Crispygamer have posted news that Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood is now 100% complete and henceforth gone gold. This is contradictory to the new Bioware behind the scenes video that was released yesterday in which Bioware staff said the game is now being polished but they may have recorded that so many days back and the news does makes sense as the game is being released the 26th Sept in Europe and Sept 30th(28th at Nintendo World) in the U.S.
Now let’s hope Bioware have pulled off a great title for us all to enjoy.
SEGA have released quite a snazzy little teaser flash game for all of you people who just can’t wait to get your grubby little mittens on a copy of Sonic Chronicles at the end of this month!
Apparently, Sonic is having visions of his up-and-coming adventure, and the idea of the minigame is for you to help make sense of these premonitions to see who Sonic will meet, what items he will need etc… Confused? Yeah, it confused the heck out of me; it’s got to be played to be understood!!!
First off you need an account on a social networking site such Windows Live, facebook, myspace (the rest are listed on the site). I’ve stuck it on my facebook account. From there you can play a number of different puzzle games, as well as point and click games, from which you collect points to go up Bronze, Silver and Gold rankings. There’s also a “Dark” rank - wonder what that’s for! A more comprehensive explaination is given on the site itself:
As you go up ranks you’ll be rewarded with access to exclusive downloadable packs, which contain desktops, bebo and myspace skins, and instant messaging icons to show off to your mates. Not only that, there is a Chao Garden in which you can collect up to 20 different Chao, upon fulfilling specific criteria - such as having a friend grab the game from your social networking page!
A perfect solution for what looks to be a rainy weekend!
Clumsyorchild of the Sega of America blogs has uploaded a new video to YouTube that gives us a behind the scenes look at Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood being developed at Bioware. In the video Bioware’s developers show us some more of their popular artwork and some awesome CGI animation from the game. Bioware also explain how the game came to be and reveal the game is just being polished right now so it’s up to Bioware standards before release, which is great to hear. Finally, a polished Sonic game, awesome….
Sega Europe have finally posted up a release date for Samba De Amigo Wii on their site and it’s not the one shown in their earlier release schedules. The Gearbox developed rhythm game game is now going to be released alongside Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood on the 26th September instead of the original date of the 19th September. No news yet on why the game’s been delayed but if we hear something we’ll let you know.
Ex-SEGA America President Peter Moore has revealed to Esquire Magazine that he has crossed the nasty path with Sonic programmer Yuji Naka, telling him “F*** you” during a Tokyo boardroom meeting. The tirade came as Moore was presenting the results to SEGA Japan of a consumer focus group, asking gamers what they thought of the SEGA brand.
At this point in time, the Dreamcast was sorely getting its arse handed to it by the Sony upstart, PlayStation 2, and the EA Sports head recollects asking people “If these brands were people, who would they be?” SEGA, unfortunately, was the “granddad with dementia who used to be cool but you couldn’t remember why”. Something familiar with that reaction there regarding today’s gaming climate, but that might just be me. Says Gamesradar:
Moore had tapes of the focus group dubbed in Japanese and headed to Tokyo to report the doddering image of Sega to the company’s board. However, when he arrived, Yuji Naka - who Moore describes as being “a tad conceited” - accused Moore of tampering with the dialogue. “I lost it,” remembers Moore. “I turned to the interpreter and said, ‘Tell him, “F*** you”.”
Although the translator refused to convey Moore’s feelings, he was pretty sure that his message got across. “Naka had lived in the US for three years, so I knew he understood. I walked out and never returned.” What a badass.
I guess Naka’s uncomfortable nature outside of programming awesome code rings even more true, what with his part in the whole Sonic X-Treme tragedy now urban legend. Power can sometimes make a guy arrogant, even Peter in his Xbox 360 days. But we have to agree with Gamesradar… man, what a badass. I’d like to buy him a beer.
G4 have had the chance to do a video interview with Bioware’s project director Mark Darrah about upcoming DS RPG game Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. Mark Darrah reveals how this title “looks back into the history of Sonic characters” and how Sonic can expand his relationship with Amy Rose compared to previous Sonic game’s that only touched upon it. Mark also talks about the plot of gathering the Chaos Emeralds and all the area’s Sonic must visit to obtain them. Some gameplay footage can also be seen in the video but nothing new is shown really.
Gamespot AU have interviewed Bioware’s Joe MacMillan about Sonic Chronicles. There’s nothing really new here but Joel did mention the Realtime Button Input system for your POW moves will get harder as you level up those moves.
GS AU: Tell us about the combat system. From what we’ve seen so far, it’s a mix of turn-based with some real-time action.
JM: That’s correct. Combat’s been engineered to play out as ‘Rounds’, to help illustrate a feeling of speed. To accentuate that, there’s a Realtime Button Input system we have that coincides with combat. During the team’s Power Moves, the player will have to successfully accomplish a small Button and Stylus sequence in order to deliver a maximum damage attack. It’s actually a lot of fun–as the player levels up their power moves, the Realtime Button Input gets more difficult. It’s a good way to keep the player on their toes.
Not very rewarding for your level-ups but hopefully this means the POW moves will get more powerful in connection with the harder inputs.
ArchangelUK over at the Sonic City Blognik and Martin The Fat Ninja at the Sega Europe blogs have updated with news regarding the Sonic and the Black Knight art contest that went live in the U.S. last week. The European site is now up and taking entries and it looks like every region will be getting it’s top piece of art in Sonic and the Black Knight’s Special Book. You can’t say fairer than that.
European’s can check out the rules and details for submitting your art at the contest’s site here.
U.S. site is here; ArchangelUK’s Sonic City Blog is here; Martin’s blog is here
Spanish gaming site Revogamer have had the opportunity to talk to Sega about the Wii version of Sonic Unleashed and here is a translation of their main findings from GoNintendo -
Half of the game normal, the other half were-hog
Wii-PS360 more similar than first thought, design and gameplay-wise
You use Wiimote + Nunchuck
Won’t have motion controls for attacking from the air, despite of being pretty similar to The Secret Rings
Some problems controlling Sonic at a low speed. Walking for rings, etc
Wiimote just for accelerate-push
No motion controls for side-step, you’ll use B and Z, like on 360
Don’t know if they’re using for balancing ropes or QTEs, but they should!
According to SEGA, the game (Wii version) should be shown in the upcoming TGS, in October.
Not showing the Black Night because of focusing on this one first.
So barely any waggle in Sonic’s sections at least, wether that’s a good or bad thing I’ll let you be the judge. Now hopefully with the Wii version confirmed to be at TGS next month we’ll see some footage at long last.
Bioware are on fire just lately with their new ‘Insider Videos’ released on YouTube promoting ‘Sonic Chronicles’ on DS released later this month!
Their latest video released yesterday showcases two enemies Sonic and pals will face on their adventure, the ‘Egg Pawn’ and ‘Kron Warrior.’ Bioware stresses danger is afoot and you’ll need to kick some ass if you’re going to make it through to the end of the game, naturally.
