first, a brief recap from the begining, courtesey of the Shenmue Dojo;

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August 3rd, 2004, in Shangai, China, SEGA and JC entertainment have announced a business allience to co-develop and co-publish Shenmue Online. A massively multi-player online game (MMOG) for the PC platform with a 30 billion won (US$28 mil) budget. Also, SEGA has the basic agreement with T2 Technology Holdings Inc. to allow T2 technology to license China online game operations of Shenmue Online.

JC will manage the content development, Korea online game operation and marketing of Shenmue Online while SEGA will also be responsible for content development and supervise the ongoing of developmnt and licensing related to the online-game in each territory exept Korea. In addition, Yu Suzuki, the creator of Shenmue and SEGA's R&D Creative Officer, will supervise ongoing activities for the game.

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-for more insight into what other endeavours Sega have proposed whilst entering into the Korea/China Online Gaming Market, please read the article by our own VeGiTAX2, which can be found Here-



since this proposed MMORPG was officially announced last month, i've been very eager to hear from the man himself, Yu Suzuki, as to the definitive facts about the content amongst other things, rather than just the rumours that have been flying around.

time for HD's in-depth perspective ;


(the following comments are quotes from Yu Suzuki, given in an interview with Dorimaga Videogame Magazine, and have been edited in no way, save the titles of each set of comments)



Yu's Decision

"I've been interested in massively multiplayer Online gaming since the time of the Dreamcast version of Shenmue. If asked why Shenmue,it's because with the plan that the original game would have a world larger than any other game and have more characters appear than in any other game, the series was meant for massively multiplayer Online."


Playability and System Specs

"The game will have the community and level-raising elements of a standard massively multiplayer Online title, and will progress centering on the battle system cultivated in Virtua Fighter and Shenmue. To that, we're adding fighting based on spirit power and weapons, and plan on making it something that anyone can play."


Plot

"The game takes place throughout all of China, and has a story set in the beautiful rivers and mountains and in the historic cities of this country. Events, some from the Dreamcast version and others original and meant for this title, will number over three hundred. Of course, we'll have updates, which will make the world gradually grow. Enemies who don't appear in the conventional Shenmue will appear, so please look forward to this world."


The Characters

"Conventional Shenmue characters like Ryo Hazuki and Xiuying Hong will appear as Game Masters -- that is, NPC (non playable characters) controlled by the computer.

The relationship between those characters and the players themselves is a focus of this title."



Yu also commented on exactly what kind of characters players will be able to take control of at the unveiling of Shenmue Online. information and photographs courtesey of the Shenmue Dojo:

"Players will pick out one character from the three groups of militants and customize it. The first group includes the fighters that use traditional martial arts. The second group consists of the street fighters. Some of them use weapons that we’ve never allowed in the past. The third group includes people who use mysterious powers, such as qigong, magic, etc. We also have a group of ghostly “enemies,” strange characters for Shenmue as variations."





Release Date

As of now, Shenmue Online is only slated for a release in Korea and China, it has been in devolopment since Feb 2003. There have been no known plans of other territory releases. Beta testing of Shenmue Online will take place in Korea starting this November, followed by a period of open beta testing in early 2005. The game is scheduled to launch in Korea in Spring 2005 and in China sometime later that year.





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::edit :: Sep 7th Update; New information from the Shenmue-Online official website.

*Shenmue Online is developed mainly (90%) by JCE, under the close supervision of SEGA.

*At first, Yu Suzuki approached US companies about the collaboration in developing online
games. Till that point, he had no particular intention of making Shenmue an online game.

*When he chose JCE as a partner eventually, JCE said they wanted Shenmue, nothing else.

*SEGA accepted to supply all the necessary technical supports to JCE, and the profit
would be shared between them by 50:50.

*Yu Suzuki and JCE spent about one year to discuss over the project before starting
the development. And now, he's supervising the development fairly closely.

*The Shenmue Online universe would be 3 to 4 times larger than that of the original
Shenmue. The locations would include some major cities in Korea, China and Japan.
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::edit :: thought i might add some screen shots from the preview video for those of you who haven't seen it yet. i'll provide a download link for the video later;


::edit :: added video download ----> Shenmue Online Preview












This message was edited by Heros Destiny on Sep 11 2004.

This message was edited by LOD-squa(moderator) on Apr 06 2006.

Courtesey of the Shenmue Dojo



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Yu Suzuki; International Release of Shenmue Online?


In a recent press conference held two days ago in Korea, Yu Suzuki spoke more about the situation of Shenmue Online. Though there seems to be a slight amount of new information, it has been said that an investigation is currently underway in order to release Shenmue Online in other territories such as the U.S, Japan, Europe, and Taiwan after release in Korea and China. More information to come when available.

In addition, a nice variation of new Shenmue Online media revealing new characters, artwork and promotional images have been released. One showing the locations that will be visited in Shenmue Online, including areas seen in previous games in the Shenmue series such as, Yokosuka, Japan and areas in China as Hong Kong, Kowloon and Guilin. Also introducing new locations in China like Suzhou, Xian and Busan. Access to a completely new country, Korea will be introduced in Shenmue Online aswell.

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The following are promotional images released at the press conference;













This message was edited by Heros Destiny on Sep 20 2004.

Sept 21th 2004 update: Courtesey of 4gamer, and translated by the Shenmue Dojo




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"The development staff of Shenmue Online consists of 35 JCE employees,10 SEGA employees and 30 others, that makes 75 in total.





There're three types of fighters: "Martial artists" who fight with bare hands,"Kyokyaku" who fight with weapons and "Sendo" who fight with magic and qigong.

Shenmue Online will consist of 150 quests, which will surpass the original Shenmue's 120.





According to Yu Suzuki, the most notable part of this game is the fight scenes that are based on the knowhow of Virtua Fighter. Unlike Virtua Fighter, Shenmue Online can be controlled easily with keyboard and mouse."


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::Edit:: photo's of the conference added (will be resized later)


This message was edited by Heros Destiny on Sep 26 2004.

Shenmue Online presented at Tokyo Game Show (Courtesey of the Shenmue Dojo)

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Today, during the first of three days into Tokyo Game Show, Yu Suzuki presented Shenmue Online for the first time outside of China and Korea. Though no particularly new information on the title has been given yet, SEGA are unofficially planning to start service in Japan by the end of 2005. Also, the In-game elements of Shenmue Online were shown for the first time in action. Since the presentation has just recently ended, media is very scarce at the moment. We'll be posting more media and information as it becomes available.

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the following are new screenshots of the game shown at the Tokyo Game Show;



............................













This message was edited by Heros Destiny on Sep 24 2004.

Interesting stuff Do I see Ren in one of those pictures? I'm also wondering what location they are in, as it doesn't look like anywhere visited in Shenmue or Shenmue II.

It's good to hear they are looking into getting it released in countries outside of Korea and China though

Looks like Pigeon park to me

The beamed houses fit in with that, plus those pigeons on the first pic and the fountain on the last. If Ren is an NPC he'd probably be in Aberdeen anyway.

I was thinking about the sept 21st news, if Shenmue online has 150 'quests' averse to Shenmue 1/2's 120 then does that mean the game would cover the story (the 120 quests) of shenmue 1+2 then add on to it? Then it wouldn't matter if there was a Shenmue 3 or not because Shenmue online would just be buffing up what we already have with the online features and these 30 extra quests which will carry on where shenmue 2 left off. And the game would be updated regularly, so the story would progress with time.

But if that was the case then Shenmue online wouldn't be veering too much from what we already have and I'd question the need for online play other than the option of fights between people rather than AI or highscores on the arcade machines ^^.

firstly, thanks for contributing your thoughts in the forum. i'm trying to implement enough intriguing info to gain more ppd.

as a treat, here's the latest info, some of which hints at the dismissal of one of the initial character designs!

*shocking!!*


....and as an extra bonus, there's some new screenshots, and a link to download a combat video from the game that previews "vs Player" battles, "vs CPU" battles, and "vs Team" battles.....from all the official characters thus far, displaying a vast range of their unique moves!!



enjoy





Sept 25th 2004 update; Translated by ITmedia:
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*Shenmue Online is based on Shenmue II.

*In the fight scene movie, the action looked as spectacular and complicated as Virtua fighter. Everyone was impressed to know that is possible in an online game.

*There is a short-cut icon/button on the right down corner of the screen.

*Among the ghostly enemies, it's not certain if the man on the spider will be used or not.

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Shenmue Online Combat Video


::Edit:: fixed links






This message was edited by Heros Destiny on Sep 27 2004.

All the lastest images you linked are giving me 404's

i'll fix them in a second. the full size images probably didn't upload properly due to their file sizes.




::Edit:: fixed

Thanks for that (And for all the info you've posted, we'd be lost without you )

thanks for the appreciation, but the credit should really go to sites like the Shenmue Dojo who translate the info from Japanese and upload it to the net.



anywho, here's the latest; a small quote from Yu Suzuki confirming his plans for the storyline of Shenmue Online




Courtesy of GAME Watch:

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Yu Suzuki had this to say in relation to Shenmue Online's story elements:

"As a PC game can be version-up or given minor changes any time, I'd like to expand it properly by using the stories I've written and stocked till now. "

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Man, after reading though all of that now
I`m really exicted about Shenmue Online

(Courtesey of the Shenmue Dojo)




Oct 1st 2004 update: Furthur translation of Yu Suzuki's comments from the presentation:

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*Shenmue Online is based on Shenmue II and starts from Hong Kong. Originally, the story of Shenmue is supposed to expand into whole China, so it will yet continue.

*Since online games can be minor/major version-up once beginning service, I'd like to unfold the story by using appropriate stories that have been written till now.

*SO's main feature is fighting. On the right down corner, there're short command buttons. You can register your moves/combos on ten-keys or function keys. Basically, you can play the game with mouse, but keyboard can be used if you like.

*It's hard to play fighting games online, but we expect this much quality, even if a Japanese player used the Korean server, though it wouldn't happen actually
for some reason.

*Guild wars could be 50 vs 50, 100 vs 100, 200 vs 200.


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200 vs 200 ... that's insane

Thinking about it though, they mentioned Japanese on the Korean server, I wonder if there will be some kind of translation system like in Phantsy Star Online for talking to players from other countries.

interesting question LanDiSama. i'll look into it ^_^

i've been waiting on new info for a while now, but unfortunately, nothings turned up yet. however i have it on good authority that we should be getting some interesting details as to the games development soon.


in the mean time, some tastey new screens, straight off the press! Courtesey of Joy City (Korean Shenmue Online Site);




Nov 25th 2004 update: NEW SCREENS! :

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::Edit:: new screens added 1st Dec 04 ^_^





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i'll add the links to the full-size pics when i find time to upload them







::Note:: The Official Shenmue Online Korean Web-Site has been keeping up to date with the latest, but thus far no-one on the web has been able to provide a translation.

some of the info that i have identified from the site are in-depth character profiles, screens, and a new 'Time Limit Feature'. what it's for, i can't say.

all i can do i provide the following screens which will hopefully satisfy appetites for the time being. i've also provided a link to the web-site for those of you who are keen;




Official Shenmue Online Korea








Character Profiles (Korean Version)








In-Game Interaction








Multiplayer Battle Scenes










Enviromental Scenery







This message was edited by Heros Destiny on Dec 01 2004.