Amazonys – Wii Games

Once was a time Sonic games were just as good as Mario games. Some may even say better. That time, however, was back in the 1990’s. And it’s been a while since the 1990’s.

Yet the blue hedgehog is still Sega’s most prominent mascot, and Sega keep on churning out Sonic games, even though they suck. Which begs the question: when can we expect Sonic games to not suck? Sega America’s VP of marketing Sean Ratcliffe got stuck with the excuse-making:

The quality is something that will be fixed over time. It’s not something where you wake up one morning and say, ‘You know what, we’re going to improve our quality on this franchise,’ and it magically happens. A lot of hard work goes into striving for quality.

Normally, we’d stop things there, but we like Ratcliffe’s continued response so much we’re going to run it:

Interestingly, I think Sonic Unleashed was very well received by the kids. There was some talk about the werehog aspect, the slower pacing and more combat-oriented gameplay, but when we go out and test this stuff and sit down with the consumers, kids actually like that. I think older, die-hard Sega fans who grew up with the franchise and the first Sonic the Hedgehog associate Sonic more with 2-D side-scrolling super fast, and they liked the daytime gameplay, but when it came to the slower paced gameplay they were fairly critical of that, and that’s fine – they have their opinions.

“But the kids like it.” Bet other publishers wish they could peddle that one out!

Sega: Sonic Quality to Be ‘Fixed Over Time’ [IndustryGamers]

Third party Wii titles like MadWorld and The Conduit are aimed towards core gamers. And…they’re not selling so hot. Why the heck not? Tons of people own Nintendo Wii consoles.

According to Nintendo’s Denise Kaigler, “You know, I don’t know. It’s hard to say. It could be titles have the same type of sales curve that a lot of Nintendo titles have. A lot of Nintendo titles don’t follow that traditional sales curve where they launch big and then that’s it. Our titles have a long tail. They build in popularity, and this could be the case with MadWorld and The Conduit. I’ve played both. I’m not a core gamer, and I found that they were challenging and fun.”

In its first month on sale, action title MadWorld sold around 66,000 copies. Meanwhile, first-person-shooter The Conduit sold 72,000 copies from its June 23 launch to the end of the June sales period.

Thoughts?

Q&A: Nintendo’s Kaigler on Slowing Wii Sales, Hardcore Games [GameLife via CVG via VG247]

The tables, they have been turned. Rather than having other characters appear in his game, Sackboy is making the leap into somebody else’s.

The game in question is Rag Doll Kung-Fu, and he’ll be made available as a playable character as part of tomorrow’s PlayStation Store update, where he’ll join the game’s unlockable characters in a “time savers” pack (as in, pay money for the pack, save you the time unlocking them).

If only LittleBigPlanet could repay the favour, and add a pack that lets you unleash some adorable little roundhouse kicks.

The DS has been a juggernaut in Japan, racking up amazing sales. But nothing lasts forever, not even strong platform sales. PaRappa The Rapper creator Masaya Matsuura is looking for a new option for platform development.

“I think many developers and publishers are just focusing on DS but everybody understands [DS' significance in the market] will not go for a long time from now, so everybody trying to find another solution,” Matsuura told Edge Online. “But it’s very hard to be successful on another platform.”

Matsuura went on to say the platform he’d like to explore the most is the PS3, but worries that Sony might not be aggressive enough in the marketplace.

Later this year, Matsuura will be speaking at GameCity and DICE Asia. Maybe he’ll be talking about this, maybe he won’t. Who knows. Matsuura does, that’s who.

Interview: Masaya Matsuura [Edge Online]

Happy Birthday ESRB! Fifteen years ago to the day, SEGA and Nintendo proposed the Entertainment Software Rating Board in the wake of the Mortal Kombat gore game controversy.

As Wired points out, the original ratings were:

• Early Childhood (eC): Suitable for ages 3 and over, usually educational in nature.
• Kids to Adults (K-A): May be unsuitable for players under 6.
• Teen (T): May be unsuitable for players under 13.
• Mature (M): May be unsuitable for players under 17.
• Adults Only (AO): Content considered unsuitable for minors.

The proposal satisfied US politicians, and the ESRB began rating games later that year.

July 29, 1994: Videogame Makers Propose Ratings Board to Congress [This Day In Tech]