E3 Sonic Next-Gen trailer on XBOX Live Marketplace

b_boult · Post by **b_boult** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 11:11 am

We've seen this already. Also the fact its a 12+ game doesn't fill me with a lot of confidence at all. I can see it now, Sonic shouting "You bastard" and "Go to hell" every five seconds.

Kai-Kakoon · Post by **Kai-Kakoon** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 11:49 am

The PEGI system just doesn't work. I've seen games like DragonBall Z Budokai being rated +3, despite the violence and the mild swear words. So what makes SONIC The Hedgehog so much more mature?

Eh... That cover is pretty much like the music we've heard so far. I can't complain about it, but it certainly isn't appealing.

BlazeHedgehog · Post by **BlazeHedgehog** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 12:31 pm

b_boult wrote:Yeah we've only heard 20 second segments of the other tracks so how can anyone offer a credible opinion to be honest. I mean the one track we do get to hear in relative fullness is the Crisis City track, and I think it's pretty epic and cool, and I'm sure if you hear the other tracks flowing in their entirety instead of retarded little fragments you'll warm to them a lot more. And besides, not every track in every Sonic game has been brilliant, bear in mind as Kai-Kakoon says there are lots of other tracks still to come, and Jun has never really disappointed before (apart from Shadow). I'm pretty sure the sound is the one thing that *won't* let this game down.

Hi. Lot longer than 20 seconds, innit? Still pretty blah. Not horrible, mind you, but not in any way memorable.

Did we ever get confirmation that Jun was doing music for this? This is a pretty wild departure from Sonic Adventure's trademark 80's hair band "butt rock".

Plorpus III · Post by **Plorpus III** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 4:52 pm

I actually like the Crisis City theme. It's not as good as some of the Adventure tracks, but parts of it remind me of the Bowser levels in SM64 for some reason, which fills me with childish glee.

(...) · Post by **(...)** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 4:53 pm

Popcorn wrote:

That is quite possibly the coolest box art I've ever seen on a Sonic game.

The 12+ rating is a bit of an eyebrow-raiser. Wasn't Shadow a 12+ game?

Sniffnoy · Post by **Sniffnoy** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 5:45 pm

Some parts of it remind me of Chrono Trigger music... especially the opening/background thingy which is straight out of the battle music.

But yeah, hardly what I'd call memorable.

b_boult · Post by **b_boult** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 8:49 am

BlazeHedgehog wrote:Hi. Lot longer than 20 seconds, innit? Still pretty blah. Not horrible, mind you, but not in any way memorable.

I actually said "We've only heard 20 second segments of the OTHER tracks" note the word other lmao.

Plorpus III · Post by **Plorpus III** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 4:17 pm

lmao indeed.
You'll do well here.

b_boult · Post by **b_boult** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 4:52 pm

Plorpus III wrote:lmao indeed.
You'll do well here.

Haha if only you realised how funny that statement was. For the record I am only ever being ironic if I use an acronym like that.

Post by **Esrever** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 12:18 am

I probably won't buy this game, but I probably would buy a poster of that boxart.

BlazeHedgehog · Post by **BlazeHedgehog** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 9:15 am

I, on the other hand, am planning on pre-ordering the game (among other things) with my $1000 prize money, because I am a dirty, dirty whore for Sonic.

Besides. It's either this or Shadow the Hedgehog, and I'm willing to hedge my bets on this being better than Shadow, at the very least.

Arcade · Post by **Arcade** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 5:33 pm

BlazeHedgehog wrote:I, on the other hand, am planning on pre-ordering the game (among other things) with my $1000 prize money, because I am a dirty, dirty whore for Sonic.

Besides. It's either this or Shadow the Hedgehog, and I'm willing to hedge my bets on this being better than Shadow, at the very least.

well, so this game is like "Sonic adventure" updated to 2006 or what?

BlazeHedgehog · Post by **BlazeHedgehog** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 5:14 am

Well, uh. I guess so? It's still not my dream Sonic game, but that may never happen. At the very least, this should be as good as Sonic Adventure 2 - the last Sonic game I paid full price for (and pretty much the only Sonic game I ever bought at launch).

Sonic 2k6 looks like it's trying to blend together every Sonic game since 1999 in to... something. Be it a horrible mess or a pretty fun Sonic game remains to be seen; but there's too much going on in the franchise with regards to this game for Sega to let it become another Shadow the Hedgehog - the media seems to be getting really tired of Sonic lately, and I think, at least in the eyes of the media, this will make or break Sonic for them. It will answer the question: is Sega content to rape Sonic's lifeless corpse forever, much like Capcom does with Megaman, or are they actually willing to put some effort in to it?

OCB can tell us whatever he wants, about how cool he thinks this or that is, but he also told us to buy Monkey Ball Adventure, which, as far as I heard, sucked a lot. Sonicteam has proven they can still crank out a good game with Phantasy Star Universe (which has been averaging about a 95% in reviews), so there's still some hope they might be able to handle the Sonic franchise at least partially well.

Forza Johnman · Post by **Forza Johnman** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 8:35 am

I think this game will put Sonic back on track as far as level design (exploring) and playability are concerned.

Even if it does play like Sonic Adventure in high res. With telekinesis. And Shadow.

As long as I don't dive into a pit of death and the camera has a little idea where to plonk itself I'll be happy.

Edit: Found this on the Sonic the Comic Online Message boards:

Kynapse selected for SEGA's next generation Sonic

Paris, France Ã¢â‚¬â€œ September 4, 2006 - Kynogon, the leading A.I. middleware developer, has announced today that SEGA has licensed Kynapse to develop its million-seller title, Sonic on Xbox 360TM and PLAYSTATIONÃ‚Â®3.

Since his birth 15 years ago, Sonic The Hedgehog has been a phenomenal mass-market success. More than 44 million units have been sold worldwide. The legendary Sonic mascot is one of the most recognized and celebrated video game characters of all.

Ã¢â‚¬Å“We are very proud to be working with SEGA on an icon title like Sonic for next generation platformsÃ¢â‚¬ï¿¾, said Pierre Pontevia, CEO for Kynogon. Ã¢â‚¬Å“As one of the true leaders of the industry, SEGA sets the tone for game development. It is a great opportunity and a true recognition for Kynogon to work on a next generation title with them.Ã¢â‚¬ï¿¾

About SEGA Corporation
SEGAÃ‚Â® Corporation is a worldwide leader in interactive entertainment both inside and outside the home, encompassing consumer business, amusement machine sales and amusement center operations. The company develops, publishes and distributes interactive entertainment software products for a variety of hardware platforms including PC, wireless devices, and those manufactured by Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. SEGAÃ‚Â® Corporation's Web site is located at http://sega.jp.

About Kynogon
Kynogon develops and markets A.I. software for real-time behavior simulation. KynogonÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s technology is used by the worldÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s leading game developers (Electronic Arts, Atari, Real Time Worlds, Lionhead Studios, Pyro Studios, Majesco, Artificial Mind & Movement, ...) as well as industry leaders (EADS, British Aerospace, ...) Kynogon has 6 years experience providing AI production solutions for the games industry, working with our clients from preproduction to gold master. The companyÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s latest offering is Kynapse, a unique A.I. engine. With Kynapse, Non Player Characters can move around in any 3D dynamic world, understand their environment, hide, communicate, cooperate, drive vehicles, etc. For more information please visit http://www.kynogon.com.

Ã‚Â© 2006 Kynapse, Kynogon is a registered trademark.

BlazeHedgehog · Post by **BlazeHedgehog** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 9:47 am

What the hell for?

Chao raising? Bots for the online mode? Enemy AI? Boss AI? Maybe AI for people in the Town stages...?

How strange.

FlashTHD · Post by **FlashTHD** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 10:31 am

Better to use engines that work than try to slap together their own and quite potentially fuck it up (hi Sonic Heroes), right?

BlazeHedgehog · Post by **BlazeHedgehog** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 10:45 am

That seems to be the case, too, considering this is a fairly last-minute addition; the game is due out in what, two months?

One Classy Bloke · Post by **One Classy Bloke** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 11:40 am

...This concerns me. The AI isn't all that great in the game right now. Hopefully this will sort it out, but with this little time...

Frieza2000 · Post by **Frieza2000** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 12:19 pm

That would be quite a lot of effort for something so insignificant. Enemy AI has never been a point of interest or criticism in Sonic games, save Shadow's 3 sided gang war. Enemies were more like obstacles; they did 1 or 2 simple attacks and usually died before they could even get them off. Maybe with the advanced physics engine they want the bots to be able to respond to changing environments or dodge the things Silver throws or shoot them in mid-air or collapse breakable objects onto you. Realism seems to be the selling point this time around, so that would make sense.

FlashTHD · Post by **FlashTHD** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 12:58 pm

That seems to be the case, too, considering this is a fairly last-minute addition; the game is due out in what, two months?

Did the press release say how long ago they started using Kynogon? No? I won't dwell on it.

BlazeHedgehog · Post by **BlazeHedgehog** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 1:12 pm

Oh come on. Read the press release. They sound absolutely giddy to have Sega using their tech for a "high profile" release like Sonic. It says right there, "It is a great opportunity and a true recognition for Kynogon to work on a next generation title with them."

Translation: "Yay! More people will know about us! Free advertising!"

I'm sure they would've put out a press release regarding this as soon as possible. At max, we can assume Sega/Sonicteam has been working with the Kynogon tech for probably a week.

Rlan · Post by **Rlan** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 10:05 pm

Well, those high-res videos from GameTrailers showed those little Chao-Batteries popping out of the robots. Maybe it is Chao Raising [in a half-collapsing city]

Plorpus III · Post by **Plorpus III** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 10:41 pm

Those blue things? How do you know they even relate to chao?

(...) · Post by **(...)** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 3:40 am

Better to use engines that work than try to slap together their own and quite potentially fuck it up (hi Sonic Heroes), right?

Sonic Team didn't make the Sonic Heroes engine. Renderware did.

Tsuyoshi-kun · Post by **Tsuyoshi-kun** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 9:18 am

I thought Renderware was what they used it to port it to all three game systems.