So Sonic 4 is finally out for XBLA and maybe some other platforms like PSN and WiiWare. I haven’t played the full release, but I can tell you that it is the most ridiculously short demo I have ever experienced. And I don’t just mean on XBLA, I mean of anything, ever. The demo consists solely of only the first level of the first stage. The time it took me to finish the level was just a hair over 1:30. If I figure in the time it took to launch the game, load the level, and then go back to my dashboard, I spent all of 3 minutes with it.

You should really just go download the demo if you are remotely interested in the game. Now that I think about it, it probably took you longer to get on your computer, go to our website, and read this post than it would to take to just go and play it. You should probably just stop reading this. Also, the best part of the demo was definitely the old school “SEGA” opening in the nice soft voice and its two note tune.

Atari Europe has decided to remake one of the many Atari 2600 games that I’ve never even heard of, Haunted House.  They’ll be making it available for XBLA, Wii and PC.  The original looks like it’s the oldest dungeon crawler in existence, and the remake looks like the second oldest.  HEY-OH!  I honestly don’t understand why anyone would waste their time remaking this game…  Now, what I really want to see is a remake of the old ET game for the Atari.  Ohhhh yeeeeah…



Here’s a bit about the revival of Haunted House:

“Haunted House pays homage to the classic favorite as players fight for their lives in Graves Mansion as the grandchildren of the original character that disappeared without a trace in the evil mansion over 30 years ago. Chased by pesky poltergeists, haunted by scary skeletons and exhausted from battles with creepy creatures, players are in a goosebump-enducing fight to explore the dark and creepy depths of Graves Mansion in search of the four lost pieces of the magical urn. The player’s goal is to reassemble the urn and defend their family’s legacy with the aid of mystical tomes, powerful light sources and multiple keys.”

New details about the WiiWare title Fluidity were released at PAX last week.  This looks like it’s going to be another must buy for WiiWare judging from the trailer and screen shots.  Fluidity was playable on the show floor at PAX Prime 2010 in Seattle and a trailer was also released, which you can view above.

The game looks to combine good old fashion physics with simple gameplay, as you only need to tilt the WiiMote left or right to move the entire level.  The goal is to move water around the puzzle-based levels to achieve an objective.  Gravity will take over for the liquid and ice levels, but the gas or cloud state might be interesting.  I would guess that wind or fans are going to play a role here and that there will be hot and cold levels to freeze, thaw, and boil water to change its state, depending on the puzzle.

Nintendo is keeping quiet about who developed the game, for some reason.  There doesn’t seem to be any reason for it, so I might be making a bigger deal out of it than it really is.  If I had to say who I think is developing the game, I would guess it’s 2D Boy, who also developed the WiiWare physics based game World of Goo.  This is just speculation on my part, as 2D Boy hasn’t done anything since World of Goo and the style of gameplay and artwork look pretty similar.  Other details regarding a release date and pricing are also unavailable at this time.  Additional screen shots can be seen below:

Sega recently announced what many gamers have been hoping for years: a return to the 2D roots of the series. After years of failures in the 3D realm, Sega has made the move back to the fast paced 2D side scrollers that put them on the map as a console maker. Before you go getting too excited and all nostalgic, let me remind you that even this switch back to 1991 is going to suck. When is the last time that you dusted off your Genesis or hell even bought one the old titles on the current generation of consoles download services?

Let’s take a short history lesson here. Sonic The Hedgehog (That’s right, capital ‘T’ in ‘The’. First, Middle, Last name as trademarked by Sega) in its 2D form exist as Sonic The Hedgehog 1, 2, and 3 and also Sonic and Knuckles. The original Sonic The Hedgehog was produced and packaged with the Genesis console and was intended to be the Mario killer to get the Genesis to compete with the SNES. It was a decent game but also the first game in the series and it didn’t quite have all the kinks worked out. Sonic The Hedgehog 2 nailed it and stands out as the gem of the franchise even though it introduced us to one of the worst game characters of all time with Tails. Sonic 3 was a step backwards and Sonic and Knuckles took the legs out of the franchise literally. It slowed the game way down by adding more platforming elements and jumping puzzles.

Now back to the present day and keeping in mind that the 2D games are not nearly as good as you remember them to be, the new release is already setup for failure. The game is going to be sold exclusively as a download on WiiWare, Playstation Network, and Xbox Live Arcade. What this should tell you is that they don’t have a good enough game with enough content to put it on a disc and sell it in stores. With the recent success of a game like New Super Mario Bros Wii, you would think that Sega would be chasing those dollars down just as they have been doing with the Mario Factory for years. Sega has released game after game that is nearly a direct descendant of a recent Mario game from 3D platformers to arcade racing sims to DS RPGs. They have even been collaborating with Nintendo on the Mario and Sonic at the Olympics games but this attempt to duplicate the success of NSMB Wii will fall short.

So what’s the final verdict here? While it’s a relief to see that Sonic won’t be suffering through a new 3D piece of crap, don’t get your hopes up for this one. Sega needs to let Sonic go the way of the Dreamcast and live on fondly in the memories of our childhood. Or perhaps he can die a slow death at the hands of Mario in the new release of the Smash Bros series just as he has been doing on store shelves for years.