Another Sega Employee Speaks Out on Sonic?

By
Tristan Oliver
– January 14, 2009

Purported Localization Rep Sheds Insight on Unleashed, Chronicles, Next Sonic

Not two weeks after one of our editors looked back on the prophesies a former Sega insider dished on the Internet, another possible insider is now in the spotlight.

“Archive this thread if you want and come back to me in a year and a half,” claims a poster on a recent 4chan thread going under the pseudonym of Wentos the Traveling Salesman.  “You’ll see.”

Wentos, as he’ll be referred to from here on out, said to 4channers that he knows more about the inner workings of Sega “than you might think,” and also claims to work in localization, knowing people within the company “here and there.”  His comments were picked up on by Sonicophage, a member of the Sonic Stadium message boards.

Among some of the light-hearted fare that Wentos suggests is that he’s the one behind the “Tails is a girl” script joke in the next-gen version of Sonic Unleashed, initially suggesting it as an off-the-cuff remark. He also noted that Sonic Adventure 2, thought by many in the Sonic fan community to be the best 3D Sonic to date, had the lowest budget allotted by Sega of any Sonic title.  But he also talked about information of much more immediacy to Sonic fandom, including details on the next game in the franchise.

“It won’t be announced for some time,” Wentos claims.  “SEGA isn’t taking Sonic on a break, but they’ll stay quiet with the main series games for a little while and then reveal it while this time specifically outlining what has been fixed.”

Wentos said that the next Sonic will be in the style of the daytime levels in Sonic Unleashed, have an increased focus on platforming, and will be Sonic only.  The option to play as other characters will be included, but won’t necessarily be required to finish the game.  He noted that Chao won’t be included.

“I didn’t say Werehog bullshit,” he affirmed.  “I said sections in stages where you actually need to slow down and be careful and precise about what you’re doing.  Non-optional characters in “main series” Sonic games are over, I can tell you that much.”

Wentos also commented on the vast difference in opinion between Sonic Unleashed for the Wii/PS2, and the next-generation editions on the XBOX360 and PS3.  In general, it confirms what the Ben Andac story revealed to the world–that at least some factions of Sonic are meant to be only moneymakers.  In particular, he discusses that Sega’s plan all along was to focus on the next-gen edition of the game, while recouping losses off that R&D via the Wii edition:

You know how Wii games are much less expensive to develop, correct?  And how the Wii is primarily for kids and family audiences, while the hardcore gamers go to the 360 and PS3?

The consoles all the Sonic fans were likely to own (360 and PS3) were the ones the true Unleashed was developed for, which is why they handed it off to their freshest and most eager development team, who also happen to be huge Sonic fans themselves.  Meanwhile, they outsources the Wii version to DIMPS, who has never even thought about doing a 3D Sonic game before.

Now, the 360/PS3 version cost a fuckton of money for them to produce; it’s the one with the most work and effort and love put into it.  The Wii version only cost a couple million.  SEGA’s plan from the start was to take a loss on the 360 version financially while using the Wii version’s sales (mostly to kids and families) to recoup those costs.  They knew the Wii would have gimped version from the start, and so they gave the real game to th e 360 so that fan opinion of the series would finally shoot back up.

Thus far, their plan has worked, and to answer your question they’ll likely be doing the same thing for the next main series game, while using the filler title (Riders, the Storybook titles, etc.) to help pay for the losses they need to endure to be seen in a more positive light.

Wentos also spoke to certain mechanics in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. Speaking about the ending, the art, and the music, Wentos has evidently confirmed that SEGA searched the Internet for fan-produced MIDI compositions, knowing full well those artists couldn’t sue for infringement:

Every single piece of art barring the landscapes were terrible, the cutscenes were made by people who had never touched Flash in their llives and there were a lot of glaring design issues that showed up in the game, ESPECIALLY as you neared the end.  The cliffhanger ending was one of the most rushed scripts I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with.

They actually had a full, originally composed soundtrack but before release they had to pull the hub BGMs out for a variety of (frankly ridiculous) legal reasons.  So they did what anyone else in their position probably would have done; they did a search on the net for whatever Sonic MIDIs they could find and fit them in the game the best they could.  Since the compositions belonged to SEGA in the first place there were no legal issues to be had with what was essentially thieving them, and they could also pan it off as a “soundtrack full of classic Sonic music.”

Which is also why there’s a fairly distinct difference in quality between the electric-guitar intro/battle music and the shit you get while you play the game itself.

At this moment, we cannot verify the identity of Wentos, nor can be 100% certain of the authenticity of the information he provided to 4channers.  That said, Wentos invited speculators to contact him privately, and he also aware of the story on this site regarding Ben Andac.  Wentos says the climate at SEGA has changed since Andac’s blogging:

That article is old as shit and doesn’t apply even remotely to current SEGA policies anymore, nor does it even differentiate any of the separate Sonic Team divisions from one another.

It may have meant something two years ago but now it’s an absolute crock of shit.

[....]

I don’t want to be like the guy who wrote the article TSSZ linked to; hopefully he’s having a fun time in unemployment.

Especially in light of the Andac story, there are plenty in the Sonic community who are taking this is a grain of salt.  There are those who doubt Wentos and his credibility simply because he posted on 4chan, a “wild west” of sorts in the gaming community where spurious rumors can roam free.  Upon Sonicophage’s post on the SSMB, a healthy mix of optimism and doubt followed.  Forumer JezMM wrote simply:

He’s bloody convincing but I’m not gonna believe him until, as he says, this next game is out so we can “hold it against him”.

Everything he says is interesting though. It’s either true or very very good theories. =\

Here’s what another SSMBer, Casanova, had to say on it:

Does anyone care anymore if these ‘insiders’ come out of the closet to have a moan or a poke at a random Sonic fansite?

He claims to work in “localization,” so what… that doesn’t mean he’s a key cog in the machine at all, he won’t be apart of the major planning meetings, certainly not have direct design input that influences plot or structure.

He even admits it himself.

Or if you still think he may be some kind of wise old man on the mountain… would someone who had a high position of power in Sonic Team, after last weeks news antics involving the fun of blogs. Would someone do this… on 4-chan of all places?

The revelation of Segas sales selling stratergy… Did we really need a sega insider to tell us that one? Call of Duty did that with C.O.D 4 and 5. In fact you could say that with any game that has a big console release and then a PS2/Wii version is doing it.

The only really earth-shattering thing here was that there maybe Sonic Riders 3 in development… but again… is that something to get excited for? I didn’t mind the second one… was far too short for my taste.

But if it did come, are we really surprised? We’re due another filler title, all whats in development right now with Sonic in the title is Black Knight, Genesis Collection, and maybe some Unleashed DLC (bBecoming less likely with every new day now). So another Riders seems likely since most of the world has alrady been done… just copy the codes from the riders 2 disk like they did with riders 1!

Since the original thread excerpts were posted (which we have provided below) Sonicophage claims he has talked to Wentos.  Sonicophage reported to forumers that the main team who worked on the next-generation Sonic Unleashed will continue to work on the primary Sonic games from here on out, with other development teams receiving secondary titles.  Wentos also hinted at a return to the Sonic Riders franchise.

We want to know what you think.  Do you believe anything Wentos says, or do you think he is trying to spread false information as a way to steal the spotlight?  If you think he’s being truthful, how do you take in all the information Wentos has divulged?  Let us know in the comments below.   We will certainly try to follow up with Wentos ourselves and get some new information, but for now, we are classifying this as rumor.

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