Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed Launching November On Wii U

Sega has announced its second installment in the All-Stars racing series is launching this November Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 … and Wii U.

Nintendo hasn’t announced a release date for Wii U, but has Sega? The company says November is the for the upcoming title, and included the Wii U as a platform

We’re expecting the Wii U to launch around November, with Nintendo (Worldwide) president Satoru Iwata confirming the console will launch by the end of 2012. That was never certain, though, but Sega claims it’ll be releasing a game for the platform in November.

Sega said Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing Transformed will be available on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Vita, Nintendo 3DS, PC, and Wii U this November. It could be a mistake, but why include the other platforms?

Previous interviews with developers working on Wii U titles, such as Tekken X Street Fighter, claim the title is slightly behind development of the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions. That was because of a lower clock speed than current HD consoles, and we’re still not sure of Wii U’s specs.

Tough Launch Month

A holiday season release is no surprise, but November isn’t a quiet month for launching next-generation consoles: the first two weeks of November are going to be dominated by Halo 4 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 – releasing November 6 and 13 respectively – so a late November launch would put more focus on Nintendo. That’s if consumers warm to the console, though: for consumers casually following E3 the conference from Nintendo probably would have been seen as lacklustre.

Transformed, as I mentioned, is the follow up to the solid Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, which was well received as an alternative to Mario Kart. Transformed new feature is three modes of transport in one race: driving, flying and boating. Players’ vehicles will transform in-motion, and the changing environment will alter the type of driving environment. Each vehicle has its own physics, too, so it’s not like Mario Kart 7 where you drive underwater – in a car – and fly in the air, in cars.

The press release was intended to focus on Wreck-it-Ralph being a playable character in Transformed. Ralph is also featuring in a Disney movie where he enters other video game environments.