Yes, it's happening!!! the game is available for pre-order on Steam, PSN and Xbox Live!!!! https://store.steampowered.com/app/758330/Shenmue_I__II/
HD my arse! It looks no better than the Dreamcast running through VGA. I bet the XBox one code is the standard Original Xbox version.
The game will require 30 GB I'm sure they have improved the textures (I hope ) Edit: On the PlayStation preorder page they say there will be an option to play with old or new control settings, fully scaled resolutions, new interface and part 1 will be playable in Japanese for European gamers.
I bet the cut scenes are all videos since they are still in 4:3 ratio. That would explain the massive files sizes. Some how I can't see the textures filling up that much space when they are obviously low resolution in the promotion video.
I can't imagine the any parts of this game being encoded as videos, though it would explain the large file size that was mentioned. Everything still appears to be running in real time, and my understanding is that the ratio only switches back to the original 4:3 for cutscenes because some of these have problems when you expand the screen to 16:9. For example, in one video I've seen of the first Shenmue modified to support 16:9 in an emulator, the sequence where you initially meet Goro has one of the other NPCs freeze in place once they're outside what should be the normal viewing area. P.S. I've noticed talk on other forums about the Shenmue Passport being absent from the upcoming remaster, which isn't exactly a great loss - at least all the main game content will be present and correct! Saying that, it's a shame this and the What's Shenmue playable sampler couldn't be added as extras, along with the Project Berkley preview disc ...
The footage of Shenmue Saturn Version included as an extra with Shenmue II appears to have been sourced from a VHS tape, as there's at least one section where you can see artifacts typical of this format. I'm guessing any 32-bit prototype was long since misplaced along with the source code for other games from this period - Sega has previously confirmed that elements relating to Daytona USA, Virtua Fighter 2, The House Of The Dead and Panzer Dragoon Saga have all been lost, which is why many reissues of these either rely on emulating their arcade counterparts (where these exist) or have yet to resurface because of how cost prohibitive full remakes would be.
The more I think about it, could the massively increased file size be a result of the music being chip-generated on Dreamcast with unique real time DSP effects that can't be emulated accurately? Rather than using something comparable to MIDI, perhaps the soundtrack is now encoded into a larger format such as MP3 or even ADX?
Eh? Do you realise just how much music you can have at a high bit rate with just 2gb of space? Easily more than what would be needed for Shenmue. No way is the music responsible for the file size.
Higher quality voice samples? I mean, all the voice samples are why the first game took 3 discs and the second took 4. If all those were included here as at least double the bit rate that's probably a good chunk right there
I'm sure it's already been mentioned somewhere that the voice files won't be any better than those heard in the original Dreamcast and Xbox versions, as the uncompressed assets weren't used by d3t (and may no longer exist - Sega has notoriously misplaced a lot of the raw data from other games developed around this period). If they had access to anything like that, I suspect higher resolution textures and being able to rework cutscenes into 16:9 would have been a priority, but instead it looks as if Sega provided them with the absolute bare minimum necessary for this "remastered" collection. As with the 100GB installation figure currently listed for Shenmue III, perhaps this 30GB number is merely a placeholder?
Adam Koralik confirmed in his most recent video on Shenmue I & II that there won't be any microtransactions or online features, so we can rule out multiplayer forklift racing. However, it seems there's been some confusion because in-game purchases were listed on some websites, which is really just a way of describing the ability to buy items from stores and vending machines rather than Sega following the likes of EA or Activision (thankfully) by turning Ryo's journey into an excuse to push loot boxes on unsuspecting gamers...
