Stop bickering about Shenmue not coming. The masterpiece cannot be left unfinished. I read from a 2003 interview that Yu Suzuki had (at the time) written from Chapter 5 to Chapter 11 and he hadn't started some of the characters design yet. But years have passed and I believe he finished the story and is ready for whatever console. All the ground work has been laid and there are supposedly hundreds of gigabites of textures ready and research work has been done. All that is needed is the game to be ported to current system or systems and a monetary arrangements to be made by whatever parties. Maybe that is what holds them back. Suzuki has stated that he'd like to direct Shenmue 3 and has promised to finish the saga in one format or the other. We keep our fingers crossed that they do not release a DVD or comic book or script but a playable game format.
Another possibility that has caused the delay was that dreaded Shenmue Online thing. As problems arose with the Developer house (legal stuff about ownership rights) the saga cannot continue until the legal issues are resolved. Unless they release Shenmue Online there cannot be a Shenmue 3. Otherwise they could (hopefully) scrap the whole Shenmue Online thing and release either Shenmue 3 or the complete saga in a whole package.
I believe this to be better because it would give the whole Shenmue experience to newcomers and in a sense would refresh details to those who haven't played Shenmue 1 in a long time.
The saga is comprised of 16 chapters and I believe it is the most ambitious project to date on a video game. Initially it costed a whooping 70 million to develop (check details on YouTube) but the second one was cheaper to do because all major characters had been done and today it would cost even less with all the technological advances out there. Maybe the Sega/Sammy merger hurt the development of Shenmue or even put it on hold until the company could reestablish itself among the top game developers. But still they should release some sort of statement regarding the fans out there. There is a huge fanbase and Suzuki has acknowledged it. I believe if we keep the pressure, there is nothing they can do but release a final installment on the series.
Let's keep hoping for the best. OutRun didn't have a storyline. yet they released OutRun 2.
Shenmue has a great story and the biggest cliffhanger ending in a video game. We refuse to leave Ryo stranded on a cave...
GIVE SHENMUE A DECENT PLAYABLE ENDING...
