If SIII Was Coming What Would Yu Have To Do To Make It Sell

[Riku Rose]

As we all know Shenmue isn't a series aimed at most gamers. What would Yu have to do to try and make the game have amazing sales. I'm not talking about adding guns or having Jeff Goldblum do the voice of Ryo.

I think he would need to turn up at every trade show such as E3 and TGS and pimp the game out like crazy. Also he would have to make lots of TV apperances like the Spike VGAs. To get more people to buy the game and look into him I'd love to see him do something like Celebrity Big Brother. I think he would be great in their with people out of soaps and someone out of the Backstreet Boys (Maybe if they became friends they could do a song on SIII!!!).

[Who Really Cares?]

A kick arse trailer and better ads. Not this crap that tells the viewer nothing about the actual game.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAYnBmj4tHM[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pl4-aVZNzkg[/youtube]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPS8JuKBpDQ

[darksniper]

The announcement of the game would sell itself. The name Shenmue III will be plastered all over the internet and that should peak the interest of new gamers who haven't played the series. Other than that, a proper release of Shenmue I and II combined with a kick ass trailer and a few TV spots should do the trick.

[Bluecast]

Doesn't matter it's niche series so could do everything and still only sell about 100k or at most 200k

[Kenny]

Sell out. Completely.

You can't keep the game the way it is and expect it to sell. It didn't then and it certainly won't now.

[DoubleO_Ren]

Marketing
(The most important part)

Viral
This is the single most important thing that will allow Shenmue to do well in this day and age. The Internet, Facebook, youtube are all-good for viral marketing.
All he has to do I hire out that big fuck off banner on youtube for like 3 days around the time he announces the game and then a few days before the release date. That will wake even the laziest of Shenmue fans up and even all the curious gamers that want to try it because they’ve heard so many good things and people that just love hyped up games. Facebook, twitter make groups, that shit goes without saying.

The Mythos
He needs to play on the mythos of the series, it’s a cult classic that a lot of people are talking about, go on any fucking Youtube video about Shenmue, hell go on any blog, social network site, forum, article where Shenmue is being discussed and you will find at least 3 people claim it is the greatest game ever made and others who give some of the most beautiful descriptions of the game I’ve ever seen.
They need to have headlines like “10 – 14 years in the making” (however long it takes) “Arguably the greatest game ever created” “finish the epic long-awaited story of Shenmue” “The game that influenced Heavy Rain, Grand Theft Auto and God of War”. You all get the picture, titles like that in a trailer would do wonders.
Suzuki, SEGA, whoever, should play on the legend of the game, constantly.
To show retards that this game has history, it needs to make people go “ooh let me google that.
Epic trailers of all the petitions, articles and letdowns that have happened over the last 10 years leading up to this grand finale, this special moment thousands have been waiting for. If they play on this and play on it well it will be very effective like a Squirtle on a Charmander.

The Trailers
Now we’re trying to make this fucker sell so we have to do a Watchmen and trick the stupid COD fans into buying it. The Trailer should make COD look like a fucking chick flick. Now I’m not saying Ryo should run around with 2 M16’s bustin’ caps in Sega Saturn’s asses but it should have fast paced creative editing, Show the new gameplay features off, describe the mythos behind the game, and show bone crunching martial arts.
Show emotion in characters, make people jaws drop. To make the masses interested in something like Shenmue you will have to put some of that honesty aside Suzuki old buddy and bring out the big guns, not literally.
No Xiuing walking through alleyways no random running just pure action shots.
Yes saturated Hollywood crap sells and yes we don’t want Shenmue to be like that but I’m more than happy to advertise it as saturated Hollywood crap and then it really is the cult classic we remember.
Now there will be people that will complain and think they were sold some kind of knock off and feel they’ve fallen victim to false advertising (which they will have but we wont tell them that) but not many people will do this COD fans will love it regardless because they are stupid fucks that eat anything the media hype feeds them.

Heavy Rain
Yes it gets it’s own sub heading. The game is very similar to Shenmue except it suffers in the department of proper gameplay, which Shenmue has. This game has fucked so many people over and majority of them don’t even know it why? Because of the hype! It wasn’t the ‘amazing’ features, it wasn’t even the ‘amazing’ story, it wasn’t the gameplay because there was none (though they made it look like there would be) it sold well strictly due to marketing and if you market something right then you’ve got a gold mine, You’ve got to make people believe they want this and that’s what the marketers for Heavy Rain did, this brings me to my next ploy.

Sex sells
Ok this isn’t some fantasy land where our Sega and Suzuki can do no wrong you have to take risks to achieve something in this business. Revealing images of the attractive female characters in the story would be a good idea, in trailers and picture and things of that nature. Even Metal Gear Solid did it countless times, Heavy Rain did it extensively, there’s even an article about it, you just have to make it all seem innocent which these people are all so good at doing.

PSN & XBOX Live releases of original games
Not only would this make them money but it will market Shenmue 3 for them as well. After more and more people play revamped versions of the game that’s so hard to get your hands on for the casual not too bothered gamer, they will become like us and want to know the ending and more fans will germinate, more fans will know Shenmue. Which obviously gives the Yu man more incentive.
There are so many gamers out there that want to play Shenmue FOR THE FIRST TIME OF THEIR LIVES and they can’t because they have no decent access to it.
Many don’t want to use a choppy emulator, many don’t want to buy a Dreamcast but they want to play Shenmue. Sega give the people what they want.

Gameplay

Features
What new features will the game have?
From eating, drinking to shopping new clothing character customisation such as hair?
Location jump?
(all I could think of at the moment, these are just suggestions not entirely what I would want.)

Movement
Ryo should feel heavy, have a bit of weight to him but not be stiff like the old DC version of him, he should feel something like Nico Bellic from GTA4. Make him more relatable and less robotic kind of like in the Shenmue Online trailer he seemed more human in that.

Fighting
I love the original fighting system I don’t want them to change it but just make it feel more fluid and authentic.

Music & Atmosphere
The single most important part of Shenmue, any Shenmue fan will tell you basically don’t fuck with what aint broken boys.

Voice acting
I’m going for redubbing the whole series again sure our nostalgia will be ruined but I’d rather a quality series that can stand up in this day and age than just remembering the past that wont come back. You real fans would have the proper copies anyway, so if you’re feeling nostalgic go play that.
They need a great talented cast that can deliver on emotion and give Ryo more personality and not just a robot, that’s what puts people off.
And of course Japanese voice acting choice, English subs.

This is all I could think of right now as it’s 5 fucking am and I have coursework to do but I’m doing fucking market research for Shenmue, Jesus!

But I’ll add stuff soon hopefully.

Just open your mind guys and imagine the possibilities.

Hmm why does this feel like Deja Vu lol

[Riku Rose]

Marketing
(The most important part)

Viral
This is the single most important thing that will allow Shenmue to do well in this day and age. The Internet, Facebook, youtube are all-good for viral marketing.
All he has to do I hire out that big fuck off banner on youtube for like 3 days around the time he announces the game and then a few days before the release date. That will wake even the laziest of Shenmue fans up and even all the curious gamers that want to try it because they’ve heard so many good things and people that just love hyped up games. Facebook, twitter make groups, that shit goes without saying.

The Mythos
He needs to play on the mythos of the series, it’s a cult classic that a lot of people are talking about, go on any fucking Youtube video about Shenmue, hell go on any blog, social network site, forum, article where Shenmue is being discussed and you will find at least 3 people claim it is the greatest game ever made and others who give some of the most beautiful descriptions of the game I’ve ever seen.
They need to have headlines like “10 – 14 years in the making” (however long it takes) “Arguably the greatest game ever created” “finish the epic long-awaited story of Shenmue” “The game that influenced Heavy Rain, Grand Theft Auto and God of War”. You all get the picture, titles like that in a trailer would do wonders.
Suzuki, SEGA, whoever, should play on the legend of the game, constantly.
To show retards that this game has history, it needs to make people go “ooh let me google that.
Epic trailers of all the petitions, articles and letdowns that have happened over the last 10 years leading up to this grand finale, this special moment thousands have been waiting for. If they play on this and play on it well it will be very effective like a Squirtle on a Charmander.

The Trailers
Now we’re trying to make this fucker sell so we have to do a Watchmen and trick the stupid COD fans into buying it. The Trailer should make COD look like a fucking chick flick. Now I’m not saying Ryo should run around with 2 M16’s bustin’ caps in Sega Saturn’s asses but it should have fast paced creative editing, Show the new gameplay features off, describe the mythos behind the game, and show bone crunching martial arts.
Show emotion in characters, make people jaws drop. To make the masses interested in something like Shenmue you will have to put some of that honesty aside Suzuki old buddy and bring out the big guns, not literally.
No Xiuing walking through alleyways no random running just pure action shots.
Yes saturated Hollywood crap sells and yes we don’t want Shenmue to be like that but I’m more than happy to advertise it as saturated Hollywood crap and then it really is the cult classic we remember.
Now there will be people that will complain and think they were sold some kind of knock off and feel they’ve fallen victim to false advertising (which they will have but we wont tell them that) but not many people will do this COD fans will love it regardless because they are stupid fucks that eat anything the media hype feeds them.

Heavy Rain
Yes it gets it’s own sub heading. The game is very similar to Shenmue except it suffers in the department of proper gameplay, which Shenmue has. This game has fucked so many people over and majority of them don’t even know it why? Because of the hype! It wasn’t the ‘amazing’ features, it wasn’t even the ‘amazing’ story, it wasn’t the gameplay because there was none (though they made it look like there would be) it sold well strictly due to marketing and if you market something right then you’ve got a gold mine, You’ve got to make people believe they want this and that’s what the marketers for Heavy Rain did, this brings me to my next ploy.

Sex sells
Ok this isn’t some fantasy land where our Sega and Suzuki can do no wrong you have to take risks to achieve something in this business. Revealing images of the attractive female characters in the story would be a good idea, in trailers and picture and things of that nature. Even Metal Gear Solid did it countless times, Heavy Rain did it extensively, there’s even an article about it, you just have to make it all seem innocent which these people are all so good at doing.

PSN & XBOX Live releases of original games
Not only would this make them money but it will market Shenmue 3 for them as well. After more and more people play revamped versions of the game that’s so hard to get your hands on for the casual not too bothered gamer, they will become like us and want to know the ending and more fans will germinate, more fans will know Shenmue. Which obviously gives the Yu man more incentive.
There are so many gamers out there that want to play Shenmue FOR THE FIRST TIME OF THEIR LIVES and they can’t because they have no decent access to it.
Many don’t want to use a choppy emulator, many don’t want to buy a Dreamcast but they want to play Shenmue. Sega give the people what they want.

Gameplay

Features
What new features will the game have?
From eating, drinking to shopping new clothing character customisation such as hair?
Location jump?
(all I could think of at the moment, these are just suggestions not entirely what I would want.)

Movement
Ryo should feel heavy, have a bit of weight to him but not be stiff like the old DC version of him, he should feel something like Nico Bellic from GTA4. Make him more relatable and less robotic kind of like in the Shenmue Online trailer he seemed more human in that.

Fighting
I love the original fighting system I don’t want them to change it but just make it feel more fluid and authentic.

Music & Atmosphere
The single most important part of Shenmue, any Shenmue fan will tell you basically don’t fuck with what aint broken boys.

Voice acting
I’m going for redubbing the whole series again sure our nostalgia will be ruined but I’d rather a quality series that can stand up in this day and age than just remembering the past that wont come back. You real fans would have the proper copies anyway, so if you’re feeling nostalgic go play that.
They need a great talented cast that can deliver on emotion and give Ryo more personality and not just a robot, that’s what puts people off.
And of course Japanese voice acting choice, English subs.

This is all I could think of right now as it’s 5 fucking am and I have coursework to do but I’m doing fucking market research for Shenmue, Jesus!

But I’ll add stuff soon hopefully.

Just open your mind guys and imagine the possibilities.

Hmm why does this feel like Deja Vu lol

I disagree.

[sylentknyte]

2000's videogame industry = /= 2012's videogame industry

Niche games that have sold well recently - Heavy Rain, LA Noire, The Yakuza Series

^ If these games can find success, why not Shenmue? The size of videogame consumers has increased. The depth of interest in niche things has increased. Information about everything is out there, only a click away.

How would Shenmue sell well you ask? Do a bit of marketing, and make a fucking fantastic game. If it can score 9/10's across the board, it will sell. Review scores and word of mouth make a big difference these days.

[szymon247]

For some reason long-term Shenmue fans have lost all their objectivism if it comes to the series. You guys underestimate what it was back then. It was huge, and I didn't care about that game back then other than the fact how everyone said how amazing it was. It just wasn't available where I'm from and/because Dreamcasts weren't popular at all. Casual people could only get information about that game from video game magazines and believe me everyone wanted to play it. They just couldn't. And I live in Central Europe, I managed to get a copy all over from America.
All video game magazines had a lot of space dedicated to Shenmue and it was really something special and it had huge potential. It hurts to read that it wouldn't sell if the whole process was done right, it certainly wasn't. The game itself is the littlest problem about it not selling GOOD ENOUGH (it didn't do bad at all, it was just too expensive to break even).

Also people are getting kind of fed up with mainstream shooters. Like someone above has mentioned - there are ambitious games coming up, indie games gaining their popularity. People don't want to play Modern Warfare all the time. In 2000 everyone wanted explosions and destruction. The video game industry needs "Shenmues" now, like Hollywood needs to come up with brand new dimensions of content, instead of upgrading its form.

[Bluecast]

2000's videogame industry = /= 2012's videogame industry

Niche games that have sold well recently - Heavy Rain, LA Noire, The Yakuza Series

^ If these games can find success, why not Shenmue? The size of videogame consumers has increased. The depth of interest in niche things has increased. Information about everything is out there, only a click away.

How would Shenmue sell well you ask? Do a bit of marketing, and make a fucking fantastic game. If it can score 9/10's across the board, it will sell. Review scores and word of mouth make a big difference these days.

Yakuza isn't selling very well in the west. As for the others they were hyped big time and from western developers. Western games in this age with huge hype sells. Japanese games not so much (unless it's an est successful long running franchise)esp a sequel to a game from 10 years ago nobody played in the US or Japan.

[mue 26]

I reckon it would turn profit, though. And while this may be debatable, I actually think Shenmue is a more appealing game to the west than Yakuza and if marketed right, could tap into that currently expanded base of adventure gamers looking for something adventurous.

[Bluecast]

I reckon it would turn profit, though. And while this may be debatable, I actually think Shenmue is a more appealing game to the west than Yakuza and if marketed right, could tap into that currently expanded base of adventure gamers looking for something adventurous.

I don;t think so. The biggest complaint from the west is that is was to slow paced and boring. Yakuza was much more accepted as it had much more action. The west like more booms and bangs and punches and cheap thrills. Why I'm not very keen on western culture. I think I was born in the wrong country. If the west had more open minds Xenoblade and Last Story been out by now and sold a couple million. TiTs would be PSP game of the year. Zelda would be in 3rd place on best Wii game and CoD and shit like that would be in bargain bins realizing how average it is.
Western culture is far more close minded esp about mediums like film music and gaming.

[mue 26]

Yeah I hear your point. Though I still feel that Shenmue's type of gameplay could prove to be more appealing to the west than Yakuza, Xeno and the others. Shemue lacks a lot of the traditional tropes and mechanics of JRPG's and plays in many ways closer to a western game. Also I think Shenmue's more realistic and grounded (as opposed to anime styled) aesthetics are also more appealing to the west, regardless of the Japanese culture the game presents. The reason I feel Yakuza doesn't do amazingly (although it makes profit) over here is due to the fact it's almost too over the top, and has many tropes you might in more traditional Japanese games such as ramdom-ish battles. I believe Shenmue's core gameplay and intrigue is appealing to west and LA Noire proved slow dialogue heavy and mature games can be successful over here, it just needs the right marketing.

I don't think it will ever do any where near LA Noire numbers, but I think it could turn a decent profit (maybe).

[Bluecast]

Sadly I agree with kenny for it to become big it has to sellout. Have to cut much out streamline it more action focused and maybe more cursing and blood and sexual influence.

I know some want to keep the faith and that's cool but I honestly don't care if it ever comes as I feel it never will. I'm convinced.
Shenmue was great for me and at one time my fave game. No more. Found new series I love more. Still very much like it but I feel all these failed attempts to ring it back is an omen.

[sylentknyte]

Selling out doesnt always have to be a bad thing. I think it would be acceptable if Shenmue bumped up the action, got better voice acting, cut out a bit of the monotonous things, etc. as long as it maintains its core feel. Kind of like the direction Bethesda took Skyrim in. I mean, they still kept the same feel as previous Elder Scrolls, and everyone but the most hardcore fans were happy.