Sonic Sequel Confirmed and More

UPDATE: I did manage to find some reaction on the announcement of the sequel to SA on the Sega X MB. Here’s one from Dockaych:

Hmm, I wonder if any of you remember my statements waaaay back about Sonic Adventure 2 being developed to launch about the same time (or just before) the US launch of the Playstation 2? Hmm.

I still think NiGHTS 2 is in development, I just think that Sonic Team are taking their time with it and I doubt they’ll announce it until it’s pretty much finished. I do think that Sonic Team will be working on Sonic Adventure personally. Perhaps Yuji won’t work so closely, but I think it will be Sonic Team staff, not Travellers Tales (besides they haven’t done anything good since Sonic-R)

I doubt Samba-de-Amigo really bore into ST’s development staff resources, and Chu Chu Rocket was probably knocked together in a month or so (is that one out in Japan yet?) Seeing as it doesn’t look like Naka or Oshima are working so closely with PSO, then that leaves SA2 and NiGHTS2 for us over the next couple of years. Mmm.

I can’t wait for Sonic Adventure 3 in three years from now. Sluuurp!

While not directly related to the announcement, TSSZ has found that there is some audience for Phantasy Star Online. Let’s look at two people that will buy this thanks to the Sega X Message Board:

Richard: I’m Definitely going to buy PSO. I’ve been waiting for another Phantasy Star Since Phantasy Star 4 On the Genesis. Does anybody know if old characters will be in it? I know it takes place around the time of my favorite Phantasy Star Game Phantasy Star 4. I hope SEGA launches it on the same day in US and Japan.

Nataku: I’m definitely going to buy PSO. That one game will force me into buying an American Dreamcast just so I can have a modem and an US version of the game.

11.5: Wednesday, the 9th annual Toy and Interactive Entertainment Conference was held, and Sega revealed some big news for Sonic fans. Here are some quick bytes from this breaking story:

• SA sequel confirmed, will be here by 2000
• Phantasy Star Online to hit US shores in 2000
• Chu Chu Rocket has a chance of coming to the states
• NO WORD ON SAMBA DE AMIGO COMING TO THE STATES
• 750,000 DCs sold in the US, expected to be 1.5 million by end of ’99, 2 million by 3.30.00, 6 million by 3.30.01

Those are the facts, now here are the details:

The presentation made by Sega to various industry analysts, had more of a focus on anticipated sales, but still managed to convey a few useful tidbits. Senior VP of Marketing Peter Moore spoke on the console’s anticipated sales and software availability through the end of the year 2000, and had some interesting hopes for the system. Not only did Moore reveal that the Dreamcast has sold through well over 750,000 units to date but that Sega plans to sell 1.5 million units by the end of 1999. Additionally, they hope to reach the 2 million mark by March 30, 2000. Even more surprising were the company’s hopes for the console by March of 2001, with Sega anticipating that they will have achieved an install base of 6 million units!

The fact that Sega could reach 2 million units sold by March is simply astounding, and, depending on the holiday season and whether Sega can crank out enough DCs for the public, that number could be reached before March.

Moore also revealed that the Dreamcast is currently slated to have over 160 titles available by the end of the year 2000, which is a shot up from the previous estimate of 140 given by then COO Bernard Stolar earlier this year. Sega’s Charles Bellfield informed us that several 3rd party developers attended the conference, where they gave analysts a peek at the future, with informal announcements regarding over a dozen yet-to-be revealed Dreamcast titles, though there is no word on what titles were shown at present.

In our conversation with Bellfield, however, we did learn a couple interesting tidbits, including confirmation that a sequel to Sonic Adventure is now indeed official, and expected some time next year. Despite previous vagueness on the existence of the title, Bellfield went on record confirming the development of the game, revealing earlier reports from industry trade website GameDAILY, which had previously been left to speculation by SoA representatives, to be true.

Now that this has apparently been confirmed to be official (you still never know), it should be interesting as to seeing if the public will look at this as the real deal, or another hoax, which was what the previous story that surfaced a month ago was looked as.

Additionally, Sega confirmed the expected, informing…that we can indeed expect to see Phantasy Star Online in the states some time next year, however, it was not clear as to how closely the domestic release will follow the game’s arrival in Japan.

If this is true, and PSO has enough hype, it could be a major winner for SEGA in Japan and the States.

Confirmation of this title’s arrival came during a briefing on Sega’s Dreamcast Online Strategy, which apparently will come in three major phases. Initially, Sega plans to release several low-latency parlor games, citing board games, card games, and even Sonic Team’s Chu Chu Rocket as examples of the type of games Dreamcast owners can expect in the first half of 2000. According to Bellfield, however, no concrete decision has been made with regards to bringing ChuChu Rocket Stateside to date.

Some people think of bringing Chu Chu Rocket over to the US would be a good idea on Sega’s part; others, though, see it as a major mistake, since most of the American public doesn’t seem to go for these types of games. If anything comes into the Sonic Scene, we’ll pass it to you.

If you didn’t notice, there was no word on whether Samba de Amigo could be coming to the States, in DC or Arcade form. TSSZ will watch this closely, and we’ll let you know if anything develops. Until then, watch for public reaction to pop up this weekend.