Sega Nerds

Review: Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood

Posted by Graham. Filed under G, Nintendo DS, Review, Sonic. Tagged with Bioware, Sonic Chronicles, The Zoah.

Since winning the “Sonic Chronicles Name for a Race” contest earlier this year, where our name for a new race - The Zoah - won, we’ve been keeping a close eye on this title.

While we’ve had some hands-on time with the game when it was still in development, what we’re now most interested in is if the retail version lives up to Bioware’s (aka the RPG kings) reputation, or is this yet another bad Sonic game to add to a growing list?

How to use Tails, Amy in Sonic Chronicles

Posted by Chris. Filed under Chris, Nintendo DS, Sonic. Tagged with Sonic Chronicles.

 

If you’ve been following the Sonic Chronicles’ Video Insider Episodes, you have a head start in how to best utilize the playable characters in Bioware’s newest RPG.

The newest episode explains how players can best use Tails and Amy.For some reason, this video just made me depressed. I’ve been really excited for this game for a long time, but listening to the narrarator try to explain the game, only reminds me of how corny this series has become, especially for those of us who grew up playing the first couple Sonic games and are now well into our late 20s and early 30s.

Sonic Chronicles will be one of those games I enjoy in the inner sanctums of my home where I’m safe from the mockery that my friends and family will undoubtedly give me if they see me playing.

New Sonic Chronicles behind the scenes trailer

Posted by Graham. Filed under G, News, Nintendo DS, North America, Video. Tagged with Bioware, Sonic Chronicles, Trailer.

Sega America has recently released a new promotional trailer for Sonic Chronicles, entitled “Making It Happen.”

This behind the scenes mini-documentary shows more of just how Bioware went about designing and making the game. From laying out the artwork designs, to turning 2D drawings of Sonic and his friends into 3D models for the DS, with explanations from the Bioware team.

You might even recognize one of the Bioware team, Miles Holmes (Lead Designer), whom we interviewed a few months ago.

[Source: Sega PR]

Exclusive: Sonic Chronicles wallpaper

Posted by Graham. Filed under G, News, Nintendo DS, Sonic. Tagged with Bioware, Exclusive, Sonic Chronicles.

That’s right we have an exclusive desktop wallpaper for you all to enjoy!   This image has been lovingly crafted especially for us (meaning you) by the people at BioWare.

With Sonic Chronicles being released on the DS later this month, it should all help to remind us to go out and buy a copy.

Just click on the thumbnail below to see the full size image, right click and save it (you all know the drill).

It has also been hinted that Sega might be giving out some more exclusive Sonic Chronicles wallpapers, at other sites.  But I guess we will have to wait and see when and which sites they will appear on - we’ll keep you updated when we know.

[Special Thanks: Sega Europe and Bioware]

New Sonic Chronicles gameplay trailer

Posted by Graham. Filed under G, News, Nintendo DS, Sonic, Video. Tagged with Bioware, Gameplay, Sonic Chronicles, Trailer.

With the release of Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood at the end of this month (September) Sega is ramping up their online marketing a notch, with the release of a new gameplay trailer.

Dubbed the “Exploration Trailer”, the video shows off some of the environments the game has, some nifty gameplay footage (though most of it has been shown before) and some random FMV which may or may not be from the game…

I know the DS can do FMV, but it’s not used very often (I think I only own two games that use any - Metroid: Hunters and Resident Evil), and the FMV shown doesn’t really fit with the art work in the main game.  But it’s kind of weird to have it in a trailer that shows off gameplay.  It’s most likely being used to make the game look better, but who knows?

[Source: Sega PR]

Play the Sonic Chronicles mini-game trainer

Posted by Graham. Filed under G, News, Nintendo Wii, PC, Sonic. Tagged with Bioware, Online Game, Sonic Chronicles.

A little bit like Samba De Amigo the other week, Sega has released another fun little online mini-game to test your skills, for Sonic Chronicles.

However, while the Samba De Amigo mini-game was essentially a mini version of the full game, this Sonic Chronicles one is a series of different mini games, and does not really reflect any of the gameplay in the final game - at least the games I played didn’t.

But it is still pretty fun, so have a crack at it yourselves, after the break!

Get your limited edition Sonic Chronicles at Nintendo World

Posted by Graham. Filed under G, News, Nintendo DS, North America, Sonic. Tagged with Bioware, Limited Edition, Sonic Chronicles.

The GameSpot’s video game show, On The Spot, made a little announcement last night.  Those gamers who go to the Nintendo World store on September the 28th, will be in with the chance of being able to pick up a limited edition Sonic Chronicles, early.

The game is not set for release until September 30th, but those who visit the Nintendo store on the Sunday, will be able to get a signed copy of the game. Plus, Sega has said that everyone needs to bring their DS, because they can download a limited edition Chao, which you cannot get anywhere else.

Just so you know, you can collect Chaos in the game, and they help your characters in combat. So it is quite a cool thing to get.

If you do watch this episode of On The Spot, just note that the Sega rep did screw up. He said that gamers would need to be at Nintendo World on August 28th - which was the same day that the video actually went up, and was also not a Sunday.

So either everyone has missed out, or it is September 28th.

[Source: GameSpot Via SonicStadium]
[Image from Gamespot]

GC 2008: Sonic Chronicles

Posted by Graham. Filed under Europe, G, News, Nintendo DS, Sonic. Tagged with Bioware, event, Exhibition, Games Convention, Leipzig, Sonic Chronicles.

Hopefully, if you have been following us on Sega Nerds, you will know enough about Sonic Chronicles by now, especially as two of our staff have had a hands-on play, and both liked the game.

Sega may not have given out any new information (not that there is much more to give out), but they have released some new screenshots, which appear to show a new game location. (More after the break).

Not sure exactly where Sonic and his friends are, but it looks like an alien planet… or Big the Cat has a bad case of hay fever, and sneezed on everything.

[Updated] Summer of Sonic: Highlights video & images

Posted by Graham. Filed under Europe, G, News, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, Retro, Sonic, Video. Tagged with Events, Genesis, MegaDrive, Sonic and the Secret Rings, Sonic Chronicles, Summer of Sonic.

[UPDATE: I have finally managed to upoload the video to MegaVideo - which allows you to watch it in full (without needing to download anything). So everyone can watch it easily now! However, if you wish to download this video, you can do so by visiting the original upload, here]

Perhaps later than I had wanted, but here it finally is!  The Summer of Sonic Highlights video and photographs.  This is for everyone who wanted to come, but couldn’t make it to the event.

As well as some truly great performances from Richard Jacques, TJ Davis and Lee Brotherton, the Summer of Sonic event had a lot of great highlights.

Now, the above video is pretty damn long (about 45mins) but a lot of it is filled with stuff I just didn’t have the heart to cut out - like the Sonic Quiz.  So, in order to preserve the sanity of most of you, what I have done is broken down a time scale of the video.  So if you want to skip forward to an event, you can do so (by sliding the time bar). 

The time scale, plus more details and loads of pictures taken from the event are all after the break.

Exclusive: Bioware - Sonic Chronicles interview

Posted by Graham. Filed under G, Interviews, News, Nintendo DS, Sonic. Tagged with Bioware, Sonic Chronicles.

Last Friday (08/08/2008), we were invited to a Sonic Chronicles presentation by Bioware’s Lead Designer, Miles Holmes.  We were given the time to interview Miles, (see above video), and were also given a demonstration of the game.

With a DS hooked up to a large screen, Miles played through a small segment, early in the game, and explained what was happening and explained Bioware’s reasons behind certain things in the game.

Unfortunately we were not allowed to video the presentation, so you will just have to make do with my notes.  Check after the break to read some of the things mentioned by Miles during his presentation.