Sega teases Shenmue HD release on XBLA/PSN

[Wanderin']

Well, as things continue to advance quickly now it seems, just want to reiterate/point out 2 more points:

1) It pretty much looks like Shenmue HD will ultimately be released in the near future - otherwise this new Sega product manager wouldn't be so at ease tossing its name around so much recently. And precisely because Shenmue HD is going to be released, there has to be some purpose as to why it is.

Think about it - why would Sega, who has become notorious for penny-pinching in the last decade waste the time, money, and effort on remastering such content heavy titles like S1 and S2 in HD when they never saw the series as a high profit project in the first place? If they AREN'T going to follow up this HD release with a concluding Shenmue saga project of some sort then they risk shooting themselves in the foot for alienating fans and the gaming media alike AGAIN for basically what amounts to re-releasing an unfinished product in this day and age. I mean, how are they going to entice people to buy Shenmue HD? Tell them to enjoy it but to never expect an ending to it all?

I guess we all had it good back in the day when no one told us ahead of time that the new series we were all investing in then would never have a proper ending...

2) BUT - the risks are exaclty that much higher, for all of us now. If the HD re-releases are released, and NOTHING happens in terms of a Shenmue 3 project after that, then that may be the final battle that we will ever partake in because if a re-introduction of the series into the mass consciousness is not enough to call forth the saga's conclusion, then I fear what little hope and opportunity that we cling onto now may be lost forever.

[shredingskin]

I don't want to see more than what it looks like, shenmue HD could make sega some nice profit without wasting a lot of money, that's pretty much it from my perspective. If it leads to Shenmue III would be great, but it's a long shot, they just want money.

I think it will sell quite good, a good HD version would look great even for today standards (look at beyond good and evil, only 10 bucks for a great game, long, and looks really good, for me the best buck to quality ratio on DLC games), a lot of players that played the original will buy it maybe just to support the franchise, maybe to see how good it's the hd version or maybe beacause their dreamcast died (or have those annoying hiccups that reset to the DC menu screen, like mine), other players may not even had the chance to get shenmue II or IIx, and some players would be appealed to see what all the shenmue fanboy blabber is about.

More than that... I don't think so. Also I don't think Shenmue III would make good sales, today shooters and action games rule, even yakuza that's more action focused don't have great sales (not counting that SIII would cost more).

I hope that Shamoo III is made, but let's not jump to conclusions. Would SEGA make an HD version without the sequel ?? Yes. Why ? Money.

[Bluecast]

Sega hasn't penny pinched in a while. They are in great shape financially.
They could easily afford to release them on disc and have the disc sales sell like ketchup Popsicles to a woman in white gloves and still be fine.

[ys]

A Shenmue HD needs to be done with a lot of care. I don't know much about technical stuff, and I'll thank whoever corrects me on this, bu I get the feeling those low-res textures found in the original would look horrible when stretched to HD, so they better get better versions of those.

Check how ICO HD looks now compared to the original. The remastering made a huge difference texture and lighting wise so it should be possible to clean up Shenmue in that way too. I must say though that the comparison videos online don't really do it justice compared to seeing it on your tv.

I love how many posts I see about people saying, "Oh yeah, E3 is probably gonna be where its announced." Not that I disagree, but how many damn years can we go uttering that statement? I don't think I can go through another E3 day looking for Shenmue news thats not coming.

I haven't been anticipating Shenmue at E3 for a long time though. I think that I started to assume that it would not show up after 2004 or something.

Its more dissapointing than getting clothes for Christmas.

Socks?

[mue 26]

2) BUT - the risks are exaclty that much higher, for all of us now. If the HD re-releases are released, and NOTHING happens in terms of a Shenmue 3 project after that, then that may be the final battle that we will ever partake in because if a re-introduction of the series into the mass consciousness is not enough to call forth the saga's conclusion, then I fear what little hope and opportunity that we cling onto now may be lost forever.

I don't know if "high risk" is really the right way to describe this, what are we risking? We have next to nothing to lose! Lets face it, Sega clearly isn't going to make S3 unless it has some significant incentive (which a HD release could provide, hopefully, if it's successful). If they don't release these HD ports, I think we stand to see a better chance of the game being made with Yu's "many interested investors" than we do with Sega.

As for the 'new mention cough cough wink wink'. Well it could mean that the PR guy really is confident about the game coming and so is allowing himself to playfully tease us, or he's an utter twit. I'm not ruling out the latter just yet.

[FlagshipFighter]

Do you know what? If they will be releasing Shenmue 1 and 2, surely the third entry will be likely...right?

I mean, I'm just trying to imagine, by releasing the wonderful titles that are Shenmue 1 and 2, you're left with the "To be continued" screen YET AGAIN!?!?

Only a cold-blooded company would do something like that, ammirite? I mean, doesn't necessarily mean a third game, but they might do something like the end of Alan Wake, where after the credits it will say something like "Alan Wake's Journey Through the Night will continue" and perhaps finish it through a game or other means. :-)

C'mon SEGA, at least give us closure (though Yu Suzuki kinda did in that french interview) but damn they made us remember again!?!?! >:-o

P.S. I REALLY don't think I can psychologically cope by experiencing the first and second games and see that screen yet again :-(

[Spokane]

Would you boycott Sega if they did that?

[FlagshipFighter]

Nah, don't really have the energy to...

Instead I'll dismiss them from existence!

And one day when I grow up, I'll have a nice little family in a nice little home and see my son go "Oooh, look daddy I got sonic" my mind will just be be in an absolute state of horror, as I give a sly smile, prevent a tear dropping down my face and reassuringly nod to myself that the Shenmue I want to live in is in the present.

:-p Plus I'll never trust anyone with the name "Ben Harborne" :-D

UPDATE: I'll be as scarred as Young Indiana Jones is in this scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQRYEykF ... age#t=353s

It's at 5:53 - 6:15 :o

P.P.S: From lurking in these forums for so long, I'm sorry to disappointing anyone who looked at this youtube URL and thought it was more news for Shenmue :-(

[shredingskin]

Only a company so cold-blooded would do something like that, ammirite?

Isn't company and cold blooded synonyms ??

[mue 26]

Do you know what? If they will be releasing Shenmue 1 and 2, surely the third entry will be likely...right?

I mean, I'm just trying to imagine, by releasing the wonderful titles that are Shenmue 1 and 2, you're left with the "To be continued" screen YET AGAIN!?!?

Only a cold-blooded company would do something like that, ammirite? I mean, doesn't necessarily mean a third game, but they might do something like the end of Alan Wake, where after the credits it will say something like "Alan Wake's Journey Through the Night will continue" and perhaps finish it through a game or other means. :-)

C'mon SEGA, at least give us closure (though Yu Suzuki kinda did in that french interview) but damn they made us remember again!?!?! >:-o

P.S. I REALLY don't think I can psychologically cope by experiencing the first and second games and see that screen yet again :-(

This is actually a good point. A couple of us on Shenmue UK have been kicking around the idea: if these ports are officially confirmed the TeamYu campaign would shift it's focus accordingly, and make it's new goal to try and pressure Sega into giving us a guarantee that if these re-releases are sufficiently successful they will commission Shenmue 3. Otherwise they'd just be setting up a new generation of gamers to feel the same bitterness that all of us have spent the last decade trying to get over. And if the did make a guarantee, the sales of the remake would no doubt be higher too.

[shenhua legend]

Sega hasn't penny pinched in a while. They are in great shape financially.

I don't think so.

Sega Sammy announces extraordinary loss of 7.1 billion yen, Sega to restructure

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=36491224

[south carmain]

^ how did sega manage to lose so much in such a short period of time without taking any real risks?

also this might mean the end of dreamcast ports if sega don't see them profitable enough and no shenmue hd

[FlagshipFighter]

Sega hasn't penny pinched in a while. They are in great shape financially.

I don't think so.

Sega Sammy announces extraordinary loss of 7.1 billion yen, Sega to restructure

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=36491224

Wow, there's a lot of truth to come from that rather depressing thread. I hope the losses are due to other concerns outside of the consumer gaming sector, like the yen or the hardware platforms for arcade machines, otherwise things don't seem so hopeful c'mon, JSR and their 'keen' interest in dreamcast titles will plow through, right...though for shenmue 3, we're really going to have to prove a point IF the HD remakes come out.

[FlagshipFighter]

The other thing they are going to have to accept is that shenmue is primarily popular in the west, right? (Yakuza somewhat proves this). I mean, why on earth did they release shenmue gai exclusively there? Not saying they shouldn't (it is made there after all), but lets face it a lot more people seem more passionate about it here. I guess it was hard to get the western infrastructure set up here along with someone QC'ing the translation. If only we could chip in :(

P.S. Shenmue Gai was from Yu wasn't it, or was it SEGA?

[south carmain]

^ i think the reason shenmue gai hasn't made it to the west is because Yu doesn't have the money to translate it