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

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Calling it now, that 3rd exclusive is ginormous by Sonic Team standards.

[Tara]

I think we'll definitely see a package of announcements. It doesn't make much sense to invite a ton of gaming people and then solely discuss a cartoon, after all.

I'm trying to think what a Year of Sonic would really entail... beyond a cartoon or film it's not that drastic a change, is it?

Well, the flier mentions the Sonic the Hedgehog brand, so while I have no doubt we'll get some information on the games, I think this will encompass everything from merchandise to the cartoon and maybe the rumored movie that may or may not come into fruition.  Since all of those are really just promotional materials for the games, I think it makes enough sense that they'd invite a bunch of video game-related people, even if they never discuss the game at all.

[Tani Coyote]

Dunno if anyone reported this yet, but the source Machinima video seems to be down now.

I get the feeling we were NOT supposed to know about that event, hahaha. Well actually, no, we weren't - the flyer blatantly states all information is secret until tomorrow.

Kellie and co. just can't catch a break this week, can they?

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Calling it now, that 3rd exclusive is ginormous by Sonic Team standards.

Perhaps, it itself shall be the Year of Sonic.

[Diogenes]

Which is a broad statement

...yes.

In short, a sweeping redesign that ... has been negatively received

we haven't even seen what they look like yet...

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

Calling it now, that 3rd exclusive is ginormous by Sonic Team standards.

heh, I agree with this one

[Nepenthe]

we haven't even seen what they look like yet...

 

I already made the point in the Sonic Boom topic that you can have an opinion for a character design based on their silhouette, considering that's one of the prime steps for designing characters in the industry.

[Tara]

...yes.

we haven't even seen what they look like yet...

While I'm all for waiting to see the finished designs, I think the silhouettes are detailed enough to see that one of them deviates drastically from what we're used to.  So I think it's at least worth mentioning how uncomfortable many of us are with the design as it currently stands. 

[Diogenes]

People are going to be uncomfortable with anything that's different. Fans soiling themselves because a change happened is par for the course. That doesn't prove them right, however.

[Tara]

It doesn't prove them wrong, either.  It's always something worth taking into account when assessing the potential risk versus benefit of a drastic change to an established brand.

[Mauro Fonseca]

It doesn't prove them wrong either, so lets cut the placitudes and broad statements.

 

Sillhouettes are one of the major points in a character design. By their presentation alone you can already see where they're going and what they're intending with the designs, even if we haven't seen the specifics.

 

And we've already seen enough for the response to either have been negative or people stupidly going "but you can't tell anything from a sillhouette!!"

[Nepenthe]

Right or wrong is actually irrelevant; the fact of the matter is that the silhouettes themselves were blasted right out of the gate. That may or may not change in time once we see details, but at the very least the reaction itself doesn't go towards supporting this implication that a redesign was needed to "refresh the brand." And really now, let's not strawman people being put-off by Buffles; most people- fans, critics, and the public- were comfortable and happy with the modern gameplay which was a radical change from everything that came before it. People were also really happy with the voice acting and characterization changes. People were happy with Sonic Adventure 1 and 2. I mean, you can have well-received changes to a franchise.

[Diogenes]

We got nothing but broad statements because we don't know shit about shit yet.

[Soniman]

I feel like we're going in circles at this point. I think it would be far more prudent to just wait half a day and see what comes up, then we can judge from there.

[JaidynReiman]

This is definitely a series of announcements for sure, probably the 2014 game and the Sonic Boom cartoon. That doesn't necessarily mean they're revising the whole brand... Granted, I wouldn't mind a shared continuity... so long as they base the cartoon off of the games rather than create a brand new design for the cartoon and based the games off that.

 

Hell, the Freedom Fighters have been around so long, I wouldn't mind them being revamped and put in the games as long as they make it work. I just don't want them to completely rewrite what we have established now. It'd be a lazy copout way to try and gain more interest in the series and will probably turn off more people than it brings in.

 

 

Of course, we don't know anything right now.

[Badnik Mechanic]

[source video is down]

 

I See bad things arising!

The SSMB crowed them king

which the Sega would ban!

 

I see a cease and desist letter 

our fan character redesigned!

Because of the fans!

 

 

Sega would have wanted this announced at a certain time so they could try and word it as being a 'good' thing and why it would be a good move to the franchise. Which I'm sure they think it is but... yeah... well... Has any videogame redesign gone well? 

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

This is definitely a series of announcements for sure, probably the 2014 game and the Sonic Boom cartoon. That doesn't necessarily mean they're revising the whole brand... Granted, I wouldn't mind a shared continuity... so long as they base the cartoon off of the games rather than create a brand new design for the cartoon and based the games off that.

 

Hell, the Freedom Fighters have been around so long, I wouldn't mind them being revamped and put in the games as long as they make it work. I just don't want them to completely rewrite what we have established now. It'd be a lazy copout way to try and gain more interest in the series and will probably turn off more people than it brings in.

 

 

Of course, we don't know anything right now.

Bringing the Freedom fighters into the actual Gamverse, I could go for, but primarily if they are willing to try and bring back some of the game characters too, but a strong plot with both could be extremely beneficial

[Soniman]

Sega would have wanted this announced at a certain time so they could try and word it as being a 'good' thing and why it would be a good move to the franchise. Which I'm sure they think it is but... yeah... well... Has any videogame redesign gone well? 

 

Not Crash, not Spyro, not Banjo Kazooie, not the POSSIBLE redesign Klonoa would have had, not Pacman (who's had a similar situation to what Sonic seems to be doing now)…….huh

[Komodin]

Frankly, I just can't give enough of a hoot about this to have any strong feelings, one way or the other, just yet. At this point, I'm just really tired of jumping the gun on things like this.

[Nepenthe]

Sega would have wanted this announced at a certain time so they could try and word it as being a 'good' thing and why it would be a good move to the franchise. Which I'm sure they think it is but... yeah... well... Has any videogame redesign gone well?

 

The Adventure and Modern redesigns were well-received.... Killer Instinct's new character designs are a fucking godsend... uhm..... Bomberman-- Nah, I'm just fucking with you.

[Brad]

[source video is down]

 

I'm waiting for the press release stating it was all lie. And Kellie. 

 

The way this is shaping up it's looking to be bigger than I originally thought, and all this talk of redesigns makes me ambivalent to say the least. Well even by mistake, SEGA's got us talking and making the hype for 'em.

[Sami]

Redesigns, eh?

 

 

just leave me alone to dream, okay?

[-Robin-]

Technically, Donkey Kong got a redesign for DKC, and that one was accepted so well that the original design zigzags between it being DK himself or Cranky. 

 

Mario went to red shirt-blue overalls instead of the opposite, Luigi got lankier, Pikachu lost weight, Fox got more humanoid.

 

There's been a lot of re-designs, in the purest definition, now that I think of it.

[Tani Coyote]

I just thought of something, and I know this isn't very likely but...

...does anyone think SEGA might ever run two cartoons simultaneously like they did with AoStH and SatAM?

If they REALLY wanted to spread their demographic around, it wouldn't be a bad idea, would it?

Though having an actual movie could go a long way as well, since I could see them basing a cartoon off the movie.

[azoo]

The entire public perception of Sonic is based on what he was in the Genesis days (and by a fourth of said public, the Adventure days too). I'm having serious doubts any massive group is going to react well to this, and if they are they're probably far outside of the fanbase.