Sega insider leaks info on Shenmue HD

TheSonicRetard · March 2012

http://www.gamerzines.com/xbox/news-xbox/shenmue-xbla-hd-real-finished.html

An HD port of Shenmue is indeed heading to Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network, and development on the title has been “finished for well over a year”, according to an industry source speaking to GamerZines.

Our source, who wishes to remain anonymous but does have ties to SEGA, told us that “Shenmue HD is real [and has been] finished for well over a year.

“As is Shenmue II HD”.

So, if true, why has SEGA held off on releasing them?

According to our insider, SEGA chose to sit on their release until it had a clearer picture of the future for the Shenmue franchise, namely, whether or not Shenmue III would ever see the light of day.

SEGA teased earlier this week that it “may be working on” an HD port of Shenmue.

An XBLA release has been rumoured since April 2010 when the game allegedly turned up on a secret developer test network.

I know who this is, too. It is indeed real, and it'll be announced after JSR releases.

maximumzero · March 2012

Here's hoping a decent amount of work went into it. Shemue, while amazing at the time, hasn't aged very well, especially compared to something like Jet Set Radio, that utilized the cel shading technique.

TheSonicRetard · March 2012

Only the controls haven't aged well. I think the rest of the series, especially Shenmue II, holds up well today.

skeldare · March 2012

Cool, now get us Shenmue 3 please?

TheSonicRetard · March 2012

skeldare wrote: »

Cool, now get us Shenmue 3 please?

According to our insider, SEGA chose to sit on their release until it had a clearer picture of the future for the Shenmue franchise, namely, whether or not Shenmue III would ever see the light of day.

For the record, I don't believe that BTW.

Tommatt · March 2012

Bought

Bartholamue · March 2012

Will it have the extra stuff that came on the Passport disc?

Linespider5 · March 2012

This ongoing, it's-not-dead, returning dedication thing Sega's had going for Shenmue is kinda starting to creep me out. I know the original only came out in 2000, but given the original intended scope for this game and the ambition behind it, every time I hear about it coming around again, I begin thinking it's been like 20 goddamn years since the original.

It's like Shenmue is some kind of Haley's Comet of gaming.

The_Scarab · March 2012

I actually think the jaggies are part of the experience. Like the Halo Anniversary Edition, you can't divorce the technical faults from the game itself. It's the flavour.

skeldare · March 2012

My question is: English voices or Japanese voices? I would hope both.

anoffday · March 2012

I've never played Shenmue. Hopefully I get that chance soon.

I have a dreamcast and it's always been a system I've been interested in, but for whatever reason I haven't put much time into it. I really need to start a collection of some of the best games.

Turkey · March 2012

I enjoyed both Shenmues and hope they will still have the deliciously awful voice acting.

About Shenmue 3: Aren't the Yakuza games pretty much the spiritual successors?

TheSonicRetard · March 2012

Yakuza really isn't anything like Shenmue. I don't get why people say that.

Toxic Pickle · March 2012

I remember that I was so looking forward to Shenmue back in the day. When it released, though, I just never bought it for reasons I cannot recall. Then I heard the rumor about Sega dropping support for the Dreamcast and promptly sold it and all the games I had.

Since I'd never played the first, I had no reason to be interested when Shenmue II came along, so I figured it was just a game series I'd never play... which didn't bother me since it seemed the third game was never going to be made anyhow.

Maybe I'll finally get to play this, however! Here's hoping anyway.

Xenogears of Bore · March 2012

Yakuza is actually fun to play instead of being a boring qte game wrapped around one of the best goof off simulators ever.

Yakuza has the goof off plus is actually fun to play the main game.

Mangaroo · March 2012

We've already been through this with the xbox versions...hopefully more people will buy it but without a damned CONFIRMATION that III is being worked on and has a full maximal Shenmue budget then I will be passing. If you want us to invest in it a third time, you are going to have to bring the real deal this time. Or port JSR HD to vita, and I'll get both for some DC handheld gaming.

If it doesn't come following the HD ports then I'm convinced they will just torture future generations with I & II remakes, making sales from rumour and legend.

Majorish

Especially considering how II ended

Bullio · March 2012

No PC version? Meh.

TheSonicRetard · March 2012

Xenogears of Bore wrote: »

Yakuza is actually fun to play instead of being a boring qte game wrapped around one of the best goof off simulators ever.

Yakuza has the goof off plus is actually fun to play the main game.

Boy you sure told us. Look how cool you are right now.

mntorankusu · March 2012

Bullio wrote: »

No PC version? Meh.

Nobody said there won't be a PC version, though. There are 5 Dreamcast games in this re-release series so far (including JSR) and all of them are on PC as well, so it seems likely to me.

chocobolicious · March 2012

If it comes to PC, I'll buy it. I bought and loved the games in their original state.

...Hell, even if it doesn't come to PC, I'll probably buy it. I'm pretty easy.

mntorankusu · March 2012

I'll buy it on every platform it comes out for.

I'm not even joking.

baudattitude · March 2012

Now I want to play Shenmue again, but I can't remember if the kitten ever gets a home and I remember spending most of the time on my first play-through worrying about that damn kitten.

If it turns out it stays homeless, I think it'd be really depressing to play it again.

Nocren · March 2012

baudattitude wrote: »

Now I want to play Shenmue again, but I can't remember if the kitten ever gets a home and I remember spending most of the time on my first play-through worrying about that damn kitten.

If it turns out it stays homeless, I think it'd be really depressing to play it again.

It turns out

that little girl eventually takes it home, much to her (the girl's) mother's dismay (think the mother either didn't like or was allergic to cats.
I KNOW I read this somewhere on disc or in some sort of supplemental, either on disc/in journal material somewhere, but I can't remember where.

fragglefart · March 2012

I'll totally buy this.

Man, the hype for this game, back in the day...

Darth_Mogs · March 2012

Somebody tell me when to stop throwing my money at the screen. Because all my money, etc.

TheSonicRetard · March 2012

Darth_Mogs wrote: »

Somebody tell me when to stop throwing my money at the screen. Because all my money, etc.

Judging by Sega's online pricing, too, this will be reasonable. Probably $10 or less given most of their releases.

AuburnTiger · March 2012

I adored this game when I played it. It left such a lasting impression on me.

That being said, I'm not sure I want to play it again. I'm afraid that I've viewing it through a nostalgic lense, I don't want to be disappointed if I play the HD release.

Liquid Ghost · March 2012

I want to punch dudes in the face and send them flying over tables covered in piles of fruit.

I want to wander around the street for a while before purchasing a small action figure from a vending machine.

I want to get into a fight with six guys on a boat. With my shirt off. In the rain.

I want to do all of this in HD. I will spend real money in order to make this happen. Give me all of the copies except for four.

TheSonicRetard · March 2012

What's wild about Shenmue is that we got really the normal parts of the story. Everyone thinks of Shenmue as a reality based, realistic game... but from absolutely everything we know about the series, it's pretty obvious that it was going to go way, way sci-fi, with fireballs and shit. Shenmue II ends right before the wild, crazy shit happens.

Turkey · March 2012

TheSonicRetard wrote: »

What's wild about Shenmue is that we got really the normal parts of the story. Everyone thinks of Shenmue as a reality based, realistic game... but from absolutely everything we know about the series, it's pretty obvious that it was going to go way, way sci-fi, with fireballs and shit. Shenmue II ends right before the wild, crazy shit happens.

Shenmue 3?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw2pnkmYIhI

Tommatt · March 2012

AuburnTiger wrote: »

I adored this game when I played it. It left such a lasting impression on me.

That being said, I'm not sure I want to play it again. I'm afraid that I've viewing it through a nostalgic lense, I don't want to be disappointed if I play the HD release.

I'm sure we all are in some ways. Some of it was tedious, and there were a lot of QTE's. And part of the nostalgia is how game breaking this game was. It was 2 or 3 years before GTA, and was one of the first games to have this huge, interactive, open world.

I'm curious if they'll change much about the game/gameplay. But as long as I can forklift race im good.

Linespider5 · March 2012

TheSonicRetard wrote: »

Yakuza really isn't anything like Shenmue. I don't get why people say that.

The only people who make this comparison are people who've never played either of them, and think, 'Asian guy walking around a city, occasionally beating people up. Must be the same game since it's the same publisher.'

TheSonicRetard · March 2012

I'd expect this to be, essentially, the Xbox version of Shenmue II in HD, probably with Shenmue the Movie included.

But who knows, Sega has been kicking ass with DD. They changed a bit of the controls in JSR. If there was one game whose controls could really use some rejiggering, it's Shenmue.

TheSonicRetard · March 2012

Linespider5 wrote: »

TheSonicRetard wrote: »

Yakuza really isn't anything like Shenmue. I don't get why people say that.

The only people who make this comparison are people who've never played either of them, and think, 'Asian guy walking around a city, occasionally beating people up. Must be the same game since it's the same publisher.'

That said, I would buy a Shenmue III styled after Yakuza that continued the story. Since a bunch of sci-fi shit was about to start happening, and considering the changes in Shenmue II, I think the whole "hyper open world with every bookshelf containing books you can pick up" stuff was going to be minimized. I mean, the achieved their goal of creating a living, breathing city in Shenmue I. When they got to Shenmue II, they didn't need to do that again, and instead concentrated on story, action, and progression.

Which is why I think Shenmue II is much better than Shenmue I. Shenmue ultimately began as Virtua Fighter RPG. I think people get too caught up in the hyper detail of the first to remember that there is a linear story being told.

And personally, the QTE sequences in Shenmue II are probably the best part of the series. The modern day equivalent of those scenes would be something like Uncharted. They were full of awesome cinematic fighting or action sequences. The one where you're handcuffed to Ren of Heavens and are escaping from Dou Niu is the best part in the entire series for me.

Darth_Mogs · March 2012

This might be a dumb question but I just want to ask before I get too excited. Assuming Shenmue II HD is a thing and assuming it'll be released as the rest of the Dreamcast titles have been, is there a chance it'll be released for both PS3 and 360? I mean, Shenmue II was published by Microsoft in NA which makes me think that 360 might get dibs. I would be super sad about that. (Not being console warz or anything, just would be annoyed if I could buy the first but not the second.)

skeldare · March 2012

Darth_Mogs wrote: »

This might be a dumb question but I just want to ask before I get too excited. Assuming Shenmue II HD is a thing and assuming it'll be released as the rest of the Dreamcast titles have been, is there a chance it'll be released for both PS3 and 360? I mean, Shenmue II was published by Microsoft in NA which makes me think that 360 might get dibs. I would be super sad about that. (Not being console warz or anything, just would be annoyed if I could buy the first but not the second.)

Why wouldn't it be released on PS3?

Brainiac 8 · March 2012

What are the chances of Sonic Adventure 2 and a volume 2 of the Dreamcast Collection on disc?

For the record, I've never played Shenmue, so I'm looking forward to this.

Shimshai · March 2012

I'm looking for some sailors.

skeldare · March 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rccW9Tig6_Y

Unco-ordinated · March 2012

I'd be interested. Last gen I was a PS2/GC owner, so I never got the chance to play Shenmue.

I'm far more interested in Skies of Arcadia though.

Darth_Mogs · March 2012

skeldare wrote: »

Darth_Mogs wrote: »

This might be a dumb question but I just want to ask before I get too excited. Assuming Shenmue II HD is a thing and assuming it'll be released as the rest of the Dreamcast titles have been, is there a chance it'll be released for both PS3 and 360? I mean, Shenmue II was published by Microsoft in NA which makes me think that 360 might get dibs. I would be super sad about that. (Not being console warz or anything, just would be annoyed if I could buy the first but not the second.)

Why wouldn't it be released on PS3?

Just because what I said. Microsoft got exclusive publishing rights for Shenmue II in NA for the OXBox, so I don't know if that would matter for now for a re-release, or not. I'm leaning towards figuring that it wouldn't matter, but I would just kind of like to know. I -did- say it might be a dumb question. >.>

Penny Arcade

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