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So, it actually happened. Waking up Tuesday morning, still weary from the long, strange night of surprises that E3's first day of conferences conjured up, it was hard to tell if it had all been but a dream. The Last Guardian is real, and very much tangible - there was enough wonder in the extended gameplay presentation that kicked off Sony's show to keep us all going until its release sometime next year. Final Fantasy 7 was getting the remake so many had been clamouring for, but strangest of all was the news that Shenmue 3 is being ushered into life by Yu Suzuki and a handful of the original development team. That last one was less of a surprise, even if I still struggle to believe that it's actually come to pass. Speaking to Yu Suzuki at GDC last year, he revealed that he'd been looking at Kickstarter in order to make Shenmue 3 a reality, and it was clear that he'd already been working on putting the pieces in place for quite some time. I wasn't able to divulge all of the details at the time, at his request, and I was left with a strange feeling of excitement and trepidation. Shenmue 3 was soon to be a reality, but I wasn't quite sure I really wanted to play it.
I was quick to reach into my wallet to back Shenmue 3, though I still remain cautious - look beyond the initial excitement and a lot of questions remain about the project. It was an odd announcement in itself, a Kickstarter being unveiled on a stage usually reserved for the front line warriors of a given platform, and you had to wonder how it came to be there. Sony got to bask in the reflected glory of the moment, and Suzuki had a moment of global attention, but the finer points of the deal weren't exactly clear. Exclusivity was out of the question - it's coming to both PC and PS4 - but how much of the funding was coming from Sony, and if it was at all invested, why had it not stumped up the entire amount to take ownership of this most eye-grabbing of announcements?
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