EGG-cellent! Hahaha... I made a pun

[OB1]

From IGN:

Give Eggs a Break
New GCN Sega platformer from Yuji Naka. Details here.


April 14, 2003- Sega of America today announced a new GameCube-specific platformer called Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg. The title is in development by Yuji Naka and Sonic Team and is slated for a fall 2003 release in the US, according to the company.
Hatcher is a 3D platformer game that tells the story of a boy whose homeland has been flushed in darkness at the hands of a tyrannical king. It's up to 'Billy' to defeat the king and restore light to the kingdom. To do this, he must don a legendary suit and control magical, light-giving eggs.

Though not Sonic the Hedgehog, Sega describes the game as a "vibrant, lightning-faster 3D platformer." The title challenges players to roll magical eggs through carnival-themed 3D environments, solve puzzles, fight enemies, and even hatch the eggs to unearth special magical creatures with unique abilities.

"'Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg' is pure Sonic Team magic," said Mike Fischer, vice president of marketing, Sega of America, Inc. "A dizzying blend of fast action, hypnotic gameplay and one-of-a-kind characters, 'Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg' is, without a doubt, the next big thing from the legendary Sonic Team."

Look for more on the game from the upcoming Electronics Entertainment Expo, which begins this May in Los Angeles.

Yay, and original Sonic Team game! And it's GC-exclusive! Sounds weird as hell, but I'm sure it will be cool.

The greatest part about this is that the leaked Sega of Europe release list has turned out to be true! Here's the list, courtesy of the gaming-age forums:

Phantasy Star Online - Xbox - 16th May

Virtua Fighter - PS2 - July

Otogi - Xbox - August

Puyo Pop - PS2, Xbox, GC - August

Phantasy Star Online Card Battle - Xbox, GC - October

Altered Beast - PS2 - October

Initial D - PS2 - October

Headhunter 2 - PS2 - October

Giant Egg - GC - October-November

Headhunter 2 - Xbox - November

Sonic Hero - GC - November

Sega Rally 3 - PS2 - Q1 2004

Mister Golf - PS2 - Q1 2004

Management Soccer - PS2 - Q1 2004


Woohoo! That means that Sonic Hero, Headhunter 2, Sega Rally 3, Puyo Pop, etc. are actually coming out this year!

[A Black Falcon]

Oh joy. Another Sega game clearly aimed for younger audiences gets on the GC... it'll be good,.sure, but we deserve more than just their games aimed at younger audiences...

[OB1]

That's true, but can you blame Sega? Mature games don't sell very well on the Gamecube, and their Sonic Adventure 2 port was one of Sega's best-selling games of 2002.

[A Black Falcon]

True... but what do you mean by 'mature' games on the cube? Sports games? That's different from stuff like Panzer Dragoon, Virtua Fighter, Sega Rally, etc... and as for Phantasy Star Online, when its the only online game on the system I wouldn't expect too much...

[Great Rumbler]

It sounds like an interesting game and all but...Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg?! *shudders*

[A Black Falcon]

Yeah, the name is bad too...

[OB1]

Originally posted by A Black Falcon
True... but what do you mean by 'mature' games on the cube? Sports games? That's different from stuff like Panzer Dragoon, Virtua Fighter, Sega Rally, etc... and as for Phantasy Star Online, when its the only online game on the system I wouldn't expect too much...

REmake, RE 0, Metroid Prime, Eternal Darkness... you name it.

[A Black Falcon]

Ah, I was thinking Sega only...

[Darunia]

I've seen a few lackluster mature titles on GC at EB...some weird goth vampire game. Also, you're forgetting that there are FOUR mature RE titles; and ur not counting ports like Medal of Honor, which is decidedly mature.

[WhiteFleck]

And do any of them sell well? I think that was the point he was trying to make. Unless it's pushed and pushed hard, a mature title sells poorly on GC, as compared to PS2 and XBox.

[A Black Falcon]

Eternal Darkness was my third favorite game released last year after WC3 and MP... but yeah it didn't sell great. It didn't bomb or anything (unlike what you seem to be saying), it just sold less than expected... like the RE games did.

[OB1]

I said that they didn't sell very well, not that they bombed.

[A Black Falcon]

I would say that they sold less than expected, but not as negative as your comment sounds... its not like it sold 50 copies, which "didn't sell very well" seems to imply...

[OB1]

Eternal Darkness sold very poorly by Nintendo standards. Metroid Prime also sold less than it should have. It stayed in the top ten list for about a month. It was beaten by Halo, for cripes sake!

[CartoonDevil]

To me, this game sounds like a mix of classic Sonic, and Super Monkey Ball.

[A Black Falcon]

Sorry, but I often think in terms of PC gaming, where 150,000 copies is a nice success... and not that common...

[EdenMaster]

Every console has crap on their shelves, Darunia. Truth be told, when I'm in a game store, I've looked at massive racks of video games for the PS2 and the magazine-rack sized shelf of Nintendo games and I see more on the GC side that I'd be willing to play (if I didn't already own them :D) than the PS2. The only thing (ONLY THING) killing Nintendo right now is their past image. If they could somehow make that magically disappear, Nintendo would skyrocket to the top again, and I truly believe that.

Not that that will happen though. The only thing capable of changing their repuation is word of mouth, and if nobodys willing to give Nintendo a chance...

[OB1]

Here are the first screens of that Egg game, courtesy of Gamesarefun.com :



Looks like it's using the aging Sonic Adventure engine. I'd much rather have a NiGHTS sequel, but this is from Sonic Team so I'll keep an open mind.

[A Black Falcon]

Yeah, it does look like the Sonic Adventure engine... still, it looks good.