Do the words "Shenmue HD" prick your ears? Sega domain hints at long overdue remasters

Shenmue HD should already be a thing, so let's hope this slim evidence turns out to be precisely what we think it is.

ShenmueHD.com has been registered by Sega of Europe, according to the domain's WhoIs record (via Gematsu).

The website is currently blank, but we're hoping that it means Sega is winding up to announce remasters of Shenmue and Shenmue 2, two games that are far too inaccessible given their cult status.

We know the publisher has been thinking about making it happen. It seemed keen on the idea in October 2015 and again in May 2016.

As Sega said last time the topic came up, there are difficulties bringing Shenmue and its sequel back to market; both contained a stack of licensed products, which means clearing these references out or re-negotiating contracts, and bringing games of this age and complexity to modern platforms in a way that does them justice isn't easy.

Sega would definitely want to do a good job with Shenmue HD, too - Shenmue 3 is on the horizon, and putting out some shonky ports that remind people of all the bad things and prevent them discovering the good ones would be a sure way to undermine a project Sega is collaborating on and presumably expects to profit from in some way.

Well, cross your fingers for Shenmue remasters: this may just be defensive domain registration.