Ryo knows how to treat a girl

We thought that the Shenmue III Kickstarter campaign was being poorly managed at first, but developer Ys Net is getting cunning as the crowd funding drive marches confidently towards its conclusion. Two new tiers have been added to the title today, and one is aimed specifically at all those who upped their pledge to $60 following the confirmation of a physical PlayStation 4 release.

Those that stump up $80 for the S3 World Telecom tier will unlock an in-game international phone card item, which will allow you to call Nozomi, Guizhang Chen, Ine-san, Joy, Fuku-san, and several other characters from the first two Shenmue titles. Cross your fingers Tom Johnson is part of the roster, too – we need an urgent update on his hot dog stand.

The content will be exclusive to Kickstarter backers, so you may want to consider upping your pledge now if you want the additional conversations. And if you're feeling really flush, a new $800 option will allow you to get your name on the side of a temple. It'll be written in Chinese characters so will be hard to show to friends, but, hey – at least you'll know that you're being worshipped like a God.

[source kickstarter.com]