So…who’s Yuji Naka? Yuji Naka is one of the men who helped create Sonic way back in 1991’s Sonic the Hedgehog. Since then he helped in almost every Sonic game until Sonic Riders. After Sonic Riders Naka quit Sega and started Prope, an independent game development company responsible for such classics as Let’s Tap and Ivy the Kiwi?. So, why are we talking about him? Well, in an interview today Naka says that modern Sonic titles have been “less fun” and has stated that he would like to return to Sonic sometime in the future.  He said that Sonic has a fun and simple control scheme, but that the games have become way to easy lately. He went on to also say that he would love to return to other properties, such as Nights, in the future as well. The odd thing about these statements is that up until now in all his interviews Naka has stated that he was happy with his new studio and that he had no desire to return to Sonic or Nights.

Now, keep in mind that these statements are from Naka himself, and not an announcement of his return from Sega. As of now Naka is the head of Prope Studios, and hasn’t made any retirement or quitting plans as of now. In the interview he stresses that he means in the far future, not next year or anything.

So, what do you think? Would you like to see Naka return to the series, or do you think it’s fine without him? Oh, and one last thing…he also said that he wanted to revive the rivalry with Mario.

Tyler

The sequel to Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing has been officially announced this morning…and it looks like someone has been playing Mario Kart 7!  Here’s the trailer:

See? Mario Kart 7! To be fair, though, Sega has acknowledged the similarities and is claiming that it will feel different. Aside from the new Flying and boating mechanics, there are also new characters, tracks, and even a story mode. It has been confirmed for release this holiday season, and it appears to be the big Sonic game or the second half of the year. It is coming to PS3, Xbox 360, PS Vita, and Nintendo 3DS, with console exclusives for each. It can also be assumed that Steam will get it eventually, and a Wii U version is being speculated.

So, how excited are you? Do you think this is original, or just Sega milking the Mario Kart formula?

Tyler

Here is a news post about the fan community…Sonic 2 HD, an ambitious high definition Sonic 2 remake, has been canceled, just weeks after the Alpha release. For those of you who are not aware of this project, or its history, allow me to fill you in. The Sonic 2 HD project was started in early 2008, with a tech demo released later that year. Information poured out slowly for some time, with only some screenshots, a trailer, and some wallpaper being released over the years. March 27th of this year, however, saw the Alpha release of the game, a demo containing Emerald Hill zone. The game was initially well received, and the fans waited for more. However, the game was almost immediately cast into controversy. Right away, modders began to complain due to the restrictions in the code, prohibiting people from tinkering with the engine. As if that wasn’t enough, anti-virus software began to target it as a threat, which led to the REAL controversy. In early April it was reported that a dangerous keylogger (A trojan) was in the game, and the internet became alive with warnings to delete the demo and double check all secure data on their computer. Needless to say, this wasn’t good press for the Sonic 2 HD team. As it turned out, the keylogger wasn’t dangerous at all, it was used to store data relating to the game. However, in light of all the bad press, the team began to lose members. Allegedly, one of the members even took the code of the game with him, refusing to share it with the remaining team. That leads us to today, where the team officially announced that they were closing down the project. It should be noted, however, that they do claim that this decision was made months ago. I’s hard to deny, though, that this announcement could not have come at a worse time.

Four years, a lot of hype, and it ends in shambles. On a personal note, I hope that one day someone continues this project, and creates something truly wonderful. If you haven’t checked out the demo, you can download it from their official site,  as well as viewing some screenshots and getting some wallpaper. http://s2hd.com/

So, what do you think about the project? Are you sad it ended? Do you hope that this one day gets finished? What did you think about the demo?

Tyler

About a week ago a trailer was released on Gamespot. Sega of America officially released that trailer yesterday, along with some prices. The cost is the same as Episode 1, about fifteen dollars for Xbox Live, PS3, and Steam. No word yet about the cost for mobile devices, but you can expect them to cost about the same as Episode 1 when it launched. At the end of the trailer is release dates as well as a little extra surprise…

That’s right…Episode Metal, free DLC if you own both Episode 1 and 2. Sorry, Wiiware users, you will miss out on this one. Episode Metal lets you play as Metal Sonic in reworked Episode 1 stages, and serves a prequel telling the player the story of Metal Sonic repairing himself after Sonic CD. Not much, but hey, it’s free DLC.

Also, several of the release dates were confirmed for North America. Here they Are again:

PSN: May 5th

XBox Live Arcade: May 6th

PC and Apple: May

Android: June

Windows Phone: July

On a final note, Episode 2 may very well be the final episode, depending on how well received Episode 2 is. What do you think? Do you want there to be more episodes?