Sega TGS 2016 Merchandise: the Ryo Marshmallow

Sega's page for their 2016 Tokyo Game Show merchandise is now live! The big question is whether there is any more Shenmue-related merchandise to be revealed there.

The merchandise button has now been activated
on the Sega page!

Let's take a look.

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TGS 2016 & Shenmue Merchandise

The 2016 Tokyo Game Show is coming up next week at the "Makuhari Messe" convention center in Chiba prefecture. Thursday and Friday are "Business Days" for those working in the games industry, with the public days being Saturday and Sunday (September 17th-18th).

TGS 2016. (Is that a VR headset you're wearing?)

Entry tickets are a reasonably-priced 1200 yen each on the day, and 200 yen cheaper if you buy them online beforehand. (Official ticket page).

So can we expect anything Shenmue-related this year at the event?

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Shenmue Realism: Washing Machines

One of the aspects of the Shenmue games that I love, and one of the things that made the game stand out when it was first released, is the attention to details of real life that are portrayed.

A Reflection of Real Life

For me the accuracy of this depiction is particularly apparent when playing the first game in the series, with its setting of Japan.

From time to time I'd like to highlight some of the subtle details that may not have any effect on the story but combine to give a genuine feeling of the life and culture of Japan back in the 1980s - and which in many cases are still a close picture of the society today.

Washing Machines in Shenmue I

As you direct Ryo around his local neighborhood of Sakuragaoka, you may notice that a couple of the residences have washing machines sitting outside them.

At an apartment building in Sakuragaoka.

Oops, someone left the lid up.

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Shenmue Wins Best Dreamcast Title (Dorimaga article / March 2000)

Let's take a trip back to early in the year 2000, soon after the release of Shenmue.

In the March 2000 edition of the Japanese Dreamcast Magazine ("Dorimaga"), the results of the first "Dreamcast Magazine Grand Prix" were announced in which all released Dreamcast software titles competed against each other across several award categories.

Here is a translation of the first part for the award of Best Title, in which Shenmue left the other titles dead in the water. Check out those youthful faces!

Shenmue also ranked in several of the other categories, with corresponding interviews which I will translate in future posts.

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"This..." Unnatural Utterances at the Tomato Convenience Store

In the main, the English character lines in Shenmue sound reasonably natural - often with a deliberate touch of humor depending on the character. But it is interesting to spot the odd case that comes across as a bit awkward (or even puzzling). More often than not, this is due to having been translated a little too directly from the original Japanese.

To show what I mean, let's consider a couple of English lines from Shenmue that sound slightly "off", and compare them with the original Japanese that these translations come from to find out how they compare.

In this post we'll look at a first, simple example.

Ryo at the Tomato Convenience Store

I will avenge my father's death... but I'm getting kind of hungry.

OK, here's the scene: the brightly-lit Tomato Convenience Store on the main street of Dobuita as dusk starts to settle in. Ryo Hazuki, pausing before the automatic door, realizes that he has not eaten anything in a long while. He resolves to briefly put aside the quest to avenge his father's death in order to buy a snack. He steps up to the store's doors which slide open and the chirpy Tomato Mart theme greets him as he strolls inside.

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Slacker Backer: update on the PC version reward

While we have not yet seen the appearance of the PC version as a reward option in the Slacker Backer campaign for Shenmue III (official site) since it was launched in September of last year, the FAQ page has always indicated that it is in the works.

This has been confirmed again today by Cedric Biscay.

Cedric is always happy to respond to questions from fans -
a great spokesperson for Shenmue III.

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Kickstarter Update #59: observations

Well, although the update video wasn't long at just over 2 minutes, it was worth the wait with live demonstrations of QTE scenes being created, one a reconstruction of Ryo jumping rocks to cross the river with Shenhua in Shenmue II, and one new instance of QTE gameplay from Shenmue III in the making.

I'll mention a few of the things that caught my attention as I watched.

And we're looking forward to the next report already!

The first thing to strike me (apart from the snazzy space-themed shirt the presenter is wearing) is that the title screen is labelled "Development Report Vol. 01".  This suggests that today's video is the start of a series with similar updates to follow in the future. Exciting! The date stamp confirms that the footage is as recent as a week ago.

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Kickstarter Update #59 - From the Dev Room

Toiling away for us Shenmue fans

Wow, the much-anticipated update #59 for the Shenmue III Kickstarter is upon us, with a real treat in store for the fans in the form of an in-depth video of the development progress.

I can't wait to sit down and digest the video - then see what extra information can be combed out of it!

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