Ironically, I was thinking about this article specifically last night. Now, you all will have read my "neutral" post on the Shenmue 3 forums where to discourage the building of my own hype (at the risk of being let down because of, ya know....Sega). But last night I was watching and old episode of The Jimquisition:
Now personal preferences towards Jim Sterling aside, and God knows the entire internet and it's dogs have opinions on him, but I can't help take note of some of the points he makes in this specific episode.
For those who don't want to watch it, it's an episode born out of the crazy frenzy that was a No Man's Sky fan right before it's release, when the game got delayed a couple of times. That leads into the bulk of the episode, and the problems with gaming hype culture in general. Now whilst I don't agree with Jim on a lot of points, I can't help but agree on something that we would rarely think about; the person who writes the article/begins a rumour.
He makes a very good point about the person, say in this case, the author of the Rice Digital Shenmue HD article, possibly putting his/her career on the line by spurting what could be potentially be pure lies. This person is a professional. They have a job. They have a boss, and from what I have read from more experienced Dojo members who know more about the reliability of the Rice Digital website, then it seems the author of the Shenmue HD article would have a lot to risk by simply sitting down and fabricating an article about what is a niche videogame with a third sequel on the way, which has barely had any major significant updates or exposure over the better part of 2 years.
Now I'm not saying that means we should all cheer in joy and look forward to Shenmue 3 possibly appearing at E3. Far from it in fact, I mean if it's Sega fully in control of this then they like to do their own standalone announcement, like they did with the recently released Bayonetta, the announced Vanquish ports and even the original Shenmue presentations in the past. But at the same time, I feel like I may have been harsh in my original stance on the author of the article itself. Instead of being staunch to every "rumor" article, this one does indeed to carry some weight given the reputation of the site, and the duty it's author owes to the professionalism of his published work. This is backed up even more by the given Parappa the Rappa "rumor" that seemingly now has came to fruition.