I am a blogging machine, lately!

In the latest Quartermann poop shoot, he gives us a small tidbit of information simply saying that Sega is working on another "real" Sonic game.

Statistically, Quartermann is "correct" with these rumors about 50% of the time. I've heard that there is no Quartermann at all and that it's just an alias various EGM writers go under when they want to "spill the beans" (but not spill it too much and get in trouble) about certain news stories (and other times they write stuff they made up just because they never want to look like they're hitting the nail on the head every single time).

Anyway, assuming this is true - the vague usage of the word "real" should probably be focused on. Are we going to see Sonic 2k6 2 (Sonic 2k8? 2k9?) in the sense that it'll be another "Sonic in the 'real world'" thing? Or is Quartermann simply saying we're getting another canonical Sonic game?

And is it too early to start taking bets on whether or not Sega or Sonicteam will screw it up again?

I think Sega knows that Sonic is on the ropes, personally. At least, Sega of America knows he is - I think Simon Jeffery, President of Sega of America, has even come right out and said he understands that the recent Sonic games have been mistakes. However, Simon has also said that he is powerless to do anything about it - what happens with Sonic is purely a Sega of Japan decision, and Sega of Japan has historically been the dumb branch of Sega.

To get off topic for a moment, it was Sega of Japan, for example, that pulled Tom Kalinske out of Sega of America after he pretty much single-handedly made the Sega Genesis go from 0.1% Marketshare to something like 70% in about 4 years. This made Sega of Japan jealous (seriously, the Sega Genesis was struggling in Japan) and word on the street was they pulled him from Sega of America as sort of a "TAKE THAT!" manuver, and things have been admittedly downhill since then. Ignoring the Sega Saturn, Sega of Japan has rarely been more successful than Sega of America. More creative? Sure. But more succesful? Not usually. Especially in regards to the Sonic franchise; Sonic has never really "caught on" in Japan, so nobody on the japanese development staff really respects the character (unlike America and the UK, where Sonic was pretty much the foundation of Sega's popularity).

What this ultimately leaves me questioning is if they're really going to make a dedicated effort to re-think the Sonic formula in 3D or if they're just going to take the Sonic Adventure concept and re-work it yet again, just like every 3D Sonic game since 1998.

The bitter, cold-hearted cynic in me says the latter (and after Sonic 2k6, he's been let out of his cage perhaps more than he should be allowed to).