Satisfying Sequels

As the 360 launch approaches and more developers get on-board the PS3 wagon, more titles are coming to light. Sega has announced the first next-generation Sonic the Hedgehog title, which will see publishing on both Microsoft and Sony's platforms. Additionally, while it's not a next-gen sequel, the announcement of a Seaman 2 title for the PlayStation 2 certainly is surprising. Word is that the microphone that came with the PS2 version of the original fish-man sim will work with the upcoming sequel as well. From the Sonic article: "We are proud to re-create our famous friend, Sonic, for a new generation of gamers on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360...With Sonic the Hedgehog, we have gone back to our starting point, more than 15 years ago, to reinvent the attitude and speed that made our hero a legend. The 'rebirth of Sonic' will offer an unparalleled sense of speed that is only possible using the processing power afforded by the new systems."

Comments

Nintendo should be worried

[Metasquares]

Publishers are talking about the next generation of consoles as if the Revolution does not exist. If Nintendo wants any third party games, they need to address this.

Re:Nintendo should be worried

[dq5 studios]

or maybe Nintendo told them to hold off until after the Tokyo Game Show next week.

Re:Nintendo should be worried

[PhoenixFlare]

Even with how they've changed in recent years, I can't say i'm extremely suprised that Sega is ignoring Nintendo for a flagship Sonic game.

Beyond that....With Nintendo's penchant for secrecy and the (mostly) brainwashed graphics-whores of the gaming media tending to ignore them anyway, I wouldn't get too worried.

Re:Nintendo should be worried

[Walker_Boh_Druid]

A valid point Nintendo should be worried. They have released so little information on their console, I am worried that by the time they tell everyone what is so great about it, everyone will be vastly dissapointed. A case of "Well...is that it?"

Re:Nintendo should be worried

[edwdig]

Sonic games sold much better on the GameCube than on PS2 or Xbox, so it is rather surprising that they're releasing it for Nintendo's system.

The more likely reason is that Nintendo's NDA's prevent anyone from announcing games until after the system is fully revealed.

Re:Nintendo should be worried

[rohlfinator]

Though few people will see the parent's comment, he's most likely right. Nintendo is working with third parties - we know this from recent comments by representatives from THQ, Ubisoft, and Sega, for example. These publishers are probably under big NDAs right now because Nintendo doesn't want them to reveal anything about the Revolution before the "due time".

Why would Nintendo allow a third-party game to be shown off before they've had a chance to promote first-party titles? It doesn't make sense from a business standpoint.

Re:Nintendo should be worried

[rohlfinator]

I'm curious... why would a late reveal make a console less interesting? If the console is as "revolutionary" as Nintendo claims, I would assume that it would be well-received regardless of the announcement date. Unless, of course, Sony and Microsoft are able to develop something better in that time frame, but the PS3 and 360 seem pretty firmly established already.

It doesn't take six months to hype a console... Most of the public won't know about the Xbox 360 until a few weeks before its launch. As long as the release date itself is appropriately timed, Nintendo could "reveal" the Revolution a month before its launch and still see very similar sales.

Re:Nintendo should be worried

[bleaknik]

While I've heard this before, and I believe it to be true, do you have any sales figures showing this?

Re:Nintendo should be worried

[Walker_Boh_Druid]

This isn't the same with Nintendo. They have told their fans that they are going to "Revolutionize" gaming. They say they are taking a totally different approach. They told us the Mario and Zelda games, which have been the same way for so long, are going to go in a completely different direction. They could dissapoint many people here. Also, Nintendo fans are some of the most ardent around. They WILL get hyped up about this, whether Nintendo wants them to or not. And they could still be very much dissapointed.

Re:Nintendo should be worried

[rohlfinator]

Yes, but those people would have been disappointed if the system was revealed at E3, anyway.

I'm talking two scenarios (which may or may not be 100% accurate) - revealing at E3 2005, or revealing sometime later (say, Fall '05). Apart from the time difference, everything else about the system is the same: games, specs, third-party support, release date, pricing, name, etc.

Both scenarios will generate almost identical sales figures. The people who aren't interested wouldn't have been interested at E3. The people who want the system will still want it after it's revealed later. Is there anyone who is honestly saying, "I'm not going to buy the Revolution because Nintendo is taking too long to tell people about it"?

As for the fanboy thing - yes, some fans will most likely be let down by the changes. Most "hardcore gamers" are pretty resistant to change. But again, they would have been disappointed regardless of the date of the reveal. And with the Revolution, Nintendo isn't targeting the "hardcore", anyway. They're aiming it toward families, older non-gamers, and basically people who want to have fun. The loss of a few million "hardcore gamers" is trivial if Nintendo can truly appeal to the mass market, and that mass market doesn't care about specs, launch dates, "reveal dates", or anything other than the console's entertainment value.

Screenshot looks sweet!

[inkdesign]

This shot looks really cool - almost like they might be making a Sonic/NiGHTS hybrid style of game play, with the apparent flying and all. That would rock!
Or maybe just wishful thinking on my part.

Re:Screenshot looks sweet!

[Anonymous Coward]

actually if you watch the video he just jumped off a cliff.

Seaman

[NotWorkSafe]

But will the sequel star Leonard Nimoy?

Re:Seaman

[Rob T Firefly]

I hope so. Someone needs to go ask him if he's up for a second helping of Seaman.

Sonic

[Gogo0]

I was the biggest Sonic fan until the 3d ones came out.
Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heros, even the Sonic Advance games are subpar. I have no hope at all for a new 3d sonic

On the other hand, Sonic Rush for the DS is the only sonic game in years to have been made by Sonic Team. 2d, Sonic Team, Naka... They should focus on a 2d sonic for next-gen consoles in stead of continually raping the series in 3d.

Re:Sonic

[MrCopilot]

I was the biggest Sonic fan until the 3d ones came out.

Sonic3d for DGEN uhhh ... Sega Genesis. http://www.mobygames.com/game/genesis/sonic-3d-bla st/screenshots
Simply Awesome. At the time it was mesmerizing, and I don't just throw that word around, I mean, sit any pre-teen kid in front of it today and come back in 4 hrs, if you don't make them take a break they won't.

Re:Sonic

[Rod Beauvex]

Well, the point is he, like myself, hates the Adventure series and what it did to Sonic.

Re:Sonic

[Anonymous Coward]

Sonic Advance 2 was great. Sonic Advance 1 was okay. I could never get into Sonic Advance 3.

Super Mario 64 was a good implementation of the 2D Mario games. I hope this new Sonic game will finally do the same for the Sonic series.

Re:Sonic

[ConceptJunkie]

But that wasn't a 3D game, it was just an isometric view. Great game, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't 3D in any real sense.

Re:Sonic

[KDR_11k]

It's not as good as the sideview ones. Sonic 3d is rather mediocre in comparison.

Re:Sonic

[Pxtl]

Idunno, I actually found that the Sonic scenese in SA2 were pretty good - they were just too few and far between. Despite the obsurdity of giving Shadow a modern-world pistol, I'm tempted to try the new Shadow game because it was promised as just "more of the sonic race maps, but with a gun". SA1 relied on way too much scripted animation, and the "non-Sonic" scenes in the games have been consistently awful.

Really, the only way we'll have a good Sonic game is if they just give up and let Shigeru Miyamoto try to save it - Sega is a shell of it's former self. The last truley awsome title I played from Sega was Nights: Into Dreams. Haven't seen much good from them since then.

Platfomers _can_ be done in 3d with success. Mario 64 is one of my all-time favourite games. Crash Bandicoot has some very fast levels that do the high-speed action of Sonic in 3d better than Sonic does.

Sonic Riders sounds just like some old hoverboard racing games I played on the Dreamcast and the Playstation. Streak: Hoverboard Racing for example. Racing games where you do stunts to gain speed.

Yeah, they sucked.

Re:Sonic

[DeadScreenSky]

You obviously have missed some good Sega titles over the last ten years or so if Nights was the last awesome one you played. Even pitiful Sonic Team has made a couple of great games (Chu Chu Rocket and Samba De Amigo for example). They hardly need to give it to Miyamoto - he isn't the only good game developer in the world! I think giving it to some newer Sega devs might be a good idea though. Give us something a little more fresh.

Ok, I'll admit.

[Rod Beauvex]

Those Sonic the Hedgehog pictures made me smile. In fact, the only thing that kept me from bawling with happieness was the shitty SA era character designs. I'm a Nintendo fanboy, isncase you fraks can't tell, but this almost makes me want whatever system it comes out on. Almost.

Funny that there isn's a release fot the Revoluation. I am saddened.

Re:Ok, I'll admit.

[rAiNsT0rm]

It will see a Revolution release. Game dev's/Publishers are actually not releasing information on cross-platform releases with the Revolution included. I believe it is because of the projected release schedule for the console. I do know of about 3 cross-platform titles so far that will release on all three systems but the publishers are only listing PS3/360 in press releases.

I will do my best to contact one of them (I am a member of the media) and ask what the true answer to this question is, because until you brought it up I never even gave it much thought. I'll try to post a followup reply with any info I can get, I think it is a great question.

Seaman on PS2?

[Anonymous Coward]

"Word is that the microphone that came with the PS2 version of the original fish-man sim will work with the upcoming sequel as well."

Ummm It was released for the Dreamcast. So, are they saying the Dreamcast microphone will work on a PS2?

Re:Seaman on PS2?

[rohlfinator]

"The original Seaman was released on Sega's Dreamcast in 1999 and was later ported to the PlayStation 2."

Re:Seaman on PS2?

[pnice]

I was surprised to read that as well. Looks like it was a Japan only release.

Atleast they are creative.

[JetFox]

Some game sequels are great, of course, but wouldn't it be nice to see if something new would come out? I have some of the original sonic games, then after playing the 3d one...i stopped. Wouldn't it be nice to play a new game instead of playing another variation of the same story? I think there is no chance of me buying an Xbox 360. why? because from what i have played, there isn't enough material worth playing. I never bought an Xbox either, i played my friends because a couple of the games were cool. I don't know about everyone else, and i know one person will not affect the money made off of selling the games and consoles, but Xbox has never had enough to get my attention as much as Nintendo and Sony have.

The screens make me disolve into a puddle of OMG

[bersl2]

Especially this one.

I look forward to a game where there's less posturing and more ass-kicking. And I look forward to the upcoming formal announcement of the Revolution, and of this title for said platform ;)

Also, if I may I interject, I would like to say that the more I see of the Shadow title, the more confidence I have in the title and in Sega to not fuck things up.

Re:free warez!

[Rod Beauvex]

How in the precise fuck did you people come up with "Troll"? Offtopic, possibly flaimbait, but troll?

Re:free warez!

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, there ain't exactly a -1, Asshat mod, now is there?

You don't need processor power for speed

[SteWhite]

That last bit of the headline is a superb example of what we have come to with computers/consoles:

"The 'rebirth of Sonic' will offer an unparalleled sense of speed that is only possible using the processing power afforded by the new systems."

Sorry? A sense of speed only possible with massive processing power? Erm, no.

When the original sonic the hedgehog on Sega Genesis came out, the sense of speed as you zoomed around the loops was incredible. It actually made me nauseous, being new to gaming at the time. This was on a 16 bit machine with an 8 Mhz 68000 processor.

You don't need massive processing power for a sense of speed, you need good coders.

Re:You don't need processor power for speed

[macshome]

You obviously have forgotten the unholy power of Genesis Blast Processing!

Seriously though, most of the side scrolling Sonic games are great. I think I might haul out the Sega CD and pop Sonic CD in for a play...

Re:You don't need processor power for speed

[bleaknik]

I think I might go to Wal-mart to buy Sonic Gems... just so I can play Sonic CD... :D (Yeah, I've got the Sega CD Version, but the battery backup in my Sega CD is dying, so it's kind of disappointing.)

Re:The screens make me disolve into a puddle of OM

[bersl2]

to not fuck things up.

Too badly.

Sega's speed race returns...

[Driving Vertigo]

"The 'rebirth of Sonic' will offer an unparalleled sense of speed that is only possible using the processing power afforded by the new systems." Did I miss something...when did the Xbox360 and PS3 get "Blast Processing?"

Semi-OT: Sega is replacing the game voice actors

[bersl2]

OK, that the bad news.

The worse news is that they're replacing them with the 4Kids ones from Sonic X. Yuck. Looks like I'll be turning on the Japanese voices as soon as I get these games.

Sega fucks things up again. What else is new?

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