Potentially stirring up debates of marketing pushed too heavily within a game, Sega has released some new screens showcasing the appearance Wreck-It Ralph, the main character of the upcoming Disney CG film of the same name, in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. Announced rather subtly earlier this Summer via a Sega blog post, Sega has released brand new screens showing Ralph and classic Sega characters in some rather intense yet colorful kart racing action.
While others may lament that including a non-Sega and non video game legend character in Sonic & All Stars Racing is one step away from complete blasphemy, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. From what we’ve trailers and clips made available so far it appears as if Wreck-It Ralph could be a decent movie that pays homage to video games instead of making them to be something they clearly aren’t. More importantly, the appearance of Ralph does make more sense and is thematically cohesive as opposed to NASCAR driver Danica Patrick being in the game.
The appearance of Ralph in All-Stars Racing Transformed is some good old fashioned trans-media/brand synergy as Sega mascot Sonic makes an appearance in Wreck-It Ralph. Besides cameos from Capcom and Namco Bandai properties, Sega will be represented in Wreck-It Ralph as well through a sizeable Sonic cameo and a few easter egg references to a few other classic Sega arcade games. So of course it would make sense for Sega to give Disney some love by including Ralph as a playable character in All-Stars Racing, much to the chagrin of gamers.
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed will be released next month on the PS3, Xbox 360, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo 3DS, and the Wii U. Filmgoers can check out Wreck-It Ralph at their local cinema when the movie opens on November 2nd.
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