CVG interview SEGA's Mike Hayes

[Detective Shadzter]

CVG have posted up part 1 of an interview with SEGA head of Western territory Mike Hayes in which some Sonic related questions pop up including Sonic 4.

Talking of classic Sega IP, we’ve seen the new Sonic game…

Doesn’t it look great?

For a 2D fan – yes, it does. What was the thinking behind its creation? Bizarrely, it’s a next-gen, old-school title…The thing with Sonic you need to understand is that there are different parts of the Sonic family. This is how we’re building the whole strategy. In one corner you’ve got Mario & Sonic franchise, in the next you’ve got Sonic The Hedgehog. Then you’ve got the All-Stars – that’s pretty much everybody. Then you’ve got something we haven’t seen for a while, which is like Sonic Heroes, multiplay-type game.

Those are the four areas we want to develop. Interestingly, each of those is going to have different audiences. With the Sonic The Hedgehog brand, we have a lot of people who are legacy fans in a way. And that’s where the new game came from: Wouldn’t you like to play in the style of your old Genesis or Megadrive but in the beauty of re-enhanced high definition? It doesn’t mean we won’t tap into the All-Star games, or we won’t take Sonic in other directions in future.

Why make it episodic rather than a standalone New Super Mario Bros-style release?

Kind of a mixture of reasons. A lot of it is the whole digital entertainment part. We like everybody else are trying to learn how best to deliver entertainment in the future to consumers. This was a relatively low cost part of Sonic. We wanted to see how it was received via that delivery.

For something like Sonic 4, the consumer will often be quite core. They play a lot of multiplayer, a lot of downloads off XBLA and PSN. We’re feeling our way if we’re perfectly honest, but it seems to make sense.

Full interview here -

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=239411

EDIT: Only just noticed Dusk has posted this is in the Upcoming Games board.

[Ekaje]

So, just the same "for the old-school fans" they've been saying for a while now, right? But this part bugged me:

"The thing with Sonic you need to understand is that there are different parts of the Sonic family. This is how we’re building the whole strategy. In one corner you’ve got Mario & Sonic franchise, in the next you’ve got Sonic The Hedgehog. Then you’ve got the All-Stars – that’s pretty much everybody. Then you’ve got something we haven’t seen for a while, which is like Sonic Heroes, multiplay-type game."

I agree that Mario & Sonic are separate from the rest (obviously, since it's a mini-game collection), but All-Stars is a SEGA crossover game with "Sonic &" put on the front for some reason, and how is Sonic Heroes separate from "Sonic the Hedgehog"? And of course we haven't seen a "multiplay-type game" (what?) like Heroes since, there hasn't been a consistent design for 3D Sonics for more than 3 games, tops.

EDIT:Just noticed the other, more active topic.XP

Edited March 17, 2010 by Ekaje

[Rusty Spy]

So the idea of having extra gimmicks in Sonic games is it's own separate section of the franchise? Well, at least they aren't acknowledging it as normal Sonic games, but that means they're actually going to keep doing these pointless gimmicks?

[batson]

But hey, wait a minute. He mentions that the four Sonic series currently going on are the classic 2D series, the Mario and Sonic series, the All-star series and a apparently some kind of multiplayer platform game somewhat similar to Sonic Heroes. But what about the regular 3D platform game series a la' Sonic Adventure? Aren't they gonna make any more of those?

[Diogenes]

Well, Adventure-esque gameplay could certainly fall under the "Sonic alone" sort of category, just without the extra gameplay styles tacked on.

Then again, it's kind of hard to tell where he's drawing the lines. M&S and All-Stars are obvious, but just saying "Sonic the Hedgehog" or "Sonic Heroes multiplay-type game". Does "Sonic the Hedgehog" mean games with just Sonic, or is it meant to mean the core games in general? What other Sonic games are "multiplay-type game"s; does he mean ones with teams, ones with multiplayer, ones with multiple gameplay styles, or...? The Adventures could fall under either one, depending on what he meant by it...

[Thirsty Pocket]

Im not sure how "Sonic the Hedgehog" equals "Sonic Solo" considering Tails and Knuckles presence. I thought it meant his platformers in general.

[Blue Blood]

Likewise. I thought that 'Sonic the Hedgehog' encompassed everything from Sonic 1 to Rush to Unleashed that's not a spin-off. And 'Sonic Heroes multiplay-type games' must be something new.

[Dr. SEGA Monkey]

Mike Hayes means Sonic games that have different gameplay types than regular Sonic gameplay. That's what he means by "multiplay". Games like Shadow, Heroes, Unleashed, etc.

Edited March 21, 2010 by Dr. SEGA Monkey