Think that online petitions don't work? Think that fans bitching about something missing from a game should shut up and accept that life isn't fair? Well thank God that fans of NiGHTS don't think the same way.

Sumo Digital has officially confirmed that NiGHTS will appear in Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing. The confirmation comes via the NiGHTS fansite, NiGHTSintoDreams.com, who have been (possibly) the biggest source of petition for NiGHTS to appear in the game.

The only downside is that NiGHTS won't be playable, at least not at launch. Instead he will be acting as the 'Flagman' at the start and end of each race.  Speaking exclusively to NiD.com Steve 'SOL' Lycett (from Sumo Digital) explained just how and why this has happened:

"We've given NiGHTS a very important role. He starts all the races, and also finishes them too! He also resides over Time Trial, whenever you set a new lap record, you'll have NiGHTS flying along with you celebrating!

I have to admit the main reason he's in was after we saw your heartfelt pleas, especially those of DiGi and TRiPPY, we had to make sure NiGHTS was in and played an important role. After all, we really didn't want them to burn all their collection now. So whilst he's not playable, he very much made it in, and as a result of the huge amount of support for the character that you all showed.

Does this mean that NiGHTS may not be in future DLC? Well who can say. That's a question I can't answer right now – it all depends on how well the game does

Anyway -“ cats out of the bag, so I figured we best make it official!

Now, I can look forward to yet more -˜Don't forget Flagman!- posts I'm sure

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S0L
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Any true SEGA fan will know how iconic NiGHTS is for the community, so it was bizarre that NiGHTS wasn't originally due to make any appearance in the game. Although I'm sure it wasn't Sumo Digital's fault - even SEGA needs to get licensing for characters from their creators to use in games like this.

Anyway, it's good to see developers really seeing what fans want in a game and trying their best to accomodate them.  Sure NiGHTS not being playable is a bit annoying, but at least he's now in there, and fingers crossed the game sells well enough to warrant Sumo Digital making some DLC that includes a playable NiGHTS.

It's a rare thing to happen, but it feels so sweet when the fans needs are met, doesn't it?

Now will other fan pleas work?  Will we ever get Shenmue 3? And will the guys over at Virtuafighter.com ever be able to convince SEGA to bring Virtua Fighter 5R to the Xbox 360 and PS3? I sure hope so.

[Source: NiD.com]