The Tangent: Extended Damage
So the 360 has brought its Games on Demand feature to the table. How exciting, the option to buy digital downloads of older titles for your tiny, expensive Xbox Hard Drive, at a cost generally higher than you would find for the disc version at any retail store or online auction site, with manuals furnished as separate downloads through your web browser, and in some cases, not even for the right version of the game.
From this step we’ve seen that Microsoft is cowering at the rebuttal of retailers, who fought with and punished Sony over the Warhawk PSN release, leading to the complicated compromise over GT5 Prologue. If they’re not, then they need to take a page from the Steam handbook… or steal the thing as a whole and copy it. Xbox Live Weekend Deal: Halo ODST for $25, digitally only. There would be bricks dropped. Live would probably collapse under the strain. But exploitative digital pricing isn’t the focus of this article. Well, perhaps in not such a direct sense.
With the arrival of this shining new service is a title fit for the US and UK audiences, but unsurprisingly missing from the Japanese On Demand roster: Sonic The Hedgehog. And as you’ve probably guessed, I’m not referring to a 16-Bit Mega Drive romp through checkerboard hills. No, we’re discussing the highly-flawed Nov/Dec 2006 release with ratings that average in the mid-40’s, out of a possible 100. Reviews don’t mean everything, but gamer reactions have made it clear that other than a handful of individuals latching on to Starfish the Physicsdemo, excuse me, Silver the Hedgehog, on average gamers walked away from the title with a sense of disappointment, anger, or even a hatred of life itself. DC ret-conned Darkseid’s origin shortly after the game’s release, with many comic readers agreeing that this was a far more plausible motivation.
The reasons for this are far and many, including a lack of solidified architecture during development, an accelerated production schedule for a new, next-generation engine, a distorted vision of what fans were looking for in a major Sonic title, confused PR hiding major aspects of the game as if they were dirty secrets until weeks before release, oh, and something about bugs? The game’s planned extensive DLC was brutalized down to an unnecessary extra difficulty level, a simplistic Boss Rush, and an amalgamated sequence of the three most popular Amigo characters playing backwards versions of the existing levels. So despite some fans still holding an affinity to it, this title made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move. Sega chimed in with statements about improving the quality, and eventually a radically different vision was portrayed in the 2008 Sonic Unleashed. And even with Sega’s recent, unnecessary comments about “fixing the quality over time”, a sensible mind would say that this is the face of Sonic they would prefer to put forward, being the most recent and more polished release.
There is a monkey wrench, one would assume. Nearly all the games available so far for the On Demand service are from the very early days of the 360’s release, and even the exceptions are a bit long in the tooth themselves. This probably goes back to the issue of competing with retailer sales, so let’s assume that a November 2008 title that still generates a steady intake of sales is deemed unsuitable. That leaves Sega with the prospects of either Sonic 2006, or no Sonic title for the new download service. Would that have been so bad? Money left on the table, but instead they’re extending the life of a product that damages the brand in the eyes of many.
This isn’t the first time the title’s seen new life. The game was first rereleased in the Platinum Family Hits brand, Family despite the E10+ ESRB rating and its ability to generate foul cursewords from even the purest souls. Priced at or above the clearance rate it was already going for, $19.99, it meant that when you saw the game again, it wasn’t just lingering old stock, you were seeing brand new discs being printed. The title wasn’t successful enough to fix with patches like most game developers would, supposedly, yet was still profitable enough to warrant fresh production of additional units. It’s this hypocrisy that’s annoyed me almost as much as the title itself, and it doesn’t stop there. Later on the Children’s Miracle Network Family Game Pack was released. A three pack containing games that presumably sold poorly, with the net proceeds going to charity. Good to clear stock and get PR perhaps, but let’s face it, it’s a bunch of games that presumably bombed all bundled into a three pack with the hopes they sell like that. And thus the second life extension of Sonic The Hedgehog crowded shelves, before being shoved to the bottom back area of the glass case behind Scene It? and You’re in the Movies. You put yourself in good hands, Children’s Miracle Network.
That’s where the game has languished for some time, with scattered Platinum Hits versions still occasionally found on that lower-left rack next to the Lego games, even now with the revised Platinum Hits banner including the ironic statement, “Greatness is Earned.” With the release of Sega Superstars Tennis, and more recently Sonic Unleashed, those became the mark of Sonic’s presence on the 360. Neither reviewed that well, but still exceeded the scores of the 2006 title by far.
But here we are at August 2009, on a “Twosday” no less, and for a price of $19.99 in the US, $24.99 in Canada, or £19.99 (approximately $32 USD) in the lucky UK, you can newly enjoy a digital release of Sonic The Hedgehog. And have they used this opportunity to correct any of the number of basic flaws with the game? Of course not, don’t be ridiculous! The only improvements come from a basic, limited load time decrease not from clever reprogramming, but from being a digital download running from the hard drive, and presumably using a different compression style than the installation from disc feature. I don’t credit Sega wizardry with a 4.2% loading speed increase, surprisingly. The game manual for download is the original, incorrect version that still discusses features not present in the actual game. From this, you should have a clear understanding of how much effort went into this new digital release: there was a guy in Legal who had to pull a few long nights. Poor fellow.
So Sega has brought their much-maligned release unaltered to a fresh audience. This isn’t the game they want to represent the series now, yet they’ve thrust it back in the limelight, if even momentarily. They left it as the original broken release it was in 2006, not even bothering to correct clearly documented inaccuracies in the separate PDF manual. I can’t decide if this is lazy, or simply sad. Above all else, it seems needlessly damaging to a series that already weathered the fallout once, and still has troubles convincing audiences its new track is the right one. It was effectively dead, buried, and decomposed, so don’t dig it up two years later for one more walk around the park. You put your strongest foot forward, and even if that means leaving a little money on the table in the short-term, it keeps the brand stronger for the future so you can slap Sonic the Hedgehog on the next Billiards game or a lacking compilation of emulated Genesis games and receive the positive benefits of it.
This isn’t going to spell the end of the Sonic series. It won’t once Sega does the exact same thing when PS3 games are sold through PSN on-demand, a feature rumored to be announced as early as August 18th at gamescon. It’s just so unnecessary, and it makes you question if the pocket change they generate from sales is worth the trade-off they’re making. At the least, this was a chance for revisionist history, even tiny changes could have meant sales to the people who bought it prior. Now it’s just a reminder of how long a rushed, broken effort can live on while good, polished games shine and fade in the blink of an eye.
And that eye is Darkseid’s.
This post was originally written by the author for TSSZ News.
come on, who didn’t see this coming? everybody knew they werent going to touch anything with this game and it’s development. that costs money. the game would be garbage even if they did fix the glitches and whatnot.
Meh, the more criticism this game gets, the more I pity the complainers. Tragic folk, are obsessive gamers.
Still doesn’t mean that the game isn’t a shambles, which on the technological side it is. The game has a lot (and I mean A LOT) of dodgy and “broken” things in it, but I’ve found enough good in it to enjoy the game, which surprised me as I was expecting, thanks to these incessant hypocrites, a very VERY shit game.
I blame Microsoft. =P
Kits, as long as they remarket the same broken game in new ways, they don’t get a free pass for issues most developers would have been embarassed to have not corrected by now. It’s one thing to cry about an old release, but this was revised with both the new Platinum Hits packaging, and submitted to MS as a launch release for the new service. They’re happy to still profit off the unsuspecting, so there’s no harm in refreshing the obvious complaints in reflection. And nothing about that makes me a “hypocrite”.
I was though this was intresting and I was hoping for some changes in the levels and glitches fixed and so on. But I wasn’t sp unbeliveable intrested since….nah I was hoping for something that made this game little bit better or something….but I just knew that they woud proably just go ahead and fix two or three glitches for exampel.
But just the loading times….meh. What were they thinking!?
SEGA is making money off of this as we speak. They don’t care if this game still sucks.
Sonic 06 is without a doubt one of the worst games I have had the misfortune of playing. The fact that Sega has the nerve to re-release this embarrassment is a reminder that holding any hope for some kind of decent franchise revival is utterly ridiculous.
In conclusion, great article.
Flame me if u want, but I enjoyed playing Sonic the Hedgehog (’06) more than Sonic Unleashed…
I even managed 1000g in the game…incredible game, despite its “little” flaws.
The Tangent is a bunch of monkeys slamming their keyboards, I’d trust IGN before any of those god damned idiots.
Quote from article: ” I can’t decide if this is lazy, or simply sad.”
It’s neither lazy nor sad. It’s just business and as Gabriel said, to correct the games flaws would cost money.
And besides, who even cares anymore?
well if sega say sonic unleashed 2 is bring back the werehog.
for the characthers i thought for unleashed 2 is sonic talis amy werehog eggman eggman neage chip dark gaia dark morthen gaia and monic the hedgehog well i think of that carcther.
A few people have said that SEGA could only be bothered to fix the loading times of this game. Even that statment is a lie. The game runs faster if you install it on the hard drive anyway. This is just a straght port, they havn’t fixed a thing. And as far as the price goes, this game costs £19.99 to download. My local game store has about 20 pre-owned copies of this game for £6 each. I don’t mind a few scratches in exchange for saving £13.99.
At the time I actually enjoyed the game, I casual camers will enjoy it.
Heheh.
Starfish the Physicsdemo.
Classic.
“The fact that Sega has the nerve to re-release this embarrassment is a reminder that holding any hope for some kind of decent franchise revival is utterly ridiculous.”
Tell me about it, Rocky… I mean, has SEGA learned nothing? God….
“I enjoyed playing Sonic the Hedgehog (’06) more than Sonic Unleashed”
Same here, even though I think Sonic Unleashed was of better quality, Sonic 06 had better ideas in it. And you weren’t going fast-fast-FAST most of the time. Going fast was a treat in that game, but sadly it was too automated for my taste in alot of areas.
If you want to know were good games are being outsold by shity ones, go and look at the Wii. As bad as Sonic 06 was, there are 10 times as more games on the Wii that are even worse and have sold a lot more.
I imagine that this game didn’t sell as well as Sega or Sega’s dark overlords thought it would so they’re trying to soften the blow by continuing to re-sell the game over and over.
I like how Tristan calls himself ‘Solus’ when he decides to slander big business. It’s okay to use your actual name when you’re just pissing off Sonic fans and webmasters alike but when he says something that could potentially get him into a lot of trouble, his name disappears! What a tosser he truly is.
Yeaaaahhhhhhhh no. You *wish* I wrote this.
It wouldn’t even matter if I did write it up, because we ought to be taking on the big guns anyway.
If your personal preference is to be a PR bitch…by all means, go for it.
-T
It’s impossible to enjoy Sonic 06 more than Unleashed. You people must be into BDSM.
@Tristan
PR bitch?
You been on my site? Tell me where you see the news update about this. I’ll tell you why you can’t see it; I chose not to report it.
Why? Because I choose what I want to report. For example, I haven’t updated on anything about Wacky World of Sports cause it looks like a pile of shit. Just because I’m a SEGA fan who runs a SEGA site does not mean I hang off their coat-tails and lick their asses.
I haven’t made any money out of this and if SEGA want to send me review copies I’ll gladly review them out of courtesy but that doesn’t mean I have to give a game a good review. I was given Stormrise but that was the biggest load of crap I’ve played all year and I made sure people knew that.
I’ll tell you how I “take on the big guns”; I don’t buy into their crap. If you want to see Sonic back on top of his game then be my guest, but no amount of protest and journalistic rubbish is going to make anyone stand up and take notice. It’s clear to me that SEGA don’t know what they want Sonic to be hence why there’s been some dramatic shortcomings in recent titles. How will this be remedied? When people stop buying their games.
I’m not boycotting SEGA games, but I’m not seeing any improvements to Sonic games. Other SEGA titles like the superb HotD Overkill and Let’s Tap are being overlooked and overshadowed by “the next big Sonic game” or as I like to call it “the next giant dissapointment that will cause SEGA to release another mini-game collection”.
This is why I run a SEGA site and not a Sonic site. There’s some awesome SEGA stuff out there that is being totally ignored by the gaming public. This is because when Sonic fails, SEGA fails. SEGA has a terrible habit of putting all their resources into plugging the next Sonic game so when their really superb titles get released they go unnoticed and under-sell (MadWorld, HotD Overkill, Let’s Tap etc)
I’m happy to watch you report on things that don’t matter. SEGA are trying to recoup massive losses and if they can get revenue back from re-issuing crap like Sonic 06 on this digital service than whoop-de-doo. I ain’t buying it, not my problem.
But my problem is this; SEGA Rally Revo got released on this service aswell and no fucker can be bothered with that because all the hype surrounding this release and the fact that there were no improvements to it. Revo is a quality title that is still being ignored.
Sonic Yoda: Tristan isn’t Solus. At least, not so far. I think he would have preferred this article not have happened, but he has repeatedly said that his staff commentators are not to be censored.
Truthfully, I’m the least proud of this Tangent. I stand by my points, but it feels too much like a rehash. That makes sense when dealing with a cheap re-release, but I intended to focus it more on the service in general or include other examples of prolonged damage, not make a hate letter to a single title. Something I’ll keep in mind for the next article.
Like it or not, thanks to a little help from Nintendo, Sonic is here to stay(If you wanna blame another IP, Mario is to blame because of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games and Smash Bros Brawl)
@udx
Where did I say I wanted Sonic to go away? I want Sonic to actually be in a Sonic game! I haven’t seen that happen for quite some time now.
I’m not blaming Mario or Nintendo for cheapening Sonic. Even though Nintendo has forgotten they’re a games company, at least they understand what people like about Mario and have kept it in his games since. For instance, all the original Mario sound effects are still in Mario Galaxy as it is a part of his identity.
SEGA have pretty much screwed Sonic’s identity. Take the comparison with the sound effects; the ring noise is the only original sound effect left! At least Nintendo had the decency to use 16 bit era Sonic as a reference for his inclusion in Brawl.
SEGA need to look back on Sonic and his identity and improve on what was already working instead of scrapping everything apart from his speed and try something else. How did jumping on robots progress to slashing monsters with a sword? It’s not a natural progression. Sort it out SEGA.
This whole article seems to me like a long-winded waste of electronic data. Yes, most people didn’t like Sonic 2006, but you can’t just claim that “a rushed, broken effort can live on while good, polished games shine and fade in the blink of an eye.” Not when Sega is releasing a new “classic Sonic” (i.e. GENESIS Sonic; i.e. the games that even the haters say they LIKE) compilation game about every two seconds.
There are a lot of things worth complaining about in Sonic 2006, but insisting that a product be pulled from the market just because a bunch of people think it’s stupid is… well, stupid. You can tell people not to buy the game, you can tell them WHY they shouldn’t buy the game, but insisting that Sega can’t sell it just because it’s lame? There’s no mere (unauthorized) Sonic fan on the face of this planet that carries that much authority. Sure, you can suggest it to Sega, but acting like you have an unalienable right to censor mediocrity (if that’s not too kind a word for Sonic 2006) from the Sonic series is total bird dung. Considering how fractured the online Sonic fanbase is anyway, I sincerely hope that Sega never, EVER becomes a fan-run democracy.
It’s kind of late now that it’s actually been pulled, but if I had been you at this time, I would have gone after the smutty human/furry “romance” in Sonic 2006 as MY basis for pulling the game off of shelves. Granted, I’m NOT you, which is probably why it had never occurred to me to do something like that at the time, but still. There are more important things to complain about than bad gameplay.