I want to get excited but what do these really mean. Like are we looking at Shenmue legitimately having a future beyond 3? If the fan base is there then why not. Sega could and should work with Suzuki, share some tech from Yakuza if need be to get it up and running. The games won't cost the same as they did back in the day when they were truly groundbreaking. We could easily get a new Shenmue chapter every other year until the story is fully complete..
Is dreaming about this at this stage foolish? Shenmue 3 ALWAYS felt like it simply would never happen.
I don't think it's foolish to dream about Shenmue beyond 3, especially considering where we are now. Having said that I don't think we can definitively say anything about the Resmaster's success at this point other than clearly there was pent up demand to preorder it, but we don't really have the numbers yet, nor do we know how this will translate toward more buyers as it gets closer to launch.
I think Sega has really made a few good choices here so that when word spreads about this Remaster more people will be willing to give it a shot. Those choices being the price, the inclusion of modern controls and the choice between English or Japanese voices. Most important of these is the price, it's quite reasonable for both games so even if someone doesn't end up liking the games they weren't out much money. That should make more people willing to buy. The updated controls should eliminate most if not all of the awkwardness navigating the environments. And having Japanese voices as an option allows people to bypass the awkward English voices if they so choose. All of these things should contribute to the series' success more than releasing straight ports of the games would have done.
The graphics of Shenmue are still aesthetically pleasing enough imo, that's not a problem. If anything could hamper people's enjoyment it might be the slower pace of the games I think, but I feel there should be enough of an audience out there that enjoy these kinds of games where Shenmue can resonate. So, in other words, these are truly exciting times to be a Shenmue fan.