Unfortunately, I agree. I really loved Sonic Colors. It wasn't perfect, but it was on the right track. Sonic Lost World, while not bad was a step backwards. Sonic just works better in Color's tube like levels than the bigger Lost World space. But worse, there were way too many 2D levels and I really didn't like the retro art style either. So here's me hoping that team Sonic is working on Sonic Colors U...
Since the number is split between WiiU and 3DS, I guess it's rather bad news.
The game isn't bad, in fact it's rather good, but it just seems to lack something. Above all, the graphical style was terrible. Sonic shouldn't go retro, particularly not with pixelated textures (the water in those tube-levels anyone?). But it was also lacking in speed. Lastly, there are way too many 2D elements. It was definitely a step back from Sonic Colors.
It's the opposite direction compared to the retro-looking Sonic Lost World. The characters look...strange...but I really like the world design. That's how a Sonic game should look. It will be crucial to see how they implemented the speed, hard to tell by the trailer. And since it's not done by SEGA directly, maybe the story itself will be bearable...
The Financial troubles seem to stem from the WiiU rather than the 3DS, so at least for now, the argument is moot. In the long run, once great controllers are available for the iPhone, I could see Nintendo running into problems. Personally, I guess I would never purchase a dedicated handheld gaming device ever again, but for your kids, it still might be a real option as long as the price is competitive.
The real head scratcher is the WiiU though. It hasn't caught on with so called core gamers which has led to a dropoff in third party development. At this point, the only way to get out of this that I can see is some massive subsidization by Nintendo, either for the hardware or for third party developers. Whether they have the will or the resources to do so remains to be seen. But they could start by financing a ZombiU sequel, I'd certainly appreciate that...
Now this is probably way too radical an idea for Nintendo to ever consider it, and I admit that there are selfish reasons as well, but I think one way to bring back some momentum and to differentiate itself from the competition would be to purchase Steam and combine it with the Nintendo eStore, meaning to bring the most popular Steam games to the WiiU together with cross platform syncing.
Given the WiiU's PC like architecture, it shouldn't be too difficult to port Steam games to the platform, while it could bring a lot of games exclusively to the Nintendo console.
But as I said, that would of course run counter to Nintendo's philosophy, so no chance in hell this will ever happen...then again, if the WiiU continues to do badly, one obvious strategy would be to court the indies, if not via Steam, then individually in order to bring some exclusive (at least compared to other consoles) content to the WiiU.
Comments 6
Re: Soapbox: Sonic, It's Time to Talk
Unfortunately, I agree. I really loved Sonic Colors. It wasn't perfect, but it was on the right track. Sonic Lost World, while not bad was a step backwards. Sonic just works better in Color's tube like levels than the bigger Lost World space. But worse, there were way too many 2D levels and I really didn't like the retro art style either. So here's me hoping that team Sonic is working on Sonic Colors U...
Re: Sonic Lost World Sales Reached 640,000 in 2013
Since the number is split between WiiU and 3DS, I guess it's rather bad news.
The game isn't bad, in fact it's rather good, but it just seems to lack something. Above all, the graphical style was terrible. Sonic shouldn't go retro, particularly not with pixelated textures (the water in those tube-levels anyone?). But it was also lacking in speed. Lastly, there are way too many 2D elements. It was definitely a step back from Sonic Colors.
Re: A Sonic Boom Game is Dashing Towards Wii U and 3DS
It's the opposite direction compared to the retro-looking Sonic Lost World. The characters look...strange...but I really like the world design. That's how a Sonic game should look. It will be crucial to see how they implemented the speed, hard to tell by the trailer. And since it's not done by SEGA directly, maybe the story itself will be bearable...
Re: Nintendo Has "Great Games" But Is Facing A "Structural Problem", According To Industry Analysts
The Financial troubles seem to stem from the WiiU rather than the 3DS, so at least for now, the argument is moot. In the long run, once great controllers are available for the iPhone, I could see Nintendo running into problems. Personally, I guess I would never purchase a dedicated handheld gaming device ever again, but for your kids, it still might be a real option as long as the price is competitive.
The real head scratcher is the WiiU though. It hasn't caught on with so called core gamers which has led to a dropoff in third party development. At this point, the only way to get out of this that I can see is some massive subsidization by Nintendo, either for the hardware or for third party developers. Whether they have the will or the resources to do so remains to be seen. But they could start by financing a ZombiU sequel, I'd certainly appreciate that...
Re: Interview: SEGA On Bringing Sonic Lost World to Wii U and 3DS
Amazon informed me that my copy is already in the mail...So I'll be busy tomorrow, playing this game...
Re: Talking Point: The Wii U May Be Playing Catch-Up With Some Developers, But Money Always Talks
Now this is probably way too radical an idea for Nintendo to ever consider it, and I admit that there are selfish reasons as well, but I think one way to bring back some momentum and to differentiate itself from the competition would be to purchase Steam and combine it with the Nintendo eStore, meaning to bring the most popular Steam games to the WiiU together with cross platform syncing.
Given the WiiU's PC like architecture, it shouldn't be too difficult to port Steam games to the platform, while it could bring a lot of games exclusively to the Nintendo console.
But as I said, that would of course run counter to Nintendo's philosophy, so no chance in hell this will ever happen...then again, if the WiiU continues to do badly, one obvious strategy would be to court the indies, if not via Steam, then individually in order to bring some exclusive (at least compared to other consoles) content to the WiiU.