Sonic Generations Megathread

We have a higher cost of living over here. People's weeks wages in some countries are the equivalent to what we can earn in a day so it would be fair to say that they would have games over there that would fit their wages and would be cheap as chips to us.

 

True, $50 is kind of expensive for a platformer.
Even so, I would happily pay $60 for a quality sonic game with proper multiplayer, which, for generations, seems to be restricted to the sub-par 3DS Edition.
It boggles my mind why multiplayer is restricted to the 3DS version.

Maybe they can't program the physics for 2 characters at once? But wait, in the nextgen version you can race with AI Characters like Tails/Amy, so that means the physics for more than one character IS in the game.
So why no multiplayer SEGA?


I wonder how a Sonic Game would fare if it had a multiplayer versus mode like srb2?

 

It wont because SRB2 (for a fangame) is good, with actually good concepts that SEGA will never integrate because SEGA doesn't want good things to happen to their games :c

In all seriousness though, they could at LEAST have made a race mode for Modern Sonic and 2 player Co-op for Classic, since Modern Sonic is all about speed and 2 player co-op could probably work in a sonic-and-tails-esque way, minus Tails for the sake of "Sonic only" I guess.

 

If I remember correctly, that wasn't possible because of the way the Hedgehog Engine renders the levels. The system's are being pushed to their limits when rendering stuff for only one player, let alone two.

 

I don't think of $50 as allot but I guess I think in a payments-type of way instead of just all-in-one payment on launch day.

Usually if I'm super stoked for a game I pay off my pre-orders in $20 increments. Usually I start off with a $10+the tax of what the game will be priced at (usually $4-6 if I'm paying $60), then $20 here and $20 there, and before you know it its paid off before launch date.

But I guess if you do buy the game upfront on launch day without paying it off, that does seem expensive.

 

Well then I guess that's fair. Hopefully since PCs can be stronger than the 360 and the PS3, multiplayer can possibly be on that. Though, I don't see why net play isn't possible if two different machines render for each player...

 

You're incorrect, and let me tell you why.

1.) The hedgehog engine only renders textures at a high rate. If you're in an area that isn't currently rendered, collision and objects still work, the only thing that you cant see is the textures of the ground. This was proven in Sonic Unleashed by a glitch in Eggmanland where you could "skip" the part of the level where it loads the textures for the next part of the stage. What this means in an online multiplayer environment, is that you could have a race where two players could be on opposite sides of the level, and the game isn't affected in anyway because you can only see where your character is. So even if the textures aren't rendered where the 2nd player is, it doesn't matter because you can't even see them.

2.) Two players is already in the game's coding. This is proven because there is missions where you can race and co-op with various sonic characters in the levels. This means the physics and ability for more than one character on screen is, in fact in the game

3.) The only possible reason is that netcode is exclusive for the 3DS game is that it could be easier to program netcode in the 3DS versus the PS360 game, and they don't have the time/budget to program in multiplayer netcode (syncing enemies?), possibly because they aren't expecting this game to sell that well to warrant the extra work? More than likely, they're rushing to get the game out this year instead of delaying it.

In terms of multiplayer, here's what they 'could' have done.

1.) Online racing mode with stages exclusive to multiplayer that support netcode. This would require some extra budget/effort that would detract from attention to the main game. This wouldn't be a problem if SEGA wasn't rushing to get this game out this year. This could easily be done if they delayed it to 2012, but lo and behold, it's Sonic 06 all over again. The game is suffering as a direct result of SEGA wanting to get the game out early.

2.) Online versus mode, maybe like SRB2 but nooo, SEGA doesn't want fun multiplayer in their games.

3.) Online co-op mode, ala Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Sonic 3 & Knuckles has online co-op, why shouldn't Generations?

 

I want to see some Sonic Colours style 2-Player. :<

 

You know, seriously you guys. Seriously. Price is too high?



BAM.

 

Oh. Derp. I was thinking of local splitscreen multiplayer when I posted that, which for the reasons you mentioned would not be possible. I had completely forgotten that most games today don't even bother with that anymore. :v:

I suppose they're excluding it to make their precious holiday release time frame. Can't say I blame them, honestly. Considering a large portion of their sales come from kids, that's probably necessary for the game to sell exceedingly well from the beginning. At least it's a better choice than having them bite off more than they can chew and ending up with a buggy mess of a game. Would it be possible for them to add something like that as dlc, though? I know a lot of people were clamoring for online play when the Scott Pilgrim dlc was announced.

 

I don't really think you know what you are on about. Every one of these assertions seems off. You are assuming for instance that simply because textures appear in areas that the player collides that this means it is because the collision meshes don't require a lot of resources. But the concepts are totally distinct from one another. First, you can load a collision mesh extremely quickly. They are literally a few bytes for even the most complex among them. Textures in a modern game on the other hand can be as large as dozens of megabytes. As for the effort in processing them, that also is totally distinct because rendering of textures is handled by the GPU while collision detection is traditionally a processor-only activity. What I'm getting at is that you aren't really proving anything with that assertion, it's just a slightly educated, slightly ignorant guess.

As for what any of that has to do with multiplayer, not much. Generally for a multiplayer platform game there isn't any reason why each host machine can't be responsible for processing its own collision data and its own graphics.

Two players being in the game isn't proven simply by having racing and co-op between various chacters in levels. First, you can't easily be certain whether the player character and the guest characters follow the same rules. Physics could be simplified, a subset of the normal collision meshes could be used, there are many variables to consider. Since you can't actually control the characters and put them in the more awkward locations yourself, it's a lot easier for the developers to hide imperfections like that. Tricks like these are actually relatively common.

As for the last thing, there is nothing intrinsically harder about synchronizing a game in 3D compared to a game in 2D, it's just a bunch of positional and state data being relayed with varying types of approximation. The real reason the games have different features is simply because they are being developed by different developers with a different set of priorities.

 

This. Before I started making enough at Starbucks to throw down $50 at a time every month or so for a video game, this was how I rolled. In fact, the first Sonic game I pre-ordered and paid for was Sonic Heroes, and I had to add little bits every couple weeks until the end of 2003. I also had to pay bit by bit for my Wii up until launch (I was lucky #5 out of the 15 people who managed to pre-order Wiis at that Gamestop), running into the store every Saturday or so with a twenty or two to throw down.

Oh, um, I also noticed last night that Gamestop has the game listed for a November 1st release (US), which is a Tuesday, otherwise I'd write it off as a tentative date. Even so, I wouldn't be surprised if it ended up dropping on the 15th or the 22nd. On the other hand, SEGA has brought release dates forward in the past, but really the only occurrence I can think of off the top of my head is Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. Different developers yes, but they share the same publisher, of course.

 

I hate rentals. I hate used copies too. I prefer Amazon when they have sell on games.

You have no idea how many new copies of games I bought for the price of 1 new game. I'm so backed up on shit I don't mind the wait for a new release to go on sale.

 

HEY GUYS REMEMBER THAT GAME WE WERE TALKING ABOUT BEFORE IT TURNED INTO A DISCUSSION ABOUT PRICING


Anyway, I hope we get a reveal trailer for Chemical Plant soon, like maybe around the anniversary of Sonic 1's JP release.

 

Coincidentally, we still ARE talking about that Game. Pricing can be / is a discussional point in terms of a game. It could be budget, it could be more, special editions, or region / global differences.

There doesn't seem to be that much of news coming out apart from the Chemical Plant pics and such, and I guess until a trailer or new info and what not come out, then Pricing is a little talk to go during the quiet period...

 

So, if I understand the multiplayer discussion here right, the Hedgehog Engine was not developed with local multiplayer in mind. That makes me very sad. :'c

 

I really hope you're kidding. Either that or I hope that you're some spy from Gamefly trying to advertise the service.

Because, no. Maybe if that "free trial" of theirs lasted forever. Maybe.

 

Well of course it's not going to last forever, it's a trial

I haven't tried GameFly. What's wrong with the service? Are they a bit crooked or something? I've known people who have used it since like '04 without any trouble. Seems like Netflix, but with video games instead.

 

It costs 16 bucks a month to rent a game. One game. Now, while that may be good and all to some of you, some of us would rather buy a game than rent one, or more specifically, pay a monthly fee.

Which is why guys like me don't rent and wait for sales. 50 bucks for Portal 2? I don't think so. I waited for it to go on sale and now I have it forever for 25 bucks.