[DigitalDuck]

I hope the series ends something like this:

[McAleeCh]

Vangar, on 23 June 2015 - 05:55 PM, said:

Its worth a shot, worst case the disc isn't working anyway.

I took mine to a disc cleaning service and it really buffs out the scratches, even really bad ones. GD-ROMs are particularly sensitive to scratches and for $10(aud...) you may as well try.

Back in 2007 or so, the same thing happened to me - got a second-hand copy of Shenmue and disc 1 wasn't working. My local Blockbuster Video had a disc-cleaning service - usually cost £10, but they did it for free as they said 90% of the time it didn't work well on GD-ROMs as they're so sensitive even to minor damage. Popped the disc in when I got home and it worked flawlessly! = )

So yes - it might not work, but it's definitely worth a try as there's the possibility it could fix it for you.

[DigitalDuck]

I ordered a converter so I could capture Dreamcast footage via component, and it arrived today.

Of course, it doesn't work.

And thus, the saga begins.

[sonicblur]

DigitalDuck, on 27 June 2015 - 03:49 PM, said:

I ordered a converter so I could capture Dreamcast footage via component, and it arrived today.
Of course, it doesn't work. />

If it was one of those cables that goes from VGA to Component without a box in the middle to convert, those are intended for projectors and other equipment that supports component but doesn't have room for the ports. I have one, and that's exactly what I use it for. Devices actually capable of going from VGA to component aren't cheap. Monoprice makes one for around 40USD, not sure if there's an equivalent for overseas. You can also get VGA to HDMI for cheaper, but most of them don't support resolutions lower than 640x480. I've read that some Dreamcast games output VGA at 320x240, like the arcade games in Shenmue. Not sure if this helps, but maybe it's a start?




Now for some thoughts on the kickstarter so far. It seems to have slowed down more than I expected. At this point, unless they find a way to interest more people, it seems like it could end with around $6 million. If you do the math, the average pledge right now is around $80, and has been near that point for the past week. If you compare it to other game kickstarters, it's higher than the average for the other popular ones that I've checked. Mighty No. 9 for example had an average around $20 less. To me, this looks like the majority of backers at this point are people who have played one of the previous games and have a lot of interest for the new one. All of the higher cost rewards are taken, even the ones they added just yesterday. For people not as interested in the series, I'd expect more of the $30 pledges just to get the game for cheap.
I don't think they're doing a good job trying to interest people that aren't familiar with the series. It doesn't help that 'awesome japan', the company managing the kickstarter apparently has a really poor history with the past kickstarters they've done. Only about half of them were actually successful, and this is the first large one they've ever managed. I'm not sure how they can attract new fans to the series though. It seems likely that Sega will consider re-releasing 1 and 2 now that 3 is coming, but since that almost certainly won't be announced during this kickstarter they've eliminated one method of gaining new fans. Even more rewards will probably help them milk the existing fans for more money, but that can only go so far.

I do trust that Yu Suzuki can get the game made, even though the kickstarter won't give it enough funding to be as good as the previous ones. The biggest advantage they have over other games is the fact that the entire thing was planned out over 15 years ago. The script was done prior to the first game, and they already did some work on this back on the Dreamcast. (There are those 2 screenshots of Bailu village floating around from shenmue.com back in 2002. Who knows how much more they had done, considering how far the Saturn version was when they switched to DC.) Everything still needs to be built from scratch for the new engine and current hardware capabilities, but knowing exactly what they want to build is usually a huge obstacle for most projects and that part is done. The projects that fail or take considerably longer than originally estimated (e.g. Broken Age) don't have the story planned out yet and try to scope after the fact.

[DigitalDuck]

sonicblur, on 27 June 2015 - 07:16 PM, said:

If it was one of those cables that goes from VGA to Component without a box in the middle to convert, those are intended for projectors and other equipment that supports component but doesn't have room for the ports. I have one, and that's exactly what I use it for. Devices actually capable of going from VGA to component aren't cheap. Monoprice makes one for around 40USD, not sure if there's an equivalent for overseas. You can also get VGA to HDMI for cheaper, but most of them don't support resolutions lower than 640x480. I've read that some Dreamcast games output VGA at 320x240, like the arcade games in Shenmue. Not sure if this helps, but maybe it's a start?

Nah, it's composite to component (with a box in the middle). Ordered an entirely different SCART to HDMI box instead, as I have the necessary cables and adapters for that too (what I really need is a capture device that accepts something less than component...).


The lack of a Shenmue HD is seriously hurting the campaign. Not many are even aware of Shenmue, let alone have played it. The games being on the Dreamcast meant that all four Dreamcast owners played them (I'm a four-Dreamcast owner ), and I'd say the majority of current fans were introduced by the Xbox port of Shenmue II. A lot of people were put off buying that too (among other reasons, "It's the second game in a story-based series and I can't get the first game on a console I own"), so merely re-releasing the game would bring it not only to those who were too young when they originally came out, but also those blasphemers who didn't own a Dreamcast back then.

Of course, Yu doesn't have control over that; but no doubt it will happen now that it's been proven to have enough popularity.

[Zycor]

I'm still a bit bothered by the whole kick starter thing. I know why they did it, because that would get them a lot more people talking about it. I'm just worried about what it means for the future of games that are being funded by developers with plenty of dough to back the project. They could have made a like this page on Facebook campaign or a fancier preorder site. You can't really make the argument of "gauging interest" when you can contribute without buying the game, granted most of the backers have gone to the level of payment that gets them a copy of the game... but with the preorder culture we have now for games (for some reason) I will probably never understand. The one and only time I pre-ordered a game, I really didn't need to. It was Super Smash Bros. Brawl. There was no way I wouldn't be able to find a copy of that game at launch. Pre orders should only be for games that aren't common, but even then why would retailers bother? It's not like it's hard to come by games now a days...

Anyways I still think it's a bit fishy, but whatever, it's none of my business. If they did a port of the two games to PC I might be more interested, but I guess if people want to throw their money to them in advance too, that's none of my business.

[synchronizer]

By the way, was the script for the whole Shenmue story ever released?

[TimmiT]

Zycor, on 27 June 2015 - 08:44 PM, said:

I'm still a bit bothered by the whole kick starter thing. I know why they did it, because that would get them a lot more people talking about it. I'm just worried about what it means for the future of games that are being funded by developers with plenty of dough to back the project. They could have made a like this page on Facebook campaign or a fancier preorder site. You can't really make the argument of "gauging interest" when you can contribute without buying the game, granted most of the backers have gone to the level of payment that gets them a copy of the game... but with the preorder culture we have now for games (for some reason) I will probably never understand. The one and only time I pre-ordered a game, I really didn't need to. It was Super Smash Bros. Brawl. There was no way I wouldn't be able to find a copy of that game at launch. Pre orders should only be for games that aren't common, but even then why would retailers bother? It's not like it's hard to come by games now a days...

Anyways I still think it's a bit fishy, but whatever, it's none of my business. If they did a port of the two games to PC I might be more interested, but I guess if people want to throw their money to them in advance too, that's none of my business.

They've since clarified that the Kickstarter isn't to gauge interest, but for funding of the game's development. Shibuya Productions is helping on the production and marketing end, and Sony is providing publishing support.

[360]

Shenmue 3 PS4 physical version added! Upgraded my pledge so fast. Thank God for that!

[MotorRoach]

Okay, but, like, are they really hoping to reach over ten million in two weeks?

[Super Napalm]

With the pace it's going at right now hell no

[synchronizer]

I really hope they won't need to make a Shenmue IV.

[sonicblur]

synchronizer, on 03 July 2015 - 03:28 PM, said:

I really hope they won't need to make a Shenmue IV.

Then you haven't been paying attention. Shenmue 3 will not conclude the story, it just consists of the next 3 chapters, ending with Ryo's confrontation against the 4 leaders of the Chi Yo Men. Yu Suzuki stated that too much stuff would have to be cut to conclude with Shenmue 3 in a satisfying manner. It's another risk, but if 3 ends up being successful everyone would want 4 anyway. And if that's the case, it'll give 4 a chance to do better than 3.

It was obvious a week ago that they weren't going to hit 10, let alone 8 million. For the last 3 days it was stuck at 3.7 million, until they added the new rewards today. Now it's at 4.1 million, so I think the additional rewards helped. At this point though, they're still going to need to come up with a way to interest people who have never played the series if they want any more than $6 million.

[synchronizer]

You didn't have to say that I wasn't paying attention. I have seen this image before:



I thought that the number of planned games was primarily related to the number of discs allowed per Dreamcast game, but I suppose that--as you say--too much would have to be cut.
Hopefully the third game will be a success and the fourth game will be made.

This post has been edited by synchronizer: 03 July 2015 - 08:25 PM

[sonicblur]

synchronizer, on 03 July 2015 - 08:21 PM, said:

You didn't have to say that I wasn't paying attention. I have seen this image before:

That image is wrong, I'm not sure where it came from. Yu Suzuki confirmed 11 chapters several years ago, 16 is incorrect. Also, Shenmue 2 was Chapters 3 4 and 5. It did not contain chapter 6. (Hong Kong was Chapter 3, Kowloon was 4, Guilin was 5). I was mostly referring to questions answered in the previous two weeks of the kickstarter, because the question of whether Shenmue 3 finishes the story or not came up on the reddit AMA two weeks ago and was vaguely answered then. It was re-confirmed at some point afterwards though that it won't conclude the story.

It's not really a knock against you. I suppose it doesn't help that the kickstarter hasn't gathered all of that information in one place. Perhaps someone has summarized everything somewhere, I'm not aware of it though.