OOC: "Paralyzer", "The Sweet Escape", "Thnks fr th Memrs", "Dear Maria, Count Me In", "Girlfriend" & "Misery Business" initiate
SONY ANNOUCES A NEW ENGLISH VOICE CAST FOR SONIC
January, 2007
Surprising news for Sony fans has been released today, as it's been revealed in a recent press release from SSCEE America that the english voice cast of the Sonic the Hedgehog series will be changing. The Japanese cast will remain the same, though Ryan Drummond will no longer be the voice of the blue hedgehog in the english language going forward. This will no doubt be seen as a horrible thing by as many people as it will be a good thing for; but nevertheless, Sony has already made the decree. Not every single Sonic character has been given a reported new english voice actor, though it has been said that starting with this year's next Sonic title the hedgehog himself will be voiced by none other than Jason Griffith, who has previously voiced Sonic in the 4Kids Dub of Sonic X as well as Jet the Hawk in Sonic Riders. As for Tails, it is reported that Tara Strong, who voiced Tails in Sonic Adventure 3 as her first major Sonic role, will for the forseeable future resume voice acting for the two-tailed fox. She is of course known throughout the world of animation with her most recent roles being Ben Tennyson, Timmy Turner and Raven. Amy meanwhile will now be voiced by Lisa Ortiz, who voiced her in the 4kids dub of Sonic X.
As for the other Sonic characters, Knuckles the Echidna who these days is launching his own video game series will from now on be voiced by Khary Payton - which given the Adventure games trying to associate him with rap music it is about time he was voiced by an african-american. Of course, Payton is also a well known Teen Titans voice actor, playing Cyborg opposite Strong's Raven.
Shadow will also be getting a new voice actor, anime veteran Crispin Freeman - most recently the voice of Alucard in both the original Hellsing anime and the new Hellsing Ultimate OVA series, will be taking over from David Humphrey as the second english voice of Shadow. Rouge will also be getting a new voice actress, that of Rachel Lillis, known currently for her roles in the Pokemon anime series though she was also featured in Sonic X & Ape Escape 2. Lani Minella is not completely gone though, though her current work in the Sonic the Hedgehog series has yet to be stated. Cream meanwhile will be voiced in the future by Rebecca Honiq, who voiced the character in Sonic X.
Other characters such as Vector, Espio, Charmy and pretty much all of the others have been said to be changed though have no named english VA successor at this time.
As for returning voice actors: Eggman is still thankfully voiced by Mike Pollock, who was about as perfect a replacement for the late Deem Bristow as one could possibly have in the first place. Finetivus, nemesis of Knuckles, will also still be voiced by Tony Todd of Final Destination & Candyman fame. Jessie McCartney & Tia Carrere are also still both listed as voice actors for Silver & Blaze for upcoming releases, respectively. John St. John is also going to continue voicing E-123 "Omega" & Big the Cat for the forseeable future as well.
All in all, we are officially entering a new era of Sonic the Hedgehog whether we like it or not - fans will just have to accept the new voice cast.
- EGM, 2007
"The day that Jason Griffith finally became Sonic was the day that Spax3 was born." -
Anonymous, 2007
"I personally wanted Snoop Doogg to be Knuckles one day but Khary Payton's pretty cool too."
- Anonymous, 2007
"Jason Griffith fucking sucks he is the literal WORST Sonic voice that there's ever been we should all boycot Sony until they change the voice cast BACK to Ryan Drummond as Sonic because I will literally fucking KILL the Sony executive board for this fucking bullshit I will drag Irimajiri out by his fucking hair and chop his head off in front of the steps of the Sony HQ for this horrible decision it is the worst choice they could ever make those horrible dumbass pieces of human shit!"
"Jesus christ calm the fuck down." - Sonic Fan Forum, 2007-2008
EUROPA UNIVERSALIS III
January, 2007
"It's as deep and broad as you would expect from a great strategy game, but Europa Universalis III's most notable achievement is how easy it is to get into" - Gamespot, 2007
"The third entry in Paradox Interactive's popular Europa Universalis series, play as any nation from not just Europe but across the globe in a timeframe spanning 1453 to the early 1800's, almost 3-4 centuries of gameplay from the fall of Constantinople to the American War of Independence. If it's on the map, you can play as it. There are historical rulers too, though only the ones you start with - after they die, it's all alternate history from there on out; unlike with the Civilization series or Crusader Kings, this game is much more about the nation itself rather than the people who run it. At first glance, EU3 might seem like a very complicated game - and it is - that is hard to get into, but it's actually more welcoming to newcomers than you might thing, picking one of the historically powerful nations as your first playthrough is a good crash course into the game's mechanics. You have to, much like real life, micromanage a lot. Troop count, technology sliders, technology group, population of every province, your allies & enemies, culture & religion, province buildings, marketplaces & trade centers, colonial expansion, the economy: the whole shabang. Yet as I said, it's not as user unfriendly as you might think because the game readily teaches you these things both in the manual and in-game, and even then it's not very hard to pick them up from plain ol' experiencing it for yourself."
- IGN, 2007
"The base game vanilla at release map was fucking ugly as fuck but this was my first paradox game so I still love it."
- Consumer Review, 2000's
RATCHET & CLANK: SIZE MATTERS
February, 2007
"Ratchet & Clank, Sony's beloved platformer series that trails right behind Sonic the Hedgehog; even if you don't love the series like I do, chances are you will enjoy Size Matters anyway. Developed by High Impact Games, themselves former Insomniac employees, specifically for the Sony Pluto the game is a perfect portable take on it's console inspiration. In fact dare I say this rookie studio's effort is one of the Pluto's best titles thus far." - IGN
"Matches the gameplay of the console games perfectly, even despite being developed by a third party company. Excellet camera that makes gameplay very smooth, though it's not very good in close qurters or if there's too many enemies on screen." - Gamespot
"Outstanding visuals for a Pluto game" - Consumer, 2007
"Very strong presentation" - Consumer, 2007
"While it doesn't really have a whole lot of originality or innovation from prior R&C titles, it still has a healthy selection of weapons and captures the gameplay that fans of the console games want to see in a game from the franchise." - Consumer, 2007
(SONIC AT THE) 27TH GOLDEN RASPBERRY AWARDS
February, 2007
It's just shy of ten years ago that Sonic '98, the 1998 animated Sonic the Hedgehog film, actually stood on the stage of the Annies as the likes of Anastasia, Prince of Egypt & Mulan; it even managed to win some awards on that day. It's a film credited with inspiring the creation of Sony Pictures Animation and considered a modern day animated classic as well as the best video game to film adaptation ever made. Granted the latter isn't very hard to achieve, but still. Even it's sequel, released in 2001 which adapted Sonic Adventure, while not achieving as much recognition (only released theatrically in Japan while being a more limited release in America) was still considered a successful film. Then comes 2006. For the first time a Sonic film is not animated but rather a fully live-action and CGI hollywood film gearing up not for the Annies but likely shooting for Oscar or Saturn awards. It wanted acceptance in the elite of Hollywood. To say it flew too close to the sun and plummetted down below would be an understatement. The 2006 Sonic film is so awful it is actually considered to be the flat out worst video game film ever made, even worse than the 1993 Super Mario Bros. film and even worse than 2005's Alone in the Dark. Yes, really.
But that is the audience's take, what about the critics?
Well....turns out they are pretty much in agreement with the audience this time because practically every segment of the Razzies last night had a mention of Sonic 06. Let's go through every category of the Razzies as we look at what Sonic 06 won and what it got nominated for. It's pretty much a recap of the whole show.
Worst Picture - Won. Sonic 06 narrowly beat out BloodRayne, Basic Instinct 2, Lady in the Water & Little Man for this category. And the judges said it was really hard to pick Basic Instinct 2 over Sonic 06, but due to Sonic 06's ungodly long run time it was a far more dreadful experience to sit through. Not to mention the fact it actually contains bloopers left in which was not unnoticed by the award judges.
Worst Actor - Nominated. While the critics noted all of the voice acting deliveries were absolutely awful, the category wasn't about voice acting. As such they gave the nominated to Alan Rickman's performance as Eggman. It was up against Marlon & Shawn Wayans in Little Man, Tim Allen in Santa Clause 3, Nic Cage in Wicker Man, and Larry the Cable Guy from his Health Inspector film. I never thought I'd see the day athat Rickman was at the Razzies in a million years.
Worst Actress - Nominated. Like with Worst Actor, while the judges mentioned the film would have won both this and worst actress if voice acting counted, Lacey Chabert's emotionless performance as Elise got the nomination in the end, being beaten by Sharon Stone from Basic Instinct 2. Hillary & Haylie Duff from Material Girls, Lindsay Lohan from Just My Luck, Kristanna Loken in BloodRayne were all also up for this position.
Worst Supporting Actor - Due to the award shows not yet considering voice acting roles, no major characters in the film counted, sparing it from the nomination. It was noted it probably would have won if the animated characters were eligible though. This went to M. Night Shyamalan from Lady in the Water.
Worst Supporting Actress - As with the above category, it narrowly avoided this nomination. Carmen Electrica from Date Movie & Scary Movie 4 won this.
Worst Screen Couple - Won. Ryan Drummond (as Sonic) and Lacey Chabert (as Elise) won against the couples of Little Man, Santa Clause 3, Nic and his bear suit in The Wicker Man and even the duffs from Material Girls.
Worst Remake or Rip-Off - Won. It was considered by the award show to be a remake of the original Sonic film, since it shared no obvious continuity with either of the prior films yet bore the exact same title as the 1998 film. It beat out Little Man, The Pink Panther, Poseidon and The Shaggy Dog.
Worst Prequel or Sequel - Basic Instinct 2 won this one, as Sonic 06 wasn't even nominated due to being considered a remake/rip-off by the show; though if it was considered a sequel it likely would have won this instead.
Worst Director - Won. Raja Gosnell beat Shyamalan from Lady in the Water, Uwe Boll from BloodRayne, Michael Caton-Jones from Basic Instinct 2 and even Keenan Ivory Wayans from Little Man. And boy was it considered deserved, especially by Sonic fans who absolutely despised this man for butchering the blue hedgehog's grand hollywood debut beyond repair.
Worst Excuse for Family Entertainment - Won. It beat RV, Deck the Halls, Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties and Santa Clause 3.
In summary: Sonic 06 won Worst Picture, Worst Screen Couple, Worst Remake or Rip-Off and Worst Excuse for Family Etertainment; 4 razzies. It was nominated for Worst Actor & Worst Actress, 2 razzies. This alone cements it as one of the worst films ever made in the eyes of the film industry, let alone the video game industry, meaning this film will for years to come live in eternal infamy.
Also jesus christ Sony how did you ruin Sonic this badly?
- Sonic Retro, 2007
CRACKDOWN
February, 2007
"Finally Nokia begins to properly expand it's list of unique and interesting IP's." - IGN
"There is a fundamental dichotomy at the core of Crackdown. This huge, streaming game, the third Grand Theft Auto-style game on Neo G-X (after The Godfather and Saints Row), is built around simple basics: Shooting bosses and collecting orbs. So how can Crackdown, designed by Real Time Worlds (Published by Nokia themselves) and led by David Jones, the original creator of Grand Theft Auto, be so simple yet so god-damned addictive?" - Gamespot
"It's like GTA except you're on the law's side and you have superpowers; and it's also amazing." - Consumer, 2007
"The game really shows off the Neo G-X's physics & particle capabilities well, and is a much welcome and very much needed exclusive title that is sure to pull gamers into the system." - Consumer, 2007
"The game centers around a selection of biologically enhanced agents being sent down to take down three major crime lords, each of these agents being, for lack of a better word, superheroes - the campaign is like GTA meets DC or Marvel; it's also plenty open-ended; you can take out the enemy gang leader at any point if you so choose but it's going to be much easier if you spend your time leveling up and weakening the gang(s) first before heading out to fight the head honcho. This open-ended play style helps make multiple playthroughs feel unique and offers a challenge for speedrunners. The game's world is divided into eight islands representing three different districts of Pacific City, with each of the enemy gangs being based on different groups of people - Hispanic cartels, Russian Mafia and even Japanese Yakuza/Chinese Triads who each managed to overwhelm the police force and left no other choice but the agency." - IGN
"This game is truly designed for co-op, it is by far one of the game's biggest selling points in my opinion - the most fun I've ever had with cooperative play in a game!" - Consumer, 2007
IS SHENMUE A GTA CLONE?
February, 2007
"We are living in an increasing era of games thare basically just copies of GTA. The Godfather, Scarface, Saints Row, Yakuza, Crackdown. But....why is nobody calling Shenmue a GTA clone?"
"Because it's not."
"You can't pull out guns and kill people in Shenmue. You can't get a haircut or change your clothes in Shenmue. You can't drive vehicles and go on rampages in Shenmue. You can't really do crime at all in Shenmue. Shenmue is literally trying hard to NOT be a GTA clone."
- IGN Forums, 2007
VIRTUA FIGHTER 5
February, 2007
"If you like beating people up then Sony's Virtua Fighter 5 is the game for you. Developed by the black belts at AM2 (Fighting Vipers, Fighters Megamix), VF5 is a true gameplay showcase that deserves more mainstream attention than it will probably ever get. Then again, proper timing can make a big difference in a title's success, and with the Solaris' void of compelling software since last December, Virtua Fighter's chance of grabbing North American eyeballs is better than ever" - IGN
"A lot of people think that Virtua Fighter is too complicated for new players - that is a myth. It is as complex and multi-faceted as you want it to be, newcomers will have no problem pulling off a few combos even with no experience in prior VF games; obviously if you pit them with an expert player they will see things they never thought possible though the same is true of virtually every other fighting game out there. Hopefully this Smash Bros. and Tekken inspired myth will die out with this game." - Gamespot
"Incredibly satisfying to play against other human players whether local or online." - Consumer, 2007
"Fast gameplay, reworked combos, hearty customization options; a number of everyone-friendly improvements that make this game accessible to old and new players alike." - Consumer, 2007
"Quest mode is an excellent simulation of travelling to arcades and challenging top players across the world,even if it has high powered AI foes." - Consumer, 2007
"Character customization is very fun" - Consumer, 2007
"Excellent character balance as with most Virtua Fighter games, you can win even major tournaments with virtually any character. There are of course some overpowred moves and combos, but they tend to be minimal and easily recognized after a few matches. It will be easy for Akira players to work out a strategy for Pai Chan users, making the latter have to think of ways to compensate. This will keep local, online and tournament matches free of being dominated solely by the same rotation of characters again and again." - Consumer, 2007
"The AI is a bit weak though, only softened a bit by Quest mode." - Consumer, 2007
"Believe it or not, the game almost didn't have online play. It was only from an insistance from SSCEE Japan that AM2 developed the game to have online networking. It's arguably what saved the game. They also added the ability to save replays late in development too." - Consumer, 2007
"There are a lot of unnecessary menus in versus matches, and the Character ID system is a bit jank, with only one character per name and no Master ID. I don't know if it's impossible or just very difficult to bring your customized characters to a friends house to play against them in a local match." - Consumer, 2007
WARLORDS OF VICANIA
February, 2007
"As far as Nokia's journey into JRPG's go, Warlords of Vicania is a pretty standard affair. If you've played Final Fantasy, Phantasy Star, the Tales of series or even .hack you probably won't be impressed. If this is your first JPRG experience though you will probably find it engaging. The storyline is nothing that special, the world is a post apocolyptic wasteland after an unspecified disaster and has returned to a seemingly feudal state in which knowledge of the past era (our modern times) has been both lost and perverted into a form of mythology. It's a very interesting and unique take on the world, though also reminds one highly of Fallout; that said Fallout meeting JRPG is something I always sort of wanted to see. It's unknown what part of the world "Vicania" represents, though it may just be Japan. Point is, the region is dominated by a group of warlords who fight endlessly for power and your main character's goal is much like that of Luffy in One Piece - to become the most powerful warlord. You can choose to do so either heroically or villainously. Now, this premise is honestly amazing and I commend Nokia for that, but the gameplay is pretty much standard JRPG fare - you level up through combat experience and just playing the game, you can store plenty of items in an inventory in which a lot of them feel and sometimes are mostly useless but sometimes are plot relevant, and all characters are set in stone with no real customization at all unlike Phantasy Star or Fallout. The combat system also feels rather samey compared to what's found in Final Fantasy - which is fine, but I just wish it had more innovation to offer. I really do; this game is honestly shows a lot of potential and is a good start to what I hope Nokia turns into a franchise."
- IGN
GOD OF WAR II
March, 2007
"The original God of War was an action gaming masterpiece from start to finish. Its Greek mythology-derived storyline, blanketed with larger-than-life set pieces and timeless characters and themes, provided the perfect backdrop to an incredibly intense and engaging action romp. We dubbed it our pick for not only Best Action Game but overall Game of the Year for 2005, and to this day it stands as one of, if not the greatest, action games ever released. Though Kratos wound up sitting atop his throne as the God of War at the first game's finale, his tale was far from over. God of War II picks up right where the original left off and follows the anti-hero on his continued path of revenge." - IGN
"Many fans did not think Santa Monica could outdo themselves with a second go-around, and others were unsure of the decision to release the game on the Neptune at a time when the Solaris was already out. Citing matured technology that would allow them to focus on content rather than having to work through the growing pains associated with in-progress engine development, Santa Monica Studios took the road most traveled and wound up producing what amounts to a near-perfect sequel." - Gamespot
"After being Metroided out of your godly status and powers, you head off to find the Sisters of Fate to set things right again - well, right from Kratos' perspective." - Consumer, 2007
"The story is anything but black and white, it actually draws from greek mythology and really makes you question our modern definitions of heroism; it even ends on an excellent set up for a third installment in the hopefully near future!" - Consumer, 2007
"Absolutely amazing scale and scope, set pieces that dwarf anything previously seen on the Neptune; it feels like a Solaris game that somehow runs on previous gen hardware. Buildings that stand tall next to mountains,monstrous horses tethered to the isle of fates that can be run along without acrophobia, statues seemingly part of the enviornment that are large enough to walk into if hollow. Lush gardens flanked by rows of trees, massive wooden structures, mountsides covered in snow, underground caverns cloaked in organic stuff - the graphics are absolutely phenomenal for previous gen standards." - Consumer, 2007
"The combat isn't that different form the first game, though if it's not broke don't fix it. There are however a few new moves to use even if some are just even cooler versions of prior moves. Couple a perfect system with a plethora of fantastic enemies and you will be slicing and dicing ancient grecian monsters for hours to come." - Consumer, 2007
"Finally, more boss battles!" - Consumer, 2007
"There are one or two puzzles that were a little BS though." - Consumer, 2007
"So many extras and unclockables!" - Consumer, 2007
SHENMUE ONLINE
March, 2007
"After many long years of waiting in the dark for an answer, Sony has finally officially launched the Shenmue Online MMO title. Much like the Chao Online MMO, this game lets you design your own 3D avatar for traversing the online world of Shenmue; however the characters you create here are older and taller while still styled very much like anime characters. Upon creating your character and logging into the world you will be greeted with a world in which you can immerse yourself in pretty much anything - train in martial arts to learn various Virtua Fighter combos, get to know people from around the globe, play (demos of) old Sega arcade games in actual virtually simulated arcades, watch (trailers of) upcoming Sony movies in actual virtually simulated theaters, purchase authentic asian cuisine, experience actual celestial dragons that fly, breathe fire and all and most importantly - drive forklifts. And more, much much more." - IGN
NOKIA NG
March, 2007
"At a press conference in Espoo, Finland (yes, Americans, that is it's name) the world's leading mobile phone company unveiled their latest invention; the Nokia NG. What is the Nokia NG? The latest innovation in smartphone technology, that's what. The Nokia NG also comes with a relaunch of the Nokia Network, now branded as the Nokia N-Gage service, which is also the name of the NG's operating system which itself was designed off of Windows XP. The Nokia NG features a sleek and streamlined design and the absence of keypads as well as a stylus pen, encouraging you to use the touchscreen that takes up most of the phone's front. Buttons are limited and mostly centered around the bottom such as the home button, power button, and a few buttons for back, forward and play/pause. The Nokia NG also features the ability to wirelessly connect to the Nokia Neo G-X to allow for seamless online connectivity and access to one's N-Gage Profile, Marketplace & Arcade all from your smartphone. It can also provide an alternative to wearing headsets and allows application & file sharing from across both the console & phone, seamlessly combining the two into one system among other features that all stem from this connectivity (much like the GameCube's connectivity with the GBA). Besides the innovation in gaming, the Nokia NG is just an technological innovation in general, it combines celluar phones with mp3 players & PDA's while making it less cumbersome and more accessible for your average user to have. The NG will be available currently only in Europe, with Nokia wanting to launch it elsewhere in 2008 or 2009 depending on how European sales go." - EGM, 2007
"At first glance, Nokia managed to actually beat Apple to the punch. And in some ways that's true, except the initial NG release had some major flaws - the main goal was to combine console gaming with mobile gaming, meaning this was a smartphone primarily marketed to gamers. Console gamers. It was also only released in Europe at first. These two things cemented the Nokia NG's failure to capitalize on the American market for smartphones in the months leading to a certain reveal even if they had beaten Apple to it in Europe." - MSN, 2008
"Nokia finally did what Coleco, Mattel and Atari couldn't - they turned a game console into a phone! The absolute madmen!" - Anonymous, 2007-2008
EL TIGRE
March, 2007
"The show is pretty good as far as Nick cartoons go, and the licensed game is also decent enough for what it is." - Consumer, 2007
DRAKE & JOSH
March, 2007
"SPHERICAL!" - Consumer, 2007
"Very iconic and memorable Nickelodeon show, really made Drake Bell a symbol of the network! I see a very bright future ahead for the young star." - Consumer, 2007
"The show's licensed games are meh." - Consumer, 2007
ROCKY BALBOA
March, 2007
"WHY DIDN'T THEY JUST CALL IT ROCKY V?! THAT'S LIKE MAKING ANOTHER RAMBO MOVIE AND JUST CALLIN' IT JOHN RAMBO....OH WAIT." - Consumer, 2007
"It's a decent enough game for what it is; it's a boxing game. A boxing game with the Rocky branding. It's exactly what you wanted if you paid for it, nothing more nothing less exactly as with most licensed games." - Consumer, 2007
DISNEY'S MEET THE ROBINSONS
March, 2007
"They all hated me!" - Consumer, 2007
"Honestly an iconic and very memorable movie from Disney, dare I say it hasn't gotten nearly enough praise as it actually deserves; however the obligatory video games based on it are not anything that are really worth going out of your way to buy unless you have a kid that really likes the movie or if you are a major Disney collector or enthusiast. They're not awful but are just standard licensed kids game fare." - Gamespot
PURR PALS
March, 2007
"The Wii installment in a Nintendo DS game series that has you simulate the ownership of Kittens & Cats; literally just the Kitty version of Nintendog for lack of a better or more accurate comparison. You get play games with your cats, you get to feed your cats, you get to pet your cats and you even get to clean up after your cats (yes really). There is literally nothing else to this game other than 'awwww look at the cute kitties'. If you want to sell your soul to adorable though entirely digital animals then this will absolutely blow you away." - IGN
SONIC STORIES: THE SECRET RINGS
March, 2007
"From Sonic Team for the Sony Pluto comes the latest spin off series for Sonic the Hedgehog -
Sonic Stories: Sonic & The Secret Rings takes Sonic into the world of the Arabian Nights. He is taken into it by the beautiful female genie Sharah who is trying to help him stop the Erazor Djinn - the genie of the lamp who is now trying to erase all of the Arabian Nights. This storybook adventure has Sonic meet Ali Baba, Sinbad (not the comedian) and more as he journeys through gorgeous desert enivornments, lush dinosaur inhabited jungles, flying manta rays and more! It truly shows what you can get on the Pluto when you have a big studio behind the production as every cutscene has full fledged voice acting and you will have the main theme "Seven Rings in Hand" in your head for years to come! A very ambitious title, it goes for a 3D view with occassional 2.5 D sections for the gameplay, putting Sonic on rails with the ability to move backwards." - IGN
"The first Jason Griffith game" - Consumer, 2007
"The game is probably one of the most ambitious portable games to date, though corners were cut. Obviously the graphics are pretty much the low poly goodness of Sonic Rivals and similar portable games, and the cutscenes while fully voice acted are just sepia tone slideshows that are styled like a motion comic with a full FMV scenes thrown in: however, this serves to give the game a lot of charm, too. There's also a Sonic Shuffle style multiplayer mode, though it requires knowing three other people that both own a Pluto, this game AND want to play with you" -
Sonic Retro, 2007
"MAKE BELIEFS REBORN!" - Consumer, 2007
"SEVEN RINGS IN HAND MAY OUR HEARTS CATCH FIRE NOW!" - Consumer, 2007
SONIC CONFIRMED FOR BRAWL
April, 2007
Major gaming news has just broken out today as it has just been officially announced by Nintendo that Sonic the Hedgehog has been confirmed for the upcoming Nintendo Wii game Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Creator of the game series, Masuhiro Sakurai, stated that he personally went to Sony's corporate headquarters in Tokyo in the dead of night and stole the rights to Sonic the Hedgehog right from the vault of Sony CEO Shoichiro Irimajiri's office. He then had to fight his way through Sony's laser security system and a group of heavily armed security guards as well as a ninja posted just outside the front door before he was able to return to the Nintendo Headquarters with the paperwork in hand.
"It was incredibly difficult, but I got it from under their nose" Sakurai said in an interview with ONN yesterday, "I did it for the fans, because it is just un f[redacted]ing believeable that Sony refuses to allow the long awaited Sonic and Mario crossover to happen."
Sony's CEO Shoichiro Irimajiri meanwhile had this to say in response to Sakurai's bold action:
"This is a completely ridiculous violation of our and my privacy. You can bet your [redacted] that we will pay Nintendo back for this action against our honor and integrity" when asked how he intends to seek retribution for the percieved loss of honor, Irimajiri refused to comment though it has been reported that an army of darkly dressed ninjas has been seen traversing rooftops on a path headed for Kyoto, where Nintendo is headquarted. Nintendo has yet to make any comment on this though there is an expectation that they will be unleashing an army of plumbers arimed with RPG launchers to combat the potential ninja threat.
As for how to unlock Sonic, the method will reportedly involve inserting into the Nintendo Wii a copy of Sonic Adventure 3 at the same time as the Brawl Game Disc, which will cause the Nintendo Wii to meld the two game's together with the itensity of over 9,000 suns. Once the code and game data of these two titles has been conjoined, Brawl will effectively have assimilated Sonic into itself and he will be playable upon the completition of this process - however you will have to turn off you Wii at just the right time, since you risk spontaneous combustion if you wait too long. It's said by Sakurai that you will here a certain chime from your wiimote if it's all been done correctly.
See deeper coverage into Sakurai's infiltration of Sony's headquarters next week at 9.
- The Onion, 2007
"I get so fucking pissed off but also laugh my ass off at the same time whenever I remember The Onion's attempt at recreating the Sonic in Melee hoax. But it also makes me wonder if there ever has been a thought to put Sonic in Smash."
"There is actually a story going around that around the time of E3 2001, Yuji Naka himself actually approached Sakurai with the notion of adding Sonic into Melee. However, not only did Sakurai hesitate due to how far in development Melee was but the idea of allowing Sonic into a third Smash game, i.e. Brawl, was shot down completely by Norio Ohga himself - perhaps out of spite due to his history with Nintendo. It actually does leave open the possibility that Sony Smash was actually an idea conceptualized by Ohga after that small interaction but not materialized by SSCEE until years later."
"2001 was the year Ohga had a brain hemorrage. I think he died."
"Wouldn't Sony not own Sonic yet?"
"E3 '01 would have been before that happened and he was still the Chairman of Sony - also E3 '01 was in the summer, a few months AFTER Sony bought Sega so they would have very freshly owned Sonic at the time this interaction allegedly took place. Also he didn't die from that he managed to recover, though he fully retired as chairman of Sony since 2003; same year Hiroshi Yamauchi left Nintendo."
"I remember reading that he died though. Huh."
"Honestly I feel a little sad imagining this interaction. Sakurai-san and Naka-san actually wanted to do an historically awesome crossover, and then Ohga-san letting pettiness cloud his mind so much he just flat out refuses to let it happen. Also I also remember hearing that he died in 2001 or 2002, I distinctly remember SA2 having a dedication to him in the last story end credits."
"I don't remember any such thing, the only Adventure game dedicated to anyone's memory is 3 which was dedicated to Tony Jay who died during the final months of development."
"I literally don't think I've ever heard of someone saying no to Sakurai like that."
"I mean, Sakurai's not a god. People can say no to him. It happens."
"First off this story is only alleged and comes only from Yuji Naka. I'm not sure if Ohga-san even attended E3 '01, but the idea of Naka and Sakurai inquiring the idea to him later on isn't entirely implausible. Nor is Ohga's response, given his personal history with Nintendo - still feeling wronged by what they pulled with Philips. Secondly, even if Sonic Team's people want Sonic in this story would prove that Sonic Team has no actual control over the Sonic brand - Sony can easily override their decision, so Sakurai-san would not be approaching Sonic Team but rather Sony either Sony corporate or SSCEE. Convincing them to allow Sonic to be on a title exclusive to their competitor would be a lot to ask of them."
"I've actually heard it be said that whenever they are asked by Sakurai or Nintendo what it would take to get Sonic in Smash, they always demand that a version of the game be released for Sony consoles too and Nintendo always refuses."
"I don't think that's true since Sakurai doesn't normally do the asking/begging, it's normally the creators of the characters who do it - I feel like that's just people's assumptions or memes about how it goes."
"Actually the story comes from a misinterpretation of what Adam Walsh once said back in 2006 in an interview with Sonic Retro: he said that for Sonic to be in Smash Bros, Nintendo would have either to make a Sony/Sega version of the game with Mario as a guest OR release the game on Sony platforms as a third-party release. He was saying this in response to a fan question and not in response to Nintendo themselves. We don't know how Kaz or Kutaragi feel/felt about the stance buut I know a lot of Smash fans at the time viewed Walsh as incredibly disrespectful towards Nintendo for having said that - even for a competitor CEO. But basically fans just came to believe he said this in response to Nintendo rather than a fan news outlet."
"I now fully understand why there are those meme pics of Sonic taking the smash invitation letter and just lighting it on fire whenever he gets one."
- Game FAQs forums, 2016
SUPER PAPER MARIO
April, 2007
"Super Paper Mario from Nintendo and development studio Intelligent Systems is a 2D platformer, a 3D adventure, and depending upon how snooty you are about your qualifiers, a role-playing game, too. The Big N's famous Italian plumber-hero jumps across surreal, not to mention sometimes-nostalgic worlds and battles a cast of foes including angry flowers, gaseous super-villains, and even a toad-nerd undoubtedly inspired by some of the very message board posters who complain about videogames on a weekly basis. This is a silly project, but don't be fooled by the primary colors and goofy characters because underneath the cute exterior lies a very clever and challenging affair that, while not perfect in every way possible, still easily ranks amongst the top-tier of Wii games to date." - IGN
POKEMON: DIAMOND & PEARL
April, 2007
"Finally GameFreak & Nintendo have released the Nintendo DS' primary Pokemon title - the fourth generation of Pokemon games - in America. Having previously been released to the Japanese market in 2006, Diamond, Pearl and the tertiary release Platinum is set for release in Japan next year. The games make good use of the Nintendo DS' double screen, serving to limit tremendously the amount of screens you will have to shift through while battling and travesing the region. There's also an entire army of brand new pokemon to catch & trade, and new legendaries that have quickly become fan favorites within the vast Pokemon fanbase; players are all very excited to no longer have to import this game!" - Gamespot
"I work at a GameStop. The moment Gen 4 finally reached the states there were swarms of kids and their parents coming into the store to get them fresh, we were sold out within a few hours. Thankfully there wasn't violence over it, at least not as much as with Solaris and G-X's launch, but yeah. The game sold like hot cakes and really got a lot of people to buy a DS. " - Consumer, 2007
"I work at a GameStop in Houma, LA (Louisiana); while Diamond & Pearl were still freshly released there was one young girl who came in with her mom - girl couldn't have been older than like 10 or something, she was really into Diamond & Pearl mainly cuz she wanted a Pachrisu I think; she also thought Piplup was cute. Nothing special happened, I just remember that girl specifically for some reason. Then again lots of kids, and some grown ups, came in and out to get those games. Think she ended up getting Pearl." - Consumer, 2007
SNK VS CAPCOM: CARD FIGHTERS NG
April, 2007
"The first SNK vs Capcom Card Fighters game to be released after the Nokia buyout as well as the first one to not be released on a SNK console (unless you play along with Nokia's fantasy). The third entry in the series, this game is only available for download on the Nokia N-Gage Arcade (and if you're in Europe you can download it for the NG smartphones). There's not much to it, you play as anime characters collecting and battling cards that are based on various SNK & Capcom characters from across the two arcade giants' libraries. Without explaining the complex mechanics of battling digital trading cards, that is pretty much all there is to this game." - IGN
AMERICAN DRAGON: JAKE LONG
April, 2007
"American Dragon: Jake Long is SET-2's flagship animated show, with excellent character design from Phil Bourassa (giving it a very Ben 10 feel while being different enough to still be seen as it's own universe) and voice work from Dante Basco as the titular character, American Dragon: Jake Long is currently in it's second Season, having been on the air since 2005. As such, it should come to no surprise that there are now video games based on the series: both on the Sony Pluto & Sony Neptune; yes, a previous gen game in 2007. While the IP of American Dragon: Jake Long is owned by Sony, the video games were made by third party developers and published by SSCEE. As with most licensed games, there's not much to really talk about that's truly amazing - the Pluto game is just a very standard 3D platformer/beat 'em up that has a plot involving Jake going up against the Huntsclan, with the Huntsmaster being the final boss while many of the other bosses are magical creatures (some of which didn't even appear in the show yet). As for the console verison, it's practically just a clone of the licensed games for Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy and Xiaolin Showdown - a chaotic beat 'em up game featuring a large gathering of the show's characters complete with items and levels based on the show and an absolutely psyhotic multiplayer; the voice cast from the show even lends their talents to the game. You can play as Jake, Trixie, Spud, Fu, Lao Shi, Sun Park (Season 2 character), Brad, Huntsgirl (Rose), Huntsman, Huntsboys 88 & 89, Chang, Fury (Season 2 character), the Krylock, Professor Rotwood, Jasmine (the Nix) and even the Dark Dragon. There's also a lot of unlockable costumes for each character; it's very fun when you're a kid but it's nothing to really get hyped about. The plot of the console game basically involves a magical curse imposed on the world by Fury, that's just to explain why everyone's beating the Hell out of each other." - IGN
DRIVER '76
May, 2007
"If the Driver series was a car, a mechanic might say that it has been riding a bit rough ever since the first title was released. Plagued by horrible controls, lame on-foot sections and stupid AI, the franchise has been mired in mediocrity for a long time. What was needed was a serious change, and so last year, the old formula behind the action title was scrapped in favor of a GTA-light style experience. This produced last year's somewhat improved Driver: Parallel Lines, and gave a little hope that the series was headed back to prominence. Hoping to capitalize on this turnaround, as well as some of the characters from Parallel Lines, Sumo Digital and Ubisoft recently released Driver '76, a prequel to Parallel Lines. Unfortunately, this portable version resurrects just about every issue that previous games in the series have suffered from." - IGN
"So this is how the Driver franchise ends. Not with a glorious bang, but a painful crash and burn. Sad. Going back to GTA & Saints Row now." - Consumer, 2007
"The Driver series did not deserve this fate. It was one of the pioneers in the open world genre, and even more specifically the open world crime simulation & car driving sub-genre. The original '99 Saturn game is a classic and one of the system's most successful games; even the '00 Driver 2 which was also released on the Saturn was in my opinion a bit underrated and overly hated on it's release. Though it could be my nostalgia talking, it was really just more of a average game. Then came Driver 3 and it's infamous PC port in '04 followed by Driver: Parallel Lines in '06. Unfortunately I think the rise of Grand Theft Auto in global popularity is what killed Driver in the eyes of most people, since modern Driver games are branded as GTA clones despite the series being older. And now the Sony Pluto is being insulted by the release of Driver '76, the first and worst handheld Driver game. I don't think this is the end of the franchise, but I don't think we'll be seeing Driver again in the long term future." - Consumer, 2007
THE SUPER SMASH DOJO
May 22, 2007
"New for fans of the Super Smash Bros. game series, esteemed Masahiro Sakurai has unveiled the newest version of the official Smash Bros. website - the Super Smash Dojo, which will be elaborating on information about the upcoming Super Smash Bros. Brawl game via weekly updates: including new characters and their movesets, levels, game modes and more to. Currently all the website has is information on the basic game rules, the new UI, the new Battlefield stage, and the fact the game will have music. " -
Nintendo Power, 2007
MARIO & LINK CONFIRMED IN BRAWL
May 23, 2007
"Sakurai has added the characters tab on the Dojo! Mario and Link are confirmed! Though...we already knew this. Why can't they just add all the confirmed characters at once?" - Consumer, 2007
BYZANTIUM III
May, 2007
"Sony Technical Institute (Comix Zone, Sonic X-Treme, Knuckles the Echidna & Byzantium) have struck again with a third entry in the acclaimed Byzantium series! Released as yet another late entry into the Sony Neptune's library; Byzantium III follows the point in history that the successful though controversial Byzantium II left us off at; the tyrant emperor Phocas had been deposed and Heraclius victorious, with the Persians finally fended off in the grand Final War; only for the Arabs to destroy the Roman Empire's hold over the East. This game begins with the initial Arab wars following the fall of Syria-Palestine & Egypt, and after defending Constantinople in the opening mission you spend most of the campaign fighting against the Lombards as they tear apart Roman Italy and the Arabs as they strip away Africa and raid Anatolia. As with the prior game, this is a first person sword & melee game and so you don't really get to see your character much; in cutscenes you're a generic Byzantine Imperial soldier, this is of course to make the game more immersive. Though STI has flirted with the idea of character customization when they find the time to make a proper next gen installment. The game's main strength is in it's knowledge of history and ability to construct believeable historical drama involving your soldier character during these historical events and in it's offering of a different experience from traditional FPS games; it's also a bit education in how rare this specific time period of the 600's-700's is in media. There's also even proper online multiplayer with this one, even if it's a bit lacking given the Neptune's limitations. You get to put yourself on the teams of East Romans, Lombards, Arabs, Slavs, Bulgars and other armed forces from the historical period. If you have any interest in Roman/Byzantine history you will definitely get a kick out of this game." -
Solaris Magazine, 2007
"I always put some Sabaton on when I play this game, it really sets the mood." - Consumer, 2007
"One of STI's most iconic series, I really can't wait to see what they come up with next; I hope they also make some Byzantium games for next gen consoles soon!" - Consumer, 2007
TOMB RAIDER: ANNIVERSARY
June, 2007
"A great renewal of a series that started a great genre franchise; a great adventure full of exploration and climbing. Soundtrack is amazing yet again. Different from Legend as it's more about exploring and climbing than action but that's a good thing since it makes the game totally unique." - Consumer, 2007
"The latest Tomb Raider game series has been interesting - Eidos partnered with PIE-owned Crystal Dynamics in order to make
Anniversary as well as last year's
Tomb Raider: Legend. Anniversary is of course a modern-generation (well, okay, it's released on the Neptune but will be on G-X and Wii soon) remake of the original game from the previous decade, the one that started it all. It's a trip down memory lane for many a gamer, and is sure to remind them of how far we've come since the days of crude jagged polygonal figures running across very low resolution environments." - IGN, 2007
POKEMON BATTLE REVOLUTION
June, 2007
"Just as the fourth generation of Pokemon games has hit the shores of the west, so has it's game used to transfer your Pokemon onto the 3D fighting arena of home consoles! Transfer and battle your Pokemon from the Nintendo DS to the Nintendo Wii with Battle Revolution - requiring Pokemon Diamond, Pearl or Platinum for transfer - or any other DS Poekmon game really. Play locally or against rivals from across the globe! Customize your very own trainer with a variety of costumes and pieces! The ultimate 3D Pokemon experience!" - Nintendo Power, 2007
TOTAL DRAMA ISLAND
July, 2007
"One Island, 22 Contestants, and a butt load of cold hard cash equals infinite drama! Who will win it all? The Pretty Boy, the tough guy, or the hot girl? Probably not the big guy though. Or these two. Live the drama each week and find out who will win; on Total Drama Island! " - Teletoon, 2007
"I WANNA BE, I WANNA BE, I WANNA BE FAMOUS!" - Anonymous, 2007
E3 '07
July, 2007
E3 2007 took place in Santa Monica, California. There was no central location for the show, as publishers held events and press conferences in various hotels in Santa Monica. A display more typical of E3s past was held at Barker Hangar, also in Santa Monica. This change from the Los Angeles Convention Center was in response to escalating budgets for publishing exhibits and ballooning attendence numbers that frequently included non-industry show-goers. As a result of all this, attendence dropped from over 60,000 people in 2006 to just 10,000 in 2007.
"My name is Reggie, and I am happy." That was Nintendo's opening line in 2007, and it's easy to understand why everyone was all smiles at the Big N -- both its systems were pulling in incredible sales. The DS had been active for over two and a half years by this point, and had solidified its position as the dominant handheld machine over Sony's PSP.
A large part of the conference was about peripherals. The Wii Zapper was unveiled first, to much confused applause. Then the Wii Wheel, though it was joined by the anticipated Mario Kart Wii. Finally though came the Wii Balance Board and Wii Fit. The introduction of health-focused fitness games was a very smart move given the Wii's huge appeal to casual gamers.
The biggest game of Nintendo's conference was definitely Super Mario Galaxy, which finally recieved it's own November release date and was looking incredibly impressive - even more dare said than Super Mario 64 roughly ten years prior. With the Big S having already released their trump card this time around, Galaxy was free to have '07 all to itself. Super Smash Bros. Brawl was also mentioned, with Reggie promising that it would be released come December - we now have the hindsight that it didn't. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption was also a prominent showcase and it certainly got plenty of gamers excited to see Samus in action again after the GameCube series. There were also plenty of DS exclusives too such as Zelda's Phantom Hourglass, Brain Age 2 & Flash Focus and a portable Call of Duty port among others. Notable for the Wii's third party roster was Godzilla Unleashed, which was the third and most ambitious entry in Pipeworks & Atari's series of Godzilla licensed games - though it was also getting a port for the Neptune and an accompanying DS game as well. Other key games included a Wii version of DBZ: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 (also on Neptune) and the Wii exclusive Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock which made use of a custom Guitar controller shell for the Wiimote. Konami also gave us Contra 4 for the DS.
There was also some news from Rare as well, with the anticipated Conker's Other Bad Fur Day being set to release within the next week after the expo.
Honestly Reggie was really the perfect person Nintendo could have chosen as the face of their American division and as a result the western side of their gaming apparatus as a whole. The man had such charisma on stage that he's just impossible to hate. Literaly the best corporate leader Nintendo's ever had. However, aside from Reggie's awesome character the presentation did leave much to be desired.
Then there was Sony's presentation.
For both previous console generations, Sony had ruled the roost. First in tandem with Sega and then after walking out from behind the curtain having thrown their puppet aside. They were battling against the Wii & G-X to retain their throne, and while the Wii had proven to be a tougher challenge than many were sure Sony had expected Kaz still had tricks up his sleeve to pull Sony out from the abyss. Taking the stage, Kaz Hirai announced roughly 140 titles coming to the Sony Pluto within the next year, joined by a new model of the Pluto that hadn't yet been given an official name though had features that personally were of pretty great interest - the ability to be used as a video output divice that could be connected to an HDTV to play content off of, games included. It was also lighter, slimmed down and yet retained the same basic shape. Hell, Chewbacca even took to the stage to introduce a special Star Wars variant.
I was excited to see it not be getting the shaft, though it was the main source of the Sony tradition (which they inheirited from Sega) of giving Sonic the utmost royal treatment. Not one, not two, not three but four Sonic games were eached revealed for the portable system. Sonic Rush Adventure, Sonic Rivals 2, a portable port of a console game I'll get to in a bit, and Sonic & Sony Superstars Shuffle 2.
Then came SonyNet, the still recently renamed SegaNet. It was also a key talking point for Sony, with them speaking loud and clear about the inclusion of the home portions in the presentation. Aside from the push for Home, a few games that had previously been announced showed up - such as Echochrome which stood out personally to me and many others, a black-white game that looked like MC Escher come to life; an entire game made up of optical illusions.
Last but not least, the Solaris itself. Metal Gear Solid 4 was one of the biggest parts with Kojima-san himself being brought on stage to assure fanboys that MGS4 was going to be a Solaris exclusive, along with a trailer showing very impressive in-game graphics: it honestly needs to have been seen to be believed. Though that was almost trumped when Snoop Dogg was performing Unknown from M.E. during the Knuckles the Echidna 2 trailer, not in person though as part of trailer. Nevertheless, it caught every gamer in the crowd off-guard. The game itself advertised itself as a fully open world experience with a large emphasis on exploring a vast world without loading screens, lessons learned from Jak & Daxter as well as SA3. Honestly people were sold just from Snoop Dogg being part of the soundtrack alone. There was also an impressive in-game trailer for Killzone 2 as well, if Knuckles 2 & MGS 4 didn't convince you of the Solaris' amazing graphical capabilities then Killzone 2 would have absolutely won you over. The gameplay to me wasn't especially interesting, though talk of the weater as an adversy could add some of spice and make the game an intriguing play.
There were also trailers for Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction as well, the next installment of the Ratchet & Clank series, Sony's secondary platformer franchise after the Hedgehog; but also Uncharted, which was a game from the likes of Naughty Dog, previously known for the Jak franchise.
Rounding out the rest of the conference was the talk of much needed exclusive titles for the Solaris (that weren't Sonic or Ratchet/Clank related). Unreal Tournment 3 was a real crowd-pleaser along with the announcement that NC Soft will be working on Solaris titles going forward. Finally, the reveal of Nights: Journey of Dreams as one of the last trailers of the presentation excited a lot of us 90's gamers - proof that Sony did remember Sega franchises besides the blue hedgehog!
To top it all of though was their greatest move yet, one purely to stick it to Nintendo. At the very end of their press conference presentation after Kaz left the stage and it all went dark for one last trailer, the world was fully introduced to the anticipated Brawl rival - now given it's official name: Sony All-Star Versus. Finally players anticipating it got the initial 8 characters revealed for the roster - Sonic, Spike, Jak, Ratchet, Ryo, Kratos, Ulala & Billy Hatcher all being revealed as among the game's roster with the promise for more reveals as the release date approached. Now, gamers from Japan or who followed TGS (or the internet) already knew of this game's development but for those who hadn't this was the first time they had been made aware of Sony's own answer to Smash Bros; the excitement was real.
Sony really hit it out of the park this year by cutting down on boring PowerPoints and less sales talk. Instead, Sony talked right to the gamer with their relentless trailers, exclusive game news, and exciting features in the works. Truth be told, the more I see of Home, the less hyped I am for it. Perhaps I just need to get some hands-on time with it to see what the fuss is about. Overall, a master performance by Sony as they will garner strong media attention for their impressive showing.
Lastly, Nokia's showing.
Since their surprise entrance into the console market back at the start of the decade, Nokia has literally been the third wheel of the Big Three. Many still bemoan the downfall of 3DO and jokes about Nokia intending to turn gaming from consoles to phones (which is hilariously foreshadowing in hindsight) was only heightened when they owned their "N-GAGE" service for their smartphone line which was supposed to blur the line between gaming & mobile phones - little did anyone know just what Nokia was pioneering as they were explaining things on stage. At the time it was little more than a way to download older games & simpler games to your smartphones like Wii's Virtual Console & SonyNet Arcades, but it would grow into so much more. The synchronizing of phone and game console was unique, though was useful for very little other than DLC at the time - it had the same use as the GBA-GCN link cables of old.
Now, as far as games go Nokia was notorious going into E3 '07 for not having nearly the amount of relevant IPs that Sony and Nintendo had - and was also growing a reputation for losing exclusivity to whatever franchises they did have such as the fact that Halo 3 was going to be a fully third party title; though they never did actually own Halo in the first place (much like how 3DO never truly owned Spyro). So the problem Nokia was left with was finding a new killer app to attract gamers in the absence of Halo exclusivity and after Sly Cooper (which was never really that huge a title) had reached it's definitive conclusion.
A promising title they had going for them was actually one that was made by the developers of Sly Cooper - Sucker Punch; Infamous. The gameplay was like Crackdown meets Knights of the Old Republic from the looks of it, and had a good amount of gamers interested. They also showed more of Frostbite, a more experimental survival-horror type game developed by their Finnish dev teams which had been previously announced at E3 '06 though was delayed for a later '07 release. Though it wouldn't be a true exclusive, PIE's recent acquisition of the company behind BioShock made that game be featured prominently in Nokia's showing too, since that game would be released first on the G-X. They also unveiled several games slated for a release either later in '07 or in early '08, those being more titles being handled by their Finnish teams such as Van Helsing: City of Demons, which is best described as an off-brand John Constantine video game. An open world of 1800's London as a city infested with Vampires, Werewolves and demons while you play as Abraham van Helsing of Dracula fame: honestly the coolest original game idea Nokia's come up with so far. Though they did sort of ruin it with their answer to Sly Cooper ending; Ace: The Last Hero. Imagining all of the Greco-Roman myths as anthro characters, Ace is the son of Zeus & Hera while also being an edgy-looking eagle character. The game takes place after the world has fallen into darkness & chaos after a war between the gods has left everyone in a literal dark age, and it's up to Ace to avenge the gods of olympus and kill the evil being responsible for the chaos in order for light & order to be brought back to the world. Here I had thought the craze of wannabe Sonic copies had ended after the Neo era (the likes of Jersey Devil, Vex, Rascal, Zapper, that one cave-boy game, and Scaler come to mind) but apparently it wasn't quite through just yet.
As a whole, Nokia's marketing had improved with the G-X though like Nintendo, their presentation left much to be desired and in their case even moreso.
That wasn't all there was at E3 though - I would be a fool to not mention the important third party titles that got unveiled at E3 '07. Starting with the most anticipated of all - Halo 3.
Featured prominently by both Nokia and Sony, Halo 3 was one of those games that everyone came to E3 2007 specifically to get a glimpse of. It was huge. I can hardly begin to describe the hype that was being felt about this one title, the Halo series having gone from PIE & Bungie's successful hail mary saving from the abyss of bankruptcy into a near Final Fantasy level success. They had gone from the House of Gecko into the House of Chief: there hadn't been a Gex game since the early half of the decade, and no there was no Gex at all at E3. Though not actually the first third party Halo title (people forget Halo 1's GCN version), it was the first one that most gamers were consciously aware of being third party - and the first that would be available for a Sony console. For Halo, this was huge - it opened the franchise up to millions of more online players and put it's player base in direct competition with other rising FPS franchises of the time. As mentioned before, PIE (formerly 3DO) also had BioShock under their banner, and as the owners of Firaxis had also the Sid Meier's franchise under their belt which had turned them into a very prominent PC Publisher.
Also yes I know their name is actually Panasonic Interactive Entertainment. But they have literally the best acronym in all of gaming.
While Halo 3 certainly stole the show of the third party scene, it wasn't the only showing.
Another very intriguing third party title was Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed which was a fresh take on the stealth genre, offerring a more historical setting than the popular Hitman series - and speaking of DC characters, this one made you feel like a member of an off-brand League of Assassins.
Now of course one can't talk about E3 '07 without mentioning what Activision had cooking - a little diddy called Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Follow up to last year's success story that was CoD 3. While it didn't have the same level of hype train behind it as that of Halo, CoD was a rising star in the FPS genre and gamers were very excited for the next installment - it offered a more "realistic" experience than that of Halo after all, and the online competitive scene for it was only growing.
All in all, E3 '07 may have been downsized - but the industry was anything but.
- IGN, 2007
