Boomerang, a weird hair parting, and is excitable? She probably is addicted to treasure too, I'd bet. Hello, Anthro Aika.
Goddamnit guys, you can't let me down just this once? This shows up in my facebook feed and my first thoughts were "There's probably people flipping their shit over this at Retro, how this ruined any hopes of Sonic Boom being good, etc". You couldn't be bothered to disappoint me, could you? Fuck. Are we really this fucking predictable as a fanbase?
To be fair I was just drawing similarities to another SEGA female. Honestly I have no issues with this entire series so far. Even Chesticles Knuckles over there has me shrugging my shoulders. Let's try something new for a change with something that isn't a typical speedspeedspeed game, I'm all for it so far.
I chose not to name names because I know it wasn't everyone, but overall I got what I expected when I came to check. I think this would be a nice fresh take on Sonic, probably like the Storybook series was supposed to be, but done better. I saw a video from Gaijin Goombah about how a lot of video game companies in Japan (and actually, sadly, it seems to extend to their culture. A lot of Japanese people still have the kind of isolationist world-view that the US had before the world wars), don't really have any interest in what appeals to other markets. Is this a factor is how Sonic's been faring other the past decade? Maybe. I dunno. Video in question: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG5gkSl_IjA&list=PLVvq7ZsdyPnpnM_PAmZV2WUvuRFrKbG3U
That isn't all that is happening, though. A new studio's take on Sonic? Fine. Maybe they can do a better job choosing a studio in the future that doesn't mess with characters simply for the sake of putting their own "spin" on it. I mean come on, are they so creatively bankrupt that they couldn't make a brand new character? They had to make a Not-Marine character? No, what Sega is doing is throwing their entire weight behind another studio's creative vision for Sonic. That is a terrible idea, and I don't want it happening ever again. And I don't see why anyone is going "lol look how angry people are thanks for disappointing me fanbase". I mean my god, god forbid anyone have a strong opinion over something right? It didn't take two seconds for some of you to decry Sonic 4, after all.
To be fair, the anger here has lived up to my expectations at this point. I would have rather been disappointed and have it not meet my expectations And it's not a problem to have an opinion on this. I mean, in all honesty I too find the "not-Marine" thing to be valid - the designs are incredibly similar, and the voice, well, could be better at the very least. But that's no excuse for comments like yours earlier ("I really hope this game sucks") or the one from Ross ("This is what you guys get for even having the smallest shred of hope in Sonic as a game series"). That goes beyond just having an opinion and veers straight into the territory of being just damn unpleasable. You don't like that this is basically Marine with a different name. I understand that. Some others don't like that they are basically shoehorning an original character in when Sega already has at least 3 that would fit the role. I understand that. But wanting this venture to fail over this? I can't understand that.
What are you talking about? If this game is successful, we'll see more of it. I don't want to see more of it, so I want the game to be unsuccessful. How is that being "unpleasable"? I want this venture to fail for many more reasons than "not-Marine sucks". This wouldn't be the first time a company, any company, has tried something and it didn't work out. It was unpopular, it didn't make money, it cost too MUCH, etc, and they didn't do it again.
Yes, let's stop studios from being creative. That's something that needs to be done in the game industry. It should become more like this Hollywood thing, that's a good example of what the industry should be like after all. Seriously though, they aren't letting one studio make all design decisions. It's a mix of the animation studio, Big Red Button and SEGA of America doing the designs. With Iizuka giving the approval of if it's OK or not, and apparently he disapproved of design decisions like giving Sonic characters clothes. "Some of you did it as well so that means it's OK for me to do" is a terrible excuse. The thing you don't want to happen though is so broad that it would severely limit what any other studio would want to do with Sonic.
Not my least favorite character design. Oddly enough it looks more like a standard Sonic character than the rest of them, save for maybe Tails. Oh and this This series seems to have mid 2000s Sonic's problem. Pick a consistent render and stick with it. Damn thing's not even out yet in any form.
You're not really addressing what I'm saying but fine. I just have more people to blame. Maybe Sega actually needs to take their hands off of this process, because Sonic characters with clothes could've been pulled off quite well. K. I didn't think it would come across as an excuse, but k. I'm not just talking about the game, man. This is what I meant when I said that you didn't really address what I'm saying. If this was just a game, that'd be fine. I could write it off as a dumb experiment, like DmC, that won't go any farther. But Sega is giving it their all with this. New character designs, new gameplay mechanics, and a new tv show to go along with it. Not to mention, involving another party in this reinvention process. You'd forgive people for thinking that this is what Sega wants Sonic to be now, even if it's just an experiment. This is the idiocy I want them to never pull again. Capcom never made the push with DmC that Sega is doing now with Sonic Boom.
If SEGA did push Sonic Boom as much as Capcpom pushed DmC, it would be a reboot. It's not though, it's SEGA America doing their own take on the franchise while SEGA Japan is still doing the regular Sonic series. And because SEGA America is doing this, they can show more of what they're doing than if they'd just be able to show what SEGA Japan usually lets them show.
I don't think that's how a "reboot" is defined, first of all. Second, Sega is pushing this WAY more than Capcom ever did with DmC. A TV show, man. It even ties into the storyline of the game, doesn't it?
My point is: if this fails SEGA already has a new regular Sonic game lined up for next year. Unlike Capcom which replaced the existing Devil May Cry franchise with DmC. And the TV show isn't just made to advertise the video game, iirc it was actually originally only going to be a TV show. (Though don't quote me on that.) But bigger marketing push or not, I don't think that if Sonic Boom succeeds you should worry about it replacing the regular Sonic franchise. It's SEGA America doing it's own Sonic thing rather than just putting out what Japan does with Sonic, which means that they are able to do more with the marketing than they usually can.
I'm not worried about it replacing the regular franchise, I'm worried about how much money they're blowing on this. If it was only going to be a TV show, why wasn't it left at just that?
I imagine the show itself is going to go over like gangbusters in the US, so there's some financial success there, as well as in merchandising. As for the game itself, it means Sega is one game closer to being allowed to make games on consoles they can expect to actually make a profit on while not having to give up dev time on the core franchise. Brand exposure, 3-game contract completed quickly with two games released in quicker succession than would otherwise be possible, and a possible culling ground for new ideas to be implemented into future core titles, in addition to possible amounts of extra capital from the Sonic Boom brand. I feel like this will be a beneficial long-term investment for Sega.
SEGA doesn't usually blow as much money on their games as other companies. For example, The Sonic Boom Wii U game has a budget of $20 million. And if you hadn't noticed, SEGA is releasing less games than they usually do. The TV show would work as advertising for the Sonic brand in general as well. Same goes for the toys. SEGA started development on Sonic Boom before they made the Nintendo exclusivity deal, so I don't think they intended to have this game be Wii U exclusive. They even used an engine that can easily be used on different platforms (Cryengine 3), so they probably intended the game to be multiplatform.
Ahh.. I expected this shit storm to occur. Seriously guys, calm down. Yes, you may not be fond of the character, but that doesn't mean that you shit on the entire franchise. I understand the concerns that some of you have, but there is still a lot of information about this series that we do not have yet. Slow down, and wait until we have more before you throw the series under the bus. There are some things that were introduced in the current series that I didn't like, but I didn't turn tail then. Watch and wait people. Don't turn this into a S4E1 bitch fest.
I honestly have no problem with them introducing a new(ish) character as long as she sticks around and doesn't become a one-off. Seriously, I don't care how awful she is as long as she's not just thrown on the pile after the first wave of Sonic Boom stuff rolls out.
