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Posts with tag sonic

Sonic is leashed

Posted Jun 25th 2008 11:45AM by Phil Larsen

As usual, our razor-sharp instincts were correct -- Sonic Unleashed will not be coming to the DS, as confirmed by Sega. This was probably the fault of Jimmy, the work-experience kid at the Sega offices. When Jimmy was notified of two completely different Sonic games and asked to write a release list, it all became a bit much for him and he made an honest mistake.

Don't blame poor Jimmy, we're none of us perfect. Instead, sit back and embrace the fact that Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood is still on its way, and Sonic Unleashed was, and always will be, a full-fledged console game for the Wii.

Gallery: Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood



[Via Videogaming24/7]
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DS Daily: A tale of two Sonics

Posted Jun 25th 2008 8:00AM by David Hinkle
Filed under: DS Daily

Following yesterday's big list of release dates for Europe, everyone is wondering what the deal is with Sonic. Is he starring in two upcoming games on the DS, or is Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood enough for him? What is the deal, exactly?

Well, we don't know, right now. We're of the mind that the thing is nothing but a typo. But, should it be true, would you want Sonic Unleashed on the handheld? The game seems to be going back to its roots, but we've been fooled before. Also, with Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood releasing soon, we're not sure we have enough in us to get excited for two games starring the spiny little fellow.

What say you all?

Gallery: Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood

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Clunky Sonic Chronicles site opens

Posted Jun 24th 2008 6:00PM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: News



The official U.S. site for Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood just opened its doors to the viewing public. Even as official websites go, it's particularly Flash-heavy and rather annoying to use at first, but the idea behind it is pretty neat. As in the game, you use your "stylus" to help Sonic navigate the lush environments. We just hope movement feels a little more fluent in Sonic Chronicles itself, because it comes across as fairly clumsy and graceless on the site. If there were two words we'd use to describe Sonic, those words would not be "clumsy" and "graceless," but "fast" and, erm, "blue" (look, it's Tuesday evening, what more do you want?).

It's got all the official site stuff, which basically means screens and game information (locations, character profiles, etc.), and before you ask: yes, you can use the loop, yes, you can collect the gold rings (and collecting them all gives you a prize), and no, you can't hold Big's face beneath the water until his eyes bulge and his body goes limp.

Gallery: Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood


[Via Go Nintendo]
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Long list of DS titles headed for Europe

Posted Jun 24th 2008 11:00AM by David Hinkle
Filed under: News

Europeans, rejoice! Today brings news regarding release dates for DS titles up until the beginning of next year. The list is populated with plenty of high-profile titles, yet is woefully absent of a certain Professor Layton. There's also a concrete confirmation that Trials & Tribulations is headed your way, even though we kind of knew that already.

Even more odd is the inclusion of Sonic Unleashed in the list past the break. Is the game coming to the DS? Maybe, but it seems more likely that this is nothing more than a typo.

Continue reading Long list of DS titles headed for Europe

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Sonic Chronicles trailer is a page-turner

Posted Jun 4th 2008 9:30AM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: Video


Wow, this Sonic Chronicles trailer is an instant classic, if promotional game trailers have classics. Check out that model planet they made just for that one shot! Somebody spent hours making a miniature just for that one fly-in. Unless it's CG, in which case ... somebody spent hours making a 3D model just for that one fly-in.

Maybe it's goodwill from the excellently baroque special effect, but we're also generally impressed with the rest of the comic-book-style trailer. The footage (which we can see briefly as it goes by) looks great, and it even seems to use the same "moving panels" style as the art in the trailer! We're so excited about how this is turning out that we don't mind the approaching comments threatening Sega for calling Eggman "Eggman."

Gallery: Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood

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Amazon's plethora of cheap games

Posted May 24th 2008 5:00PM by Candace Savino
Filed under: Sales

Amazon's "Deal of the Day" this fine Saturday is Trace Memory, a fun adventure game reminiscent of titles like Hotel Dusk and Phoenix Wright. While not as good as the other two (in this blogger's opinion), it's still a good (albeit short) game that's worth its current $8.99 sale price.

The fine folks at Cheap Ass Gamer also noticed some other low-priced DS software at Amazon, if you're looking for filler. These include:
Those are exactly the kind of games that aren't worth buying at their full price (with perhaps a few exceptions), but are much more tempting when on sale. So, let us know if you see anything here that's worth recommending.

[Via CAG]
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Screenshot explosion: Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood

Posted May 16th 2008 4:00PM by David Hinkle
Filed under: Screens


Sega has unloaded an incredible amount of screens from the upcoming Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood on us and, frankly, we're surprised we even found the time to write this up. Seriously, there are some good images in there, which show off the Green Hill Zone, among others. And, there's even a bunch of in-game screens showing Big the Cat in action. We wonder if we'll love him?

Regardless, just head into the gallery and check out the new images yourself. There's well over 20 new screens in there.

Gallery: Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood

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Bioware chronicles Sonic Chronicles

Posted May 5th 2008 1:30PM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: Video



As our rudimentary French extends to asking for directions and words that aren't suitable for a family site such as this one, we haven't a clue what's being said here by the Bioware bods who are working on Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. We'd like to think that they're desperately trying to justify the inclusion of Big the Cat, or maybe laying into all the games that have tarnished Sonic's good name these past few years.

Whatever they're gassing about, we advise you keep watching, because the video contains the first glimpses of Sonic Chronicles in action, including some of those Ouendan-style battle mechanics that we're looking forward to trying out. There's not very much to see, but it's all we have, and it looks pretty great. For more footage of beardy Canadian men speaking French and writing on whiteboards interspersed with very short snippets of Sonic Chronicles, hit the break.

Gallery: Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood

Continue reading Bioware chronicles Sonic Chronicles

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Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Boxart

Posted May 5th 2008 10:30AM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: News


Not even the goofy-looking cartoon alien (Shade, just the latest in the endless parade of Sonic the Hedgehog supporting characters, and looking straight out of Invader Zim) can stop this early Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood boxart from looking cool. It's about as simple as it can be -- a hand-drawn picture of Sonic, the alien thing, and the logo. But it's proof that in the hands of a good artist, even just a picture of Sonic can be made appealing.

Though both look nice, we're amused by how much the dark, blue- and- purple-dominated artwork contrasts with the color explosion found in the actual game.
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Sonic Chronicles screens charge up, spin into view

Posted Apr 21st 2008 3:00PM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: Screens

Apparently, Sega is terribly keen that we see more of Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood's combat system. Of the 50-odd new screens distributed today, the vast majority were dedicated to showing off battles in the BioWare RPG, which utilize the Ouendan/Elite Beat Agents technique of hitting numbered markers in time. Truth be told, they all end up looking a little ... samey. We only needed a few shots to get the gist, Sega!

Fortunately, there was also plenty of the title's eye-catching hand-drawn art on display, something which we'll never get tired of looking at. Charge up your spin attack and accelerate into our gallery.

Gallery: Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood


[Via press release]
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NMS08: Sonic Chronicles video interview

Posted Apr 17th 2008 5:00PM by David Hinkle
Filed under: Video


Back at the Nintendo Media Summit, Kirby Fong, producer on the Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood project, talked about the game and the decision to go with Bioware. The game is entirely stylus-driven and has received a lot of attention due to Bioware's promise to make us love something we can't see ourselves ever loving and not create another crappy Sonic game. What we didn't know is that the game already came out back in 2007. Oh, you don't believe us? Skip to the end of the video where Kirby says it himself!

Mistakes in video interviews aside, it's a good watch. Kirby talks about Power Moves and how you'll be able to do team attacks with other party members. He even lets us know some about the mysterious targeting rings we spotted.

Gallery: Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood


[Thanks, Torin!]
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NMS08: Sonic Chronicles likes to talk

Posted Apr 16th 2008 3:00PM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: News

Most seasoned gamers will be familiar with the practice of wearing out their A button as they skip through mountains of dialog in a game. It's a harsh truth that the majority of titles don't do dialog well to start with, and when there's enough wordage to fill a few phone books, playing can feel more and more like a chore.

Hopefully, Sonic Chronicles will prove the exception to the rule. Patrick Klepek of the MTV Multiplayer blog went hands-on with the title at the recent Nintendo Media Summit, and reported that the game -- as well as being "surprisingly dark" -- was packed with words: more than 50,000 of the buggers, in fact.

That's almost double the number of words you'd find in George Orwell's allegorical classic Animal Farm (30,210), and while we'd normally approach such a wordy game with caution (see: first paragraph), it's worth remembering that Sonic Chronicles is being crafted by BioWare, a studio that's fashioned some of the finest scripts in the business. Not only that, but Klepek assures us there'll be plenty of the branching dialog trees that are a BioWare staple. If it's engaging enough, maybe we will love Big the Cat! Now there's a sentence we never expected to write.

Gallery: Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood

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Possible leaked screenshots from Sonic Chronicles

Posted Mar 24th 2008 10:30AM by Alisha Karabinus
Filed under: Rumors, Screens

What's going on over at Sega lately? They need to check the pipes in the basement or something, because a veritable flood of leaks has been unleashed onto the internet. The latest? Supposed screenshots of Blue Ridge from Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. The more we see from the game, we can't help but think that it should perhaps have been named The Brightly-Colored Brotherhood, or perhaps Eternal Sunshine of the Sonic Mind. Unfortunately, the only say we got in naming was a poll set up for the purpose of naming aliens in the forthcoming game. In case you missed it, the Zoah won. So much for noodity.

Check out the apparent new screens in our gallery below, along with some older shots.

Gallery: Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood


[Thanks, Tanks!]
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Play video game music on a piano -- just like the pros!

Posted Mar 20th 2008 10:34PM by Eric Caoili
Filed under: Homebrew

Taking a break from porting visual novel demos like Fate/hollow ataraxia Prologue and Snatcher Pilot, developer Multiple: Option has posted its first original project, a neat homebrew application that teaches you how to play simple video game melodies with a virtual piano. If only there was a similar program for 90s gangsta rap songs -- we would love to learn 2Pac's "I Ain't Mad at Cha!"

Multiple: Option's software, Game Melody Oratorio, includes lessons for songs Super Mario Bros., Sonic the Hedgehog, Tetris, Bubble Bobble, and The Legend of Zelda. Each melody has two modes, one for practicing the tune with visual cues, the other for playing the melody without any help once you've mastered it. Don't see your favorite video game song on the list? There's also a "Free Play" mode that allows you to experiment and play whatever you want.

[Via NEO Compo 2008]
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Friday Video: Sonic Sez

Posted Mar 14th 2008 7:00PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: Friday video


The real sticking point with the idea of Sonic meeting a dignified end is assuming he had any dignity to start with. Here's evidence to the contrary: a "Sonic Sez" PSA from the cartoon starring Jaleel White. One of these appeared at the end of every episode, usually involving a supporting character doing something dumb and Sonic stepping in to be a jerk to them about it.

While some of the other segments focused on important issues like smoking, alcohol, and, uh, sexual harrassment, we're partial to this one, in which Sonic makes his personal stance known on the subject of whether or not it's good to be stupid.
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