Sega looks to the future.

by NOA_Scott

I’ve seen the future, and it has blue spikes, as in Sonic the hedgehog. I know that may seem more retro than futuristic, but behind-closed-doors at the Sega booth, we saw an amazing peek into the future of next-gen gaming. The 15-minute showcase included glimpses of three games and a number of demos that are clearly games in development.

Only one of the titles was associated with a platform (the Xbox 360). What we saw really looked like next-gen stuff, and I can hardly wait to see the real games. In one survival-horror demo, about a thousand high-poly zombies crowd a room, trying to get at you. In a fighting demo (possibly a Virtua Fighter, but Sega is being coy with details) the fighters were rendered in real-time at the quality of prerendered figures.

Full Auto, a driving combat game, featured stunningly realistic cars bearing massive weaponry on the hood. There was a cinematic action-thriller in which you are being chased by a serial killer -- very moody and stylized, but gorgeous if you like to be scared witless.

And as for Sonic, he raced through stunning, super-realistic worlds, battled mechs and gathered gold rings at unbelievable speeds. If I was wearing a hat in this sweltering convention hall it would definitely come off in appreciation of Sega’s vision of the future.