Taken from <a href="http://www.Shenmuedojo.com" target="_blank">www.Shenmuedojo.com</a>
GMR Yu Suzuki Interview January 6
The premiere issue of GMR (the new game mag co-published by Electronics Boutique and Ziff Davis Media) has done a short interview with Yu Suzuki. This is what was asked about Shenmue:
GMR: With Shenmue II completed, can you tell us about Shenmue III? We know you had to compress multiple chapters into Shenmue II because of cost constraints. Will you have to further condense the series?
Suzuki: The series will continue, but I think we will go with a different approach for Shenmue III. I'd like to make the next chapter into a movie.
GMR: A CG movie, kind of like the one on the free DVD that comes with Shenmue II?
Suzuki: Yes.
GMR: Is it true that Shenmue originally began life as a Virtua Fighter RPG?
Suzuki: That's something of an urban myth. When we were first planning the game, Akira (from Virtua Figher) was scheduled to be the main character, and the working title was Akira's Quest. As development progressed, we felt it would be better to start with a brand-new character.
Ok here goes my thoughts on this new development. I think Yu Suzuki wasn't miss translated, and Shenmue 3 will be a movie, but it will not be the end of the series. What I think is going to happen is since Yu Suzuki stated that Chapters 1-10 were done already, the movie will be chapters 5-10, since the work for those chapters are already done. I believe that Yu Suzuki wants to make the game now taking full advantage of the X-box hardware, and he can't do that with Chapters 5-10 already done in pre-renders and coding; he doesn't want all that hardwork to go for nothing. AM2 can now work on a fully clean slate for the new chapters. Thus saving money, and continuing the series.
GMR Yu Suzuki Interview January 6
The premiere issue of GMR (the new game mag co-published by Electronics Boutique and Ziff Davis Media) has done a short interview with Yu Suzuki. This is what was asked about Shenmue:
GMR: With Shenmue II completed, can you tell us about Shenmue III? We know you had to compress multiple chapters into Shenmue II because of cost constraints. Will you have to further condense the series?
Suzuki: The series will continue, but I think we will go with a different approach for Shenmue III. I'd like to make the next chapter into a movie.
GMR: A CG movie, kind of like the one on the free DVD that comes with Shenmue II?
Suzuki: Yes.
GMR: Is it true that Shenmue originally began life as a Virtua Fighter RPG?
Suzuki: That's something of an urban myth. When we were first planning the game, Akira (from Virtua Figher) was scheduled to be the main character, and the working title was Akira's Quest. As development progressed, we felt it would be better to start with a brand-new character.
Ok here goes my thoughts on this new development. I think Yu Suzuki wasn't miss translated, and Shenmue 3 will be a movie, but it will not be the end of the series. What I think is going to happen is since Yu Suzuki stated that Chapters 1-10 were done already, the movie will be chapters 5-10, since the work for those chapters are already done. I believe that Yu Suzuki wants to make the game now taking full advantage of the X-box hardware, and he can't do that with Chapters 5-10 already done in pre-renders and coding; he doesn't want all that hardwork to go for nothing. AM2 can now work on a fully clean slate for the new chapters. Thus saving money, and continuing the series.
