Top 10 Posts Of Twenty-Twelve

EDIT: Added one more thing to this post lol

Well kids, I hate New Year's but because everyone's doing the "reflection" thing nowadays, I'm going to do it too.

2012 was a mixed year.  Great for several reasons--got to go to two Daytona races, got to finish Super Sprint and Battle Fortress Tortoise, got to make plenty of friends, got to play Sega All-Stars Racing: Transformed.  But it also sucked for several reasons too--I got fired, I'm still unemployed, Christmas time wasn't all that great for me, could've done better at Super Sprint, school was obscenely difficult at times, etc.  All I know is that, despite all the naysayers, we lived to 2013.

I did this the last two years so I'll do it again--these are my Top 10 posts of 2012 (in no particular order):

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1. DAYTONA USA AT THE DAYTONA 500 - For the euphoric memories of holding a Daytona USA sign at the Daytona race as cars whizz by...it's the best photo I've ever been in.

2. !1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1 DAYTONA !1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1 - Also for euphoric memories of discovering the Hornet Classic in Sega All-Stars Racing: Transformed for the very first time.

3. Our Third Festivus Airing Of Grievances! - The best Airing of Grievances yet, it just nails a lot of things I've complained about all year.

4. Report: History & Corporate Culture Of SEGA - Need to read an essay about the history of Sega?  Read mine, it's just seven pages.

5. Going It Alone Without Sega - Can we get a job at Sega?  If not then can we make racing games without them?

6. Nobody Loves Sega - Everyone in the gaming media dumps on Sega.  Therefore I will dump on the gaming media for dumping on Sega.

7. Danica In The #7 Sonic Car Whole Race Recap - Need to know the events of Danica's Sega Sonic car race at Texas?  Read this and see how thrilled/depressed I get as stuff goes down.  Loaded with tons of funny jokes.

8. Need For Speed Movie??? Run That Moniker Into The Dirt - Why I don't like Need for Speed all that much anymore.

9. NASCAR Is Very Serious Business (Kurt Busch Sucks) - Why NASCAR and auto racing in general is one of the most frustrating sports/games ever made.

10. Can't Be Mad At Nagoshi-San Anymore (Call To Arms) - We love you Toshihiro Nagoshi, I will never be mad at you again (maybe).  Also includes cool music and the official declaration for "Sega Racing Day/Week/Month."

Honorable Mentions because I'm too lazy to eliminate other ones:

11. Forza On The Horizon...(Open-World Racing!!) - More ranting about modern racing games, this one's about Forza and this new "open-world" trend going on with street racers.

12. Daytona USA Championship Edition: That Other Daytona Game... - Comprehensive discussion of Daytona USA Championship Edition, the red-headed stepchild of the Daytona series.

13. Battle Fortress Tortoise - My FIEA capstone game.  I worked on it for months so it deserves a mention.

14. Super Sprint Intricate Design Details (Under The Hood) - Funny that this is the first post of 2012.  But it goes over plenty of things I worked on with that Super Sprint remake.  A good read for racing game design.

15. The Future Of (Lousy) Interactive Entertainment - What sucks about modern video games (with colorful illustrations).

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I only included 15 posts but there's plenty more good posts I made over this year.  Didn't post as much as I did in 2011 but that's cause I had graduate school to take care of.  Anyway, I don't plan on making any more posts this year (other than to edit in any additional posts to this list I forget) so stay cool in 2012 and here's to 2013 not sucking as much.  :)

THIS IS A TEST POST

I'm making a post from my iPhone for the first time! DO NOT REPLY.

Random Thought Of The Day: One of these days, I'm going to CPL and winning the big CS 1.6 tournament using a $10 Dynex wired mouse bought from Best Buy. Seems that the cheaper the mouse, the more productive I am with it. Weight ballasts and 12 buttons, bitch please...

But no really this thing sucks, I hate the iPhone keyboard...never posting from here again.

p.s. Go buy Grand Prix Story in the App Store..........

Questions For DarthS0L (Again)

Wow, we're back to Sega All-Stars Racing: Transformed talk.  You know, you have to admire the patience & fortitude of someone like Sumo Digital PR Guy DarthS0L who goes through thousands of questions & complaints from the fans.

When I think of game design, I like the idea of communicating with the fans about the game design process.  Usually when a AAA-studio works on a game, they're the lords of the county--you never speak to them, you have no input, they are cold and distant.  But some good devs want to be among the plebeians, let them know they are appreciated, and seek their input.  I hope as a game designer, I get the opportunity to do this as well.  To give the fan base some voice and make them feel involved & valuable.

Problem is if you give a mouse a cookie, they're gonna ask for milk and much more...  Steve AKA DarthS0L answered more than enough questions (and complaints) in this one Sega forum thread, plus many more across numerous websites like Sonic Stadium.  It's one thing to be a cool guy--it's another to be a cool guy who has to deal with a ravenous fanbase with tons of questions like "please put characters X, Y, Z" in the game" and "why is this game so hard," among other hard-to-answer questions.

Worst of all, remember the Golden Rule of the Internet--everything you say will be sealed in stone forever.  So Steve can say one stupid thing or spoil one spoiler and he's done.  Like here's Steve critiquing the poor reviews of the SART Wii version.  Also, Steve "leaked" that the PC version wouldn't be out until next year and everyone went nuts over it.  They also went nuts over the "no more Sonic characters" comment.  People are just putting so much pressure on one guy.  So think about that the next time you wanna get pissed and run to the Sega forums to complain about Ryo Hazuki not being a playable character and why you're having so much trouble beating Traffic Attack on A-class.

I did burden Steve with a few questions in that thread but they're good questions.  The posts he responded to are here and here.  These were asked a few months ago but for archive purposes, I'm posting them here to be saved FOREVER.  No pressure or anything, Steve!  Italics is my question, bold is his question.

Pertaining to the Hornet again. I really like the character. I read your previous response for the roster selection but what was the reason behind the Hornet in specific? Where did this begin--did Sega approach you with this? Or was it something Sumo came up with themselves? Or were fans requesting the Hornet in large numbers? I know the Daytona USA port was release not long ago but I never thought the Hornet would appear in a different type of racing game altogether (a kart racer).

Speaking of which, the Hornet is going to be DLC for Ridge Racer Vita. You heard of that? Hornet's in Fighters Megamix, Ridge Racer Vita, and Sonic & All-Stars Racing. I'm impresed.

I suggested the idea of a multiple SEGA vehicle character as we always get requests in for the Hornet, AfterBurner jet, Hang On bike etc etc etc. Originally we planned to do multiple vehicles per surface and pick one at random, but we had to restrict it to 3 due to memory. The VMU as a driver was put forward by SEGA QA incidentally, as soon as I saw that I get Rex to make it happen :P


This has bugged me a bit although it barely detracts from the game. Why is there no speedometer in the game? Did you consider one and was it cut at some point?

We don't show a speedo as we have plenty going off on screen as it is, you care about your position, lap, weapons, overall position with other players and all the scoring going off. Besides, we'd have to fake the speed on a speedo as you're actually travelling at over 180mph. Real world scales don't mean much in this game :P

So this one is more off-topic. I'm talking about Sumo Digital themselves. You answered a previous question about artists so here's a programmer question. I know it's probably not your area of expertise but I want to know a little more about what goes on there pertaining to programmers. Are there certain things you're looking for in potential programmers? And is there anything in particular that they all are working on or know about or so forth? I'm sorry if the question & answer is so vague. I'm a budding game programmer myself and I want to know more about what the game industry is like, especially Sumo since I'm interested in the games you all are working on.

Typically the games are written in C++, though that's not the only language we use. Games coders have to write fast effecient code as it's all about the speed of operation. It's more and more unusual that we'll take on self taught people unless they're industry vets. Best advice I can give is look at a suitable games course, or get involved with a mod or indie game group. Just as artists need a portfolio, being able to point to software you've developed is equally important for a programmer. It could equally be a dissertation you did in a given field too. Programmers like artists can specialise, so rendering, networking, audio, animation, tools and more. You don't have to be able to everything :P

Did you ever consider the idea of 10 different colored Hornets: the AT (red-blue-white), MT (red-yellow-black), and Players 1 thru 8 (Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Black, Pink, Light Blue, Orange)? Ten Hornets online...I think that would be the second best thing to a new Daytona USA game

Without getting too spoilery - this wasn't on the cards. You've probably noticed once one person picks a characters someone else can't select it. So it's sort of ruled out on those grounds. Plus we don't do different paint jobs - mostly as they wouldn't work for all characters. I can see where you're going with it though!


Did you ever visit Sega of Japan? Did you meet Toshihiro Nagoshi, Yu Suzuki, or any Sega legends?

Yes, I've been over to see SEGA of Japan a number of times on this project (in fact most of the production crew have). As such I've had the pleasure of meeting many of original creators. I won't name drop, but at least a few you've mentioned and more!

Also, did you ever think about stopping by the old OutRun Online Arcade board at GameFAQs just to say hi? I remember when you posted there and I know you're busy but you're a cool dude--we'd love to hear from you again. Once you're done answering the thousands of questions, that is.

I do think about it! One of the things I've had to pull back on though is how many forums I attempt to cover. I check here, SSMB and NeoGAF daily - plus a few forums I look at outside of the world of SEGA. On previous games I was spending wayyyy too long on different forums - I do miss the GameFAQ's chat mind :P

Yeah that's all.  He's still around, doing a post-mortem on TSSZ News, giving a GREAT interview on the state of arcade racers on EuroGamer (I should comment on this one later), so go track him down if you like but give him a break.  Until next time...

damn I wish I had fans flocking to me over Super Sprint but no dice

A Merry Sega Racer Christmas To You

Merry Christmas you bastards, now here's my NOT AT ALL HASTILY MADE Christmas card (two hours of this BS).

Outside the famous Daytona International Speedway, the Sega gang is all here for the big Sega race, giving away free Dreamcast 2 consoles to all attendees!!!

I wish.....

EDIT: I really should've done this sooner but here goes.
LIST OF PEOPLE/CHARACTERS FOR INFORMATIVE PURPOSES:

Toshihiro Nagoshi: Tan dude with white shirt/pants, dead center.  Producer of Daytona USA, Super Monkey Ball, F-Zero GX, and Yakuza.  Currently the Main Creative Director of Sega in general.

Yu Suzuki: Smiley guy at bottom right.  Producer of OutRun, Hang-On, Virtua Racing, Virtua Fighter, and Shenmue.  Considered "best game producer ever" by many Sega fans for bolstering their arcade division to first-class.

Tetsuya Mizuguchi: Guy on bottom left in a pink shirt sitting down.  Producer of Sega Rally, Sega Touring Car, Space Channel 5, Rez, and Lumines.

Yuji Naka: Guy on right center in white suit.  Producer of many Sega hits including Sonic the Hedgehog, NiGHTS, Phantasy Star, Billy Hatcher, and Burning Rangers.

Danica Patrick: Lady in blue racing suit, dead center.  Drove the Sega Sonic car at Texas Nationwide Race.  Spokeswoman for Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed.

Takenobu Mitsuyoshi: Guy in upper left with yellow shirt and mic.  Sega composer and infamous vocalist of Daytona USA soundtrack ("Rolllingggg sttttarrrrttttt!!!").

Makoto Osaki: Guy in blue shirt, upper center.  Director for Daytona USA 1/2, Scud Race, OutRun 2, and Virtua Fighter.  One of the main guys who fine-tuned these games so damn well but gets no credit.

Hajime Satomi: Guy on TV, lower left.  Founder of Sammy Corporation and current owner of Sega.  Rumored to be a leader of the Yakuza.  Nobody likes him.

Ryo Hazuki: Guy in brown leather jacket and jeans, dead center.  Main protagonist of Shenmue 1 and 2.  Knows martial arts.  Trying to avenge his father's death.

Segata Sanshiro: Judo guy in center of image, arms crossed.  Infamous fictional spokesman for Sega Saturn, known for beating up people who don't play the Saturn and deflecting a giant missile from destroying Sega HQ.

Jennifer, Alberto, Clarissa, Holly: Four people standing on left in front of presents.  Alberto is the "protagonist" of OutRun 2.  The three girls are you passengers for OutRun, Heart Attack, and Mission Modes, respectively.

Hornet Classic: Red and blue car on left center.  Based off a '94 Chevy Lumina, it's infamous stock car from Daytona USA.  Also appears in Fighters Megamix (a fighting car), Ridge Racer Vita (as DLC), and Sonic & All-Stars Racing: Transformed (unlockable character).

Sonic the Hedgehog: Upper center.  Everyone knows who this is.

Axel, B.D. Joe, Gena, Gus: Four guys on right center side of screen.  The four playable characters from the original Crazy Taxi.  Racing around town, catching big air, making huge tips along the way heading for KFC and Pizza Hut.

Ornaments: Cars from the following Sega games from top to bottom--Unicorn from Daytona USA 2001 (DC), Toyota Celica from Sega Rally, Ferrari F40 from Scud Race/Sega Super GT, Phantom Full Force from Daytona USA 2, F1 car from Virtua Racing.

Dreamcast 2: Poster in upper left corner.  Not real (of course) but all Sega fans want to see this (you do too, just admit it).  Rumored to exist through Sega's Ringedge/Ringwide hardware but it's pure speculation.

Sumo Digital: Tiny poster in center of screen.  Game company from Sheffield, UK responsible for porting OutRun  and Sega Rally Online Arcade to XBLA/PSN.  Also made Sega Superstars Tennis and both Sonic All-Stars Racing games.  Considered one of the last bastions of Sega goodness remaining on Earth.

Daytona International Speedway: Backdrop to this image (crap but there's so much stuff in the way so w/e). Located in Daytona Beach, Florida, USA, it opened in 1959, it's home to the most prestigious race in NASCAR (Daytona 500) and lends its name to Sega's 1994 arcade game Daytona USA.

THE MORE YOU KNOW...

Get the full size image off deviantART (please favorite!!!).  Sonic Claus fanart attribution.  Remember to keep Christ in Christmas and have a super day with family & friends.  Oh, and Happy New Year too.

Our Third Festivus Airing Of Grievances!

We do this every year.  We gather everyone around the table and let them know how much they have disappointed us this year!  Whatever, this is late, un-proof-read, horribly biased, and already discussed in previous posts but let's do it.  This'll be the best Festivus yet!!!

Sega: I know you've been on hard times and we love you.  Even the Level 5 lawsuit may be on your side after all.  But what's with the piss-poor advertising campaign for Binary Domain and Sega All-Stars Racing: Transformed?  I don't watch a lot of TV but I do watch Speed Channel.  And I've seen hundreds of World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria and Halo 4 Mountain Dew commercials but only ONE DANICA PATRICK in Sega All-Stars Racing commercial???  I hope you're doing a better job on other channels cause I've had friends who've said they only heard about these two games through my blog, sheesus..

Sumo Digital: Where's Ryo Hazuki and Segata Sanshiro as playable characters in Sega All-Stars Racing 2, noooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Electronic Arts: Taking pot shots at you is way too easy and everyone's done it (see the Worst Company in America contest).  But I will bring up something new.  I've been playing SimCity Social on Facebook for a little bit (my previous employer worked on Facebook games, after all) and I must say the abrasiveness of the game's in-game advertising is too much to bear.  From the "Spin City" slot machine that pops up from start up (that uses diamonds paid for with real money...it's borderline gambling) to Burt in the U-Haul truck trying to sell you keys to get the crappy contents inside (stupid trucks drive around town with the arrows everywhere) to the constant friend message spam (you have to enter the game to answer messages...a pain in your friends' asses), all of this s*** that pops up on the screen that harangues me to death makes me want to light your game on fire and go throw crap all over my living room and pick it up since it's a lot more enjoyable than dragging my mouse pointer to pick up "doobers" in your "interactive Flash movie" that barely counts as a game (wow that was a long sentence).

Need for Speed/Forza Horizon: Do I really need to explain?

Microsoft/Activision/Blizzard/Ubisoft/Bungie/Rockstar/Bioware/Bethesda/Just About Every AAA Studio: Can't really pin this down on any particular person, thing, or franchise but here goes.  Noticing a trend of games of turning games into movies...usually violent movies.  And dumbing them down to casuals.  And enhancing the "social" experience by trying to shoehorn Facebook-like features into games that I'll never use.  And the Kinect which I will never like.  Sorry if I sound like an ornery old gamer (24 years old, hooboy) but geez, you know what I'm getting at here.  Getting old fast.

Harmonix: Well, I like your Rock Band DLC.  But over the last year, your DLC stream has become weaker than an old man's prostate.  Averages three new songs a week.  And then last week was Elton John.  This should be a GREAT week for keyboards.  But they release a three-pack!  Only two of the songs are new, the third one is already available in Rock Band Blitz (HMX did it again next week with a My Chemical Romance pack).  Trust me, the two new ones are good but it's still a blown opportunity.  The last chance Harmonix will ever browse Elton's library and they don't include Rocket Man, Tiny Dancer, Bennie and the Jets, or Beyond the Yellow Brick Road???  Rock Band Blitz was good, the half-off all pre-RB3 DLC sale was good, but at this point, Rock Band DLC has gotten really weak, possibly in anxious anticipation of the series' slow death.  But still, why no Rocket Man???

GameFAQs/Reddit/Kotaku: I don't always want to light a match in a pool of gasoline, but when I do, it's from reading your comments/message boards.  And when you do your little "Sega sucks" and "Valve rules" hit pieces.

Kevin Butler: RIP, Kevin.  You blew it now, buddy.  You had to dabble with Mario Kart Wii in those Bridgestone commercials.  Now the last likable character from Sony is gone.  And yes, I don't find characters like Kratos or Sackboy likeable, shame on me.  Who's gonna be my main in Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale???  D'OH, THANKS!!!

Danica Patrick & Dale Earnhardt Jr: For letting down the fans!!! Two most overrated drivers ever!!!  WIN A RACE FOR ONCE!!!  WIN A RACE IN THE SEGA CAR, DANICA!!!  BUT NOOOO, THEY NEVER WIN!!!  Seriously, I was the only one who got stoked for Danica's Sega car debut and she placed 14th which is mega underwhelming.  Only good news is that she didn't wreck the car.  What a piece of crap.  Juniyah, have another Diet Mountain Dew.

Spike & G4TV: You done, son!!!  Adios, TKOed, historical.  G4TV is done and Spike (with its God awful VGA's) will be too with their imbecilic macho gamer programming!  MANswers--do I need to be lectured about beer, boobs, boners, guns, and flatulence?  Well I like guns so I can't complain.  EDIT: That sounded kinda gay...I like women but when you deliberately stick boobs on TV, it's just dumb.  When you go, take YOLO, Mountain Dew, and dubstep with you.

NFL/Roger Goodell/ESPN: Now the Saints have been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs.  Good riddance, this season can't end soon enough.  Commissioner Roger Goodell is full of himself.  Citing phony evidence of pay-to-injure bounties and slandering players who profess it never existed.  Bans Sean Peyton and several players and takes away draft picks, a punishment unprecedented in the NFL.  ESPN hypes up the issue and cheers as our world collapses on the year we have a chance at winning the Superbowl in our home stadium.  And yet, Roger, taking the side of "player safety," is encouraging an 18-game season and Thursday Night Football games which means less time for players to rest, exacerbating injuries in general.  And a team in London--could you imagine the jet lag of a team traveling from London to California/Seattle (8 hour difference???).  Plus he's trying to dumb down defense as best as he can and pimp offensive stats to cater to the fantasy football types.  This guy is a loathsome fool.  Now NFL players, announcers, and sports pundits alike are starting to side with the Saints but it's too late...we missed a shot at the Superdome Lombardi and a year of Drew Brees' prime is wasted.  Screw 'em, everyone one of 'em.

EDIT: I know this is old but how about this.  What's with ESPN's rumors on Sean Peyton going to Dallas?  And Mickey Loomis (Saints GM) "Wiretapgate", trying to dump on the Saints even more when there's NO PROOF that it's true?  ESPN isn't in the biz of reporting news, they're in the biz of reporting made-up news for ratings.  Again, screw that channel.

Speed Channel: Now I like Speed, it's the only thing I can tolerate on TV anymore (ESPN sucks ass now).  But there's a few things to mention...do you guys have anything better to play in primetime besides My Ride Rules and Dumbest Stuff on Wheels reruns?  And why did you cancel 101 Cars You Must Drive after one season?  Alonzo Bodden only got to drive 50 cars, what a shame.  And you also lost exclusive Formula 1 coverage which sucks but that's the biz.  Hopefully you don't turn into Fox Sports any time soon (which explains why random UFC crap appears at midnight-3 am).

All My Web Browsers: Why is it when I browse ANY webpage on both my laptops, all the animated gifs DON'T play until I move the cursor or highlight over them?  Is my Internet broken or something?  This has been happening for months.  WHAT'S HAPPENING TO MY COMPUTAH!!!

Myself: For not working as much on Super Sprint as I should have.  And for not updating the blog as much.  And for getting fired from my job...

And now for the Feats of Strength but that's impossible to do over the Internet...perhaps a round or two of Virtua Fighter or Fighting Vipers instead???