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Lest We Forget: Sonic and the Black Knight Due Out Next Week

It seems like it was only yesterday when Sega stunned the world with the announcement of Sonic and the Black Knight, a game that seems like nothing more than a contemptuous response to sensible gamers that think Sonic has strayed way too far from his roots. "Oh, so you want to run really fast through creative landscapes, eh? Well, have some combo swordfighting! We'll see you suckers next year with Sonic the Hedgehog Presents Quicken 2010."

I'm wondering just what the hell Sega was thinking with the very concept of the game to begin with. Even Mario, the most versatile video game character to ever exist, would look like a complete tool holding a sword--and if you look at all of his weapons in any of the Mario RPGs, you can tell Nintendo knows this as well. But I guess Mario was never intended to look scowly or "cool" as our friend Sonic over there, who's currently sporting a robot hand for what I assume makes sense in the content of Black Knight's story. I really don't want to do the research to find out why because if I recall this information out loud at a later date, someone may execute me on the spot. That's the price you pay for knowing terrible, terrible things about terrible, terrible video games. But don't let me taint your opinions; check out the Black Knight trailer and witness the disaster for yourself.

Video after the cut.

Posted Feb 25 2009, 12:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 2 comment(s)

Filed under: wii, sonic the hedgehog, bob mackey, sonic and the black knight

NYCC 2009 - Sega <3s Wii

The Wii was big at New York Comic-Con. While I didn't actually keep count, it seemed like there were more Wii controllers set up at game booths than any other type of controller. Nowhere was this more apparent than at Sega, who always had a huge crowd, put on quite the show, and had exactly four games on display, all of which are Wii-exclusive.

Here now is our exclusive developer commentary video, featuing Denny Chu for House of the Dead: Overkill, Eric Nofsinger for The Conduit, and Elvin Gee for Sonic & the Black Knight:

Posted Feb 12 2009, 01:30 PM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with no comments

Filed under: derrick sanskrit, wii, madworld, the conduit, sega, sonic and the black knight, house of the dead overkill, nycc

NYCC 2009 - A Brief Overview of Games

Without a doubt, video games were big at New York Comic Con 2009. Some publishers booths were small (Square-Enix, who only had figurines to show/sell, Aksys Games, Sony Online Entertainment), others challenged the massive booths of Marvel and DC (Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Activision), but all around there was a lot to see and play and ask quesitons about. While we've got more in-depth coverage to follow, here's just a quick sample of some of what we got to see and play.

If we were athletes instead of game journalists, this would totally be a training montage. Nonetheless, hit the jump for a video and a long list of quick game impressions!

Posted Feb 10 2009, 03:00 PM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with 2 comment(s)

Sega "Gets" the Wii

As previously stated, the Nintendo Wii is just about two years old now, well enough into its life cycle to no longer forgive developers for unfamiliar hardware restrictions and lazy ports (yes, I'm looking at you, Harmonix and Rock Band). Most people still look at the Wii as home of the goofy mini-game collection despite its having also hosted some truly unique and wonderful unloved gems like EA's Boom Blox, Ubisoft's No More Heroes, Capcom's Zack & Wiki and THQ's de Blob. There is one major game publisher, though, who seems hard-pressed to make the Wii completely awesome with a wide range of aggressive titles, and that publisher is (believe it or not) Sega. That's right, longtime Nintendo rival Sega. Kinda makes you wonder why the Dreamcast flopped...

Posted Oct 31 2008, 12:00 PM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with 1 comment(s)

Filed under: boom blox, derrick sanskrit, no more heroes, wii, madworld, the conduit, sega, sonic the hedgehog, zack & wiki, dreamcast, sonic unleashed, sonic and the secret rings, de blob, house of the dead, samba de amigo, nights, sonic and the black knight

about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Nerve, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.