1166 replies to this topic

[Noctourne Wonderland]

Personally, I kinda get the feeling that because of what happened before, Sumo could just be playing with us and deliberately not showing anything. They seem like those kind of guys : P

Well, If NiGHTS is not in the game. I will only be renting it.
SO HA!

I'm hoping he'll be one of the characters not shown yet I mean c'mon it's NiGHTS!

That doesn't make sense. NiGHTS is a veteran to the Superstars series now and is a highly-wanted character. It's not the same situation like with ToeJam & Earl.

^ My thoughts exactly.

[DiGi Valentine]

All i'm saying is nothing is certain until it's happened. So far nothing has been said so we can only guess, which is what i'm doing. Just because NiGHTS is a veteran does not seal his position in this game.
The trailers feel it's missing something because NiGHTS is not in there. It's missing that 'purple thing' thats been seen alongside Sonic in almost any other cross-over game.

For the time being we wait and see.

[NinMicroSega]

All i'm saying is nothing is certain until it's happened. So far nothing has been said so we can only guess, which is what i'm doing. Just because NiGHTS is a veteran does not seal his position in this game.
The trailers feel it's missing something because NiGHTS is not in there. It's missing that 'purple thing' thats been seen alongside Sonic in almost any other cross-over game.

For the time being we wait and see.

Listen, Digit (that's what I'm going to call you if you dont stop panicking).

It is very possible that NiGHTS is an unlockable secret character, much like Captain Falcon and Ness were in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Everyone was all "ZOMG THER IZ KNOW MOAR FARUKON OAR NES!!!!!111111" when they weren't announced as the starters. Little did they know, Sakurai had it planned that they were going to be secret characters just like in the first game. Veterans aren't taken out unless they are highly disliked (such as Roy and Mewtwo's moveset).

[TRAViS]

I love how I'm reading through all the stuff on SEGA's twitter, following links to anything I can find about NiGHTS in Sonic/Sega All Star Racing (or obvious clues like #DontForgetNiGHTS and whatnot) and I have absolutely NO idea what I'm doing. At all. Someone needs to walk me through this twitter thing. Anyone up for taking 15 minutes to help a newbie out?

But I seriously think that we're panicking for nothing. NiGHTS and Reala were already modeled and rendered in exquisite detail for Superstars Tennis, and it's an in-house IP that needs no licensing or any sort of renewal. SUMO would be downright insane to drop that asset in favor of something else that requires just as much modeling and detail. The inner accounting nerd in me sees it as an easily avoidable cost. Instead of wasting thousands of dollars and weeks, if not months, of time in 3D editing software creating a character from the ground up, a recycled asset would simply need some new animation.

Let me break it down.

Benefits of recycling old model:
+ Reduced cost of re-modeling
+ Reduced labor hours to model
+ Adds immediate value to game by inclusion of additional character
+ Keeps us happy

Possible drawbacks:
- Superstars Tennis model may use old graphics engine; would need to be ported with additional, costly software

Personally? NiGHTS is NOT the deciding factor in this game for my purchase. But I'll be damned if the game's brilliant and missing our mascot.

[Jof]

Listen, Digit (that's what I'm going to call you if you dont stop panicking).

Hey buddy, who's panicking ? He simply said we should wait and see, which is the exact oposite of panicking. Calm down please.

[DiGi Valentine]

The whole thing on Twitter with #DontForgetNiGHTS is my mini-campaign to make sure he isn't forgotten about in general. It's nothing like the Shenmue campaign, i'm not getting on that kind of level here. All i'm saying is i want to show that NiGHTS is still needed in case they're wondering if anybody still cares about the character after JoD failed to sell.

You heard what Sumo said when this game began production. They were listening to what fans were asking for and they'd try and get the best and most asked for characters in, which is why Ryo Hazuki has turned up.
The main tier characters like Sonic, Samba, Billy Hatcher, they've all been released and NiGHTS is usually along side them.
So, when Sumo was asking did anybody actually email them and say "we want NiGHTS in this game" prior to us asking you all to do it? No, we didn't because we didn't feel we had to, right? NiGHTS is expected, you're all saying it yourselves, it would be stupid for him not to be in the game ..but what if he isn't and we overlooked the fact that we should have been vocal about it to the company right off the bat?

All i'm saying is this feels a little odd that NiGHTS has not been shown yet. Would they make NiGHTS a secret character? Who knows? He's been one before, it's possible. I can't rule that out. However, i can't rule out that it's also possible that he might not make it when i take into consideration the amount of character spaces they have left and how many other SEGA characters they could put in to this.

I'm not telling you all "omg he's not in the game", i'm just voicing my concern at the way things are panning out now and i'm going to keep a very sharp eye on developments.

[MADAMOiSELLE]

Never fear DiGi. I honestly believe that NiGHTS will be in this game, one way or another, but if he isn't, I'll be flabbergasted. I honestly think that because all those NiGHTS fans sent those e-mails asking for him to be in, and the antics at Summer of Sonic (lol), Sumo will reveal NiGHTS last, or near to last (provided he is ACTUALLY in the game). Which probably means that Reala might not make the cut. They wouldn't reveal Reala before NiGHTS, would they? Or maybe they'd reveal them at the same time? Only time will tell. There's not much we can do at the moment, aside from keeping our fingers crossed. I don't know why, but have this huge feeling that they left Reala out this time. I just hope it's not true....

[Dex la Cabra]

if NiGHTS was on it, it would be cool if his superstar move thing was he starts flying alongside reala and jackle and drill-dashing/cardthrowing all the other racers nearby

[Purge]

Guys, bad news. I just learned that Sonic will get 7 characters, and all other series will get only one.

Ulala has been confirmed, so there go my hopes for Purge to be in this... Maybe they'll put him in as a cameo?

If NiGHTS does get in this, that means no Reala!

I mean, this IS SONIC and Sega All-Stars Racing, but still... I feel a bit ripped off...

[Noctourne Wonderland]

That's an interesting ratio. I don't really mind if NiGHTS is in but not Reala, as long as the NiGHTS series is aknowleged.

[Loufren]

Hmmm... something just occurred to me... maybe instead of NiGHTS being in the game... maybe REALA will be in his place. Everyone EXPECTS NiGHTS to be in... but maybe as a sort of 'haha, we tricked you' they'll put in Reala. Maybe.

[Kamui]

That would be very interesting. A delightful surprise for me. :3

*playing ASR, just unlocked Reala!*

"Dear Wizeman, we get Reala instead of NiGHTS!...Sweet~ Sorry NiGHTS, your brother just happens to be sexier."

LOL.

[DiGi Valentine]

There are 7 Sonic characters for the simple fact that SEGA of Japan wanted this to be marketed as a Sonic game, hence why it was renamed "Sonic & SEGA AllStars Racing". So, in a word, the Sonic cast lineup are kinda shoving other potential characters off the final list.
Secondly, because SUMO Digital wanted to please as many fans as they could this time around they have been listening to what fans have been asking for and provding there are no legal problems then they will try to get those characters in. Hence why Ryo Hazuki is in yet characters like ToeJam and Earl are not.
And this leads me on to why NiGHTS might not be in it ...because he was expected and therefore we nor did anybody else ask for him.

Again, there are not many spaces for characters left and with everybody shouting "Ristar", "Vectorman", "Crazy Taxi" i can imagine NiGHTS has been pushed off to make space for these characters.

Forget Reala, i think we'll be lucky if we get NiGHTS.

[JaxTH]

???

I though we basically spammed Sumo asking for NiGHTS to be in...?

[DiGi Valentine]

Oh we did ...but this was after it occured to me that maybe we should have been asking for him. We did rush at them with emails but by that point it could very well have been too late. The game was far along in development by the time we realised that we should have been asking for NiGHTS from the start, not half way through development.

As for Ulala being in it, she's kind of the same tier as NiGHTS, a character from a secondary game from Sonic Team. The fact that she was name dropped yet NiGHTS has not is further proof that my theory is getting more correct every time more news pops up.

Doing a lot of hoping that our emails might have done some good. If he's not in the main game then maybe our burst of emails might have made SEGA consider DLC. Who knows, we'll wait and see what happens.

[JaxTH]

The only reason Ulala is confirmed is because Nintendo Power leaked it though. There are no screens or videos of her up yet (I think).

[DiGi Valentine]

Nintendo Power leaked it, probably on the basis that Ulala is a common character to appear and they didn't think it would be a big deal to name drop her seeing as it's standard for her to be in a SEGA AllStars game. However, and the point i'm trying to make, is NiGHTS is on the same level as someone like Ulala, he's expected to appear. If name drop Ulala, why not NiGHTS?

I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's just see how these last four months go before the game releases and we'll take it from there.

[Jof]

The only problem with that though, is if like you are saying, NiGHTS might not make it because no one had asked for him because we expected him, couldn't the same be said for Ulala and Beat ? People just assumed they were gonna be in this game because they were in the last one, I doubt anyone specifically asked about them in the beginning, yet here they are. I really think Sumo are just playing with this fanbase : P

[DiGi Valentine]

They could very well be playing with the fanbase, they seem like a jokey bunch. It's just there will be 20 characters and 13 spaces have already been taken up, 14 if you include Ulala. That's not a lot of places left.

Let us remember though that it isn't Sumo Digital who plan on which characters are revealed in trailers and stuff, that's all SEGA pulling strings. Where Sumo might be down to have a laugh with us i kinda doubt SEGA would hold back on revealing NiGHTS all because they wanted to be playful with this fanbase.

[Musashi_HUmar]

Personally, I would be a bit shocked if NiGHTS DID make it in. Right now, SEGA only cares about what sells, it seems. Since JoD didn't sell very well, they may be less inclined to include NiGHTS in this game. Don't get me wrong, I'm hoping NiGHTS does make it in, but I just don't see the chances of it actually happening to be very high right now.

[Nemoide]

I know having NiGHTS in the game will not sell it to most folks but I think NiGHTS is one of the more well-known Sega properties. NiGHTS is easily more well known than Alex Kidd. And there has been a NiGHTS game more recently than Shenmue, Jet Set Radio, or Space Channel 5. And NiGHTS has had cameo appearances in so many games that I'd wager most Sega fans are at least familiar with the character?

It's very possible that NiGHTS won't make it into the final game but the character is about as "All-Star" as you can get within the Sega canon.

[Purge]

Also I may be crazy to ask for this, but I hope that Pulseman gets in.
I recently played the game on Virtual Console, and it's a great game!

[Dex la Cabra]

i've been wondering, will players of the PS3 and 360 versions be able to race each other? i doubt wii and PS2 will be able to though

[viperxmns]

i've been wondering, will players of the PS3 and 360 versions be able to race each other? i doubt wii and PS2 will be able to though

Probably not, we'd need a Sega network to do so. Generally PS3 and 360 players cannot interact online.

[Dex la Cabra]

damn, looks like we wont all be able to race each other then :/ still, we can all race on JoD....?

[MADAMOiSELLE]

Damn it. Looks like one more character space could be filled up: Akira Yuki from Virtua Fighter. Apparently it was hinted in an interview with Steve.

[Musashi_HUmar]

I really do hope NiGHTS gets a spot, but the odds are looking more and more bleak every day...

[JaxTH]

Question. What month did "Summer of Sonic" happen?

[DiGi Valentine]

August. Why? o.o

[JaxTH]

I'm looking for the post on SEGA...But on August 8th, a Sumo rep in the All-Star racing forum basically said "annoy us with who you want, there is still time and the people you want are probably all ready in the game".

So if SOS was close to that there is a chance that our efforts succeeded.

I'm looking for the post on SEGA...But on August 8th, a Sumo rep in the All-Star racing forum basically said "annoy us with who you want, there is still time and the people you want are probably all ready in the game".

So if SOS was close to that there is a chance that our efforts succeeded.

[DiGi Valentine]

SoS was August 29th. And you're saying August 8th someone from Sumo said this? I'll be honest, i don't usually pass through the official forum that much so i missed that.

Find me a link to that post and i'll try to make sense of it all because at SoS the Sumo dudes were saying a very different thing, more along the lines of 'we have listened to fan responses and have tried to get as many requests in as possible but there's only so much we can do'.

[JaxTH]

Did i say 8th? I mean the 30th...My bad.

Anyway...Here is the post:

http://forums.sega.c...481#post5204481

And I'll quote him too:

Well, just so you understand a few of the processes which determine a roster:
[1] Legal issues. With a game like this, the developer has to get the permission of the owner to be able to use their character. (The owner isn't neccessarily Sega, oddly) One particuar character (I won't say exactly which one) is missing from the roster simply because the owner is difficult to determine (I gather)
[2] Technical difficulty. If an engine is built to handle skeletal animation based on a humanoid form, it is very costly in terms of manpower to handle cases which break this and write specific code to handle, for example, muti-limbed characters. All games benefit from sharing common assets, as other aspects get more attention. HOWEVER, don't read too much into this, because, if a thing's worth giving time to, it *will* go in the game. (Also think of scale problems, One character might be 15 times the size of another, and is therefore just not going to fit easily into a racing game, and is obviously unsuitale for inclusion.)
[3] Marketing and demographics. Sega, like all pubishers have to make profits. That's what secures the future production of the next games. The research of the target market (both hardcore fans *and* the majority [casual] buyers) will play a part in the characters in the game. The characters most likely to sell the product will feature heavily in the roster. Not always popular with hardcore, but a healthier view would be to say a healthy company is infinitely more likely to make a game that they will love (eventually) than one that went under.
[4] The preference of the designer (and maybe a few other interested parties). ...After all the legal issues, and ownership issues, and technical issues, and marketing issues, the pool of remaining characters will be further whittled down by the likes and dislikes of the lead designer. It is after all, his baby.

And finally: [5] Fan service. This is part of the point above, really. The wishes of fans on this, and other sites is MOST DEFINITELY listened to. With enough people saying the same thing, fan service is an important part of what characters will appear in a roster. The opinion of fans will colour the opinion of the designer. (of course it won't change those which are ruled out for some of the other reasons above).

So in summary. It's worth voicing your preferences of character line-up, because if you don't, we simply won't know... and after all, we're here to please you guys.
But also, be aware that in so many ways, our hands are tied.
It would just be my one hope that everyone enjoys the game, for all the stuff we *did* get in there, and forgive us for the stuff we couldn't/didn't.
[There are still some surprises being held back, and a couple which are *still* being decided, so sit back, chill, and wait for the final roster to be announced]

[Musashi_HUmar]

Interesting...

[DiGi Valentine]

That is very interesting indeed. And August the 30th too? That makes this post a day after SoS.
However, i dunno who SumoRex is but from the sounds of it they are from Sumo because i know which character they might be talking about in part [1] ...i won't say i know for certain on the character in question nor will i say who told me but the character he COULD be referencing in part [1] is a certain Sonic character with legal issues. That's all i'm saying. I could be wrong though.

As for NiGHTS ...meh. Again with the "asking" thing. I just feel we might have been too late, that's all. I'm hoping we were not and our emails did hit home some where. It just seems a bit bleak when the rest of the regular cast are getting shown off in videos and name-dropped in magazines yet NiGHTS is nowhere to be seen within 4 months of the games release.

Thanks for linking us to that post, who knows what will happen now eh?

...

[JaxTH]

The only Sonic character with legal issues that I know of is Mighty.

[DiGi Valentine]

*ohcough*

[JaxTH]

I'm like some kinda "Info Ninja" aren't I?

[NinMicroSega]

The only Sonic character with legal issues that I know of is Mighty.

That is still debatable. SEGA has not confirmed the current ownership of the character, but if Mighty is still a recurring character in the Archie comics, then it would seem that SEGA does own the character.

[DiGi Valentine]

Archie just do their own thing. Read it on the SEGA twitter itself. The other day some dude was complaining that Tails crushing on Sally and getting mad at Sonic was utter bullshit and they said no wonder Sonic is laughed at. SEGA replied back saying that Archie does their own thing and SEGA are not in charge of what they do so if they're using Mighty i don't think it has anything to do with SEGA.

But ...mmyeah ..i'm pretty sure the fan outcry for Mighty was quite large so they tried to get him but couldn't.

[TRiPPY]

Mighty always makes me think of mullets and jam jars .... never sure why.