BioWare - Sonic Handheld Interview @ IGN

IGN has scored the first interview we are aware of with BioWare on their Sonic RPG for the Nintendo DS, although they don't have much to say. Here's a snip:

IGN: Give us a taste of what we can expect out of Sonic's first RPG. Is this going to be anything like what Square did years ago with the Mario RPG SNES title?

Ray Muzyka: We haven't announced any specific features yet, but obviously the DS is a very cool platform and we play games on it all the time as fans ourselves. Without giving away too much, we can say that we will be using many of DS's feature sets and we'll really be pushing the limits of what the system can do, always striving to innovate in what we deliver, as in all BioWare games.

Above all, we're committed to deliver a deep, compelling, unique and entertaining experience in this first BioWare RPG for DS. There are many fans of Sonic at BioWare and our love for the IP goes way back - I myself have an autographed (by the creators of Sonic) SEGA Genesis which is still plugged in side by side with my 360, Wii and PS3, and the main games I play on the Genesis when I go back to that system are Sonic I and II

Click to expand...

More information.

Bioware = Sonic fanboys

As the saying goes "To each is own" but I'm still confused as to why Bioware would try to make a Sonic RPG. I played Sonic for about 5 minutes a looonggg time ago and thought ehhh I'll pass on the Speedy Gonzalus version of a hedgehog.

Well, maybe they need the money or just simply are fanboys.

Deep and compelling huh? Sonic The Hedgehog, right?

Wonder if the game will have Bioware's typical evil path (ie petulant arsehole) dialogue choices.

I see this as a 'first step' strategy - they have a DS group, they get a license for an IP to build for the platform they are looking to advance with the eventual plan being to make their own IP next.

Gallifrey said:

Wonder if the game will have Bioware's typical evil path (ie petulant arsehole) dialogue choices.

Click to expand...

Almost certainly. If you pick the "good" options your fur turns a bright blue while the other choice turns you into Shadow the Hedgehog (Sonic's evil clone).

Gallifrey said:

Deep and compelling huh? Sonic The Hedgehog, right?

Wonder if the game will have Bioware's typical evil path (ie petulant arsehole) dialogue choices.

Click to expand...

Actually, if you do some digging around the net and on the Sonic fansites (even though the sonic fansites also went like and when they heard
the news, too) you will see that there are certain elements in the Sonic IP (or franchise) that can be evolved into a full fledged rpg.

If you hop over to Bioware's news discussion, there is a very nice discussion about this, where some of the ambassasors from the Sonic community are saying they're were as shocked as this news at the Biowarians were. They pointed, however, to some characters i.e. Robotnik and Tails etc. could be characters in a Sonic (adventure) RPG...

I'm sure that Bioware is going to deliver a really well thought out and fleshed out story-driven Sonic RPG...

True, aries100 ...

Talking to my kids reveals a whole sort of mythos around Sonic and Shadow and Tails and other characters. I have no freakin' idea how this will all turn out, but the more I hear, the more intrigued I become.

While I don't have any kids (yet!) I have a niece age 10 about. And she has GBA console on which she plays most of her games. I don't think she has Nintendo DS, though. My impression is that the Nintendo DS is mostly for grown-ups or maybe for audience from about 16+ and up, but I could, of course be wrong...

From my own digging around the internet, I've found that a lot of grown-up (or adult ) adventure gamers have a Nintendo DS - because they can play adventure games on it. I plan to get a Nintendo DS lite so I can play some of the excellent adventure games made for the DS.

I'm just somehow concerned that Bioware seems to have their first 'wrong' move, financially and decision wise in teaming up with what seems to be a dying franchishe, the Sonic franchise. I don't think an rpg set in the Sonic universe is going to rescue the Sonic franchise ---- at best it will give Bioware some money...

txa1265 said:

I see this as a 'first step' strategy - they have a DS group, they get a license for an IP to build for the platform they are looking to advance with the eventual plan being to make their own IP next.

Click to expand...

Oh most certainly. Sega seems willing to be throwing money at RPG developers to make some games based on their properties, so why not take the money and do the project. As ridiculous as I find a Sonic RPG to be, it's a solid entrance into the DS development market for Bioware. It gives the team on it some (more) experience working on the platform and presumably in a fun way.
It is silly, but if you can get your dev studio some experience on the platform by working on a marketable title while being silly, why the heck not do it.