Mark Cerny is an ex-SEGA employee, so it stands to reason that he’d be friends with Shenmue creator Yu Suzuki. Still, it’s hard not to feel a little pang of excitement over this photograph of the duo in the same room. Meggan Scavio snapped the attached shot of the PlayStation 4 system architect and legendary game designer chatting behind closed doors at GDC.

“Mark Cerny and Yu Suzuki talking strategy for Shenmue III,” she said. “For reals, you guys.” We’re guessing that she was probably joking, but we want so hard to believe. Suzuki has repeatedly cited his desire to create the third entry in Ryo Hazuki’s opus, even hinting at the prospect of crowd funding. It sure would be nice if a high-profile Sony employee was able to push some kind of deal through for the PS4, wouldn’t it?

We already adore Cerny for creating Marble Madness and kicking PlayStation’s hardware design team into shape – but we’d be willing to kiss the ground that he walks on if he managed to convince the platform holder to fund Shenmue III.