[BiafraRepublic]

Phos, on Aug 21 2008, 11:21 PM, said:

Truly though, Sega can probably stay afloat on what they have going on right now. But to really answer this question, we have to look at the whole company, because Sonic Team is now a nebulous brand label stuck on to anything remotely relating to anything Sonic Team did in the past. Even Journey of Dreams, which was made by Sega Studio USA got the Sonic Team label. The real problem comes to light: Outside of AM2, Sega kind of sucks right now. Sammy's pachinko machine sales are floundering right now, so instead of cutting development in those areas, they've been cutting R&D departments within Sega. Damn it, Sammy, Sega is MAKING MONEY, not losing it. This worries me, Sammy seems to be acting independently of reality, making it seem that their problem goes way past stupid, they are insane. Basically, I'm worried that Sammy might cut their good development studios, they have sort of already done this with Amusement Vision. Is AM2 next? Sammy also doesn't seem to realize that the pachinco market is saturated, and there's no point in making very many new machines at this time.

You forgot to mention the NAOMI 1 and 2 arcade boards (both being mucked around with by Sammy to create the Atomiswave arcade board without much real success quality wise)

Phos, on Aug 21 2008, 11:21 PM, said:

The point is, there might not be any good developers left at Sega to make a good Sonic game.

Good point. If you've noticed, Sonic Chronicles (to take an example) isn't even developed by SEGA, but rather Bioware.

Phos, on Aug 21 2008, 11:21 PM, said:

Another problem is that no one, neither at SEGA nor in the fan base, really knows how Sonic should work in 3D. Sonic Adventure got very close, but was let down by some questionable level design.

While I agree the level design needs improvement, that's only one aspect. The camera angles are so sloppy, that one might as well be watching a DVD of someone playing and working a controller drone simultaneously.

[Gabbit]

Unleashed was a pretty awesome game! (Apart from the Wii/Ps2 version, that is...) And I think SEGA's making a comeback. However, "The Black Knight" looks..........cheesy. They've got another story, with some sort of powerful object to help him (Ring in Rings, now Sword in Knight), another classic character gone bad (Genie in Rings, Arthur in Knight), it all seems to me that they're just making a cheap "Secret Rings" remake, simply changing the theme.

So.....3 years from now...Sonic will have fallen or got back up. It all depends on whether SEGA reverts right back to classics or not, really.

[LordOfSquad]

Gabbit, on Dec 22 2008, 03:35 PM, said:

it all seems to me that they're just making a cheap "Secret Rings" remake, simply changing the theme.

That's the point, it is a sequel.

[Dude]

I say they put miyamoto and kojima in charge of a sonic project.

You know it would be amazing.

[LordOfSquad]

Dude, on Dec 22 2008, 03:56 PM, said:

I say they put miyamoto and kojima in charge of a sonic project.

You know it would be amazing.

And Sakurai too. :3

[sonicteamUSA]

Quote

I say they put miyamoto and kojima in charge of a sonic project.

Quote

And Sakurai too. :3

Those guys don't know squat about sonic, his appeal, or his game design. They never worked on a sonic game, and they probably don't even play sonic games. Just because they do good with mario and that metal gear series, you can't automatically assume they'll do good with sonic.
That's like saying " Oh Halo 3 is amazing, the director should be put in charge of the next sonic game. "
Also, Miyamoto, Kojima spend 3-4 years on their games.
sonic is the key franchise for Sega corporation to gain revenue each year, which is why they ask sonic team to get a sonic game out each year.

Nintendo has many franchises, so they don't have to worry about getting a specific franchise's game finished within a tight deadline. Imagine if Zelda was the only successful Nintendo franchise. Can you imagine how many zelda games there would be? Yeah, a lot.
It's all buisness and sales decisions.
Uh oh, the holidays are coming up, we gotta get this game out by then, otherwise we'll lose our estimated profits this year.

I'm not saying I like this decision. But that's the way it is for Sega. There are other sega franchises out there, but Sega likes to rely on sonic....at the cost of quality.

[Dude]

sonicteamUSA, on Dec 22 2008, 06:12 PM, said:

Quote

I say they put miyamoto and kojima in charge of a sonic project.

Quote

And Sakurai too. :3

Those guys don't know squat about sonic, his appeal, or his game design. They never worked on a sonic game, and they probably don't even play sonic games. Just because they do good with mario and that metal gear series, you can't automatically assume they'll do good with sonic.
That's like saying " Oh Halo 3 is amazing, the director should be put in charge of the next sonic game. "
Also, Miyamoto, Kojima spend 3-4 years on their games.
sonic is the key franchise for Sega corporation to gain revenue each year, which is why they ask sonic team to get a sonic game out each year.

Nintendo has many franchises, so they don't have to worry about getting a specific franchise's game finished within a tight deadline. Imagine if Zelda was the only successful Nintendo franchise. Can you imagine how many zelda games there would be? Yeah, a lot.
It's all buisness and sales decisions.
Uh oh, the holidays are coming up, we gotta get this game out by then, otherwise we'll lose our estimated profits this year.

I'm not saying I like this decision. But that's the way it is for Sega. There are other sega franchises out there, but Sega likes to rely on sonic....at the cost of quality.

True, but they are quality concious designers. And they have their strong points that could be easily applied to a sonic game in combination with talent experienced with sonic - for example, miyamoto has limitless experience in platforming games - give him an Adventure based engine and I'm sure he'd be able to wrap himself around the principles fairly easily. And kojima's games have enough humor in them to negate any issues in the storyline that would otherwise detract from the overall experience. Picture perfect high-speed platforming combined with sonic "in the box" They'd be fine working on a sonic project.

[sonicteamUSA]

Well if you say so.
If miyamoto or whoever worked on sonic, experienced sonic team members should work closely with them. Miyamoto also really isn't involved in games these days. He was brilliant in the Golden N64 era. But nowadays he's just general producer or something like that. I guess it's a result of Nintendo getting bigger and new people taking over the reins.
By the way, I've never played a metal gear game, but I heard Kojima retired after the fourth one. He was burnt out or something.

[Phos]

Dude, on Dec 22 2008, 06:56 PM, said:

I say they put miyamoto and kojima in charge of a sonic project.

You know it would be amazing.

Keep Kojima away from Sonic, please. I don't want a Sonic game that consists of a bunch of > 20 minute cut scenes (that throw morals around like gas molecules) interspersed with some gameplay here and there. I'm up to chapter 5 in MGS 4, and I am very tempted to just look for the cut scenes on Google Video or something.

Don't know if Miyamoto would know what to do with Sonic, and he probably wouldn't want to spend that long working on a property he didn't create. Not too sure about this one. From my understanding, he's a lot more involved in the development of the franchise he created than most producers (but yeah, Miyamoto is mostly being used as a brand name nowadays)

As for Sakurai,

"Masahiro Sakurai" said:

The original Sonic the Hedgehog game used only one button. I think its simple yet exhilarating play was its virtue.

...

I think we have a winner!

My choice as for who should direct Sonic games is obvious to me, they should be directed by Hirokazu Yasuhara. Why would you choose anyone else?

[roxahris]

I wonder... have you ever played the original MGS? It's fun, and has very few cutscenes...
I can't say Kojima would make a good Sonic game, though. His games seem to be more story-focused...

[muteKi]

Phos, on Dec 23 2008, 04:21 AM, said:

As for Sakurai,

"Masahiro Sakurai" said:

The original Sonic the Hedgehog game used only one button. I think its simple yet exhilarating play was its virtue.

...

I think we have a winner!

Well, he did get that right, but at the same time compare Brawl to the other two Smash titles; reminds me very much of the difference between SA1 and Sonic Heroes. I don't think a game he made would be very different from the latter. Now I don't think that's an utterly horrible thing, mind you, but given that a lot of others don't agree with me about the quality of that title in the first place it probably wouldn't be a good idea for the series.

[87th]

roxahris, on Dec 23 2008, 03:55 PM, said:

has very few cutscenes...

Lies! It's got relatively few cutscenes for the series, but barely half an hour ever goes by without a cutscene. I'd hardly call that "very few". Several cutscenes are also very long (especially if you include the CODEC chatter).

[Hybrid Project Alpha]

Namco should make a Sonic game

inbefore443

[doc eggfan]

Overlord, on Aug 22 2008, 09:07 AM, said:

muteKi, on Aug 21 2008, 09:34 PM, said:

I think that the guys at Sega have actually wanted to stop doing Sonic since SA2 -- that's probably why there's such a big change in style with there.

Sonic was supposed to be the mascot of the Genesis the way Alex Kidd was for the Master System.

And his replacement was meant to be... who? NiGHTS? Billy Hatcher? =P

SEGATA SAN-FUCKING-SHIRO!

Prof. Asobin > Opa-Opa > Alex Kidd > Sonic > Segata Sanshiro > Ulala

[Insert Coin(s)]

Gabbit, on Dec 22 2008, 02:35 PM, said:

So.....3 years from now...Sonic will have fallen or got back up. It all depends on whether SEGA reverts right back to classics or not, really.

Basically what I was going to say, except my posts would have more ramblings and such. That Sonic game with the sword or whatnot looks somewhat promising, I'm not really looking forward to it though. Considering what Sega has done with Sonic the last 3-4 years, it looks promising, but will probably fail. I've lost faith in Sega. What they really need is just quit for a few years, carefully planning a new Sonic game, rather than rush as fast as they can. They should to wait their fanbase has about their new games, and see what it doesn't like, and make sure not to include those elements in that game. Most likely, that won't happen. In three years, a shitty new game will come out for the 20th anniversery, or we'll get a collection of older games. That's all what I see happening in the next three years. Or, we'll get an awesome or at least a half-descent Sonic game.