On the 20th of March 2009 at midnight No More Blue shut its doors for the last time.
The surrogate home of ‘The Sonic Show’, No More Blue, was open for 3 and a half years. Over the years it sprung from a small Sonic fan site, into a thriving beacon for the community. However, its creator, Cold Dog, his co-admin, Jay ‘Sonic Show’ Disco Ponies, and its staff decided that enough was enough. Battling against constant spells of inactivity on the forums had taken its toll. No More Blue’s side game, MMORPG ‘Sonic Arena’ and ‘Sonic Arena 2’ suddenly was becoming more successful than the site itself.
No More Blue had a very vibrant community at times. Users ranged from the very young to the old. The site took its criticism over time for housing immature users, and had complaints of their forums having far too much SPAM posts. However, the main No More Blue contingency always shone through as being a great and bubbly bunch. This was never more clear than last night. Jay Disco Ponies set up a chat room on an external site so that the forum members could have one last NMB party to send the site off in to the proverbial Recycle Bin in the sky.
I even made an appearance in the room last night hours before shut down and was greeted by a great bunch of people! Admittedly I ended up plugging my own site while I was there, but if even 1 ex-NMB member shows there face at SCD then SCD would be a better place for it. There was some great chat going on between members, and a real feeling of disappointment that it was all ending.
The community that is NMB is not dying altogether though. NMB’s side game ‘Sonic Arena 2’ is to live on, but this time it is doing it on its own! It can be found at http://sonicarena.com/, and now has its own fully devoted forums with many ex-NMB members finding a home here.
If the MMORG is not really your scene then have no fear! Jay and his team are working on a new site for the future. Details of this are a little scarce; however, I have managed to get a word from Jay about this. Here’s what he had to say:
With the closure of No More Blue, me and Cold Dog realized that there was still a fantastic community with this site. Unfortunately the mounting gimmicks and Sonic Arena drowned out this community and tore them away. In the upcoming weeks we plan to launch “Green Groove Zone”. A site that removes the flashy crap and takes us back to our roots. We view this as a new era and a fresh start. I hope that everyone can join us when “Green Groove Zone” starts up!
That’s all there is really. No More Blue is no more, and the Sonic community loses another great site.
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Another one bites the dust? Well, at least they didn’t close because the owner of the site got emo and wanted to whine about how much Sega has hurt his tender feelings with average and mediocre Sonic titles.
So, Bravo! I’ll check out Green Grove when it’s available.
I love you, Crazee.
Never heard of the site. I probably spent too much time in my own little circle of Sonic fans to actually notice this. Oh well.
So, wait… Is Sonic Arena 1 closed forever too? I literally WASTED more than a couple hour’s on a game that is now nonexistent? Thats… Bull…
heh. I appreciate the sentiment.
It got kind of trying,though. Bloody hell.
BTW, Street Fighter 4 rules.
well at least they’re arent going cos of the reasons Crazee pointed out, when I saw the headline thats what I thought, but phew, it’s sad to see a site go down, but it’s even sadder to see their love for sonic go too.
But no fear for that has not happened :ED
I’ll be looking out for Green Grove Zone when it’s up and running!
Well thats a shame, ive heard about here and there, but havent actually visited
@Crazee
“Well, at least they didn’t close because the owner of the site got emo and wanted to whine about how much Sega has hurt his tender feelings with average and mediocre Sonic titles.”
Oh-ho-ho! Well done Crazee! Aren’t you a clever little boy! So, if you leave the Sonic community because you don’t like Sonic’s change of direction that makes you a big, whiny emo who must think of nothing less than putting other people down for liking new Sonic games.
There seems to be this huge misinterpretation that new Sonic games show progression. I’ve seen someone say that nobody complained when RPG elements made their way into Castlevania games or that no-one complained when Mario went into space. Of course they fucking didn’t! That’s a logical progression that built on the series’ strong points. Castlevania still had platforming elements and Mario still had everything that made him Mario.
Sonic doesn’t have any of that anymore. Where are the hints of Sonic turning into a Werewolf in Sonic 3? What about Sonic CD says that Sonic will one day attack enemies with a sword? These are all illogical gameplay elements that don’t add to the winning formula. They detract from what made Sonic great.
Why can’t any of you respect another human being’s personal decision? Why is it wrong to move on from something you don’t enjoy anymore? I’ve had enough of all the selfish bullshit you guys peddle.
Remember kids, once you join the Sonic community you can’t leave. This is because leaving means you’re a pussy who can’t accept Sonic’s “progression”.
He may have insulted you and your site, but there’s no need to shove your opinion in his face like it’s fact.
(EDIT – Inflammatory -T)