SEGA + Bioware in bed = Sonic RPG announced

"SEGA AND BIOWARE COLLABORATE ON NEW SONIC ROLE PLAYING GAME FOR THE NINTENDO DS


LONDON & SAN FRANCISCO (Thurs 21st June 2007) -- SEGA® Europe, Ltd., SEGA® of America, Inc. and Canada-based developer studio BioWare® Corp. today announced a partnership to create a new video game based on the ****c SEGA flagship icon, Sonic The Hedgehog. The exact name of the game is undetermined, but this new title developed exclusively for the Nintendo DS will ship in 2008.

"BioWare is one of the hottest names in RPG development in the world," said Simon Jeffery, President and COO, SEGA of America, Inc. "Everyone at SEGA has huge confidence that Sonic is in the safest of hands, and that BioWare can create the ultimate handheld RPG experience for gamers of all ages."

BioWare is the award-winning independent developer that has created some of the world's best-selling titles including the Baldur's GateTM and Neverwinter NightsTM series, the 2003 Game of the Year, Star Wars®: Knights of the Old RepublicTM and the 2005 RPG of the Year, Jade Empire.TM BioWare is currently developing one of the most anticipated next-generation titles of 2007, Mass Effect.TM

"We're thrilled to be working with SEGA on Sonic, one of the industry's most enduring and compelling icons," said Greg Zeschuk, president of BioWare. "As huge fans of Sonic ourselves, we're committed to delivering a truly amazing story-driven experience within the Sonic universe, focusing on capturing the character's broad appeal and placing him in a completely original adventure," added Ray Muzyka, chief executive officer of BioWare.

The relationship with BioWare reinforces SEGA's increased emphasis on Western content development for Western audiences. In the past few years SEGA has announced partnerships with developers Bizarre Creations, Gas Powered Games, Monolith Productions, Obsidian Entertainment, Planet Moon Studios, Pseudo Interactive and Silicon Knights. SEGA has also acquired development studios The Creative Assembly, Secret Level and Sports Interactive."

http://www.bioware.com/bioware_info/press_releases/2007_06_21_Sonic_DS/

W..........T..........F..........!?!?!?!

Bioware RPG wasted on Sonic and his shi*** friends #45 :(:(:(:(

I thought i would never see this happen....

Sounds awesome though.

And its Bioware, so it has to be good right?

There hasnt been any really good sonic games...this might be a good change?

If you're gonna announce something, then why do you waste typing so you could just flame it?

I thought i would never see this happen....

Sounds awesome though.

And its Bioware, so it has to be good right?

AsakuraHao2004

you never know, migth be the opposite. Sonic brings one of the best developer down under into mediocrity. I can see that happening aswell.

Darn we could've got a new original IP with the typical Bioware goods. But instead we get this. :(

A Mario RPG seemed like an awkward combination at the time but now they have got a bunch of them and they are pretty good. Although I really can not imagine how Sonic could mix with an RPG and create good results. The end result will probably be a game with Sonic elements poorly done and RPG elements poorly done.

[QUOTE="AsakuraHao2004"]

I thought i would never see this happen....

Sounds awesome though.

And its Bioware, so it has to be good right?

laus_basic

you never know, migth be the opposite. Sonic brings one of the best developer down under into mediocrity. I can see that happening aswell.

Darn we could've got a new original IP with the typical Bioware goods. But instead we get this. :(

That doesn't make sense. The Sonic license isn't cursed, it just has crappy developers and badly handled development cycles. Your jumping the gun from reasonable doubt to just plain paranoid.

It could suck given how tightly SEGA might be holding the reins on this one, but your level of doubt is irrational.

[QUOTE="laus_basic"][QUOTE="AsakuraHao2004"]

I thought i would never see this happen....

Sounds awesome though.

And its Bioware, so it has to be good right?

Articuno76

you never know, migth be the opposite. Sonic brings one of the best developer down under into mediocrity. I can see that happening aswell.

Darn we could've got a new original IP with the typical Bioware goods. But instead we get this. :(

That doesn't make sense. The Sonic license isn't cursed, it just has crappy developers and badly handled development cycles. Your jumping the gun from reasonable doubt to just plain paranoid.

It could suck given how tightly SEGA might be holding the reins on this one, but your level of doubt is irrational.

Like I said, it might be the opposite.

I'll give the game a chance and wait till we see something about it, but I can't help but feel extremely dissapointed.

I was really looking forward to this one, expecting typical Bioware RPG goodness. I'm also not the biggest Sonic fan which is why I'm not jumping out of joy. However this could turn out to be Sega's Super Mario RPG LotSS, in which case, great! Still, it's Sonic, and Sonic characters aren't my cup of tea.

For some reason I imagine this having a Spyro-esque feel in terms of the plot line. Maybe, maybe not? Not sure how I feel about that kind of RPG story, but I'm actually excited about this. Guess we'll see how it turns out in the end.

@laus: I don't really see them pulling a LotSS on this one, either. We can hope though!

Like I said, it might be the opposite.

I'll give the game a chance and wait till we see something about it, but I can't help but feel extremely dissapointed.

I was really looking forward to this one, expecting typical Bioware RPG goodness. I'm also not the biggest Sonic fan which is why I'm not jumping out of joy. However this could turn out to be Sega's Super Mario RPG LotSS, in which case, great! Still, it's Sonic, and Sonic characters aren't my cup of tea.

laus_basic

I don't care if you said it might be, you're being irrational *smacks laus over the back of the head*. Come back when you have a realisitic reason to be concerned.

[QUOTE="laus_basic"]

Like I said, it might be the opposite.

I'll give the game a chance and wait till we see something about it, but I can't help but feel extremely dissapointed.

I was really looking forward to this one, expecting typical Bioware RPG goodness. I'm also not the biggest Sonic fan which is why I'm not jumping out of joy. However this could turn out to be Sega's Super Mario RPG LotSS, in which case, great! Still, it's Sonic, and Sonic characters aren't my cup of tea.

Articuno76

I don't care if you said it might be, you're being irrational *smacks laus over the back of the head*. Come back when you have a realisitic reason to be concerned.

Am I allowed to be skeptical and have my own opinion, jeez. I'm not talking for everyone, just for myself. I'm not a big Sonic fan which is why I'm not thrilled about this.

Lots of people will be happy, good, I'm not, period.

As someone who much prefer seeing new IPs instead of making another new itteration of an existing franchise, I feel like this is a wasted opportunity. I expected something new to be Bioware's first handheld game. Wanted them to make their own game, instead of one from someone else.

Like I said I'll give it a chance and wait to hear more about it.

[

Am I allowed to be skeptical and have my own opinion, jeez.

laus_basic

Go ahead and be sceptical. However, if you choose to be sceptical without due reason that makes you irrational. The irrational man shouldn't expect his views to be taken seriously because he has no reason for his views to be taken seriously.

I've edited out the part of the post that doesn't concern me; what bothers me is you seem to have an irrational doubt about this games' quality, there are many good reasons to doubt the quality of this game, but none of them are points you've made. The big IF here is if SEGA has a tight leash on this project they are apt to control it the same way it would have been made internally (and quite frankly they don't have the experience or pedigree to make this work) but since there is no indication that is the case there is no reason for doubt...right?

[QUOTE="laus_basic"][

Am I allowed to be skeptical and have my own opinion, jeez.

Articuno76

Go ahead and be sceptical. However, if you choose to be sceptical without due reason that makes you irrational. The irrational man shouldn't expect his views to be taken seriously because he has no reason for his views to be taken seriously.

I've edited out the part of the post that doesn't concern me; what bothers me is you seem to have an irrational doubt about this games' quality, there are many good reasons to doubt the quality of this game, but none of them are points you've made. The big IF here is if SEGA has a tight leash on this project they are apt to control it the same way it would have been made internally (and quite frankly they don't have the experience or pedigree to make this work) but since there is no indication that is the case there is no reason for doubt...right?

well actually I really only just see one reason to doubt the quality of this and like you said it's if SEGA decide to butt in every now and then to put their little things in it and not give Bioware the freedom to do it their way. If Bioware has the green light to do what they want, chances are we'll have a good game.

For me personally however, there's more than 1 reason. If I don't like the characters, the universe it takes place in, the music...etc chances are I'm not gonna like this one. Fans of the serie will probably be in heaven tho unless they're not into RPGs.

But most of my frustration is mostly because we could've got a new game typically Bioware. That's what I wanted to see. Not another game from an old franchise.

But hey, if Bioware manage to bring new lifes to those characters and the overall Sonic universe, who knows, I might like it.

[QUOTE="Articuno76"][QUOTE="laus_basic"][

Am I allowed to be skeptical and have my own opinion, jeez.

laus_basic

Go ahead and be sceptical. However, if you choose to be sceptical without due reason that makes you irrational. The irrational man shouldn't expect his views to be taken seriously because he has no reason for his views to be taken seriously.

I've edited out the part of the post that doesn't concern me; what bothers me is you seem to have an irrational doubt about this games' quality, there are many good reasons to doubt the quality of this game, but none of them are points you've made. The big IF here is if SEGA has a tight leash on this project they are apt to control it the same way it would have been made internally (and quite frankly they don't have the experience or pedigree to make this work) but since there is no indication that is the case there is no reason for doubt...right?

well actually I really only just see one reason to doubt the quality of thisand like you said it's if SEGA decide to butt in every now and then to put their little things in it and not give Bioware the freedom to do it their way. If Bioware has the green light to do what they want, chances are we'll have a good game.

For me personally however, there's more than 1 reason. If I don't like the characters, the universe it takes place in, the music...etc chances are I'm not gonna like this one. Fans of the serie will probably be in heaven tho unless they're not into RPGs.

But most of my furstration is mostlybecause we could've got a new game typically Bioware. That's what I wanted to see. Not another game from an old franchise.

But hey, ifBioware manage to bring new lifes to those characters and the overall Sonic universe, who knows, I might like it.

You make it sound like you lost out on a regular RPG because SEGA got in the way or something. Nothing of the sort has happened, it would've been a Sonic RPG, or no game at all. This is a good a launchboard as any for Bioware to start a line of titles on the DS, furthermore if Bioware released their own IP it would've been lucky to rack up very many sales on it's own momentum.

I'm more or less curious as to how they'll RPGify the Sonic universe.....

The series has essentially been about speed, and to be honest, I have no clue how BioWare intends on translating that gameplay aspect to an RPG setting, as it's one of the key factors of all the Sonic titles.....

I must say though that I was dumbstruck when I first heard about the news, never in my life saw something like this coming, just hope the end means well.

[QUOTE="laus_basic"][QUOTE="Articuno76"][QUOTE="laus_basic"][

Articuno76

You make it sound like you lost out on a regular RPG because SEGA got in the way or something. Nothing of the sort has happened, it would've been a Sonic RPG, or no game at all. This is a good a launchboard as any for Bioware to start a line of titles on the DS, furthermore if Bioware released their own IP it would've been lucky to rack up very many sales on it's own momentum.

I don't see why their IP wouldn't have had the chance to sell big if advertised well. The hype would've definitly been there on just the name Bioware alone. I can understand tho how a Sonic game would be tempting to them considering the success ofthe franchise on Nintendo platforms.

Still from this interview: http://ds.ign.com/articles/733/733754p1.html,
I expected the usual Bioware stuff and the way he talked gave me hope for something new. Anyway I'll move on. Hopefully they have more than 1 title planned for the DS.

this is great news :) couldnt be even better,at least for sonic :P it will be interesting how they will make sonic more

intellectual and interesting :p

I don't see why their IP wouldn't have had the chance to sell big if advertised well. The hype would've definitly been there on just the name Bioware alone. I can understand tho how a Sonic game would be tempting to them considering the success ofthe franchise on Nintendo platforms.

Still from this interview: http://ds.ign.com/articles/733/733754p1.html,
I expected the usual Bioware stuff and the way he talked gave me hope for something new. Anyway I'll move on. Hopefully they have more than 1 title planned for the DS.

laus_basic

That interview strongly suggests that this Sonic game is a reworking of one of their older games with a Sonic licence or that they have 2 games in development

And the thing with big advertising...it's a vicious ciricle isn't it? 3rd parties complain that their games don't sell well on Nintendo platforms but then they don't bother to market well...but they don't market well because they don't see the point *twirls finger*. A Bioware game with a big marketing budget simply wouldn't happen unless Nintendo was the publisher (and even then) and even if it did it would be a half-hearted effort. At least with Sonic, Bioware is guaranteed some mileage, Sonic is an established franchise on handhelds, Bioware is simply an obscure developer that the casual consumer at large has no idea about.