For those four of you that have Windows Phone 7 equipped phones, Sega was pleased to announce earlier today that the game is on its way Microsoft’s answer to Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android.
By posting it five different times on their Facebook page.
There’s no price point and a vague release date of “within the next six weeks.” It’s unknown if the game is a port of the iOS version, though likely, and if Sega will see it fit to bring the game to Android users.
So, I don’t know if you all have heard, but the Sonic community is totally horrible, you guys. But there was a magical time when the community was different! Was better! A time when the community didn’t get at each other’s throats and hate each other and be full of pointless critiques!
That time, my friends, was never. If you’ve been around long enough, you’ve seen the stupidity of the Sonic scene since day 1. Therefore, I’m challenging you all to a game. I have pulled five random forum posts and posted them below. Your job? Determine whether each of these posts were made about Sonic 4, or its predecessor, Sonic 3. Please note that I’ve edited out information that would obviously give the game in question away, but they are otherwise intact. We’ll post the solution tomorrow.
First the 360 PartnerNet leak, then the Japanese Wii Shopping Channel leak. Now, we have video of the QA Network’s version of Sonic 4: Episode 1.
While there’s no leak of the game itself, and from the looks of it, the game won’t run unless the PS3 in question is a debug unit, the video shows enough of the gameplay to satiate curiosity on the game.
Content wise, if you’ve seen or played the Wii and 360 leaks, you’ll already know what to expect here. However, the PS3 version has its very own little oddities that make the game almost unplayable.
Forum member sonic4dude describes that the game has a poor implementation of the SIXAXIS tilt control APIs that make them extremely sensitive, to the point that levels like the special stages and the Lost Labyrinth mine cart stage are barely playable. On top of that, being a Japanese prototype, the game will only boot in Japanese.
As for the timestamp on the build, it’s roughly December 2009 – January 2010. The QA Network is Sony’s equivalent to Microsoft’s PartnerNet.
Screenshots of the build will be coming soon and can be found in this topic on the forums. Information will also be added to the game’s wiki page as it rolls out.
You may remember the PartnerNet Leak of Sonic 4: Episode 1 quite a while back, which sent the community into an uproar over several questionable design choices Sega put into the game.
Thanks to a slight slip of the hand on Sega’s part, the company accidentally uploaded the same build up on the Wii’s Shopping Channel over in Japan. For a small period of time, people who purchased the game received this build until it was taken offline and replaced with the actual final build.
But as with all slight slips of the hand, just a few minutes is enough time for things like this to leak out on to the Internet and pop their way onto YouTube. Forum member 1stKirbyever has taken the time of tracking down said leak and recording a 55-minute playthrough of the prototype Wii version, noting differences between this leak, which includes the infamous pinball and mine cart stages, and the final build.
Look below for a full breakdown of differences without watching the whole video.
It goes without saying that when there are leaderboards, there’s usually going to be people who cheat or use exploits to reach the top of the list, ruining the experience for other players.
This is true for Sonic 4, where people were posting up times of 0’00″00 and scores of 999,999,990. The situation has gotten so out of hand on the Xbox 360 release that Sega has erased all leaderboard scores for the game.
While it shows Sega isn’t too fond of people cheating to the top, this will likely do nothing to stop the problem and no doubt those scores will be immediately posted back up.
Makes you wonder why developers still insist on including them.
A new video of Casino Street Act 2 in Sonic 4 surfaced today as an exclusive for SEGA Online. The changes featured paint the game–or at least this new layout–in a very different light than the material that’s been revealed for the game so far. Take a look!
In addition to a brand new layout and a clean look at how the new card gimmick plays a part in the level, Act 2 of Casino Street sports a brand new, far catchier tune and gives us a good listen to the new World Map and Super Sonic jingles. It seems the delay of the game was for a good reason after all; had it continued on this path, it’s a pretty good bet that complaints of a lack of original content in the game could been alleviated entirely. I’m pretty impressed by what I see!
With original ideas and positive changes like this, it’s possible–maybe even likely–that Episode 2 will offer a radically different experience than its predecessor. Good stuff. Right on, SEGA.
Despite other sites reporting a lockdown on Sonic 4 discussion here, well, this certainly warrants coverage, no?
According to IGN, Sonic 4 is homing in to consoles as early as the early half of next month.
Pricey? Surprised at how soon the game’s hitting? Sound off; don’t worry, your comments won’t actually be censored.
[Via Sonic Stadium]
If you’ve been bummed lately by the download-only nature of Sonic the Hedgehog 4‘s release, Barry the Nomad has a pleasant surprise for you–a custom conversion of Genesis box art to make a slick companion to the other Genesis boxes on your shelf. Grab a copy of the required files to print out your own art and labels and get your arts and crafts on this Friday.
[via our Sega Network friends at The Nomad Junkyard]
So the game that the vast majority of the SoS-goers were there to play was Sonic 4. Now, a few in the scene have already played it thanks to the leak but I’m willing to bet that most haven’t due to the J-Tag requirement, so for the vast majority at the show it was their first playthrough, it was certainly mine. And after the wait in the queue, the demo pods came within reach and I finally got to see if the internet butthurt over this simple downloadable video game had been warranted.
At least as we know it.
The website for Official Nintendo Monthly put up a brand new preview for Sonic 4: Episode 1, which has been delayed to later this year for some fine tuning according to Sega.
While the preview contains very little in terms of new media (more pictures of Splash Hill Zone), the author’s comments about the Special Stages posted below might attract some attention from sore fans.
