Evidence of Shenmue III Discovered, Possibly Up for Sale
Tristan Oliver | July 17, 2009
Is One GD-ROM the Disc So Many Want?
An anonymous news tip sent in to TSSZ News this morning may confirm the existence of what so many Sega enthusiasts want–a build, perhaps playable, of the on again, off again Shenmue III.
Though we are treating the story as rumor, it is alleged by our tipster that a photo of a GD-ROM is circulating in various collector and research sites, including X Cult. The GD-ROM, which we have a photo of below, is believed to have type in Japanese that translates to “Shenmue” with the Roman numeral III. The disc also has markings labeled “2/3,” perhaps indicating that a three disc set was planned–and could still exist.
You can see that the GD-ROM appears to have been burned within Sega, with “Sega Confidental” a part of a labeling. We are told by our tipster that the source of the disc may be a former tester from Sega of Europe.
Will this build ever see the light of day beyond said tester? Our tipster alleges that negotiations are underway to secure a sale, and that X Cult may be involved in those negotiations. We cannot confirm these details due to the nature of what we know right now.
There are several reasons to treat the story as rumor, chief among them Sega’s decision to stop Dreamcast support in North America in 2001, and in Europe in 2002. But even though Shenmue II wasn’t even released in North America until 2002 as an XBox Exclusive, it was released on the Japanese DC in September of 2001. It is possible that development on Shenmue III may have immediately commenced after the release of the second game, possibly as a DC exclusive for Japan, where Sega kept supporting the system until 2006. Keep in mind that Yu Suzuki and company didn’t make up Shenmue as it went along–a clear, calculated story was formulated from the very beginning of Shenmue’s development, with games and sequels meant to incorporate and break up that story’s “chapters.” Still, with the Dreamcast’s demise well known domestically, why would a Sega of Europe tester still have a GD-ROM disc for review?
TSSZ News will certainly keep you informed of what’s going on regarding this possible build of Shenmue III, but again–we are treating the story as rumor until new details emerge.
Filed Under Gaming News, Hot Topics, Rumor Alert, Sega
god, i think i’ve found the holy grail!
THIS, is the holy grail of gaming. If it’s real, of course, and if there’s much on it.
O…M…G…
For a moment, I read that as シェンんー which looked really odd. I am still learning after all these years. It does actually read シェンムー so I can breathe a sigh of relief. Oh, English? It reads: Shenmuu.
funny thing is this story broke here b4 http://www.shenmuedojo.net. They dont seem to even know. They are either ignoring it or dont know
Ah yes, now negotiations will be REALLY easy with everyone trying to outbid each other for the proto, probably leaving us paying three times the amount we would have in the end.
Seriously, what thought was put in posting this article?
Development was, in fact, started on Shenmue 3. I remember, something like 6 years ago, there where old screenshots released that where supposed to be of Shen Hua’s village. I had at the time thought that these screens where from Shenmue 2, until I beat the game and realized we never saw anything beyond Shen Hua’s house. There where people training on poles.
In fact, I just found the screens. I first saw these back in 2002, on some Shenmue fansite linked to Sega.com
http://www.totalvideogames.com/Shenmue-3/screenshots/2192-44799.html
Well, I can’t edit, so I’ll leave another comment.
It appears in all those years I thought this was Shenmue 3 I wa wrong. Seems they where Shenmue 2 deleted scenes. Pretty huge areas for Dreamcast though. Shame they didn’t make the cut.
That proto is a hoax, and has been proven as such in the past.
Beta, can you post or mail something to support the claim? This is obviously why we are treating this as rumor, but I’d like to know one way or the other.
-T
Tristan, sorry to say, you did get hoaxed. This was something the X-Cult put out to throw people off the trail of a real Shenmue 3 GDR that was discovered last year. I think I saw the real one pop up on assemblergames.com a few times, and maybe over at shenmue dojo. But the reality is, this is a hoax they made to try to prevent someone else from getting it.
Wait wait wait.
So, a GDR of a Shenmue III build *was* found some time ago and DOES exist…but the particular copy is not the one pictured above? Am I to understand that correctly, that other than publishing the photo, the bulk of this story would be somewhat accurate?
If so, I dunno if this should be wholly retracted, in part because my tipster did cite AssemblerGames as one of the info sources.
This has been a very strange week.
-T
Lol, I don’t even know what “Shenmue” is.XD
Well, I’m on my way to youtube now! But…this looks lika some kind of fake stuff to me….
omg, this old prank? tssz seems to post less and less news and more and more useless stuff. this hoax is like 2 or 3 years ago old
Guys, I’ve put in a couple E-Mails to some reliable sources. We’ll get to the bottom of this. It sounds like some of it–the photo in particular–was a hoax or maybe a deterrent, with other pieces of this being legit in some form. I just honestly don’t know where the truth lies at this point.
-T
Wow, this is still up? I figured after it was deemed false it wouldn’t be newsworthy. It kind of makes the site look silly =\
To Darlean:
Can you get in touch with me via the News Tips system with a valid E-Mail address? The reason I haven’t totally bunked this yet is because I want an elaboration from you regarding your original posted comment here.
-T
I don’t get this article. I see no mention anywhere on X-cult anywhere of this thing. And if it’s a sale that’s being kept in private, why the HELL would you post a news story on it? If it becomes public then eventually officials find out and then the sale gets shut down. Happened with zelda 64dd on Assembler already :/
This site seems desperate for news I swear. Bad enough a lot its “firsts” and exclusives seem to focus specifically on very lame news relating to forums…
And that picture looks no better than if someone had a GDR-ROM and just wrote on it with marker. Yeah, let’s make a whole new article on that. -_-
If this turns out to be true you’ve just ruined the chance at getting this.
That Japanese gives it away btw. No Japanese person would write it that sloppy and crappy looking. Too obviously fake.
Shenmue 3??? Stop playing games with my heart
You shall be given a “double blow” and a “tornado kick” for making this up.
although i would love to stay optimistic about this, face reality, shenmue 1 & 2 were absolutly terrific games, but plumeted in the market.
sega lost millions, although there are alot of shenmue fans, even if single fan bought shenmue 3 if it were to become released, without the right advertisment (the mistake they made with the first 2) they would loose millions again.
why would they basically give away millions?
the only way they could do it, is if they put every-single game into say.. 4 discs for the next-gen consoles, or even this generation, from start of the game to the finish, advertise it to the max, and hope to god shenmue will gather a load more followers.
love shenmue though
just downloaded a dreamcast emulator.
SHENMUE 1 FTW
Maybe we should gather all of us who would cut our little pinky off to play shenmue 3, storm the SEGA building in japan and demand they make it.
Just played through Shenmue again for the first time since 2000 and I WANT SHENMUE III!
But seriously, I’ve done alot of research about Shenmue 3 and the news that i found interesting was that Sega has apparently been negotiting about re-releasing old sega games on psn. If this is true, re-releases of Shenmue 1 & 2 on psn (& xbox live) would make sence. By doing that the franchise could be revived and Shenmue 3 would again be a possibility.
So how about someone with some time to spare putting together a online-petition for everyone that wants:
a) Shenmue 1 & 2 on psn / xboxlive
b) Shenmue 3
I know this has been done for shenmue 3 in the past, but we need a current petition to show sega that there still is a huge demand for these games!
I know shenmue 3 is proparbly not going to happen for a long time but dont you think it is strange dreamcast died in style years ago but you would think that they would not make a burned copy of shenmue 3 on dreamcast think about this
Its December 09, I doubt the dreams will live on. But here is the ending for you folks.
Shenmue 2 as you all seen when the 2 mirrors merge, the explosion rises. More of the Chiyo men arise with it. Ryo Hazuki and his new GF team up and tag along side, and get to the bottom of this whole trick lead by Lan Di. Lan Di moves to a different country, Ryo saves up Yen and continues to seek revenge.
He meets his desitiny and the game ends. omg-.- it would have been so good if we had played it though.
O well, that was just my imagination.
Facebook has proved to get many things done by sheer numbers. we need to get as many people in a group as possible. if you have facebook join:
“We want Shenmue 3!!!!!!!”
if you dont have faacebook i suggest you sign up because this is the last chance at a conclusion for ryo.
the goal is to get as many people to join as possible. instead of fuckin around with online petitions which only consist of 50 000 signatures here and there off multple sites. we need to harness all the numbers in one place. maybe only then sega will realise this is something they need to do.
so seriously. join the group get all of your friends to join the group. and put the word out to everyone that if they want it, this what needs to be done to get it. im not waiting 15 years befroe they decide to make it. i want it now or within the next couple of years. 50,000 people and 7000 toy capsules arent enough. we need everyone in one place. SPREAD THE WORD, WE WILL GET SHENMUE 3. we need atleast 1,000,000 members to make this a reality. so get to it.
you’ve seen it end 100000 times, akira vs lau, shenmue was loosely based on them.