Will the Comment Unleash A Million Faces of Haters?
An interview published by the German website Sega Portal Sunday with Sega Germany Managing Director Markus Lorenz Wiedemann indicates his proudest publication in the five year re-establishment of the localized devision is Shadow the Hedgehog–one in a series of Sonic titles from the last decade to deeply divide Sonic fandom.
But for Wiedemann, who acknowledged the seemingly superficial absurdity in the interview, there’s a good reason for the distinction.
“it was our very first title (published),” Wiedemann said under a translation, adding it was the first game through the division to make it onto the country’s sales charts in first place under his direction. “Then we were very proud.”
Pride, in theory, can only go so far–especially when you consider the Metacritic scores for the Playstation 2, XBOX, and Gamecube editions of Shadow are 49, 45, and 51 (out of 100) respectively. But shortly after the game’s late 2005 release, despite the division and criticism of Shadow‘s darker themes, it did become a million seller–and its strength in numbers at the time likely pushed the priority for Shadow up for the newly formed subsidiary.
Wiedemann also noted other achievements under his tenure in the interview, including Sega’s presence at the time of the Playstation 3 launch, and the sales success of the Mario and Sonic franchise. But he’d prefer not to hear Sega referred to as a company for kids.
“I realize that many fans accuse us that we would merely like to produce ‘Kids Games,’ ” Widemann continued (again, we are loosely translating from German.) “I can therefore not be left unchallenged. These games are really suitable for all gamers [....] In addition, SEGA can afford with the enormous success of Mario & Sonic even more exotic developments.”
You can read the full interview at the hyperlink cited above.
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“These games are really suitable for all gamers…”
Hear, hear! At least regarding the ones that are actually good enough for ANYBODY (read: NOT Sonic 06). I get EXTREMELY tired of hearing supposed “hardcore” gamers diss anything that isn’t realistic and gorey; it’s nice to hear someone make sense, even if it’s only someone whose job it is to get these games to sell.
Hey, I loved the game. People just concentrated on the small bad parts and ruined it’s image.
Slippery controls, horibble in-game cutscenes, terrible voice acting, convoluted story, felt NOTHING like a Sonic game.
yep, seems like a winner ot me
hey I loved Sonic 06 too. the story was cool (a bit messed up but still awesome) Mephiles is one of the most awesome sonic villains ever.
it’s glitchy that’s sure but the game was still awesome.
Heroes, Shadow and 06 is the Unholy Trinity of video games. All copies should be burned and scattered across the ocean. In time they will be forgotten.
Sonic Hereos is CRIMINALLY underrated, unholy trinity my ass, replace Heroes with riders and there you go THATS the unholy trinity. But heroes…no.
I feel Shadow was the proper 3D Sonic game, just with guns and darker themes (execution may vary). I do see the bugs, but then there are far worse. (I prefer this over Heroes also)
Well, that dude from SEGA was right when he said even Sonic 06 has fans. I suppose the game itself could very well have an excessively bad reputation, but it’s the STORY that bothers me the most. Sonic + human chick = BAD FREAKING IDEA!
Y’know, I think the majority of Sonic games in the past few years would be viewed better if only they were PROGRAMMED better. I think the bugs really are the worst things about them.
Heroes is underrated, I agree.
I found Shadow the Hedgehog to be a good game, just not a good Sonic game. Despite the slippery controls and camera, it can be tolerated a lot more then the recent titles that came afterwards (Sonic ’06). If anything, it’s a rather odd Sonic title that’s gaining a cult following, as the million hit seller came brewing up pretty slowly.
I really enjoyed Shadow the Hedgehog…..that is, as long as I didn’t have to use any vehicles or weapons. Also, the camera control was pretty bad. I mean, I push up on the right thumb stick and then it zooms into Shadow. WTF.
Shadow wasn’t a great game, but it was decent. I enjoy it every now and again to this day. The multiple paths in story mode and darker tones really make this stand out among other spin-offs in the Sonic universe. The gameplay feels like a bastardized version of Sonic Heroes, same goes for the graphics.
And nice them song reference.
I thought Shadow was a fun game sod the haters
Agree with Dr. Eggman, Shadow TH was a great game though
You know what i think.I think modern greened eyed tall sonic and SA1(despite being an awesome game)first modern sonic game should of never happened 3D sonic(as in the 3D sonic now) should of never happened classic sonic games the best
3D sonic games=EPIC FAIL
and people have the nerve to say sonic 06 had a epic story WTF well i have a thing for you to say go play Sonic 3&K now that has an epic story i just wished all these next gen 3D stupid voice acting shitty characters should of never happened dammit well thank you sega for ruining on of the most iconic characters and games that ever existed
Shadow The Hedgehog did actually have many things that makes the Sonic games in to Sonic games. Only that people don’t realize that. Look at gametrailers video review of the game:
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/gt-video-shadow-the/8472
The game had/has it flaws. But this is that kind of game that you should not complain about how it isn’t like a Sonic game all becaus of the weapons and so on. I did actually like this game. The game I’ve played most on my PS2 is Jak 3, after that game comes Shadow the Hedgehog. Got it for christmas when I was eleven and I loved the game and that love is still there. Now when I’m older I find flaws, but I think it has many good fun plattforming. Like…..pick up a weapon that sucks stuff in, then go to a wall and suck that wall out, run up on a ramp and jump over that pit. I find stuff like that fun.
Some might think that I’m stupid when I say that I like this game. But it’s worth trying actually.
@DAMN
Please take your sonic puritist shit beliefs somewhere else, god what a waste of text.
@Crysore sorry its just i just cant believe there are people out there that like sonic 06′ and think its epic well guess what its shit i mean come on i can take peolpel who lie SA1 and SA2(even unleashed) but shadow,06 and heroes now that is just crazy
i mean what is this counter-strike
hey guys sonic games are fun but they should make a squel or a new game because sonic to meet new battles not old one they should look through sonic old game and sonic 06 they make a good game with a sequel to in so it wont get mixed up every game.
I never saw why people didn’t like/understand the story of ’06. Making one simple concession, the entire story makes a whole lot of sense. That one concession being: The 7 Chaos Emeralds (1 of each color) exist in all times, at all times. Allowing you to carry them through time wihtout one going missing. There was a reason they explicitly showed you (the chamera focused on them for a time if you recall) which color Emeralds people were holding.
Also, to all the people who hate this game because of ‘beastiality’ (she’d be a furry anyways), there were pretty strong hints about Shadow and Maria too. And not even counting that, there was the princess Sara from the Sonic OVA Movie, who only had a tail that made her not 100% human.
Lastly, on Shadow the Hedgehog, that’s still my 3rd favorite 3D Sonic game only losing to SA2 (1st) and Unleashed Wii (2nd) . It really did have some amazing levels, Cosmic Fall was genious.
I’m tired of the whole “This Sonic game was good but this one was horrible” posts. All of the Sonic games in recent history have sold very well, so there will ALWAYS be someone who preferred Shadow over Sonic Adventure 2, or preferred Sonic ’06 over Sonic Unleashed.
My personal beef is that the reviews for Shadow were mostly hypocritical and off-base. The controls were just as slippery as Heroes’ gameplay, I will admit that, but they didn’t start from scratch. Sonic Team took the Heroes’ engine and attempted to beef it up. The homing attack became slightly more accurate, a lock-on mechanic was added, Shadow has a ‘whoa’ animation to prevent the player from sliding off cliffs far too easily, and more.
Not that all of these positives automatically make it a great game. But it’s just so odd to see a game that was better than Heroes not have its scores on Metacritic reflected as such. Now, I’m not talking about opinions, I’m talking about straight up facts. Gameplay elements were stripped from Heroes replaced with (arguably) better ones in Shadow. I’m at a loss.. but whatever.
I think it’s great that Mr. Lorenz boasts about Shadow the Hedgehog’s success. Hopefully he can take the knowledge that he has with other recent successes and please the audiences that he mentioned in the interview.
And I’m one of those millions who bought those games and enjoyed it
I agree with IceHedge at some point.
To me, the way I think this game was sold that much was that since it had Shadow on it, boy, it has to be a Sonic game, right?
I greatly enjoyed Sonic ’06 and ShTH… doesn’t mean everyone should. Everyone are sealed with their opinion and basically bashing them won’t make anything peaceful.
What am I saying? The Sonic fandom is such a great awesome fandom! We all respect each other’s views… [/ sarcasm]
No matter what…it’s all based on opinion and hopefully you guys know that.
…I think the reason why is because moast violent games get banned from Germany, especially those with violence and blood, correct?
….and personally, I had no fault with the game. Interesting idea, mediocre execution, IMO
God, Shadow the Hedgehog is just NOT a Sonic game you guys.
It’s a Shadow game. :L
But srsly I rather enjoyed it, and it played a part in bringing me and my current best friend together. But everyone’s entitled to opinions.
@Skai Cian what about SA1 its a lot more better than unleashed wii