Back in 2006, a man was blogging about the problems of Sega while nobody batted an eyelid. His name, though unknown at the time, was Ben Andac, and he worked as a game evaluator and Admissions and Recruitment Executive for both Sega Europe and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.
His words were written anonymously and on an inconspicuous blog, but the posts all vanished after an early, teasing reference to a "transforming Evil 'Night' Sonic who looks like a werewolf and can stretch his arms out Dhalsim-style." This was over a year before anybody had known a thing about the famous Werehog. Andac was trying to warn us, and nobody listened.
So why bring it up now? Well, some Internet detectives have taken it upon themselves to find the long-deleted blog entries that Andac wrote anonymously, and they reveal some incredibly telling things about Sega of Japan. Like, for example, that Sonic Team was working on a NiGHTS game for the Xbox 360, until Sega of Japan wanted to cash-in on the Wii's success and forced the studio to rebuild the entire project from the ground up in under a year without any budget increase whatsoever.
Even worse is the description of Sonic Team as little more than a "sweatshop," kept on a leash as an external Sega studio and forced to do little more than assembly line work and milk the Sonic cash cow. "There’s no doubt that Sonic Team have lost their quality touch," wrote Andac in 2007. "They are worse than talentless: they are without passion. Bored, weary, closed-minded and out of touch with any sense of what makes games good anymore."
I have spent a good deal of time assaulting Sonic Team for their many past failings, pointing out how occassional Sonic developer Dimps seems to make a better game. If even a fragment of what Andac told the world is true, then this explains everything. And I feel pretty damn sad about it.
Contest:
11:00 AM on 01.06.2009
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It's not a great game, but it's at least a 6/10.
The truth hurts...
It's a solid studio, and it understands Sonic better than Sonic Team ever will.
Also, Werehog, good practice run for a new Ristar?
now that game kicked some serious ass.
Holmes: I've been meaning to play it. Maybe that'll be the next game I pick up after I beat a good portion of what's in my backlog.
I miss the good sonic team (lets build a time machine and save them!)
I'm glad one blog still reports gaming news, not like kotaku who is all of a sudden like; "furries are cool man, you should try it..."
this blog explains a LOT though...
I love Sonic games, but I hate Sonic fans.
I enjoyed it too, but that may have something to do with the fact I never owned a Sega system.
I mean. the first few sonic games had their problems, but you could at least tell with sonic adventure 1/2 that Sonic Team was trying their hardest. Their recent efforts do seem to carry more of a "why the hell are we still doing this shit" flair.
A "solid" game and a "good" game are not the same thing. Just because its a solid game doesnt mean it has quality or is good. I could make a very solid 360 version of 'Guess Who' but does that mean it will be a good game that will be remembered? No!
Sonic Unleashed was mediocre at its very best, the Sonic franchise died after Sonic Adventure.
And I second the plan to give Sonic to Treasure. It would also be cool to see what what Platinum could do with the character. Viewtiful Joe + Sonic could be awesome.
Of course, they are still making money of the bloated corpse of the hedgehog, so maybe it would be best for Team Sonic to just up and quit. They would get a rest (maybe start a new studio?) and Sega could screw over some other team that might bring some new ideas before their optimism and love for games dies a horrible, painful, yet unavoidable death.
It's a win-win!
Sonic The Hedgehog (2006) was awful in my honest opinion. I died a lot due to bugs in the game or the level design, and even then I despised the town sections because doing a challenge puts you through TWO loading screens just to start doing the challenge.
Sonic Unleashed was not bad, but it certainly had flaws like sometimes tedious level design and bad controls (e.g. Rooftop Run Act 2 when you had to collect all the Chao like a platforming level rather than a race to the end level)
If Dimps developed the wii version of Sonic Unleashed. Then that means that they may be making more 3-D Sonic games in the future, so they may get the quality games going again.Who knows.
Also, with the right motivation, and ideas, possibly from the original creator, then maybe Sonic Team could make a new good game.
I say, expose this article, so that Sega in JAPAN and so that japanese people /members of Sega become aware, then they may shape up!
Still, the chances of any of this is slim.
Not because the 360 is better, but I doubt it would have been so Disney-androgynous-NiGHTS.