Occasionally we do live blogs of events and streams that turn out to be disasters on an epic scale. Examples that spring to mind include the first 'VGX' awards, and basically any live show by SEGA. Famously, SEGA did at least two 'announcements for an announcement' that culminated in the Sonic 25th Anniversary Party in July last year. A game reveal and fun times were promised, and as Sonic fans many of us tuned in with a mix of excitement and trepidation.
The headlines from the event were actually rather good, with the reveals of Sonic Mania (at that point tempered on these pages by the lack of 'NX' confirmation) and Sonic Forces, which was confirmed for Nintendo's machine. You may wonder how a Sonic stream with two game announcements could be bad, but it truly was. It was beset by technical problems - which were explained later on - and by some utterly bizarre segments including what seemed to be actual advertising for some stuffed nachos. For this UK-based live blogger it seemed like a fever dream, especially as it ran from about 1am to 4am UK time. If you want to chart a descent into madness and to see a chronicle of how weird the event was, check out our live blog from the time.
In addition to the oddball meme-centric style of the party, which wasn't all intentional, it has become infamous for the annoying buzzing frequency that made all viewers appreciate the challenges of those suffering from hearing problems like tinnitus. It went on for AGES. 'Highlights' are below (warning, there's a little bit of swearing), which features the offending noise.
More highlights...
In any case, the attentive folk over at Digital Foundry and Eurogamer have realised that the party is referenced in Sonic Mania, making it a rather delicious Easter Egg that had rather passed us by initially. At the end of the second boss in Studiopolis a large screen goes to static, and if you listen closely the exact same buzzing from the 25th Anniversary Party can be heard; the screen also shows the date of the party.
Sonic Mania developers, we salute you.
[source eurogamer.net]
Comments 20
It's amazing how much is in this game, and for a decent price.
That event was horrific. I remember being in the chat room for the stream. I couldn't believe what I was watching. The delay and the dancing Sonic was excruciating. At least they see the funny side of it. Watching the video still makes me laugh. I bet that guy dressed as Sonic still hasn't recovered. Hilariously bad. Thankfully, the game is great.
Lol funny stuff, I was wondering how a beep could sound so familiar
Sonic Force embraces the furry community right?
"It went on for AGES."
Sigh...I see what you did there...
I don't play sonic but this seems cool.
I was actually at the party last year. It was great to be there and meet people like Takashi Iizuka and Mike Pollock, as well as listen to Crush 40 live. I did hear about the stream issues afterwards though. With that said, it's great that SEGA is able to have some fun with their mistakes and laugh them off.
"Folks, in the entertainment business, this is called killing time. Alright? You understand what I'm doing here? We're stalling." I actually teared up laughing at that bit. Goodness, what a trainwreck.
Has anyone else found strange glitches playing with knuckles in the Metallic Madness zone? Like getting stuck in weird places? I've had to restart the level a couple of times.
My OCD kicked in with the bonus level, you don't have to get all the orbs, just around the perimeter/edges is enough.
The event was just like a train wreck. It's so awful but you just can't look away
Yep. As a guy with tinnitus I was in pain after the noise (both literally and figuratively) and vowed never to buy a Sonic game.
(And here I am planning to buy Sonic Mania, silly me)
Who ever was in charge of the audio need to learn how to ground the equipment. That buzz is usually the first sign that the earth isn't plugged in, or they've wired it up wrong.
@Proust The livestream description and highlights (first two videos) aren't a spoiler for the game at all. The easter egg is an unremarkable background element encountered during normal play that's immediately recognizable if you've just watched the livestream highlights, but wouldn't register to a player otherwise. The gameplay segment (last video) is of an entire act in the game being played, but is set to start at the last twenty seconds of the video, which covers the final hit being delivered to the act's boss (who is exactly who you'd think a standard boss would be), and doesn't reveal what the boss' capabilities or patterns are as it cuts in more or less mid-explosion. The level-end sequence is by-the-books for any of the classic Sonic games, with no surprises.
The only thing about the gameplay shown that could be considered a spoiler would be showing the general theme of the zone through the video thumbnail and single background screen covered. The easter egg itself, imho, is fairly tame as a spoiler, as it's an entirely passive element, impossible to miss, but that a player would almost certainly never notice the significance of if it wasn't being specifically put into context (ie spoiled).
I think this is really cool that they are able to laugh at themselves, but in general it seems that people are exaggerating a bit about how bad the event was. It was a live event, sometimes things go wrong and in hindsight, sure, it's easy to see where the flaws were. But even the Oscars and similar huge events with a lot of planning and effort can still go bad, it's not the end of the world nor a rare occurrence, it's just how these things sometimes turn out.
I noticed that hum, but I'd just assumed it was a generic sound thrown in as the TV in the background had cut out. They really went to town on this game didn't they?
Heard the buzz right at the end, thought it may be a speaker problem but when level seitched realised it wasn't. I thought it was just the hum you sometimes hear when a recording ends and before the tv is switched off.
All I remember from that "bash" is a clip of someone in the audience singing part of the Sonic Heroes theme; give the guy cred for effort but hope he doesn't quit his day job.
And I was just wondering where the heck that sound came from while I was playing the game. ;D
I thought that low-level hum sounded familiar, it all makes sense now.
That stream may well have been awful at times but the Sonic Mania reveal made it almost worth staying up for.
Was that really over a year ago?
Wow Dr. Robotnic really did a number on Sonic's party (savage)
Tap here to load 20 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...