Who knows how will this end? Who knows what will happen to Sonic? Who knows?

It would suck if it were true. A man, who gave us one of greatest video game characters in history, is leaving.

Uh, Naoto Ohshima left ages ago. This'd be the programmer.

He seems to be more of a figure head who in his spare time makes sweet love to his Ferraris.

manaita.deviantart.com/journal/8185900/

Manaita has posted some additional info on her DA journal. Now I have no real clue who this Takezaki person is and his journal is all in japanese, but something seems to have effectively happened at Sega.

Didn't Naka left SEGA once before? I think it was in '93 or '94. Don't remenber the reason thought.

It was sometime after the first Sonic game was completed and he came back to do Sonic 2.

I hope Yuji Naka doesn't leave Sonic Team.

Considering how irrelevant Yuji Naka is nowadays, it really won't make much of a difference whether he leaves or not.

What Wonderbat said.

Yea, no big loss. The 3-D Sonic games have not been anywhere near as good as it's 16-bit days. Naka has not given Sonic the best 3-D jump the way Miyamoto did with Mario. Adventure 1 and 2 were just so-so, and Shadow was just plain awfull. (I disagree with most critics about Riders though.) The best Sonic games recently have been the advance series, and my personal fave, Rush. Sonic just seems to belong in 2D. Capcom realized this with MegaMan, and kept him with updated graphics while still on a 2-D plane.

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Adventure 1 and 2 were just so-so

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Heh, I think SA is the best Sonic game ever, IMO. But to each their own.

That would be a big loss, even if the newer games were so-so. Still, I understand where you're coming from..

In a way it would be a pity, because Naka is almost synonomous with Sonic Team, but at the same time the age of the super developer has pretty much gone. I don't know about you, but i can't remember the last time somebody got extremely excited about a particular developers game. Even Miyamoto, while still making excellent games, seems to have lost the 'aura' if you will. It's a tad hard to explain, but to put it simply, a popular name doesn't really sell games as much as it used to back in the previous generations of games. Take Peter Moleyneux (sp?), another famous developer: they recently have had to downsize for example.

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In a way it would be a pity, because Naka is almost synonomous with Sonic Team, but at the same time the age of the super developer has pretty much gone. I don't know about you, but i can't remember the last time somebody got extremely excited about a particular developers game.

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You need to visit more gaming message boards them because there is a lot of people praising certain developers such as Hideo Kojima, Shinji Mikami, Fumito Ueda, Sid Meier etc. Heck, their were a lot of people just giddy about the folks at Bungie in 2004. =)

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Even Miyamoto, while still making excellent games, seems to have lost the 'aura' if you will.

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That's because he's in the same position as Naka as he hasn't been higly involved with the current franchises much either. For example, Eiji Aonuma was more involved with the current Zelda games than Miyamoto. He's more of a figurehead but argueably it would be more damaging to Nintendo's rep if he left than Sega's rep of Naka leaving. Yu Suzuki leaving would probably be more damaging to Sega.

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It's a tad hard to explain, but to put it simply, a popular name doesn't really sell games as much as it used to back in the previous generations of games. Take Peter Moleyneux (sp?), another famous developer: they recently have had to downsize for example.

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Reguarding your first sentence, I doubt that is true. Also I thought Peter Moleyneux was the head of Lionhead Studios.

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It's a tad hard to explain, but to put it simply, a popular name doesn't really sell games as much as it used to back in the previous generations of games.

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And I assume that's why Will Wright's SPORE is one of the most anticipated games of 2006, if not the very most?

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Also I thought Peter Moleyneux was the head of Lionhead Studios.

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So it's "Lionpeter Moleyneux Studios?"

I don't want people to throw bricks at me for saying this but, him leaving might actually be a GOOD thing. Since Naka has produced Sonic games, the quality has slowly gone down with a gem showing up here and there in the franchise. It's not that Sonic games aren't enjoyable anymore, its that they just don't measure up to the other games coming out. It'd be nice to see someone else in charge of creating a traditional cannon Sonic game.

Oh, and Shadow Hog, I hope you're joking on that last comment.

Frankly, Naka leaving wouldn't fix that, since Iizuka's the problem.

Still, it'd be interesting to see what happens, that'd be sure.

You're right. But if he does leave, do you think anyone else at Sonic Team or Sega will go with him?

FYI: While Miyamoto isn't directly involved in the development of the Mario and Zelda games, he is still creating many new any innovative games basically on his own (e.g. Pikmin, Nintendogs...) If the man is inspired to create a game from his newfound hobby of gardening, and make the game great, then the man is good.

As stated (or at least hinted at) in the above posts, Iizuka is the one who needs to leave the ST. It was his idea after all for the "player to choose Shadow's path, and therefore his past". And there are (or were...) rumors of Naka-sama creating a Chu Chu Rocket game for the DS. That's a little more creative than recreating Sonic 1.

I hope Iizuka will.

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I don't want people to throw bricks at me for saying this but, him leaving might actually be a GOOD thing. Since Naka has produced Sonic games, the quality has slowly gone down with a gem showing up here and there in the franchise. It's not that Sonic games aren't enjoyable anymore, its that they just don't measure up to the other games coming out. It'd be nice to see someone else in charge of creating a traditional cannon Sonic game.

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Naka was a producer for Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Phantasy Star II, Chu-Chu Rocket, Samba de Amigo, and NiGHTS. But then again you can argue that he actually also programed for some of those titles and he had a much talented team than what we have now.

Hmm. Good point. Maybe it's because i'm not involved in gaming as much as i used to be, and therefore less knowledgable than i used to be. I remember a time when i'd be incredibly excited about the new Naka/Miyamoto game but i've just lost it all now. Until Shenmue 3 is created then my apathy will sadly continue.

Naka left SEGA of Japan in 1993, because he was tired of SOJ's hiearchy breach-of-contract policy and poor salary, he returned to SEGA of Japan in late 1994.

SEGA is heavily invovoled in trying to reinvent themseleves and is restructing, during 1993, SEGA split Sonic Team up to step up development on Genesis/Mega Drive games, Naoto Ohshima and Yashusi Yamaguchi took over while Naka was at STI.

If Naka leaves again, this means that he's probably planning on starting a American division of Sonic Team since STI died 10 years ago, he might return.

noooooooooo dont say that this is true, if he does
someone takes place and loses their royal name ,sega
www.eroi.com/images/portfolio/sega1.gif WAA

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link fixed ~ HSW

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noooooooooo dont say that this is true, if he does
someone takes place and loses their royal name ,sega

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Come again?

He's obviously saying that if Naka leaves, the Burger King will replace him, at the cost of being the Burger King, hence making him the Burger Head-of-Sonic-Team instead.

Something I found from Google:

news.sonicstadium.org/story/170/

PLEASE tell me this is a joke.

Odds are, that is an April Fools' Joke.

It's gotta be an early April fools joke...Don't worry EE!

Wow, I'm a fool! OO;

It's part of a joke on Sonic Channel.

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You need to visit more gaming message boards them because there is a lot of people praising certain developers such as Hideo Kojima, Shinji Mikami, Fumito Ueda, Sid Meier etc. Heck, their were a lot of people just giddy about the folks at Bungie in 2004. =)

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Not to forget the cult popularity of Tim Schaefer's Psychonauts, either.

I still need to play that.

If you're re-reading the thread, this is the second reply after it became a done-deal (Xag's being the first).

And I have to say... could be a GOOD thing, depending on where Iizuka winds up. That guy cannot make a good Sonic game, I swear...

BTW, This IGN report almost makes it sound like he HASN'T left Sega... just started up a new subsidiary. He's still left Sonic Team, but now he gets to keep his IPs, while Sega publishes. It's possibly a win-win situation.

I thought Yuji Naka left Sonic Team ages ago and took over AM2 from Yu Suzuki who was building his own studio within Sega.

Over all. Its a bit meh. He is a talented guy. I think he just wants to move on from Sonic Team/Games but without loosing the whole sega thing. Its the best way to do it.

Since Naka left Sonic Team well he still be working on Sonic Next Gen.

The correction is this: Yuji Naka left Sonic Team,not SEGA.

BTW, PROBE will be owned by SEGA, it will be a new developer for them.

Sega press release

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Effective June 1, 2006, Mr. Naka will leave his post as Creative Officer for Research and Development at SEGA Corporation and will become CEO and President of PROPE, Ltd. Mr. Naka has been the creative force behind such SEGA brands as Sonic The Hedgehog and Phantasy Star. This landmark announcement between SEGA and Mr. Naka is the first arrangement to emerge from SEGA's Game Creator Independence Program, which will be organized to promote entrepreneurial business spin-offs with its internal development talent.

"We named our company PROPE in the hopes of bringing game entertainment much closer to users, establishing closer ties between users and us, and creating near future entertainment," said Yuji Naka, CEO and President of PROPE, Ltd. "I am looking forward to the challenge of embarking on this new entrepreneurial venture supported by such a powerful global publisher as SEGA."

"Mr. Naka is an incredible industry visionary and as SEGA continues to align itself with top development talent, we are extremely excited to partner with PROPE." said Naoya Tsurumi, Chief Executive Officer, SEGA of America, Inc. and SEGA Europe, Ltd.

The agreement is the latest in a string of similar announcements from SEGA that underscore the company's increased emphasis on external content development. Previously, SEGA announced partnerships with developers Obsidian Entertainment, Silicon Knights, Bizarre Creations, Monolith Productions (Condemned: Criminal Origins), and Pseudo Interactive (Full Auto). SEGA also acquired development powerhouse The Creative Assembly (Total War series) in 2005 as well as US developer Secret Level and UK based studio, Sports Interactive in 2006.

"PROPE" (pronounced "pro-pe") is a Latin word which means "beside" and "near" future. Future information for PROPE, Ltd. will be announced on their website at http://prope.jp

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PROBE will be owned by SEGA, it will be a new developer for them

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The press release only says about them being a "global partner" and that sega will make a 10% investment :O

From what I've gathered, it's not quite a development team for Sega. It's more like this.

[list=1]

1. Sega decides to publish game.
4. We enjoy game from Sega. Possibly.[/list:o:b4b2eef6ae]
5. Sega decides not to publish game.
4. Naka goes looking for another publisher.
5. Naka finds one willing to publish.
6. We enjoy game from another company.[/list:o:b4b2eef6ae][/list:o:b4b2eef6ae][/list:o:b4b2eef6ae]

And that's it.

 

Step 1: Naka leaves Sonic Team.
Step 2: Starts his own studio.
Step 3: ????
Step 4: Profit!

4chan FTW

Oh, maaaaan....

AHHH crazyness. So in just a few hours he'll have left ST. Boo hoo. *weeps*