Nintendo fan website Nintendo World Report recently spoke to SEGA producer Stephen Frost about the Wii U version of Sonic Boom. Stephen shared a few details about Sonic’s new upcoming title — which is also being developer for the Nintendo 3DS — and we’ve consolidated the details below. One highlight that fans may be disappointed with is that Sonic Boom will not feature online multiplayer.
Here’s the rest of the details:
more details coming during E3 2014 this June
CryEngine 3 technology used for development
The Enerbeam (bungee-like weapon) is related to the storyline
Characters can be selected on the fly during gameplay
Other characters likely to be playable
Frame rate is “very very solid”
No online multiplayer; living room experience focused
Sega has released its financial statement for the 2023-24 fiscal year, and profits may be up, but it's mostly not down to video games.
SEGA has announced Fearless: Year of Shadow, a campaign that celebrates Sonic the Hedgehog and his brooding acquaintance, Shadow.
GamesIndustry.biz writes: "Relic is best known for the Company of Heroes and Dawn of War games, and recently developed the new Age of Empires for Microsoft. Relic will transition to an independent studio and will no-longer be part of the Sega group of studios.
The majority of the 240 job cuts are across Creative Assembly and Sega Europe, while there will be a ‘small number’ cut from Sega HARDLight. There was no mention of other Sega UK studios, including Two Point Studios and Sports Interactive."
And? I hate this modern trope in the gaming industry that makes it seem as though online multiplayer is an absolute must have.
I saw the same thing in another article, and really it's not too surprising. Sonic has never been real big on online so even though it's being made by Big Red Button instead of Sonic Team I wasn't expecting to see online Coop. Sonic games are similar to Mario games in the sense that they would rather focus on having amazing local Coop and have no online Coop instead of using some of their resources to have online gameplay.
EDIT: Went and gave a second look at the article. And I saw "Other Characters likely to be playable". I really hope Shadow is one of those. Shadow is my favorite character in the Sonic games!
EDIT2: The article is wrong. In the interview he says the playable characters are the ones they announced (Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Amy). Other characters may be in the game but not playable
Well, how many other Sonic games had online co-op?
Hmm?
ALRIGHTY THEN.
It would have been nice to have, but for Sonic games, lack of online multi isn't really a deal-breaker, so I'll still be giving this game a shot to impress me.
It's the first Sonic game in a long time to really step outside of the franchise's comfort zone, and I'm all for supporting attempts at change in a franchise so long as it isn't too drastic.
Well, that sucks! It's a game based on co-op! If Trine 2 can do it, why can't this? Oh, well. I'm going to have to just play with my brother.
im happy to see a lot of games moving away from a "mandatory" multiplayer mode. if the game doesnt need it, don't waste resources on it.