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

[Salamander]

Even if it's true Sega hired Pontac to embrace the silly side of the series and appeal to the kids' audience they want, at least it seems like they have a plan this time.  They've commissioned fifty-two episodes - a whole year's worth! - of Boom episodes, so they must be pretty certain of this new direction.  I don't know much about Saturday morning cartoons, but that's what the Teen Titans Go! audience is, right?  With that and all their new Sonic mobile games they can probably bring in plenty of money to prolong the franchise.

[TearForFear]

At least, I hope that some good souls will re-animate the episode of Sonic Boom with Gmod or Source Film Maker, with the current-designed characters...

[-Mark-]

Except it's 52 11-minute episodes, so they'll probably be aired as 26 half-hour ones.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mauro Fonseca]

Knuckles had the best role in Lost World- being kidnapped by small animals.

I'm not being ironic btw, I like Knuckles a lot and I thoroughly enjoyed having him as the cool guy constantly trying to one-up Sonic but who isn't an asshole and helps the small animals, even when they apparently decide to drag him away presumably to cook in a cauldron

[Gabz Girl]

They're not capable? SEGA Sammy just reported an $11.35 million profit this year. They just bought an entire publishing company (Atlus) a few months ago. You'd think that with all the money they're making right now, they could spare the cash to hire a handful of talented people to work on their flagship mascot franchise.

 

I'm sorry but SEGA Sammy, or should I say Sega of Japan couldn't care less about Sonic. Do you really think they will put more effort into Sonic anytime soon? In fact it's a mystery to me how a developer like Sonic Team can have such a bad track record and yet still SEGA keeps them to make more above average/good (YMMV) Sonic games. What about Dimps? They're even worse and still these guys just won't. Go. Away!

[Dejimon11]

Except it's 52 11-minute episodes, so they'll probably be aired as 26 half-hour ones.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well knowing CN's current direction with their hit shows(except for total drama) they will air 1 11 minute episode a week

[Pawn]

 

What's wrong with 1992 quality? Those games were amazingly received and to this day are far better received than any Sonic game released in the last 10 years?

 

Fair enough if it's your opinion, but it's of wide critical opinion that the "big stories involving all of the cast" weren't bad on a conceptual level, they were bad because they were poorly written, executed, and generally clumsy and pretentious. Again, not my opinion, that's what most of the critics said, and upon becoming a student of literary criticism myself I can completely see why. Sonic isn't not allowed to have a complex story, but the last time it happened left a bad taste in the mouths of most older fans and critics while younger fans were too young to really notice its flaws at the time. This is why SEGA want to play it safe and have a simple story because that is all they're capable of pulling off inoffensively and they know it.

 

One side is always going to be disappointed and that is 100% SEGA's fault for segwaying Sonic into a series that pretended to have a deep plot in the first place. It is literally impossible for SEGA to make everyone happy with Sonic's story anymore, the best they can do is make most people happy which yes unfortunately for many people means taking the simple route at the very least until they get writers who can make something which is simple but also more than meets the eye (like a lot of good Saturday morning cartoons are, and which ST generally aren't talented enough to pull off).

 

And you don't have to like it, it does suck for a lot of people, but I think people should at least respect the story direction SEGA have chosen and the huge amounts of people who do like it.

 

Sonic isn't just for Sonic fans.

 

I don't agree that they are at fault for trying to make something more of the franchise, but for failing to live up to that thereafter. As far as I remember; the Adventures' stories weren't even badly received from critics. Dodgy translation, bad animation and goofy storytelling didn't mean that they weren't a fun ride at the time, as those problems were far more common back then. People worry that there would be no improvement if Sonic Team were to write a deeper plot again, yet the majority of these issues shouldn't be a concern. We don't have to expect awful translation or dodgy dialogue now that we have American writers; just as we don't have to suffer goofy animation or poor voice direction/acting in this day and age.

 

I don't believe that they're incapable, so much as unwilling or restrained. I think it's possible for them to please most people, especially now that they have the tools to make it work. Even before Colours came along, there was Black Knight and that was no travesty. The fact that they continue to sit on such potential is never going to stop being frustrating, so long as I follow this franchise. I really miss the ambitious Sonic Team that used to take risks in order to create an overall more fulfilling and complete experience; the Sonic Team that seemed to disappear after SEGA went third party and merged with Sammy (despite a brief resurgence with Unleashed).

[Sami]

I'm sorry but SEGA Sammy, or should I say Sega of Japan couldn't care less about Sonic. Do you really think they will put more effort into Sonic anytime soon? In fact it's a mystery to me how a developer like Sonic Team can have such a bad track record and yet still SEGA keeps them to make more above average/good (YMMV) Sonic games. What about Dimps? They're even worse and still these guys just won't. Go. Away!

So we should just settle for endless mediocrity? In that case, why are we all even here? It's clear we all have to have had at least some passing interest in Sonic at one point or another to end up as regular members on this forum, so why are we content saying "they don't care so we shouldn't expect them to" or "they're not capable so they shouldn't try". I swear, you guys have the most blatantly defeatist attitudes when it comes to expecting more from this franchise.

[Gabz Girl]

I'm not being a defeatist I just really doubt that SEGA will change up their game with Sonic. Unless this whole Sonic Boom reveal IS the change that Sonic needs right now, which I'll be fine with so long as it's not a terrible idea.

Trust me, I want Sonic to have great plots and crap too after SLW being a letdown but this is SEGA we're talking about.

[BonkersTheAutomaton]

Does anyone actually know when the announcement is happening today?  Because I have only just heard about this and feel like I need to know more (like the rest of us).

[Iggy]

Guys, calm down. For all we know, this could just be a trailer for Sonic Boom.

[SuperLink]

@Pawn: I don't completely disagree, I do remember people liking the original SA, but with SA2 people started to become a lot more bothered by voice acting and plot things for definite.

 

I also agree that they're unwilling/restrained, but I think that also leads back to incompetence anyway, almost no other publisher or developer has this much of a problem doing professional-level quality things with their famous characters.

 

And I wasn't on SSMB much back then, but everywhere else, Black Knight was pretty widely hated and rideculed for its story so I'm not sure what you mean by "no travesty".

 

Believe me I miss everything about the old Sonic Team, but this isn't just about story, this is about every single element that goes into a game. Sonic Team are incompetent at making games that are as good as Sonic deserves, and nowadays there is no shortage of genuinely talented developers out there.

 

 

So we should just settle for endless mediocrity?

Like... seriously, why are we all even here? It's clear we all have to have had at least some passing interest in Sonic at one point or another to end up as regular members on this forum, so why are we content saying "they don't care so we shouldn't expect them to" or "they're not capable so they shouldn't try".

I swear, you guys have the most blatantly defeatist attitudes when it comes to expecting more from this franchise.

I like Sonic and I always have and probably always will, but why should I expect more when I have no reason to believe it'll ever happen? I'm just setting myself up for disappointment. I can hope for more, I will probably never not hope for more, but after seeing such a ridiculous amount of ups and downs within the series I feel it'd be naive for me to expect more. Of course they should try, I've been wanting them to try for years, but saying they should try harder on the internet accomplishes a great big amount of nothing at all. I've hated Sonic Team for over half a decade, I've been saying SEGA should try to hire more talented devs for over half a decade, I'm very totally done 'expecting' that to happen at this point. 'Hoping' I am still very good at

 

Also, even if the games aren't the best I can still enjoy them sometimes because I love Sonic himself. Even if I don't always love the games or their direction, I still love Sonic as a character, SLW hasn't changed that for me. I will always hope for Sonic to be better, but I've learnt that I can't expect it, sorry.

 

Like dude I'm not settling for anything but what difference can I make? SEGA is too busy listening to kneejerk reactions from IGN to listen to the genuinely constructive criticism of lesser-known-but-smarter-critics. I can't make a difference if not even Jim Sterling can make a difference.

[Solkia]

I don't think anyone is just settling for mediocrity.

 

IT's just that after 15 years of this shit, even after numerous changes to staff, very little in terms of writing has changed. We know what to expect, and we know not to get our hopes up.

[Blue Blood]

Does anyone actually know when the announcement is happening today?  Because I have only just heard about this and feel like I need to know more (like the rest of us).

 

You're in the UK, so the time in NYC is 5 hours behind you. The event starts at 17:00 (the presentation itself at 17:30) UK time, and finishes at 20:00.

[BonkersTheAutomaton]

Ok.  Do we have any links to a livestream or something among those lines? I hear this is a rather secretive gathering from SEGA so I doubt it.

[Mauro Fonseca]

No. Being honest we don't even know if anything will be shown at all- we're just assuming since the embargo ends today.

[TearForFear]

Talking about The Last Airbender movie, Nostalgia Critic said this

 

 

I'm sure there'll be different adaptations in the future the same way people did with Looney Tunes and other timeless characters, but the point is the original characters are still timeless characters. And nothing anyone can do can change that. If anything, the bad adaptation makes us appreciate the original material even more. So you can do whatever you want to the franchise.

 

Can this statement be applied to Sonic too?

 

No matter what will happen to the francise in the future: Sonic Adventure, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Sonic Heroes, Aosth, SatAM, Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Rush etcetera etcetera... still exist, and no one can change them and the memory they created.

[Doctor MK]

Guys, calm down. For all we know, this could just be a trailer for Sonic Boom.

 

I doubt they'd be having an hour long presentation just to show off one trailer. There's going to be something more to it than that, even if we don't get to see it made it public.

[BonkersTheAutomaton]

Talking about The Last Airbender movie, Nostalgia Critic said this

 

 

Can this statement be applied to Sonic too?

 

No matter what will happen to the francise in the future: Sonic Adventure, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Sonic Heroes, Aosth, SatAM, Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Rush etcetera etcetera... still exist, and no one can change them and the memory they created.

 

Slow clap.  Fully 100%. agree.  Don't complain about the new stuff as long as you still have the original to enjoy.

[Blue Blood]

Ok.  Do we have any links to a livestream or something among those lines? I hear this is a rather secretive gathering from SEGA so I doubt it.

 

If there were any streams to be had, this event wouldn't be private and there'd be some well sign-posted links about. It's a press-only event, so we have to wait for news that comes out afterwards. And it's quite likely that we can expect some, since the embargo on any news ends today, meaning that news outlets can post away. SEGA might even post some stuff themselves.

 

[SuperLink]

Talking about The Last Airbender movie, Nostalgia Critic said this

 

 

Can this statement be applied to Sonic too?

 

No matter what will happen to the francise in the future: Sonic Adventure, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Sonic Heroes, Aosth, SatAM, Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Rush etcetera etcetera... still exist, and no one can change them and the memory they created.

Yeah people will at the very least still love Sonic 1-3 and various games from the modern era no matter what happens to him. The main reason Sonic is still around today and people so badly want him back on track is because those original games were just so damn good, and will be really damn good forever.

 

Still.. it would be a shame if people just did "whatever the heck they liked" with Sonic.. he's been through a lot already and I really would like it if he someday got back on track - a track that was reliable, consistently good and long-lasting.

[KrazyBean]

Just over 30 minutes left. Lets-a-go!

 

It does start at 17:00 GMT right?

[Sami]

I don't think anyone is just settling for mediocrity.

IT's just that after 15 years of this shit, even after numerous changes to staff, very little in terms of writing has changed. We know what to expect, and we know not to get our hopes up.

Eh. I guess I'm just becoming too disenchanted with what they're doing right now to bother getting excited over any of it. If Lost World marks a new direction the games will continue to go in, Gens may just be the last game I buy at full price.

[Doctor MK]

Just over 30 minutes left. Lets-a-go!

 

It does start at 17:00 GMT right?

 

That's when the cocktails start, anyway

 

Better get your half hour of drinking in before the main presentation, I think we might need it...

[BonkersTheAutomaton]

Anyone else scared and excited at the same time?  Honestly I would be happy for the franchise to be rebooted if that is what they are planning.