NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams confirmed for Wii this winter

by Jonti Davies { Apr 2nd 2007 at 2:00AM }

Yes.

According to Famitsu, Sonic Team USA will have its sequel to legendary Saturn title NiGHTS ready for a Wii release this winter. NiGHTS 2 will now be known as NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams (although that name isn't confirmed for the Japanese market). Famitsu explains that the main attraction of Journey of Dreams is how it provides gameplay with the Wii Remote, where you can glide, drift, ascend, and loop-the-loop without even thinking about the controls. Takashi Izuka of Sonic Team USA is Producer of NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams. He leaves Famitsu, and the rest of the weeping-with-tears-of-joy world, with this comment:

"In 1996, we created the NiGHTS character to achieve a concept of 'being refreshed from being able to fly in the sky'. 11 years later, at last, we have broken our silence. NiGHTS will now fly in a new dream world: new stages, new story, and on the new Wii platform. Please look forward to NiGHTS and friends exploring this brand new adventure."

Yes.

Tags: Journey of Dreams, JourneyOfDreams, NiGHTS, Sonic Team, SonicTeam

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Diego @ Apr 2nd 2007 2:08AM

FINALLY!!!

saga has been on the hinges of being an ok company
and being a really bad company.

this will determine there status.

anyone agree??

BPM @ Apr 2nd 2007 2:09AM

I'm with you on this, Diego.

This is make or break for Sega.

Bluebreaker @ Apr 2nd 2007 2:11AM

The only reason this might not do well is because everyone's expectations are too high. Even if they get a whole new staff so they don't repeat Sonic's misfires the anticipation for this is extraordinary.

samfish @ Apr 2nd 2007 2:15AM

WOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Awesome News x50!

I don't agree that this will "make or break" Sega. Sonic aside (although 'Rings' was pretty good), Sega is still one of the better software developers out there.

I'm more inclined to say, however, that this will make or break Sonic Team.

OhJustSomeRandomGuy @ Apr 2nd 2007 2:16AM

Congratulations fanboys. You've now killed off your dream franchise.

Be prepared to have your rose-tinted glasses shattered.

Potential quotes to use in case any of you are reviewers:

"This game's time has passed."
"This game does nothing that isn't standard in other games these days."
"Even Wii motion controls can't save this game from being dull. It's like playing Wing Island with a squadron of one."

Revo @ Apr 2nd 2007 2:19AM

Heh. It's funny to think that in years past, a new NiGHTS game is the sort of thing that would have been an April Fools' joke, and nothing more. It's nice to have some *real* news on April Fools' Day for a change.

Liquidize @ Apr 2nd 2007 2:28AM

Tools like OhJustSomeRandomGuy aside, I've never understood how people can hype a game good or bad before it's released. Do I want to see an amazing Nights game? Hell ya. Am I expecting just that? I don't know, I'll hold off until I play it.

The same thing goes for Halo 3, and whatever the big releases on the PS3 will be. I will go so far as to agree that this is a defining game for Sega. The only good 'Sega' games lately have been those developed by companies sega bought up, i.e. spartan for the PS2, Total War, etc...

Sega as an actual development house needs to kick their staff out, or kick them into shape. I mean, Microsoft loves buying failing developers, and even successful ones.

Shadow Hog @ Apr 2nd 2007 2:28AM

"This game does nothing that isn't standard in other games these days."

I hardly think that androgynous jesters flying in 3D worlds along 2D planes destroying orb-holding things by thrusting 20 blue spheres into them to be particularly standard.

TouchmyWiimote @ Apr 2nd 2007 2:58AM

It is still April Fools Day here on the west coast. Awesome if its true, which I think it is. But kudos to joystiq if this is a last minute April fools prank.

pence @ Apr 2nd 2007 2:56AM

Realizing of course, that this is not the Sonic Team of 1996, but the Sonic Team that brought us Sonic Riders, Shadow the Hedgehog, and the gen-now Sonic the Hedgehog. To say I'm cautiously optimistic would be pushing it.

+peter @ Apr 2nd 2007 3:02AM

Right now, I am so wrapped in nervous anticipation that I am clutching my chair as if it were going to suddenly spin backwards and throw me against the wall.

Angelo @ Apr 2nd 2007 3:59AM

It will be a feat-and-a-half to match, much less surpass, the original title. I don't know about you, but I'm crossing my fingers on this one.

Infil @ Apr 2nd 2007 4:06AM

It seems like OhJustSomeRandomGuy was talking about what happened to the Sonic franchise, which will now presumably happen to the NiGHTS franchise. He's mimicking Sonic review quotes as an indication of what Sonic Team will do to this franchise.

No one else picked up on the sarcasm in his text, eh?

BPM @ Apr 2nd 2007 4:13AM

TouchmyWiimote, the source is Famitsu. AKA The most reputable gaming publication in Japan.

Unless Famitsu decided to pull a prank (and this would be a very elaborate one, with such high quality images, and several magazines reporting it), I'd say it's 100% real.

Rubang B @ Apr 2nd 2007 4:13AM

I never played the old one so I'll rent this one if it doesn't suck. It seems like Sega's going nuts, what with teaming up with Miyamoto for the Olympics AND releasing the sequel to an 11 year-old game the same Christmas, and having them both be Nintendo exclusives. But after seeing what they did with The Secret Rings and reading their explanation for why they made a new game instead of just porting the 360 version over, I'm starting to think that the Wii remote has given them a much needed inspiration jumpstart.

Rubang B @ Apr 2nd 2007 4:23AM

It's too bad that this game will be lost in the shadow of Mario Galaxy, just like the old NiGHTS came out a month after Mario 64.

theLoneYoshi @ Apr 2nd 2007 4:28AM

Hmm... This article is dated April 2, IGN's is dated April 1st, the announcement is through Famitsu, and I don't see a press release on their website (neither Sega America's nor Sega Japan's).

I know Famitsu is highly recognized... but this is the BEST time for an April Fool's joke of this massive size... If the news lasts throughout April... Then I'll believe this news story. As for now... I'll be hoping on the inside, and skeptical on the outside.

Joe L. @ Apr 2nd 2007 5:12AM

No.

"Sonic Team USA." The people who brought us Shadow and the 360/PS3 Sonic.

No. :(

BDB @ Apr 2nd 2007 5:37AM

If you read the interview with Nintendo of USA VP and the President of Sega USA then you will know that the sonic team isn't working on the olympic game. So that leads to the question why not? Well of course they are developing NIGHTS. If the Sonic team USA is working on it then it might fail like sonic did. Although they did have alot of time to practice on Sonic so lets see if they get this one right. The first 3 RE games sucked but the 4th one blew us away.

Dark_Jedi @ Apr 2nd 2007 6:23AM

I don't know about Sega, But Diego's post certainly confirms that he can't spell.

Dark_Jedi @ Apr 2nd 2007 6:28AM

And BDB, If you're talking about Resident Evil 1-3 sucking, then you need to turn in your gamers badge...SERIOUSLY.

Dome @ Apr 2nd 2007 6:39AM

@Dark_Jedi

Umm...the first three Resident Evil games did suck. And also lets try and comment on the big picture of other users comments not just picking out one sentence or telling them that they cant spell.

@topic
COOL...this game should be great! I always thought of NIGHTS being the flying version of sonic.

Dark_Jedi @ Apr 2nd 2007 7:03AM

Let's get one thing straight. Were you there when RE 1 was released? if you you was, then you'll know that it blew gamers pants off.
And RE2 sucks? RE2 is one of the best entries in the RE series.
Let me guess...the controls were a little hard for you? (ZOMG IT CONTROLS LIKE A TANK!!!11)

And I bet half of you can't even spot the spelling mistake.

Dark_Jedi @ Apr 2nd 2007 7:03AM

Kite @ Apr 2nd 2007 8:10AM

Hehe, random double words in sentence. Took me another read to spot that one.

Well played, dark_jedi. And curse you, optical illusions

PhrawzT @ Apr 2nd 2007 8:52AM

I am looking forward to this. I thought that the first Nights game was great. Also, how did this get turned into a discussion of RE? For the record, I got both RE1 & 2 as soon as they were released, and they are both awesome! By today's standards they may seem sub-par, if you are old enough to know better then you will agree.

inlogic @ Apr 2nd 2007 9:04AM

Ok sega.

Now, Shenmue.

please?

burninhell @ Apr 2nd 2007 9:29AM

OK, Sega.

Now, PS3 Panzer Dragoon.

please?

32_Footsteps @ Apr 2nd 2007 9:22AM

You know, it always entertains me to see people seriously say "Oh, you didn't like this game I liked. You're not a real gamer." I've heard people say that about me because of, among other games, Doom, Quake, Resident Evil 1-3, Okami, Killer 7, Final Fantasy 7, Dragon Quest 8, Tekken, the entire Grand Theft Auto series, Virtua Fighter, and Halo.

Boy, it's a real good thing I don't seek validation from complete strangers on the Internet. I've played video games for longer than most of my critics have even been alive. And I'll still be gaming long after they drop their controllers.

As for this news... actually, it makes me a little sad, because a good friend of mine that died 6 years ago would be ecstatic if he heard this news. The first NiGHTS game was his favorite of all time, and I wish he could have heard about this.

samfish @ Apr 2nd 2007 9:59AM

Panzer Dragoon is another series that would be perfect for the Wii, actually..

Benny @ Apr 2nd 2007 10:04AM

Ahh, Sega ruined Sonic and now they're going to ruin this too.

I'm a big Nights fan but I can't trust SEGA to pull off a good game. It'll be just another gimmicky Wii title rushed in time for the Christmas market.

Bluebreaker @ Apr 2nd 2007 10:22AM

Stupid Question Time (tm):

Has SEGA lost everyone's trust and enthusiasm for their games?

32_Footsteps @ Apr 2nd 2007 10:30AM

Actually, Bluebreaker, this has always been a constant with Sega. It seems that from the beginning, there have been a large number of people that have said that Sega never had it/had it and lost it and a corresponding smaller number that say that Sega's always been awesome, that the next game will really show everyone, and so on.

This is why there are people who still assert how awesome the Dreamcast is when I can think of only four games for it that didn't make me want to hurl (to be fair, I never played Phantasy Star Online, so that might make five).

Almack64 @ Apr 2nd 2007 10:37AM

@ 27
Yes Sega please finish Shenmue or at least release the rest of the story in some other form. I've never been so deeply absorbed into a story as I was in that story line. Anyone one who has never played the game(s) should pick it up you won't regret it. (At least not until you get to the end of Shenmue 2 and realize that you may never know the rest of the story)

Almack64 @ Apr 2nd 2007 10:48AM

@ 32_F #33

Really? I loved so many games on the Dreamcast. I was a huge Nintendo fanboy until I bought the Dreamcast and fell in love with alot of the Sega franchises. It was IMO a really great system and playing console games on a monitor via VGA was really cool back then. Now I'm Nintendo/Sega fanboy which is somehthing back in the NES days I would have laughed at the possibility of me ever saying that.

Diskoboy @ Apr 2nd 2007 11:04AM

I'm cautiously optimistic.

Note the very first sentence.... "Sonic Team USA...."

I'm hesitant to buy a game that it's original creators wont be a part of. And Sega's games lately have..... Well, saying 'sucked' would be too polite.

Asok @ Apr 2nd 2007 11:42AM

I've never played Nights but once, but the part where they say "glide, drift, ascend, and loop-the-loop without even thinking about the controls" makes it sound really neat. Definitely gonna try this.

Lee @ Apr 2nd 2007 1:56PM

SEGA Studios USA?

Shit.

Dark_Jedi @ Apr 2nd 2007 2:59PM

Sorry guys, But it irks me when people slag off past games just because they have better graphics and such.
And i'll agree that by todays standards RE 1-3 are sub-par but to say they suck is outright ignorant.

And Diego just made a common mistake, a lil ribbing doesn't hurt, and it really stood out being the first post.

There or their :)

Mr Khan @ Apr 2nd 2007 4:48PM

Remember, don't think of it as the Sonic Team that brought us Sonic 2006, but that brought us: Secret Rings

A company can be redeemed, just look at Nintendo

I'm just glad its using Secret Rings' engine (actually taking advantage of Wii's capabilities, not PSP/PS2's)

And think of this: The greatest flaws of Sonic 06 and Shadow were that they tried to introduce game mechanics to make the games "badass," there's no way they could do that with NiGHTS, you can't try to make a flying purple jester-thing "badass"

and if they try; god help us all

Jack_of_Knaves @ Apr 2nd 2007 5:10PM

Aladdin FTW.....

No Seriously...

Tom @ Apr 3rd 2007 5:20PM

Sega should outsource NiGHTS development to "Flagship", the Capcom subsidiary. It certainly worked out great for Nintendo, and I would be most interested in how they would make the game.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flagship_%28company%29

Nytan @ Apr 4th 2007 10:49AM

Although Sonic Adventure was a feat of graphical supremacy at the time, it was still at heart a very flawed game. By reusing the same inefficient system, Sonic Team gradually ruined the image of Sonic titles. However with Nights, it doesn't appear that anything is being done that is groundbreaking or different. If modifications are done specifically to the controls to favor use of the wiimote, I'd say this game has a pretty good chance of being darn good; assuming the story keeps up or even surpasses the original's, or the music doesn't transform from great instrumental tunes somehow to trippy stoner music.

Super_Trey_Bros @ Apr 7th 2007 5:23PM

I have to disagree with Diego on this matter. This is not a "make or break" game, but more of a cycle SEGA seems to go through. The make a blockbuster title, like Virtua Fighter 5 and Sonic: The Secret of the Rings, and then that gives them the money to make the "artistic" or "niche" title like this NiGHTS game.
Then they publish some mech games for From Software that look cool but turn out to be crap. Like last generation, and big hit game they made for the PS2 and/or GameCube allowed SEGA to go make an "artistic" title on the XBOX such as JSRF, GUNVALKYRIE, Panzer Dragoon Orta, etc.