Sure, sure.

Well, just to clear up something there as someone on Twitter misunderstood your post. Was NiGHTS playable and then made a cameo because of my bet so i wouldn't burn my stuff? Because the way i know about it NiGHTS was not in at all prior to the campaign coming in to full swing. The reason NiGHTS is now in the game at all is because the campaign made it happen?

Am i understanding you correctly, yeh?

Aaaand i know you can't talk about DLC so i'll try to phrase a question that you might be able to answer. DLC seems to be happening, what with the Ryo forklift thing. If you were to make NiGHTS DLC would it be effected now that he's a flagman? Like, is the position of flagman jeapordising any chance of making him DLC? (like the character can't be in two places at once)

On the first part - if NiGHTS had have been playable to start with - we certainly wouldn't have changed him to the flagman. I'd be sending you a can of petrol and some matches instead! But then I figure you had enough sources to know he wasn't in before you kicked your campaign into gear...

Given where we were in development, it would have been too late to add him as a playable character, so we had a sit down, figured out our best option on how to give him a bigger role than a simple trackside cameo, then did some code and art tests. Lucky for us we had the character from SST, so we had a head start.

We also didn't have a Flagman, so so it seemed a natural way to integrate him.

As I said in my first post, does this affect future DLC? Well, depends on how many copies get sold, and which characters SEGA then may request. Just because he's the flagman now doesn't mean he can't be made into a playable character. If anything we've got a head start since he's built, rigged and animated

But as I said before, it's something I can't answer right now. One as this is all purely unofficial conjecture, and second, it's a SEGA decision at the end of the day!

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S0L. I don't suppose you'd be open to questions at all would you? Probably not but i figured i should ask anyway.

I'm happy to answer some - providing they are ones I can without landing us all in a world of trouble

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Right then – first off… We didn’t forget NiGHTS!

Just since you’ve all been trying to make him out from that blurry capture from Youtube, I figured we better put a nicer shot out! Consider this an exclusive



We’ve given NiGHTS a very important role. He starts all the races, and also finishes them too! He also resides over Time Trial, whenever you set a new lap record, you’ll have NiGHTS flying along with you celebrating!

I have to admit the main reason he’s in was after we saw your heartfelt pleas, especially those of DiGi and TRiPPY, we had to make sure NiGHTS was in and played an important role. After all, we really didn’t want them to burn all their collection now. So whilst he’s not playable, he very much made it in, and as a result of the huge amount of support for the character that you all showed.

Does this mean that NiGHTS may not be in future DLC? Well who can say. That’s a question I can’t answer right now – it all depends on how well the game does

Anyway – cats out of the bag, so I figured we best make it official!

Now, I can look forward to yet more ‘Don’t forget Flagman!’ posts I’m sure

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Hello,

I've been keeping an eye on your campaign for NiGHTS, and whilst I simply cannot talk about NiGHTS status in the game (as we're not to confirm or deny anything!) what I have to say is what an amazing fanbase you are.

We've had all manner of emails at Sumo, we get some great ones, some strange ones and some downright shouty ones!

But the ones I've enjoyed the most have been the ones from NiGHTS fans. You're always polite, enthusiastic and most of all, dedicated!

Should you all be making noise to make sure NiGHTS appears? As above, I can't answer that for you, that would be a confirmation or denial we're not allowed to do

What I would say is I don't feel there is any harm in showing your support for any character. What have you to lose? If that character is already in the game, then you're home free. If they're not, it could make a difference.

Anyway - back to the grind

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Maybe I should start an email campaign to get Jaleel White to voice Sonic. I'm sure the folks at Sumo will love me for it.

Please don't

At the rate I keep having to add new forums to my daily end of day trawl, I'll get home ten minutes before I leave to come back to work

I did track the guys down in the end too, they're over in the Save Sonic forum. Nice bunch of people, just like here

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Actually, i do have a question for SOL, one that he 'might' be able to actually answer seeing as it's not about characters or courses.

SOL - i'm wondering. Will there be anymore FMV for this game? I know the trailer has been released and it's got some of the line-up in it. But will there be more FMV or longer FMV featuring the rest of the cast or is the one that's been released the one piece of FMV for this game? Just curious.

The FMV you've seen is actually a much shorter (and very nicely edited) version of the full intro. There may well be some more in the game - but guess what - I can't talk about it

I really am a broken record...!

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I got told what it is today. Good luck figuring it out - it's obscure even when you know the answer.

I can't give you any clues before you ask

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Well... we had a few more NiGHTS ones, but today has seen the attack of Sonic fans requesting we revert the VO actor to Ryan Drummond...

Looks like you've given folk ideas! I've just been up to turn the aircon up in the server room to stop the email server melting...

Actually, just kidding, luckily this new bunch haven't managed to break 10 mails yet - not to mention they're proving slightly more tricky to find forum wise then you guys

I think I've found them - but they're being way more tardy approving my forum account than you and TRiPPY!

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Aww you beat me to it!

We've not confirmed anyone outside of the characters Sega have released screens of

I was trying to have a little bit of banter with the audience, I say NiGHTS, some 'miscreants' in the audience start cheering and boomf - internet jumps to conclusions. *sigh*

As for that cryptic quiz, I know all the in-game characters and it's even got me flummoxed. Talk about obscure!

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The piano music was the guys screensaver kicking in on the machine they were recording it on. I popped up to grab something just after the Q+A and they were having a slight meltdown over it

I will say thanks again for the kind words and support - and it was good to meet DiGi, TRiPPY and Jof. Even if taking the mick did result in *some* people thinking we've confirmed any characters - which we most certainly did not!

We had a great time, now we've just got to finish the game so we can get back out and see what people think to that

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Fancy sending us all those emails. Our server almost melted!

I've replied to as many as I've had today - sorry if some are cut and paste, but I'd have been here till midnight answering them all otherwise! From tomorrow it's likely to turn into a stock response, as it's raised a few eyebrows with us receiving such a big batch of mail in such a short time!

As you've probably seen above, as much as I'd love to talk about the character roster, we've an agreement with Sega not to do so. We take this quite seriously as we're big Sega fans and we'd like to continue working on games for them

I've packed up all the mails and sent them down to the team we work with at Sega Europe, so they'll they can see the passion for NiGHTS that you've all got.

I'm down at Summer of Sonic this weekend, along with ASR and SST's Lead Designer. Feel free to say hello, but be warned we'll be dodging roster questions still, especially whilst we'll have the eagle eyes of Sega's PR folk making sure we do

Anyway, I thought I'd pop by and say hello - and say no hard feelings. Just please stop emailing us

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