Shenmue City -- First Gameplay Details

A few of the things you can do in Yu Suzuki's social Shenmue.
Posted Nov 05, 2010 at 18:43, By Anoop Gantayat

The Shenmue City official site saw a tiny update today, providing us with specifics on some of the things you can do in the new social Shenmue game.

All the content is on the What's Shenmue City page, shown here:


The page says you can do the following in Shenmue City:

Search
Help Shenmue main character Ryo by searching Yokosuka. As you clear events, you'll work through a story featuring over 200 characters.

Collection
The "Gachacon" prize machines from Shenmue are in here. You'll find over 100 items.

Game
Support Ryo by strengthening your dojo. You can have your dojo challenge dojos from other players.

It's still not clear what exactly you'll be dong in Shenmue City in terms of exploration and the "dojo" area. We'll have to wait for further details.

Shenmue City Sees Full Unveiling Next Week

Yu Suzuki and Segata Sanshiro to take the stage at press conference.
Posted Nov 12, 2010 at 23:43, By Anoop Gantayat

Sunsoft is getting ready to give Shenmue City its proper unveiling. On Monday, key players in the upcoming social game project will gather at UDX Theater in Akihabara for a press conference to formerly introduce the game.

The event will be attended by Yu Suzuki, founder of developer Ys Net and the man most directly connected to the Shenmue universe. Also set for appearance will be higher ups at Sega, Sunsoft and DeNA, the company that manages the Mobagetown platform which will be serving the game.

As a special guest, Sunsoft has invited Hiroshi Fujioka. You might remember Fujioka as Sega Saturn promotional spokesperson Segata Sanshiro. He was also the voice of Shenmue main character Ryo Hazuki's father, who dies in the game's prologue.

The Monday press conference will be press only, but Sunsoft will be hosting a live stream. To view it, access the Sunsoft Ustream channel from 15:30 to 17:15.

16:55 -- The Famitsu guy also asked about story.

16:55 -- Suzuki said that there is a remaining story after part 2, and he'd like to at some point deliver it to players, although he can't promise it.

16:56 -- He didn't say "3," but he was totally talking about it!

16:59 -- The IT Media guy asked if Suzuki plans on finishing up all 16 chapters of the Shenmue story.

17:00 -- Suzuki says it's actually 11 scenarios.

17:01 -- He says if possible he'd like to tell all the stories if he can in whatever format possible.

Western release of Shenmue City planned, says Yu Suzuki

Shenmue City, the surprise new installment of the long dormant Shenmue series, may be coming to western services like iPhone and Facebook according to series creator Yu Suzuki.

Speaking exclusively to games™, Shenmue creator Yu Suzuki has revealed that he is currently planning to release the upcoming Shenmue City in English. When asked if the social network/mobile game might be converted to western-friendly platforms like iPhone or Facebook he teasingly replies, “There are plans but I cannot discuss them now.”
Shenmue City is a multiplayer social network game inspired by the hugely popular Mafia Wars. It is the first game in the Shenmue series since 2001 and is a side-story set during the time and location of the original Dreamcast game. “We’re building Shenmue City as a social game, and each individual player is the main character’, explains Suzuki. The story progresses as each player takes on the role of a student who works with Ryo at his dojo, called the Hazuki Bukan.”

Social Shenmue Is Dead
Service on Shenmue World ends one year after start.

2012-01-03 03:59 / Anoop Gantayat

Remember the social Shenmue game Shenmue World? If so, hold on to those memories, as they're all you'll have of the game!

On December 26, the official site of developer Ysnet was updated with notice that service for the game had come to an end. The announcement came with a short message thanking players.

Shenmue World, or Shenmue Gai in Japanese, was released by Sunsoft for the mobile social gaming platform Mobage in Decemeber 2010. The game was also announced for the Yahoo Mobage service, which would have allowed it to be played on your PC browser, but this version never surfaced.