Ammunition > Heroics

Yeah, I know, I missed a day.
Still, I'm doing better; it's only a one-day gap! Maybe next time I'll get three in a row?

Oh, yeah, and I suppose before starting the main topic of this post, I am expected to say something about today.
It's 08.08.08... I could have woken up at 08:08:08 and done something memorable. But, really... what? Last year was 07.07.07, and I "celebrated" that by... Umm, I think I changed my avatar/icon thing on MSN to a picture of Setzer Gabbiani. Next year maybe I'll do something more interesting, because the same thing is going to happen, but with nines (and nine is, I guess, my favorite number? Kinda...).
But really. Then it's going to happen with tens. And elevens. And twelves. After that, well... it'll have to wait a hundred years? Or maybe a thousand? Or... something? But, of course, other things can happen... like 07.08.09, 08.09.10, 09.10.11, 10.11.12, 11.12.13, 02.02.22, 03.03.33, etc.
So... yeah. Interesting date combinations actually happen on a sort-of-frequent basis.

Also, though, today was the start of the olympic games in Beijing.
The opening ceremony was at 12:00 GMT, though, so if it was shown live... I didn't get up early enough to see it. Maybe they'll have it on later or something.
So... yeah. I'll probably watch olympic-y stuff, since... it only happens every four years. I don't necessarily find all of the events interesting, though.


Let's move on to the main topic, here, shall we? Actually, I know already that it's going to melt into some different topics. See, I already had a conversation about this with Ben yesterday.
Actually, it would be more accurate to say that I ranted for a really long time and he listened... or... read it. Or whatever.
Thus, I decided a blog post would be more fitting, and now I will go into it with a bit more detail.

So. Sega.
Sega is doomed.

The Sonic the Hedgehog franchise is sort of their "main thing." It gets them most of their money, right? If it dies, they die. It's really the only thing keeping them alive.
Also, it was only a matter of time after they stopped making consoles and started being a third-party developer... (although I must admit I like them a bit better this way... the silly Nintendo rivalry is gone).

So the reason Sega is going to die is because Sonic the Hedgehog is going to die. Eventually people are going to realize they haven't really done anything worthwhile in years (apparently the Sonic Rush titles were good, but they're overshadowed by the host of lousy games). Then they'll just stop buying games. At that point, it won't even matter if they do something good, because people won't buy it unless they waste a ton of money on crazy advertising campaigns ("This time it's actually a good game! Really! We promise! Just by the stinking game already!").
I've read some blogs and the like, and it seems that a lot of people's loyalty hinges on Sonic Unleashed. If it doesn't end up being amazing, I'm pretty sure it'll mean big trouble.
And I really don't think it will be amazing.
It might be decent.
But if it was amazing, I would be surprised.

At first it looked promising... But really, all that stuff about "going back to its roots" and "fixing all the problems of the past" was just a bunch of meaningless promises to keep the fans happy (sort of like something a politician would say).
Because then they revealed concepts such as "Werehog Sonic." Not only is "werehog" a pretty stupid (and entirely unimaginative word), but the concept itself is also REALLY overused.
It's like they were trying to find a way to make a game people would buy, and someone said something like this:
"Hey! Transformation is really trendy. Let's make Sonic transform into an alternate beastlike form at night! Then we'll REALLY be popular!"
...There are several problems with this. First, like I've already said... this has been done many times before. It's very cliched. Everything about it... transforming, the beastlike form, different things happening at night... BLEH. Second, well... Sonic. He's... already an animal. So conceptually it doesn't even make much sense. And third, Sonic already has a sort of "alternate form", Super Sonic. It's pretty spiffy. Just use THAT.
If I ever meet the people in charge of this stuff, I'm going to scream, "STOP TRYING TO BE 'COOL' AND JUST START MAKING GAMES ALREADY!" I think their problem is that they are trying to SELL games. They don't realize that you sell things (particularly games) by making them good, not "cool." I mean, sure. Popularity leads to sales. But eventually people realize that the product wasn't really that great, and the company suddenly loses everything.
I really wish Sega had the guts to pull off something like New Super Mario Bros., where they go back to their very first game (in this case, I think it should be the second, because it added some nice things that I don't think Sonic games should go without) and scrap pretty much all progress they ever made and make a direct sequel. That could be really cool (NSMB certainly was).
And I definitely think they have the skills, labor, talent, creativity, money, etc. to do something like that. The problem is that they're completely spineless. They're probably afraid of it not selling well and them going bankrupt. But... so what? If they don't do it they're going bankrupt anyway. Just take the risk... "Final" Fantasy, anyone?
I read one blog that pointed out another big part of the problem. I think Sega is really trying to listen to its fans, but... its fans don't know what they want! They all say things like "Sonic should move really, really fast. That's what Sonic games are about." and "Sonic shouldn't share the spotlight; make him the only playable character, just like in the first game!"
I'll start with the second statement... Umm, what was wrong with Sonic 2? I think it may have been the best game in the entire series (it certainly had the most memorable soundtrack, if that counts for anything). And... it had Tails. He was playable in several situations. There's really nothing wrong with that. Sonic without Tails is like Mario without Luigi, or Batman without Robin! Just... don't do it. Sure, there's a point at which you should stop making new characters, and they've probably reached that point (I really don't think we should see the return of Blaze the Cat or Silver the Hedgehog except in spinoff-type games). But they have several existing characters that are very likable (even Big the cat; admit it, you DO like him... if for nothing else, then because he's fun to hate). And I really don't see anything wrong with them being playable... Sonic can still be the main character. It doesn't take a lot more than having his name/face on the cover. And he can also be playable a bit more than the other characters, or the other characters could be unlockable.
Then the other thing, speed. Well, sure. Moving quickly is cool. But the game actually has to be fun. There's a point at which it's just obnoxious. Focus more on making a cool platformer; speed is really just one aspect of a whole game.
I HOPE YOU'RE READING THIS, SEGA/SONIC TEAM/WHOEVER! DON'T MAKE ME KEEP PLAYING SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2 FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!

But, yes. This brings up a new topic. What if Sega really does mess everything up? What if we never see a good Sonic game again?
This is part of why copyright makes me sad. Most major fangames get shut down. And that's really too bad. Because while making boring remakes / games that aren't as good as the original is really stupid and a waste of time... there does get to be a point where the publisher/developer doesn't do it right anymore, or just stops altogether.
Still, maybe some ambitious game made by a fan will get Sega's attention and make them see that they really could do better. I hope something like that happens; it's going to take something pretty crazy to pull them out of this rut.

Now, this brings me to another topic... Doki-Doki Panic / "Super Mario Bros. 2" (it's actually not SMB2 at all, but that's a long story; Wikipedia it). I really like the concept there, whatwith the throwing of plants and enemies and all that. But Nintendo seems to be done with it... Occasionally they'll throw in an Eastereggish sort of thing with those vegetables (and Princess Peach still uses them to attack in Smash Bros.), but they haven't made a whole game with it again.
I am seriously considering making a game using that concept and taking it to new, unusual levels... We'll have to see. I'd also have to come up with a good engine. I have one for GM that I downloaded once, but by the time I cleaned it up and removed the stuff I didn't want, well... I may as well make a new one, really. Hopefully I'll be able to pull it off... And hopefully I'll actually stick with it this time, and maybe even finish it!
...But don't count on anything. I'm still not even sure I'll start.


So, there we go. I guess I'm done. But before I finish, here's the state of my notebook page right now (I added some things that I either thought of a while ago and forgot to put in, or just thought of recently):

-International... stuff.
-Cartoons.
-Vigilanteism (probably not a whole post).
-Online multiplayer games (this may not be a whole post either).
-Food channel (almost certainly not a whole post).
-Stuff about J.K. Rowling and C.S. Lewis (those will probably be in two different posts)
-What Illinois is like, for those of you who aren't here (and how it's different from Iowa, for those of you who... Oh, wait. No, you don't even read this, do you?).
-Movies; IJatKotCS and Prince Caspian (I'm pretty sure these will be in two different posts as well, or maybe one rather long one).


So that's it then.
El fin.