So Ryan Drummond was supposed to return

I'm really peeved about this to be honest. SEGA dicked around Ryan here by trying to make him work under crazy conditions. If he quit his union, he would lose a majority of his income. To be honest, even though Roger is my overall favourite Sonic voice and I do really like him, I thought Ryan had the best tone. Sounded the most like Sonic, if you will. His problem is that he sounded like he seemed he was always yelling, which you might be able to credit to bad voice direction. Apparently, SEGA hired Japanese voice directors that barely knew English in the Drummond era, and, well......that doesn't exactly lead to good English voice direction. My point is, who know how good he could have been if he had good direction? Considering that SEGA Of America was apparently blown away by his audition, and were super pumped to have him back. What makes me a bit more peeved as well is that he seemed, from interviews at least, that he genuinely loved the role and would come back in a heartbeat.

So yeah, dick moves SEGA.

 

Dick moves, or... frugal moves? Sega is not in a very great financial situation right now. It was kind of silly they didn't inform him of anything until after the ink had dried but they ended up finding somebody who would work in their price range.

 

Sega is a freakin' corporation man! What, they don't have a million dollars from their usual profit?

Ryan Drummond said Sega was a popular Company, and it had billions of dollars. Can't they spare it for one less shitty actor and some decent direction?

But best thing they did was release SADX, SA2 (Coming December or January) and Sonic Generations, which are all hackable.

I'm not a fan of Roger as he makes Sonic sound abit too mature for my tastes. But I have to be greatful. He has been in four Sonic games (Including the racing game... Why a sequal so soon?) so I'd bet he's good.

Plus, it seems that Sega wants to spend as little money as possible and be cautious. Well, we can't have everything good. But I would definitely buy a cartoon game with Ryan in it.

 

...seriously, this is not rocket science. Sega in this case isn't being cheap for the sake of cheap. They're being cheap because they're fucking poor. Can't spend money when there's little money there.

 

Yeah, it's sad. I want to see Sega become an intensely focused XBLA/PSN/Steam developer, and just try to stay profitable. I will buy every cool game they released. The world can't lose Sega. It isn't right.

 

Right now, that's the plan as far as the North American branch is concerned. The whole of SoA is being restructured so they're a digital publisher. SoJ will handle larger physical releases, though as has been reported in the past, they're looking to focus on only their best performing brands. Expect to see more Sonic, but remain skeptical if they'll keep an upward trend. The Skylanders action figure model is working well for Ubisoft, and Sega was toying with the idea.

Not confirming that "Sonic Four Swords" rumor on Wii U, but the idea for a similar thing as Skylanders was being tossed around in Japan.

Sources. :specialed:

 

I don't think I can be hurt like that again

 

Except, it is.

Because they squandered so much more effort on shitty Sonic titles than actually building up new franchises and neglected several of their other franchises and left them to die in the 90s. That they're bankrupt after all these years is more than deserved. That they gave up on Platinum (you know, since they advertised the hell out of their titles) should indefinitely be their final blow.

I just hope that in order to truly make up for their failings that they've picked up all of the pitches to bring back their 90's franchises. Like the Ecco revival. Hell, even a Billy Hatcher sequel would be far more welcome at the moment than the next coming of Sonic CD.

 

But....as far as I understand, didn't SEGA hire him, say he got the job....and then require him to quit his union afterwards? I can understand them (SEGA) being careful with their money, but couldn't they have just told him from the beginning?

 

Exactly. There'd be no problem here had they warned Ryan beforehand that they weren't able to hire union actors. Telling the guy (who is still very passionate about someday being Sonic again) that he had the job and sitting on that for a while before telling him otherwise was just a douche move no matter what way you look at it.

 

My impression is that the "hiring" part was the only thing that hadn't happened yet. They were likely trying to butter him up, so that he might actually consider their proposition.

I'd always figured that little "slip up" in the Generations ad had been the doing of an inner-office fanboy. :v:

 

I like the newer voice acting direction better but I kinda miss Drummond in some way, if only for nostalgia.

He still beat Griffith.

 

I miss you Ryan. I cry I cry ;-;. Come back to us!

Seriously though that's pretty cool.

 

Smash Bros. Brawl Phone-a-thon for Drummond. Never forget.

 

I'm somewhat surprised that more people don't seem to favor (or even notice) the laid-back Boston/Brooklyn sounding voice that Oshima seemed to want him to have. I think the way he sounds in Sonic CD and OVA (both Japanese and English) is pretty much perfect for the character.

Jaleel White always sounded annoying and squeaky (more due to the stylized performance and shit lines, but not how I think Sonic should sound at all), Drummond and Griffith sounded awfully generic and more late 90s/early 00s "douchebag American skater". The voice in Boom is kind of strange, very old sounding, but slightly less douchey than the prior two guys. I think Jaleel would be a pretty good voice if stylized entirely differently than the direction he was given for SatAM and AoStH.

Why is Martin Burke so underappreciated here?

 

I never liked Burke. While it kinda worked in the ova, I can't see it working for modern sonic. Maybe it was the direction he went with it, but I felt like it sounded like a Japanese guy speaking English with an accent (same with all of them kinda, also tails sounded like he had a cold), and I didn't care for it in the end.

Sonics newest voice is definitely a huge departure from what we've seen, but I think it works for him. It sounds kind of like a late teenager and it fits his cocky yet dorky attitude. Drummond was too surfer dude, and Griffith was just dorky.

 

Cute. I would've preferred he'd interviewed him normally, though.