Sega’s ill fated Genesis Poll has fallen on its face once more, with its second user-picked winner Toejam and Earl unlikely to materialise on XBLA any time soon due to Sega having “got ahead of themselves a little bit”. The poll’s original winner Eathworm Jim’s release was denied days after its triumphant announcement when Gameloft chimed in with their own. No doubt Sega already discussed but forgot the publisher’s plans to revitalise the Shiny classic.

In an interview with Joystiq, series creator Greg Johnson excused Sega’s over-excitement as “an easy mistake to make” in the same way that a Jack Russel terrier in a characteristic bout of energy mistakes your letters as acceptable chew-toys. Despite the hiccup, Johnson assured Joystiq that while the deal was not off, responsibility lay with Sega to renegotiate the re-release, sitting as he is, “waiting to hear back from them to pick up the conversation”.

Toejam and Earl’s similarly disappointing absence from Sumo Digital developed, awkward to say, Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing stems from a separate disagreement with Johnson. He claims that a tight-fisted Sega approached Humanature Studios but “offered very little money” despite wanting “to tie up the rights to the characters across all platforms for an extended period”.

Fingers are crossed nationwide, praying that the poll isn’t opened a third time and we’re shafted with Revenge of Shinobi or Golden Axe II. Still, at this rate, we’ll find out a month after the revised pedestal announcement that Sega hasn’t remembered to contact the estate of Axe Battler or Joe Musashi.