Sonic Boom announced (Wii U/3DS)

[PSI Wind]

It's far to early too speculate on the frame rate since we've no idea how the levels will even be populated or how they're going to optimise the engine. /tech babble.

 

Lets not forget that unleashed was supposed to be a locked 30fps experience, then in parts on the PS3 it whacks all the way to 60.... for 3 seconds.

Except in Holoska where it runs at 60 FPS a lot.

Also, about the Wii U's CPU: The PS4's CPU is shit if we compare it to a modern day PC, only having 1.4 GHz. Consoles and gaming as a whole are moving towards having the GPU do some of the CPU's work instead of making CPU-intensive games. Why the PS4? The PS4 uses the same tactic I just mentioned, having it's GPU off-load some of the CPU's work. The Wii U also does the same. 60 FPS probably won't happen, but locked 30 is possible.

[Indigo Rush]

(Cross-post from the TV series topic)

Marine deniers are now vindicated:

Sticks the Badger has been officially revealed:
 

 
 

 

http://blogs.sega.com/2014/05/29/introducing-sticks-to-the-sonic-boom-franchise/
 

In advance of the highly-anticipated launch of Sonic Boom, the newest branch of the Sonic the Hedgehog universe announced earlier this year, SEGA is pleased to unveilSticks, a brand-new character that will play an integral role across all Sonic Boom platforms. Sticks, a jungle badger who has spent most of her life living alone in the wilderness, will appear in the Sonic Boom TV series, Wii U and Nintendo 3DS video games, and merchandise, forming a common thread across all iterations of the new Sonic Boom world.  Sticks joins Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy to form the core ensemble featured throughout the Sonic Boom franchise.
 
“Sticks is a significant addition to the Sonic Boom universe and the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise,” said Hiroyuki Miyazaki, Chief Content Officer for the Sonic Brand, SEGA of America.  “She brings a quirky personality and perspective to the team dynamic, and we look forward to sharing this energetic and funny new character with the world.”
 
Sticks is new to Sonic’s circle of friends– actually new to friends in general– and as the most primal character in the Sonic universe, she is a force of nature in every way.  Sticks is wilder than the other members of Sonic’s team with unparalleled animal instincts and extremely sharp survival skills.  She’s a fearsome combatant and a tenacious hunter who’s armed with handmade weapons at all times, most notably a handmade boomerang that she keeps in tow.
 
Her wildness means that her social skills need plenty of work and she’s not the most trusting individual. Full of outrageous suspicions, Sticks’ instincts often prove to be accurate. While the concepts of sharing, compassion and friendship are foreign to her, Sticks has a good heart and a genuine desire to get closer to her new friends, particularly Amy, who helps Sticks adapt to civilization. Sticks and Amy quickly become best friends, with Sticks willing to go to extremes to protect her new pal, a quality that will play out through new Sonic Boom content. Her eccentric character adds an endless amount of humor and surprise to the Sonic team.

But wait! There's more...
 

 

The Sonic Boom television series, coproduced by SEGA of America Inc. and OuiDO! Productions, will debut on Cartoon Network in the U.S. and on CANAL J and GULLI in France during the 2014/2015 season.  Every episode starts from a small character-driven story and explodes into an epic tale of saving the world, robot battles and more.

 

Serving as a prequel to the stories revealed in the TV series the Sonic Boom video games will deliver a totally different experience to previous Sonic games with collaborative gameplay at its core.  Developed in the U.S by California based Big Red Button Entertainment (Wii U) and Sanzaru Games (Nintendo 3DS) in collaboration with Sonic Team, this is the third title to be released as part of an exclusive deal with Nintendo.  Sonic Boom will take advantage of the innovative hardware of both the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, with traditional elements of Sonic games, such as speed, also featured.  The videogame will also introduce exploration, combat and a new Enerbeam tether mechanic that will allow the Sonic Boom world to be discovered in totally unique ways.

 

Sonic Boom will be supported by a robust global licensing and merchandising program, anchored by master toy partner TOMY. TOMY’s line will showcase the new character looks, stressing interaction between core characters, and will feature new play patterns based on both the new games and TV series.  TOMY will develop a comprehensive toy range across a broad number of categories including plush, action figures, RC, role play, vehicles and novelty. Sonic fans can expect a high-quality, collectible toy line fueled by TOMY innovation and energized with speed, lights, sounds, motion-activation and action-performance.

 

Sonic the Hedgehog first appeared as a videogame character in June 1991 and instantly became an icon for a generation of gamers. Defined by his super-fast speed and cool attitude, in the years since he first raced on to videogame consoles Sonic has become a true global phenomenon with over 140 million videogames sold or downloaded worldwide across consoles, PC’s, mobile phones and tablets. SEGA’s iconic blue blur has also gone on to enjoy incredible success in many licensed areas, such as toys, apparel, comics and animation.

 

Executive producers on the Sonic Boom TV series are Evan Baily, Donna Friedman Meir and Jane McGregor on behalf of SEGA, and Sandrine Nguyen and Boris Hertzog from OuiDO!.  Bill Freiberger is Co-Executive Producer.  Other partners involved in the TV series include Lagardère Entertainment Rights for distribution for TV and Video and Lagardère Active TV Licensing & New Business for licensing and merchandise in France.

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

Bet ya that she's an unlockable character in the games(and wouldn't be surprised if she wasn't the only one either, Eggman is a shoein)

[Salamander]

So Tomy is the "master toy partner," huh?  Seems to me that Sega wants to really unlock the brand's merchandising potential.  Much as Nintendo's now planning on doing with its franchises, for that matter.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

 

Every episode starts from a small character-driven story and explodes into an epic tale of saving the world, robot battles and more.

Now we're talking. Now here's hoping they can capture a legitimate formula for character driving and do wonders with said formula.

Also... check out Stick's crib:

 

Check out Sticks home in Sonic Boom - looks like Rescue Rangers meet's Big the Cat's pad pic.twitter.com/Gy3nwtWF3a

 

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11:44 AM - 29 May 2014

Ad we got ourselves an official image render:

[Zaysho]

Bet ya that she's an unlockable character in the games(and wouldn't be surprised if she wasn't the only one either, Eggman is a shoein)

 

I think it's almost a given Eggman's going to feature in the game, but  I really doubt they're going to make him a playable character. Wouldn't be surprised if Sticks turns up as a playable character though. It looks like she might have some interesting abilities. Maybe a faster, combat-oriented version of Tails?

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

You guys, just imagine if she runs into marine in a Archie sonic comic crossover, that would be hilarious

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

And some more concept art:

 

Courtesy of Entertainment Weekly apparently.

[PickleBrows]

I'll be honest, I like the design, the name is fine, but the voice...is going to take some time to get used to. She seems to be the kind who likes to shout her sentences rather than keeping it to a normal level.

 

On a side note, did anyone else notice the alterations made to the main 4's renders? I can't tell if they're meant to be replacements or early versions but their definitely different.

[Blue Blood]

She's got bare hands. This a fucking abomination.

More seriously her voice is actually really annoying and I can fast see her becoming this series' downfall of not played very carefully. I do like her name though. It hits all the right notes.

On a side note, did anyone else notice the alterations made to the main 4's renders? I can't tell if they're meant to be replacements or early versions but their definitely different.

The ones in the trailer? They're the same ones used to cast the silhouettes in the original teaser year, or at least renders based of the 2D art for them. I don't think the models have changed. The difference between 2D and 3D or the difference between posing on a model can he pretty huge.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

 

SEGAbits ‏@SEGAbits 19m

The Death Egg isn't the only #SonicTheHedgehog/#StarWars connection - Stick's VA Nika Futterman also voiced Ventress! pic.twitter.com/TAHQJ0DTLs

 

Ready the epiphany and conspiracy blades, SSMB!

[JezMM]

I still think her design is really reminiscent of Marine but confirming her with a trailer talking about her personality and featuring her voice has done a lot to quickly distance her from Marine for me.  I guess it's natural that eventually the series would start to have characters that look similar to each other after all these years of newcomers.

 

Would anyone agree that she kind of looks way more like a vanilla Sonic character than a Boom one?  I guess coz she's shorter than the other guys.

 

 

Either way she seems totally cute.  At first I was like "god no" to her voice but some sentences flow nicely and sound great once you get used to it, especially when she actually has due cause to be shouting for comedic effect (like the "don't you guys know anything about science!?" line flowed just fine).  Her voice kind of reminds me of Vanellope's from Wreck-It Ralph, who also bugged me at first but sounded fine after a while.

[Marcello]

I'll be honest, I like the design, the name is fine, but the voice...is going to take some time to get used to. She seems to be the kind who likes to shout her sentences rather than keeping it to a normal level.

 

On a side note, did anyone else notice the alterations made to the main 4's renders? I can't tell if they're meant to be replacements or early versions but their definitely different.

I noticed that, too. I mentioned it in the TV thread. They look closer to their concept art. In fact, I'm pretty sure Amy's face and pose are the same as one of the group concept arts.

[Willsy]

I chuckled at the whole "government agency" part. More humour like this and I think the show will be gold.

[Dizcrybe]

I chuckled at the whole "government agency" part. More humour like this and I think the show will be gold.

 

The government agency part had me like "uhhh". I'm not sure about Sticks yet.

[Badnik Mechanic]

I kinda like her.

 

Though I have to admit, when I was writing the TSS update on Sticks, I honestly felt like I was writing up someones fan character or one of my many scrapped April Fools gags.

 

Also Jungle Badger. But we're just gonna call her badger right?

[Blue Blood]

I chuckled at the whole "government agency" part. More humour like this and I think the show will be gold.

That same line had me A- thinking she's going to a very generic "lolz random so funny" type of shitty and irritating character and B- isn't she supposed to be alone before the rest of the crew come along?

[Badnik Mechanic]

Sega press vault is showing new by the boom stuff, but nothing there yet.

 

I checked last night and there was no 'new' mark by any Boom stuff.

[Detective Shadzter]

I kinda like her.

 

Though I have to admit, when I was writing the TSS update on Sticks, I honestly felt like I was writing up someones fan character or one of my many scrapped April Fools gags.

 

Also Jungle Badger. But we're just gonna call her badger right?

It appears she's based off a breed of badger called a Torque badger.

"Grrrr!"

[Scar]

Hmmm

 

Stuff....

 

 

I'm not really sure how this will go down. Its a big risk that could flop or go really well. I'm kinda perplexed as to why the existing cast hasn't been revitalised...I'm not quite sure the whole "Sonic's shitty friends" stigma has disappeared entirely, especially given that people complained about their almost minimal presence in Generations.

 

I always was personally more in favour of advancing the traditional Sonic canon, more than creating an entirely separate Boom Canon and running it parallel to the main continuity. Just seems like a separation for the sake of it. 

 

Not really sure how introducing a new character is going to help smooth that transition....

 

 

Meh. We shall see where this goes.

[Badnik Mechanic]

It appears she's based off a breed of badger called a Torque badger.

"Grrrr!"

 

Oh I bet it looks adorable *clicks the spoiler*

 

 

ARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

 

Mother of God what is that!? 

 

Shadzter: It's Sticks!

[MamboCat]

I'm guessing badgers in the US aren't the adorable ones we have in Eyurup.

 

 

Loooook, they're so cuuuute! :3

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

You know it's just going to be a barrel of fun if Sticks becomes popular enough that SEGA, ASAP, will make a main-canon version of her, just like how Marvel did with Ultimate Nick Fury ala Nick Fury Jr.

[MugiMikey]

I like this design a lot! She's good friends with Amy, huh? I guess that means she'll sort of be taking the role Cream had in Sonic X. Except this time, Sticks will be much more useful in comparison. I also really like her loud and whacky personality.

 

The only thing throwing me off is that she has no gloves...

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

That same line had me A- thinking she's going to a very generic "lolz random so funny" generic, shitty and irritating character and B- isn't she supposed to be alone?

Maybe this "government" in  question could be the ancient evil or the machinery works of a certain Doctor.