Shenmue III is in active development for the PlayStation 4, but many of you have never played the Dreamcast originals. Talk of high-definition remasters of Shenmue and Shenmue II have been swirling since the PlayStation 3 days, but have never come to fruition. However, the publisher has reiterated that it's "investigating" the possibility of porting the classics to Sony's new-gen system.
According to community manager Dan Sheridan, the Japanese firm would "love" to re-release the iconic action adventure games "tomorrow", but it's not quite so straightforward. The games obviously included a slew of licensed products, from Timex watches to Zippo lighters, which could cause complications in a remaster. The publisher could simply swap the textures, but that may strip the series of some of its immersive spirit.
A tricky one, then. The licensing isn't so important that it needs to be there, but one can't help but think of Crazy Taxi, which felt wrong without The Offspring, Tower Records, and KFC. We still think that these games will get ported to the PS4 eventually, licensing or not. And that'll be a glorious day, because gamers will finally be able to appreciate why a select few love this series so much.
[source youtube.com, via engadget.com]
Comments 27
Dunno about that.. It might pick up a small number of new fans but I suspect most who give it a punt will wonder what all the fuss is about!
does it really matter if it loses some of its immersive spirit, just take the licensed stuff out replace it with some made up brands and release the games
that way they don't have to deal with the licensors ever again
@kyleforrester87 Yeah, you're probably right. They haven't aged well so people will probably be baffled. I like to think that some will be able to appreciate just how innovative they were, though.
@FullbringIchigo Agreed, and I think this is what they'll do. But some of the licenses did definitely help in making the game feel like a real place.
Do it one way or another!
@get2sammyb This will be an E3 announcement .
Slight problem with your article Sammy, NA users have to have both a Dreamcast and an Original Xbox to be able to play both not just a Dreamcast like you lucky Europeans. That's one reason I can see them bringing out a Shenmue collection just for the fact that to play all 3 in NA we are going to need three systems.
I wish upon the skies for this to happen. Heard so many great things but I always have some sort of problem with losing data on emulators (and screw it to buying 2 old consoles I neither need nor want).
Just sounds like they're waffling fan service, if it were remotely likely to happen they'd just confirm they're going ahead.
@Bad-MuthaAdebisi Really? Dunno.. seem like genuine problems
Even though I own both on Dc it would be cool if they released them in hd, while their at it it be cool to get skies of Arcadia in hd as well.
@kyleforrester87 just seems like PR to me, all they had to do was say, yes we're trying to make it happen.
@kyleforrester87 I was of your exact same opinion, then I basically got stuck at my family's house in the mountains last christmas because the weather was bad. In a scary way. There was our old Dreamcast there, mostly for street fighter 3 purposes, but we ended spending so much time indoors that my brother came up with the idea of replaying Shenmue...and so we did. It blew me away...that game does so many things better than a lot of current games and it has this very unique flow, it's refreshing! I think it could be a hit with the PlayStation crowd, they seem to welcome quirky experiences.
I still have my launch dreamcast and shenmue discs I'd only bother with this so my memory card doesn't scream at me.
@kyleforrester87 if they were going to give it a slight upgrade it wouldn't take much to swap the names of branded goods at all.
@Feena it's the greatest game ever made. although you maybe should have brought a ps4 and played until dawn while stuck in the mountains....
@Feena Sure, I reckon there are some who will appreciate it, would be a tough sell for the masses though I think.
@Bad-MuthaAdebisi not a big job to make those changes - there are likely other complications, though. The branding was just something Sammy mentioned in the article as a complication, I'm not sure the reasons were mentioned in detail. That said not sure what other reasons there could be!
I guess there is a risk of the remakes just not resonating with a modern crowd. Perhaps it's best left with its legendary status!
@Robronoa I'd be well game for some new Skies of Arcadia, I struggled to enjoy Shenmue at the time because SOA was all I could think about!
I'd like to get the originals for PS3 but I'm not holding my breath 😐
I never played them but am interested because I hear they are similar to the Yakuza games
I wonder whether Zippo and Timex would really be that upset at free advertising in a remastered cult game.
@kyleforrester87 it's impossible to tell how well it may sell, maybe something like the recent Bully, SEGA won't remaster the game just give it a facility, they won't have a marketing campaign for the re release. You have to imagine that if they did everything right there'd be enough interest to sell a couple of million copies, probably only if they release a physical dual bundle.
Lol I was so engrossed in the story and fighting I never noticed the brand advertising!!
@bbq_boy bet you fancied a Fanta afterward, though
i dont care about advertising finish the game already
I'd accept that.
@kyleforrester87 tell me about it,I had that same problem with Shenmue 2. I doubt it would happen but it would be great if game arts brought back grandia 2 in hd.
@Bad-MuthaAdebisi
The KS proved there is interest in Shenmue. Even people who played them to death would get them for the HD treatment if priced right.
And since Sony is involved enough to present 3 at their E3 conference, they could help advertise it and hype people for the next chapter.
@sinalefa in the EU there was no page for the Shenmue kickstarter on PSN, not sure I recall anything much than a murmur on the blog either? Sony's great support. Sony doesn't really care, it's just PR.
I don't really care about the presence of real brands. If ditching them means we can play Shenmue 1 and 2 on the PS4, then ditch them.
@Bad-MuthaAdebisi lol no way! that game was scary enough without actually being in the mountains.
Tap here to load 27 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...