Sonic Adventure makes it to the Smithsonian

[EXshad]

[Ferno]

Does this mean we'll be seeing Sonic in the next Night at the museum movie should there be one? :V

[SuperClassic]

Does this mean we'll be seeing Sonic in the next Night at the museum movie should there be one? :V

[Mangoaxe5]

Nice to see one of the Sonic Adventure games get some love.

[eXtaticus]

Funny, I always remembered it as looking like something more along the lines of:

And hell, even if you ARE going to criticise the facial animation, re-read my point:

...at the time of the title's launch, it was arguably the best looking game ever to have been released on a console...

Facial animation was, back in 1998, a fairly new phenomenon to the video game world, with earlier games for the 5th generation machines either being left completely unanimated altogether or having rudimentary sprites in place of an actual 3D mouth - sad though it may seem, Adventure's facial animations were actually quite advanced by the standards of that era, and simply can't be judged by today's standards due to nigh-on 13 years of technological advancement since that time.

And you quoted me out of context, too...

[JezMM]

Funny, I always remembered it as looking like something more along the lines of:

And hell, even if you ARE going to criticise the facial animation, re-read my point:

Facial animation was, back in 1998, a fairly new phenomenon to the video game world, with earlier games for the 5th generation machines either being left completely unanimated altogether or having rudimentary sprites in place of an actual 3D mouth - sad though it may seem, Adventure's facial animations were actually quite advanced by the standards of that era, and simply can't be judged by today's standards due to nigh-on 13 years of technological advancement since that time.

And you quoted me out of context, too...

Oh gosh, you know I just love to troll SA1 fans with that image at this point right? 8C

But seriously, I don't think time excuses animation problems. No matter how old the game is, I sincerely doubt anyone looked at Sonic's spasming brow and thought "man, I wish I could fix that, but we just don't have the technology".

Actual model/texture-wise, the game was solid, but I don't recall any moments of particular beauty or "wow" moments... maybe Sonic's Speed Highway Act 2 descent, and I guess the Egg Carrier was a pretty impressive set-piece at the time, especially if you didn't have the technical know-how to tell apart the low, medium and high detail models/maps for it.

[Nepenthe]

But seriously, I don't think time excuses animation problems. No matter how old the game is, I sincerely doubt anyone looked at Sonic's spasming brow and thought "man, I wish I could fix that, but we just don't have the technology".

You know, Toy Story back in the day, in all of its technical flaws, was still the shit, and the existence of its acclaim isn't any less genuine just because the same company is finally capable of making Up. Looking at animation or art in general without the context of the era it was made in is just silly. xP

Edited May 6, 2011 by Nepenthe

[JezMM]

You know, Toy Story back in the day, in all of its technical flaws, was still the shit, and the existence of its acclaim isn't any less genuine just because the same company is finally capable of making Up. Looking at animation or art in general without the context of the era it was made in is just silly. xP

Toy Story doesn't look bad though, just basic, primitive. Sonic Adventure's facial animation actually looks awful. Is it good that they tried? Sure. But is it good that the end result actually distracts the player and takes them out of the game to think "holy moly what the hell is wrong with Sonic's face"? No.

Maybe it doesn't help that I played SA2 first, but really... those of you who were there at the time... were you really so wowed by everything else you didn't even so much as notice Sonic's face spasming out dialogue like that?

Edited May 6, 2011 by JezMM

[Nepenthe]

Toy Story's animation has aged badly; the animation is stiff as a cardboard, the emoting can be awkward, the dog's rig is horrifically limited, and the humans in general are uncanny valley nightmare fodder. If that film came out today without the influence of modern tech, we'd all be dismissing the previews and calling it another Hoodwinked. It is filled with problems as defined by modern day standards, as is Sonic Adventure, I don't deny. But that one scene that people keep toting around like a meme, and all of a sudden the game's overall technical achievements as measured against other competitors of the era are suddenly non-existent? I don't buy it.

And of course we noticed it. No one's saying it's not a problem. I'm personally saying that the flaws were naturally downplayed by the fact that, at the time, Sonic Adventure looked fuckin' awesome, which is a natural reaction for every single blockbuster in history that has made some notable visual or technical leap that has since become dated.

Edited May 6, 2011 by Nepenthe

[JezMM]

But that one scene that people keep toting around like a meme, and all of a sudden the game's overall technical achievements as measured against other competitors of the era are suddenly non-existent? I don't buy it.

It really isn't "that one scene", just the most memorable example because it's the most out of sync (and honestly badly acted, sorry Ryan I do love your Sonic voice in general - or maybe it was a direction fault). Sonic's face animates that badly the whole way through the game. I never said the rest of the game looked bad. At this point I am literally just saying "the facial animations were really really bad, even at the time". An isolated comment with disregard for the rest of the game.

And of course we noticed it. No one's saying it's not a problem. I'm personally saying that the flaws were naturally downplayed by the fact that, at the time, Sonic Adventure looked fuckin' awesome

Fair enough, all I wanted to know.

At the end of the day though, the real point of my first post in this thread was just to make people laugh. 8C

[Badnik Mechanic]

So then, the exhibition is being held right now... Who would like to see what artwork they picked for the Sonic Adventure section? I hope you are prepared to be amazed.

And thats it. Well it's not that specific image, but it's of Windy Valley

I know what you're thinking... 'Wut?' Well... looking at several youtube videos of this exhibit, every single game that was voted only has only one image representing it, there are 2 exceptions I think. And every game that got voted in isn't even art exactly so much as it's a random screenshot from the game.

There is no concept art. No splash drawings, no giant blown up images. It's... pathetic.

The Sonic section appears at just after the 7:00 mark. Also here is Shenmues section... This is probably one of the biggest let downs ever, it's just so shit in every way.

[Vertekins]

This isn't an art exhibit, it's a brisk showing of screenshots one could see free of charge on the internet.

Calling this an art exhibit is false advertising IMO.

Edited April 12, 2012 by Verte

[Place]

I especially love how Sonic's "exhibit" is positioned at the highest point of the display, as if to say "Oh yeah, Sega had that Sonic guy, too."

[The Kid]

Meh. It's not the worst exhibit I've seen. It looks somewhat interesting actually. It's not like I'd pay hundreds to go see it though.

I'm just glad something having to do with video games is in the Smithsonian in the first place.

[JezMM]

Haha, wow. Even my screenshot from earlier woulda been better than that.

[VO.SUPER]

It's a start. Give this thing a few good decades and I expect this exhibit to improve for the better. Sonic Adventure may not be the best thing to start with, but I feel it represents the DC well enough for now.

[Ekaje]

Wait, so the whole thing is just a bunch of random game screenshots on a wall? That's pathetic. There was a video game exhibit that came by the MSI in Chicago (I think it was a travelling exhibit, but I don't know where else it went) that was tons better, partially because it actually showed off some of the games it talked about.

[Badnik Mechanic]

It's a start. Give this thing a few good decades and I expect this exhibit to improve for the better. Sonic Adventure may not be the best thing to start with, but I feel it represents the DC well enough for now.

It's not that the games don't represent the systems well, they do. But for whats actually there it's just so... pathetic.

This was hyped up so much with the 'vote for what game art you want in the exhibit.' Anyone in the world could vote and the game selection was pretty awesome too.

But to then just give each game 1 screenshot above the console it originated on? Putting aside the whole 'is this screenshot a work of art' debate. If you go to the 'art of videogame' exhibition one would expect to actually see some art, something that shows off the artistic merits of a videogame, be it either the development artwork or the music, or even box art. Not random screenshot which just looks plucked from some press sample.

Wait, so the whole thing is just a bunch of random game screenshots on a wall? That's pathetic.

Correctamundo. Whilst there are some hands on things, you can play Mario and Pac-Man on a projected wall, the issue is the main display itself, it's just so void of any actual art.

[Stritix]

I think it deserves that spot. Sonic Adventure DX has to be in my top 5.

[azoo]

only screenshots shown in the exhibit

I thought I actually saw some concept art of Sonic Adventure a couple of days ago that was used in the exhibit, actually. It was a massive sketch of a loop from Emerald Coast. I'll post if I find it, since I don't think I've ever seen that before..

EDIT: Found it!

http://fuckyeasonic.tumblr.com/post/20258065325/art-for-emerald-coast-from-sonic-adventure-at

^There's the link to where I found it from, by the way^

Edited April 13, 2012 by Azukara

[Badnik Mechanic]

Huh? Really? So there actually is some concept art there?

Only every video or photo thing I've seen of it only showns screenshots.

*has another look on youtube*

Goodness me, it seems there might actually be a second room that nobody has bothered to film for some reason. Check out this News report about it. You have to click the link since they've disabled it to be embedded... *shurgs* At 0:36 they walk through a room, look on the back wall, is that the Sonic Adventure concept art?

... ok is anyone going to this? If so can we use ask you to document/take pictures/video of this? We'll put it on TSS!

Edit: I stand greatly corrected from my intial impressions!

In this next one you can just make out the original Sonic Adventure image that I spotted on all those other youtube vids.

[azoo]

The person that sent it to that tumblr page said that there'd be more to come, so hopefully we start getting more pictures of it all before long.

[LoseR]

Wait? So you can't play the games, just look at pictures of it... o.O?

I. AM. DISAPPOINT.

[Kiah]

It's not that the games don't represent the systems well, they do. But for whats actually there it's just so... pathetic.

This was hyped up so much with the 'vote for what game art you want in the exhibit.' Anyone in the world could vote and the game selection was pretty awesome too.

But to then just give each game 1 screenshot above the console it originated on? Putting aside the whole 'is this screenshot a work of art' debate. If you go to the 'art of videogame' exhibition one would expect to actually see some art, something that shows off the artistic merits of a videogame, be it either the development artwork or the music, or even box art. Not random screenshot which just looks plucked from some press sample.

[Ekaje]

Huh? Really? So there actually is some concept art there?

Only every video or photo thing I've seen of it only showns screenshots.

*has another look on youtube*

Goodness me, it seems there might actually be a second room that nobody has bothered to film for some reason. Check out this News report about it. You have to click the link since they've disabled it to be embedded... *shurgs* At 0:36 they walk through a room, look on the back wall, is that the Sonic Adventure concept art?

Edited April 13, 2012 by Ekaje