The Sonic 3, 20th Anniversary & Knuckles Thread

Step one: Agree on a letter to be translated, here.

Step two: update the site with the letter and instructions of where to mail it after printed and signed. Get the hashtag rolling.

Seems the best course of action right now to me.

 

So I've run some analytic tool on the hashtag and I'd say for one day we've done pretty good. 307 posts, 181 individual users. We've had one or two influential people within the community mention the hashtag, which is good. The problem: We're still not on focus. This is partly my fault for having started the tag without a centralized message behind it, and partly because everyone's not a robot who can print the message without an individual thought process behind it. Thus is the nature of the beast of a free society. :v:/> Its great to get the tag out there, but if you're not directing it and your followers towards @SEGA_OFFICIAL, its like walking up to the house, but not knocking. Some of the most influential tweets have done just this. In fact, the most influential so far got ~60 retweets, but because it only mentioned the hastag, none of them were directed at @SEGA_OFFICIAL.

This is why I don't think its premature for us to be considering a separate site. In doing so we can centralize the message and get it out of hiding in of these forums. Its also a great place to host a tweet template where we can guide the user in structuring the tweet so that it stays on message and contains both the hashtag and @SEGA_OFFICIAL. If we leave the hashtag to its own devices and wait to see what happens we'll either lose control of it or it will wear itself out because people aren't seeing something behind it. (Or worst of all they see its Sonic Retro behind it and Gene's concerns of it being labeled a single community's movement will be reality...)

Good news is we are international and I can confirm we have support from the Mexican Sonic community, Sonic Paradise. We should reach out to them and see if we can't get sponsorship for the movement or something set up for the 3rd party site. Hopefully we can nurture further international support.

EDIT: btw I scooped up bringbacksonic3.com just in case we want to use that.

 

So, if focus is the issue, then we should probabily draft a single document. Keep it short and sweet, stating our goal, and how we plan to accomplish it. Then we just make sure everything we do is in service of that document. That gives us a core to our campaign. Like a constitution, if you will.

That document can then be put onto a website for all to see, and it can be the inspiration for tweets, letters, and what ever else we do to raise noise.

 

This site has the wrong hashtag. We don't necessarily want a mobile version, we want the game at all.

 

We might as well just hash it out here until we all agree on a solid group of tenants. From my understanding, here's what we're asking for. Anyone who wants to refine it, alter it as needed.

•We want a Taxman/Stealth version of Sonic 3 & Knuckles Released
•If it means altering the soundtrack in order to make it happen, so be it.
•We will accept whatever platform Sega sees fit to release it on (And yes we will. If you're using the hashtag to try and demand it getting a release on Steam or the like, you're being too demanding for what we're trying to accomplish, and hurting our progress. So stop.)
•Our focus is purely on Sega of Japan, so all inquiries and instances of the hashtag should be aimed at @SEGA_OFFICIAL, not @SEGA, as Sega of America and the other branches don't have the ability to help us.

Anybody else have any ideas?

 

About the site: It's not finished yet and hasn't really launched. It's just like a '"Concept Preview". That's why things like the hash tag are wrong and the information is incomplete.
Like The KKM, Lambda and TheKazeblade perfectly noted, we are still are the letter drafting stage.

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Regarding the letter: I thought I'd wait until tomorrow before sending it to my translator guy, just to give everyone time to voice an opinion. I'll first show him all the different drafts and then he'll comment on what is feasible to translate properly. We can then redraft accordingly before translating.

He's actually lived in Japan and worked for a gaming-type corporation, so he has a good idea of how the letter needs to be structured, as Japanese management types have a different outlook then we do. (As part of his job, he had to submit proposals to management types).

Granted, this process probably a little long winded, but it's probably better to spend the time to get the letter absolutely right, as we don't want something to get lost in the translation.
He won't be able to translate until Nov 8 anyway (although he might push it back to around Nov 15 depending on his work load), so it's not like we are wasting any time.

 

This is all I meant by my earlier post. I wasn't saying to specify more platforms... I just don't want to specify platforms at all because that's not the point.

 

I think the focus has to be mobile, as we are not sending our letters to Sega Japan, but Sega Networks.

Sega Networks is a separate company that only deals in mobile. If we don't focus on mobile, it will lose relevance for them, as they'll probably see it as the domain of regular Sega, which doesn't seem interested in doing any Sonic remakes. (They don't even seem to want to port over the Sonic 1/2 remakes, or update the Sonic CD one).

For Sega Networks, the main selling point will be that fans can play Sonic 3 on mobile.

I'm not sure what the relationship between Sega Japan and Sega Networks is, but Sega Networks seems to have some leeway when it comes to mobile remakes. For example, they released a remastered mobile version of Streets of Rage (featuring new sprites and characters). When it came to the console version, regular Sega just stuck with the old emulated version.

The same happened with 3DS classics. The Sonic 1 version was an essentially a hacked emulated version. They didn't use Taxman/Stealth's code even though it would have probably been easier to port over. (As apparently the 3DS hardware isn't especially suited to Mega Drive emulation).

There's also language barriers. Although Japanese has it's own word for mobile, the English word is used enough for people to understand. "BringBack" however might not be as easily understood. Ofcourse, it only takes a second to repoint a domain, so "BringBackSonic3.com" is still worth using, but I think mobile has to be the focus.
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I'll send over the all letters in this thread to my Japanese guy. We'll go through his thoughts and then I'll present a final draft before translating.

 

No. Don't make any moves. You're rushing this along a bit much.

I've decided against posting up my letter tonight. Actually, I'm glad the initial bump has petered out already since I feel this isn't very well organized. These letters may not do much of anything.

So I've been talking with Tanks some earlier. If we go through with a centralized site idea, I like the plan of following suit from Starmen.net. What it does is spell out is the mission statement of what we hope to accomplish and an open letter to send to SEGA. Instead of petitions, we set up a twitter template to tweet a relevant message to @sega_official with the appropriate hashtag.

This will let us centralize information and serve as a hub with everything people need to know and how they can help. From there, we can focus more on spreading attention again, and I think it'd be really cool if other languages can join alongside us.

Speaking of, let me also take this time to address the Spanish fans too, since I saw Sonic Paradise backed us.

Amigos, gracias por sostenernos con este movimiento. Te lo agradezco mucho. Creo que tu soporte va a ser muy crítico en el futuro. Por ahora, necesitamos tiempo para organizar mejor nuestro curso de acción por favor. El plan es decir le a @SEGA_official que queremos "Sonic 3 Remastered", y que no importa en que plataforma digital sale y que estamos bien si tienen que hacer modificaciones a la musica para evitar problemas legales. Es posible que tengamos a renunciar algunas cosas para que esto suceda. Pero nuestro objetivo por ahora debe ser convencer SoJ que aprueban el proyecto. Todo lo demás no es importante por ahora.

Una vez más, gracias por su apoyo. Ustedes son increíbles! />

 

I think we should be focusing on it being a mobile release. Forget the other platforms - what makes you think that campaigning for them to release a Sonic 3 Remaster on consoles will work when they still haven't done it for 1 or 2? Let's just focus on mobile and once the whole trilogy is out of the way, then we can focus on campaigning for a console release there.

I get the feeling that getting this train moving onto the XBLA/PSN track is going to derail our efforts for the mobile port in the first place.

inb4 the stupid fucking phone vs consoles argument happens again

 

No, no. You don't understand.

We're trying to make this as broad as possible. As it stands, given SEGA's recent financial reports (basically, it was awful and they want to focus more on mobile releases and digital, with less emphasis on physical unless it's a major title), it's already very likely that mobile will be considered as the platform. Broad means less demanding. Let them dictate the platform (which is already very likely mobile phone, especially given the other three games.)

It's not even about console vs. mobile. If anyone even harbors that thought, stop.

 

So we don't mention the platform, sure, but by addressing SEGA Networks aren't we already implying which it is? Or do we address all of SEGA Japan, instead?

 

Oh, I do understand, though I'm pretty much echoing what has been said before and that's that people should not be asking specifically for a console release. Given the past 'discussions' we've had here, it's not entirely unlikely that will happen. Probably should have clarified that. :v:

 

RE: Twitter
I think a twitter campaign is an excellent idea. But @sega_official is for Sega Japan, which is a separate from Sega Networks.

Sega Networks is a Japanese company that doesn't use twitter, so letter writing is the way to go.

Twitter is still useful because it might encourage Sega Japan to put pressure on Sega Networks. But I think its best to go direct.

The only reason I was going to submit today, is because I asked on two occasions if anyone had any more suggestions and no one posted any (other than Lambda), so I thought it would be okay to submit.
I've actual sent the letter to the translator guy (as I didn't see your message in time), but it's just to get opinions on the content (and not a translation).

Like I said earlier, the guy I'm working with has lived in Japan and worked in role where has had to submit proposals to game companies. So it gives a take on Japanese business mindset that will invaluable.

Again, like I said earlier, it's Sega Networks we have to target. They are only interested in Mobile.

Sega have said several times they are going to focus on mobile in the past (Remember that lumberjack game?), so I think if they were interested in making this game they would have done it by now.
Also, at the moment, it's Sega Networks that control the mobile side (At least when it comes to these remakes). Sega has no direct connection to it. Keeping it broad will most likely cause Sega Networks to pass on it (because, at the moment at least, they only care about mobile).

 

I disagree. We've made it clear we want a Taxman iteration of the game through the Twitter campaign, and because of this, Sega of Japan will know what we're talking about. The business relationship between Taxman and Sega Networks has already existed, so if this works, they will re-open that channel. For the time-being though, I agree with Gene; we need to slow the roll a bit until we have everything worked out and an established plan of action.

That's not to say it's bad you sent the letter for an opinion to your translator friend. I think since no one responded, you had no reason not to do so. I'd still like to hear what they have to say about the letters and which ones are doable. But for now, I do think it's in our best interest to stick to the Twitter campaign for the time-being until we map out future steps.

@GeneHF, I do believe that the letters are a good idea. They're direct, show more thought, and can be directed specifically at Sega Networks. Big Smile's website template can easily be re-tooled with all of the content people have been mentioning. I'm not saying we do it right away. But I really recommend not throwing out the ideas based on where they're currently at now. Give Smile some time to re-work it; then it can be up for review by the community here until it's been 100% approved, at which point it can be launched.

 

Yup, SEGA of Japan is the highest in the hierarchy of SEGA companies. While SEGA Networks would handle stuff regarding the remaster on mobile, they'd still have to go to SEGA of Japan to get it started anyway.

And again: there's no need to mention platforms. If we only mention that we want it on mobile and succeed, chances are that we'll only get it on mobile. If we don't mention platforms at all and succeed, chances are still that it'd be on mobile but at least there'd also be a bigger chance of it coming to other platforms as well. :v:

 

I'd doubt SoJ would care about looking foolish over a fan campaign. And if really bothered them, they could just send out a generic "We love customer feedback and consider all suggestions".

Sega Networks produced the other Sonic mobile remakes, so in this case they would be the authority (Taxman has actually mentioned them as the place to contact in the past).

Of course, the Twitter campaign would have to be aimed at SoJ (and possibly SoA & SoE), so for that we can't contact Sega Networks anyway (as they don't have twitter).

It's only an issue for the letter writing campaign. And like TheKazeblade pointed out, it's a bit too early to be thinking about the specifics of that just yet. We can make a decision when we see how the Twitter campaign goes (and of course, there's no reason why we can't send letters to both SoJ and Sega Networks, plus SoA and SoE aswell. I doubt sending it to multiple places would do any harm).

Also, I'm happy to go with a broad platform approach, I was only pointing out some potential issues with it.