Month: August 2017

If you were a child in the 90s or are a fan of video games in general, you no doubt know who Sonic The Hedgehog is. The Blue Blur raced onto the video game scene in 1991 as Sega’s answer to Nintendo’s jumping plumber. The original entry “Sonic The Hedgehog” dripped with attitude and snark, touting speed and bumping beats as players dashed over platforms and rolled their way past the spinning finish sign.

The fun didn’t stop at the first game. Sonic 2 was a much needed improvement to the first game, adding the iconic spindash and even the lovable sidekick fox named Miles “Tails” Prower. Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles are still beloved entries in the series.

The leap to 3D Sonic games is widely where the fun stopped. While there are a few exceptions, Sonic’s 3D adventures have been disasters. Many of the games have been rushed out before development finished leaving the games with many game-breaking bugs. Notable standouts like the reboot Sonic The Hedgehog (also known as Sonic ’06) and Sonic Boom are widely known as being nearly unplayable. Many other entries have gimmicks that fail to stay interesting for very long such Sonic’s talking sword in “Sonic and the Black Knight” or the infamous Werehog from “Sonic Unleashed.”

Because of his downfall, Sonic has widely become a running meme online; his reputation crushed because of his many flops over the last decade. While Sonic still has some very dedicated fans who buy every release, many gamers have felt the best days were behind him.

“Sonic Mania” proves there’s still plenty of chili dogs left in the tank for Sonic. The game is a true love letter to the original games, even referencing itself as a fourth entry in the original saga. Sonic, Tails and Knuckles all control perfect, just like they did on the Genesis in the 90s. The bosses are as interesting as ever as the game has some of the most creative baddies Sonic has ever faced. Classic levels from throughout the series make triumphant returns with new twists that keep them fresh and new. The game is also jam-packed with bonus levels which unlock bonus content. Did I also mention there’s a competitive 2-player mode?

The genius of the game takes the best of the originals, expels most of the bad, and gives the players a bomb of nostalgia. Even those who only know the disappointing games are in for a treat. “Sonic Mania” is easily the best Sonic game released in a decade and a half. The fan service alone makes the game worth a look. Not to mention the love and care that went into the special edition which I happily threw money at a year ago. Look at the love that went into crafting it.

But what makes this game different from all the other failures Sonic has endured over the years? The answer is simple: love. Many of the 3D games have felt hollow and lacking in passion. The games felt less like solid attempts and more like a ploy to cash in on the character, leaving gamers with a yearning for better. Even “Sonic Forces” which comes out later this year nearly parallel to Mania’s release feels like more of the same 3D fluff gamer’s have grown accustomed to, this time adding create-a-character modes as the main selling point.

As stated earlier, “Sonic Mania” was originally a passion project by Christian “Taxman” Whitehead, a developer well known for his fantastic work on ports of “Sonic CD,” “Sonic The Hedgehog” and “Sonic The Hedgehog 2.” Both Headcannon and PagodaWest Games were chosen to help move the game along due to their acclaim in the fan game community. “Sonic Mania” truly became a game by the fans, for the fans, setting it apart from the missteps leading up to its release.

Sega and Sonic Team have been sorely out of touch with the fans. The team working on Sonic Mania worked to rectify that as fans themselves, achieving what they perceived as the new game they wanted to play. Where Sega has given gamers strange narratives and gimmicks not fully fleshed out, Whitehead and the team gave fans what they truly wanted: blinding speed and solid platforming.

That leads me to the entire point of the article. Sega, stop making Sonic games and let independent developers make new entries for you. Who better to make new entries than the biggest fans of the series?

In the past decade, only a couple of standout games have been salvageable from the pile of bad games released. I believe it is time to take a step back from development. Give Sonic Team a break for a while, and let them come back in a few years with some fresh ideas. In the meantime, let fans come to you with their ideas and let them rent the license to the Sonic name. Many of them have great ideas for Sonic games that they want to see. Will every title be a hit? Most likely not. But can it really be any worse than the state of Sonic before this year?

“Sonic Mania’s” release proves that there are still good ideas to be had in the Sonic universe, even if this release was a few tweaks on the existing formula. Sega, if you want your most iconic character to stick around for decades to come, you need to take a step back and let some new blood work on the franchise. The fans will thank you, and the developer community will thank you.

 

I may be a bit late to the leak reporting, but now that two of the most anticipated devices of 2017 have been leaked, there is never a wrong time to talk about them.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, then you would probably know in the past couple of weeks, both Google’s Pixel XL and Apple’s iPhone 8 have been spread all across the internet. Everyone is chomping at the bit trying to find hot takes on what the smartphones mean for the future of the mobile landscape. Each of the leaks have revealed interesting additions and even a few omissions from the determined-to-be-real designs, and this article will widely be a discussion of what I personally find to be the most interesting.

Pixel 2 XL

I am an Android person. I have my two-year old Nexus 6P running the Android O beta and I am as eager as I can be to upgrade to the newest flagship Pixel. After seeing the leaks from Android Police, I was surprised and excited by a couple of design choices and extremely disappointed with a single omission that directly affects my day-to-day use.

I will start with the good news first. The screen looks huge and beautiful on the Pixel XL adopting a similar shape to Samsung’s Galaxy S8 with a near bezel-less display. The same cannot be said about the smaller Pixel 2 as renders have showed the phone with a large forehead and chin. The choice of different screens creates a division between models that widely missed the original Pixel variants. The Pixel and Pixel XL were internally the same and the only difference was screen size. I am interested to see what other changes are made between the models as more details come out.

Another big difference about the new Pixel 2 XL is the heavily reduced glass portion on the back of the phone. What was discussed as a deliberate style choice on the original Pixel, the back glass panel is far smaller. To me, the design is a bit less interesting as I liked the contrast of the original Pixel. What was once half metal, half glass the new phones are majorly metal. It makes the design a bit more boring to me because the glass is clearly only there to house antennas and sensors hindered by metal. Unfortunately, unless anything changes, a metal exterior means no wireless charging again. I am not entirely upset about the omission, but it would be nice to have.

The bad news is the removal of the 3.5 mm headphone jack. It was only a matter of time before they became phased out, but to me bluetooth headphones are still no substitute to the wired alternative. I do not have bluetooth in my car and the auxiliary cable is the only way to listen to my music. I hate dongles with a passion. Not being able to charge my phone and listen to music at the same time without a clunky 20 dollar adaptor is absolutely worse in every conceivable way.

While I am extremely disappointed by the lack of a 3.5 mm jack, I am overall still very excited about the coming Pixel XL. It will most likely be my next phone.

Apple iPhone 8 (name pending)

I have not owned an iPhone in years. After owning almost every release from the first to the 5, I became bored and burned out with the platform. What once was the simplest and most intuitive user experience became a jumbled mess in my eyes. It became overwhelming to new users, and to me the UI is crowded and unfocused.

That said, I always am excited to see what Apple can pull out of their sleeves as they usually set the precedent for the next year as other companies scramble to add their own versions of new features.

The iPhone 8 is no different, and I was very excited to see how everything changed with the 10th anniversary of the iPhone. Unfortunately reports of setbacks and delays slowed the hype train down for me. The rumor mill is picking up once again as both hardware and software changes are being leaked all over the internet. Because there is so much to cover, I am breaking down the leak into hardware and software.

Hardware

The iPhone 8’s hardware has been speculated on for months. The “will-they-won’t they” of incorporating a bigger screen with smaller bezels has been questioned since rumors of a bezel-less Galaxy device which did come true.

Thanks to a serious combing of HomePod’s accidental firmware release, developers have discovered a wide amount of information regarding what the phone looks like. An image inside the firmware revealed an iPhone-esque device that had no home button and a huge display with a notch in it for the camera to go. This could be the biggest change to the screen since the introduction of the Retina Display in the iPhone 4. However one concern I have with the new screen is the adaptation rate of applications. On Android developers program apps to scale to a variety of screen sizes. When Apple made the iPhone screen taller with the iPhone 5, apps took a long time to fully embrace the new screen real estate instead of leaving borders on the top and bottom.

Another big question arose when the removal of the signature home button came out was “Where does the TouchID sensor go?” Our answer is likely: nowhere. Software has revealed that TouchID will be replaced by facial recognition. That means the once-leaked fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone is false.

Software

As mentioned before, I am not a huge fan of iOS and its evolution over the years. However a bunch of interesting software changes have made themselves known through the HomePod leaks.

Without a home button, users need to rely on software buttons and gestures to maneuver the software. The leak has revealed that the bottom of the screen will act as a software button that returns the user to the home screen, displays the multitasking windows and so on.

One of my favorite Android features is making its way to the iPhone in the form of tapping to wake. When I had an LG G4, I loved not having to press a button to wake my phone and iPhone users should easily adapt to the new function.

Lastly the inclusion of augmented reality is going to be far more powerful than any of Apple’s AR-ready products before. Software has indicated that the camera will be able to sense depth as well as including a 3D laser system.

The iPhone 8’s extensive leaks have me very interested to see what else we still do not know about the upcoming phone. While I do not think the iPhone 8 will be my next phone, the yearly revision could finally shake up the mobile landscape in a very drastic way.