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Stephen Frost talks about Sonic Boom (franchise & game)


Badnik Mechanic

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I want to hear Bob Rafei hear to talk about this game...I mean he was the guy who was the art director at Naughty Dog games up until Uncharted 2.

 

Stephen Frost is behind many of the already mediocore Sega of America games so eh.

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Is anyone kinda interested in who the focus group participants are/where? 

 

I have my suspicions I know who it is, and frankly if I'm right then god help us all, but I would like it confirmed.

 

 

Edit: You guys wanna know my suspicions don't you?

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"Might have overlooked."

The art of PR is all about downplaying what went wrong and emphasizing what went good, no?

Marginalize the games, focus on the other branches, and this looks a lot more successful as a brand.

 

You guys wanna know my suspicions don't you?

I could say "yes please" but I'll be a tad more exotic.

¡Sí señor! :P

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Is anyone kinda interested in who the focus group participants are/where? 

 

I have my suspicions I know who it is, and frankly if I'm right then god help us all, but I would like it confirmed.

 

 

Edit: You guys wanna know my suspicions don't you?

 

Google-fu turns up nothing sadly. You've been a part of this before haven't you?

 

So come on, show us what went wrong with the tests. You do have something to go on, right? =P

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I'd like to know. I mean I honestly wouldn't guess what it is that's suspicious about the focus group participants. I'm curious. XD

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Regarding the discussion of the next game and what platforms it will be on;

As an owner of both a Wii U and a PS4, I would much prefer it if the next game is PS4/XB1/PC only and did things that are impossible to do on older hardware, not just in the visuals department, but in the gameplay department. Nintendo are the ones who brought a bicycle to a car race, and it shouldn't have to become a bicycle race because of that. Of Nintendo get left in the dust, it was ultimately their decision to bring the bike in the first place. If it's feasible however, I don't see the harm in porting it down. The game shouldn't be designed with Wii U in mind though.

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I honestly just want a handheld game that is not a secondary version to the console version. I like both Lost World 3ds and Shattered Crystal but I sant something original again

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I honestly just want a handheld game that is not a secondary version to the console version. I like both Lost World 3ds and Shattered Crystal but I sant something original again

I would love a new original game for handheld. It would be even better if it was on Vita too, but the Vita is deader than dead and SEGA are probably more interested in making mobile Sonic games instead of handheld ones.

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Ok well...

 

First of all, no I have not been part of a focus group at Sega.

 

Secondly, during the TSS/SSMB downtime I was doing the usual thing I do of looking for merch news, when I found a few interesting blogs, they were interesting because they all one thing in common, every one of them had been invited to both the Sonic Boom press/media announcement event, or/and been given a VIP pass to Sonic Boom the 2014 event.

 

Some had evidence of dealings with Sega previous to that. 

 

What's a nice way to describe what they all have in common? This is probably an accurate term...

 

Mum'sNet Peoples

[sic]

 

Sega seems so absolutely incompetent / mind-bogglingly dumb / bass-ackwards when it comes to doing anything right that it wouldn't surprise me at all.

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Oh dear...it all makes sense now. o_o I agree with Azoo, wouldn't surprise me at all if it were true.

 

I honestly just want a handheld game that is not a secondary version to the console version. I like both Lost World 3ds and Shattered Crystal but I sant something original again

 

I've been begging for a totally new handheld Sonic game since Generations 3DS! In fact with the next Sonic game potentially being a Xbone/PS4/PC exclusive, I wonder if the 3DS will finally get a unique game instead of another mediocre port!

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Oh dear...it all makes sense now. o_o I agree with Azoo, wouldn't surprise me at all if it were true.

 

 

I've been begging for a totally new handheld Sonic game since Generations 3DS! In fact with the next Sonic game potentially being a Xbone/PS4/PC exclusive, I wonder if the 3DS will finally get a unique game instead of another mediocre port!

Hopefully, I mean I get that Gens 3DS was an exception. But hopefully it didnt set the rule.

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I want a current gen Sonic game. And before we fall into semantics, you know what I mean by that. A PS4 Sonic game to the core - not a Wii U game wearing pretty makeup. It opens the realms of possibility far beyond graphics alone and into actual game design. Sonic Adventure was absolutely impossible on the Saturn. Sonic Unleashed was impossible on the Dreamcast/Gamecube. This next game should be impossible on the PS3/Wii U. 

 

I'm not interested in going through the details of the situation from a tech and budget perspective (since, again, we've done it all before pre-wipe) but the least we can do is agree on the fact that ditching Wii U grants much greater possibilities in design. We have no idea whether or not Sonic Team has the capability to take advantage of those possibilities, nor do we know if they'll try. But the fact remains that the Wii U is a ball and chain on the game design regardless.

An easy TL;DR to people who don't understand

 

Instead of getting Sonic Unleashed 360, you get Sonic Unleashed PS2 ported to 360.

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Sonic Boom

 

Mom tested, kid disapproved

 

 
 
 

An easy TL;DR to people who don't understand

 

Instead of getting Sonic Unleashed 360, you get Sonic Unleashed PS2 ported to 360.

 

The thought of this made me throw up in my mouth a little

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An easy TL;DR to people who don't understand

 

Instead of getting Sonic Unleashed 360, you get Sonic Unleashed PS2 ported to 360.

Auto I don't think I've ever loved you more than this moment.

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All that said, I don't think it'd hurt much if they gave us a Wii U exclusive that was actually, well, good as opposed to just meh at best.

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I admit I'd be happy with a Wii U port, provided it was competent and the quality disparity was far better than UnWiished to Unleas'HD, but I would absolutely not care about Wii U if it was coming to PC. I'm that shallow.

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An easy TL;DR to people who don't understand

 

Instead of getting Sonic Unleashed 360, you get Sonic Unleashed PS2 ported to 360.

 

What a perfect, disgusting metaphor to think about

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An easy TL;DR to people who don't understand

 

Instead of getting Sonic Unleashed 360, you get Sonic Unleashed PS2 ported to 360.

 

Honestly, this just pisses me off, because this is exaggerating the situation sooooooo much.

 

A) Whatever game is made will be made by Sega's A-team, not their licensed C team based off a bigger project

B) Sonic team is extremely familiar with the wii-u having already made a fully integrated game that nows how to use the hardware properly

C) The Power Disparity isn't that big

 

At worst it would be porting Colors to the other systems, and even then the only side effects would be you could get a smoother framerate, slightly nicer graphics and some tweaks. Heck A solid Sonic Game with good gameplay can work on any system, only the level polish will vary

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Are you living on a different planet or something? There is a big power disparity. We're talking four times the RAM and superbly more powerful CPU and GPU.  It literally does not matter if Sonic Team knows the Wii U hardware well enough, you cannot just port that and expect everything to be hunky dory for all.

 

We want a game that takes full advantage of the most powerful consoles on the market. That will not make a satisfying experience for all consoles if aimed to be the exact same game for all. There's a reason Sonic and the Secret Rings ended up being its own title.

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It's not really the matter of "what's the big difference between hardware" and more like "what would a Sonic game do that requires THAT much power".

Because besides visual pluses, shorter / more seamless loading times, and higher poly stuff... I don't know what you guys are expecting. I seriously don't. We're at a point where the only limitations are how much space there is and how much processor power there is; we're not making gigantic leaps and bounds like we used to no matter what way you slice it. And even if you can count at least one thing that is, what way would it benefit Sonic to the extent that it's impossible to pull off in "last-gen" material like the Wii U? 

 

Unless you're looking for something that is so complex / over-ambitious that it breaks the concept of a Sonic game in the first place, but that's a bit on the impractical side, isn't it? Especially since Sega's so willing to sit towards the status quo?

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Honestly, this just pisses me off, because this is exaggerating the situation sooooooo much.

 

A) Whatever game is made will be made by Sega's A-team, not their licensed C team based off a bigger project

B) Sonic team is extremely familiar with the wii-u having already made a fully integrated game that nows how to use the hardware properly

C) The Power Disparity isn't that big

 

At worst it would be porting Colors to the other systems, and even then the only side effects would be you could get a smoother framerate, slightly nicer graphics and some tweaks. Heck A solid Sonic Game with good gameplay can work on any system, only the level polish will vary

Hey Mando since you apparently know so much more about tech than me (oh you know just the guy studying computer science at university), wanna tell me in detail exactly why the power disparity isn't as big as I'm saying it is?

Because I don't know man I'm looking at spec sheets showing a small fraction of the RAM and VRAM, a graphics card that's about five years behind the other two systems, and a CPU that's worse than the PS3 and 360's (because it's basically a GameCube CPU on steroids).

But hey obviously you're an expert so by all means, educate me.

It's not really the matter of "what's the big difference between hardware" and more like "what would a Sonic game do that requires THAT much power".

Because besides visual pluses, shorter loading times, and higher poly stuff... I don't know what you guys are expecting. I seriously don't. We're at a point where the only limitations are how much space there is and how much processor power there is; we're not making gigantic leaps and bounds like we used to no matter what way you slice it. And even if you can count at least one thing that is, what way would it benefit Sonic? 

 

Unless you're looking for something that is so complex / over-ambitious that it breaks the concept of a Sonic game in the first place, but that's a bit on the impractical side, isn't it? Especially since Sega's so willing to sit towards the status quo?

To be honest I think this is thread worthy. I'm tired and I'm waking up in six hours, so I'll answer tomorrow.

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It's not really the matter of "what's the big difference between hardware" and more like "what would a Sonic game do that requires THAT much power".

Because besides visual pluses, shorter / more seamless loading times, and higher poly stuff... I don't know what you guys are expecting. I seriously don't. We're at a point where the only limitations are how much space there is and how much processor power there is; we're not making gigantic leaps and bounds like we used to no matter what way you slice it. And even if you can count at least one thing that is, what way would it benefit Sonic to the extent that it's impossible to pull off in "last-gen" material like the Wii U? 

 

Unless you're looking for something that is so complex / over-ambitious that it breaks the concept of a Sonic game in the first place, but that's a bit on the impractical side, isn't it? Especially since Sega's so willing to sit towards the status quo?

 

The Wii U can run a great Sonic game

 

The PS4 and Xbone can run a better Sonic game

 

PC Has run that better Sonic game for 4 years now.

 

None of the above will happen consistantly as long as Sonic Team is involved, so it doesn't matter anyways.

Hey Mando since you apparently know so much more about tech than me (oh you know just the guy studying computer science at university), wanna tell me in detail exactly why the power disparity isn't as big as I'm saying it is?

 

 

magic.jpg

 

The Wii U's processor has better pipelines or some shit (seriously what was that article trying to prove)

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The Wii U can run a great Sonic game

 

The PS4 and Xbone can run a better Sonic game

 

PC Has run that better Sonic game for 4 years now.

 

Which is my point. :v

 

If the next game is gonna be something of a similar scale to Unleashed or Generations, but just better looking and better running (like Gens PC version / Unleashed Gens mod), what's stopping the Wii U from also getting it? It'll only be slightly less impressive, if anything.

 

Otherwise you're asking Sonic Team to dump millions and millions of dollars (they don't have) more into the next Sonic in order to get something too unnecessarily power/space hungry for both the genre and art style the game is.

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