Shenmue III - It's On, It's Off, It's On, It's Off

Thanks to InsertCredit.com for their brief summary of the ever-more-complicated question - is Sega's Shenmue III in production? The site condenses: "Nov. 2001 - AM2 confirms production of Shenmue III is underway... Mar. 2002 - Shin Izakawa, new Shenmue series producer, says Shenmue II XBOX sales will determine release of Shenmue III... Jan. 2003 - Yu Suzuki reveals Shenmue III game designs, expresses desire to make it movie rather than game... July 2003 - Websites report that AM2 confirms Shenmue III will be released, but not where, when or on what. Minor controversy and buzz ensues." GamePro also has a good summary of recent rumors, most of which have either been unattributable or mistranslated. But clearly, Shenmue III was planned at one point - maybe we'll finally find out if it's still being developed at the next Tokyo Game Show?

Shenmue

[irc.goatse.cx troll]

Shenmue has always been more like a movie. While I did enjoy it, it was mostly just storyline strung together by a few simple puzzles or timing games.

Re:Xbox Release

[analog_line]

Target audience had nothing to do with it. It's all about the Benjamins. Dinero. Cashola.

Microsoft paid Sega to bring most of it's Dreamcast franchises over to the Xbox, and didn't care much about target market. They just wanted games on the shelves, and Sega needed the cash, so they said sure. I almost bought an Xbox for JSRF, but after playing it on a friend's Xbox, I'm glad I didn't. I was pissed as hell when Sega pulled Shenmue 2 out of the US DC release schedule because MS paid them off. Shenmue was the reason I bought the DC. Sega fell over themselves claiming that it would be released in the US, and at the last minute pulled it. So they can release or not release Shenmue 3 wherever, 'cause I couldn't care less. I tossed my copy of the first one in the trash, not even bothering to finish it. Waste of time since I'll never know the end of the story.