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BlazeHedgehog, on 17 May 2015 - 11:11 PM, said:
What you say about Streets of Rage Remake is interesting to me. On TSSZ years ago, we got a pretty significant dump of rumored information from a "trusted source" (I wasn't privy to who).
Every single thing this guy told us ended up coming true. Virtua Fighter 5 on XBLA, all of that stuff. But part of this batch of rumors concerned Streets of Rage Remake -- according to this source, the reason the game was taken down is because Sega was actually pursuing making SORR an official paid product. They apparently wanted to port the game to XBLA, PSN, etc. This was right around the time that Taxman's Sonic CD was announced (if I'm remembering properly), so this information seemed to hold some water.
I was assigned tracking down and interviewing Bomberlink about the veracity of this claim, but he had closed himself off from all outside contact. No email addresses, no way to talk to him on the forums (I registered but was never approved), nothing. The trail went dead.
I'm inclined to believe it was true, given everything else that source told us ended up coming to pass, but obviously we never ran with the story because I could never get any more substantial information.
Every single thing this guy told us ended up coming true. Virtua Fighter 5 on XBLA, all of that stuff. But part of this batch of rumors concerned Streets of Rage Remake -- according to this source, the reason the game was taken down is because Sega was actually pursuing making SORR an official paid product. They apparently wanted to port the game to XBLA, PSN, etc. This was right around the time that Taxman's Sonic CD was announced (if I'm remembering properly), so this information seemed to hold some water.
I was assigned tracking down and interviewing Bomberlink about the veracity of this claim, but he had closed himself off from all outside contact. No email addresses, no way to talk to him on the forums (I registered but was never approved), nothing. The trail went dead.
I'm inclined to believe it was true, given everything else that source told us ended up coming to pass, but obviously we never ran with the story because I could never get any more substantial information.
Hey Blaze. Not sure if you remember but I'm actually Sonic360 from Sfghq circa 2001/02. We used to talk on AIM a lot back in the day. Really good to see you on here. And wow at all of the information you just posted. It's super fascinating and enlightening so thanks for contributing with that info. I believe it all too. It just sounds all too plausible and like you said your source was accurate on everything else. The primary thing that comes to mind is why didn't the deal actually lead to the game getting an official release? I suppose the obvious and simple solution would be that Sega pursued it but the deal failed to reach an amicable conclusion. It would have been amazing to see SORR become an official Sega product. Certainly the quality of the game made it extremely deserving of that status.
SORR is pretty much one-to-one with the original games in terms of its engine and even superior in some ways in terms of content and music. It's truly a labour of love and one of the best fan-produced projects of all-time. I can absolutely see Sega being interested in securing the game especially because at the time they also worked with Taxman and Stealth. The only advice I have would be that it might be worth TSSZ looking in to it again just to find out what happened. It has been that many years now I guess the deal must have fallen through or whatever because of the length of time since SORR's final release. They did however release an update kind of recently that flew under the radar. People were posting about it in the NeoGAF thread. A stealth update with some minor additions that wasn't heavily promoted.
That to me indicates the Sega deal must have failed; for the team to resume their work on the game even in the face of the C&D. Everything you wrote was super interesting though so thanks for the insight. Good to see you again.
winterhell, on 18 May 2015 - 12:03 AM, said:
And like others mentioned, if one Sonic fan game gets the axe it unleashes the highway to hell for all fan Sonic games. They would have already done the paperwork and the C&D letter and put someone on the Send to All button.
This is the pressing danger right here. Sonic fangames have been isolated and immune to legality because of Sega's discretion for well over a decade now. Sega's accepted stance is that they're the "cool" company that appreciates the fanbase that made them famous that much they let Sonic fangames slide. I have no citation for this but I think we can make the confident assumption that Sega chose preserving and strengthening its reputation amongst its closest fans over forcing down the legal hammer like other companies such as Square Enix do (hello failed Chrono Trigger remake). They would have obviously had to have made the decision at some point and I think we can be confident in assuming they chose goodwill amongst their fans as opposed to aggressive legal action. However, and this is a major however, this is predominantly because Sonic fangames are not for profit and to this day no-one has ever tried to profit from a Sonic fangame reducing the severity of the legal issue quite substantially.
There's precedents everywhere but the basic summation is that when money becomes involved game companies tend to forego any gesture of goodwill, turning a blind eye if you will because of the seriousness of the legal consequences. It transitions the legal situation in to something far more severe and I don't think Nitemare is aware of the potential ramifications here. Sonic fangaming is depleted and rare enough as it is, what with only a release every couple of years or so (compared to a new demo every week circa 2001/02 or so; so basically during the development of the Sonic Adventure series and Dreamcast days when Sega was more popular). A C&D precedent with Sonic XG could effectively kill the scene altogether. We have however made efforts to try and steer Nitemare in the right direction so hopefully W.A.C. will return with Nitemare's response and potential evasive action soon.
I'm hoping nothing comes of this and Sonic XG releases when it's complete and we all immensely enjoy the game. Hopefully.
This post has been edited by 360: 18 May 2015 - 12:44 AM
