Shenmue Returns Online
Will we finally get Ryo out of that cave and back avenging his father?
Official Sega press release:
"August 3, 2004 – SEGA® Corporation and JC Entertainment Corporation today announced a business alliance to co-develop and co-publish Shenmue™ Online, a massively multi-player online game(MMOG) for PC platform."
In a totally unexpected move Sega have announced that the Shenmue saga will continue on the PC, online. False rumours about the continuation of the Shenmue saga have surfaced regularly since the release of Shenmue II. Gradually however the buzz died and us Shenmue fans resigned ourselves to the idea that Shenmue III would probably never see the light of day. Then the press release above appeared. Sceptical as ever I assumed this was just another rumour, then I did a little research and was overjoyed to find out that it's true! Shenmue really is returning and it's coming back in the form of a massively multi-player online RPG (MMORPG)!
The move from console adventure to PC MMORPG is the biggest surprise and will cause a few raised eyebrows amongst the fans. In this game you will not take the role of Ryo as in previous games but create your own character who will exist in the online Shenmue world and can assist Ryo or presumably Lan Di if you want. Anyone who has played the first two games will be well aware that the joy of them comes not so much from the story itself but from wandering the amazingly detailed, realistic game world, playing the arcades, feeding the cat and generally mooching about interacting with whatever you come across. This sort of gameplay is the staple of MMORPGs so Sega's move to turn Shenmue into a MMORPG doesn't seem so strange after all.
I'm sure you're all quite sick of hearing me bleat on about Sega (like the fanboy I am) but I for one am very excited about this. I've been feeling a little let down by Sega over the last year, they've done so little worth my time but this looks set to change all that. I'm hoping this is just the first of many exciting new announcements from these long time innovators.
