Sega announces Shenmue: The Movie

[12.08.00] » Like Shenmue, only without all that pesky gameplay.

    Sega has announced they will be bringing the already cinematic tale of Ryo Hazuki's search for revenge to the big screen. Shenmue: The Movie will debut January 20 in Tokyo, followed by showings in four major cities around Japan. The film will be a retelling of the first chapter of Yu Suzuki's epic and will use actual footage from the game itself. Though Sega hasn't given any details as to what the finished product will look like, most likely some new scenes and camera work will be needed to adapt the slow paced game to a much shorter film. Expect forklift racing and dialing rotary phones to get considerably less screen time.

   Furthermore, our friends at Gamers.com report that the movie will employ the English voice acting heard in the American release, with added Japanese subtitles. This is somewhat puzzling, given the high quality of the Japanese acting, but it does point to a likely US release in the near future.