Sonic Chronicles naming contest - vote for The Zoah!
Posted by Graham. Filed under Europe, G, News, Nintendo DS, Sonic. Tagged with Exclusive, Fan Sites, Fan Stuff, Sonic RPG.
A few weeks back we told you about an upcoming contest in which Sonic fans would be able to choose the name of the new enemy race appearing in the upcoming Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood game for the DS.
The idea is that several sites were to come up with a name for the enemy race, which would then be posted up on the Sonic City website, where fans (or general Internet goers) would be able to pick their favourite.
What we didn’t tell you (because we weren’t allowed to, at the time) is that Sega Nerds was among the 10 websites chosen to come up with a name for the contest! That’s right, we are very proud to announce that one of the names on the list comes from us!
Allow me to introduce to you - The Zoah.
That is our name for the race, and we would be very grateful if you would all help vote for us!
You may want to know just how we came up with such a name. Well, it took hours of deliberation (actually a couple of days really) between all the staff here at Sega Nerds, all throwing several names into a hat and breaking them down. We laughed, we cried, I possibly wet myself, but in the end we came out alive and feeling like real men.
But most importantly, we all finally decided on “The Zoah.”
The details were sketchy, but we were given some information from Sega about the race, which helped us to come up with the name:
- It is an Alien Race (Not a robot, nor from Earth)
- It is a major enemy of Sonic’s in the game
- The race appears to be energy based
- The right arm is a weapon that fires an energy blast (possibly electricity)
- The left shoulder has a bit that sticks out and rotates, possibly to charge up the weapon on the other arm
- The race is covered in a thick armour
- The race is three times taller than Sonic and chums
- Where the nose should roughly be is a single blue light - possibly a sensor, or a single eye
- They appear to be a very advanced Alien race
- On its back (you can’t see here) the shoulders have a crystal each, pointing downwards
- The heels (again you can’t see) have a crystal each pointing upwards
Not only do we feel it sounds like the name of an alien race, but it is also slightly mysterious and any true Sega Nerd out there will know that “Zoah” is also the name of the forest in Panzer Dragoon Saga, so the name is an ode to one of the best RPGs ever made and (not to mention) a fantastic piece of Sega’s history.
We aren’t ones to bribe, but should we be chosen, I’m sure we can find some way of repaying our members/readers… Some sort of big contest could be in order, or several throughout the year… ;)
We really hope that you like the name we have chosen… Or at least enough to prefer it over the other entries!
The closing date for voting is March 15th. So please tell your family, friends, enemies and any animals with a talent for surfing the Internet to get voting for us now!!
[Update: Apparently Sega is experiencing some problems with their site right now. If you are trying to vote and the site is down, please try again later, as the site keeps going up and down. Thanks.]
Comments on this article
There have been 49 responses to this article.
It looks like a blue recolour of the general guy(Ordon or something) from Universe at War, just more generic looking.
I’ll vote for this name if I ever bother to vote, though.
Kogen
Posted March 4th, 2008 at 1:52 pm.
C’mon, guys! We really need your help on this one.
Throughout the nearly year and a half Sega Nerds has been open for business, we’ve given away tons of stuff and have brought you daily Sega coverage.
But have we ever once asked anything in return? This is the first time we’re asking our readers to do something for us, and we’d all be really grateful if you came through on this one.
Chris
Posted March 4th, 2008 at 2:43 pm.
Alright! Done my part.
Also: EVERYONE buy Shiren the Wanderer DS.
Saphion
Posted March 4th, 2008 at 2:50 pm.
Zoah is totally the best name anyway. The others either don’t sound alien or sound just flat out silly.
Bryan
Posted March 4th, 2008 at 3:51 pm.
I just looked at some of the other names, and I must say Zoah is the only one that sounds like a real name. Not to sound insulting to the other sites, however the Bluchaos, and the Crushers, sounds really uninteresting and very bland.
I hope Zoah wins, as it sounds the most interesting, has a history in one of SEGA’s games, and feels like you took time and energy to find this name.
I hope it wins, I will enjoy fighting the Zoah.
Nilok
Posted March 4th, 2008 at 3:52 pm.
Wow, the other choices are bad, really bad. Did some people take this as a joke?
Sega Uranus
Posted March 4th, 2008 at 4:30 pm.
Bioware chose The Dusk, i think it sounds interesting >__> I already voted for the dusk too… I had my mind set on that a while ago, but now that I think about it Zoah sounds better… but oh well, too late now.
shadiwulf
Posted March 4th, 2008 at 4:34 pm.
I say the same, I was going to vote the one I liked the most, and this is sincerely your candidate.
I was also going to ask about the pronunciation but I remember it perfectly from Panzer Dragoon Saga so I don’t have any objections ^^
BTW, an energetic race, wears armour… this looks like the God beings from Phantasy Star, or more exactly like an stateria from PSU (but Svaltus are cooler lol)
http://psupedia.info/Svaltus
landman
Posted March 4th, 2008 at 4:42 pm.
I voted for Zoah. I keep hearing that name being pronounced by Skiad Ops Gash in my mind.
Emmett The Crab
Posted March 4th, 2008 at 6:06 pm.
I’m not sure what happened, but I followed the link at the end of the article and got a blank page… Does Sega not like Macs or Firefox? ^_^
DJGeki
Posted March 4th, 2008 at 6:54 pm.
The website seems to be down now, I think we crashed it.
Nilok
Posted March 4th, 2008 at 7:02 pm.
It seems to be back up now.
Nilok
Posted March 4th, 2008 at 7:18 pm.
I think it went down due to being to popular for it’s own good!
VOTE ZOAH!
Ryan
Posted March 4th, 2008 at 7:27 pm.
I wish we could see how people are voting…
Nilok
Posted March 4th, 2008 at 7:40 pm.
Remember who are voting, now. They’ll pick the most stupid thing there.
Kogen
Posted March 4th, 2008 at 7:42 pm.
I just tried the link myself again and its down - weird.
I wonder whether the site has gone down due to too much traffic or something.
I’ll ask the Sega Europe guys if I get a chance to today :)
Graham
Posted March 5th, 2008 at 1:06 am.
The link is back.
And I choose Zoah. It’s not a good name, but is the best choice.
mattmess
Posted March 5th, 2008 at 6:52 am.
just voted for Zoah. I’m still laughing about some of the other names, mostly The Crushers and The Icebo.
Will
Posted March 5th, 2008 at 8:18 am.
ZOAH
Panzer Dragoon reference for the win!
nuckles87
Posted March 5th, 2008 at 8:40 am.
Oh well, I dunno guys…the GRAVITUS sounds like such a powerful name! It is after all a play on the latin word for “Heavy”, which these guys are sure to be, and really cuts across a lot of language barriers! Plus, those cores look like they might harness the power of…GRAVITY!
ALL HAIL THE GRAVITON EMPIRE!
*Runs back to the safety of Sonic Wrecks*
T-Bird
Posted March 5th, 2008 at 9:01 am.
Zoah, but honestly, how many Sonic fans will know its a Panzer Dragoon reference? XD
Aki-at
Posted March 5th, 2008 at 9:04 am.
(punches T-Bird in the face, epicly)
No pushing your name!
Sorry dude, but Zoah just has a much better ring to it. Gravitus may work for some other race, but Zoah fits the best here.
nuckles87
Posted March 5th, 2008 at 10:07 am.
Awesome name + Panzer Dragoon saga reference.
Only downside is taht people will think Sega’s ripping of the Chrono series…
You get my vote….But the site doesn’t work at the moment…
Tole
Posted March 5th, 2008 at 11:06 am.
Just so you all know I spoke with one of the guys at Sega Europe.
Apparently the Sonic City site has been having a few issues the past week and keeps yo-yoing up and down (or on and off if you will).
Plus the site has seen a surge in traffic due to the contest, which isn’t helping.
If you are trying to vote, but it’s down, please try again a bit later - the site usually comes back up again.
Graham
Posted March 5th, 2008 at 12:01 pm.
I’m sure that Gravituses have lots of GRAVY inside!! Tasty!
Haha, I laughed at originality of “The Crushers”. It CERTAINLY has 100% chance for win, I mean, really, look at that alien!!
daibo29
Posted March 5th, 2008 at 3:23 pm.
Man, I can’t even vote! Every time I do its down. I know there is issues, but this is ridiculous.
George
Posted March 5th, 2008 at 7:21 pm.
Well, there were a lot of really good names that we thought of that I wish would have made it into the contest.
Some of the best were:
The Badguys
The Meanies
The Other Bad Guys Not Named Robotnik
Chris
Posted March 5th, 2008 at 7:23 pm.
Don’t forget The Bluey Blasto Bastards
James
Posted March 5th, 2008 at 9:39 pm.
…Or any of the loser new characters from Sonic Riders.
Gamerschoice
Posted March 6th, 2008 at 2:58 am.
If The Zoah wins Graham will post topless pictures of himself.
Nathan
Posted March 6th, 2008 at 8:16 pm.
Remove this text from the front page to save more space.
“The article image has been updated, to save room on the front page and allow people to see all the new articles posted”
This would free up nearly 2 lines, hence we would be able to see the heaading of the new news.
cube_b3
Posted March 7th, 2008 at 2:35 am.
Voted for The Zoah ;)
City Hunter
Posted March 8th, 2008 at 8:47 am.
I was able to vote a second time for Zoah. I still have one more Mac in my office, and then my wife’s laptop.
Emmett The Crab
Posted March 8th, 2008 at 12:11 pm.
How about we temporarily replace the Sega Nerds logo with VOTE FOR ZOAH, An Alien race in Sonic Chronicles.
cube_b3
Posted March 9th, 2008 at 11:38 am.
well its finally back up. Voted. :: puts on I voted sticker ::
George
Posted March 9th, 2008 at 4:37 pm.
It turns out you can vote as many times as you want if you keep clearing your cookies.
Dr, SEGA Monkey
Posted March 9th, 2008 at 8:03 pm.
Well, I hope they track the IPs at the end and only allow one vote per IP. I won’t put it past some of these crazy Sega/Sonic sites to do some of these deviant things.
Chris
Posted March 9th, 2008 at 8:42 pm.
Yeah, but I don’t think anybody knows about it. I just discovered it myself like an hour ago.
Dr. SEGA Monkey
Posted March 9th, 2008 at 8:49 pm.
I finally managed to vote. And yes, I chose Zoah.
udx
Posted March 9th, 2008 at 11:42 pm.
Thanks for all the support guys!
Don’t forget to tell your family and friends!
We really don’t want to lose to the likes of The Icebo… or Darknoon. That would be seriously embarassing.
Graham
Posted March 10th, 2008 at 1:31 am.
Darknewd, Graham, not Darknoon!
Chris
Posted March 10th, 2008 at 2:51 am.
Oh yeah sorry Darknood. (One letter out!)
Anyway Darknoon sounds much better!
Graham
Posted March 10th, 2008 at 3:34 am.
ZOAH!
Dylan
Posted March 10th, 2008 at 7:25 pm.
Go Zoah Go!
Sharkone
Posted March 11th, 2008 at 4:08 am.
I’m almost entirely certain that Psykore will win. Bunchabullshit!
Sega Uranus
Posted March 11th, 2008 at 5:46 pm.
Zoah should win, its the only name that sounds like a name rather than a descriptor. Since we know jack about these guys -coughIcebocough- we shouldn’t be using name that tries to describe them or their abilities.
I think the only top two contenders are the Zoah, and Bioware’s Dusk. Dusk is vauge enough however Zoah is still the best choice.
Heres a hint, just becouse the main characters have simple names, doesn’t mean everything in the Sonic universe should as well.
Nilok
Posted March 11th, 2008 at 10:47 pm.
Thanks for the kind words, Nilok. I certainly agree with what your comment, and I’m actually a little disappointed with Bioware’s name.
I thought theirs would be a lot better than everyone else’s since they actually know everything about the race, but I just feel like it’s a very bland name. At least The Zoah is an original name that most people haven’t really heard before used in this way.
Chris
Posted March 12th, 2008 at 6:42 pm.
With all fairness to Bioware - I do not believe they actually came up with that name.
My understanding is that they held a mini vote on their main forums - so it is really “The Fans of Bioware’s” choice.
Annoyingly they will probably have more fans on their site than the rest of us smaller sites have put together - so they could win.
But I’m just going to go ahead and assume everyone out there has seen sense and realise that The Zoah is the only real choice there ;)
Graham
Posted March 13th, 2008 at 1:15 am.
Here’s the latest update from Sonic City:
Chris
Posted March 13th, 2008 at 8:15 pm.