Update: It’s officially delayed to 2016! Thank Aaron! 😀
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Perhaps someone’s listening eh? 😉
The online game rental site GameFly is now listing the game for a Dec 31 2016 release date at least in North America, however this is just another way of saying it’ll be out in 2016 at some point. This change is very recent, as looking through a Google Cache of the site, it showed that as recent as September 8th that the game was still listed for November 3 2015.
If this is indeed true, we may just be in a very rare turn of events where we go a whole year without a retail Sonic game. Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Rio Olympics are also scheduled for 2016 as opposed to their usual release being in the year prior to said Olympics.
Wonder what’s up with this? I’ve wondered if the NX has anything to do with this, specifically for M&S if they want to do a premium NX version of the game, and also maybe they think releasing the game closer to the Olympics will give it more fanfare, what with the Olympics being the talk of the town at that point of course. 😉
For Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice, I dunno, there’s never been a cross-gen handheld release (being released on a current handheld, and also it’s successor at the same time, like if for instance Sonic Advance 3 was delayed on GBA for a few months and appeared on both GBA and on DS at launch), but this IS a great sign that they want to take more time to give it a nice extra layer of polish and/or to try better things with it. Maybe this is going to be better than the first one after all. 😉
Oooh. I wonder if this is true. If it was truly delayed, then… well, while I am bummed that I won’t get it this year, I’m glad they’re going the extra mile to make it better. 🙂
Man, it’d be nuts for this to be a part of the franchise’s 25th Anniversary lineup.
this is basically the auto date when a release date isnt given, it happens everywhere… lots of places say 2015, and a few say 2016 but the trailer said 2015 so im gonna believe the trailer before i believe gamefly? whatever that is
Actually a bit disappointed about this. Was looking forward to playing it over Christmas. Yes, I liked Shattered Crystal a lot. I love exploration-based games, and wasn’t against Sonic trying a slightly different style.
Yeah same. I was really looking forwards to this.=(
Sooo, it’s more of a 2017 game?
Y’know, it’s released on New Years Eve.
And honestly, I refuse to belive this is true. This seems like a ridiculously far date for a simple game.
It depends on what Sanzaru is doing with the game. If Sanzaru is changing Fire and Ice’s engine (which would not be unreasonable given how flawed SC was), the game’s development time would be lengthened significantly as Sanzaru not only has to make sure what it implements into the engine works properly, but optimize all the SC and previously coded assets to the changes made to the engine. If Sanzaru is adding more or expanding on features to beef up the game (again, perfectly reasonable), that’s more time that needs to be spent conceptualizing, programming, testing, etc. I could see a delay to December 2016 happening.
Shattered Crystal’s engine wasn’t the problem, it was everything around it
I’d argue that the engine was quite sluggish. Admittedly, poor level design played a role in SC’s slowness, but even if level design were taken out of equation, SC would still be a bit of a slog.
Actually, given the long delay period, I suspect at least some engine retooling is in the works. I’ll wait for more information before forming a solid opinion for sure, but that’s my gut feeling on the matter.
I’m not going to celebrate quite yet, but if the game has been delayed, then maybe I DO have a reason to be excited for Fire and Ice after all. If Sanzaru plans on doing a 180 on the game, then it would make sense not to promote it until its clear what the final form of the game would look like. Perhaps all the weirdness surrounding Fire and Ice will finally be explained as time goes on.
I think it is reasonable to assume that something has changed regarding the deadline given how Gamefly used to say the game would be availiable in November of this year. Maybe not to December 2016, but perhaps December 2015 or February 2016.
Well, now that we have confirmation, I suppose I should revise my comment.
I am happy that Sega has chosen to delay the game. Believe me, its better than just releasing it this November. But now that the shock has died down, I am curious as to what is actually going to be changed. I would hope the floaty engine gets fixed and the level design is tweaked to better suit speed and the Fire and Ice abilities, but we could very well just see cosmetic upgrades like the game polygons looking better or an improved soundtrack. Either way, we’re looking at a minimum of four more months until the game comes out. I’m suspecting a March release, but no confirmation.
I just hope this means they actually are sticking to their word and taking the time to improve on Shattered Crystal based on user feedback since, in order to do that, they would need to spend quite a while on it as they would need to change/add a lot of coding, visuals, maybe even the engine etc. AND make an entirely new game on top of all of this. Anyone who knows anything about game development knows just making a game to start with, even one that builds off a previous one, takes a LOT of time and hard work to pull off if you want it to be at least half decent.
Strange. One of the sources claims its coming out Dec. 2016 and another one says July 2016.
If this is true, then I guess that would explain the “disappearence” of the game. With the anniversary game coming out next year (if there is one), I doubt people will give fire and ice much attention.
If the game is actually delayed, rejoice! When is the last time a sonic game was delayed to be made better?
Ew…
Placeholder date.
“we may just be in a very rare turn of events where we go a whole year without a retail Sonic game”
Man oh man, this is just adding to the anticipation of 2016 anniversary game! I’m very excited for it and have high expectations. It HAS TO surpass Generations…and hopefully the adventure series but I seriously doubt we’ll get a game with each character with their own stories like old times.
Hogfather has a point; it’s probably just a placeholder date. If anything, it’ll probably be released sometime around November/early December. If it really IS scheduled for the end of the year (after the Christmas rush, which is quite illogical for a supposed kids product), then it’s probably for the best. The first time in recent history a Sonic game has been delayed, but considering the franchise’s history with rushed games, then at least one can hope that means they have a bit more time for polish. Then again, Rise of Lyric had a good seven years and look what happened to THAT.
Rise of Lyric was rushed as well. It seems that it was supposed to be released for a different console but they were pressured by sega to make it for wii u after the nintendo deal when they didn’t have enough time. I read this in an article in this website I think.
He mentioned Rise of Lyric at the bottom of his comment.
if this date is correct we probably wont be getting a legacy sonic or classic sonic game next year, since they wont want to divert attention from sonic booms release.
i truly hope them good luck with the game.. 🙂
Good eye, guys and gals!
I came over to confirm that this is official now:
http://blogs.sega.com/2015/09/14/sonic-boom-fire-ice-moves-to-2016/
Oh wow! Cool!
And here I thought this title wouldn’t have anything memorable, eh?
I’ve been defending this game since it was revealed… but now that it’s being delayed…
Thank you. 🙂 I only have thanks for things like this. I hope this is a wonderful spin-off during Sonic’s 25th.
It seems like a lot of people still have questions regarding Fire and Ice. When can we expect to see more promotional material? Why have things been so quiet with Fire and Ice recently? Could you maybe give specifics on what exactly is being polished, with maybe some new game footage too?
Congratulations SEGA Of America, this is the first year since its creation the Sonic licence won’t have a retail game, and this is for delaying THAT spin-off game nobody care about. The best thing was to publish it in Novembrer as usual and forget the Boom brand failure, its lame sitcom and internet memes to bring back Sonic in Japan for good in 2016.
Actually, America didn’t get a game in 1998… but Japan did.
Regardless, it’s not going to help if they release it in November because people will already see it as a failure. If they delay it, like they were asked to for Rise of Lyric, it can come back as a much better product.
“Boom brand failure” Uh, the show and comic haven’t failed, far from it. Just because YOU don’t like it doesn’t make it a failure, both parts of the brand are doing ridiculously well, especially considering the shows air time. I can’t comment on the merch, however, as I haven’t seen anything stats-wise regarding that.
The comics has been cancelled after only eleven months, a third of its content being a Mega Man crossover, it’s the very definition of failure. TV show is honestly decent if you’re a ten years old boy but a lot of us did not become Sonic fans to watch sitcoms with jokes about mustaches.
Actually, I’m a 17 year old girl and I find Boom TV highly enjoyable. There’s a surprising amount of depth to the show, waiting to be found for those willing to give it a shot and contemplate the episodes. Plus its pretty darn funny (especially with its quips and slapstick), and puts up a commendable effort to use other styles of humor besides gross-out, which is often used by other shows as a crutch to compensate for bad writing. Although the characterization isn’t perfect (Screw the Gogobas. Bunch of jerks.), the main characters are relatable and likable without falling victim to the invincible hero tropes that have plagued the post-2008 games. Plus, there aren’t too many episodes centered around the bad characters, so the majority of Boom will show you stuff about the characters you actually care about.
As for the “we didn’t come here to watch sitcoms!” argument, well, that doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate them. Let me tell you, if some of the best writing Sonic has for a long time comes in the form of a sitcom, then so be it. I’ll still enjoy it.
Good