In anticipation of tomorrow, let's just recap on why some of us are excited. Yes, this might be a hype train, but when you stack these things up side by side it starts to look hopeful. Not certain, of course, but hopeful!
1) "We get a ton of requests for Yakuza, a ton of requests for Shenmue. We see the lists," Adam Boyes said. "S̲o̲ t̲h̲o̲s̲e̲ a̲r̲e̲ t̲h̲e̲ o̲n̲e̲s̲ w̲e̲'̲r̲e̲ f̲o̲c̲u̲s̲e̲d̲ o̲n̲"
(
http://www.nowgamer.com/sony-wants-to-bring-shenmue-to-pla…/)
2) Remember the Sony video from Japan, where the user was called "Ryo H"?
(
http://www.gamnesia.com/…/shenmue-iii-is-looking-even-more-…)
3) Gio Corsi (the guy put in charge of building the list referenced in point 1 has often interacted with Shenmue fans, sometimes liking our memes on Twitter. Gio also favourited one of my Tweets a while back saying I haven't lost faith that Sony will save Shenmue, but he unfavourited quickly after. Shuhei Yoshida, President of Sony's Worldwide Studios also replied positively to our collage (the one thanking Sony for listening).
(
https://twitter.com/yosp/status/422630984790450178)
4) Microsoft's Phil Spencer has stated 3 times that he has no interest in porting Shenmue or helping to make Shenmue 3. This is why we're looking to Sony right now.
(
https://twitter.com/XboxP3/status/451563274975186944)
5) SEGA have stated they are willing to trade Shenmue exclusivity for funding. This would be a good deal for Sony. They've seen just how much reputation can make or break you in the gaming industry recently, with Xbox One being outsold two to one by PS4, simply because of some bad PR at the start of this generation of consoles. They could port Shenmue 1 & 2 at a low cost, and in return they make tons of new fans.
(
http://www.ps3news.com/…/sega-considers-shenmue-iii-option…/)
6) Recent hints from Sony about the games they are going to announce this weekend COULD indicate Shenmue. Perhaps! The indications are that one of the games is massively requested by fans, and has been a long time in coming. [Sources needed for this one.]
7) Other little details and possible hints include Scott Rohde's tweet about Shenmue fans being persistent (
https://twitter.com/Mooncalfian/status/527867673091530753), the recent "Shamwow4" comment which some think is a hint (source needed), and something else I'm forgetting about. Somebody remind me?