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[callous]

IIRC the game took place in 1986/1987-ish, which means if you went there this summer you were (2004-1987) 17 years late to see if they really recreated HK properly.

Go to the poorer/older regions in HK and you could see the resemblance~

I did think about this, but I'm still not really buying it. It's not like HK was all low-rise and Victorian looking 17 years ago. Are you speaking from personal experience? Because if so, I would obviously have to take your word for it.

Last option is I make my girlfriend, who is from HK, play through Shenmue II and then give me the final verdict, but I think it'll be hard to convince her

 

[Scrow]

I wonder what the budget is for a big-time Nintendo game, or a game like RE4.

considering Nintendo's commitment to the bottom line, I'd guess that the budgets for even their biggest games (OOT) would be comparatively small.

 

[GaimeGuy]

RE4 probably has cost capcom quite a bit, as it has been in development for quite a while, and they made four builds of the game.

 

[Shikamaru Ninja]

Nintendo spends a lot of money on game development. A lot !!

One thing most people don't know, is out of any game developer. Nintendo cancels the most amount of internal software. A lot of projects are constantly not greenlighted and instead partially used in future games.

 

[Scrow]

Nintendo spends a lot of money on game development. A lot !!

One thing most people don't know, is out of any game developer. Nintendo cancels the most amount of internal software. A lot of projects are constantly not greenlighted and instead partially used in future games.

yeah, i read somewhere that TOOT absorbed lots of games which were originally intended as seperate releases.

edit: anyway, my original point was that Nintendo isn't the sort of company to put all their eggs in one basket, so to speak.

 

[pkasho]

I did think about this, but I'm still not really buying it. It's not like HK was all low-rise and Victorian looking 17 years ago. Are you speaking from personal experience? Because if so, I would obviously have to take your word for it.

Last option is I make my girlfriend, who is from HK, play through Shenmue II and then give me the final verdict, but I think it'll be hard to convince her

Well, I spent the first 7 years of my life in HK (starting from 1986 ) and go back every summer. I'm not saying HK look like that at all, just saying that some of the poorer regions do.

You can still find some victorian looking buildings, and they kept them on purpose.

 

[Aika'svyse]

Shenmue had came a long way as a saturn game, but that was scrapped and gave way to Dreamcast. I think that figures into the cost a lot. I also think what was said earlier about the 70 mil being an estimate is true.

 

[ScientificNinja]

I'm a bit iffy on how this cost is arrived at - what aspects of a game's creation are included as part of the cost? Licensing? Marketing? Production?

The Getaway is the only game that comes to mind for me as one of the truly blown out productions, so I knew from the get-go that Sony was pressuring everyone hard to cover it favorably.

Either way, Gran Turismo wouldn't rank up there. Licensing would've cost a pretty penny, yes, but they also saved a lot of money by not paying for the privilege of using damage models.

 

[Coen]

I also know of James Bond: Everything or Nothing being EA's most expensive project ever. And that's got to count for someting, although I don't have specific numbers. They got some famous James Bond scriptwriter to do the script and hired a whole bunch of famous actors. The team that made the game was supposedly huge.

 

[gogogow]

Shenmue cost 7 billion yen(aprox. 65 million dollars at the time). I think FFX comes second with about 45 million cost.

Whoever said AM2 didn't research Hong Kong must be fucking kidding. Yu Suzuki researched China for more than three years before work on Shenmue started in 1996.

Shenmue was such a huge thing in every possible level for Yu Suzuki, he had invisioned it ever since he graduated college. It's so sad it didn't work so well.

Are you from HK? U lived there? U even been there?

3 years? And u believe him? And it looks like that? WTF! I'm born in HK 1978 and lived there for 15 years.
I'm not talking about the landscapes or buildings, i'm talking about the Chinese characters in the game and the clothes they wear.
Maybe SEGA only researched the landscapes, buildings etc, but certainly not the culture and traditions.
The cage fight with the man with white make-up and funny clothing. He's supposed to be an Chinese opera singer? A Chinese opera singer that fights you and knows Kung-fu? Even the make-up and clothing isn't right. WTH. That guy looks like an mix between an Kabuki and and Chinese Opera singer.
He mixed Mongolian, Tibetian, Chinese and Japanese influences into his work.
I think he flipped through some history book pages for 3 years.

Well, Japan looked alright, i wonder why.......... there was like a 100 years of difference between clothing. Let me tell u, people in Hk also wore clothes from Nike, Adidas, etc.
Not that those were in the game, but u know what i mean.

 

[Dsal]

When went to a presentation Yu Suzuki gave on Shenmue a few years back at GDC he showed a lot of pics he took from his travels in HK and China in a video clip. The pictures of the real life location would fade into the location as seen in the game and, at least for back then, it was jaw droppingly realistic. Several of these scenes must've been for later unreleased chapters because I didn't see them in either of the games.

I just remember sitting through the presentation and being in awe of the budget they must've had to make that game. All the mo-cap and fight training, little details like them making fake cardboard keys on a giant keyring and having a staff member flip through them so they could get Ryo's flipping through the keys animation just right.

I think they researched the locations and culture a lot, but that doesn't mean the end result in the game is going to be realistic or anything for dramatic or gameplay purposes. I'm pretty sure wasn't some white girl in a cowboy hat assassin on the 12th floor of some crumbling building in Kowloon holding fights to the death for money in the Summer of 1985 or whatever - with a sit-in Afterburner machine in the basement to boot.

 

[ourumov]

I remember seeing comparisson pics of Kowloon and it seemed similar...
But I see gogogow's point regarding character and I think all you should see it. Unless a few exceptions the people in HK seemed from another century. Their clothers were really traditional !

 

[gogogow]

When went to a presentation Yu Suzuki gave on Shenmue a few years back at GDC he showed a lot of pics he took from his travels in HK and China in a video clip. The pictures of the real life location would fade into the location as seen in the game and, at least for back then, it was jaw droppingly realistic. Several of these scenes must've been for later unreleased chapters because I didn't see them in either of the games.

I just remember sitting through the presentation and being in awe of the budget they must've had to make that game. All the mo-cap and fight training, little details like them making fake cardboard keys on a giant keyring and having a staff member flip through them so they could get Ryo's flipping through the keys animation just right.

I think they researched the locations and culture a lot, but that doesn't mean the end result in the game is going to be realistic or anything for dramatic or gameplay purposes. I'm pretty sure wasn't some white girl in a cowboy hat assassin on the 12th floor of some crumbling building in Kowloon holding fights to the death for money in the Summer of 1985 or whatever - with a sit-in Afterburner machine in the basement to boot.

The game Shenmue 2 didn't even took place in 1985, it's 1987 and yeah u only saw the presentation.
And u don't get my point. I did not say that what happened in HK 1987 should also be in the game. Did i said that? NO, i did not. I was solely talking about the culture, traditions and clothing.

I think they researched the locations and culture a lot, but that doesn't mean the end result in the game is going to be realistic or anything for dramatic or gameplay purposes.

Why they researched it? Research it and change it? So, it means Shenmue's HK doesn't look like the real one. You are contradicting yourself.

 

[Folder]

what about Enter the matrix?

This is a good point.
We saw figures looking at total spent on that game hitting $US 130,000,000
Whish is a lot. It puts it around the Shenmue mark anyway. The Getaway pales...

 

[gogogow]

This is a good point.
We saw figures looking at total spent on that game hitting $US 130,000,000
Whish is a lot. It puts it around the Shenmue mark anyway. The Getaway pales...

No shit!

 

[Screenboy]

Half Life 2 (mainly the engine) must of cost a bomb, I mean it was in development for 7-odd years.


Now Duke Nukem Forever Being Made, may cost abit....

Spoiler

does anyone think Duke Nukem Forever is a joke or something 'cus we hear nothing on this and its such an ironic name...

-SB

 

[GaimeGuy]

yeah, i read somewhere that TOOT absorbed lots of games which were originally intended as seperate releases.

edit: anyway, my original point was that Nintendo isn't the sort of company to put all their eggs in one basket, so to speak.

I don't know of any other games that were put in OoT, but I do know that the fishing minigame was a very condensed version of a full-blown fishing game that nintendo had been making, but scrapped.

 

[Dsal]

Why they researched it? Research it and change it? So, it means Shenmue's HK doesn't look like the real one. You are contradicting yourself.

They only researched the area to get the general feel of the place, not to model it precisely. Obviously the environment models have technical and gameplay restraints, so reality is only used as a template and not as something to copy exactly.

Some certain locations were used as environment models but they were things like the interiors of markets and inside people's houses.

I don't think how people were dressed in the HK portions of Shenmue were all that outrageous or anything. Those Chinese Opera people dressed in old clothes were supposed to be travelling entertainers that were dressing anachronistically on purpose. Everyone else was dressed in modern clothing.