Details of the next Sonic game leaked?

4G here, with a very interesting rumor from TSSZ. We haven't even reached Sonic Generations launch day, and they've been leaked details on what could be the next Sonic game (titled Sonic Dimensions), from a reliable source. The platform is cited to be for Wii U. Please note, this is all just rumors right now, but the site has been very reliable in the past, as they revealed info on Sonic Generations six months before it's official announcement. TSSZ appears to be getting tons of views, making it difficult to get to the article, so here's the juicy deails:

"We’re technically not yet at Sonic Generations‘s launch day. But TSSZ has learned through a source that development is already well underway on Sonic’s next adventure tailored to Nintendo’s next console–and it’s not a Generations port.

TSSZ has learned Sonic Dimensions, a working title for the next Sonic, will take place directly after Generations and be a spiritual successor to Sonic Colors. We don’t know if this game will necessarily be exclusive to the Wii U, but we’re told it will have visual quality in line with Generations and it will take advantage of many Wii U specific capabilities. That includes the use of the Wii U mini-tablets for up to a 4 person multiplayer, and use of the revised Wii U remote and its touchscreen to destroy enemies and activate powers.

So what’s the gimmick this time? TSSZ has learned Dimensions’s storyline will center around another time-space continuum shift at the hands of Eggman that not only alters Sonic’s world, but himself. Sonic will allegedly split into multiple personalities denoted by color–each of which having their own unique abilities. That’s right, if this holds, recolored Sonics are now a reality.

In addition to the main Sonic, which will remain blue and act as a core uniting “ghost” of sorts in-game, we’re told there will be five other colors: Red, Orange, Purple, Green, and Yellow. We were told very specific things about each Sonic. Red Sonic, for example, can cause explosions to presumably open up new areas, but has a slow speed and a short jump. Purple Sonic, allegedly parodying Shadow and Silver, will be able to move platforms and float, with the dark nonsensical attitude to boot. And perhaps the most interesting tidbit: our sources compared the Orange personality to Big the Cat, a lumbering hedgehog even slower than his red counterpart…until he’s powered up. There is also a yellow Sonic–not a Super Sonic–that will be the fastest of them all, but take damage easily. The source alleges only two of the personalities can be used in-stage, but all may be able to combine and act as an equivalent Super Guide. The White Sonic allegedly pops up as an option after dying in a stage a certain number of times. Using it guarantees the lowest rank at the end.

If that sounds a lot like a Nintendo idea, that’s because it is, and no wonder; we’ve learned Sega is allegedly working directly with some Nintendo developers on this game. That’s in addition to most of, if not the entire staff for Sonic Colors being back on board for Dimensions. The Nintendo developers are allegedly assisting Sega design the levels, which we’re told will be more surreal, on similar thinking as Colors. Music Plant from Sonic Advance 2 was cited as a stage that may see its ideas and concepts revived for Dimensions.

Another concept allegedly coming back: Rival battles. Eggman’s scheme is allegedly so out of control, it splits apart not just Sonic, but everyone in his world, including his friends, and the mad doctor himself. One example we learned about was the possibility of Sonic and personalities fighting an evil version of Amy Rose, finally tired of Sonic refusing her advances. We’re also told Eggman will split, and a kind-hearted version of him will act as Sonic’s guide.

The final item of note from our source is yet another assurance that we will see some 2D gameplay within, and those mechanics will be “directly ripped” from the classic Sonic physics, though we’ve heard that line for a while.

Our source requested anonymity, as the source was not authorized to speak publicly about the above details. The source also clearly advised to not necessarily take all the information at face value, since this is still a work in progress.

We are likely months away from knowing anything more about this project, if these details hold up. There remain a lot of matters here that are a bit rough around the edges, and for that and other reasons we’re filing this under Rumor despite having confidence in at least some of the information presented. Remember: When we learned about Sonic Generations in 2010, six months before its formal unveiling, it was known as just Sonic Anniversary with only a few details clear as well. This is something we will have to watch over time; do not expect instant gratification. Nevertheless, we will pass along anything more that we hear."

It certianly sounds like an interesting concept, if it turns out to be true, especially if Sega and Nintendo are working together on this. We'll keep you posted.

www.tssznews.com

Burnout Crash mini-review

Skyrim map leaked!

Greeting folks,

As Skyrim is arguably our most anticipated game of 2011, digging around upon the information super pron way...err i mean Internet.

I happened upon an article via (one of my favourite sites) Escapist Magazine, showing what seems to be an early leaked map of Skyrim!!

"The map features nine large cities, each marked with a different crest, with the landscape between them dotted with seven smaller towns. Surrounding the whole affair are mountains except to the North, where the Sea of Ghosts hugs the broken shoreline. Lakes, rivers, roads, and other points of interest make up the remainder of the world."

I invite you to have a look for yourselves and take it for what it's worth, be sure to check out rest of Escapist Magazine - home of Ben 'Yahtze' Crowshaw!

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/113560-Rumor-Russian-Skyrim-Map-Leaked


Until then we'll  try and keep you up to date with reviews and more random bites form our beloved geek culture! 


Dm reminding that really all good rpgs come with source books!

Pandora gives us a slice of music.

Hi there, Pandora here. When I was deciding what to write about this time, I decided I didn't want to rant about stuff I hate all the time. So that got me to thinking, why not share the reasons why I really like something instead. So here you go; plus it means I am much less angry because I get to do stuff I enjoy rather than moan about stuff I hate.

This month there has been an album I have not been able to stop listening to - Ten Years Gone: the Best of Everclear 1994 - 2004. When I was first played Everclear I found them hard to get into as a band, mainly because I was introduced to them as a Grunge band. On the surface they do have the makings of one, with catchy hooks and heavy guitar lines; but for me there was a certain rawness missing from their sound. There are exceptions to this, most notably Fire Maple Song. Lyrically a lot of their songs are from the Grunge end of the music spectrum, giving songs a heartfelt and open quality. Also, the song styles vary so much that I found it hard to know how to take the band. For example tracks like Wonderful, a retrospective look at the feelings of a boy as his parents were splitting up; and Father Of Mine, about the singer's father leaving, are placed between songs like Volvo Driving Soccer Mom and AM Radio.

One of the main reasons this album has been stealing my mind so much is a lot to do with the fact there are so many different sounds and 'feels' to the songs on the album. There is something to match your mood no matter what it might be, and there is never too much of one thing. For example, for all the tracks about loss and separation, there are also songs about love and hope. This is one time I am glad to admit I was wrong. What I originally saw as an inconsistency in style I now see as a kind of honesty. Although the singer has obviously been through bad times, he clearly appreciates the good things that happen. This means that listening to them isn't all doom and gloom but isn't all lightness and frivolity. Saying that, some of the more upbeat songs on this album have very deep lyrics, which is another reason I really started liking the band. In an era when a lot of bands with the same kind of sound were singing about sex and fart jokes, Everclear had real substance to their material.

There are 2 cover tracks on this album, and I have to say that they were brave choices. By the law of covers because I like the originals I shouldn't like the covers, but because the band makes them their own it works. The slower version of 'Boys Are Back In Town' works surprisingly well. I really like the Thin Lizzy original, but both tempo's work equally well. The cover of Van Morrison's 'Brown Eyed Girl' has the addition of 2 extra lines at the start makes it sound more unique and is a very clever idea. It becomes a self aware cover version, as the singer is sining along to the radio.

Everclear is a great band, although it did take a while for them to grow on me. I totally recommend checking them out. My personal favourite tracks, and ones I really recommend, are 'Fire Maple Song', 'Summerland' and 'Local God'.

Black Crusade: An Overview

Black Crusade: First Impressions

          Black Crusade by Fantasy Flight games retails in at £40.00 (best price £35.00 from IGUK with free shipping to the UK). Wow, just wow! It's been a long time since I've been looking forward to an RPG, and is this worth it? Well I'll let you know when we get a game going.

          Well now, I have some coffee and the rule book - let's have a read, shall we? Okay so what can you expect? Well after having a thorough flick through this 400 page core rule book, there’s a number of aspects which just seem, well, better.

          Character Creation: rather than the classic roll up your character, appearance, job this has been scraped. Now we run on archetypes. There are 4 space marine classes and 4 human classes, each of these relate to your archetype, in this edition it's not so much of a case of "what can I be," but "who do I want to be?" What is my goal as a servant of chaos? Each class panders to a different playing style, but at the same time makes the games more story driven (I'll get to that in a moment). So if you fancy playing the rogue Inquisitorial acolyte; or maybe a Imperial Guardsman who become disillusioned with his lot in life; you have the renegade as a template for your cunning (if manipulative) character. On the other side, perhaps you're thinking "I'm a lone wolf," maybe a loyalist marine who has broken form his chapter; or maybe you've always been servant of the dark lords, living a tribal existence with your battle brothers, seeking to carve your name as the butcher of worlds - then maybe the Champion or Forsaken space marine classes are for you. Each of course have their own strengths and weaknesses, but in the end it is balanced - the leaders amongst men, the cold killers, the manipulative spy, or the classic power-crazed psyker.

          To add to this you have 3 other traits: your motivation, your disgrace and your pride (optional to roll on) charts. These of course will effect your overall stats or corruption points and yet add in extra elements for GM and players alike to truly flesh out their character and add elements for the story; or maybe just to come back and bite the players on the ass (depending on how sadistic your GM is lol).

          Okay, the new and interesting element is infamy. Now the infamy has, to say the least, a wide and varied roll with your servants of chaos. Not only as a percentile stat to literally see if you are well known enough to get that few extra rounds of bolter ammo, or to go "hey night lord, do you now who I am!?" It also acts as this edition's version of fate points, however there is a limit depending on how much infamy you have, limiting your 'fate point' options. Infamy can be easy gained (or lost) through actions with your peers, or to the chaos gods themselves. The ideal goal being - have more infamy than corruption points, but these can be barged with your dark patrons perhaps to gain a gift, or maybe to remove that new tentacle you acquired last mission. It's a very interesting stat, but it does have one other use! As a being of darkness and paragon to the dark lords you can spend your infamy points to avoid death! And trust me, it's normally a heavy price.

          All these things combined can lead to very interesting and unique story campaign! Especially when you have the missions. Now, like Deathwatch you have set tasks and objectives; however it's not so much the GM going "okay, go here do this" (and puts few little extras in to see if the players will gain that bonus exp). It seems to me more case of: GM sets up the world, say there’s and imperial bastion on this world. Thanks to it the mutant populous is kept under strict control. It's then the player's that go "well this needs to be taken out! So we can purge the servants of the corpse emperor (primary objective)."
          "Okay, how we going to do this?"

          "Well, we could get the mutants to rise up as a distraction (secondary objective)."

          "Okay, what about weapons? Well intelligence says the bastion receives weapon and equipment shipments via mag rail."
          "Okay, we'll take that out and supply the mutants!"

          One player could go "Okay, I'm tech user. I could probably hack in to the sever if we can get inside and disable the defence systems (adding something of his own skills to the plan)."

          "But wait, if we do this right we could cause enough slaughter and appease the blood god (now you have something else to offer coupled with favour of the chosen patron)."

          "We'll need explosives. I can get my contacts off-world to help," says the former inquisitor...

          And so on. By the end of it you may just have a incredibly detailed plan or not. This of course will gain the players infamy and respect; hell even a war-band of mutant rebels. However plans may not go to smoothly, the GM does have cards up his sleeve in the form of complications, unknown to the players. These vary, making the mission more of a challenge. So in this example, perhaps the supply train was early and won't be around for the next month. Perhaps a Sister of Battle contingent has arrived and gone on a pure, thus upping the stakes and plausibility of the plan. Maybe it's just plain bad intelligence and the mutant populous would rather stay in the hovels or even still loyal to the Imperium... any number of factors could help or hinder; and of course failing will come at a price, but the rewards for victory will be great.

          Okay what I have missed oh yes... due to the sheer nature of the chaos gods each potential patron has set stats, skills and traits associated with them. Such as Khorne favours strength, Tzeentch willpower and its intelligent booting/psi-power-ness etc. It's not strictly necessary as you can stay 'unaligned.' However, periodically as you purchase upgrades, new skills and what-not there will be a point where maybe you've got more Khornite abilities than say Nurgle related ones. So you can become aligned to your patron. For every 5 skills/upgrades you have with on patron or another coupled with periodical checks every 10,20,40 corruption points, you become aligned... what’s the benefit? Cheaper upgrades! If I've become more battle orientated as soon as I favour Khorne over the others, I can then purchase skills etc. at say, tier 1, or simple advance at only 100 exp rather than 250. However the gods don’t exactly favour each other, so say you're suffering in the toughness department. Being Khornite you look at your chart and see that toughness is a Nurgle skill, Khorne will tolerate Nurgle, meaning rather than simple advance of 100 (for Khorne) you'd pay 250 exp or maybe you think willpower (Tzeentchite) needs boosting. Well needless to say Khorne and Tzeentch don’t get along. That'd cost you 500exp... so it is a bit of double-edged sword. As long as you have a balance you can stay unaligned as long as one set of skills/talent/advances doesn't exceed 5 over the others of another patron.

          So as you can see it's shaping up to be a very interesting and diverse game, this one! Oh, did I forget to mention you can fight Necrons!? And Dark Eldar!? Oh yes it's all at your finger tips.

          How the game plays? Well I'll let you know once I scour the depraved pits of Brierley Hill and drum up some willing (or unwilling) candidates who wish for nothing more than to stick it to the Imperium or maybe see what fate the lord of change has in store. Until next time, this is the Dm reminding you that you do get to re-roll one stat, but you must keep the second result!