Not putting Sonic 4 on a disc is tragic. But note that 3d Sonic is put on the disc.
Everyone asks, “Why is every Sonic game crappy? Why can’t we have awesome oldschool Sonic back?” I think the answer is as simple as crappy Sonic games are fun to develop. Classic Sonic style games are not. All the excuses such as ‘younger audiences will not like a new classic Sonic’ are just developers whining.
The download-in-parts is going to kill sales of Sonic 4 and everyone knows this. However, I guarantee you Sega will point to these low sales of Sonic 4 and say, “The people have spoken! Classic Sonic no longer sells! Therefore, we will only make crappy Sonic games for now on.”
Interestingly, Sega is not stupid.They are aware of this and even have developed and excuse to make the game episodic and shield themselves when the inevitable results come, and that is that since its release, developers have stated in countless interviews how they encourage fans to “judge their work as they work on it”(they are saying that Episode 2 will be an improvement from 1, Episode 3 from 2, and so on.Completely ignoring the fact that a games needs to be developed as a whole and needs a certain “flow” on it)
Take, for example, this interview from back in February:
GS: Why did you decide to make this a downloadable title?
KB: In recent years, we’ve seen a huge surge of classic game properties making a return in this arena. [Downloadable] games offer players a chance to play terrific games without breaking the bank. It’s also a promise to Sonic fans. We’re going to deliver a Genesis-era Sonic game as if it were created today that goes to the core of what classic Sonic fans desire. This means [the fan] gets to judge us on our work each step of the way, and we plan on delivering that goal in a big way.
Source: http://www.wiinintendo.net/2010/02/04/sonic-4-interview-with-ken-balough/
Ugh. No one wants to buy ‘bits and pieces’ of a game.
