News regarding fan favorite Dreamcast franchise Shenmue has been hard to come by, whether for the anticipated third entry or details regarding the previously announced HD remakes of the first two games. While the highly anticipated and long in development Shenmue 3 was confirmed to be delayed into 2019 earlier this year, it seems the release date for the remastered versions of both Shenmue games has been accidentally revealed.

Microsoft's own Larry 'Major Nelson' Hryb revealed on his blog that Shenmue 1 & 2 is now available for pre-order. Players can head over to the official Xbox Marketplace store page which lists the upcoming remastered bundle at $29.99 and lists some of the updated features which include modern/classic controls, updated UI, an option to toggle Japanese dialogue, and fully scalable screen resolutions. However, the more interesting aspect of this store page is that the product has a release date listed on August 21, 2018.

shenmue remastered release date

What makes this intriguing is that at the time of this listing, Sega has yet to officially confirm a release date for the anticipated re-release of both Shenmue games. It's worth noting that August 21 is a Tuesday, however, a day that most video games release in North America which means the rumored date is likely to be correct. Without official word from Sega, however, fans are cautioned to take the news with a grain of salt even if the dates appear to be accurate.

These remasters mark the first time either Shenmue 1 or Shenmue 2 will arrive on any modern console. The first game in the franchise originally appeared on the Sega Dreamcast back in 2000 and has never appeared on any other platform since. Shenmue 2 arrived on the Dreamcast a year later though unlike its predecessor, the game was later ported to the original Xbox in 2002. This will be the first time both games will be available on modern platforms as the remastered bundle has been confirmed to arrive in 2018 for the PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One platforms.

Shenmue 1 & 2 arrives in 2018 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

Source: Microsoft Store