Gaming: Sonic creator freaked by new look; DMC 5 cutscenes go live action; more

Part of Sonic the Hedgehog’s classic charm is that he’s always been a little funny-lookin’. Sega’s hyper-speed answer to Mario in the early days of the console wars was made to be intentionally out there: smirky, punky, and blue. Whether you loved him or hated him, Sonic has always stood out.

Well, the movie version of the souped-up hedgehog will reportedly be standing out too — but we’re not sure whether that’s a good thing. And apparently neither is Sonic co-creator Yuji Naka, who led the original Sonic team and oversaw game projects for Sega’s spiky mascot until 2006.

Via Variety's translation, Naka’s Twitter response to a newly leaked image showing movie-Sonic’s face for the first time is puzzled to say the least: “Is this a Sonic movie?”

The hangup for Naka, and for a lot of fans, seems to be those beady little blue eyes, which tone down the prickly original’s oversized anime-style peepers in exchange for something that hails from the uncanny valley. Coupled with those silhouetted, human-like athlete legs we all saw in the movie’s much-memed first poster back in December, this is definitely not the old-school Sonic you remember from your Genesis days.

But hey, the movie isn’t out yet, and we’re not here to judge, right? Starring Ben Schwartz as Sonic, James Marsden, Neal McDonough, Tika Sumpter, and Adam Pally, and featuring Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik, Paramount’s take on the rebellious racer rings into theaters on Nov. 8.

The Devil May Cry series is nothing if not stylish, and nowhere do you get a bigger dose of Dante’s devilish diva-ness than in Capcom’s over-the-top CGI cutscenes. And even though we’ve seen enough early clips to know that Devil May Cry 5 is poised to do everything but take us to the movies and buy us popcorn, players who buy the game’s deluxe version will be getting something … different.

To sweeten the incentive to plunk down $70 for the deluxe edition of DMC 5, cutscenes in the upgraded version will be replaced with their in-studio, live-action counterparts. Featuring real mo-cap acting doubles doing their thing behind the scenes, the bonus bits highlight the lengths Capcom and Ninja Theory will go to to make Dante and Nero look real — at least, as real as a video game story based on The Divine Comedy can.

Check out the alternate cuts below, and then say your prayers: Devil May Cry 5 arrives on March 8.

Finally, the Nintendo Switch is heading to the Stone Age, both of Planet Earth and of video gaming’s early days. Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, the comics-based, reptile-infested shooter that first debuted on the Nintendo 64 back in 1997, is blasting out of the past and onto the Switch this month.

The Switch version of Turok appears to be the HD-remastered one that's shown up on PC and Xbox consoles over the past couple of years, VG24/7 reports, and is rumored — though not announced by Nintendo — to precede an upcoming Switch appearance of its 1998 sequel, Turok: Seed of Evil.

Nintendo already has Dinosaur Hunter listed on its official site, and it’s set to hit the hybrid console at the totally throwback price of $19.99. Bone up on those Stone Age fighting skills all over again when Turok: Dinosaur Hunter arrives on March 18.