SEGA has announced an innovative new product that will put all of our lousy childhood sandcastles to shame; the only trouble is that you need to be a small child at an arcade in Japan to truly enjoy it. This new sand arcade allows young gamers to create worlds with next-gen sand — as we're going to call it — though the downside is a 0.000001% chance that it'll ever be on Wii U.
It's Friday, however, so why not bask in the coolness of this machine. You manipulate this slightly sticky, clay-like sand into various shapes as a projector manipulates the environment to display natural elements such as the sea, volcanoes and more. There are even animated bugs that crawl around on the sand, making it look like the sand play that we could have only dreamed of in past generations.
Unfortunately SEGA has no plans to release this arcade outside of Japan, so we're left to look on jealously and idly speculate on the 0.000001% chance that a Wii U version could involve messing around with Virtual Sand on the GamePad's touch screen, somehow.
Check it out below, it'll make your day that bit brighter.
[source bbc.co.uk]
Comments 48
"SEGA Announces Sand-Based Arcade Game, Probably Not Coming to Wii U"
Can also be read as "SEGA announces non Sonic/Hatsune Miku" Game, Never Releasing Outside Japan."
It doesn't matter what platform, that is SEGA's mentality.
gross
I have to say that is a unique way to interact with the game there. Japan and their brilliant ideas. I need to speak and understand Japanese quick, fast, and in a hurry.
P.S. Do they switch the sand out after every game? I gotta say there's gonna be a lot of sick people after playing that game.
Do not care
that looks so awsome !!!
"SEGA Announces Sand-Based Arcade Game, Probably Not Coming to Wii U"
Posts tags: SEGA, Wii U
Hey, are you writing for Nintendo's costumers or are you just hoping that we want to hear you complain about every single game that is announced and is not coming to the Wii U?
That's one hell of a sandbox game.
well that kicks my imagination down some stairs. I wish my sandblobs did that.
@ejvirzi How is that "gross"? You might consider it a bad idea or something along that line, but how on earth is it gross?
Also, to me it looks awesome. Great to see there's still some magic left in SEGA.
A sandbox drug trip, eh?
@KeeperBvK
Bacteria trap... children's hands and some wet sand concoction not a good mix for me. I am sure it is fun however.
@OneBagTravel I see what you did there ;D
Iiiiii think we'll be ok without this one.
Sandblast Processing.
@Punished_Boss Its not just those some of the AM2 stuff is released Worldwide. Like Afterburner Climax (Forget the 30fps console or mobile ports but the machine is pretty good). R-Tuned : Ultimate Street Racing.
(But why would they do anything else other than Japan if Border Break made them 100,000,000$ selling machines for it).
How does that game work? That alone makes me curious....... I mean, like how does sand give input to the game like that? Its actually really impressive.......so impressive that SEGA should stop with video games and focus on arcades.......
Shame on you, Mr. Whitehead, for shamelessly plugging a totally off-topic article, about a new type of kids' Sega-made arcade cabinet that is never even leaving Japan, with a "probably not coming to Wii U" phrase.
If you wanted to express your love for Sega, and the sand-like substance that produces interactive wacky coloured lights, you could have honestly said so, and we would have forgiven you since the promo video looks so cute.
Not for Wii U maybe, but what about the enigmatic, upcoming Nintendo QOL (Quality of Life) platform?! Maybe this is it!
Perhaps Japanese children are much more well behaved, or they expect parents to always be paying close attention?
Just saying, any kid I've ever seen playing in a sandbox; the sand to them is not necessarily meant to stay IN the sandbox.
I just see awful mess potential all through the arcade zone. Unless they addressed this issue in the video, but, it's Japanese to me.
If it's not coming to a Nintendo system, why is it on this site?
It sounds like a pretty boring game anyways, so no harm done lol
@FubumblR
It will probably work like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtMqBECtIRo
@scamander
Ahh, very cool! I think I'm going to have to order some of this for myself. A whole room with the floor covered 6" deep with this crazy polymeric sand and a tanning bed off in the corner. I'd just have to make sure and keep my cat out.
i have to say if i was 5 that would be awesome
It is probably not coming to Wii U: it is unlikely to be released in any console anyway. How to emulate those sand-playing mechanics on any platform?
There are many hits from SEGA that is not released outside Japan. About 10 years ago Sega released a blockbuster based on the Chinese story - the Romance of the Three Kingdom (the same story background of Dynasty Warrior). In this Sega game, you played on a table where you can put cards on. The table emulates a battlefield. While a TV screen shows the moves of a CPU-controlled army, you placed and moved your cards on the table (battlefield) in response. Each card represents an army and you have to move your cards (in real time) so as to counter the CPU enemy (that is constantly in motion).
Sega did released a version of this game for DS, where you can move cards on the touch screen. That game was a hit not only in Japan but also in Asia, but it was not found anywhere in the West.
That's different, using sand for a game. Doesn't look like something I would get into though.
Cool! There's just no reason for this to be filed under Wii U or for the Wii U to be mentioned in the headline
Why is this a Wii U article? Are you mocking us or something?
That was actually good material for a 1st of April article...
I agree with @vattodev. Seriously, you guys are getting out of hand with this crap.
Wii U needs exclusives like this. It would be the perfect bundle for the system.
Miyamoto's gonna license this for Pikmin FOOR-DEE!
@Everyone
Perhaps this article is some kind of subtle jab against the media attention Pokken is getting in American Nintendo sites. In a way of speaking AS OF NOW Pokken is just as related to the Wii U as this game, both are arcade only projects announced for Japan. Might Pokken be released on Wii U? there is a possibilty, and there is a possibility this one does too, if even of only 0.000000000000001%
Perhaps the writer just made this article as a meta-metaphorical allusion to that.
What framerate is this? Is it 1080p? Also LOL at all the "offended" comments.
the only thing i want to do with sand is twerk on it, twerk on it at the beach.
LOL very cute, Sega!
@Yomerodes You're really stretching that defense, this and Pokken are not even close to being the same and we pretty much know that it will hit Wii U eventually while this machine is for very young school kids. Regardless, the Wii U mentions in this article are extremely unnecessary and make this site look as bad as Kotaku.
No excuses.
@ejvirzi How is this gross?
@vattodev : Exactly. Whats the point of all the news of games not coming to Wii U?
Its better to not write anything at all than choke up all these crap news.
@Ventilator Lol. Well it's still a game and this is more a forum to talk about games. Sharing thoughts etc. So only WII U Exclusive subjects for you? LOL
@Alucard83 : Yes, but its probably because of all the negativity this year.
Its not a big deal, because nothing stops us from buying Xbone and PS4 to get those. You should read this below.
There is only 3 major third parties coming for Wii U, but the third is unknown to most people. Everyone know of Project Cars and Watch Dogs .
Last week i got confirmation on mail that "Straight Right" in Australia still is porting a major third party game to Wii U.
The same dev made the awesome port of Mass Effect 3, but were also remaking Deus EX 3 for Wii U..Then later ported to PC, 360 and PS3.
Even if arcades still existed in America, that would never be released here.
That sand would be stolen or turned into a liability in like 5 minutes.
@Artwark My hypothesis is that there is a light from above that shines (at a nonvisible spectrum) and reflects back to the sensor somehow. Using that data, the computer should be able to calculate the height of each unit of sand (like each square cm or something). The computer would make anything at certain levels a certain texture (like below 10cm = water). But that's just a theory. A GAME THEORY :3
I played around with a protype of this technology at an expo two years ago.
Very interesting to see it made into an actual marketable game.
@scamander comparing the two videos I'd have to say that you hit the nail on the head perfectly. This seems to be EXACTLY the same as the material that Sega uses, both in appearance and characteristics.
A̶s̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶q̶u̶e̶s̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶a̶n̶s̶w̶e̶r̶e̶d̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶o̶n̶l̶y̶ ̶p̶a̶r̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶a̶n̶s̶w̶e̶r̶,̶ ̶c̶a̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶d̶o̶e̶s̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶e̶x̶p̶l̶a̶i̶n̶ ̶H̶O̶W̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶v̶a̶r̶i̶o̶u̶s̶ ̶s̶u̶r̶f̶a̶c̶e̶s̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶a̶n̶i̶m̶a̶l̶s̶ ̶i̶n̶t̶e̶r̶a̶c̶t̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶i̶t̶.̶
EDIT: Sorry, that last part wasn't for you, because the question was from @Artwark and you responded to @FubumblR.
How it works, however, is probably more simple than it seems in case you want to know:
The container holding the sand is more than likely surrounded by projectors and sensors at certain positions and heights and they measure height of structures built, thereby "knowing" what the cameras/projectors must display in terms of terrain and animals. This can be done by programming (for example to let the fishes only appear in water and not on land) The effect of this measuring and appropriate displaying of terrains can be seen in the part of the video where the kids make higher structures that end up like mountains where only the bottom is green, purple is in the middle and grey from the rocky surface is displayed only on the top. Same goes for sculpting the sand into rivers and lakes. The programming tells the projectors to display blue/water and fishes once the sand is sculpted into depths lower than where grass and similar layers should be.
@Rafie and @ejvirzi If the sand is indeed the same sort of solution that is shown in the clip that @scamander linked to, then it is coated in polymers, and it automatically repels all dirt and bacteria, so the only thing that will need some serious cleaning from time to time is the container holding the sand; a quick rinse in water will suffice to clean the synthetic sand itself. This could all be done in a few minutes when the arcade is closed for the public. And @ejvirzi the sand is not wet: if you study the video carefully you'll see that it doesn't stick on any surface (or hands) other than itself.
ON TOPIC:
Of course this will never come to Wii U (or any other console for that matter).
This is an arcade exclusive and will never work in any other environment. The whole point of the game is that you sculpt with real tactile matter and in heights (and depths) which is something that no console could ever emulate, unless you'd use the same sand and an add on that mimics the arcade cabinet's sand container. Displaying the sand on a touch screen and manipulating it with a stylus or your index finger totally defeats the purpose and intent of this game.
So this is what a next-gen sanbox game looks like? You can keep your fancy games Sega
Call Sega up and ask about the odds of a port. C'moooooon.
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