Explanation, Apology Offered for ASR Fan Art Slip

PC Download Release Likely to be Patched

TSSZ News has learned Steve Lycett formally apologized on behalf of a Sumo Digital level artist to DeviantARTist RianaLD for the unintentional use of her fan work in Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing.  This is according to an entry in her online journal.

The information serves two purposes: Not only is it resolution for RianaLD, who was thrust into the spotlight Wednesday evening when her work of Sonia was spotted in-game, it also may be of note to you, particularly if you were planning to purchase ASR from a PC download service such as Steam.  It looks likely the Sonia artwork will be removed in that edition, according to her update.  The artwork will remain in the Wii edition simply because there’s no way to patch that particular copy.

RianaLD, who will be given a gift from Sega for the trouble, says that her work was mistakenly deemed official and only meant to be a placeholder.  The gaffe was actually caught by Sonic Team overseers, but was never completely removed from all the final products:

He (Lycett) explained to me that what happened was that early in the development stages of the game, one of the level artists were making placeholder artwork and searched via Google for official Sonic pictures. Apparently, he thought my picture of Sonia was official.

The artwork was sent to Sonic Team, and they noticed that my picture of Sonia didn’t belong to them. They were told to fix this on all platforms. Somehow they missed it on the Wii version and the “low detail tracks” of the PC version. They’re most likely going to remove the image from the PC version, but the image on the Wii version is stuck in there.

He also explained how they never meant to steal or not give any credit or a thanks.

It all makes sense to me. And SEGA staff members offered a degree of compensation (something “nice” out of their so-called goodie bag). I must admit, this is quite exciting!

It’s unclear what, if anything, will happen to the level artist who committed the slip up.

So, the bottom line is that positive resolution was achieved, and for any potential Steam PC buyers: If you want to own a piece of this, you better buy it fast.

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