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We all know by now that Sonic Adventures is coming to the Dreamcast, and with a public showing in late August the chances are excellent that it will be a launch title. Remember that all launch title information for Japan to date is speculation; there are several distinct possibilities but nothing is written in stone. VF3 will have to be available in some form or Sega will have a riot on its hands. A driving game is expected, and the early returns are that it will be a port of Scud Race although an original title is always a possibility. D2 was thought to be a launch title once, but now it appears that the date has slipped into late winter. I personally hope so because what I have seen of D2 needs a little polishing and is not as impressive as we all hoped it to be. Perhaps the now famous shooter which was shown at E3 this year is a possibility; the Japanese market is a great one for this type of game. Seventh Cross is expected to be a release title but I haven't been impressed with what I've seen from it so far; further opinions on that subject are expanded on in my last editorial. So we have fighting, driving, RPG, and shooters all as possibilities for the launch. VF3 alone will sell this machine, but if another ground breaking title is introduced at the right time then .... This is where Sonic enters the picture. Remember in the same timeframe that DC launches in Japan this fall, gamers will also see FFVIII on the PSX, and Pokemon and Zelda on the N64. That is some pretty strong competition, and with the Japanese economy in a slump there are only so many gaming dollars to go around. Sega needs another killer application to advertise with VF3 in order to ensure success, so I believe we are in for a big surprise in late August; we will see an almost complete copy of Sonic presented to the gaming public. According to the latest reports the game has been in the planning stages since Nights was completed and originally was going to be on the Saturn platform. That means that this game has been in the works for over two years now; it is just a question of coding the game on the finished hardware. Therefore the question that must be addressed is just how long has Sega had the DC silicon in a near-complete format? That is a question that I have wondered ever since the DC was shown to the public in spring of this year. It is a good possibility that most of the first games that we see will be from Sega themselves, and many will be ports of previously existing arcade games; however, we must remember that Sega has stressed that they wish to concentrate on unique titles for the system. We will certainly see some Model 3 arcade ports, but apparently not every Model 3 game will make it to the DC. Rumors suggest that VF3 is already running on the DC hardware, and other ports are being translated now; Yu Suzuki seems to know alot about the DC hardware which means one of two things. His observations are from translations that are currently advanced in development, or they are based on his work with the Naomi arcade board. I personally believe it is a mixture of both factors because he has been quoted talking about the Naomi and the DC, and he appears to have intimate knowledge of each product. If any of this is true, then Sega has had the development tools and silicon for quite a while. Another thing which needs to be considered is the announcement of the breakup of Sonic Team. It was rumored and finally confirmed that they were working on a Sonic game for the DC; we all know it now as Sonic Adventures. Why break up the team if the project isn't nearly or already completed? The members of the team are supposed to work on other DC titles for Sega, which means that they must be close to finished with their current project. Two years should be sufficient time to complete the job, although I am sure the game needs to be polished and fine tuned. Only certain personnel would be necessary for this to occur; it is my guess that the game is close to complete and is in the process of being tested for bugs so the gaming code can be cleaned up. But the most condemning evidence for a nearly complete Sonic game comes from Sega themselves. They have announced a large show open to the general public to showcase this game. Sega has never done this before, and to show an incomplete game off would be complete suicide at this point. My guess is that it will be a nearly complete version of the game, and that the Sega representative will control it himself on stage like the tower of Babel demo was done. Perhaps after the show some news editors will be able to get there hands on the game as well. It has been speculated that the shooter demo was strictly FMV, but apparently some IGN affiliates have seen it hands on and can confirm that the demo was not FMV but real time. If the shooter demo was that far along then how can a game which has had extensive development time not be at least as playable. I honestly believe that Sega
will completely shock the gaming community at this conference. The
game is reported to be absolutely spectacular, and will probably be complete
or near complete. I'm hoping to hear that it will also be a launch
title as well because Sega has a harder than expected fight ahead this
fall. Maybe it will only be shown on videotape, but I doubt it.
Why all the fuss for just a videotape of the game?
-- Written By Robert |