Heres a review i got off the net
It's really hard to imagine it has been over two years since the official unveiling of Yu Suzuki's recent masterpiece. Known in its initial stages as Project Berkeley, when Yu Suzuki official unveiled Shenmue in Yokohoma on December 20, 1998, the video game world was expecting something of a Virtua Fighter-like action game. They didn't realize that they were seeing something way bigger than any fighting game a virtual world based in its own real-time system, with some of the most dazzling visuals ever seen. And when Shenmue finally launched, heaps of accolades were given, and tons of hearts were won with the stunning graphics, excellent music, and unique gameplay. And much thanks must be given to Yu Suzuki, for not only delivering Shenmue, but allowing us time to breath before he releases the sequel Shenmue 2 for the Dreamcast this fall.
As wonderful as it was, Shenmue was not without its small faults. One of the biggest grips fans had with the game was the time-released sequences. For example, if it was 1:00pm in the game and you had to wait till 7:00pm to meet someone, you had a lot of time to kill. While the game allowed you the freedom to anything you wanted while you waited from playing arcade games, practicing your karate moves, or just exploring the huge city sometimes you just wanted to fast-forward straight to the scene. Well, Shenmue 2 will give you the power of time travelling... well sorta. When you receive a meeting time with a character (or a date with Nozomi... hey we can dream, right?), an menu icon pops up. Now you can select to "Wait", thereby advancing the clock to the appointed hour, or "Don't Wait" where you can go off and get in a few more games of Space Harrier. And yes, the loading times have been dramatically decreased, as AM2 is boasting that you won't have to wait beyond 2-3 seconds for any sequence transitions.
Changes to the main interface when talking to people or interacting with items has also been improved. In Shenmue, whether you wanted to talk to someone or read a bulletin board message, it was always done with the A button. Shenmue 2 incorporates an Icon selector where each of the DC Pad face buttons A, B, X, and Y will represent certain action dependent on distance and what your coming in contact with. The game will still keep the basic gameplay mix of adventure exploration, 3D fighting action, and the well-known Quick Time Event system. In addition, Yu Suzuki has made comments that there will be additional changes made with the QTE system that will challenge players further.
Speaking of challenges, since Ryo's adventure will take him to Hong Kong, he'll face a whole new set of adventures. And when you're in Hong Kong, there's little doubt you'll come in contact with some of the more unscrupulous activities in the harbor. Whether it's gambling, arm-wrestling, or the challenge of PACHINKO, Ryo has a lot of learning to do in this city. And thank god for the improved Map feature in the game, cuz in a city like Hong Kong, maps are very good. The improved map feature of Shenmue 2 allows for the map to be displayed semi-transparently on the screen. And if Ryo comes into a new city or section that's not part the map, he can always buy additional maps.
Yes, Shenmue 2 is a long way off, but there a whole lot of questions about the game already. With the phasing out of our beloved system, what happens to the additional chapters of Shenmue? Although rumors and speculation have cried that Shenmue will be cut in half or even a third of its size, Yu Suzuki has yet to officially comment about it. Shenmue 2 was planned to be Chapter 2-6 of the Shenmue series, and that hasn't been changed thus far. As E3 is around the corner, we'll probably get more information about Shenmue 2 and perhaps we'll even see our first playable within the next couple of months
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Shenmue 2 goes to the big black box....
The rumors have been seen in every videogame message board and the truth is a bittersweet fruit for gamers. We've all known the Dreamcast was in its final days and while many of you dedicated Sega fans will be shocked at the announcement, it's the reality of the business. Indeed, Yu Suzuki's Shenmue 2 will be featured as a first-party title on Xbox for fall 2002. And the US Dreamcast version has been cancelled.
"I feel accountable to the Dreamcast owners," stated Charles Bellfield, vice president of Strategic Planning and Corporate Affairs for Sega of America. "This decision was predicated by many sleepless nights of "are we letting down our Dreamcast consumers" as Dreamcast consumers have been the core of this company. I started working on Dreamcast August of 1995 and it's been our lifeblood since then. The unit [the Dreamcast] is still selling quite well and we'll sell through all four and half million units by just after Thanksgiving. We're very glad that we are able to get a great product out at a great price and we're still shipping great stuff when it comes to software." "Canceling any game for Dreamcast today is a really hard decision," Bellfield continued, "and it's not just about our financials; it's about our responsibility of being a leading company in this industry and making a promise and going through with it. And I don't think anybody can criticize this company - from Peter [Moore] downwards in the US or Kayama-san in Japan - that we haven't fell through with our commitments. In saying that, unfortunately we do need to make the right decisions for this company, particularly when you look at the amount of expenditure and the development teams we're supporting, we need to focus on what is the right decision for our development team and what the right decision for our content, and at the point we have decided enter into a relationship with Microsoft for Xbox for versions of Shenmue 2 and Phantasy Star Online for Xbox."
"Those titles will be designed to take advantage of the Xbox architecture, technology and specifically its exclusive features like the hard disk drive and the broadband network capabilities. At this point, I can't add any details as we're holding back to announce those plans on a later date. Both Yu Suzuki and Yuji Naka are heavily and closely involved in directing both projects for Xbox and they will continue their revolutionary gameplay mentality with these games on the Xbox platform. I can confirm that Sega will continue to support the Dreamcast with the release of NBA 2K2, Tennis 2K2, Bomberman Online, and NHL 2K2. Therefore continuing our commitment that we made in our announcement back in January, that we will continue to sell Dreamcast games for another 12 months. And that is still very much our plan and we'll be expediting our greatest hits series -- the Sega All-Stars -- and bring the content to our consumers at the lowest possible price to make sure as many Dreamcast owners get their hands on to great values in Dreamcast software
For Dreamcast fans, this is a really tough blow to roll with and for those considering the contingency plans, Shenmue 2 has been released in Japan and is release in Europe now. There's little more that I can say but I'm sure many of you Dreamcast owners are feeling betrayed and need an explanation.
sorry somthing good will come out of this I hope....
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