[Rumor] Shenmue 3, Can We Have Some Closure?

It's been over 7 years since the release of Shenmue II and i remember importing the PAL version so i could play it first on Dreamcast. I've been a fan of the Shenmue series since the story and gameplay (the english acting wouldn't be missed though.. "on that day it snowed") drew me in since the first installment and the climax which was also the ending in Shenmue II. I was pleased to hear that everything would be answered and come to a conclusion in Shenmue III soon on XBOX360 when it was announced at the time..

As the years went by i read that it wasn't going to be continued and years after that i had totally forgotten. Few months ago i thought i'd check up on the situation and see what was going on. This is what was on Shenmue II Wiki page regarding Shenmue III:

Quote:

Sega originally planned for Shenmue III, but over the years many have speculated that the game may never see the light of day. Various unconfirmed reasons for its delay include budget issues, poor sales of Shenmue II, creative differences, commitment problems, etc. Over the past few years since Shenmue II, Shenmue III has been announced for development and cancelled at least two times. An example of this is in August 2005, when Kikizo.com revealed that Shenmue III would be a compilation of the first and second installments plus the final chapters. This, too, has apparently fallen by the wayside, as Kikizo recently stated that Shenmue III is "worth forgetting about. "After some time a new Shenmue project was underway, later revealed to be Shenmue Online, which has also since been cancelled. The final chapters of the Shenmue saga have been finished already, but never went into production. Fans petitioned for Shenmue III's development, but nothing official has been announced so far. According to Shenmue Dojo, Shenmue creator Yu Suzuki was quoted as saying, "Regarding Shenmue 3, we're not carrying on relative development yet, and I can't give you any further information for the time being."

I pretty much can't say i understand what all is going on here, "worth forgetting about." The fan base has been pretty huge to go as far as making a few petitions that are still around to this day Shenmue III Petition. They even have a MySpace page about it MySpace Shenmue III Petition. And i guess a few video demands on YouTube.

Being in and out of development i'm sure there is a lot of politics going around about the game and such, but i have yet to see anything set in stone if or if it won't be coming out. Even read some articles Yu Suzuki wasn't happy with any of the current consoles after Dreamcast and Sega bowed out of the console race. Being a Shenmue fan, i'd really like to see the 3rd/Final Chapter being released, i'd even be happy if it was released as a comic or novel just something dammit if they got the story all done.

With all that being said anyone else have comments to add to these? Or possibly any other news that'd shed some light on this whole ordeal. Here's some screen shots and video of Shenmue 3 through Shenmue Dojo for the time being.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Yeah, well...they kind of lost a fistful of millions of dollars on the Shenmue games. Why would they want to make another one?

Oh...what's this? Shenmue on the Wii?
Oh wait, it's another port.

I guess you should just watch this for closure:

YouTube Video
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There's nowhere I can't reach.

That video is just full of win lol, thanks for the clip.

I guess that'd explain a lot, if they were to make a Shenmue 3 or in production Sega may go under given where they are now. I just wish they'd stop re-releasing old games or ports like this one to Wii and put those money into a Shenmue fund.. if this is how they're gonna turn out.

Just like Squaresoft was about to be finished they did Final Fantasy for the hell of it and literally got pulled back out of the hole, was kinda hoping maybe the same for Shenmue and Sega, though i wouldn't put the 2 companies and games in the same category.

This is all i got from any recent responses about Shenmue Hope but it all sounds the same, circles and circles.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by cloud baka

Just like Squaresoft was about to be finished they did Final Fantasy for the hell of it and literally got pulled back out of the hole, was kinda hoping maybe the same for Shenmue and Sega, though i wouldn't put the 2 companies and games in the same category.

The first Final Fantasy game wasn't a sequel though. Any future Shenmue game will be tarred with the brush of it's predecessors. Whilst the Shenmue games had their fans, the second one especially was a massive commercial failure and is synonymous with the death of the Dreamcast. I just can't see them taking that kind of risk again, especially when there's so much money to be made from ropey re-hashes and licensing out their characters to endless Nintendo crossovers.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

It's a shame, but I don't think this will ever happen realistically speaking. I really enjoyed both Shenmue and Shenmue II, and was somewhat looking forward to seeing where the story went. I'd be quite happy if they just posted some sort of synopsis on a website of how it all ends, but I doubt they will. Bastards.

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Originally Posted by OmagnusPrime

It's a shame, but I don't think this will ever happen realistically speaking. I really enjoyed both Shenmue and Shenmue II, and was somewhat looking forward to seeing where the story went. I'd be quite happy if they just posted some sort of synopsis on a website of how it all ends, but I doubt they will. Bastards.

That's the least they can do or maybe a DVD like they did with the Xbox version on what happend with the first game. I'm pretty much surprised more than in Japan they'd have a better fanbase and only in Japan and Europe got the sequel on Dreamcast. Releasing it here for Xbox wasn't probably the best idea as casual gaming started to become hip to everyone, not just the select few. Even though i had PAL version i picked up the Xbox version only cause it was real cheap i think like $10 new.. was kinda sad.

I'm kinda disappointed in all this but its good to know that there is people out there that liked the games. Just really crappy it ended with a climax and we'll probably never see what happens.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

The issue was more that it ended with a climactic cliff-hanger. It wasn't even remotely wrapped up, it was very much *bang* here's a massive reveal for more story. It'd be like if they just ended Lost now with the start of another massive mystery, but then went "shame we won't be making any more of it".

I was under the impression that the whole story had been plotted out from the get-go, so it should be possible for them to say where things were heading.

FELIPE NO

C'mon, QTE's all the rage nowadays.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

The game never had enough shooting of terrorists, in the dark, to be a commercial success on Xbox. I never understood why they didn't just release it on everything just to recoup the losses.

Jam it back in, in the dark.