This has to be one of the most incredibly overproduced game trailers in existence. It's like SEGA and BioWare hired the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack producer and forced him to write a full-blown soundtrack for Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. Sonic has never had so much fanfare, especially on such a small system.
Zack nailed this in his hands-on impression, and the gameplay backs it up, but it looks like you could have dropped any ol' characters into this real-time RPG. When we hear the name Sonic, we tend to think hyper-speed running and gold rings flying all over the place. Call us old fashioned.
Still, this trailer is sure to wake you if you're in that end-of-the-week coma.
Sega has a mighty lineup on public display (and behind closed doors) at Leipzig Games Convention 2008, comprised of titles from the East and West. MadWorld and Bayonetta, its collaborations with former Clover Studios staff, are there, as are Sonic games, strategy titles, DS wares, and more. But there's nary a sign of PSP support to be found. And it was doing so well with games like Crush. Ah well. You can check out screenshot galleries of everything Sega has on show after the break.
... and Jade Empire DS and Dragon Age DS and pretty much any BioWare property is on the table, according to the company. Lead designer of upcoming DS title Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood Miles Homes told Eurogamer.de that the company would consider small screen versions of their IPs, "basically anything that reinforces the franchises."
As much as we'd like to get totally pumped by the revelation, we're going to withhold pumpitude until we see how Sonic turns out. But hey, don't let us rain on your parade: Which BioWare franchise do you hope goes DS first?
Sega has set loose a new trailer for BioWare's portable Sonicthe HedgehogRPG ... and the video was apparently created with the aid of Blast Processing. We think we can see Sonic running, characters battling, puzzles being solved, and – oh no – is that Sonic with guns? It isn't? Whew.
The actual overworld traversing reminds us a lot of Sonic 3D Blast – just in terms of the isometric perspective, mind you. Something tells us that this game will end up a lot better than Sega's "2.5D" offering for Genesis and Saturn did. Maybe it's the fact that, as this trailer so boldly (and largely) touts, the game is from the creators of Mass Effect and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic?
Speaking to MTV Multiplayer, the developer of such epics as Mass Effect and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic confirmed that it is looking into games of a much smaller (physical) scale. Specifically, BioWare co-CEO Greg Zeschuk states that he finds Apple's iPhone "intriguing" as a games platform. Mind you, he's not saying development is underway, but he is a fan.
"Something that's as big a cultural and technical success as the iPhone is something you've really got to take a close look at," explains Zeschuk, adding that, "We've got a lot of folks looking at it." Zechuk's statements come just a few days after the project lead on BioWare's Nintendo DS RPG, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, revealed that the company is also investigating Wii and PSP dvelopment. Now BioWare just needs to look into developing for those LCD games you see at mall kiosks and it'll have all bases covered.
"We're looking into Wii and PSP as a company," Darrah revealed, although "nothing's been decided." BioWare is also intent on broadening its portfolio, Darrah says.
While its forte is definitely in the RPG genre, we have seen solid effort from BioWare in the action category with MDK2 for Sega Dreamcast and PlayStation 2. Company co-founder Greg Zeschuck has previously told Joystiq that he's keen to take another stab at the genre ... it's just a matter of clearing its already very full plate first and catching the right idea.
Sega has released the first trailer for its turn-based RPG, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. Developed by Bioware, the Nintendo DS game shows promise. The publisher obviously spared no expense in the voice-over department as the "movie voice guy" talks all dramatic-like through the trailer. Sonic Chronicles is expected to be one part of the Sega mascot's reboot this fall.
A turn-based RPG, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood moves the speedy Sega characters into a role-playing world. After a big, "Huh?" I gave this DS-only game a shot at the Nintendo Media Summit. But especially with Bioware behind the project, I came away thinking it could be a fun game for kids and even adult RPG players. And forget Sonic; the deep game mechanics, dialogue options, and great-looking world could combine into a portable RPG favorite.
_thumbnail.jpg "i am 8-bit: 2008")
