In what has to be one of the most peculiar decisions regarding Sonic Boom, the CG animated series that ties in with the video games will air in Europe in Autumn 2015 despite the games based on the series being released in November of this year.
The Sonic Boom cartoon airs in North America and France later this year which ties in nicely to the releases of the Sonic Boom video games which act as prequels to the series. The closer release windows for both the series and games in these territories are obviously designed to compliment each other and boost sales of the game as well as interest in the show.
So how does SEGA Europe intend on promoting the Sonic Boom games in the rest of Europe now the cartoon as fallen to late next year? Only time will tell but we’d bet some serious cash that the games are not going to sell as well in this territory when compared to France and North America unless SEGA Europe are willing to put some money into a big marketing campaign.
E3 2014 kicks off tomorrow and we already have some new footage of Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric for Wii U. You can check out some brand new gameplay footage below:
Siliconera have an extensive interview about Sonic Boom with Bob Rafei, the creative director and CEO of Big Red Button.
Key points to take away from the interview include:
– Sonic Boom will be more combat heavy than past Sonic games
– The game will have a larger focus on exploration similar to Sonic Adventure
– The game will also include cooperative gameplay and has been designed to maximise on this
– The game focusses on the strengths of each team member in a similar way to Sonic Heroes eg. Sonic is a speed character, Knuckles is a power character etc.
– Amy has been changed to a strong female character and no longer fawns over Sonic all the time
– Knuckles gets a chance to be the funny guy
– Sonic Boom will have a new main villain and Dr. Eggman will “pass the torch” so to speak
– Exploration will lead to the discovery of rare items and collectibles
The previously leaked Sonic Boom character seen on a poster has been made official by SEGA. The character is called Sticks and she’s a jungle badger who “will play an integral role across all Sonic Boom platforms.”
The announcement on the official SEGA blog has this to say:
“Sticks is wilder than the other members of Sonic’s team with unparalleled animal instincts and extremely sharp survival skills. She’s a fearsome combatant and a tenacious hunter who’s armed with handmade weapons at all times, most notably a handmade boomerang that she keeps in tow.”
You can see footage of Sticks’ voice actor and get further insight into her personality in the below video:
There’s not much else to say really. She looks a bit like Marine from Sonic Rush. She has a silly name. She will appear in the TV show and the games. It’s another new sidekick for Sonic.
We don’t normally talk figures on SEGADriven because it can be a bit dull, but SEGA have published their financial results for the year ending March 31st 2014 and it does make for some interesting reading.
Here’s SEGA’s top sellers from the past year:
1) Total War: Rome 2 – 1.13 million copies sold
2) Football Manager 2014 – 790,000 copies sold
3) Sonic Lost World – 710,000 copies sold
4) Company of Heroes 2 – 680,000 copies sold
5) Ryu ga gotoku Ishin! – 390,000 copies sold
SEGA’s profit was 30.7 billion yen (178 million pounds) for the financial year. This profit was down 8.2% on last year.
SEGA have also confirmed a continued focus on digital with further support for Phantasy Star Online 2 (get on that Western release guys!) as well as casual gaming for mobile devices.
Along with yesterday’s announcement that Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed will be getting a Japanese release in May, we now have the first official Japanese trailer! Check it out:
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed releases on May 15th for PS3 and Wii U in Japan.
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed will be getting a Japanese release!
The Sumo Digital racer has been confirmed for a Japanese release in the latest Nintendo Direct. The game will be coming to Japanese shores on May 15th for the Wii U and PS3 only.
Lots of Sonic news coming out of New York today! At a press event called “2014: Year of Sonic”, SEGA properly revealed a new animated series called Sonic Boom featuring new character designs for Sonic the Hedgehog, Knuckles the Echidna, Tails the Fox, Amy Rose and Dr Eggman. You can see the new character designs below:
Along with the character reveal, a trailer for the series was also uploaded. Take a look at Sonic in battle with Dr Eggman’s Burnbot and with Tails providing some bizarre lazer-whip thingy that I don’t quite understand at this time:
To tie in with the series, SEGA are publishing a tie-in video game as well. The real shock comes in the choice of developers. Sonic Team will NOT be handling the Sonic Boom game. The Wii-U version will be developed by Big Red Button Entertainment (a new studio) and Sanzaru Games on 3DS (famous for various Sly Raccoon games). Check out the announcement trailer for the game below:
Also confirmed is that the Sonic Boom continuity does not mess with the “official” Sonic the Hedgehog canon. The Sonic you know and love from games like Sonic Lost World, Generations and Colours belongs to the official canon with the Sonic from Sonic Boom existing in an alternate universe. Basically Sonic Boom does not replace the Sonic you currently know.
The Wii U version of Sonic Boom also has a subtitle and it is Rise of Lyric.
ORIGINAL STORY
The 3DS version of Sonic Boom will be called Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal and will have a much larger focus on platforming. This is at a juxtaposition with the Wii U version which focuses more on action and exploration.
Another interesting confirmation is that Sticks the Jungle Badger is actually playable and not just a non-playable character stuck in the game to flesh out the story. You can see a screenshot of her in action in the above screenshot.
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