A look at how Shenmue will interact with the Internet

The biggest let-down at this month's Tokyo Game Show was the lack of a playable Shenmue - only a month from release and playable code of Yu Suzuki's magnum opus was nowhere to be found. While some gamers simply swallowed their anticipation and went to play the Shenmue VMS mini-game for the hundredth time, others hustled to the Dreamcast stage, where an English-speaking MC introduced Yu Suzuki to a teeming mass.

Suzuki jumped right into his presentation, whipping out a copy of the mysterious fourth Shenmue GD-ROM, Shenmue Passport, a special disc that features Internet goodies and resource data galore. Think of it as the 'Omake' (that's Japanese for 'extra cool bonus stuff') disc.

The first thing Suzuki revealed was a character information screen, where biographical data on the game's major players could be accessed (complete with a rotating polygon model at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen). Next on the menu was a moves list - all of the special attacks you learn throughout the game are organised and labelled for your studying convenience. Interestingly enough, each move is accompanied by directional arrows and button icons, suggesting that the much-requested Free Battle System will manage to squeeze its way into the game before it ships.

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Courtesy of IGN.com