SHENMUE

Many years have passed since Shenmue first came out on Sega’s Dreamcast, but the series’ massive fan following hasn’t waned. Shenmue 1 introduced the industry to a style of game that was way ahead of its time- and though the combat wasn’t the centrepiece, learning new combos and then pulling them off against enemies was deeply satisfying.

Remember the True Crime games? They came out back in the early 2000s, when making open world crime action adventure games was all the rage thanks to the breakout success of GTA III, and they were available on the PS2, the Xbox, and the Gamecube. Players were even treated to a nice sequel in 2005, and they have, since then, been waiting for a true follow up.

They went an entire generation without that (although Sleeping Dogs started out life as a True Crime sequel), and they seem to still be waiting. It seems they are doomed to wait forever. According to this, Activision has finally abandoned its trademark for True Crime, alongside a notice of expiration, meaning that they are almost certainly planning on doing absolutely nothing with the series.

This series, it seems, is well and truly dead. For any fans of the games out there who were still holding out in vain hope, it is time to pour one out tonight.

Remember True Crime: Hong Kong? Yeah, the one that Activison cancelled last year? Well, Square Enix now owns the rights to that franchise. The game is still under development and United Front Games’ haven’t confirmed the release date or the platforms yet.

Understandably Square-Enix was very excited over this acquisition,“When we first saw and got our hands on the game we fell in love with it,” Square Enix London Studios general manager Lee Singleton told Gamasutra.

The IP does not belong to Square Enix but they have the rights to developing the game, and are free to change the title, which is Square Enix Branding department’s first priority. Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing, was quite pleased with this development as well, “Our team has worked very hard to find a solution where everybody wins. Square Enix gets the benefit of the tremendous investment we’ve made in the game thus far. UFG gets to stay together and complete their vision. And gamers get to play a great game. We couldn’t be more thrilled.”

The reason given for True Crime: Hong Kong’s cancellation by Hirshberg was, “To be blunt, it just wasn’t going to be good enough.” It’s too early to say how the game will turn out under Square Enix, but considering the amount of IP’s they now have after the Eidos acquisition, it is quite an impressive feat.

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