"Special Backer Edition" available with $60 backing.
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The Shenmue III Kickstarter campaign has added a PlayStation 4 physical copy reward.
All backers pledging for a $60 reward tier or higher will have the option of a Special Backer Edition physical copy for PlayStation 4. Users will be sent a survey after the Kickstarter finishes to choose whether they want the PS4 physical copy, PS4 digital copy, PC physical copy, or PC digital copy.
If youve already pledged for a PC physical copy will not need to adjust their rewards if they prefer a PlayStation 4 physical copy instead.
Shenmue III can be funded at Kickstarter.
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How open-world will be Shenmue 3 be? Will there be a pet dog? Are there going to be Coca Cola collaborations in the game? Shenmue creator Yu Suzuki has been answering fan questions about the project via his Twitter feed, addressing a wide range of topics. While his answers are brief, some of them do shed a little more insight into Shenmue 3 and what to expect from it. Read on.
Were there originally 16 chapters in the Shenmue saga or were there 11? please elaborate as to why some say 16 and some say 11.
It is 11 chapters, but with branched story line, it will be more than 11.
At $5 million, exactly HOW open world will Shenmue 3 be, compared to Shenmue 1/2?
Im expecting something similar to Dobuita in terms of scale.
Will you be disappointed if the Kickstarter doesnt raise $10mill for that open world experience?
No I wont. I am grateful I have another chance for a new Shenmue. I will do everything I can within the budget.
Will the Tiger scroll translated by Guizang in 1 be in 3?
Great idea! I will look into it.
For Ryo Hazukis model and others, are you going to reuse models and generally assets from Shenmue 1 and Shenmue 2?
I dont plan on recycling them, but will use the good parts as an reference.
Would love to hear Mandarin voice acting alongside Japanese in Shenmue3. Could we make it stretch goal?
Thank you, it is under consideration.
Why do you think Shenmue didnt appeal to the mass audience back then? Would it need to be modernized for today?
One reason may be there were so many new challenges. New challenges this time too. Its the most important thing.
Can we expect the return of lottery prize in Shenmue 3? May be the first prize can be a figure of Yu Suzuki!
Great idea. Thanks. I will need to think about something more appealing than a figure of me.
Will you research latest tech in AI so you can include it in Shenmue 3 to make it a pioneering game like its predecessors?
Yes. I would like to take on some new challenge in terms of technology.
Is there a possibility to film a production process for example motion capture or dubbing, during development of Shenmue 3?
Yes, we have it and I would like to feature it in an update.
Will Coca Cola join the Party?
Im considering collaborations with companies like Coca Cola.
Whats the I.Q. score of Fukuhara-san?
Maybe something like 86?
What can you tell me of the three blades?
Jobs using scissors, razor and knife- barber, cook, and sewer. Skills for jobs with steady demand in any era.
My 10-year-old daughter wants to know if shell be able to use the phone at will in Shenmue 3 like she does in Shenmue 1.
Look forward to it. There will be many nostalgic scenes. Maybe a tin can telephone as well?
If future installments of Shenmue become a possibility will we have the option to bring over save data from Shenmue 3?
I have not decided it yet.
Can we expect epic fights like in Kowloon in Shenmue 2 and a similar battle fight system?
There is Battle System Expanded Stretch Goal. It will enhance the battles, better than Shenmue 2.
Will we start Shenmue 3 with some items/skills/scrolls from Shenmue 1 + 2?
The platform is different, so unfortunately we cant do it.
Should we expect any Sega related stuff in Shenmue 3 like arcade games or toy capsules?
There is a possibility.
Were there any gameplay elements for Shenmue 1 and 2 that had to be cut due to budget constraints?
Yes. I wanted the ramen noodles to get soggy and yucky, but couldnt. I wanted to get that real.
Will the Shenmue Trial be used for feedback to improve the game like Square Enix have with the Final Fantasy XV demo?
I would definitely want to get feedback, so Im looking into how to put a system like that in place.
Will there be official Kickstarter Shenmue 3 forums to discuss and give feedback throughout the development process?
I of course would like that and am looking into it.
Will everything be voice acted the same way as 1 and 2? or will budget constraints not allow 100% VO all the time?
Full voice will be possible if we have enough funding.
I was wondering did you get Ryo Hazuki name from Ryudo Uzaki that was a Japanese musician?
Nope.
My question is why is not possible to use Shenmue Passport models for Shenmue 3?
Im considering about adding some functions from Shenmue Passport.
Can we expect custom clothing for Ryo Hazuki? It would be great feature to able to style Ryo Hazuki as we want.
Theres a feature on the $250 tier and up to change Ryos jacket. Other customizing under consideration.
Why was the Dragon Mirror hidden under a cherry tree, a not-so-safe place like the basement?
Iwao [Hazuki] thought the place under Cherry blossom tree was safer.
Where did Ryo get his bandaid?
It didnt appear in Chp.1, but there was a martial arts event. The scar is from the final match.
What is your favourite movie?
My favourite 3 are: The Hustler, Casablanca, Roman Holiday. I love Billiards, and I still play it sometimes.
Will Shenmue 3 be compatible with the project Morpheus VR headset for the ultimate second life experience?
I feel that VR offers great possibilities.
Will there be a pet dog in Shenmue 3?
Depends on the budget.
Shenmues core plot is basically Hamlet. Are you a Shakespeare fan and has that been an influence?
Sorry, but I have not read Hamlet. I know Hamtaro though.
I always wondered how Ryo , being Japanese, could communicate so easily in China. Can Ryo speak Chinese?
Lets not go there
Suzuki-san, can you please tell us some little info about Shenhua that the fans dont already know yet?
The Shenmue trees flower is named Shenhua. She is named after that flower.
Will Ryo learn the value of forgiveness in Shenmue 3?
Please play Shenmue 3 for that answer!
Do you have a rough idea how many people will be in the development team for Shenmue 3?
It will vary depending on the [Kickstarter] budget.
Since relationships between characters will be more prominent, will we see something like a multiple choice conversation system?
I am thinking about a dialogue selection system.
Please confirm that guns will never be a part of Shenmue gameplay, not for Ryo or any other playable character.
I am not thinking about including guns as a weapon at the moment.
Will Ryo finally eat and perform other bodily functions?
I dont have plan on implementing it for Shenmue 3.
Why does Ryo have a Saturn under his TV in Shenmue 1, but no games? Was Iwao using the promise of a game for it to focus Ryo? :P
That sounds about right. Lets go with that.
Mr. Suzuki, what is your favorite music to listen to?
I like Jazz and Rock.
Shenmue 3 is in development for PC and PlayStation 4.
Read more stories about PC & PlayStation 4 & Shenmue 3 on Siliconera.
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Twin 35-year-old brothers have pledged a total of $20,000 to the Shenmue 3 Kickstarter in order to bring exposure to their V.E.T. Program (Volunteer English Teacher) in which they help the children and young adults in and around the small villages of Chinas Guilin area to learn English.
One of the brothers explains on ShenmueDojo that they spent $10,000 to set-up the program in 2012 after a friend committed suicide in front of him and a girl he loved said she couldnt be with him as hes a bad person in the space of a month. And so, inspired by Shenmue, he decided to let go of fixing [his] life and think about others so [he] went to China.
The program they set-up gets English-speaking volunteers over to these Chinese schools to help the poorest kids (typically from farm families) whose parents struggle to get them an education learn written and especially oral English, introduce them to foreign cultures, and get them scholarships. This helps the kids when looking for a job in the future especially in tourist rich Yangshuo and the surrounding regions. More about the V.E.T. Program can be found out on its Facebook page.
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Initially, the brothers pledged $10,000 to the Shenmue 3 Kickstarter that gets them a meal with Yu Suzuki. Due to this initial pledge, the brothers say that the school received an amazing amount of attention in China, social media and gaming websites. And so theyve decided to make a second $10,000 pledge in order to hopefully increase that exposure.
We are not wealthy! This was a hard decision, explains one of the brothers. We could have given $20,000 directly to building the school and its programs but we feel that this pledge will lead to more exposure and support than what we could do through other mediums.
With this pledge theyve now got the chance to have character appear in Shenmue 3. We dont want to be a character attacking Ryo though, writes one of the brothers. We are going to try and ask Yu Suzuki to let us have one of our Volunteer Chinese teaching assistants be a character in one of the villages. They deserve to be recognized for their hard work. They are volunteers and many of them come from poor rice farms.
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They are also hoping that they can be listed in the games credits as a special sponsor with the school, its logo, and website included instead of their names. And theyd also love for Yu Suzuki to come to the school one day but dont want to be greedy.
Soon, the brothers say they will open up a way for people to donate to the V.E.T. Program and the schools but wont do it yet as they dont want to distract too much from the games Kickstarter campaign and look like donation hunters.
Read more stories about Shenmue 3 on Siliconera.
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Cinematographer and film maker Adam Sipione has released a trailer for his upcoming documentary A Gamers Journey: The Definitive History of Shenmue.
The documentary follows the history of Shenmue through its development, the launch and its financial flop, and the many years after during which fans were desperately hoping for a third game in the series after it was officially discontinued. The story of the games is told through interviews with fans, critics, YouTubers, voice actors, and developers in order to present Shenmue as a classic videogame and a masterpiece.
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To me, Shenmue is more than just a game, Sipione writes. It has influenced my life in many positive ways and was also the reason I decided to go to film school. Shenmue presented you with this interactive world that felt more real than any other video game at the time, and on top of that it had a captivating and engaging story. It was this story that led me to pursue a career in film because it made me want to tell stories for a living. I have had some amazing opportunities in my career and without Shenmue I would probably be a completely different person.
The documentary was started well before Shenmue 3 was announced at E3 but this has since been incorporated into the documentary too. And so it also looks towards what fans hope for in this third game. You can follow the documentarys progress on its Facebook page.
Read more stories about Shenmue & Shenmue 3 & Videos on Siliconera.
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Several brief interviews have been uploaded to the Shenmue 3 official YouTube account, and among them are a few with Kenji Miyawaki, the lead character designer for the Shenmue series. In one video, Miyawaki talks about how he designed the series main character, Ryo Hazuki.
Its probably alright to talk about this now, but, this project began as a Virtua Fighter RPG centering around Akira, Miyawaki says. At the time the design came from one of many portraits of Akira, with him simply wearing Jeans and a T-Shirt. Looking over the design Id made with him in the jeans and t-shirt and bag over his shoulder we all thought it was a little too plain.
Miyawaki goes onto note that one part of the worldview that drove the project was its historical background; when they thought what a character like Ryo would be like in the games historical context, they added a leather jacket to his design (in no small part inspired by the look and character of Howling Mad Murdock from the A-Team television series).
Even though it didnt look cool, Miyawaki says, it was a really cool look for people to have back then.
Miyawaki then turns to the portrait of the female character in the background.
This is Ming Ming, she appears after Shenmue 2. I have a lot of myself invested in her as well, he says. Shes free-spirited and very upfront, somewhat different from the female characters in Shenmue and Shenmue 2, who were mostly well-behaved. Shes expressive, and somewhat reckless, but shes full of life. Shes a character that becomes involved with Ryo, and whats more, shes a master of martial arts.
Miyawaki goes on to mention that hed love to see the character on the game screen some day. Miyawaki landed his job leading the art design for Shenmue when a friend of his dropped by a bookstore he worked at, and asked him to draw up some characters for a video game. At the time, Miyawaki wanted to break into the manga scene. He landed the job with Sega after being asked to illustrate a scene where the main character was traveling in Tibet at a pre-production meeting for Shenmue. Yu Suzuki took a liking to his work and asked him to stay on as a designer for the project.
Read more stories about PC & PlayStation 4 & Shenmue 3 & Videos on Siliconera.
Three days left until the Kickstarter campaign closes.
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With three days left on the Shenmue III Kickstarter campaign and funding closing in on $5 million, Ys Net has released a short new trailer for the PlayStation 4 and PC sequel.
The scene sees Ryo and Shenhua arrive at the Lake of the Lantern Bugs after their long journey. Theyre entranced as they watch the gentle flight of the lantern bugs upon the mirage-like oasis.
Ys Net notes that the scene is still a work in progress, but hopes that it will show those new to the game some of the wonder and magic they can expect from the continually unfolding world of Shenmue.
If youve been holding out on backing, visit the games Kickstarter here.
Watch the trailer below.
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Both the English and Japanese voice actors are back on board.
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Ryo Hazukis Japanese voice actor, Masaya Matsukaze, will return to voice the character in Shenmue III, Ys Net announced.
This comes following the news that Ryos English voice actor Corey Marshall will also return.
The Shenmue III Kickstarter campaign is currently in its final stretch. WIth just over a day and a half left until it closes, the Kickstarter has been funded $5.1 million of its $2 million goal.
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PC, PlayStation 4, Shenmue III, Ys Net
Now to wait patiently until development is completed.
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The Kickstarter campaign for Shenmue III, which launched last month following its debut at Sony Computer Entertainment’s E3 press conference, has closed at $6,333,295 funded of its $2 million goal from 69,320 backers.
Shenmue III holds the new record for Kickstarter’s most-funded video game. Here’s where it stands compared to previous most-funded titles:The sequel to Shenmue II will continue the story of Ryo, who in search of his father’s killer, has made his way to China, where he meet’s Shenhua and learns of a legend from her village that has foretold their path together.
- Shenmue III – $6.33 million
- Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night – $5.54 million
- Torment: Tides of Numeria – $4.18 million
- Pillars of Eternity – $3.98 million
- Mighty No. 9 – $3.84 million
- Broken Age – $3.33 million
- Yooka-Laylee – $2.09 million
- Wasteland 2 – $2.93 million
- Elite: Dangerous – £1.57 million
- Homestuck Adventure Game – $2.48 million
Shenmue III estimated due out in December 2017 for PlayStation 4 and PC.
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Do you think they'll release the first 2 games on PSN?
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The latest development update on Shenmue 3 isnt quite as exciting as previous ones but it does see director Yu Suzuki sharing an unusual story about one of his most recent hires.
When asked if he had any stories he could give that occurred during the development of Shenmue 3 so far, Suzuki came out with this:
One night, I went to a Thai restaurant with the development team after work. At that restaurant, a man approached me and asked to shake hands. He said he was a fan, and we had a brief talk. He also happened to be in the game industry and we began to hit it off. We talked some more to find out he really knew his job, and on top of that, he was an exceptionaly good person. I was so impressed, I asked him to help with the development. I couldnt help but feel Shenmues unique gravity to bring interesting things together.Thats somewhat heart warming, isnt it? Its often said that we shouldnt meet our heroes as wed only be disappointed by them, but this may be the exception. It landed that guy a new job!
That aside, the other questions that Suzuki answered in the Kickstarter update had him reveal that the planning for the composition, story, planning, and game flow has been finished so far. The diagram below is an illustration of that.![]()
S
uzuki also explained that now that he knows what budget hes working with hes had to restructured the Shenmue 3 story to fit its scope. Previously, 17 years ago to be precise, Suzuki had planned for Shenmue 3 to have 11 chapters with each one taking place in a different region, but working in this way isnt very efficient so he had to make changes.
Suzuki said that actual game development is starting now that the planning stage is complete. Plus, he says hell be looking to give more frequent updates, at least once a month, to show how the game is coming along.
Read more stories about PlayStation 4 & Shenmue 3 on Siliconera.
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Ys Net has opened up a Slacker Backer campaign for anyone who missed funding Shenmue 3 on Kickstarter. It will be available until December 31st 2015.
The money is accepted through PayPal and youre able to get rewards for backing the game, as was the case with the Kickstarter. A digital copy of the game for PlayStation 4 will cost $29 while a physical copy will set you back $60.
While the full game will be completed as promised with the use of the funding collected on Kickstarter, any additional funding collected here will go towards reaching the Stretch Goals to make the game even bigger and deeper, explains Ys Net.
Read more stories about PlayStation 4 & Shenmue 3 on Siliconera.
[YT]K-DokSLSOkQ[/YT]An interview with Shenmues creative director Takeshi Hirai on the Shenmue 3 Official YouTube channel sees him talking about the challenges of creating the original game.
Hirai describes the original Shenmue as the teams biggest achievement of their careers due to it helping to establish the open world genre.
He also discusses the difficulty of simulating weather patterns in the game as well as replicating the physics of two people handcuffed together as happens in Chapter 2 of Shenmue.
Finally, Hirai says that he feels its important that fans were able to express how much they wanted Shenmue 3 through crowdfunding. He also says hed like to see Shenmues QTEs and battle system combined into something new.
You can see more interviews with the Shenmue team on the Shenmue 3 Official channel.
Read more stories about Shenmue & Shenmue 3 & Videos on Siliconera.

source: GematsuOld Ryo models and awkward angles.
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Ys Net has shared an update on Shenmue III this morning, providing new information and screenshots.
Shenmue III is in its third month of development. The story and scenarios are out of the planning stages and are being filled into the game world.
“In this phase of the development, the major work being done is the map testing. Map testing will define the different areas to make sure they are neither too big, nor too small to get to that Goldilocks zone,” the update reads.
“This consists of looking at the layout of a certain space, and experimenting to make necessary alterations. For example, an outside area may feel too open. That space may be reduced by 20%, and the number of people there increased from 10 to 16, to affect the proper consistency and density of the area.”
The following screenshots were shared. It’s worth noting that they’re all “still in testing.” Ryo is an older model, and some objects, like the men in black suits, are being used as placeholders. The battle scene shots were purposely taken at awkward angles to avoid spoilers.
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View the screenshots in high-res at the gallery.
Shenmue III is in development for PlayStation 4 and PC.
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source: GematsuHomepage redesigned for the new year.
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Ys Net has revamped the official website for Shenmue III.
The staff also shared a New Years message:
Thanks to Shenmue fans everywhere, 2015 saw the start of Shenmue III. 2016 will be a year with noses to the grindstone to make the next installment of Shenmue worthy of the expectations you have entrusted with us. We would like to again ask you for your support and cooperation for all that lay ahead this year.Finally, heres a short new video showcasing a hut in the games Bailu Village:
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Shenmue III is in development for PlayStation 4 and PC.
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PC, PlayStation 4, Clips, Gameplay, Shenmue III, Website, Ys Net
source: GematsuNew screenshot from Magic Monaco press conference.
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A single new screenshot of Shenmue III has surfaced from today’s Magic Monaco press conference.
Shemue Forever also has off-screen images of two other screenshots shown during the event.
Shenmue III is in development for PlayStation 4 and PC.
Update 2:30 p.m.: Another new screenshot has surfaced:
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PC, PlayStation 4, Screenshots, Shenmue III, Ys Net

New screenshots from MAGIC Monaco presentation.
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Ys Net shared new screenshots of Shenmue III during a presentation at the Monaco Anime Games International Conferences today.
The screenshots, via PlayStation on Twitter, showcase the variety within the games colorful environments.
Ys Net also shared short videos showcasing Shenmue IIIs weather effects and a fishing spot, as well as a short sample of one of the games main themes.
Other notable tid-bits from the event include:
Shenmue III is in development for PlayStation 4 and PC.
- Ryos face will not change from Shenmue and Shenmue II to Shenmue III. (source)
- Yu Suzuki likes Chai and wants to bring him back as a character in Shenmue III. (source)
- Yu Suzuki wants more strategy and interaction in Shenmue IIIs fights. (source)
View the screenshots at the gallery.
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PC, PlayStation 4, MAGIC 2016, Screesnhots, Shenmue III, Ys Net