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Post by Let's Get Sweaty! on Aug 8, 2013 19:32:02 GMT
If you guys are interested, there's a photo collage being put together at Shenmue500K, with people holding up letters spelling out the campaign hashtag. The chap organising it has asked me about you specifically, Johnny. But anyone can volunteer to fill the last few spots, if you're happy to put your ugly mugs on the interwebs. Here's the sign-up thread with examples of the type of photo required - mue, if you want to get involved I can act as go-between since you're not on Facebook.
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Post by Let's Get Sweaty! on Aug 6, 2013 19:20:16 GMT
That's true Johnny, and we'll all be there to call them out on it when they reach that stage if Shenmue HD doesn't then materialise.
So which other games would you expect to see between now and that point of no return?
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Post by Let's Get Sweaty! on Aug 6, 2013 10:02:01 GMT
I'm not sure but I'll be surprised if there have been that many already. Some of them may have depended on sales of those released so far, so if for example Crazy Taxi and Sonic Adventure don't meet certain targets we might not see Skies of Arcadia, etc. Which would be a little silly because of the differing demographics, but it's the kind of logic I've come to expect from Sega.
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Post by Let's Get Sweaty! on Aug 5, 2013 5:09:41 GMT
I love how they talk about a vocal minority, yet the negative replies keep coming from the same little circle of armchair experts.
And the guy who's so in-the-know about Shenmue as to talk about Sega-branded capsule toys and arcade games - how many of those was he expecting to find in Guilin and the other remote locations expected to comprise Shenmue 3?
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Post by Let's Get Sweaty! on Aug 4, 2013 20:23:40 GMT
Hound away! There's nothing wrong with putting ideas out there, it's what we need.
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Post by Let's Get Sweaty! on Aug 4, 2013 18:44:34 GMT
Only asking! You simply came across differently so I wanted to make sure I wasn't being led on a merry dance by some fraudster pretending to be you - trust me, stranger things have happened. No antagonism intended.
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Post by Let's Get Sweaty! on Aug 4, 2013 5:56:32 GMT
Unrelated question Johnny, but there's a newly registered member at Shenmue Dojo implying themselves to be you. Is it definitely you? If so then you carry yourself very differently over there, which is why I thought to check it's not some bizarre, identity-stealing troll. People get their kicks from allsorts!
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Post by Let's Get Sweaty! on Jul 31, 2013 22:26:36 GMT
Good points, Johnny. The timing isn't as perfect as it might seem right now though, as the Tweetathon campaign is set to undergo some significant changes which should probably come first before hitching our wagon onto a project like this. Once the dust has settled on those changes, we should revisit this.
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Post by Let's Get Sweaty! on Jul 30, 2013 16:59:01 GMT
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Post by Let's Get Sweaty! on Jul 19, 2013 21:56:29 GMT
I follow that guy, he's a parody account of the boss of Sony/Playstation. People retweeting it probably thought it was funny, like I did.
We'll be making some alterations to the Tweetathon soon which will make it easier to appeal to console makers and other publishers. Until then, I'm not sure how worthwhile one person's email will be, but it can't hurt if you really want to go that route.
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Post by Let's Get Sweaty! on Jul 18, 2013 17:35:22 GMT
I don't know whether that's true, but don't be afraid to post more than two or three if you've got more to say. However there's one guy who tweets the same thing literally 100 times - don't be that guy...
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Post by Let's Get Sweaty! on Jul 18, 2013 16:43:59 GMT
That's what we need the most, is promotion. It's all very well making fancy websites, videos, Thunderclaps, etc, but it's all for nowt if they're just being seen by the same people all the time. Going out there and introducing new people to what we're doing is the most valuable way that anyone can contribute to the campaign.
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Post by Let's Get Sweaty! on Jul 17, 2013 20:58:34 GMT
It's not a bad idea but I'm very wary of overloading people, asking the casual fans to do too much. I see Thunderclap as something we're still fully establishing, so branching out into two versions might be pushing it a bit right now. That's not to say we can't do it in the future though. Or, we could just include a pre-translated Japanese message in the same Thunderclap's description text, which people could copy and paste if they wanted.
What we can't do, unfortunately, is include @usernames in the default message - Twitter won't allow Thunderclap to do that, as it would be spamming someone's account.
On the whole though, I don't think we need to worry about which Sega account people are @mentioning. I don't expect anything to happen when Sega's Twitter teams see these tweets. They'll just ignore them, whether they're in the US or Japan. We're not doing this to get the attention of their frontline community reps. We're trying to rally other gamers to our cause, get coverage from the gaming media, and get the hashtag trending. When those last two are happening on a regular basis, people higher up in Sega - on both sides of the Pacific - will have to take notice for the sake of their brand's reputation, because the dissatisfaction of their customers will be visible to those who matter most: other customers.
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Post by Let's Get Sweaty! on Jul 15, 2013 17:35:37 GMT
I think it's as you described. The IP belongs to Sega, so whatever happens with it - or doesn't happen with it - is always going to be their decision until that ownership changes hands. If Yu gives up, then it will remain buried in their basement for as long as they want it to be.
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Post by Let's Get Sweaty! on Jul 14, 2013 19:06:48 GMT
I'm guessing that one's off the cards by now, but you never know.
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Post by Let's Get Sweaty! on Jul 14, 2013 12:31:11 GMT
Even back in 2010, Suzuki told 1UP.com that he would relocate his family to the other side of the world if it meant making Shenmue III with another publisher:
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Post by Let's Get Sweaty! on Jul 14, 2013 10:04:03 GMT
It's a long way off yet Johnny, I'll let you know when I start planning it in earnest! By now you might have all seen the new Shenmue Master interview with Yu Suzuki, recorded in March but only published last night. The most relevant part to this campaign is when Yu is asked whether materials already produced for Shenmue III and currently stored in Sega's vaults are still usable: "Yes, even to this day, we can use them. By obtaining the Shenmue license from Sega, we could use them. I think it is possible."
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Post by Let's Get Sweaty! on Jul 12, 2013 19:30:34 GMT
My theory is that Sega considers Kickstarter to be beneath them. They still see themselves as a world-leading software behemoth, while Kickstarter is mostly (but not exclusively) associated with smaller, indy developers. Sega turns its nose up at the thought of asking the fans for donations, even though it's what the fans desperately want to do because we know it may not happen any other way.
Johnny, I know what you mean about the government idea. But presented in the right way to the right people, I think it has a teeny tiny sliver of a chance at being considered. And it could generate some interesting publicity. But again, it's a project that would have to be handled very carefully, and somewhere down the line when we have more to show for our current campaign efforts.
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Post by Let's Get Sweaty! on Jul 11, 2013 20:03:29 GMT
Yu's expressed on numerous recent occasions that he wants to make Shenmue III. I think he was half-joking in that video (if indeed it's not the interviewer who was joking about him even saying it), but it's also perfectly understandable if he doesn't want to keep answering the same questions when there's nothing new to say. It doesn't mean he's lost interest in the subject. In that video especially, he was there for a particular discussion and talk of Shenmue III's progress (or lack thereof) would have distracted from their purpose that day.
Johnny, my crazy notion about those testimonials was to actually prepare something for presentation to the Japanese government, pushing it as an important issue for cultural and tourism reasons, in the hope they might either assist or lean on Sega to see the Shenmue project through to its conclusion. It's still in the back of my mind but would require a lot of work and careful timing.
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Post by Let's Get Sweaty! on Jul 9, 2013 11:14:12 GMT
My reason for collating those responses differed from what you/Segabits are suggesting. The point of the current campaign is that Sega ignores direct, private communication from Shenmue fans. They don't give a shit. They really don't. So if these letters are sent to Sega, they're just going to be swept under a very large rug beside a bunch of dusty toy capsules. Appealing to their better nature doesn't work, which is why the Tweetathon tries to publicly shame them into action.
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