We’ve been away for a while, but now we’re back to kick some butt at Wild Canyon and as much as we’d like to not-believe, there’s been a fair bit of news that has slipped by the Sonic News radar (or Newsdar, or… something) during our reconstruction. FRET NOT, we’ve got it covered. Even though you probably already know all this anyway.
Sonic Blogicles
First off SEGA Europe’s community blog, the Sonic City Blognik, has started posting regular diaries from the desks responsible for Sonic Chronicles. The first entry was written by Bioware Brand Manager Randall Bishop, who discussed at length why the game will rock, in typical Brand Manager fashion. He interestingly pointed out Bioware’s new approach to Chronicles for the fact that this is indeed a kid’s game – I hope Bioware remembers that half the success of a kid’s multimedia product is the viability of it to adults too. Just ask Pixar.
SEGA Europe’s PR buff Stefan McGarry scribes the second Chronicles blog, and opened the fans to just how hard it can be to try and sell a game. I imagine it would be tough to get press excited about the game, especially seeings as the last several major Sonic games were stinkers.
The blog continues…
SEGA Superstars Tennis Sells One Million Copies
Well done.
Sonic’s Name Unleashed (then Leashed again)
Retailers are usually privvy to pre-release official information so they can organise themselves for pre-orders and such things. Not a truckload of information sure, but little things nonetheless, such as working titles and non-final release dates. So when one particular online retailer decided, after SEGA officially announced Sonic’s new adventure with the final name, to open a page for ‘Sonic World Adventure’, someone at the store’s HQ clearly hadn’t been keeping an eye on press releases.
Instead of brushing it off, the online community went beserk over the ‘new’ name, discussing at length how much it sucks in comparison to ‘Sonic Unleashed’ as if there was nothing else to talk about. Still, it de-railed the Youtube Rally Against Jason Griffith for ten seconds at least.
ArchAngelUK posted on the Sonic City Blognik debunking the wild rumour, stating that indeed ‘Sonic World Adventure’ was a working title before the name ‘Unleashed’ was decided upon. Cue sighs of relief the world over, and another crisis duly averted!!!!!!!!!
GamesMaster Top 200 – Sonic Does Well
British gaming mag GamesMaster recently celebrated its 200th issue with a Top 100 Games Ever Made list, as voted for by the readership. Which, given that GM is targeted towards kids and teens, meant that plenty of classic stuff really wasn’t going to get a look in. As expected, Sonic ranked quite well, but not as you think – the Mega Drive classic only hit 21st place, while Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games reached 17th. Proof that minigame waggling really can outshadow pure gameplay goodness.
The big surprise was Shadow the Hedgehog at #22. We’ll say no more on that; Sonic the Hedgehog 2 ranked 24th and Sonic Heroes 46th. Interestingly, Sonic Adventure placed one spot higher than the current money-printer, Grand Theft Auto IV. That makes me happy at least.
GamesMaster didn’t stop at games, as they also listed the Top 100 video game character list too. Amy Rose ranked 76th, Dr. Robotnik 44th, Tails 39th, Knuckles 13th and Shadow 11th. Sonic the Hedgehog reached #2, being beaten by age-old rival Mario. At least something works in the brain of this generation, and good to see the Sonic series still revered after the knocks its had recently. Good show ol’ blue.
Sonic Chronicles Trailer
Sonic Chronicles’ official trailer was released showing a few gameplay elements while mostly enlisting the help of Mr. Movie Voice Over Bloke to sell the game to you. Looks very flash for a trailer, but the proof’s in the gaming pudding. We’ll be able to tell you exactly how the game is shaping up when we have a playtest on Thursday.