We Have the Primary Source Document that Sega’s Trying to Wipe off the Internet
In what is becoming a tradition of sorts, Sega of America may or may not have accidentally released the details of their future plans for Sony and its Playstation line yesterday via their public FTP. The document remains online on their end as of the time of this story’s publication, but that’s not expected to last long. Good thing we have it here.
If nothing else, the document shows that Sega and Sony may be forging a closer, more exclusive relationship–strange, in that it was Sony’s Playstation 2 that ultimately forced Sega and a once thriving Dreamcast out of the hardware business completely. But Sonic fans can take several important details out of the document, which is dated August 5th and purports to stem from a meeting with Sony Computer Entertainment of America.
The document talks about a “big announcement” from Sony, and speculated that it was a price cut of the PS3, which has already happened. It also has notes on Sony’s plans to bring a motion controller to the market, with hopes to launch it beginning in Japan next March. Sega may offer up its Virtua Tennis franchise to demonstrate compatibility with the controller at some point.
Interestingly, nowhere in the document is there a mention of the just announced Project Needlemouse–an indication that the next Sonic may have been revealed a bit haphazardly. But there is new information on two Sonic titles, including Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, known in the document as “Sonic Racing,” and a not yet announced Sonic compilation.
The document shows that Sega and Sony discussed offering special DLC for PS3 owners of ASR:
Open to DLC to differentiate PS3 SKU – not ratchet and clank but other characters
maybe characters from Rare or Fable universes
While there’s no way to confirm this, the information does indicate that DLC is a distinct possibility for the game, and different systems may get different, distinct special features, a la Namco’s Soul Calibur IV.
That may be nothing compared to the “Sonic Anniversary” title mentioned in the document. Meeting notes indicate that Sega is considering releasing a third, larger compilation. It’s unclear whether it would be PS3 exclusive, but only “BD disc” is mentioned, and not the dual layer DVDs Microsoft’s XBOX 360 utilizes. Further, pitches were purportedly made to release DLC exclusive to the Playstation Network:
Could put out collectors edition with all old sonic games on one BD disc.
“Best of Sonic” for around $99.
SCEA would love PSN exclusive power ups/different game modes (like Castlevania’s flip it over/backwards)
You may remember back in June when we reported that a YouTube page claiming to be the official Sonic channel had posted “Sonic Mega Collection 3″ as being slated for a 2010 release. That listing went off and then back online when Sega reps affirmed the company had no official ties to the channel–but did not directly deny the existence of such a compilation. The maintainer has since claimed on the page that the title was “canceled.”
The details don’t stop there. In much the same vein as XBOX360′s Platinum Hits collection, the document reveals–confidentally, at that–that Sony may sell most, if not all Playstation 2 titles on the Playstation Network. This could include Sonic fare released for the PS2. Sony has removed outright backwards compatibility on later models of the PS3 hardware, and this may be why–plans could be underway to sell a PS2 emulator via PSN and make money off re-releases of those titles.
And in a strange twist, it wouldn’t just be the PS2 that’s emulated; the Dreamcast and its library could also see a PSN release. According to the document, Sony and Sega may be planning an exclusive engagement with DC titles, but PS3 users may not be the only ones to enjoy Sega’s golden age of gaming:
If we provide a list of DC titles SCEA will let us know which ones they’re interested in having exclusively.
If we give them a long period of exclusivity they’ll give us more marketing support.
There are plenty more details of note, all of which you can read in the linked document, locally hosted here on TSSZ News. All of this could come to a head this week at the Tokyo Game Show in Japan, where Sony is planning a huge display–and also where TSSZ News correspondent Danny Russell is. His reports will be here all this week, so be sure to keep checking back–much of this bears close watching and all of it could come to a head at TGS. Thanks to PJMan for letting us know of the information via our News Tips system.
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The “could put” line on the Sonic collection makes it sounds like it’s just someone’s pipe dream. Putting every previous title on one disc sounds like a buzzword we hear with each generation of storage media, SEGA has shown in the past they like to do it piecemeal that may be where the high price tag comes in.
Whaaat? SEGA and Sony work together? Great!
But the rest… I don’t know.
I wish that stuff would come true. Sega and Sony kick ass right now.
Yeah, I guess Sega would feel at home working with the losing company in the console war…
You know, I’m a bit tired of seeing many rereleases of compilation titles, but it would be great to get the “definitive” Sonic collection that houses all the Sonic titles that were previously available on Mega Collection and Gems Collection combined into one and also included all 12 Game Gear titles, along with several other games that have yet to see a console rerelease such as Knuckles Chaotix and MAYBE even the Adventure titles or even Sonic Shuffle (completely fixed and wiped clean of loading times). Then maybe we could talk.
As for the Dreamcast titles being rereleased, I’m all for it. There’s only like what, 200+ titles? Most of them were meant to be taken online such as Chu Chu Rocket and Ooga Booga. If we can get them as XBLA or PSN games, that would be the greatest thing to happen as many Dreamcast fans didn’t get the chance to play some games online (i.e. me). Let’s hope these rumors and speculations come true.
More intrested in the PS2/DC game info than the Sonic info.
Been wanting backwards compatibility for sometime now D=
Humm… I this is for the best of the company and SONIC then I support it
Sony and Sega….a force to be reckoned with
I seriously hope Sega doesn’t waste their time with a Ps3 exclusive, no self respecting console gamer would own a Playstation 3.
If DC games are released on the psn, then Sonic Adventure is bound to be one of the firsts as it is probably THE most memorable title on the system. That and SA2. I just hope the psn DCs will extend to psp like PSone games do.
I also noticed that it said this:
London Olympics
• Perfect opportunity for Motion Controller integration.
First thing that came to my mind when I saw this was: “ANOTHER M&S Olympics game?”
But honestly, who knows what it could mean.
“Open to DLC to differentiate PS3 SKU – not ratchet and clank but other characters
maybe characters from Rare or Fable universes”
Well, there goes my SonicXJak&Daxter crossover fantasy… :’(
cool! I read the link too, so is Sega & Sony working together or something now? All of this info sounds good.
So they are also planning to release PS3 specail DLC for those versions of games, and DC games. interesting… though Sega & Sony accedentliy leaked this i bet they are pissed! 
lol.
Awesome, two underdogs in the gaming market, working together to bring down the reign of Nintendo.
Not that there’s anything wrong with Nintendo I just like the sound of an underdog fairytale.
@RaveToTheGrave
Actually, you’re wrong. Hardcore gamers do own a PS3. And if they are making it a PS3 exclusive, that is well brilliant.
The exclusive thing is unfair… Why can’t everything SEGA/Sonic be equal?
@Sonikku Master: Would you rather SEGA spend money on an exclusive game, making it potentially higher-quality, and more pleasing to play … or would you rather SEGA spend their money on having the game multiplat, decreasing the quality and potential fun factor of the game?
We all know there’s a budget to this game. Personally, I rather it be put on an exclusive title, even if it’s on a console I don’t even own, for the sakes of Sonic’s future, you know?
As a Sonic fan, now is the time to not be selfish.
@serpx I can honestly say that didn’t cross my mind. Now that you mention it I think an exclusive platform would be great. Sure I might have to dish out a couple hundred dollars for a PS3 but thinking of multiplatform reminds me of games like Sonic Heroes, Shadow, etc. that, although they had their fun aspects, they were created with time constraints and left with many unattended bugs. Working on just one system might lessen up that time crunch by focusing less on multi-system compatibility issues.
@serpx: Professionals shouldn’t whine about having to port a 360 game to PS3. I’m not talking about the stupid Wii here.
Sorry If I offended any Wii owners but in my opinion the console is one fat gimmick.
Graphics aren’t that important to me, but most games on the Wii are horrible watered down versions of 360 and PS3 titles.
And the 360/PS3 don’t have better graphics because they’re ‘HD;’ that’s just a higher resolution. They have better graphics because they are more powerful and character models are made up of more polygons. If the Wii could output a HD display/resolution it would still look awful.
And serpx, I’m not being selfish. A professional company should be able to cope with porting a game. It can still be good quality if they take their time. People who want Sonic games on one console are the selfish ones.
The very definition of irony.
Wow, I’m glade I own a pstripple.
Sonic and Ratchet are like my most favorite platforming heroes ever!
@ RaveToTheGrave
You’re an ass. Grow up.
SM: Ah yes, but Sony and MS are copying the Wii, with Sony’s PS Wand already failing badly before it released and no live demonstrations of Natal since E3. Oh, and you said graphic don’t matter, but in there you say they’re more powerful. But if the Wii had HD, how could it be look awful if it’s the same level as the 360 and PS3? Please try again later or not at all
It wouldn’t be the same level, the Wii’s processor would still remain the same no matter the output display. Just because I said the 360 and PS3 are more powerful doesn’t mean I care about graphics. I still play Sonic 3 & Knuckles to this day.
Please try again later or not at all.
SM: AHHHHH!!! You got me. But playing 1 90′s game doesn’t really prove anything but whatever. All I know is I won’t be sleeping tonight… or a week later…
Being the 360 gamer I am, I would still love for Sonic to be multi-platform rather than exclusive, but to an extent. Weren’t Sonic Unleashed 360 and PS3 the same game? (Not talking about Wii/PS2 here.) If they were going to stick to any consoles, I would say stop wasting time on the Wii and stick to PS3/360. They are the 2 consoles that they sell the best on. I’m sure it’s a lot easier to port a PS3 game to the 360 than making the same game from scratch on another console.
(And why would they need to waste time on Ps2 games anymore? Nearly nobody I know anymore has a PS2! I just sold mine, it was collecting dust.)