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Next Gen Sonic (PS3, Xbox 360) unveiled in March 2006 Gamepro

StephaneC said:
some new ? screens are on jeuXpo (scans so can't post direct screens here)

here
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New to me, and not looking too shabby. Thanks! :)

Sonic got me started in videogaming, and is still, (hard as it may be at times), my most cherished franchise. This is pretty much my last hope for a 3D Sonic done right. I thought Sonic Adventure was the shit when it first came out, but now that the initial shock and awe has long since worn off, I'd say it doesn't compare to the 2D classics, (of which Sonic 2 remains my favorite). The Adventure games just had too many extraneous elements-- "Adventure Fields" and "A-Life" be damned; just give me Sonic, rings and loop-de-loops, and make him really, really fast, and I'll be happy.

Fingers crossed...
 
Bowen_B said:
I WAS a super Sega-bot and I thought that game was shit.
I lost all faith in Sega with that game.
Click to expand...

That's about what did it for me as well. Actually, my enthusiasm for the franchise had started to fade after SA2 and the demise of the Dreamcast, but garbage like Heroes proved to be the (near) final nail in the coffin.

Much as I'd still like to see 3D Sonic done right, and hoping that it can be done, the pessimist in me is just about ready to call it quits. They had better not screw this one up. :/
 
Mrbob said:
Wow, this is the first major exclusive I think Gamepro has received in a long time!

No talk about a Rev version at all. Only planned for PS3 and 360. I wonder how these audiences will partake to a new Sonic game? Well, I would be one of those (360 ftw!), and have to say if this game looks as well in motion as it does in stills, this game could be great.

Perhaps Sonic can finally be done justice in 3D with these new systems? The lush enviroments look amazing, and they will transition from day to night. Sonic's character model is substantially upgraded too. Forget about the 1500 poly models from Xbox, GC, and PS2...360 and PS3 Sonic is made of a million polygons! Damn impressive model. When I see the Sonic model and pics, I finally envision the old 2D sonic style, but in full 3D. Oh and the speed is supposed to pick up too! :D This Sonic will be faster than the previous gen games too! I see Sega is going a bit of a nostalgic route with this game. Seems like they are using the original 2D Sonic for inspiration with this game. Is this due to the Sonic anniversary coming up? I would guess so! It is also using the Havoc engine for physics too. Interesting. It also seems like this game is all about Sonic too. Good!

I don't see a release date, but if Sega wants to hit the 15 year anniversary for Sonic wouldn't this game have to be released by the end of 2006? I can't wait to see this game in motion at E3!
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Faster? I think most complaints from the previous games are that it's TOO fast. SA1, 2 and Heroes were just uni-directional adventures where you watch Sonic blaze through the level.
 
I hope the final Xbox 360 -PS3 Sonic game has improved a huge amount.

the stuff that was shown at TGS was shit compared to the supposedly realtime stuff SEGA showed at E3 2005


E3
sonic.jpg

sonic_360_01_large.jpg

03.jpg

929717_20050908_screen003.jpg

new-sonic-the-hedgehog-shots-20051021105915436.jpg

sonic_360_03_large.jpg

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TGS
sonic_2Dthe_2Dhedgehog_2D20050917024123164.jpg

sonic-the-hedgehog-next-gen-20050917021912873.jpg

sonic-the-hedgehog-next-gen-20050917021913201.jpg
 
the thing is imho sonic still is one of the coolest videogame characters around despite its latest offerring being sucky.
maybe it's just me (a long time sega fan) but i feel like all those jack&daxters, sly coopers,rachet&clanks aint have the coolness or the personality that sonic has...i wanna good sonic game dammit, sonci team MAKE IT HAPPENNNNNN!!!!!!!!
 
<nu>faust said:
the thing is imho sonic still is one of the coolest videogame characters around despite its latest offerring being sucky.
maybe it's just me (a long time sega fan) but i feel like all those jack&daxters, sly coopers,rachet&clanks aint have the coolness or the personality that sonic has...i wanna good sonic game dammit, sonci team MAKE IT HAPPENNNNNN!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

Nostalgia.
 
they've had plenty of chances, its apparent SonicTeam is completely incapable of making a good 3D Sonic game. Its like Iga with Castlevania, only sadder because SonicTeam CREATED the franchise and is named after it. They should leave Sonic to 2D on DS and PSP.
 
It's a shame that Sega keeps throwing knives into their once-great Sonic franchise. I guess it keeps selling so that's why they do it but it's reaching Crash Bandicoot-style idiocy. How many mortal wounds can one series take and keep on truckin'?
 
SuperPac said:
It's a shame that Sega keeps throwing knives into their once-great Sonic franchise. I guess it keeps selling so that's why they do it but it's reaching Crash Bandicoot-style idiocy. How many mortal wounds can one series take and keep on truckin'?
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I just find it strange Sonic Team is investing all this time and money in a new Sonic game for 360 and PS3. These aren't exactly the markets Sonic sells too. Sonic Team should be putting this effort into a Rev version instead. Nintendo platforms is where the Sonic games sell the most.
 
Error2k4 said:
seriously If Sega knew what they are doing they would cancel the Sonic Revo Version and made a sequel of Nights for revolution.
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It wouldn't sell aswell as Sonic, not by a long shot. And besides, there's a personal matter of Yuji Naka concerning Nights, because the real creator of Nights(and its gameplay) left Sega because of differences with him. Nights was envisoned almost entirely by Naoto Oshima which was the same guy who created Blinx(I know, but it's true, you can even see a pattern in his style if you look for it) but Naka took the credit because of marketing purposes. I'm not sure Naka would really be able to capture Nights's essence without Naoto's input, since he didn't create it. I'd rather not have a new Nights than a new one that wasn't true to the atmosphere of the original.
 
Wow, this is the first major exclusive I think Gamepro has received in a long time!
Click to expand...

This is funny for two reasons:

1) It's not exactly Game Informer style exclusive; we all got a very good taster at TGS. After one site revealed exactly that would happen about two weeks beforehand.

2) Haha. Sega wanted much more, ahem, official outlets for this Sonic coverage... Looks like they had to make do with outlets that were actually prepared to put Sonic on their cover instead of a gang member or a pair of tits. This is true by the way.


Oh and while I'm here, some more screens.

08.jpg

13.jpg

22.jpg

24.jpg

02.jpg


More of those off screens, and 60fps of the whole 5 mins TGS gameplay on Kikizo.

I say fuck the haters, I liked all the 3D Sonic games and this will be good too.
 
SonicMegaDrive said:
Meh.

I think I'll give up on the 3D games.(Except for Riders. Looks fun.)

Didn't plan on buying a next gen. system anyway.

More 2D games ala Sonic Rush please.
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Too bad Sonic Riders is a Kirby Air Ride-clone... :lol
 
KyotoMecca said:
This is funny for two reasons:

1) It's not exactly Game Informer style exclusive; we all got a very good taster at TGS. After one site revealed exactly that would happen about two weeks beforehand.

2) Haha. Sega wanted much more, ahem, official outlets for this Sonic coverage... Looks like they had to make do with outlets that were actually prepared to put Sonic on their cover instead of a gang member or a pair of tits. This is true by the way.


Oh and while I'm here, some more screens.

08.jpg

13.jpg

22.jpg

24.jpg

02.jpg


More of those off screens, and 60fps of the whole 5 mins TGS gameplay on Kikizo.

I say fuck the haters, I liked all the 3D Sonic games and this will be good too.
Click to expand...


i have no idea how i missed this tgs demo, does kikizo have the video on the site?

looks pretty kick ass to me btw
 
Its nice to see a Sonic game with graphics no longer based on Dreamcast versions, but the games design still seems clearly identical to SA1/SA2.

I especially like some of the article quotes like "going for more realistic physics!". why?! Its a blue hedgehog that can run faster than sound (something he has never done in a 3d game), in the 2d games essentially defy gravity by running up walls and smash robots apart by spinning into them. Where into that does realistic physics play a part other than "hey throw in that physics stuff people like!".

Also I know magazines have to lovesplorge about features the pr wants them to, but "wow amazing real time day night cycle!" isn't something new is it. Sega made this in Shenmue but just havent used it since.

The day/night cycle would be fantastic if the whole game is connected to an overworld you are running across. But I bet its all cut up into levels as usual, as if Games Design hasn't moved on since 1995.
 
This gives me yet another solid reason to pick up a PS3 as soon as possible. This and RE5. And probably VF5. Goddamn. I know people bitch about sequels, but give me more.
 
Luckett_X said:
Its nice to see a Sonic game with graphics no longer based on Dreamcast versions, but the games design still seems clearly identical to SA1/SA2.
Click to expand...

They have not shown anyhing of the game design yet. The TGS demo was just to show the engine etc. Perhaps the magazine coverage will talk about the levels etc.
 
evilromero said:
This gives me yet another solid reason to pick up a PS3 as soon as possible. This and RE5. And probably VF5. Goddamn. I know people bitch about sequels, but give me more.
Click to expand...


QFT! It's not like sequels are always bad...
 
thanks for the post kyotomecca. game looks pretty good, it snice to finally see a new engine powering sonic. hopefully the physics stuff will make it in and be a requisite to the gameplay somehow. actually, hopefully the game isnt a glitchy mess like all the other 3d sonic games have been.
 
It can get worse my guess for 2006 Sonic releases are:

Sonic Riders
Sonic The Hedgehog (X360, PS3)
Sonic Revolution
Knuckles the Echidna (GC, PS2, Xbox) Using the heroes engine

Announced at E3 but not released until 2007:

Sonic Rush 2
Sonic Riders 2
 
DaCocoBrova said:
Hedgehogs need not talk.
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urkelrly0st.jpg


I hope this game turns out well... SEGA is so unpredictable though. Art-wise this series really needs to get it's direction sorted out. 2D sonics look great, and the dreamcast games were very nice too (at the time). But lately with shadow, and now this... it's getting weird and kind of ugly. It's starting to look too real, or something. It's trapped in that "am I a cartoon or cg movie, or what?" realm...
 
Kaijima said:
Outside of the Phantasy Star staff, Sonic Team appears to have have a perpetually poor grasp of 3D game design. At the very least, they appear unable to look at what others have done to improve the genre (ala Rare and Perfect Dark Zero).
Click to expand...
The Samba/Billy Hatchter team seems pretty good... they'd be my first choice for a NiGHTS remake/sequel. The real problem is Sonic Team USA... who's making Sonic 360/PS3 btw.
 
choplifter said:
I hope the final Xbox 360 -PS3 Sonic game has improved a huge amount.

the stuff that was shown at TGS was shit compared to the supposedly realtime stuff SEGA showed at E3 2005
Click to expand...
Then your eyes suck as you seem not to be able to see how cherrypicked those E3 PR images are. Check the ground texture in the E3 pic. Have you seen Sonic at the E3 SEGA theater for that matter?
 
I change my mind, I change my mind! :lol

after seeing that 140 MB video, I'm much more impressed now. it had alot more footage than the IGN / GameSpot videos I saw around TGS. looks good for first-generation next-gen. i would not say mindblowing, but pretty good. i'm actually looking forward to it now.
 
Mrbob said:
360 and PS3 Sonic is made of a million polygons!
Click to expand...
Seems quite useless when you only have an area of around ten thousand pixels in use by the character model on average or something along those lines.

Are you sure they didn't mean the normal map model was that detailed? They like to mix those numbers up. :)
 
D-X said:
It can get worse my guess for 2006 Sonic releases are:

Sonic Riders
Sonic The Hedgehog (X360, PS3)
Sonic Revolution
Knuckles the Echidna (GC, PS2, Xbox) Using the heroes engine

Announced at E3 but not released until 2007:

Sonic Rush 2
Sonic Riders 2
Click to expand...

When was a Knuckles game announced?

This is the first I've heard of this.
 
I've seen the videos from TGS and I'm quite unimpressed.

Next Gen Sonic. Well, next gen graphics (somewhat), but I'm not seeing the next gen gameplay here, at least not in these vids. Sorry, but some physics controlled background elements aren't going to cut it and all the problems from the 3D Sonic games are still there, including the "cutscene gameplay".

Sonic the hedgehog is one of my all time favorite platformers. It had a charismatic main character, great music, fantastic level design (Green Hill is just awesome, as is Star Light). It was a tight experience that started with a fast first zone then moved to slower but more complex levels. Final bosses were complete pussies but that was the case with pretty much any platformer. Sonic 2 was also great but it also started this trend of including sections in which you didn't have any control over your character at all. You just stared at the screen as Sonic went up and down, left and right, then bounced around until he entered one of those stupid pipes and the screen started to pan all over the place in a robotic fashion. All that time you were just holding forward or down and asking yourself if it really mattered one bit.

When Sonic Adventure hit it just made it worse. "Just push up". That was the basic gameplay. Quite frankly, I see the same in these vids and if a visual upgrade is all they have for next gen, well, then they have nothing to offer me. I'll still play it, and I'll do it with an open mind. Kudos to them if they pull it off, but I'm not seeing it yet.


And I forgot. There's another problem with the franchise. Trying too hard to make the character cool usually has the opposite effect. It's just lame.



Kobold said:
Seems quite useless when you only have an area of around ten thousand pixels in use by the character model on average or something along those lines.

Are you sure they didn't mean the normal map model was that detailed? They like to mix those numbers up. :)
Click to expand...
We better get used to it because it's going to happen a lot this gen. They just know how much people like the big numbers. I'm guessing that they're doing the same for FN3 models. As good looking as they are, you still can see some obvious angles.

It's going to be really annoying for those devs going for high poly counts instead of normal maps everywhere. "100,000 polys. Meh, Random EA Title 2007 has 10 MILLION POLYS CHARACTERS! YOU GUYZ SUX!". You know it's going to happen. Hell, it's already happening.
 
Tamashii Sensei said:
TOO BAD THE 3D SONICS SINCE HAVEN'T BEEN AS GOOD.
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Sure they have. Sonic Adventure isn't actually very good at all and is loaded with problems. SA2 and Heroes both play better overall (can't say the same for Shadow...).

SA certainly seemed special back then, however, so I could understand any nostalgia. If you really go back and take another look, though, you'll see that it really doesn't hold up at all.
 
dark10x said:
Sure they have. Sonic Adventure isn't actually very good at all and is loaded with problems. SA2 and Heroes both play better overall (can't say the same for Shadow...).

SA certainly seemed special back then, however, so I could understand any nostalgia. If you really go back and take another look, though, you'll see that it really doesn't hold up at all.
Click to expand...


Too bad, I did and even the GCN director's cut (feck I have all my Dreamcast stuff in the U.S. still :() I bought is a charm to play (minus the frame-rate hiccups) :P.
 
Aizu_Itsuko said:
I've seen the videos from TGS and I'm quite unimpressed. Next Gen Sonic. Well, next gen graphics (somewhat), but I'm not seeing the next gen gameplay here
Click to expand...

Jeez.

KyotoMecca said:
They have not shown anyhing of the game design yet. The TGS demo was just to show the engine etc. Perhaps the magazine coverage will talk about the levels etc.
Click to expand...
 
KyotoMecca said:
They have not shown anyhing of the game design yet. The TGS demo was just to show the engine etc. Perhaps the magazine coverage will talk about the levels etc.
Click to expand...

Maybe you can turn a blind eye and power on fanboy mode, but what was shown at TGS was a level in the making not just "random shit". It showed all the same hallmarks of SA gameplay with suspended 'roads' in the air above oblivion and the same hold up to progress through an obvious route with obstacles. What people are saying here is that they want TRUE 3d games design implemented with large areas to run across instead of these pre-determined race tracks.

Lets not forget that the full game is due out this year, so they as usual havent got much time on it at all. I know its good to dream and wish this would be an amazing 'return to form', but the pieces just arent there. No more good art direction, very little time, cold heartless grabs for cash.
 
Luckett_X said:
I know its good to dream and wish this would be an amazing 'return to form', but the pieces just arent there. No more good art direction, very little time, cold heartless grabs for cash.
Click to expand...
sad but true....
 
KyotoMecca said:
Jeez.
Click to expand...

Aizu_Itsuko said:
Kudos to them if they pull it off, but I'm not seeing it yet.
Click to expand...


As I said, I don't know how the actual game will be. What I said is that I'm unimpressed with what they showed at TGS gameplay wise. Do you think that deserves a jeez?
 
SonicMegaDrive said:
When was a Knuckles game announced?

This is the first I've heard of this.
Click to expand...

No it's pure speculation but given the short amount of time between the previous survey and the Shadow game being announced it's not too far fetched, especially given that it's Sonic's 15th anniversary. The reason for me guessing its on current gen consoles and using the heroes engine is simple, next gen games take longer to develop, consider it a stop gap game, albeit unfortunate for Knuckles fans.
 
I'm looking forward too it. The TGS demo was promising and showed off some basic engine functionality that shows they aren't dicking around with some retarded gimmick. Let's just hope the game is focused on ONLY Sonic.
 
choplifter said:
I hope the final Xbox 360 -PS3 Sonic game has improved a huge amount.

the stuff that was shown at TGS was shit compared to the supposedly realtime stuff SEGA showed at E3 2005


E3
sonic.jpg

sonic_360_01_large.jpg

03.jpg

929717_20050908_screen003.jpg

new-sonic-the-hedgehog-shots-20051021105915436.jpg

sonic_360_03_large.jpg

.
.
.
.
.

TGS
sonic_2Dthe_2Dhedgehog_2D20050917024123164.jpg

sonic-the-hedgehog-next-gen-20050917021912873.jpg

sonic-the-hedgehog-next-gen-20050917021913201.jpg
Click to expand...


It was realtime, at one point the demo stopped and we could see the woman presenting it shoot rings with a controller connected to the dev kit.
Thing is off course, the E3 presentation consisteed of a rolling demo mostly while the TGS presentation was actually a really early playable level.
And seeing that in person it was more impresive then the rolling E3 footage.
 
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