Has Sega Taken its First Serious Stance Against SFGs?
We warned all the positive mainstream exposure of Sonic Fan Remix could eventually backfire, and with the sudden removal of the principal download link to the just released Sonic Fan Remix demo from RapidShare, it appears that has happened.
Fans trying to download the game from RapidShare late Thursday morning were met with notice the RAR file had been marked as “illegal.” They were then forwarded to a web page with the following notices:
This file is copyrighted and may not be distributed without permission of the copyright holder. We will direct you to rapidtainment.com where you can check out entertainment products.
The file has been removed from the server due of infringement of the copyright-laws.
For any file to be removed on RapidShare, one must send an E-Mail to an abuse specific address owned by the company, so a real effort had to be made for this action to occur.
Mirror sites with the download have been made available on MegaUpload and 2Shared, among other places. Those have not yet been removed, as of the time of this article’s publication, though a download limit on 2Shared has been reached. Even the SFG’s creator, pelikan13, appears nonchalant about it, merely offering the 2Shared download link as an alternate to members of Sonic Retro (though interestingly enough, not at the official website.) Also noteworthy: Discussion of the Sonic Fan Remix continues unabated on Sega’s own forums, though it now includes plenty of criticism based on the assumption that Sega’s legal department is behind the purge.
There is no evidence right now to support that theory. That said, we found a tweet from Sega Europe community manager Kevin Eva, via his Sonic Wrecks Twitter feed, responding to Sonic Retro’s formal announcement of the demo release in a manner alluding to trouble:
Just saying, the fan mix site could probably do with disclaimer at the bottom – friendly advice you might want to pass on!
Again, it’s important to stress there is no confirmation Sega is behind the copyright claim, at least not yet. We have E-Mails going out right now both to Sega community managers and to Sega’s legal department for clarification. If we hear anything back, we’ll be sure to pass it along here. This is a developing story, and one that absolutely has an impact on the future of Sonic fan gaming. Check with TSSZ News as we continue to cover further developments.
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Remember Chorno Trigger Remake?
God forbid someone makes a decent fangame, amirite?
This is probably Rapidshare being over-protective. Sonic fangames have been around for over a decade, and Sega obviously has known they existed for years and have shown to not really care.
HahhAahAHAhAHAHaaHAhAHAHAhaHAhAHh
I looks like SEGA’s with envy =)
It happened too soon of course it wasn’t Sega it was some BS system used by that sharing service!
@Ryan Bloom
Yeah, RS probably thinks it’s a pirate of Sonic 4 or something.
for me everything that is visually more beautiful looks better …
another positive physical and was similar to Genesis …
this fact alone is already a sonic punch in April …
so that the sega is left desperately cutting mirros downloads …
imagine if she have the job of listening to everybody that two guys have done a more careful than two entire teams?
or if she wants to take the time to drop the sonic ep2 4 butting heads with the quality of graphics and gameplay remix fan? not logical …
and another segat could never break state rights, because it does not exist in the game that a byte is the owner of the sega …
the maximum she could accuse pelican13 and plagiarism. or illegal use of his character
proprietary code is not hers, was not she who did it, is not only a faithful reproduction of physics was the genesis
(Something that all fans and asked for reviews on Sonic and the fourth harvest was unable to attend.)
and doing his own version of the sonic character is a problem then this news until the TSSZ lost, because she would have to buy the right to display each picture you have here.
in short ..
yes the game is so much better than Sonic 4 in the opinion of most fans
(Despite being only a demo v1.0)
that sega lost his temper, say when person has no substantial reason to fight her part, and that the harvest was done …
if the harvest was quiet as the quality and attention that she could call the game would not have run had taken him to the air in less than 24 hours,
it would appear as was done with the video of the medina …
more sonic sega knows 4 left to be desired in the aspect of your physical. and that her team lost to Dimps and 2 guys …
so this childish game of mowing waist …
any other company would call the guys to work it and buy the source code in version engie unit of the guys and make available for the Xbox game since he wheel unit engine and make money from it ..
As happened in OTHER GAMES COMPANIES! where the directors of the companies see the mods on the net and fan versions of games that guys do, buy them the code, and hire the guys cast as an officer and make money
then the facts are there …
as fans refer to quality in their developments.
The sega is only knowing how to use plumb and his team of lawyers .
I am very angry with the harvest and their lack of ability to act with the fans just keep it up!
and finally, 13 Pelican not taking a penny from this nothing with this game, so the last thing that the sega could also claim and legal proceedings against her … because no one is profiting from the character, and no mowing had absolutely no prejudice to the placement of the fan game.
had closed and was doing these things for fear of the reaction of the fans something more impressive than the game of her $ 15.
SEGA should be ashamed. The game’s creator has completely outdone them in every way, and even after seeing how pathetic they are in comparison to a single individual, they will make no effort to improve.
SEGA, you make me sick.
I guess common sense doesn’t factor into the RED ALERT school of news.
it’s been mirrored over at SSRG: http://www.sonicresearch.org/sonicfanremix/ – direct download, much faster
This is just a theory so don’t be reading too much into this. But prehaps this is what happens when when you make derogatory comments about sega’s official products and big up fan games made by normal people from their ip’s claiming them to be better. Prehaps Sega are now in the mindset of “You want Sonic? You get it from us. Don’t like it? Tough Titties” Prehaps this backlash has been a long time coming and Sega have finally snapped. Then again, this could just be a misunderstanding. Who Knows? Guess we’ll have to wait and see.
No great loss. It’s a level pack for Sonic 2 with distractingly busy – although very pretty in still pictures – 3D graphics. Sonic 4 wasn’t close to perfect, but at least Sega tried something new.
@David.
New? What, the homing attack? What in God’s name was “new” about Sonic 4? Especially in comparison to SFR – which features fantastically creative and imaginative visuals?
You can argue all day long about which game is “better”, but don’t try to feed me crap about S4 being “new”. lol
And nothing of value was lost.
@Kits’Okami:
I have played this thing, and while it wasn’t exactly something I loved, saying it has no value is @#%$^&*. It has pretty good graphics and physics, well, they are not best ones I’ve seen, but they outperform everything made with engines not specifically designed for Sonic games. (This runs on Unity.)
Ah, love the smell of fresh fanwank in the morning. Let’s see how this’ll go down…
@ChaoticFox
lolz, you can’t just say SFR and expect everyone to understand it’s Sonic Fan Remix. It took me awhile to relize that you WEREN’T talking about Sonic Free Riders. I was about to call you crazy XD
Good games have their place in gaming, bad games have their place in gaming (in: How NOT to do it) Sonic 4 ranks up with New Super Mario Bros. Wii which doesn’t has one.
@Keigo.
lol, did not even think of that one XD Touché
ChaoticFox is on the money here.
As much as I thought Sonic 4 was enjoyable, what the hell was new about it?
And here’s a better question: what difference made it stand better than classics made 15 years ago? Because sure there are differences, even if nothing was new. After all, the physics had been tried in the Rush games. If the Rush games never managed to receive love from the fanbase that was even comparable to the classic trilogy, why the hell the decision towards it?
Sonic 4 was enjoyable because the formula itself is so good that it resists attempts at making it suck. You can be a talentless moron with no respect whatsoever for the series, but Sonic has so much charm and the mechanics itself are so brilliant that even bad games are going to be OK.
Now this fangame emulates so many good things about the classics that it has great merit just for respecting what made the original trilogy magical in the first place. That’s the lesson Sega fails to learn: tradition.
And here goes a word about tradition: tradition is the democracy of the dead. There’s nothing more democratic than it. It respects the voices of those that have, as their only fault, the accident of not being around us anymore. So if old formulas have worked JUST FINE, KEEP THEM instead of trying new, idiotic stuff for the sake of ignoring the wisdom acquired years ago from brilliant minds.
This is what the Sonic fanbase have been screaming for years, and AGAIN Sega has NOT LISTENED.
Errors do not cease to be errors because they become fashions.
PS: Iizuka SUCKS ASS.
@ChaoticFox
What was new about SFR besides graphics? At least Sonic 4 had new level layouts, new graphics, new move (to 2D). There’s no way you can tell me that SFR brought something completely new to the table besides graphics.
So you can’t give Sonic Team any credit whatsoever, not even credit for trying? It’s embarrassing that a two man team can get the physics right…yeah ok. But other than that…you act like every single thing that was done in Sonic 4 was done incorrectly. And then you attack people for sharing their opinion. Stop acting like everyone elses opinion is wrong and you’re right…it’s not cool. To be honest Sonic 4 brought alot more new than SFR. All SFR is is a Sonic 2 with pretty graphics…nothing more…thats why it’s called a REMIX.
Not the first time, won’t be the last. How about you wait until your shit is done and out before you advertise it everywhere?
Wow, Sega.
Jealous much?
@Andre: You know, I find it odd how Iizuka can head development on a total bastardization of the Mega Drive games and also direct the best Sonic game since the Mega Drive games at the same time.
@stanlotsanumbers: So you just said that my comment was $%^£%$”*@ (sidenote: if you’re gonna swear, go ahead. Don’t beat about the fucking bush) and yet you go on to say, in so many words, that it isn’t actually anything special, therefore agreeing with me that SFR isn’t anything of value?
R~ight.
Oh boy, here we go and go again!
@ChaoticFox
haha no worries, apparently everyone’s using it in that manner. Looks like i have to adjust my mindset =D
@Jmack
I’m gonna defend ChaoticFox here. For me, the giant Robotnik robot floating in the background alone is interesting enough to give praise to the authors. I wonder why nothing of that caliber was tried in Sonic 4.
Yes, let’s remember that this fangame is just Sonic 2 with new graphics. That’s what it tells me:
1) The old physics are still really fun and adequate, they have survived the test of time;
2) The old physics can be pretty successfully emulated by two fans with some spare time and enough love for the franchise;
3) Even in a remake of a 15 years old game, there’s still enough room for imagination that it would merit the attention of none other than Yuji Naka himself.
Also, at the end of the day (and I think this is what matters the most) people have been just very very happy because this little fangame does manage to evoke that delicious feeling of nostalgia that Sonic 4 just didn’t quite manage to… at least not the way it promised it would.
@Kits’Okami
I’d guess it’s because he doesn’t quite “get” the old 2D games. I’m not saying the guy is icompetence incarnate, I’m just not sure he has that magic touch that the old developers had for the 2D games.
That and also he seems completely stubborn in regards to the new Sonic design (and Robotnik’s). Would it really hurt to include an option to use the classic characters in the game, instead of the new ones? I, for one, think the new Robotnik design sucks even more than Sonic’s.
Sega is jelous because this game is 100 times better than Sonic 4. And it’s only a DEMO!
“SEGA should be ashamed. The game’s creator has completely outdone them in every way, and even after seeing how pathetic they are in comparison to a single individual, they will make no effort to improve.
SEGA, you make me sick.”
Lol… For one, Sonic Team could EASILY blow the holy FUCK out of this fangame if they wanted to. This only looks better than most 2D Sonics, but the graphics don’t even look Sonic like. It’s a bunch of crap thrown on crap on more crap. It’s too cluttered, they should take off a lot of the vines and crap. And meh, it may play like the older games, but this is just a remake, not anything original. and other companys have pulled fangames down. It’s the companies business to do what they want with their character, that includes games their fans make.
“You can argue all day long about which game is “better”, but don’t try to feed me crap about S4 being “new”.”
Sonic 4 was new. It’s levels aren’t EXACTLY like older ones, they just resemble them. Sonic Fan Remix is a REMAKE of the first 3 Sonic games.
“Lol… For one, Sonic Team could EASILY blow the holy FUCK out of this fangame if they wanted to.”
So you are basically telling us just how lazy Sonic Team is, thank you.
And meh, it may play like the older games, but this is just a remake, not anything original.
On par with Sonic 4.
“Sonic 4 was new. It’s levels aren’t EXACTLY like older ones, they just resemble them.”
Well, the standards are so low, I just have to replace an badnik here and there and here we go, we have something completly new and original!
“So you are basically telling us just how lazy Sonic Team is, thank you.”
Last time I checked fans didn’t WANT Sonic 4 to look real like they could have. Sonic Unleashed’s graphics are on par if not BETTER than nearly every other game on the PS3 and 360.
I’m just sayin’. SFR looks beautiful, but it’s not where near as good looking as anything Sonic Team could do. Just go look at the trailers for any recent Sonic game not to mention the ones with CGI in them.
“Well, the standards are so low, I just have to replace an badnik here and there and here we go, we have something completly new and original!”
So you’re saying the whole of LLZ, Mad Gear, and Act 2 and 3 of Casino Street aren’t more original than a few badniks?
LOL
So a remake of Sonic 2 can’t be played. Oh well. I’ll go play the original.
I think what we’re missing here is that with Sonic 4, the fanbase never asked for something completely new and original. It asked for a successor to the classics.
Sega’s failure is twofold. First, it failed to recreate what made the old games, well, classics. The game feels different, since the physics are different. Second, it did not innovate in areas that it was expected to. Namely, level designs (which were carbon copies in a modernized skin) and the sense of confrontation between Sonic and Robotnik that Sonic 3 brought to the table.
Add to that the fact that Sega promised from day one that Sonic 4 was the game people were waiting for for 16 years, and how it was hyped beyond imagination (I was there when it was still named Project Needlemouse, and when they delayed updates for the sake of driving hype to obscene degrees), and well, you can’t expect a great outcome from this mess.
The problem with Sonic 4, being very clear, was that it was different where it should have been the same, and similar where it should have innovated. It goes to show just how clueless Sonic Team can be.
“Namely, level designs (which were carbon copies in a modernized skin)”
I hope you all know this but…. Sonic 4 EPISODE ONE wasn’t meant to have levels that didn’t resemble previous ones. EPISODE ONE was stated to be the nostalgia EPISODE. Which it explains why EPISODE ONE has levels that resemble old ones. EPISODE TWO will be a lot more original.
Care to lend me your time machine?
@Jmack
Sega is a huge international company with a reasonably large budget and years and years of experience in designing games. A fan game has an excuse to emulate certain things incorrectly, the creators of a series do not. I believe 100% that a company like that does not deserve “credit for trying”. Sonic 4 wasn’t supposed a huge risky experiment. It could have been so SO simple to do right.
But, that is based on MY opinion of what is “right”, I’ll give you that.
Like I said in my original post – you can argue all day long about which game s better, that’s up to you. But I maintain that Sonic 4′s “newness” is hardly a matter of opinion. Yeah, okay, the level LAYOUTS were new. Bland and uninspired, but “original” nonetheless.
Personally, I think the same level layout in a strikingly fresh new visual style is MUCH more unique than a brand new level layout with an uninspired motif – but that’s just me. That being said, from what I understand Act 2 of the SFR DEMO is completely new. If 1/3 of the demo is completely new, I imagine there will be quite a bit of new content for the final release. Even the “remixed” stages, though familar, didn’t feel like direct carbon copies. I’m pretty certain there is more content in SFR’s Emerald Hill than in the original. I swear that was at least one more corkscrew than I knew of. I’ll have to keep playing to make note of other differences.
Creativity is creativity. Original content is original content. If you want to argue that new layouts with old designs are still “new”, then you must also recognize that old layouts with new designs and elements are ALSO new.
I will argue that for all of S4′s “original” level layouts, SFR brings a much larger palette of new ideas to the table. Everything from the visual style to the background content to unique and interest foreground objects to the special effects of losing rings… there is a wealth of “fresh” new content here, despite using an old engine and level layouts.
@ Kits.
Isn’t it though? XD
So… how long until that “Nicochi” fella shows his face around here?
“I will argue that for all of S4′s “original” level layouts, SFR brings a much larger palette of new ideas to the table. Everything from the visual style to the background content to unique and interest foreground objects to the special effects of losing rings… there is a wealth of “fresh” new content here, despite using an old engine and level layouts.”
WOW. All Sonic Team has to do is sprinkle a shit load of EFFECTS and USELESS FOREGROUND AND BACKGROUND OBJECTS to make a GOOD game with ORIGINAL content!
Sorry dude, but no. Sonic 4 has a lot of foreground and background, and ring effects too. In fact, they look BETTER. And guess what? Nearly ALL of it’s animated. So, judging by your opinion, Sonic 4 should be better because it has sprinkles and animated foreground and background objects.
@OBJECTION
“I hope you all know this but…. Sonic 4 EPISODE ONE wasn’t meant to have levels that didn’t resemble previous ones. EPISODE ONE was stated to be the nostalgia EPISODE. Which it explains why EPISODE ONE has levels that resemble old ones. EPISODE TWO will be a lot more original.”
Just reminding what I posted, the 2 things Sega got wrong:
1) Being different where the game should have been the same (physics is the biggest issue, but also character design);
2) Being the same where the developers should have used their imagination.
Now, with episode 1, let’s say you’re right. I even agree with you. It’s the nostalgia episode. So let’s forget about issue 2. They just screwed up on issue 1.
For the next episode, though, I wonder if they’ll fix issue 1. I’m gonna go ahead and bet my money that they WILL NOT. I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t believe they will fix it. They can even keep the homing attack, I honestly don’t care. See, I’m not one of “those” fans, I even think the new homing attack is fun and has potential.
So they will, according to you, fix issue 2 from now on. Let’s just hope they fix the first one too. If they do, it will be truly a return to the classics. It will also officially label episode 1 as the “freak” episode of the new game.
If they don’t, though… well, it will still just be 50 out of 100. Not saying it will be bad, just know this. I thought Sonic 4 ep. 1 was, as much as I am criticizing it, a fun game. It’s just NOT what they promised us, and I think Sonic deserves better.
@ Objection. Taking me out of context is cheating.
I didn’t say it was BETTER or that those things alone made the game GOOD, I just said they made SFR look and feel much more unique and original. Don’t put words into my mouth.
I’ve said before that I agree that some aspects of SFR are way too detailed, and there are a lot of unnecessary objects plastered everywhere. But on the same token, SFR features several concepts and ideas that are blatantly more brilliant than anything I’ve ever seen Sega produce, especially for a 2D title. The storyline-influenced landscapes (both in the fore and backgrounds) are similar to a concept from Sonic CD, only done better (imo), and the flying Robotnik mecha, among other things, add a whole extra layer of depth to the entire experience.
@ Objection
Episode 1 may not have been MEANT to be original, but that doesn’t mean that the decision to make a “nostalgic retro episode” in the first place wasn’t a stupid and completely unnecessary idea from the start.
This is SEGA. The same company that tried to offer “fame on the internet” for people that buy multiple versions of Sonic 4.
I’m not going to outright blame them for removing this, but if it turns out that it was SEGA, then I won’t be surprised.
If this is indeed Sega filing the copyright claim (which I personally believe it is), then this comes as no surprise. It was only a matter of time. As good as Sonic 4 was, I have to say that this fan game looks better. If there is a copyright claim, then someone in the office has a hidden agenda and deep personal feelings of embarrassment and jealousy that are being covered up by false motives and legal jargon.
you could make your own personal server or upload using torrents sites it will easier since sega would not care of this fangames since only mark on pc only while thier games is on consoles based only and don’t worry about sega i am 100% certified they can’t do shit if your from another country than US!
I personally think the biggest Sonic Team’s problem is it is stuck in Japan. Nothing against the Japanese, of course, but they may not understand some characteristics of “Western culture” market. Imagine something like this.
“To: Dimps.
Our American division says fans want something like Sonic 1-K. We’d like to order your help on that game. We don’t know exactly what would make those weird Americans happy, but we suppose you need to create a 2D platformer with zones, enemies and bosses like classic ones, no boost (we need some mechanic to compensate this – what about boosters Homing Attack being used more?) and some “new” stuff thrown in (remember target audience didn’t probably play Rush/Advance games). Oh, and include only Sonic as playable character, because Americans didn’t like Marine.
Sega”
“To:Dimps.
In case of project “Sonic 4″ (clever name, by the way), those Americans of course are reacting like they received different thing than they ordered.
Please think about following changes. By the way, don’t implement them in iOS version; users of Apple stuff are not aware of the issue and we don’t want to pay you more.
1. Reduce number of boosters. Americans don’t want them to unroll Sonic, so let’s make them roll him. Because those bastards may actually want us to make Sonic not change status and we don’t really know, make Sonic unrolling after certain amount of time.
2. Include classic controls on Wii and PS3.
3. Replace levels #06 and #10 with something else. An American explained us that they wanted creativity in creating small level gimmicks, not your wonderful ideas. Then why the hell did they call for classic game?
4. Change some stuff so end of level #17 would be more ‘original’.
Thanks for your patience,
Sega”
Above “mail” is of course pure speculation. I have no idea how mail works in Japan, or it could be conversation, or Sega could have actually different ideas. My point is proving that Japanese may not understand people like Retro userbase… because they don’t know it.