“Get Ready”…for Disappointment
In February, Sonic Nexus producer/director Brad Flick caught some attention with a faint hint of hope for a new build of Sonic Nexus on his words–”get ready.”
But as was the case in 2008 and in 2009, what had been at one point one of the most anticipated SFGs in development will again miss the fan game expo, with no clue as to when players will get a hold of it next.
Citing his own business trip to Los Angeles and other professional endeavors of engine creator Christian Whitehead, Flick made the announcement at Sonic Fan Games HQ this afternoon.
“I wanted to do a li’l somethin’ somethin’ for SAGE ’10 (like screenshots, nothing playable), but with the chunk of time I’ll be losing, I’m going to have to pass (again),” Flick said. “It’s not like I need the show, but it’s always nice to support it with a project.”
Perhaps deliberately, the Nexus Team has lowered its profile in fan gaming of late, even blowing apart its once regularly updated blog with a simple splash screen, indicating no new information. The site was to be reorganized, according to Nexus staffer Hunter Bridges, but has missed a self-imposed May timetable for doing so.
Thanks to Blazefirelp for sending this news to us. If you have news to share, be sure to share it with us by clicking News Tips at the top of every page.
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If it’s possible for something to “unmake” your day, this is it. Nexus is THE most promising fan game. It feels like Sonic CD 2 from the demo.
Well, such is life.
was this canceled?
Who cares?
FTA: You’d be surprised.
-T
Bummer.
I care, FTA.
It’s a real shame, I was actually excited to see it this year. Under the impression of that, by the quote “Get Ready” directed at this years SAGE.
Ditto on the I care. If Sonic Nexus was an official Sonic game, I’d buy it before Sonic 4 or Colors based on the demo, FTA.
Are you listening Sega?
Sonic XG and EmeralTies Crossing Fates are just as good as SonicNexus. They are the top must play fangames IMO.
If a fan game takes too long to be made you may as well forget about it, they never come to light.
They should have just released what they had a year or two ago instead of constantly picking at it and at one point remaking the engine, why bother?
I wish someone would make a full 3d Sonic fan game for once.
Real life is always more important than the internet. Brad just got a job for NBC. Good for him! Nexus isn’t canceled, he’ll just be a little tied up over the summer so he won’t pump something out for SAGE. No big deal though, there are plenty of other great projects to look forward to. We’ll look forward to seeing all the great games this year even if Nexus won’t be there.
The “reorganizing” that took place within my “self imposed May deadline” was taking the site down and directing traffic to the SFGHQ thread. I didn’t miss any deadlines.
btw you’re a weinerhead Tristan
I second Hunter’s comment.
I like how you didn’t even mention what his “business trip” is because it was too awesome. He has an amazing new job at NBC. You can’t try to embarrass him for that.
Actually, Rael, I can.
Outlaw is produced by UMS, yes, and it is the brain child of Conan’s production company. But NBC has given it what’s called a “death slot” on Friday nights–the least watched night of television apart from maybe Saturday. Previously, the time slot was home to such celebrated NBC shows as Life, Las Vegas, Lipstick Jungle, Medical Investigation, and whatever Dateline NBC was limping in the barn with.
Remember those very popular NBC shows? Neither do I.
This was very clearly a pity pickup by NBC for treating Conan the way they did, and like Conan’s Tonight Show, it will be on a short leash. I predict it won’t last to midseason, at least on the broadcast side. Outlaw, in part, is meant to bring in the same folks who watched Law and Order…the same people who are pissed a formula that worked for some 20 years is now gone. Yeah. *That’s* gonna work.
That, pared with Brad likely not knowing the sharks who swim in Hollywood yet give me great cause to believe he’ll be begging me to cover his fan game in short order to satisfy a bruised ego. That, or he’ll serve me coffee at a Starbucks. Or hey–maybe Conan will pay his bills.
That said, I do generally support putting real business decisions ahead of community projects. It’s something I too would consider if the right opportunity came along. I’m just putting things in perspective here–the chances of this panning out long term, both with Outlaw and Nexus, I suspect, look slim. If the former DOES pan out, don’t expect the latter anytime soon.
-T
Okay, that reply was full of so much unbridled hate and ignorance that everybody had to show me it. It was also so bad that it warrants a reply from myself. Rael basically dared you to embarrass me and you couldn’t do it.
Outlaw -is- in the Friday night death slot. This is well known. Regardless… it’s still a credit, it’s still a show and, most importantly, it’s a job. Job’s a job. Who cares if it’s popular? I’ll meet people who will give me a shot somewhere else. With student loans kicking in this fall, money is money. Starting my career is starting my career. I’ll be an assistant to the audio team and work my way up like everybody else to become a sound editor/mixer myself (which is what I want to do with my life). “Outlaw” is one hell of a place to start. I couldn’t ask for a better opportunity.
If the show gets cancelled, then it gets cancelled. That’s the business. Shows go under all the time. That doesn’t fall on my performance, so there’s nothing to get upset about. At least I’ll have a credit and more connections, then I’ll go find another job. My friend Sid was the Director of Photography for “Life.” I loved that show, but, as you mentioned, it’s gone. He’s doing just fine, however. It’s not the end of the world to lose your job. You pick yourself up and go get another.
You don’t know me, Tristan. You base everything off how I treat you (which is deservedly shitty) and what I do on -Sonic websites- (oh wow!). I know how cut-throat the industry is. That’s why I have a job on network television right out of college. I know how to play it. I’ve worked on a bunch of TV pilots -during- college that never got picked up. I still got paid for them and I met people who will probably make more in the future. Hell, I convinced producers to let Hunter to score one of them. He did a great job, too.
Bruised ego? Wait, isn’t that what this site does for yours? I mean, you’re a “reporter” that fucked up his opportunities and ended up blogging about a cartoon blue hedgehog like his news is on the same level as the Gulf oil spill. This site is your place to be Mr. Big Shot. Don’t deny it. Every pathetic put down and “FIRST@TSSZ” is your metaphorical IcyHot to your depressing life.
What gives you the idea that I’d beg you for exposure? If I want exposure, I have a website that’ll relaunch when Tax and I are ready and I can publish articles on Stadium and Retro. It’s not that difficult. Those sites also get more traffic than you. Like I’d come graveling to you of all people anyway. “Oh, my life is in ruin after my show got cancelled for no fault of my own! I -must- get my fangame promoted to save my mental well-being! Better call the Bresnen Bear!” That’s some funny stuff right there.
In closing, working at Starbucks sounds way better than whatever the hell you’re doing. Shit, I’d take it any day of the week.
But hey, it’s not like you’re going to take what I’ve said here to heart anyway. You’re so screwed up in your mental problem-laden head of yours (plus, goddamn, you hate me so much) that you’ll just brush this off like it’s nothing. I mean, that’s what bruised egos do. Cry yourself to sleep, homie.
HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAA BRAD YOU ARE HILARIOUS. owned so hard.
I frankly can’t believe Tristan has the nerve to insult your amazing new job when he does – well, frankly I don’t know what he does. I guess his full time job is TSSZ. There’s so much jealousy in his post above yours that it’s hilarious.
well I guess you’ll just have to turn to him to promote your fangame (because you always want that from him, right?) when your television show gets canceled. because it’s not in his mind that anyone would move onto another job, it’s just time to give up then.
Brad just got a job doing what he WANTS to do with his life. Fresh out of college, too. Have you ever done that, Tristan? How many people get a job in today’s economy fresh out of college doing exactly what they want to do? This isn’t chance, this is a result of his skill and determination. No bitter discouraging blog on a freaking Sonic news website (that phrase is still hysterical to me) could undermine his achievements.
Brad and Rael–
I have a job, actually. A secure, full time job. I have my own office, a nice paycheck where I can save a lot of my money, it’s something I love doing, it’s with a lot of supportive colleagues, and it’s where I grew up, so I can be around both friends and family. I’ve been self-sufficient since…20, I think? And I’ve been working in my trade by choice since I was 16. I’ve worked for some of the most respected television stations in the country, too. If I really wanted to take on TV reporting, I prolly still could.
And through my career, I’ve been lucky in that I’ve never been more than a six hour drive away from family. Now, it’s a moot point, and I couldn’t be happier. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen friends of mine go to LA with hopes of making it big only to end up as mere assistants or “freelancers.” It’s unfortunate.
And believe me, I don’t need this site; I operate it more as a public service. And I stand by my words, Brad–you will think I am very tame compared to who you’re about to meet, and if you treat this audio assistant job with the same ultra-perfectionism as Nexus (it’s been, what, 3 years now since something substantive? Sounds a lot like the trend of the pilots you’ve worked on), you’ll be dead in the water after 2 weeks.
-T
You’re crazy if you think Brad will treat his job like a hobby. He’s not getting paid to do Nexus, so he does it in his FREE TIME. Obviously his college work – and now his career – is more important, and he no one in their right minds would treat the two the same way (I get the feeling you say this because you treat TSSZ the way you treat your career, srs bsns lol)
And just because he’s not putting something out for SAGE doesn’t mean he hasn’t been working on it. I was under the impression Brad decided years ago not to attend SAGE anymore anyway, but he’d release demos other times in the year.
You sound so bitter towards Brad that all you can do is repeat how much you think he’ll fail at his career… what is wrong with you? Has he hurt your feelings that badly? haha
Rael–He should, because that way he’ll at least be happiest at what he does. My current career started out as a hobby, too–hasn’t hurt me one bit.
My point still stands: If he treats Outlaw’s sound like he did Nexus in whole (fan game or not, at one point the project was his baby) he’ll barely get anything done.
-T
Tristan, I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but I’m pretty much the meat and potatoes of Nexus, so if you’re going to “blame” anyone for Nexus not having a release since 2008, it should be me.
That’s not to say nothing has happened since then, quite the contrary. But Nexus never has been a “full-on” project for me, it’s a neat side-project that came out of me testing the flexibility of the Retro Engine. I work on it when I can. And right now, working on a commercial title, I can’t afford to spend any time on it.
You’re probably thinking “ahh, what a convenient way to cop out and cancel this game”, and if so… good, because I’d rather work in secret on any hobby stuff and surprise people
See, Christian, that’s the difference between you and Brad. I know you’re the meat and potatoes. I know with you, there would be no Nexus. I also know you’ve been very busy behind the scenes with other projects and have made that known since the Sonic CD iPhone proof of concept went out last year. You’ve never made this out to be anything more than what it is on your end. I can respect that. That’s a lot more than I can say for Brad, who has hyped this to high heaven, and is now all but walking away from it should his professional endeavor be successful, in my perception.
And that’s the problem–while you may be the core of the project, he still is technically managing it. Brad has a general hatred for this community (don’t think I haven’t forgotten what you asked us to bury, Flick). He outright told Sega to go fuck themselves, and then used revisionist history to pretend it never happened when Sonic Stadium decided it was just gonna be a propaganda mouthpiece. He canned a fellow programmer under the guise of lack of still, but mostly because of an argument over Sonic 4, from what I’ve heard. He’s even been on the record on your behalf as claiming you’d rather keep the rights to your engine vs. selling it if it meant it couldn’t be used in Nexus anymore–I have to believe otherwise. And it is him, not us, being so anally retentive about the project’s mechanics that he can’t throw a bone to the people anxious to play it, regardless of the progress you’ve made. If you can’t put your money where your mouth is, don’t put gameplay video in a teaser trailer for SAGE, and don’t make a website teasing minute elements like you’re SEGA lite. I give Hunter some credit in that regard–at least the latter has resonated. But it’s not Brad’s “real life” getting in the way; it’s being his own worst critic and his own selfish nitpicking that continues to drag this project into eternity.
Brad and Nexus as a whole would be so much better off right now if he did what he said he was going to do in private a long time ago–cut cords, pass the Nexus baton, get out of this community, and move forward with his life–and I bet you Nexus would be just as good. Instead, Brad insists on being the face of this project and having it both ways, and until he chooses to do otherwise, he rightfully deserves any heat for failing to live up to expectations he initially imposed.
-T
EPIC .. mean disscusion in comments
Now it’s just really obvious that all the negative attention you’ve given to our project is out of a personal hatred for Brad, a point you’ve been trying to cover up for years.
To be frank, Tristan, your shit’s weak. Don’t even try to act like you know what’s going on behind the scenes with our project… we have gotten to a point where we purposefully withhold as much information as we possibly can from you because all you wanted from the beginning was for Brad to fail, and this project is probably the only aspect of his life that you feel you could have ANY sort of effect on.
The project began harmlessly, as any other fangame does. We released updates, we got hype. Is it our fault Brad has a good eye for talent and crafted a clutch team? But one certain wienerhead (That’s you!) started holding our asses to the fire like we were politicians and it made the PR side of the ordeal a lot less fun. I should know, as the webmaster I’m the one that had to monitor a lot of it. Over time, Brad and I made decisions to do less updates, withhold information, and it ultimately culminated in the decision to take down the site after the whole DW ejection fiasco. So, as far as what you think you know, forget it, because you’re never going to have enough facts about the inner workings of Sonic Nexus to viably check them.
As of now, the Nexus team is (Note the use of present tense) a group of three primary members: Brad, Christian and myself. There are various people who contribute to the project under more ancillary roles, but planning and whatnot is handled by us three. I also realize that I started working on Nexus four years ago, and soon after that we built the new site and started gaining some momentum (Which is great, and we really can’t thank our followers enough for the support they’ve given us). When I started on the project, I was still in high school. Now I’m about to start my last year of college. Life has gotten more complicated. I can speak from personal experience that between school, working to pay bills, MEEDEOR, bands, eating and sleeping, there has been less and less room to wedge time in for Nexus. Similar situations exist for Brad and Christian. It’s not presumptuous for ANY of us to declare that our time is worth something, so for all intensive purposes, a project that we can’t legally expect any tangible returns from gets deprioritized. Despite all that, we have still found time to work on it and we have still made progress.
Honestly, I think what’s tremendously more important is the amount each of us has learned and benefited from the project and the surrounding community. I have learned a lot about composing for media, about public relations and about game design. Brad has learned level design and more importantly project management skills that became clutch for him in his past year at school. Christian has learned enough about the mechanics of Sonic the Hedgehog to get hired by the company that released it. NONE of this would have happened without the support we’ve gotten, and none of us are unethical enough to leave everybody responsible for that in the dust.
As for you Tristan, you’re a hater, you’re bitter, you’re annoying, and your defenses never cease to be full of assumption and laced with grudge. What you can take home is that you annoyed us SO MUCH over the past few years that it became apparent the only way to stop you was to just stop releasing any information at all. See, Tristan, this is why we can’t have nice things.
P.S. The almost-endless article you wrote about me wanting to sell my original music was full of more incorrect interpretations of law than should ever be let into something that calls itself “news.” I was insulted that the entire article was just another attempt to subvert Brad, and through that you were basically implying I was ignorant to even THINK I owned the copyrights to my completely original material. Ironically, all the time you spent on it went to waste considering how much of it was simply incorrect. I think the mere fact that you have invested so much time and effort into trying to bring down Brad Flick, even taking it to the extent that you insulted MY intelligence about my own trade earns you the following imperative: go fuck yourself.
If the worst thing I’m doing is making things less fun for you to run a hub website…good. That’s why it’s called “NEWS” and not “blind PR.” You’re supposed to be uncomfortable.
Don’t hype something with promises you can’t keep. And don’t tell me “none of us are unethical enough to leave everybody responsible for that in the dust” when that’s EXACTLY what you did to Jonathan Rose. (Which, by the way, happened on your end…not mine. We just covered it, fully and completely, and offered his side of the story, which is a lot more than you allowed on the Nexus blog.)
You made your own bed.
-T
“Christian has learned enough about the mechanics of Sonic the Hedgehog to get hired by the company that released it.”
Wait so Taxman REALLY DID get hired by SEGA, how awesome!! \O/
Terminating a member of a team due to a lack of productivity is hardly an ethical matter. It’s a managerial one, and an obvious one at that.
If your objective as a journalist is to make people uncomfortable, fine. You’re doing a great job. But whose ethics should really be in question here? Just because someone has a public medium of communication doesn’t mean they should be uncomfortable.
Your shit’s weak.
iceweb: Don’t consider that an information leak. What I said is not beyond that which was already publicly known. I have no idea what the details are of Tax’s involvement with SEGA.
“You made your own bed.”
It’s a very comfortable one at that.
“Terminating a member of a team due to a lack of productivity is hardly an ethical matter. It’s a managerial one, and an obvious one at that.”
Under that model, the whole lot of you should have disbanded a long, long time ago. Except I don’t think that’s why you offed him–I’m pretty sure that was the scapegoat excuse for an argument he and Flick had over Sonic 4 over at SFGHQ–an angle I elected not to pursue in depth, I might add. Hardly “managerial,” IMO.
Your shit’s weak, sir.
-T
ah sure Hunter, it just confirmed what many of us thought after all, no worries
We never asked you to help us define “productivity” for the purposes of our project. If you didn’t ignore everything I said, you would have seen the reasons why “productivity” is a relative term. Whatever the case, Rose fell short.
You derailed my entire retort to argue with me over an argument between DW and Brad. It all comes back to Brad cause you’re so damn obsessive.
Also, you’re a huge douche.
That’s my point–the bar for what constituted “productivity” was obviously very low. Apparently, if you were on the Nexus team and you still had a pulse, you were fine for the last year. Spin it any way you like, but personal feelings got in the way of Rose’s departure–that much is clear.
And yes–it comes back to Brad because he’s the head of your project. It’s in much the same vein as how things related to this website come back to me–even on stories I don’t write–because I am the administrator behind this website and much of its content, and I don’t try and hide behind that responsibility.
The mere fact that you’re all now hiding behind a splash page and taking the project private just because of little ol’ me tells that, somewhere along the line, whether you want to admit it or not, you guys screwed up. Be it with the PR aspect, be it with the missed deadlines, be it with paid work, be it with how Rose was handled…pick any of ‘em. I still believe in the goals of this project (I should know, I said it to you and at one point it was plastered on the Nexus blog) and I do hope the lot of you can get it together in private. But somewhere in doing so, I hope at least one of you realizes where the REAL responsibility for all of these alleged ills stems from, because I assure you–it’s not from me.
-T
Tristan, I love how you pretend you know everything that’s happened with Nexus over the past two years. Well, you don’t. So you can’t say “having a pulse and being on the nexus team” is all it takes to be a member. Just because they don’t announce everything they do doesn’t mean shit isn’t being done. It’s a surprise. Besides, the entire Nexus team realized anything it releases will be covered by you and torn apart. You need a new hobby. Don’t get out much?
Honestly, we don’t have to announce shit unless we want too. That’s “OUR” decision. As well you, Tristan need to stop being an ass, taking shit out of proportion and getting personal with the team on a constant basis. Covering sonic news and community projects such as Nexus is your job/hobby, not getting into the personal business of the members of the fucking community especially Brad. That is just fucking plain harassment asshole and don’t give that “I have to cover the news” bullshit either.
I have to agree with RGX on this standpoint. You should really stay out of the personal business of the members, at the very least, in this blog. Isn’t the blog supposed to cover Sonic-related aspects, and not the working business of others? That is, of course, you’re incompetent in the field of logic, as is with most individuals these days.
I also find this amusing:
Please note: Inflammatory, unintelligible, trolling, or otherwise offensive comments are subject to editing or deletion.
You’re all a bunch of hypocrites in the end, in my own opinion. I may not know the full details of what’s going on, but from what I’m currently gathering, Tristan is just being a child because he has a grudge. Big deal. Welcome to the world, deal with it like an adult, instead of flinging insults at people, as it shows that you’re only capable of doing. If you were to criticize Brad, where’s the construction? In the end, you’re all nothing but children who can’t play along. (Excuse that poor metaphor.)
“The mere fact that you’re all now hiding behind a splash page and taking the project private just because of little ol’ me tells that, somewhere along the line, whether you want to admit it or not, you guys screwed up.”
No. You’re a fucking IDIOT. You didn’t read anything I said and you are just trying to pull what you want to hear out of this entire discussion (As usual). We didn’t screw up, real shit got in the way. We don’t have as much of a responsibility to our fanbase as you think we do, cause in the end all they’d be getting is a FREE game anyway. We aren’t fucking up just because we, in your eyes, aren’t being productive on the project (Which I assure you is an incorrect assumption in the first place).
The best part though is that per your usual behavior, you are always going to try to have the last word, which means that I am going to perpetually have chance and justification to insult you further. You’re an asswipe. Please say more things about the argument between Rose and Brad now.
Hunter, this is now the third year in a row your own staff have promoted Nexus for SAGE only to fall short, regardless of other things–life, ego, or otherwise–getting in the way. If life were truly the ongoing issue, you folks ought to have kept your mouths shut in the first place, as I assume will happen going forward. It’s very simple–don’t make promises you can’t deliver. At this point, it is your only responsibility, and you can’t even get that right. I agree with RGX’s “we don’t have to announce shit unless we want to” point in principle, and my point is that you’ve made simple announcements in public view and you’ve not followed through. Don’t renege on something and then try to dance around it. It’s something I think could pass once or twice, but you’ve done it for far too long. Believe me, I wouldn’t be on your back so much if you kept quiet from the beginning. That you’ve gotten away with it for this long, I suppose, is testament to the PR skills you’ve claimed to learn, but my previous point is still valid: the mere fact that you’re all now hiding behind a splash page and taking the project private just because of little ol’ me tells that you all screwed up and you don’t want to take the heat for it anymore.
Someone with a REAL PR grasp would have found a way to turn the situation around instead of simply giving up on promotion, because you can only pass the buck to me for so long before it starts getting old–just ask Shadzter of Sonic Stadium or Flick himself.
-T
We have nothing to hide cept hold off until ready, we’re not going to show off things that aren’t ready for the public. Simple as that.
You keep saying “WE” are hiding behind our little splash page, but what about you? “YOU” are hiding behind your supposed “innocent” articles to personally attack Brad.
“That, pared with Brad likely not knowing the sharks who swim in Hollywood yet give me great cause to believe he’ll be begging me to cover his fan game in short order to satisfy a bruised ego. That, or he’ll serve me coffee at a Starbucks. Or hey–maybe Conan will pay his bills.”
What the hell was that all about? Completely unnecessary and personal.
Also, talking about promises we can’t keep…. Hell, you act like no one breaks their promises at all. No one is perfect and many teams can’t keep their promises on their projects. Truth is, you don’t know what is happening in the background and you don’t know how far the progress is. If real life situations get in the way of these promises then so be it, they can’t be kept. You shouldn’t attack the team because we can’t keep our promises especially considering life away from a monitor is our top priority. If fangames that we aren’t being paid for was our professional career and we didn’t have to worry about getting a job or finishing education, then I’m sure as hell we could promise and deliver but in reality, that doesn’t exist.
Thing is, the Nexus team owes no one shit, especially considering it is free.
What makes the Nexus team so special to the point that you’re holding their asses to the fire THAT MUCH because of a very common problem among fangames developpement?
Lack of updates and delays in progress are such a common thing that I have yet to see a good fangame whose developpement hasn’t suffered this kind of problem truly.
And now I just remember this interview of Taxman in which he claimed that 2009 would be the year of Retro Sonic XG as its first half is slated for release, right here:
http://www.sonicstadium.org/articles/interviews/tss-interview-sonic-xg%E2%80%99s-christian-whitehead
And it didn’t happen. See when I told you it was a frequent problem?
But I have yet to see a drama article on this website about how Taxman made a simple announcement and failed to keep his promise and blablablablabla. And the same could be said for all the other fangames that have suffered the same.
So if all of these articles about Brad are not made out of hatred then I can’t really fathom what it is.
so i herd u guise liek sonic teh hedgehogs
Its in a near-death state, and that is that! No need to explain what is what, and who is too busy to do what! its just that, geez!