Frankly, last month’s news that SEGA and Baldur's Gate/Neverwinter Nights/Jade Empire developer BioWare were joining forces to create a Sonic the Hedgehog RPG for the Nintendo DS came straight out of Bizarro World. Now, BioWare chief Ray Muzyka has shed a little more light on a project that has taken everybody by surprise.

As well as promising that some of the world’s best writing and designing talent was working on Sonic (and given some of the storytelling seen in past Sonic games, we’re glad to hear it - Sonic Adventure, anyone?), Muzyka also discussed how the studio intends to translate what is traditionally a fast-paced platform game into a rich, story-based RPG.

"Story driven games have been BioWare’s bread and butter for years," he explained to Wired, "So we’re utilising the knowledge and experience we’ve learned to create a brand new and immersive Sonic with a rich adventure and story that’s fast-paced and incredibly fun to play.

"With this project our team will be crafting an RPG that is still rich in story but which also has awesome pacing, full of those "wow" moments that keep you wanting to find out what happens next," continued the BioWare boss. "Sonic is perfect for that, since the Sonic universe is full of very cool characters." Cool characters? Has he seen Tails?

Still, fans of the blue Erinaceusian can rest easy, as apparently there won’t be too many deviations made from the Sonic universe. "We plan on taking those core Sonic elements that fans love about games and incorporating them into a brand new adventure that will feature the best of both worlds: all the fast-paced action of Sonic, plus a deep and engaging storyline that will keep players on the edge of their seats," explained Muzyka.

"By staying true to those Sonic elements that fans are already familiar with, and injecting our own unique BioWare flavour, we plan to make that transition as smooth and exciting as possible."

It still sounds like an intriguing prospect, and given BioWare’s illustrious history in RPGs, we can’t doubt the project’s pedigree. Let’s just avoid any potentially cringeworthy cameos from Shadow, eh BioWare? Pretty please?