Sonic and Full Auto at PS3 launch

By Tom Bramwell Published 3 July, 2006

Monkey Ball there for Wii.

Sonic the Hedgehog and Full Auto 2: Battlelines will be PlayStation 3 launch titles, according to SEGA of America's Scott Steinberg.

Steinberg, SoA's veepee of marketing, also revealed that Virtua Fighter 5 would ship in March 2007.

Speaking in an interview with US website GameDaily, he said SEGA's Wii titles would adopt a similar strategy. Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz will be there at launch, while Sonic Wild Fire (working title) is due next March.

There's also a suggestion that Full Auto 2's PS3 exclusivity will expire shortly after launch, which would make sense given that the first title appeared only on Xbox 360. When Steinberg had it put to him that way, he laughed.

Similarly, the Xbox 360 version of Sonic the Hedgehog will ship shortly after the PS3 version launches with the Sony console.

Asked about the relative costs of developing for next-gen consoles, Steinberg said the Wii was the most affordable, but added that you didn't have to spend oodles on the other formats. "Next-gen games don't automatically cost $20 million dollars," he pointed out - which is just as well.

Steinberg believes SEGA is in pole position as a Wii third party - and often refers to the console's "family" approach. While others struggle to grasp the new controls, he says, "SEGA is already thinking about its second generation software."

In terms of the first-gen next-gen software (argh), you can read our impressions of Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz and Sonic Wild Fire elsewhere on the site, along with thoughts on Sonic the Hedgehog PS3/360 and details on Full Auto 2: Battlelines. All were playable at E3.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (20) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Steroyd #1 6 years ago

    ZOMG with those two games alone it beats Xbox 360's launch already /sarcasm

    although why are Sega launching Full Auto 2 and Sonic after a console that hasn't launched yet when the Xbox 360 is here right now???

  • Xerx3s #2 6 years ago

    Why would anyone want a sequel to a crappy game that was launched earlier this year. I mean, that's a veeeeeeeeeeeeeery short dev cycle to a game with some serious flaws. :\
    Edited by 1 at 03/07/06 @ 10:34

  • drumbaby #3 6 years ago

    Are they the only 2 launch games then, Steroyd?

  • Xerx3s #4 6 years ago

    Of course not. You always have Ridge racer 6.5. ;)

  • York #5 6 years ago

    Sonic's a good name to have on your launch lineup. Doubt any Sonic game will ever be good again, but it's important in terms of name value.

    Not that the launch lineup matters one bit. The PS3 could launch with just a window cleaning simulator and it'd still sell out. ô_0

  • Steroyd #6 6 years ago

    oh yeah how can i forget Riiii... awe hell sack it.

  • Mordum #7 6 years ago

    Full Auto 2, a sequel to a pretty bad game. Sonic The Hedgehog, will be cheaper on the Xbox360 (if you want this game in the first place)... next?

    Sony need to confirm a couple of top notch games for launch as soon as possible. These don't make me want to lay down the money just yet. They really did need one of their big exclusives to be ready on day one, MGS4? GT5? not for a while yet... so just wait then I guess.

  • JediMasterMalik #8 6 years ago

    You don't know that it'll be cheaper. You're just jumping on the "Blu-ray is soooooooo expensive" bandwagon. And there are better launch titles than this.

  • Rash' #9 6 years ago

    Why the urgency? Sony have plenty of time to make announcments about their launch line up. They still have a hand or two to play, yet. ;-)
    Edited by 1 at 03/07/06 @ 12:17

  • #10 6 years ago

    And if they don't have enough PS2 ports they'll borrow some of the PSP's...
    Errrm... Hang on a second! PSP games are PS2 ports too!

    GTA: Liberty City Stories III
    (With San Andreas Map and Nintendo Controls) ;)
    Edited by 1 at 03/07/06 @ 12:25

  • Darren #11 6 years ago

    Full Auto on the Xbox 360 wasn't that brilliant anyway, it was OK for a few hours but after that the framerate issues and the lack of tracks/cars mean I tired of it rather quickly.

    The announcement that the sequel was an exclusive to the PS3 didn't bother me in the slightest as I wouldn't buy it even when I get a PS3 (sometime in 2007 or 2008 when the price drops I might add).

  • coojam #12 6 years ago

    Full Auto was by no means a bad game...it was just a bit bland.

  • Rambaldi #13 6 years ago

    @linfknitz

    .....FULL AUTO BABY YEAH!!!!!!!

    And all you need to play it on a PS3 with a 1080p TV is..

    /sticks little finger in mouth

    ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS!
    Edited by 1 at 03/07/06 @ 13:40

  • Zero Beat #14 6 years ago

    Full Auto 1.5 - well if EA can get away with it multiple times each year, why not SEGA aye? :D

  • #15 6 years ago

    EA is EA... But Sega is exploiting Sonic like Nintendo has done with Mario, Peach and all that crap...

  • AOFanboi #16 6 years ago

    <em>Steinberg, SoA's veepee of marketing, also revealed that Virtua Fighter 5 would ship in March 2007.</em>

    *considers delaying purchasing a PS3 until next year*

  • mike_mgoblue #17 6 years ago

    There was a point in time when Sega was quite a bit bigger than Electronic Arts. EA has FAR SUPERIOR management, though. Electronic Arts originally announced that Fight Night Round 3 was a PS3 exclusive, but they finally came to their senses and released the game for the Xbox 360 BEFORE the PS3 was released! EA is going to do the same with games like NCAA Football 2007 and John Madden Football 2007. This is what quality business management is all about; I think EA is doing a great job!

    Sega, on the other hand: They choose to release Sonic the Hedgehog on the PS3 before the Xbox 360, even though the Xbox 360 will have sold 10 million systems before the PS3 is released! This is absolute stupidity! The person who made that decision is probably the same one who said that Virtua Fighter 5 would not use online fighting! Sega needs to release Virtua Fighter 5 on the Xbox 360 with online fighting, and they ALWAYS need to make sure that the Xbox 360 is their primary development platform! Otherwise, it will just represent poor business management!

  • mike_mgoblue #18 6 years ago

    The sad thing is that games like Full Auto 2 and Ridge Racer 7 use the same graphics-engines that Full Auto and Ridge Racer 6 did...there is virtually no difference in graphics, even though the games are coming out a year later. These games are NOT true sequals!

  • SimonM7 #19 6 years ago

    Full Auto was by no means a bad game...it was just a bit bland.

    Agreed.

    I'm personaly quite fond of Full Auto, especially in split screen with a mate, so I'll be picking this up for the 360 if ever that happens.

    PS3 for march 2007 then.

  • Skooch #20 6 years ago

    "Sonic and Full Auto at PS3 launch"

    /hears MS shaking in their boots