow that to happen since they treat those people like slaves and they just want MOAR Yakuza games from them... Yeah, we have Binary Domain but that game is crap and after it flops, the Yakuza devs will be in no position to be making any demands...

[Vyse Hazuky]

I think he most probably envisions a way to create Shenmue 3 in a more contained manner. Probably dissecting its core points and presenting it in more of a conceptual premise.

Times have changed, after all.