[JemyM]

This is frankly the most insane piece of news I have seen outside April 1 for a long long time.

Official Announcement

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 classic 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 Gate™ and Neverwinter Nights™ series, the 2003 Game of the Year, Star Wars®: Knights of the Old Republic™ and the 2005 RPG of the Year, Jade Empire.™ BioWare is currently developing one of the most anticipated next-generation titles of 2007, Mass Effect.™

“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.

[Kolzig]

Yeah, but there's only good feelings that this news brings to my mind.

Maybe finally after years of bad games we will have a good Sonic game, there hasn't been one since the days of Sonic CD and Sonic 2&3.

[insane_cobra]

Not true, Sonic Rush for the DS was great.

[wilco]

I agree Sonic Rush was great. My favourite platformer on the DS. The soundtrack alone is worth the game. I've heard Sonic and the Secret Rings for the Wii is also good...

Sonic RPG (DS)
Sonic and Mario at the Olympics (DS/Wii) (Another weird announcement)
Sonic Rush Adventure (DS)
Sonic Rivals 2 (PSP)

I thought Sega said they were giving Sonic a break?

Anyway, Bioware must have some cool ideas for it, they wouldn't get this license for nothing.

[Dasilva]

A sonic RPG? Thats a bit of a wierdishly different, but whatever floats their boat.

[Spiwak]

Beat me to it. Just found out a few minutes ago. I was pretty excited about the Bioware DS RPG I heard about.....until this.

[Kolzig]

I hated Sonic Rush. I loved it before I bought it as I read the reviews and believed the internet hype.

Then when I played it, I noticed the bad level design, the unbelievably stupidly and annoyingly placed enemies when Sonic is in full speed and I lose all my rings because of that stupid design failure in the levels. And there were several points in the levels where you reached a dead end or almost a dead end which lead to pointless waste of lifes.

I love the original 16-bit Sonic games, to me they are some of the best games of the genre ever made.

The boss battles were excellent in Sonic Rush, and so was the whole 3d but done in 2d sidescroller graphic engine. They just messed up the actual game part of the whole project.

You can count me out for the Sonic Rush sequel unless it really includes some serious design changes. Sonic Team isn't what they used to be anymore.

This RPG on the other hand sounds much more promising, as Bioware has never failed. I hope Bioware loses the whole Sonic speech stuff, that Hedgehog was never meant to speak, especially with an annoying teen voice and the same goes for the other characters. Also the music should be redone with a strong retro influence, the one who is resposible for the musics should go and listen to some of the better games in this franchise and get the right influence from there.

[Dasilva]

Ever since 3D came along Sonic has had a ruff ride thats speeding downhill. Im sure Bioware will make a great game, I mean its bioware! lol. But I hope they dont make it cutesy, maybe if they changed the atmosphere of the game to something a big more serious maybe? I dont know, I stopped playing with sonic donkey years ago.

[insane_cobra]

What do you mean you hope they don't make it cutesy? It's Sonic, it HAS TO be cutesy. Or do you want another Shadow the Hedgehog aberration?

[JemyM]

I had expected a Sonic RPG sooner or later, but Bioware?

Complex dialogue, multiple paths, pick between good and evil, ethic and moral choices... Sonic?

[insane_cobra]

Don't forget they also made MDK 2 which had none of those things.

[Lucien21]

There are 2 Mario RPG's so why not a Sonic one.

[Spiwak]

Because Sonic as a character is kinda lame.

[insane_cobra]

Spiwak

I mean really...

[MoriartyL]

Greeeeeat, an RPG with those inane characters. Who wouldn't want to play a story-based game based on Sonic?

This is ridiculous. Why can't they just throw out the whole pretentious "We have such a great story to tell you!" thing and focus on speed in Sonic's games?

Or is this going to be a fast RPG? Heh. Run, run, run, level up! Run, run, run, level up!

Oh dear, this is going to be stupid.

[Dasilva]

Originally Posted by Spiwak

Because Sonic as a character is kinda lame.

I feel the same way, I think Mario has more character than Sonic.

[stepurhan]

There is a Sonic cartoon series so maybe they're hoping to cash in on the story-based elements of that? Can't say I've watched enough of it to know if it has a plot worth bothering with.

[Crunchy in milk]

I was pissed off when Katamari for the DS got cancelled, I think that would make a better rpg license

Ok well as much sense as sonic at least

The best rpg on the DS for me so far is Magical Starsign, but it would be good to see a western (ie not JRPG) structured rpg on the DS. I hope they don't have to follow all the jrpg standards due to the licence and platform.

[Spiwak]

Originally Posted by stepurhan

There is a Sonic cartoon series so maybe they're hoping to cash in on the story-based elements of that? Can't say I've watched enough of it to know if it has a plot worth bothering with.

Do you mean this?
Well, at least we'll have explosions every five seconds.

For more fun,
There's your standard Bioware romance subplot in the making.

The future of RPGs, folks!

EDIT: To be fair, if I recall the Sonic: The Hedgehog movie wasn't this awful. I'll rewatch some of it later.

[insane_cobra]

Hell, if we were to judge games by their respective cartoons, Zelda would be the worst and cheesiest RPG/adventure material ever.

I'm surprised by general negativity surrounding this announcement. If Mario and Panzer Dragoon role-playing games worked out fine, I don't see why this one couldn't. And it's being developed by Bioware, hello!

Also, stop dissing Sonic! He had a rough puberty, but there's still chance for him to turn out a perfectly capable adult. Hedgehog.