Hokage Dante
09-07-2006, 11:15 PM
It has essentially been close to finished and 'ready' for some time - but in hibernation, pending a deal for the entire series on at least one next-gen console.
The new plan for Shenmue has been to include the whole series - chapters 1-16 - on at least one next-generation console.
It won't be titled "Shenmue 3" The game, or games, are theoretically complete and ready to be ported to Xbox 360, PS3 or Revolution, depending on a deal with one of the hardware manufacturers.
Yu Suzuki has very little involvement in the Shenmue 3 project, and that's something that may come as a surprise to many Sega followers.
Our source clarified, "the series is under the AM2 portfolio. Shenmue remains at AM2 while [Suzuki] pursues other things."
There are some key, familiar AM2 faces looking after Shenmue 3, including some relatively new talent from within the studio.
First our source confirms what most fans already knew, "the story is entirely done", (we're pretty sure the story had been finished since before the release of Shenmue 2) before elaborating, "the texture and modelling work is ready, they know what their characters look like and there's hundreds of gigabytes of [uncompressed] textures. Game designs are done. There is no more research to be done. It's a matter of 'porting' to whatever [console]."
"Extremely unlikely", according to the source, is that the project could surface on current-gen consoles: "it would be too much work", cites the source. Interestingly, the source explained that it is cheaper to finalise production for next-gen machines than for current-gen, because of the nature of development work that is already complete. "It would be a struggle to get everything in [on current-gen]." It seems to make sense. Our source offered, "360 looks most likely, but we shall see what the future brings."
http://shenmue.planets.gamespy.com/shenmue3_preview.shtml
I hope the game will come out for PS3...
The new plan for Shenmue has been to include the whole series - chapters 1-16 - on at least one next-generation console.
It won't be titled "Shenmue 3" The game, or games, are theoretically complete and ready to be ported to Xbox 360, PS3 or Revolution, depending on a deal with one of the hardware manufacturers.
Yu Suzuki has very little involvement in the Shenmue 3 project, and that's something that may come as a surprise to many Sega followers.
Our source clarified, "the series is under the AM2 portfolio. Shenmue remains at AM2 while [Suzuki] pursues other things."
There are some key, familiar AM2 faces looking after Shenmue 3, including some relatively new talent from within the studio.
First our source confirms what most fans already knew, "the story is entirely done", (we're pretty sure the story had been finished since before the release of Shenmue 2) before elaborating, "the texture and modelling work is ready, they know what their characters look like and there's hundreds of gigabytes of [uncompressed] textures. Game designs are done. There is no more research to be done. It's a matter of 'porting' to whatever [console]."
"Extremely unlikely", according to the source, is that the project could surface on current-gen consoles: "it would be too much work", cites the source. Interestingly, the source explained that it is cheaper to finalise production for next-gen machines than for current-gen, because of the nature of development work that is already complete. "It would be a struggle to get everything in [on current-gen]." It seems to make sense. Our source offered, "360 looks most likely, but we shall see what the future brings."
http://shenmue.planets.gamespy.com/shenmue3_preview.shtml
I hope the game will come out for PS3...