As we reported yesterday, Sega did indeed announce that Shen Mue would be delayed in Japan. The highly-anticipated Dreamcast "killer ap" will now be released in Spring of next year. What is even worse is that the reasons given for the delay were anything but clear. There are reports of difficulties programming personalities for all of their NPCs, which is not surprising, and there are reports that there some bugs in the system that need to be fixed, but there are also several reports that they are completely overhauling the game.

   This is very bad news for Sega. The Dreamcast is still enjoying the successful launch on our shores, but in Japan the hype is over and the system is slipping fast. Shen Mue was to be a system-selling game, and now the Japanese will not get it til AFTER the release of the Playstation 2. Sega will have to pull out all the stops and do something magical to prevent being crushed by Sony's powerful new creation. Let's hope they have a trump card.