Shenmue Master's Interview with Yu Suzuki | Gamescom 2017

A new interview with Yu Suzuki conducted by French fansite Shenmue Master at Gamescom 2017 in Germany has been released.

A special aspect of this interview is the thoughtfully-chosen questions on aspects we do not often hear Yu talk about, presented with illustrative footage and narration explaining the motivation behind each of the questions.

The interview reveals Yu's thoughts on an appropriate pacing for Shenmue III, how the increased budget may allow a certain character to appear more often than originally planned, and the symbolism behind the hawk / eagle in the game.

View the video below (note: ensure YouTube captions are turned on).

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Interview with Yokosuka City | The Story Behind the Shenmue Guide Map

The recent publication of an official Shenmue-themed tourist guide map for Yokosuka has caused a buzz of excitement within the Shenmue community. The result of a collaboration with SEGA, the two-sided 3-fold pamphlet oozes quality and the care that has been taken in putting it together is apparent at a glance.

Shenmue fans may also be wondering about how the map came to be created. Many questions come to mind, such as: was it something proposed by SEGA? How long did it take to create such a detailed document? What prompted the project at this particular time?

Armed with such pressing questions, I got in touch with the guide map's co-creator, Eriko Furusaki of the Tourism Planning Division within the Yokosuka City Economic Department, who very kindly agreed to give us some insight into how the map came to be.

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"Sacred Spot" Guide Map: Official English Version

The official English version of the Shenmue "Sacred Spot" Guide Map of Yokosuka has been released on the Yokosuka City website.

Download link

The map can be downloaded in pdf form here:
http://www.cocoyoko.net/pdf/shenmue_yokosuka_map_EN.pdf (Wayback Machine link)

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"Sacred Spot" Guide Map Translation: Road to Amihama

The Shenmue-themed guide map of real-life Yokosuka that was released recently by the Yokosuka tourism board is full of information snippets and photos of real-day locations upon which the game was based. And being produced in collaboration with SEGA, the trivia contained is from the horse's mouth, so to speak.

The map is currently available in only in the Japanese-language, and while an English version is imminent, I decided to jump the gun and give blog readers a translated preview of a portion of the pamphlet. The portion we will look at is the real-life map of the route that Ryo takes from Dobuita to the New Yokosuka Harbor in Amihama, where he gets his forklift job.

We will be translating the areas of the guide map circled in red.

At the same time, we will be able to see how close we got with our speculation and in-game observations covering several previous blog posts, to where the location of the harbor lies in real life.

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Announcing: the Phantom River Stone Translation Service

If you would have something in Japanese you want translated into English - whether it is a few sentences, a whole article, or even a video, help is at hand!

I am pleased to announce the commencement of our Japanese-to-English Translation Service!

I decided to offer this service to combat the frustration situation of those who have a new magazine interview or a fascinating video in Japanese, and are dying to have an English version.

It's easy to arrange a translation - just drop me an email.

Details:

Translation will be carried out by yours truly (Switch), and will be treated with the same high level of care as for the items I translate for the Phantom River Stone blog.

My qualifications: I hold Level One (top level) of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, and have been living in Japan for several years. Over the years I have worked on a great many translations for the blog and fan projects.

Here is a sample of different kinds of translations I have covered:

• Present-day & historic magazine articles and written interviews e.g.
  Interview with Yu Suzuki and Katsuhiro Harada
• Game subtitles e.g. the "What's Shenmue" game on Dreamcast (fan project): What's Shenmue English playthrough (YouTube)
• Video subtitles, such as the 1999 NHK "Making Of Shenmue" documentary and the Shenmue III Presentation in China (2015).
• Tweets by Japanese creators e.g. Shenmue composer Ryuji Iuchi's tweet
• Audio and video interviews e.g. Yu Suzuki Interview at Retro Game Expo
• Game design documents e.g. Concept Sketch "Wharf Near Langhuishan"
• Game manuals e.g. "Sin & Punishment" English Manual (N64) (fan project)
• Online Questionnaires e.g. SEGA Japan's Questionnaire in March 2017

The content for translation can be about anything - it does not need to be Shenmue-related, or even about video gaming.

The level of translation is also flexible: you may like to initially commission a high-level outline to get the gist of the content, before deciding whether to continue with a thorough translation.

Translation fee: by mutual agreement beforehand.

Commission a Translation

To arrange for a translation, contact Switch via email now!

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"Temple Maiden" Model & Lakshya Digital | Kickstarter Update #77

A mid-month Kickstarter Update has appeared out of the blue, bringing with it an exciting announcement regarding character model creation: namely, that the team at Lakshya Digital is now working on character production for Shenmue III. We are also treated to a new image that showcases one of their newly-created characters.

As we learned from interviews held with Yu Suzuki during Gamescom 2017, such as this 4Gamer interview, the original plans for the game have been scaled up: the number of non-player characters (NPCs) planned for the town of Choubu is likely to increase from 50~60 to as many as 200.

Clearly creating all characters in-house would burden the core development team immensely, so outsourcing to a quality outfit makes a lot of sense.

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Where is Amihama in Real Life? (Part 2/2) | Route Information Signs

In Part One of this topic, we considered which part of Yokosuka is most likely to have served as the real-life inspiration for the harbor and warehouse area that Ryo visits in Shenmue. The placenames used in the game - New Yokosuka Harbor in Amihama - do not exist in real life.

Based on the clues gathered, the location that appeared to be the best fit was an area of the harbor that lies 15-20 minutes away from Dobuita, called Nagaura Port.

Related link:

• Where is Amihama in Real Life? (Part 1/2)

In Part One, we identified this area as a candidate for Amihama in real life: Nagura Port

But in fact, we have not yet exhausted all possible sources of clues.

In this second article, we will carry out an in-depth analysis of the road signboards that Ryo passes on his motorbike on the way to the harbor.

We will try plotting the placenames shown onto a real map (if they exist), to see if this helps to provide a confirmation of Amihama's location.

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Cédric Plays Shenmue III: "So Cool" | Photo

Shenmue III co-producer Cédric Biscay has met with Yu Suzuki at the development studio in Tokyo, and tried out the latest build of Shenmue III, with an upbeat verdict.

In his tweet he describes the game as "so cool" and has attached a photo of Yu Suzuki posing at his desk with a PS4 controller in his hands, smiling cheerfully.

The tweet message reads:

"We are playing The game and it is so cool ! #Shenmue3"

It is heart-warming to see Yu showing a relaxed and confident face, in what must be a hectic development period for the game.

Also posted was a group photo:

Group photo (from left: executive producer Harry Morishita, creator Yu Suzuki, co-producer Cédric Biscay).

The tweet reads:

"What a pleasure to play the latest version of #Shenmue3 today.
Yes we will really have the game we are all waiting for ! @YSNET_Inc @yu_suzuki_jp  @ShibuyaProd"

Many thanks to Cédric on behalf of fans and backers for this brief, but uplifting, informal update.

Source: tweet #1, tweet #2

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