|
Home > Archive > Xbox forum > September 2005 > next-gen Sonic The Hedgehog new vids, new sceens
You are viewing an archived Text-only version of the thread.
To view this thread in it's original format and/or if you want to reply to
this thread please [click here]
| Author |
next-gen Sonic The Hedgehog new vids, new sceens
|
|
|
|
Sonic The Hedgehog next-gen
-PS3-
videos: http://media.ps3.ign.com/media/770/770960/vids_1.html
pics: http://media.ps3.ign.com/media/770/770960/imgs_1.html
-Xbox 360-
videos: http://media.xbox360.ign.com/media/...072/vids_1.html
pics: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/651/651721p1.html
TGS 2005: Eyes On Sonic Next Gen
Sega plays Sonic next generation before our eyes. First details.
by Anoop Gantayat
September 17, 2005 - This year's Tokyo Game Show hasn't had too many
surprises, but you can't accuse Sega of not doing its part. The house that
built Sonic (or the house that Sonic built, depending on whom you ask) had
one of the biggest surprises of all at TGS thanks to a live gameplay
presentation of Sonic the Hedgehog.
No, not the Genesis classic. Not even the new port being made for NTT DoCoMo
series 700i phones. Sonic the Hedgehog, as you might have seen in an earlier
news story here at IGN, is actually the new name for the recently announced
Sonic next generation title being developed for Xbox 360 and PS3. Sega has
chosen to give this name to the title in celebration of the 15th anniversary
of Sonic next year, when the next generation version will see release.
The play session took place during one of Sega's TGS stage shows on the
first public day of TGS. Titled Sega: The Future, this show was headed up by
Sega producer Yuji Naka and featured a look at Sega's upcoming lineup of
next generation titles. We'll have a full report on the presentation itself
shortly, but we first wanted to let you in on how Sonic the Hedgehog looks
at this early point in its development. Here are a few pictures that we
grabbed as the presentation ran.
The presentation was entirely real time, with the game's director, Masato
Nakamura, controlling the action (we couldn't see the controller that was
being used). Nakamura actually controlled Sonic through a level typical of a
Sonic game -- a green-hill type level with grassy fields, stone walls and
lots of room to run, jump and perform air dashes.
Sonic's basic move set seems to be back with Sonic the Hedgehog. Nakamura's
demonstration had Sonic sliding down rails, launching from bumper to bumper
and repelling off enemies as he soared through the air. Sonic seems to have
new moves as well, as Nakamura showed Sonic using ropes to leap higher into
the air.
Some of Sonic's new moves come about from Sega's adoptation of realistic
physics for Sonic the Hedgehog. The game will make use of the Havoc physics
engine, Nakamura revealed, and he proceeded to demonstrate this with a set
of three large crates that had been given a weight parameter of 20
kilograms. Enemies have ragdoll physics and react to Sonic's attacks by
flying off into the distance. In one sequence, an enemy that had been sent
flying by Sonic's attack destroyed a wall of bricks. More significantly,
another sequence showed an enemy that Sonic had sent flying strike a bridge
and make it collapse to the ground below, opening up a new road for Sonic to
traverse.
Realistic physics are accompanied by realistic lighting. The Sonic the
Hedgehog game engine has support for realistic time changes. Nakamura sped
up the time and had the game switch from day to dark to dawn to day again.
The shadows, sky and general ambiance changed realistically to accompany the
shifts. How, or if, this will play into the game has not been revealed.
Sonic himself has undergone a few changes in the move to the next
generation. The character looks a bit taller than in previous builds and he
now has standstill animation in which he stretches in place. He still looks
like a super detailed version of Sonic, though. Nakamura reveals that the
development team actually considered making his shoes look rubbery and
making his blue parts furry.
The version of Sonic the Hedgehog used for the demonstration was extremely
early. It was so early, in fact, that we're surprised Sega actually showed
the game in such a form to a public audience. Most of the visuals seemed to
be placeholder -- or they'd better be, or the game won't come close to
matching the gorgeous trailer footage that was shown prior to the gameplay
demonstration (the trailer is an old one and includes footage of Sonic
speeding through detailed fields, soaring through the air, getting shot and
then transforming into Super Sonic).
Some of the technology shown during the Sonic demonstration was exciting.
However, the next time we see Sonic, we hope that he'll have full next
generation effects, textures and detail turned on.
Those wanting a look at the demonstration for themselves can download it in
full in our video section. We've also uploaded a few screenshots. Keep in
mind that the game is very early, so it will likely look very different from
this when it ships in time for Sonic's 15th anniversary.
|
| |
|
|