Those of us looking earnestly forward to a Shenmue III in the near future are feeling the heavy weight of disappointment setting in right about now. Yu Suzuki, famous for creating classics such as OutRun, Virtua Fighter, and Shenmue has retired as Creative Officer of Sega of Japan. Sega broke the saddening news this week, breaking hearts everywhere and dashing the hopes of the loyal Shenmue fans who, over the years, only wanted just one more game.

However, just because Suzuki’s retired, that doesn’t mean that’s the last we’ll hear of him. Sega-Sammy reports that he will continue as the acting manager of the department. News of Suzuki’s actual employment status at Sega was brought under scrutiny via Simon Jeffery of Sega of America last year, as Jeffery cited that Suzuki was "his own man" at the time. To fix this disparity, Jeffery assigned Suzuki the role of Creative Officer that the legendary creator has now stepped down from.

A press release (http://www.segasammy.co.jp/english/p...0090331_e_.pdf) via Sega Sammy has confirmed that the legendary creator will now be heading the AM Plus Research and Development department. So, to clarify, he’s not retiring from the business at all, as many fans were shocked to hear. His influence will still be seen and heard, though perhaps not as prominently as it once would have been.

In any case, I’m looking forward to whatever the man can get his hands on in the future. He has been responsible for occupying quite a few hours of my life - possibly the same amount of hours equating the amount of distraught Shenmue fans out there right about now.