It has just been announced that Yu Suzuki will return as a guest to MAGIC 2018 on February 24th at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.

The free one-day event offers fans of video games, anime, and manga the chance to meet celebrated names in these fields, as well as live presentations and contests.

Suzuki appeared at the 2016 event, promoted by Shenmue III co-producer Cédric Biscay's Shibuya Productions, to answer questions, sign autographs, and show off new footage of the game.

Joining him this year, amongst several guests announced so far, will be Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner, who helped spread the word and be heard on the 3rd in the early days of the Shenmue Tweetathon.

To register for attendance at #MAGIC2018 visit magic-ip.com.

For more on the annual conferences, you can check out our interview with Cédric from this past August.

We've just got back from MAGIC, so we've finally time to talk about Saturday's event in Monaco and the various reactions we've seen online to some of its Shenmue-related content.

Before anything else we'd like to thank all the other fans we met throughout the day. Possibly as a result of the attention that 2016's conference attracted with its exclusive preview footage of Shenhua's house amongst other material, the venue was teeming with Shenmue supporters, and all those we had the chance and the honor to speak with were great people and a credit to the community.

We'll be able to showcase the passion of these fans very soon in conjunction with the interview we conducted alongside Shenmue Forever with Yu Suzuki, whose presence had drawn so many gamers to Monte Carlo from across the globe.

The first order of the day for Suzuki-san was a one-hour conference that revisited his epic career in video games, from his many arcade hits through to the home console Shenmue series. Parts of the discussion closely echoed previous occasions that hardcore fans may recall watching online, such as the Shenmue Postmortem at GDC 2014, but the highlight of the morning was an unveiling of four new Shenmue III screenshots, which audience members initially shared via off-screen photos before higher quality versions were published via Kickstarter and the official website. The image of an expressive young girl seemingly filled with wonder impressed the most, and immediately spawned fan art from a Twitter user in Japan.

The entirely free event later hosted a 90-minute autograph session with Suzuki-san, with the line of fans snaking around the walls of the vicinity as Yu greeted person after person, posed for photos, and signed multiple items (until the half-hour advantage given to his fans over other autograph hunters threatened to prove insufficient still, forcing an eventual limit of one item per visitor to ensure everyone got their turn). Our hearts well and truly went out to the fan who patiently waited to get his Dreamcast game signed, only to then drop it and watch in horror as the brittle case smashed on the floor. Thank goodness they don't make 'em like they used to!

Closing out Suzuki's schedule at MAGIC was an appearance during Shibuya Productions' Crazy Time, a brief presentation hosted by event organizer and Shenmue III co-producer Cédric Biscay. This featured an extended version of the Gamescom teaser trailer, previously only seen by journalists. In addition to the content released publicly last year, this footage contained further characters and several QTE sequences. Amongst them, the comical screenshot released during Gamescom of a surprised older gentleman (see image above) is given context, as swinging wild punches at a dodging Ryo leads the elderly assailant to almost lose his balance, until Ryo helpfully pulls him back by the collar - before bopping him on the nose with the back of his fist.

Fans in attendance had instinctively filmed and uploaded off-screen copies of this three-minute video, until fully noticing a request made at the beginning: "The following footage was prepared for Gamescom 2017. It was shown to limited press and it is unreleased. Please do not record as it does not represent the latest of the game in development." It's for this reason you'll no longer see footage of this part of the show on the YouTube channels of sites that respect the team's wishes.

As for when we'll see video content that represents the latest build of the game, numerous events on the gaming calendar stretch out before us. GDC in March, E3 in June, Gamescom in August... any one of them could be chosen for the next big showcase of the game in motion, unless something randomly drops into backers' inboxes through a Kickstarter update first.

QTEs notwithstanding, on this occasion MAGIC Monaco was not the venue for what fans had in mind in terms of up-to-date gameplay content. That may be due in part to the hype levels encouraged by the promoters, but it's impossible to know what kind of communication behind the scenes led to such confidence being expressed in the reception that this extended teaser, so long after its creation, would achieve amongst fans with heightened expectations. However, despite MAGIC's announced expansion into an autumn event in Kyoto, Japan, few would dispute that a more significant step change in Shenmue III preview content would better reach the general audience it needs and deserves at any of the larger events mentioned above. By comparison, MAGIC is proudly a more niche, intimate setting and while perfect for the fan community to meet up and enjoy some exclusive treats and the company of Yu Suzuki, anything that might truly generate new interest in the game will surely be reserved for a larger, more mainstream platform.

So we ask that anyone hoping to be blown away by more revelatory content this past weekend not be disheartened. Shibuya Productions, whose private funding made Shenmue III a viable possibility, continues to put the fans first by accommodating numerous interviews with Suzuki-san, which you'll hear more about in the coming days, and provides free registered access to genuine bucket list experiences in Monaco and soon also in Kyoto. We're very glad they're a part of the Shenmue III project and appreciate all that they do, along with Ys Net and Deep Silver, on this long and complex road to the validation of a shared dream.

A dream that might still be "impossible" were it not for the magic weaved by Cédric Biscay just a few short years ago.

The first of many interviews with Yu Suzuki conducted at MAGIC Monaco has been published, by French website Gamers Flag. The direct link is here, with our English summary below:

Asked whether the long gap between developing Shenmue II and Shenmue III provides the opportunity for a better game, Suzuki explained that it takes time to master and adapt to new technologies and techniques, however such time would not be necessary if they were to proceed to make a Shenmue IV.

Asked if there was ever a moment after Shenmue II when he thought he'd never get to tell the end of the story, Suzuki replied no, he always thought he could do it.

Asked if Shenmue III will leave the story open-ended for a Shenmue IV, Suzuki confirmed that yes, the story will remain open as it will not be possible to finish the whole plot in the third game without reducing the experience.

Asked about his feelings on the public reaction to technical aspects of the work-in-progress teaser trailer in August 2017 (including facial expressions), Suzuki was philosophical about it, noting that people don't know how development is going. As an example, he notes that the extended version shown at MAGIC 2018 does not reflect the current state of the game, and was used purely for promotion. He explained that the plan continues on their side and that while there are other things he'd like to show as soon as possible, images do not show everything - you have to play to get an idea.

Asked whether the artbook offered as a Kickstarter reward would become available to all at a later date, Suzuki said it should remain exclusive to backers.

Asked about hearing anything from Sega on the matter of Shenmue 1 & 2 remasters, Suzuki explained that it's not a subject he's able to discuss. (Our note: Be sure to join the #SaveShenmueHD Tweetathon this Saturday to help lean on Sega for an official response on this issue.)

Asked whether there are other projects he'd like to work on after Shenmue III, either as part of an existing franchise or a new idea, Suzuki smiled and, without detail, said that there are.

Asked if he'd like to some day see another console made by Sega, Suzuki enthusiastically said that he would. He noted that if a Sega Saturn were to be made now, it would be very small.

Co-producer Cédric Biscay discussed with Gameblog.fr the emotion of playing Shenmue III, and his feelings on having to resist sharing gameplay footage at MAGIC Monaco 2018. (Use Google Translate or similar for a sufficient English version.)

Alongside Shenmue Forever, we had the honor of interviewing Yu Suzuki at MAGIC 2018 about Shenmue III, and also met a number of supporters of the #SaveShenmueHD campaign.

Check out our report on this collaboration and find out what Suzuki-san had to say about Deep Silver's contribution, Shenmue IV, and a range of other topics relating to the upcoming game.