2014 is The Year Of Sonic "& Sports tape" *see post 1*

[Tani Coyote]

Wishful thinking but it makes me wish they'd release a standardised Sonic Bible for this. Not just an encyclopedia, but something that really lays down the laws and events of this universe and has lots of Word of God information written into it. The series needs a Bible to give to writers, after all.

[-Mark-]

>Implying they give the slightest shit about the quality of the writing/ characterisation any more. :/

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[spinny]

>Implying they give the slightest shit about the quality of the writing/ characterisation any more. :/

 

sadly this is the point making me think i'm being too optimistic about the whole thing

[Tani Coyote]

>Implying they give the slightest shit about the quality of the writing/ characterisation any more. :/

Hence the "wishful thinking" part.

It'd be nice to have a solid, watertight continuity if they really plan on going ahead with a "Renaissance."

It's practically criminal that they change writers with such frequency and don't have reference material to give them. I doubt Pontac was the first one to be told to wing it.

[spinny]

I doubt Pontac was the first one to be told to wing it.

 

I wouldn't be all that surprised if Unleashed's writers had the same done (considering there's no references whatsoever to past games, no Station Square, no nothing) but I still feel like whoever wrote Unleashed did less damage to the characters and story than Pontac. With Pontac, to me he passes off as someone who writes Saturday morning cartoon level plots, has an obsession with plots taking place anywhere but Earth and thinks Orbot and Cubot have to be around every single game for it to be good.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

I'm Honestly not worried and I doubt Sonic Team will go Second Party.

[Salamander]

To be fair, quite a lot of the modern-era Sonic games have plots that are largely separate from anything that's gone before.  With the exception of recurring characters, which are presumably mandated on a different level to the writing, the plots have a tendency to go off completely in their own direction without a great deal of reference to their predecessors.

[Tani Coyote]

Which is what worries me. Each game may as well be its own universe with how little they've tied together since 2007.

It was at least nice to see references to past games in Generations but... that's fairly standard for a game about past games.

[SuperLink]

I've been thinking about the whole silhouettes thing and it's true that there's a basic law of cartoon-making that says you need to be able to tell who it is from the silhouette alone, silhouettes are important.

 

And what I've been thinking is that SEGA could possibly have gone back to the very basics of character design for this one, they could have even hired some out-house character designers to make the characters even more recognisable. The characters were originally definitely recognisable by their head shapes, but there are many Sonic characters now and their bodies are ultimately still similar.

 

I'm not sticking up for the silhouette designs themselves.. I still can't see Knuckles turning out well, but I can see why they did it. With any luck this means that each character is going to be distinctive and more fleshed out, more thought put into them from their very fundamentals.

 

Of course, it could also just be SEGA literally copying Skylanders. Weird redesign followed by NFC-based games. I can see that happening unfortunately.

 

The funny thing about Skylanders is, while Spyro fans don't like the Spyro redesign or a lot of other things about it, the series is absolutely well received and really widely loved. It's insanely successful, back in the day it would have been nuts to imagine Spyro being in such a successful series. It could well be that SEGA noticed how well it worked for Spyro and want to try the same thing with Sonic. Sonic Team are pretty good at copying lately, but that's all they do, copy, they can't pull off the things they copy. So yeah, people are right to be worried, regardless of whether or not the silhouettes are inherently good or bad, there are tons of other implications here.

 

Also, since embargo ends today we could be hearing something today even if it's just the media talking about the event itself rather than any info from it, if we don't it might mean that poster was fake all along.

 

EDIT: Ok according to Shadz' status it's real. BATTLE STATIONS.

[Detective Shadzter]

If anyone wants confirmation that the invite is real, Gematsu has confirmed it, so I'm guessing they received one. They've even gone out of their way to cover up the address and pr e-mail address.

Sega to make new Sonic announcements today

"2014 will mark a renaissance for Sonic the Hedgehog."

February 6, 2014 / 01:02 AM EST / Sal Romano (@salromano)

2014 will “mark a renaissance for Sonic the Hedgehog,” according to a Sega invite for a New York City press event later today.

“Please join us to be the first to hear Sega’s exclusive announcements and plans for the Sonic brand,” the invite reads.

 

The invite features previously released teaser artwork for the new Sonic Boom cartoon series. We spotted the invite on NeoGAF, but can confirm its validity.

The event will begin at noon. A presentation will run from 12:30 to 1:20 p.m. Considering the flyer mentions a February 6 embargo, it should be safe to expect information will be available without delay for the public.

http://gematsu.com/2014/02/sega-make-new-sonic-announcements-today

[FReaK]

well...what if the news isn't spread at all, today?

what if there's an embargo? all the hype for nothing...

 

just stay calm guys. in about 6 hours time we will hopefully know more.

[Tani Coyote]

It would seem odd for the event to be fake if there are multiple sources and a lot of the Sonic folks are in New York City, though. If this was a hoax it'd have to be pretty darn elaborate and well-orchestrated.

[Salamander]

Gematsu can "confirm its validity," huh?  That does sound like they got one of the invites, but are reporting on the Machinima leak rather than their own inside knowledge in order to... well, be polite.  But since they do know something, hopefully their "speculation" that information will be available immediately after the presentation is in fact correct.

[Celestia]

has an obsession with plots taking place anywhere but Earth

Isn't it Sonic Team/SEGA/etc. who gives them a scenario (and therefore setting) to work with? Even Lost World where the current writers had a bit more freedom probably had stuff that they had to work with. Unless it's been established otherwise, it's kind of like blaming someone who's only been given green and blue paint for...only painting stuff that's green and blue.

To me, it seems any """"damage"""" done to Sonic stories these days is mostly due to SEGA themselves wanting the series to take a different direction. I don't mind most of that direction personally, aside from one rather major thing: the assumed lack of communication between Sonic Team and the writers. I think working on that would go a long way in making the stories feel more engaging in a way only a game's story could be...if that makes any sense. Seriously, this is the main thing that I really, really wish they'd take inspiration from the Adventure era for.

 

I'm interested in seeing what the next game does story-wise now that I think about it, especially with this whole ~Year of Sonic~ thing. Assuming the next game is this year, at least. I'd rather it wasn't unless it's the Unleashed team, which means they've likely been working on it since Generations or something. ​And then there's the 25th anniversary...

 

Which is what worries me. Each game may as well be its own universe with how little they've tied together since 2007.

Ironically, Heroes was pretty much the only 3D Sonic that tied into past games a lot, at least from what I can remember. Froggy's past with Chaos was essential to Metal Sonic obtaining Chaos' powers, the beginning of the whole Shadow returns thing, at least one nod to the classic games by Knuckles, a few other references to the Adventure games...

 

Meanwhile SA2 itself didn't really tie into the first besides Tails getting the Emerald for saving Station Square (what), ShTH tied into the past two games sorta but ruined pretty much everything to do with it's main character, and '06...I barely remember '06, haha

[Jango]

Worried? Nah, I have total faith in SEGA and Sonic Team.

 

 

 

/jk

This is probably going to be a mess

[Blue Blood]

well...what if the news isn't spread at all, today?

what if there's an embargo? all the hype for nothing...

 

just stay calm guys. in about 6 hours time we will hopefully know more.

 

There is an embargo, and it ends today. It's written right there on the poster. News can be spread ASAP, and very likely will be.

[Detective Shadzter]

CENSORSHIP EVERYWHERE!

SEGA says "2014 will mark a renaissance for Sonic the Hedgehog"
Feb 06, 2014 by RawmeatCowboy

Looks like something Sonic related is going down today...for the press, anyway. When will we hear these details? No idea, but we'll definitely get some talk of the upcoming Sonic cartoon, and I would guess some game info as well!

http://www.gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=221836

[Celestia]

What's the point of that censorship? The original image exists pretty much everywhere online as it is. :v

 

At the very least they could've removed "Where:" too, it just looks awkward!

 

...

 

WHEREHOG CONFIRMED FOR SONIC BOOM

[Salamander]

Yep, it's gone viral at this point, and with every fresh iteration, more information is lost.  Next they'll be removing the "When"; then, the word "Sega" will also be blurred out.  Finally, to the delight of the fans, the Boom silhouettes will be censored out.

[Vec]

For some reason I'm worried about this...A LOT

[Doctor MK]

The Year of Sonic? A renaissance for the series?

 

I ought to be seriously pumped up and excited for big new announcements regarding one of my favourite franchises, but... I can see this going wrong. Horribly wrong. Especially if they're putting the Sonic Boom redesigns up there front and centre. I mean, yeah, Sonic Lost World was a bit of a misstep but it had some good intentions, I'd rather they continue to tweak that formula rather than starting afresh all over again... who knows though, maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised.

 

If all goes as expected though and it does turn out to be awful news... well, I think it's fair to say the Sonic fandom will be looking like this come tomorrow morning:

 

[Soniman]

>Implying they give the slightest shit about the quality of the writing/ characterisation any more. :/

 

Err well, I know you don't feel much love for the current writing but I'm sure Sonic Team does care about it enough if they're willing to put their faith in an American writing team….that's just me though

[Tani Coyote]

I think SEGA had something special planned based on the hype the poster generates, and were planning on making a big public reveal once the event concluded.

Unfortunately Machinima leaked it and so their plans have been ruined.

Don't get why they'd bother doing damage control at this point though since it was only a day away.

[Detective Shadzter]

I think SEGA had something special planned based on the hype the poster generates, and were planning on making a big public reveal once the event concluded.

Unfortunately Machinima leaked it and so their plans have been ruined.

Don't get why they'd bother doing damage control at this point though since it was only a day away.

I don't think they are doing damage control. The press who have been invited are just covering their asses so they don't get in any trouble and aren't dropped from the guest list. 

[Tani Coyote]

Orrrr it could be that, yeah.

I'm pretty sure SEGA's gonna be pissed with Machinima over this, who will in turn be pissed at those two guys. I'd hate to be them now... but then again, I consider this Darwinism in action given that the poster clearly says information is under embargo until the 6th.

Though all the hype that's been generated lets me know that you really can profit from other people's mistakes.