SEGA Central

[Mariano]

Hi guys, i dont remember if there is a topic about this yet, but i will start one anyway.
I am pretty sure all you know abut this series of videos SEGA has in their SEGA Eupore youtube channel, but i thought it was a good idea to have a topic dedicate to this.


They release a new video every wednesday. In today video they answear a few Questions from some fans. Here check it out:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdyAgPDe9rI


If you have some questions ask there, the next week they will answear them.


See you later.

[Centrale]

"Are there any plans to bring more Dreamcast games to Steam?"
"We've got some exciting plans, but you're just going to have to wait and see."

Hmmm.... better not be bluffin', Mr. Muffin.

[Sharky]

I was thinking we should have a topic for SEGA Central, good call.

[Mariano]

Here is the latest Video:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elvoX2kb2X0


Featuring some very interesting answears and the unboxing of VC Remastered

[Tad]

Did...did they just confirm the existence of Shenmue?

[Sharky]

Great episode!

[max_cady]

Man, my Shenmue memories are a bit rusty. Was there anything licensed in any of the Shenmue games? The beverages? Businesses? Shops? I do recall that Crazy Taxi's re-release had to remove references to Pizza Hut, KFC as well as Offspring and Bad Religions soundtrack, which I admit harmed the game's re-release.


But possible Dreamcast games on Steam... Now that's got me curious... 'cause Skies of Arcadia is the one other major title I can think of. I mean, Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 have already been released, Jet Set Radio too, Daytona USA as well, Chu Chu Rocket is on Android. SEGA published around 40 games on Dreamcast, about half of those outside of Japan.

[crackdude]

Man, my Shenmue memories are a bit rusty. Was there anything licensed in any of the Shenmue games?

Timex


Zippo


CocaCola

[Team Andromeda]

Timex


Zippo




CocaCola

That can always been changed and most it was for the Western version . I guess they could be some issues with the rights to the music and voice acting  but that easily sorted out . Think SEGA should be more honest about it really and I doubt they would even talk about it , if they did have a Shenmue HD collection in the works and ready to go

[crackdude]

I wish Sega didn't just remaster the visuals, but twitched some aspects of the game.
The streets could be more crowded, the sound could be clear 5.1, revamp the controls.. Little touches.

[Team Andromeda]

I wish Sega didn't just remaster the visuals, but twitched some aspects of the game.
The streets could be more crowded, the sound could be clear 5.1, revamp the controls.. Little touches.

That sounds more like a remake and that would really be a huge amount of work

[crackdude]

That sounds more like a remake and that would really be a huge amount of work

Not really.. The street crowd is controlled by an algorithm. Control mapping and recovering old better quality soundclips (if they still exist) is hardly a remake.

[Tad]

Yeah, that would mostly be just improvements like the Jet Set Radio re release had.

[Team Andromeda]

Yeah, that would mostly be just improvements like the Jet Set Radio re release had.

To a point, but JSR was just your standard HD re release. Adding more characters would mean designing them , changing the programme to handle more polygons and the AI code to make sure it all works . Didn't Shenmue AI cause all sorts of issues with the number of NPC trying to fit inside the doors of the shop in the original? 

[Moody]

The term y'all are looking for is 'remaster', the sort of in-between of re-release and remake. A re-release is the original game with next-to-no improvements or new features; the standard is typically fixing framerate issues and making the game widescreen, but those are by no means very prevalent. Most really older games, say pre-Dreamcast, just get a straight re-release on a digital platform. A remake is a total ground-up project made from scratch with modern hardware and sensibilities in mind. A remaster is when you release the old game with a handful of tweaks not found in the original, but the game is still largely the same.

Take Jet Set Radio HD vs. Sonic Adventure 2 HD. SA2 was a straight re-release of the Gamecube remaster, providing no new features or tweaks, and not even bundling the exclusive Gamecube content with the game, you gotta buy that separately. JSR HD provided the (almost) full soundtrack, a documentary, camera control, new graffiti, framerate fixes, unlockable tracks, and after its release, faster load times.

So, with all that said, I agree a Shenmue remaster is definitely doable and would be fantastic. Tweaking the controls to allow for better dual-analog support (though d-pad and analog stick worked well for the Xbox version of Shenmue II), widescreen, maybe adding support for Japanese audio and English subtitles for both games, easy cross-save, 5.1 surround, and tweaks to Shenmue I brought over from Shenmue II. Those are what I would want the most out of a remaster, nothing /especially/ fancy. Hell, just asking for more than a straight, vanilla re-release of Shenmue on modern platforms seems a bit greedy at this point.