Title: Shenmue Online! :o
rob - October 24, 2005 11:27 AM (GMT)
Aug 3rd 04
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Sega announces Shenmue Online Massively multiplayer version of Shenmue set for a 2005 release for the PC in Korea and China. TOKYO--Sega announced today that it is developing the long-rumored online version of Shenmue for the PC, titled Shenmue Online. The game is being codeveloped with JC Entertainment, an online game developer and operator in Korea, and its creation will be supervised by the father of the series, Yu Suzuki. Shenmue Online will be a massively multiplayer role-playing game that takes place in various locations in China (including Hong Kong) in the 1980s. Players will step into the role of fighters and battle in real-time action, using kung fu, Chinese weapons, qi (ki) energy, and other mystic powers. JC Entertainment will operate Shenmue Online’s game services and marketing in Korea, while Sega will hold licensing rights for all other countries. A license has already been granted to T2 Technology, which will operate Shenmue Online in China. Closed beta testing of Shenmue Online will take place in Korea starting this November, followed by a period of open beta testing. The game is scheduled to launch its commercial services in Korea in spring 2005 and in China sometime later that year. No specific plans for the online game have been made for Japan, North America, or Europe. According to Korean news site Digital Chosun, development of Shenmue Online began in February 2003, and a total of 30 billion won ($25.7 million) is planned for investment into the project, including development fees and international marketing costs. Sega has also launced the game's official Web site, which at the moment consists of press releases and a link to a more detailed Korean site. In related news, Sega established an office in China (SOA-Sega of China) in June in preparation to expand into the country’s gaming market. Along with today’s announcement of Shenmue Online, Sega revealed that it has also licensed two online PC games to third-party operators in China: Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst and CTRacer. CTRacer is a massively multiplayer online racing game codeveloped by Sega and Korean developer Hyundai Digital Entertainment. |
Aug 5th 05
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Shenmue Online facing trouble? Reports from Korea say Sega's anticipated title is facing development issues, with possibly another studio w**king on the game. According to Japanese PC game site 4Gamer.net, Sega and its codevelopers have encountered problems with Shenmue Online. The site is reporting sources who claim Shenmue Online's development has stopped at JC Entertainment, a seasoned Korea-based online game maker that has been w**king on the project since last year. Reportedly, Sega stopped checking on JC Entertainment's development around March, and two months later the project had dissolved. The report goes on to say that Shenmue Online's staff received a statement from Sega saying that the project had been transferred to another unnamed development studio located in Taiwan. One former employee of Shenmue Online confirmed to 4Gamer that JC Entertainment had not touched the project since the middle of the year. "Shenmue Online's project was canceled [in our company] by May or June. Most of the staff that had previously worked on the project is now w**king on JCE's online Basketball game FreeStyle, or to other new development teams," said the unidentified source. Another JC Entertainment staffer said the project had been canceled and that an official announcement could come as early as next week. Sega commented to 4Gamer that Shenmue Online's development is being entirely managed by its Asian subsidiary Sega Shanghai Software, and the Japanese office has not received detailed information regarding its current status. While Sega of Japan hasn't officially stated that the game's development has been transferred, it has acknowledged that production has been halted at JC Entertainment. Shenmue Online made its public debut at last year's KAMEX (Korea amuse world game expo) in December. The game was available in playable form at the show, and it featured a similar atmosphere to the original console installments and contained various minigames, including Space Harrier, Hang On, Afterburner, and Casino. JC Entertainment president Yang Shin Kim stated at the time that Sega has been consistently checking every detail on the project to make sure the game played true to the original single-player world of Shenmue. |
Aug 25 05
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Who's got the rights to Shenmue Online? Sega and JC Entertainment reportedly in talks for out-of-court settlement after bitter end to development partnership. Earlier in the month, Japanese PC game site 4Gamer.net reported that Shenmue Online developer JC Entertainment had stopped w**k on the project, with Sega transferring the game's creation to an unnamed studio based in Taiwan. JC Entertainment, a seasoned Korea-based online game maker, had been w**king on the project since last year. Now 4Gamer reports that a source from JC Entertainment revealed additional information during "e-ty Summer2005," a promotional event held by the company this week in Korea to show off its new online basketball game FreeStyle. According to the source, Sega and JC Entertainment's relationship has ended bitterly, as previously reported, and the situation is far from being resolved. "Sega and JC Entertainment are exploring for ways to make a peaceful settlement. They've agreed that they won't worsen the situation to a point where it involves legal actions," the source told 4Gamer. For Sega, the break with JC Entertainment is more difficult than canceling an agreement with a usual subcontractor, because, as it turns out, the developer actually owns half of the intellectual rights to Shenmue Online. And according to 4Gamer's source, the company plans on holding on to its share. The source declined to answer whether the company plans on making any profit out of its share of intellectual rights, but there's no question JC Entertainment holds a powerful bargaining chip for its negotiations with Sega. Shenmue Online's official English site and Chinese site are operational at the current time, but the Korean site is no longer functioning. |
http://www.shenmue-online.com/
If it even resembles the console games in the slightest of ways, it's going to be a thing of beauty – Maybe we'll finally get to beat the shit out of Lan Di? :unsure:
willowroolz - October 24, 2005 12:12 PM (GMT)
Rob, you'll have to get a new pc :o
Phillip Culley - October 24, 2005 01:08 PM (GMT)
I've been awaiting this news ever since I finished Shenmue 2 (moreso given the ongoing rumours that SII would be the last one made...) :thumbsup:
rob - October 24, 2005 02:58 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE (willowroolz @ Oct 24 2005, 01:12 PM) |
| Rob, you'll have to get a new pc :o |
It's a bit tricky to predict what will be needed to play it smoothly with no real release date :unsure: I'm slowly updating my machine piece by piece, should have something nice by the end of it :ermm:
(A machine that's ready for Shenmue Online, Ghost Recon 3 and Morrowind Oblivion would be just super, but being benefit scum it's going to take awhile, luckily none of these titles will be out soon :) )
Graphics will be the tricky one with this as the Dreamcast versions (if memory serves) used some sort of special shading technique for all of the huge areas to meld almost seamlessly - a newer release will almost certainly use something bizarre :ermm: But there again, the new Morrowinds out soon and that's said to run perfectly on an ATI All In Wonder :blink:
Like Phillip and many others, we've had to wait a very very long time for this, don't normally get excited about games but I almost shit my pants when seeing the title pop up in a random Google search.
Hopefully it'll be ripe with in-jokes/references and returning characters - a full on quest picking up right from the last disc would be ideal, but highly unlikely :ermm:
Cullsoft - October 25, 2005 10:58 AM (GMT)
From what I've heard and gathered, it's not that great.
Apparently it's pretty much all "fight fight fight", with far less of the FREE/"game of life" stuff such as getting to bed by 11, collecting capsule toys and playing "Roll It On Top". :(
Apparently it's pretty much all "fight fight fight", with far less of the FREE/"game of life" stuff such as getting to bed by 11, collecting capsule toys and playing "Roll It On Top". :(
Phillip Culley - October 25, 2005 01:07 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE (Cullsoft @ Oct 25 2005, 11:58 AM) |
| From what I've heard and gathered, it's not that great. Apparently it's pretty much all "fight fight fight", with far less of the FREE/"game of life" stuff such as getting to bed by 11, collecting capsule toys and playing "Roll It On Top". :( |
Spoilsport... :p
Let us dream :)
Cullsoft - October 28, 2005 10:14 AM (GMT)
| QUOTE (Phillip Culley @ Oct 25 2005, 01:07 PM) |
| Spoilsport... :p Let us dream :) |
"So that's what life would have been like had I invented the Fing-longerer. But a man can dream, though... a man can dream." :D
Sorry to burst the bubble... it would be hellasweet if it were a proper online FREE. :) If it is just pure fighting, they might as well have just made it Virtua fighter Online with Ryo as a bonus character, or something. :)
rob - March 14, 2006 09:27 PM (GMT)
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| November 2, 2005 - Following a long silence, Sega game master Yu Suzuki has finally opened up for an interview. The head of Sega's newly formed AM Plus development group discusses a number of topics with Japan's monthly Dorimaga publication, touching upon Psy-Phi, Shenmue Online and the next generation of console gaming. The interview is mostly concerned with Psy-Phi, the new Lindbergh arcade game which Suzuki is both directing and producing. Suzuki expresses pleasure that he was able to show the game at the September AM Show in Tokyo, and goes on to discuss the game's origins. For more from that part of the interview, check out our recent update on Psy-Phi from Sega's arcade Private Show. Moving on to Shenmue Online, which was recently rumored to be cancelled due to development conflicts, Suzuki is quick to assure: "reports of a halt in development are completely unfounded. We have daily meetings and are currently w**king hard on the game's development. Rest assured." Shenmue Online is currently in development in Taiwan as a massively multiplayer Online title where players are placed in the world of Suzuki's Dreamcast epic, Shenmue. The game is set for PC release in early 2006. Finally, the interview comes to the next generation of game systems. With Psy-Phi, Suzuki has already brought us a next generation arcade title, but will he do the same for the next generation of home systems? Although AM Plus includes the "AM" acronym for Amusement Machine (meaning arcades) in its name, Suzuki clarifies that "the AM Plus name includes the meaning of 'not just AM.'" Just as AM2 worked on home titles back in the days of Saturn and Dreamcast, we can expect similar things from AM Plus. "Although the Sega of today is split into home and arcade divisions, just as it was during Virtua Fighter's era, development is borderless," Suzuki assures. So which next generation consoles will get AM Plus titles? Suzuki takes a neutral stance in his comments. "For a techie like me, the PS3 is very attractive, but when you consider that both companies are delivering the quality that users want, I also believe that hardware like Xbox 360, which offers easy development, is important. As for Revolution, it's very Nintendo-like in that it resets the game experience and starts with a new device." In its heyday during the Saturn and Dreamcast era, AM2, operating under Suzuki, was considered one of the world's premier development studios for games both in arcades and on home consoles. Psy-Phi is already turning eyes toward AM Plus on the arcade side, but the world eagerly awaits its first look at what the developer, and Suzuki, can do with the next generation of home systems. |
Not much said about it, but here's a lot of screens :D Lots of familiar places and even more familiar faces - plus a pic of Lan Di holding Joy hostage! Overall it looks like what Cullsoft's said, Virtua fighter Online. But there's bound to be a bit of story involved, and that's more than enough for me :)