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It appears sometimes even Sonic needs to take a break from saving repeatedly kidnapped princesses and skipping through time periods in ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ for the Xbox 360 and PS3. Even when the most speediest of blue hedgehogs wishes to slow things down for a little while though, level design can sometimes get in his way when taking a quiet stroll along the beach. Luckily though, the kind people at SEGA were nice enough to include him a constant gravitational pull towards any area of the environment no matter what speed he be going!
Just a bit of fun really. This video made me chuckle and look back on some of the minor technical glitches Sonic encountered in his Next Generation debut back in 2006. I’m sure most of us have gotten over how disappointing this game was, though looking through the frustration there were some relatively funny irregularities included in the game that are always fun to look back on. Let’s hope Sonic’s upcoming adventure on the same platforms don’t end up as technically impaired as this, though.
Source: Youtube.
In news that will make you wish you either lived in the UK, were able to get to the UK, or in any case signed the Convention’s attendance form in time, Richard Jacques and TJ Davis have just been confirmed as special guests to the Summer of Sonic event in London. Richard in particular has been kind enough to dedicate some of his time to help organise and set up things, as well as agreeing to a very special performance that will take place on the main stage. What a guy.
The performance in question will be on the piano, with vocal songs being performed by TJ Davis and Lee Brotherton. In particular, you can expect Sonic R renditions from TJ, an exclusive live performance of Dreams of an Absolution from Lee, and a duet of some kind involving both TJ and LB. We’ll leave exactly what that is, along with other unconfirmed tracks, as a surprise until the day. Gets you wetter.
Richard and TJ will also be milling around the convention hall throughout the day, and are more than up for people chatting to them about Sonic and things so go nuts. Richard’s a bit of a confessed Sonic fanboy anyway from what we hear. The two will also join Lee Brotherton and Nigel Kitching on stage after the performance for a Q&A session that will likely rock your world. Four of them, one of me? I call that Pimm’s o’clock.
The Summer of Sonic takes place in 12 days time. Awesome hall? Check. Playtest Sonic games before their release? Check. Win stuff? Check. Community? Check. The greatest lineup ever? Check that shit. August 9th’s going to be hot.
When Sonic Unleashed was announced, fans were overjoyed to see traditional 2D Sonic gameplay in the third dimension. However, some of us have changed our perception of the title once the werehog reared its ugly head. With the unveiling of “Sonic the Werehog,” some fans were excited at the prospect of a new gameplay element, in addition to 2.5D Sonic gameplay. The other half took its right hand to its face and smacked it in shame. Adding a new character, with an accompanying (new) gameplay style, has been a staple of the 3D Sonic games since their debut in Sonic Adventure in 1999. Each character brings something new to the table, and thus, something that is not traditional Sonic action that could take much needed polish time away from high-speed platforming and ring collecting.
Treasure hunting, mech shooting, varied team play, guns, and telekinesis have not raised the scores of reviewers or the trust of a loyal, fractured fanbase. So, that brings us to today’s topic:
Are gameplay styles that breakaway from the traditional Sonic gameplay necessary? Instead of multiple, poorly executed styles of gameplay, should SEGA simply focus on one and perfect it? Now, we are not in SEGAs inner-circle when it comes to how they create each Sonic game, so each argument is only in theory. Continue reading The Crossfire: Shooting Guns with Telekinesis
Hey, hands up who’s kinda sick of the way the 3D Sonic games are going? Oh, a lot of you? Yeah, me too. Well, Sonic Unleashed is looking like an interesting direction, and a somewhat return to form in terms of at least not-broken gameplay. We’re looking forward to blasting around dragons, yesiree.
But Sonic Unleashed isn’t out yet. Won’t be out for a bit. So until then, cast your eyes on the video above, which is a fangame engine that first cropped up on Sonic Fan Games HQ some months ago. Creators ‘Mark the Echidna’ and ‘Damizean’ have built a crude, if not absolutely awesome Sonic the Hedgehog 3D game engine (nicknamed ‘Sonic 360’).
It ticks all the right boxes for everything we feel should be present and correct in a Sonic game – open, expansive areas, multiple routes, momentum and physics based gameplay, slow platforming elements to complement the ability to run like a maniac, spin dash, pudgy Sonic (we’ve never seen a cuter, more awesome looking Sonic model), loops, no homing attack, etc. You see? ‘No bottomless pits’ can be done, and this is proof that you can inject some forward thinking in a classic-looking 3D Sonic game – watch that little bugger run up those walls! Awesome.
Best thing? You can actually download this engine. Trufax. You can grab it here, found via the Youtube page.
SEGA, Sonic Team? Take notes. Hire these guys. Whatever. Just get it done. K?
GameTrailers.com has named Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood the best DS game at E3. The Bioware-developed Sonic RPG beat out the Chrono Trigger remake, Rhythm Heaven, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, and Puzzle Quest Galactrix. GT stated that the stage demo was a deep, rich experience that really caught their attention at the show floor.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, DJ/musician Charles Hamilton spoke on his beginnings, his rise to fame through various mediums (most notably, the Internet), and his latest projects. The article comments on his presence, charisma, and revolutionary style of hip-hop. Most notably, he is a huge Sonic the Hedgehog fan and some of his tracks feature heavy sampling of the original game’s soundtrack and sound effects. On the topic of Sonic, Hamilton said:
“I always felt like there was no life without sound and Sonic obviously means sound, and hedgehog is buried underground. Which means that I’m buried into sound, music and it comes full circle, like a Sonic the Hedgehog loop.”
I have got my hands on his latest track and a lengthy freestyle session on a U.S. radio station, Power 106. Please, check them out, because you will definitely be entertained!
EDIT: Although the picture of the guy we had before is probably a very nice chap, it wasn’t actually Charles Hamilton. It was rapper ‘Papoose’. We got an email from ‘The Real Charles Hamilton’, who stood up and gave us a photo of himself. Sorry about that!
November 10th – Marble Zone remix, connections drawn between his life and Sonic. The best part is at the end when he says, “Where’s my fuckin’ Genesis?”
Freestyle on the DJ Green Lantern Show on Power 106 – Very impressive.
Sega Europe have announced a release date for their upcoming game Sonic Chronicles: the Dark Brotherhood. The Nintendo DS exclusive Bioware RPG will be released in Europe Friday 26th September. Expect a full review from us at release. You can check out info and media on the game at the official website here. You can also check out our hands-on with an early version here.
Sega Europe have also announced a release date for the upcoming Wii version of popular rhythm game Samba De Amigo. The Gearbox developed game will be released Friday September 19th in Europe. You can check out the games official site here. Again you can take a gander at our hands-on with an early version here.
Expect full-reviews of the games from us at release.
Source: Eurogamer
We’ve played an early version of Samba de Amigo for the Nintendo Wii. Found it kinda inaccurate in places – but hopefully something that will resolved in the final version, when using two Wii Remotes instead of a Nunchuk. But that new Wii Motion Plus gadget coming out next Spring? Ooh, wouldn’t that have made Samba de Amigo play exactly like the Dreamcast original with no accelerometer guesswork?
Wired.com’s Chris Kohler thought exactly the same thing, and mentioned to Nintendo’s Cammie Dunaway how Sega could have benefited from the new technology – had they heard about it, obviously. Her response?
Wired.com: If I was a developer, and I had a game that was in development that could potentially make use of this, I’d want to delay it until after this device came out. Just as an example, Sega is doing Samba de Amigo, which is a maraca-based music game. With two Wii MotionPlus controllers, you could play the game identically to the original arcade version.
Dunaway: And Star Wars Clone Wars. Hopefully there will be rapid second versions.
Not entirely sure SEGA are all that keen on re-releasing a re-release with technology the console should have arguably had in the first place. Especially since the Wii version of Samba de Amigo comes with Pay-to-Play features to download additional tracks. Could you see a second edition of Samba come Spring ’09? We personally couldn’t, but then nothing’s impossible – look at the Guitar Hero series. Or hell, even Samba de Amigo ver. 2000.
Nintendo’s Cammie Dunaway: I’m Not Faking It – Wired.com’s Game | Life
The first ever Sonic the Hedgehog convention has had to close registrations for attendees – because the event has proved too popular.
Citing problems with fitting the current number of named attendees into the 200-strong Dragon Hall in London’s Covent Garden, the organisers behind the event has has to warn that entrance may involve a waiting period, or those entering may have their time limited if they intend to stay all day. The aim is to let everyone have a fair chance of experiencing the event and seeing evertything the show has lined up, it was announced.
Summer of Sonic 2008 has risen in popularity since its announcement in June 2008, gaining attendance interest of almost double the capacity of the venue’s hall space and earning coverage across respected gaming websites such as Eurogamer, Computer and Video Games and Destructoid. Special Guests announced so far include Sonic the Comic writer Nigel Kitching and Dreams of an Absolution star Lee Brotherton, with more guests expected to be announced.
Attendees will be able to meet, greet, experience live performances and play games with one another, including contests and the first ever play at Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. Entrance is free, with the costs of staging the event funded by members of the Sonic community and support from SEGA Europe. The convention will be recorded and the Summer of Sonic website updated, for those unable to attend to experience the event as well.
Summer of Sonic – Registration CLOSED – Summer of Sonic
In addition to the last SAGE 2008 informational news update, posted here at TSS, SAGE director, Shadix, has released new information! The updated post includes updated photos of the games that were previously confirmed, as well as brand new confirmations:
MORE CONFIRMED GAMES
MORE CONFIRMED GUESTS
MORE CONFIRMED EVENTS
Stay tuned for even more SAGE 2008 confirmations! A SAGE news thread has now appeared at TSS in the Sonic the Hedgehog forum as a sticky. Check it out here!
SAGE, again, will take place on August 17th through the 24th at http://sagexpo.org/
With the recent announcement of Sonic’s sword wielding Wii adventure coming out next Spring, fans and gamers as a whole were stoked wondering whether or not this was to be the first game incorporating Nintendo’s recently E3 announced ‘Wii MotionPlus’ accessory. Unfortunately however, after some investigation work on Game Informers part, it doesn’t look like any games boasting the new Waggle Plus peripheral are set to emerge for quite some time.
Hurrah! Who could possibly say no to a bunch of new videos from the latest build of ‘Sonic Chronicles and the Dark Brotherhood’ on the Nintendo DS? Not TSS, that’s for sure! The new videos are viewable at GameTrailers here.
The footage actually may look a little similar to something else to most of you, and that’s because they’re actually videos that were included on the official website when released some weeks back. The difference now? GameTrailers have gone through all the trouble of adding in some ‘banging toonz’ from the game that certainly do sound awesome, and not to mention Sonic like. Continue reading Game Trailers – More Sonic Chronicles footage!
If you need a reason as to why Lee Brotherton/Bentley Jones coming to the Summer of Sonic convention is a big deal, you need look no further than Silver’s theme in Sonic 06. Compared to a token performance by ‘hip’ and ‘with it’ Zebrahead and a cover of a past theme, it’s easily the best on the soundtrack.
For those who live, breathe and sleep for Bentley Jones though, you can grab a Guitar Hero III mod for the PC that has a note chart for Dreams of an Absolution: LB vs JS Remix. We’d post where you can download this mod yourself, but we can’t find a source and the actual note chart is horrible. So we’ll post this video instead.
You can always hassle the video author on his Youtube page. We’d mention how the guy’s performance isn’t too good but then we’re pretty crap at GH ourselves. Hell, those Wii-groomed grannies can rock out with plastic better than we can. But that’s probably not a topic for discussion on here.
SUMMER OF SONIC / DREAMS OF A GUITAR HERO – Bentley Jones’ Blog
Last year, The Sonic Stadium attended the Tokyo Game Show in Japan. We reported on all sorts of lovely junk for various video game outlets, not least Nintendo Official Magazine with a preview of No More Heroes. Amidst the madness was SEGA’s booth, which had a healthy dose of Ryu Ga Gotoku Kenzan!, Valkyria Chronicles and NiGHTS Journey of Dreams. Of course, to help sell the company’s latest wares was none other than Sonic the Hedgehog himself.
Now you can watch as he entertains us with his strong man poses, cute nose-rubbing and photo-taking. We especially like the SEGA rep taking him away shortly after chasing a photo-buddy for not shaking his hand. Genius.
Fellow Sonic fan-site Blue Blur have got a copy of the new issue of Nintendo Power and have scanned up some Sonic and the Black Knight screenshots and artwork. They have also typed up all the info Sonic Team were willing to reveal which is as follows –
What’s up? It’s “the bad guy” here and in honor of introducing new features to the front page, and respecting both sides of the story, I have got another one up your sleeve: The Crossfire – where two sides rise, but where do you fall? Now that opinions are at the forefront at this time and other bloggers are sweeping up tidbits to fulfill your traditional “Sonic News,” I guess I can take this route. Let’s begin!
Today’s topic: Sonic has been in a lot of adventures. I mean, a lot. Like…totally…lots. However, it was not until 2001 in Sonic Adventure 2, that we were introduced to the concept of “grinding.” Grinding has appeared in every single game since, but has it worn out its welcome in the Sonic world? Or, has it kept itself fresh and interesting to remain relevant? Continue reading The Crossfire: Grinding
Oh my. Look at all the wonderful colours!
Fear not Wii owners, your retro gaming dosage of Sonic the Hedgehog doesn’t stop at Sonic 3D, oh no! You may remember our very own TSS journalist Shadzter reporting yesterday morning that a mysterious Sonic related game rating appeared on the OFLC web site. Fans of the blue speedster pondered on to what this game might have been, ‘Sonic and the Seven Dwarves’ perhaps? But no, rest assured after confirmation by the ESRB site that it is none other than the original 8-bit Sonic the Hedgehog wonder that’s hitting the Wii’s Virtual Console service in the near future.
Thanks to SEGA’s recent ‘deal’ with Nintendo allowing Master System games to become available on the service, for the low price of around 500-600 points you can relive the hedgehog in his glory days by downloading the first game that sent Sonic off flying released in parallel to the Mega Drive/Genesis equivalent. Knowing SEGA and Nintendo, we should also be seeing other Sonic Master System games hitting the service in the future too, those being Sonic 2, Sonic Chaos and maybe even the 8-bit versions of Sonic Spinball and Dr. Robotniks Mean Bean Machine. All of these titles are fantastic fun and VC releases will be great for those unfortunate souls who have never ventured away from the 16 bit era of Sonic before.
Check back with TSS and stay in the ‘know’ about the release of the title on the VC. Keep on saving those pennies- I mean, points!
Hey, “the bad guy,” Slingerland here. Today, TSS is introducing a new feature along side “The Spin.” It’s a comic by SSMB staffer, Roarey Racoon, and its content will be based of the happenings of Sonic and the Sonic online community. It is not something that you will see on a regular basis, but when he makes one, it will be here ready for you to read. Enjoy.
Strip #1: “Too Much Love Will Kill You”
This edition of The Spin series of columns doesn’t really want to go in depth about anything right at this moment. It simply wishes to represent The Sonic Stadium and extend an apology.
Our coverage of Sonic and the Black Knight has been somewhat controversial. We do not apologise for our “NO” outburst. This is an opinion. In the vast reaches of the Internet, one is allowed to express an opinion, even based on one scan. Can we say the game will suck in terms of gameplay? No, of course not. Can we say it’s a terrible idea? Yes, we can.
The SSMB Forums have been another forum of hot controversy regarding the new game announcement. A few months ago, you couldn’t say anything positive about a Sonic game unless you wanted to get flamed. This situation is very different, and we are thankful for it. However, now there is a situation whereby nobody can say anything negative about a Sonic game unless you want to get flamed. This is unacceptable, and a reason behind why I have been vocal and cracking down on certain people on the forums as of late. All I want is a balance and respect of opinion. If you don’t allow positive opinion, you look like a “Classic Fanboy” website. If you don’t allow negative opinion, you look like an official SEGA Europe forum.
I want to extend apologies to ArchAngelUK. We had a good and healthy debate about the Sonic and the Black Knight news, but it appears he seems to think it was an argument. I have never treated any discussion with AAUK with anger, and the debate the other night was no exception. I’m not exactly sure what drove him to believe TSS and myself were against him for simply voicing an opinion about an announcement, but perhaps it’s a sure sign of the dangers when a website can get too close to the official source. Continue reading The Spin: An Apology
A rating for a Sonic game has appeared on the OFLC’s website. The game has been rated G for General and is simply titled “SONIC THE HEDGEHOG Game (Multi Platform)”.
What’s odd about it is that the game’s publisher is listed as Nintendo. I guess this could be for Sonic Unleashed or Sonic and the Black Knight but Black Knight is supposed to be Wii Exclusive not multi-platform and Sonic Unleashed is surely being published by Sega because its being released on Sony and Microsoft platforms. Only conclusion one can come to is this must be referring to a new Wii and DS game as Nintendo are publishing it. Hopefully Nintendo/Sega will explain soon.
Thanks to Dan Hibiki for bringing this to everyones attention at the SSMB!
Sega Europe have officially announced Sonic and the Black Knight for Wii. Here is their press release –
SAN FRANCISCO & LONDON (July 21, 2008) –SEGA of Europe Ltd. and SEGA® of America, Inc. today announced Sonic™ and the Black Knight, an all-new Wii-exclusive adventure. Part of the storybook series of games that began with Sonic and the Secret Rings, this new title brings Sonic into the world of Arthurian legend and offers the worlds most infamous blue hedgehog the chance to become a knight. Using the unique Wii control system, this exciting game will take advantage of both the Wii Remote and the Nunchuk to offer an interactive experience that any Sonic fans will love. Continue reading Sonic and the Black Knight officially announced
In light of a few random messages we’ve been getting over the last week, we thought we’d better clear up some of the confusion people are having. The Sonic Stadium used to be host to a news service called ‘Sonic News’. This service involved providing readers with the latest happenings in the Sonic universe by being unbiased, serious and generally governed with a rod up its bum. ‘Sonic News’ became the new word for ‘The Sonic Stadium’, as it was the main thing getting updated every now and then, so something was done to combat this (as it was, after all, getting annoying. There is a website accompanying the news service, you know).
We brought back the News area into The Sonic Stadium. So, as we stated in our very first introductory post since we relaunched last month, Sonic News does not exist anymore. It’s not here. You can’t find it. Not even playing Hide and Seek. It’s gone for good. All news will be relayed via The Sonic Stadium, and will provide the facts you need to know coupled with some entertaining writing and perhaps even some thoughtful/homourous opinion.
“Oh dear Svend, but a News site doesn’t apply opinion into their stories”. Quite right Sir/Madam, which is where you made your first mistake. The Sonic Stadium isn’t a news source. It’s a Sonic fansite. We write about Sonic because we are passionate about the series, we collect the games and merchandise, we watch the shows (even the piss poor ones like Underground). And further, we want to be a fansite that connects with you, another fan. If you don’t agree with our opinions, fine. But don’t get confused as to why we’re trying to be funny, or trying to pour some personality into a post to begin with.
We have different awesome writers with different opinions, making for a fruity bowl of Sonic fun. We could heavily edit some of our work to be a bit more ‘unbiased’ – I almost heavily edited the “Sonic and the Black Knight” article from last night. But you know what? What’s the point if fans can’t go a bit crazy sometimes and just tell it like it is? And if you don’t like it, why do you care?
This is, for all intents and purposes, a blog. Not a news site. If you wanted really serious, boringly-told stories with your seizure-inducing gaming session of Sonic Heroes, you shouldn’t be going to a fansite. You should be going to CNN. And you shouldn’t be playing Sonic Heroes.
We hear a lot of people were in fact confused about why the ‘News stories on Sonic News had gone downhill’, and I thought it best to explain why. This is not Sonic News, we have not gone downhill, we are writing to entertain and to inspire your mind. Or something. And if you didn’t read this, at least we’re covered just in case you’re Quexinos and want to complain that facts you provided to Sonic News in 2007 were sourced incorrectly (that’s why the post doesn’t exist anymore, Richard). Got it? Cool. Let’s rock.
A ‘true Sonic fan’, reading The Sonic Stadium yesterday. Like, chill out man. Walk outside for a bit.
Looks like a few people want Sonic to go all ‘Legend of Zelda’ on us after all. Since our (note) not-news-story broke of the new Wii game, we have had a few comments of complaint. It’s nice when people don’t bother to use the ‘Contact’ form to inform us of new Sonic happenings, but it’s used up the wazoo when a BLOG states its opinion on a new title. Guess all people can do is complain.
But we thought we’d address each comment directly, and provide a broad generalisation as to just why we reacted the way we did. So here goes.
dude seriously i dont think you are a sonic fan i mean seriously mario had to travel through space to find a freaking princess its the same story line over and over again, so what if sonic makes a game about sub characters it just adds to the story line, at least sega is trying unlike nintendo, or YOU, they have great ideas, u can take this feed back anyway u want, seriously just let sonic be the way he is, and stop bitching about something new about him,
yous sincerely a true sonic fan
We’re not Sonic fans at all, no. Oh sorry, for a second there I thought we were on the Mario Stadium and not the Sonic Stadium. OK, so Super Mario has to repeat the same basic storyline ad nauseum. But think about it. Do you play a Sonic game for its gripping storyline? If you do, you’re probably better off grabbing an RPG and playing that – recent attempts to add a ‘serious’ tone to the Sonic games have been poor, and it shows it’s just not possible in the realm of Sonic. When you consider we’ve had seven years of poor console Sonic titles you’d think Sonic Team would drop the whole ‘plot’ thing by now.
Funnily enough, if we wanted to bitch about Sonic, we would really be having a go at Sonic Unleashed right now. But we’re not, because 50% of that game is looking absolutely fantastic. There’s this weird perception at the moment that, because a game concept is totally rubbish (Sonic with a sword? Really?) and we say it is, that means we’re automatically ‘bitching’.
You like the idea of Sonic and the Black Knight. Good for you. Seriously. Have a brownie. But don’t tell us where to get off because a lot of other people are facepalming themselves right now. Consider: Sonic Rush Adventure, the Sonic side of Sonic Unleashed. Now consider: Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic 2006. The latter two games sucked – you might love Shadow or Sonic 2006, but no opinion will get around the fact that they are poor, misprogrammed, rubbish-concept games.
What is a ‘true Sonic fan’ anyway?
Continue reading Sonic and the Black Knight – The “Defend Sonic” Brigade
Words cannot express how pissed off I am right now. This “leaked” Nintendo Power cover better be a hilarious prank. Knowing SEGA, though, I doubt that it is.
Svend: “Dear SEGA…
NO.
Yours sincerely,
Everyone”
EDIT: Whoever scanned this cover is obviously unaware of the rules of the Internets, so we removed his name and address where necessary. Can we learn how to do this in future so we don’t end up having to do proper work? (EDIT 2: This was a joke at ourselves and not at the awesome dude who originally scanned this page. We had to write this disclaimer because several retards kept assuming we were taking the piss out of the poor chap.)
SFGHQ member, Shadix, has posted the first chunk of information for the 2008 Sonic Amateur Game Expo. Currently, the thread has surfaced only at SFGHQ, but it will shortly be making its rounds to every major Sonic fansite, including TSS. Here’s the scoop on what’s confirmed for this year’s event:
GAMES
CHAT ROOM GUESTS
COMPETITIONS
OTHER CONFIRMED DETAILS
Stay tuned for more information regarding the biggest, Sonic online community event for the past decade – SAGE 2008.
Probably because they’d pronounce it “Un-reashed” and that would just be silly, SEGA Japan has taken it upon itself to rename Sonic’s latest outing for Asian territories.
There were massive rumours that the game had suffered a name change – heavily debunked by SEGA Europe, with the explanation that World Adventure was merely a work-in-progress title. Turns out nobody keeps each other informed in the land of SEGA, and now we have semi-confirmation (semi because it is Japan only after all) in the form of a new official website.
There’s really not a lot else going on with the website, so don’t expect waves of information. But if you’d like an updated Sonic Un… World Adventure experience check it out. The website does look very nice though.
Dasgamer have put up their thoughts on Sonic Unleashed at E3 and were lucky enough to meet Sonic the Werehog in person (well… OK, just a guy that’s dressed up for Halloween early, then). Like Sega’s past Sonic costumes (apart from the Mario & Sonic costumes) it really does resemble the in-game model. Would be good advertising for the game’s November release if Sega could put out some Halloween Werehog costumes to go trick-or-treating in, you could hold alot of candy with those hands.
Smart company Blaze have gone and done it, they’ve created a handheld Mega Drive for you to show off on your travels. The portable machine has 20 built-in games and runs off triple A batteries and can also be hooked up to your TV.
Games included are –
The handheld is out now and retails for £29.99. You can buy it here.
The 2008 Sonic Amateur Game Expo, hosted by Sonic Fan Games HQ, is exactly one month away and to celebrate, TSS member Huepow00 is helping build excitement by releasing a teaser video. The video also serves as a reminder for those who are thinking of entering to start working if you haven’t already, so get going people! The show can never have enough projects! Guests (most notably, Ryan Drummond, who is back for his second year) and events are being finalized and added as we speak, so it looks to be another stellar community event.
SAGE 2008 will start August 17th at 12 AM GMT. Registration for booths will happen August 4th through the 8th.
Quexinos/Sonique, former administrator of the Fans United for SatAM website, has buried the hatchet with almost-Sonic-film-producer Richard Kuta over claims that a Sonic the Hedgehog movie pitch he made 18 months ago never happened.
Way back in January 2007, Richard Kuta had pitched his fan film project to studios such as Universal in order to produce a brand new Sonic the Hedgehog film. The Sonic Stadium originally reported it here while progress was still young – Richard had then boasted that SEGA had actually “green-lighted” such a project – claims that ended up being false.
While SEGA had not in fact given the go ahead, Richard’s intentions and ambitions were quite real, and were evidenced as such with discussions involving PR spokespeople from various studios. Quexinos made claims that Kuta was not in fact a filmmaker and called into question the validity of the project to The Sonic Stadium some days after the original news story, which you can read here.
Since that time, Kuta and Quexinos have been at loggerheads as the former insisted his project was real and the latter constantly debunked the claims. Quexinos wrote a post in the FUS forums today, reneging on the claims she made in 2007:
Rich did a lot of stupid and dumb things okay? But one thing he did right, was he somehow got Universal and DiC to back him up. Now I know what you’re thinking, “But he’s bullshitting…” well I found out he wasn’t. I talked to someone at Universal who at least remembered who he was (yeah I went there >.>) It was like I was talking to Rich and he said “Go ahead and call them” and so I did. So there I said it.
Richard’s movie pitch eventually fell flat in Decembet 2006, before all this mess began, when SEGA told him they were making a Sonic film internally. Since that time, Richard has been constantly contacting websites in an attempt to convince people such a project is still in production.
Unfortunately, we can say with certainty that, although The Sonic Stadium supported Richard in his original pitch, he is incorrect in believing a communication from early 2007 is proof SEGA is making a Sonic film. Had this been the case, we would have all heard about it by now. You can chalk up the ‘internal movie’ response as a polite form of rejecting Richard’s original pitch and nothing more.
Still, at least a year-long drama between a website and a budding film maker has come to an end at last, hasn’t it? Now, let’s never hear of any of this again. Ever ever ever ever again.
Everyone and his dog wants to go to the Summer of Sonic convention. That much is obvious. So what exactly will be there for people to salivate over? Sure, Sonic nerds like me and you can hang and play Sonic Rivals for six hours, but will there be any EXCLUSIVES, yo!?
Well guess what. If you can even manage to get inside the hall on the day (I’m not even joking, it’s going to be packed in there) then your prize will be playing Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood first. Before anyone else in the world (it’s being released in September, you see). How does that strike you? You probably won’t be able to hear the lovely Richard Jacques soundtrack with all the background noise most likely, but we should have a remedy for that…… headphones, for example.
It’s probably a good idea to keep an eye on the Summer of Sonic website on a regular basis from now on – there are two (three?) more special guests that have yet to be revealed, all of which will make the Sonic fan cream thyself. The second special guest to complement Lee Brotherton will be announced tomorrow. If you fancy playing a little guessing game, head over to the SSMB where a clue has been dropped of the guest’s identity.
Play Sonic Chronicles Before Release – Summer of Sonic
Gamespot’s at E3. We aren’t. SAD FACE. But luckily Gamespot’s able to pick up the slack that we can’t otherwise manage, and have grabbed a SEGA Brand Manager guy to help showcase some real in-game demos of Sonic Unleashed. What’s interesting to note here is that the 3D segments, contrary to popular belief, are not on rails, and many are fully 3D analog-stick playable. We saw some areas in the China stage that looked more like a SatSR-style “shift left, shift right” style of 3D play, but generally we’re looking at some good old 3D movement here.
The guy demoing the game’s not too hot, and there was one section where Sonic glitched and failed an automatic spring-to-grind section, but the rest looks solid. We’re told that there will be equal nighttime versions of every stage, and Sonic segments will be much longer than the Werewolf ones to compensate for the speed at which you blitz through them. The nighttime alter ego is officially labelled as ‘Sonic the Werehog’, and the fighting aspect does look pretty cool.
Truth be told, this demo lays some concerns to rest, particularly with the Werehog. Sure, we could have done without any brawling segments at all and just had Sonic run from left to right and up a Z-axis, but the nighttime sections do look like they’re going to hold some enjoyable, classic platforming action. There are two attack buttons and a grab move in addition to your jump (which also has a double jump for additional height), and while Werehog isn’t as agile as traditional Sonic, he can use his massive arms to grab ledges and pull himself up. We still don’t like carrying pots around but grabbing enemies doesn’t seem compulsory at least. In fact, the whole thing reminds us that we want a new Streets of Rage game; this mechanic would be perfect for it.
SEGA pretty much confirmed that alternative characters may be playable (using the classic PR “We’re not ready to announce anything yet”) besides Sonic, which sounds like a bowl of fail. Let this be a game about Sonic for once and not his over-publicised friends. Sonic Unleashed will also have an online component, although quite what this is has yet to be revealed. Check the video if you have half an hour, it’s a good watch.
Sonic Unleashed E3 2008 Stage Show Demo – Gamespot (via SSMB)
Hey, everybody! The Sonic Show has followed suit with TSS’ WordPress update and has now launched its own, brand new WordPress site! Updates are now more manageable for Jay to update and for you to view. The new site is an RSS feed for you to subscribe to, so that you know when the next episode of the #1 Sonic podcast is available, or when Jay scores some rare and/or exclusive media!
The Sonic Show has been on a roll since moving here to TSS. The show has now been downloaded 170,304 times (season 1 and 2 combined) and the most recent episode (Season 2, Episode 2) has been downloaded 8,125 times, according to the RSS feed. Episode 1, which debuted back in February, has now reached the 15,000 download mark and is truly impressive.
Look out for Episode Three of the second season to debut after the much-anticipated Summer of Sonic. The show will feature Unleashed news, new Sonic shorts, and I will continue to read your e-mails. I encourage everybody who loves Sonic to tune in and to check out the new site!
Sonic Unleashed is kicking all sorts of arse, and it’s just round the corner. Has you thinking a few things. Things like, “OK, this is like the third game in a row that Jun Senoue (a person that for some reason TSS strikes a similarity with Ken Watanabe) hasn’t had an involvement in the soundtrack. What gives? Is he gallivanting with roadies on stage or something?”
That’s a good question, but fear not! Rather than sitting in a palace garden reminiscing about Cherry Blossoms (maybe), we have it on good authority that Jun may be busy preparing for the next Sonic the Hedgehog title, and our sources tell us that Lee Brotherton (Sonic Rivals, Silver’s theme in Sonic 06) and Richard Jacques (Sonic Chronicles, Sonic R) is to meet with the Japanese rocker soon to discuss possibilities (maybe ‘Endless Possibilities’?.. Oh God, that joke really will get old very quickly).
According to our super-secret-squirrel, this new Sonic project is very likely canon and not a spin-off – Jun’s involvement only reinforces that. But still, such a project is eons away; given the usual time frame for Sonic games, we’ll probably see this one in late 2009 or 2010 unless it’s continuing to use the Hedgehog Engine. It’s just nice to know these things though isn’t it?
So for now enjoy Sonic Unleashed, safe in the knowledge that Junny Baby is not out, and that as clockwork SEGA are planning the next game in the franchise. Can you imagine a possible soundtrack involving Senoue, LB and Jacques though? Epic. If there’s a God, He better well make it happen.
1999, Sega Headquarters
“Hey boss! It seems the kids really liked Sonic Adventure, except for uh… every character that wasn’t Sonic. Also, the adventure. What should we do for the sequel?”
“Hmm… Sonic Adventure 2! Add new characters, some all new adventure… it’ll be a hit, I tells ya, a hit!”
2001, Sega Headquarters
“Well boss, Sonic Adventure 2 was received pretty well, but people still want nothing to do with those side-characters. What now?”
“Hmm… Sonic Heroes! This time, we’ll force them to play as side-characters even while playing as Sonic! It’s genius, I tells ya, genius!”
2004, Sega Headquarters
“Boss, Sonic Heroes didn’t go over very well. I really think we should listen to the fans, and pare it back down to just Sonic alone. What do you say?”
“Hmm… Shadow the Hedgehog! Kids love the streets, see. You know, gansta lifestyles? They won’t even care about Sonic once we give them a look-alike with a motherf***ing gun. Thug life, yo!” Continue reading The History of Sonic, as told by 1UP
