Yu Suzuki's Signing Sessions at Gamescom 2019

"Last day of the signing sessions"

While at Gamescom, Yu Suzuki held multiple signing sessions in the public exhibition hall, with long queues of fans forming to meet the master. This post contains a selection of some of the pictures shared on social media over the period.

Shenmue III promotion at the Deep Silver booth was most impressive. Above, large panels ensured it could be spotted from afar with an eye-catching image of the Stone Pit's cave with the giant carved mirrors and burning flames .

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Shenmue 3 Kickstarter Update: PC Version Options & "Greater than Shenmue 2" Scale

A new Kickstarter Update has been released by YS Net containing two main topics which we will summarize in this post. One is regarding the PC versions of the game, and the other is an overview of features that have been included in the final game.

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Analysis Part Two: Shenmue III Scenes from PS4 Kiosk at Walmart

Welcome to the second half of our analysis of the Shenmue III teaser that was unexpectedly discovered by Shenmue fan Cebman at a US Walmart on a PS4 demo kiosk earlier this month.

If you have not yet read the first post, go here to read our analysis of Part One.

Here is the full video as a refresher (note that the release date at the end of the teaser is incorrect: it shows the old release date of 27th August; which now changed to 19th November. Footage credit: praj from the Shenmue Dojo.

And now let's continue on with the analysis of the final scenes.

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Analysis Part One: New Shenmue III Scenes from PS4 Kiosk at Walmart

Previously-unseen footage of a Shenmue III teaser has recently been discovered at a Walmart store. It was first discovered by Cebman who was visiting the games section and selected Shenmue III at a PS4 demo kiosk. To his surprise, the teaser that played contained a number of new scenes from the game. The video ends with the old release date (before its change to 19th November) and so it represents an accidental leak of a video created prior to the rescheduling. However, it does contain some exciting snippets of scenes so in this post, we'll run through and examine each of the new scenes in detail.

Thank you to yuc02 for contributing to this post and for confirming Chinese character meanings.

Notes:

• The release date advertised at the end of the teaser shows that it was created for a release of 27th August; the release date has now changed to 19th November. 
• All scenes in the video are marked "Work in progress. Game not final."
• Images in this post are of reduced quality as they are screen-grabbed from a hand-held recording of the monitor.

The video may be viewed here if you have not yet seen it, or to refresh your memory before we walk through it. (Video footage credit: praj from the Shenmue Dojo. Image stabilization has been applied).

Read on to see what tiny details are hiding in these scenes.

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Deep Silver's Shenmue III Pre-Order Page & River Li Image

Deep Silver has opened a new and sleek-looking Shenmue III pre-order page on their website, which can be accessed at shenmue3.deepsilver.com. It provides links to a number of retailers around the world, based on the country and system selected. Languages supported on the page's drop-down are English (UK), English (US), German, Spanish, Italian and French (but not Japanese, which is expected as Deep Silver is global publisher excluding Japan).

While the media section of the page does not contain any new slides (and the "View Trailer" link currently plays the Prophecy trailer from Gamescom 2018), there are a few points of interest worth highlighting.

New River Li Image

The site gives an outline of the types of locations in the game:

"Shenmue III lets players explore a gorgeous, charm-laden, and danger-filled China. From festive towns to dark and dank enemy lairs".

"Festive towns" would obviously point to Niaowu, with its brightly-lit lanterns. While no specifics are given, could the "dark and dank enemy lairs" mentioned in the site's description refer to the Chi You Men's den in Baisha..?

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Shenmue III Participation at E3 | Kickstarter Update #101

Hot on the heels of the previous Kickstarter Update regarding Shenmue III's revised release date comes Kickstarter Update #101, announcing that Yu Suzuki will be attending E3 2019 (June 12 - June 14). The news reads as follows:

E3 is just days away and we are planning to be in attendance. Together with Deep Silver we are now finalizing all the details.

S3 at E3

Shenmue III is scheduled to have a room in the business area open to the media. Expect to see S3 info from media around the world! (Yu Suzuki is not planned to participate in the exhibit hall events.)

E3 2019 Official Site

Thank you always for your support!

This confirms the news leaked via Twitter by a member of the press last month that Shenmue III would be playable by the press at E3.

As per today's announcement, although the game will be exhibited only in the event's business area (which is not accessible by the general public), we can look forward to reports on the gameplay by the global media attending.

Link to announcement: Kickstarter Update #101

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Shenmue III Release Date Revised to 19th November | Kickstarter Update #100

YS Net and Deep Silver yesterday released an announcement regarding a revision to the release date of Shenmue III. The revised release date is 19th November. The full text is as follows:

04 June 2019

A Message from Yu Suzuki & Deep Silver

Hello Everyone,

Today Yu Suzuki & Deep Silver would like to give a message concerning the release date.

Shenmue III will now release on 19th November 2019.

[before] August 27, 2019

[new] November 19, 2019

Whilst almost ready, the game simply needs a little more refinement before being truly finished.

We feel that the extra time we have will help us deliver the true Shenmue experience players around the world deserve!

We thank you for your patience and understanding,

Yu Suzuki & Deep Silver

This delay will no doubt come as a disappointment to fans who have been counting down the days to the previous release date since being decided in August of last year.

A complicating factor is is how this change in release period may effect Shenmue III sales and general awareness among players, in a release period where other, big-name releases may steal the limelight and headlines (Death Stranding, for example, is currently scheduled earlier in the month on November 8th).

However, out-weighing this in my eyes is that if extra work is required on the game, then spending the extra time is the right decision. The alternative - releasing before the critical eye of the public a game that lacks polish, or worse, one that suffers from obvious bugs from the outset - could seriously damage its reputation. After such a long wait for this game, it would be a shame for it to be compromised for the sake of a few months and I trust that Yu Suzuki has our best interests in mind.

As a side-note, when the original release of Shenmue in Japan was delayed in 1999, the What's Shenmue demo was distributed on the originally-scheduled release date to people who had pre-ordered. I would love to see something similar done for the timing of the "Shenmue III demo" reward for backers, but this would of course depend on developer resources.

No mention was made in the announcement of plans for next week's E3 (June 11 - 13), although we know that Shenmue III will be playable by members of the press. The change of date will no doubt affect the way in which Shenmue III gets marketed at Gamescom 2019 (August 21-24), and other later events also now come into the picture such as Paris Games Week (October 30).

Link to announcement: Shenmue III Kickstarter Update #100

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Examining the New Shenmue 3 Images in the THQ Nordic Presentation

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Last week on May 16th, THQ Nordic, which recently acquired Koch Media and its subsidiary company (and publisher of Shenmue III) Deep Silver, held a presentation for shareholders, analysts and media representatives. While not directed at fans / backers, it did contain a section on Shenmue III that revealed some new images and information.

Watch the Shenmue III Presentation (3 minutes)

During their presentation, which was called "Capital Markets Day", several in-progress games were introduced, including a 3-minute portion on Shenmue III.

The Shenmue III section of the video can be viewed below. Footage from the game - some seen previously and some new - is shown from 2:14.

Video courtesy of Shenmue Dojo

While much of this footage has been seen before, we will highlight the glimpses seen of new material in the following sections of this post.

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Kickstarter Update #81: Shenmue III Release Window Moved to 2019

Today Deep Silver and YS Net jointly announced that the release window for Shenmue III has been moved to 2019 (the precise period has not been given), from the second half of 2018. You may recall that the previous date adjustment was due to Deep Silver's involvement partway through the project, bringing with it additional financial support that allowed for a greatly-increased scope.

The announcement notes that the extra time will be spent to improve and refine the game.

The text of the Kickstarter update is as follows:

"Hello Everyone,

Along with our publishers, Deep Silver, we have an announcement for the release date of Shenmue III. Our report follows with a comment from Mr. Suzuki.

Announcement by Deep Silver:

“ Deep Silver today announce that their upcoming release Shenmue III has been moved and will now release in 2019.

The extra time will be used to polish the quality of the game even further, to the high standards it deserves and release the product in the best possible timeframe. ”

Comment by Yu Suzuki:

To all of our backers, we are very sorry for the delay. After much discussion with our partners, Deep Silver, we have concluded that extending the release will allow us to deliver Shenmue III at its best. We promise to use this time to improve the quality of Shenmue III.

We cannot thank you enough for your enduring support."

Source: Kickstarter Update #81

This news may be seen as unfortunate for those who had been hoping to play Shenmue III as soon as possible, a delay that ensures the product is delivered at its best is something that will surely have the understanding of the majority of backers. From Yu Suzuki's comments at the Magic event in Monaco, we know that the team is working all-out - including throughout weekends - so if a reschedule is required to reach the level he is striving for, then this has my full support.

Shenmue Forever has gathered some initial reactions from the community.

Shenmue 3 "Release date Announcement by Deep Silver".

“Deep Silver today announce that their upcoming release Shenmue III has been moved and will now release in 2019."https://t.co/K0hUdJMljW

Once again Shenmue Community proves to be the best in the world!#Shenmue #Shenmue3 pic.twitter.com/7M1TMYe9E2

— Shenmue Forever (@ShenmueForever) May 16, 2018

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Gamescom 2017 Photo Report | Guest Post

We welcome yuc02 back to the blog with a photo report on his experience at the recent Gamescom 2017 event in Germany, as he got to catch up with other Shenmue fans not to mention meeting Yu Suzuki himself - and even found himself taking on the role of primary cameraman for several community interviews. He also had a special mission to fulfill on behalf of the Shenmue community...

(All photos in this report were taken by yuc02. Click to enlarge).

Hey guys, it’s yuc02 again!

I had the pleasure of going to Gamescom this year, obviously to see Yu Suzuki and the YS Net team, but also to hand him a very special gift.  It was a great few days and I just wished that more of you guys could have been there.  Here’s my take on the 3 days I was there.

Day 1: Wed 23rd August, 2017

After a (very) early start, I finally arrived in Cologne for the 2017 edition of Gamescom, the largest gaming show in Europe.  It was also my first ever games show, so it was quite daunting to see so many people (it wasn’t even the busiest day!)

The Gamescom venue in Cologne

Inside the halls

Naturally I went to see the Deep Silver booth, to try and have a look at the meet and greet area (keep thinking Deep Purple for some reason :P)

It wasn’t massive, slightly tucked out of the way, and was surrounded by SEGA and other Deep Silver products, so was quite cosy! In a way it feels like Shenmue…

SEGA and Deep Silver booths in close proximity in the general-admission area

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YS Net Studio Visit by Koch Media with Blurry Dev Screenshot | Photos

Olivier Comte, the CEO of the French subsidiary of Koch Media, yesterday paid a visit to Yu Suzuki and the development team in Tokyo and has posted up some photos on his Twitter account.

Koch Media is the parent company to publishing label Deep Silver, recently announced as the international publisher for Shenmue III at the recent Gamescom event.

Olivier Comte with Yu Suzuki (photo: Twitter)

Olivier also shared a photo of the studio showing the development team at work.

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Close-up on the New Shenmue III Art | Kickstarter Update #72 [3/3]

Having got the "real-world" focused updates from the recent Kickstarter update #72 out of the way in previous posts (namely, the confirmation of Yu Suzuki's meet-and-greet schedule at Gamescom and the announcement of Deep Silver as publisher), in this third post we at last turn to an aspect that relates entirely to the Shenmue world - in the form of the surprise inclusion of new art from the game, contained in the press release material.

A benefit of waiting a day or two before posting on this topic is that I have had time to examine the images carefully and let my thoughts settle.

Let's run through the new images, as sourced from the press releases.

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Global Publishing Partner Announced for Shenmue III | Kickstarter Update #72 [2/3]

One of the major announcements in the latest Kickstarter update is that YS Net has formed a contract with Deep Silver, a company headquartered in Germany and owned by Koch Media, for publishing Shenmue III.

The press release states: "The global publishing deal will cover the release exclusively on [the] PlayStation 4 computer entertainment system and PC, both physical and digital versions."

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