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Sega - AM2 Projects, Sega Rally Sequels?
Thanks to Kikizo for running a series of articles on Sega, including an unconfirmed list of the AM2 studio's output for 2003, and new information about the state of Sega Rally 3. The AM2 list includes both Virtua Fighter Quest (working title) for Gamecube and Outrun 2 for arcade, both due later in 2003. Interestingly, the Outrun sequel is marked as running on the Xbox-based Chihiro arcade board, which powered the arcade version of Crazy Taxi 3, meaning an Xbox conversion would be very straightforward if this is true. Finally, as well as a separate story touching on the possible existence of Fighting Vipers 3, Kikizo claim Sega Rally 3 has been "..completely finished since January this year", but remains unreleased in arcades (and unannounced for PS2) because of "licensing issues", presumably with cars.
Shenmue has 16 CHAPTERS, yes, but was never intended to be 16-games long. The first game covers the first chapter, and Shenmue II covers (I believe) chapters 3-5 (chapter 2 supposedly takes place on the boat to Hong Kong (between the two games), which includes a fight between Ryo and Chai. An unlockable comic in Shenmue II fills that gap.
There's no official word on how many games the series will (or should/should have) span, but most interviews hint at at least 5 or 6 games. I just hope that if Mr. Suzuki plans on finishing the series, it isn't rushed to completion in one last game, simply to cut Sega/AM2's losses on the game (it sold a decent amount, but not really enough to cover development costs).
And I think you meant that it was made for the Sega Saturn, which is what it was originally developed for. And frankly, it looked DAMN good for a Saturn game, but the same could also be said of the DC version (and XBOX port of the 2nd game). Its also worth noting that the first game was originally supposed to cover the events of both Shenmue and Shenmue II. The Saturn video shows everything from Iwao's murder all the way to meeting Shenhua in the forest at the end of the second game.
*Still kicking myself for not mentioning Shenmue to Suzuki-san at E3* =P