Kickstarter Update 51: Poll Results & Shenmue.link revamp

[Switch]

At least part of the media are publishing apologize and corrected articles, although they still point out the lack of communication from YsNet.

http://segmentnext.com/2016/01/07/shenm ... -scenario/

They should be called out on their lack of communication.

[Yokosuka]

At least part of the media are publishing apologize and corrected articles, although they still point out the lack of communication from YsNet.

http://segmentnext.com/2016/01/07/shenm ... -scenario/

Yep, I've seen some sites making erratums too.

[FlagshipFighter]

Good to see the excellent Spaghetti's thread being frequently retweeted ( http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1167066 ) and making the fans work a lot easier. [...]

And, by the way, I love this post:

But really, imagine being Yu Suzuki right now. You spend years in a broom closet at SEGA, then languish in Japanese indie dev hell of mobile and browser games. You sell all your cars and motorcycles and pretty much accept the glory days are over.

Then you find some French dude who helps you negotiate the rights to your great unfinished work from your former employer, and then you manage to get a major player like Sony to help you promote it in return for console exclusivity. You try getting 8-4 or Ryan Payton to run your upcoming Kickstarter campaign, but they can't do it, so you turn to some promising young upstarts called Awesome Japan.

Then you got to E3 and unveil your Kickstarter to a screaming crowd, get funded in less than a day, break two world records, and basically make a crazy amount of fucking money. Things couldn't be better.

Flash forward six months. The game is going great, you had an amazing research trip in China, and fans seem to be reacting positively to the prototype materials you've shown. You're working with a lot of old friends again who are employees of Neilo or are external contractors working on the game. You've also hired a fan you met in a restaurant who happens to be appropriately qualified, and some Korean kid [[correction: he's not a kid, but a thirty-something years old man who goes on the net by the nickname "NoconKid"]] who remade areas from your old game in the same engine you happen to be using to make the new game.

You've had a few bumps in the press recently by selectively quoting you, and you don't really have time for any hobbies anymore, but you're enjoying yourself because you're doing what you love for the people who appreciate you. Then you get a Twitter notification. And another, and another. It's a bunch of angry English speaking people saying something about PayPal rewards.

It turns out Awesome Japan bungled something as simple as a poll, and people got the wrong end of the stick about what the poll actually meant, and now news sites are reporting on it incorrectly and there's calls of fraud despite there not being any-

- but you're happy, because you're doing what you love, with people you like, for those who want what you're creating.

But you're middle aged so your dick doesn't work and it's hurting to pee, so fuck everything.

Shenmue III cancelled.

[Sonne2]

Good to see the excellent Spaghetti's thread being frequently retweeted ( http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1167066 ) and making the fans work a lot easier. [...]

And, by the way, I love this post:

But really, imagine being Yu Suzuki right now. You spend years in a broom closet at SEGA, then languish in Japanese indie dev hell of mobile and browser games. You sell all your cars and motorcycles and pretty much accept the glory days are over.

Then you find some French dude who helps you negotiate the rights to your great unfinished work from your former employer, and then you manage to get a major player like Sony to help you promote it in return for console exclusivity. You try getting 8-4 or Ryan Payton to run your upcoming Kickstarter campaign, but they can't do it, so you turn to some promising young upstarts called Awesome Japan.

Then you got to E3 and unveil your Kickstarter to a screaming crowd, get funded in less than a day, break two world records, and basically make a crazy amount of fucking money. Things couldn't be better.

Flash forward six months. The game is going great, you had an amazing research trip in China, and fans seem to be reacting positively to the prototype materials you've shown. You're working with a lot of old friends again who are employees of Neilo or are external contractors working on the game. You've also hired a fan you met in a restaurant who happens to be appropriately qualified, and some Korean kid [[correction: he's not a kid, but a thirty-something years old man who goes on the net by the nickname "NoconKid"]] who remade areas from your old game in the same engine you happen to be using to make the new game.

You've had a few bumps in the press recently by selectively quoting you, and you don't really have time for any hobbies anymore, but you're enjoying yourself because you're doing what you love for the people who appreciate you. Then you get a Twitter notification. And another, and another. It's a bunch of angry English speaking people saying something about PayPal rewards.

It turns out Awesome Japan bungled something as simple as a poll, and people got the wrong end of the stick about what the poll actually meant, and now news sites are reporting on it incorrectly and there's calls of fraud despite there not being any-

- but you're happy, because you're doing what you love, with people you like, for those who want what you're creating.

But you're middle aged so your dick doesn't work and it's hurting to pee, so fuck everything.

Shenmue III cancelled.

Click bait media never ceases to amaze me.

[Spaghetti]

NoconKid is 30+? Whaaaaaaaaat.

[Let's Get Sweaty]

Engadget have updated their article with this:

*A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Ys Net would not ship PlayStation 4 physical copies for PayPal backers. It has since been updated to address that.

However, the article still contains this:

the PayPal backers were initially promised access to this stuff.

And their headline remains this:

Some 'Shenmue III' backers won't get their rewards after all

[Yokosuka]

I love Polygon-Engadget who never admit their fault (AJ should never have apologized). Looks like they didn't even try to move up their updated article from the archives abyss. Meanwhile, some sites wrote completely new articles to clear their own disinformation and deserve at least that credit.

[Kiske]

I love Polygon-Engadget who never admit their fault (AJ should never have apologized). Looks like they didn't even try to move up their updated article from the archives abyss. Meanwhile, some sites wrote completely new articles to clear their own disinformation and deserve at least that credit.

Or when journalistic pride goes before ethics.

[James Brown]

This is getting completely out of hand now, i'm seeing more and more clickbait news sites and people talking about how no one is receiving their rewards if they backed via paypal. Everyone reading and watching these stories are taking this as the truth and spreading their own hate towards the game. It's really getting on my tits now. Just seen this video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfEvJ3VYQPs - and while I don't want to give them views and clicks, these videos need down votes and comments to correct the false bullshit they're getting in gamers heads. We're going to have a really poor launch if every new potential player writes the game off without playing it because of all the "bad" things they heard about it while it was being made. If you do go on that video and see my comment (username TheSkillJim), upvote my comment aswell so it gets higher up for people to see.

[shredingskin]

I was kinda skeptic at first, thinking that bad media was just clickbait, or just wrong info.

But looking at psychonauts 2, looks like for some reason media has it in for Shenmue:

- Doublefine got x8 money that they asked for a game in KS, and struggled to make it.
- Doublefine stopped making defense whatever, while it was on steam and just handed out the code.

They don't have a good record, but let's look at this:

- Announced on playstation stage. The same with Shenmue III and everyone was in arms (media). No one gives a shit.
- Unnanounced investors. No one gives a shit.
- New platform that Tim Schafer is on the board of directors. No one gives a shit.
- Investment Scheme that is pretty much a scam and only relies on good faith, since you are not granted ANYTHING, the company you are investing is ghost to deviate money to doublefine and is in red. No one gives a shit.

So yeah, or they have something against Shenmue, or they just love tim schafer.

Not even the fat jim sterling or bunnyhop said anything, or are concerned about psychonauts 2.

Why is this ? I have no idea, but it is as real as it gets.

[Kiske]

I was kinda skeptic at first, thinking that bad media was just clickbait, or just wrong info.

But looking at psychonauts 2, looks like for some reason media has it in for Shenmue:

- Doublefine got x8 money that they asked for a game in KS, and struggled to make it.
- Doublefine stopped making defense whatever, while it was on steam and just handed out the code.

They don't have a good record, but let's look at this:

- Announced on playstation stage. The same with Shenmue III and everyone was in arms (media). No one gives a shit.
- Unnanounced investors. No one gives a shit.
- New platform that Tim Schafer is on the board of directors. No one gives a shit.
- Investment Scheme that is pretty much a scam and only relies on good faith, since you are not granted ANYTHING, the company you are investing is ghost to deviate money to doublefine and is in red. No one gives a shit.

So yeah, or they have something against Shenmue, or they just love tim schafer.

Not even the fat jim sterling or bunnyhop said anything, or are concerned about psychonauts 2.

Why is this ? I have no idea, but it is as real as it gets.

Lot of negative comments I read are from Xbox One fans / owners.

That doesn't explain everything, but Shenmue 3 being announced on the Sony's E3 stage didn't make everybody happy.
You say Psychonauts 2 was announced on Playstation's stage too, but with all due respect for Psychonauts, that's not the same league. Shenmue franchise is (potentially) a system seller.

[shredingskin]

I'm talking about the coverage they got.

Shenmue had shit thrown since the start, psychonauts 2 praised by everyone and their mothers.

They did the same things, and psychonauts 2 even some more, no one gives a shit.

But Shenmue does a poll and everyone starts throwing shit again.

I made the post just to point the hypocrisy, even from independent journalists.

I was skeptic, but looking the 2 side by side, there's something against Shenmue (or some bias in favour of schafer).

It makes me angry.

[Kiske]

Maybe it's the "E.T The Extra-Terrestrial" atari game syndrom.
Once a certain mass of people takes something for granted (Shenmue Kickstarter is wrong, it's not a good game, etc...) there is some kind of avanche effect affecting the rest of the public opinion.

Or maybe it's simply because there are a lot of *shitty* journalists out there...

[shredingskin]

But why shitty journalist would be shitty with shenmue and not with other projects ?

Just thinking out loud, but I don't understand how a game can get that much backlash and another one just praise even doing more "concerning things".

For some reason media is eager to rip Shenmue at whatever they do.

Again, I thought it was just the way to get more clicks, but looking at this paralel crowfunding it's not the case.

[Anonymous81]

Basically it comes down to human nature and psychology.

Take the new Star Wars movie. One contrarian person called Rey a "Mary Sue," and now everyone (mostly people who had never heard that term before and don't even fully understand its context, since they seem to think it simply means "overpowered," which it doesn't) is parroting it in an effort to appear aligned with the hip, contrary, against the grain opinion of someone they perceive as vaguely intelligent and therefore desirable as someone to emulate so that they themselves may also appear vaguely intelligent/hip/non-mainstream, etc.

And it doesn't matter if you feel Rey is sort of a Mary Sue character - that's not my point. My point is that many people will tend to, in an almost Nietzschen "will to power" sort of way, unconsciously be attracted to the aggressor and to immitate them. Especially when the target of the aggressor is something unabashedly positive, uplifting, or "feel good," which many people see as weakness. People's unconcious desire to "not be taken in" coupled with the desire to appear "above it all" and intelligent, kicks in and overrides their empathy, ability to think in nuanced, proportional terms, and so they just knee-jerk.

If something is an underdog and seemingly unlikely to ever happen - e.g. the resurgence of the space combat and trading sim in Star Citizen - then they clamor for it and support it. No matter how much money it makes. They exalt it as a success story. But when something is perceived to be somehow insulated or guaranteed to succeed (which, ironically, Shenmue 3 isn't and wasn't - if anything, it's the biggest big name crowdfunding underdog there is in a sense) because, say, a company like Sony introduces it at E3 and everyone erroneously assumes that means it has corporate backing in every imaginable sense... then they want to tear it down and look for conspiracy theories because their ego demands they avoid being suckered or appearing gullible.

It's ridiculous of course, makes zero sense, and is completely irrational. But welcome to human nature, sadly. A huge proportion of everything human beings do is unconscious, instinctual, and unwitting. We just... do stuff. Without thinking, without considering, without sensitivity or insight. We just react. Then we invest in the reaction, and become entrenched and egoic about it, and thus defensive of that position, such that no one can admit they were wrong and CHANGE anything. That's just how it works.

Things like Shenmue 3 finally happening, people overcoming the odds, miraculous things that we never thought would happen... those are the bright spots that make life in a world such as that bearable and at times, magical.

End ramble. Don't mind me, I'm sick and delirious.