Videogamer.com: Chronicles 4th Top Nintendo Game of 2008

You may have seen TSS Staff member Slingerland’s earlier article regarding GameTrailers nominating Sonic Chronicles in their Biggest Disapointment of 2008 category.

Well now, Videogamer.com have made a list of their Top 10 Nintendo Platform Exclusive’s of 2008 and Sonic Chronicles has been given 4th place. Boom Blox made it to 3rd, Zack and Wiki 2nd and Professor Layton 1st. Sonic Chronicles managed to beat the likes of first-party Nintendo titles Mario Kart Wii and Super Smash Bros Brawl. Wow! In Videogamer.com’s top 50 games across all platforms Sonic Chronicles made it to a respectable 43rd place.

In their review Videogamer.com gave Sonic Chronicles a great score of 8/10, the game was praised for it’s graphics and combat.

Do you think the game deserves such high respect? Discuss over at the SSMB topic.

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Let’s Go To The City With Sonic Town Tunes & Patterns

Are you cool like me in getting a copy of Animal Crossing: City Folk (or Let’s Go to the City for some of you) for Christmas? If so, you must have considered letting your Sonic fanboyism spill into the user created aspects of the game. The Sonic Stadium is here to help, by providing you some catchy town tunes and patterns to design at the Abel Sister’s shop.

When it comes to some town tunage, your best resource is the database at Animal Crossing Community. If you simply search “Sonic,” you can get 85 Sonic songs, even some from Sonic Unleashed, like the Rooftop theme at Spagonia. Green Hill shows up a few times, along with other classic themes, but “Open Your Heart,” “Live and Learn,” and songs from Sonic X are also in the database. My personal favorite town tunes are the “Sonic the Fighters” theme and “Toot Toot Sonic Warrior.”

As for patterns, the Animal Crossing Community is the first place to go for some amazing Sonic patterns.  The site has 1,421 patterns to choose from and most of them are really awesome and detailed, like ones featuring those wicked Sonic Battle sprites.  The site “Animal Crossing Ahead” has about 200 Sonic related patterns for you to gawk at and use. Click here to head on over to the Sonic pattern page at Animal Crossing Ahead.

Green Hill Zone - an old standby

With these links, you should be well-equipped to start a Sonic fashion trend in your town (which is probably named either “Pooptown,” “Buttville,” or “St. Fart” from my estimation).  If you have an awesome pattern or song for Animal Crossing and you would like to share it with us at TSS, drop me a PM and I’ll totally:

a) Put it in my town

b) Fan Spotlight it

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GameTrailers nominates “Chronicles” for biggest disappointment

Considering that I (yes, me) was excited for Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood and was absolutely surprised at its mediocrity, it came as no shock to see it nominated for GameTrailers’ “Most Disappointing Game of 2008.”  GT nominated it for Bioware’s inclusion, as they have a reputation as THE studio for RPGs, along with a tedious combat system, unimportant story, and irrelevant dialog sequences to name a few reasons.

Although GT gave the nod to Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for the most disappointing game, which was definitely earned, Chronicles nomination should be a clear enough indication that things need to change.

Nobody knows what to really do. If Bioware, a company with a quality reputation, could not pull off a Sonic game worthy of the franchise, I cannot imagine who can.

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TSS’ Christmas Movie: Night of the Living Warhog

You may have heard of Evil Doc as the geniuses behind the animated shorts seen in various episodes of The Sonic Show. Topics that have grabbed their attention include the ‘best’ cutscenes in modern Sonic games and the music that can sometimes muffle the voices of the main characters (whether that’s a good or bad thing we’ll leave to you, gentle reader).

Now Evil Doc have taken to the recent Halloween Sonic Unleashed movie, Night of the Living Werehog, and have recieved word that SEGA are in fact making a Christmas movie based on its success! Called Night of the Living Warhog: Christmas Edition, it features Shadow and Black Doom investigating a haunted house on Christmas Eve… shortly before the black hedgehog starts shooting everything down.

It’s a great jape on the classic Sonic Unleashed tie-in, and a perfect thing for you to watch on Christmas Eve as you wait for Santa/Father Christmas to come down your chimney. Hopefully he won’t meet any Rambo-inspired black hedgehogs on his way to your house, although that could be a good excuse for your parents to use for the lack of presents.

Hit the jump to watch the video. Continue reading TSS’ Christmas Movie: Night of the Living Warhog

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‘Twas the Night Before Christmas

Hey, chumps, it’s Christmas! I just wanted to stop by and wish all SSMB members and TSS readers a happy holiday season. I haven’t been around here, the forums, or my own websites as of late, because everybody is being an asshole about Sonic Unleashed. It was a nice, well-deserved break after finals week and telling you all to shut the hell up about reviews. With a clear head, I’m ready to head into the holidays with good spirits and I am willing to share my cheer with all of you, even the people that I cannot stand.

To the Sonic Stadium staff… Merry Christmas.

To the staffs at Sonic Retro and SFGHQ… Merry Christmas.

To the supporters of my gradually disappointing skit on The Sonic Show… Merry Christmas.

To Jay DiscoPoines, who airs my gradually disappointing skit on The Sonic Show… Merry Christmas.

To the beer that Dreadknux and I plan to have together in the future… Merry Christmas.

To Blast Processing… Merry Christmas.

To TJ Davies and Richard Jacques… Merry Christmas.

To Boyz 2 Men… Merry Christmas.

To my mom, who laughably (yet, lovingly) assumed that Sonic Unleashed and/or Sonic Chronicles would make “good” Christmas gifts, since I am a Sonic fan… Merry Christmas <3.

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Nintendo Power Interview Naoto Oshima

Naoto Oshima deserves far more credit for the Sonic the Hedgehog series than he ever got during his employment at SEGA Enterprises. The creator of the Sonic character, he has also directed many games and headed projects at Sonic Team, including NiGHTS Into Dreams with Yuji Naka and Sonic CD. He left SEGA shortly after Sonic Adventure, and his lack of presence showed even in Sonic Adventure 2. Forming Artoon though has been a rocky ride for the guy who wants to be the “Walt Disney” of video games, with the amicable Blinx his first non-SEGA creation following the lacklustre Pinobee and questionable sequels to Yoshi’s Island. It’s been an undeserved fall from grace for the poor guy.

Nintendo Power have an interview with the game designer/creator, and about his history in the video game industry. It’s a real interesting read, and Oshima comes across as a really humble guy, taking on all sorts of roles to get a feel for every aspect of game design. One of the ‘original three’ that most fans really count in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise – the other two being programmer Yuji Naka and level designer Hirokazu Yasuhara – he says that he feels best when he’s designing stuff for games. This is in parallel to Naka’s admission to fancying more of a ‘hands on’ approach to making games, shortly before he left Sonic Team to form his own studio.

Other interesting nuggets include his role in Sonic Spinball – he designed the pinball maps for the game, which regardless of your opinion of the spinoff Mega Drive game are pretty decent maps – his entrusting of Sonic’s modern design to Yuji Uekawa from Sonic Adventure onwards (“I think he did a great job”) and lends more credibility to the theory that Sonic CD and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 are practically two odds to the same project (“Naka [was sent] to America [to work on] the Genesis version, which… left me to develop the CD version in Japan”).

You can read the article via scans of the magazine, here for Page 1 and here for Page 2.

Naoto Oshima Interview In Nintendo Power – SSMB (thanks NintendoBrad)

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To The Sonic Stadium…

It’s been a bit of a mental Christmas at TSS Towers. Despite the fact that I’m too poor to buy many presents this year, I seem to have come into a bit of a windfall of packages from Up North to the Land of Oz. I’ve had gestures of goodwill from AAUK/SEGA, T-Bird, Elson ‘Darkspeeds’ Wong, Jemnezmy, Hawkz, Urtheart and DiscoPonies so I figure I will share with you lot what came in the mail this week.

First, AAUK and SEGA Europe sent us this rather natty card, above. You’ll remember this design as it’s the same one on the promotional advent calendars we received during our trip to playtest Sonic Unleashed. “To The Sonic Stadium, Merry Christmas, From SEGA” it reads. Bless your hearts, guys. Continue reading To The Sonic Stadium…

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Christmas Contest: The Winner and the Entries

There can only be one winner for the prize pack of Sonic goodies, and all you guys had to do was make a present for Sonic the Werehog. Well, we had plenty of entries, and the simple fact of the matter is having one prize made the decision-making very difficult indeed. A whole bunch of you have such great Christmas spirit, and the entries we recieved ranged from the incredibly thoughtful to the insane. All of them made us realise how talented and dedicated the Sonic fanbase truly is – we might argue about the games, but man can we get together and make some good stuff when we want to.

So this post is not just a celebration of who won this contest, but one of all our entrants, and a showcase of just how varied and wonderful our submissions have been. Hit the jump to see them all. Continue reading Christmas Contest: The Winner and the Entries

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New Sonic and the Black Knight artwork and screens

Nintendo fan site Nintendo Everything have managed to nab some new screens and artwork of upcoming Nintendo Wii game Sonic and the Black Knight. The images look a little grainy as if they’ve been scanned from a magazine but no magazine is mentioned in the sites post. Most of the screens we’ve already seen but a couple are new and there’s also some artwork of the big bad wolf Black Knight riding horse-back, we’re yet to find out the horse’s name though but for now I’ll call him Dreadagus since he’s dark and he looks as bad ass as Dreadknux Pegasus came to mind.

Another screenshot of Sonic outside of a dark town with a fiery sky looks like possible artwork but Sonic’s model looks like the in-game model so I’ll let you be the judge on wether that is art or in-game screenshot.

You can check out all of the images here

UPDATE: I have been informed that these images are from the latest issue of Nintendo Power, thanks to SSMB Member: Hero of legend

Discuss over at the SSMB topic.

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Zero Punctuation Obliterates Sonic Unleashed.

If the player above doesn’t work, click here.

Yahtzee’s right, you know. Aaaaand, hilarious while doing it.

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Sonic Chronicles Price Spin-Attacked In Half At Gamestation

UK retailer Gamestation have slashed the price of SEGA and Bioware Nintendo DS RPG game Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood in half to £14.67 with the VAT reduction knocked off. This is likely to be be part of their Christmas Advent sale they’ve been running this month where a new game gets reduced to half price every day up until Christmas.

I don’t know when the offer ends but it’s likely to be Christmas Eve. If you were holding back on picking this game up because of the price (ya cheapniks) then now is a good time to go get it. The half-price deal is in-store and online.

Gamestation.co.uk

You can find out more about Sonic Chronicles at the game’s official interactivewebsite.

Discuss over at the SSMB topic.

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Let’s Tap, Let’s Tap, Future Tapping Game (Oh Yeah)

Yuji Naka’s proving he nicked the best part of Sonic Team when he formed Prope by showing off more of his first project, Let’s Tap. I’ll be honest, I’ve had enough of pointless Wii party games, but this one intrigues me. Mostly because, having Yuji Naka on board and doing some grass-roots programming and stuff, it won’t suck.

Watch this five minute trailer of all the minigames you can tap your way along. The music is spot on too, and the whole style is just classic Sonic Team. Only, they’re not anymore. But, you know what I mean. If you’re wondering where the heart of Iizuka’s studio’s gone, Prope’s probably where it is now.

Future Tapping Game.

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An Adorable Amy Christmas Card

This was very kindly made for The Sonic Stadium by Adamis Fox. Words just don’t do this picture justice, because it’s the cutest thing we have ever seen. Enjoy.

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Contest: Win A Christmas Present From Sonic

Christmas is all about giving, and in association with SEGA Europe we have a special present to give to one of our readers out there! Here’s what’s up for grabs:

  • A pair of Sonic X kid’s size shoes
  • Sonic Chronicles T-Shirt
  • Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Pinbadge
  • A Summer of Sonic 2008 T-Shirt (the one that TJ Davis said she really liked)
  • Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity T-Shirt
  • Sonic Unleashed Hoodie
  • Werehog Keyring
  • Sonic Rush Adventure Keyring/Compass
  • Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity Sticker Set
  • Sonic Rivals 2 on the PSP
  • A European Sonic Chronicles Nintendo DS Tin
  • Sonic Chronicles Stylus Pack
  • Sonic X Rouge Keyring (no, you pervs, Rouge from Sonic X, not… that)
  • An “I Love SEGA” sweet

Only one person can win this box of goodies, and all you have to do is think of a present to give to Sonic the Werehog. Continue reading Contest: Win A Christmas Present From Sonic

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Signed SatAM DVD on eBay

It’s clear to see that the best release of the SatAM DVD box set is the American one. Brits have also been lucky enough to see a SatAM boxset, but we don’t have any of that awesome artwork on the cover, nor the fan art that adorns the inside packaging. So what better than to get a copy of the American DVD boxset that’s also signed by Series 2 writers Ben Hurst and Pat Allee? Just your luck then, as such a item has hit eBay recently.

Former Fans United for SatAM website owner, Quexinos, is putting up this copy of the DVD boxset, said to be one of only three in the world to exist. The eBay auction includes a certificate of authenticity too, so you know you’re getting the real deal. According to current owner of FUS, RockyRaccoon, the auction’s proceeds are going to “Chief-Aid”; a campaign to help FUS Forum ‘Chief’ out of a financial hotspot. He’s a single father who’s just been laid off, and at this time of the year that’s just cold and brutal.

If you want to help the “Chief-Aid” cause and grab yourself a limited edition SatAM boxset in the process, then head on over to the eBay auction here to place your bid. The current bid is $41 at time of writing, as is the case with these ‘charity’ style things, if you feel like affording a bit more for what you feel the boxset is worth then it could truly change someone’s Christmas for the better. Our wishes go to ‘Chief’!

Autographed SatAM Boxed Set on eBay – SSMB (thanks for the tip, Rocky)

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We Interrupt These Lack of Updates…

Am I going to let the flu get in the way of doing my duty to my fellow Sonic fans? Maybe. Your regular TSS service will likely start again come Monday when I’ll feel loads better, sorry about that chaps. In the meantime, check out our Christmas Competition that we’re having later today, where you can win a whole bunch of awesome goodies (if I held off starting this contest, ill or not, nobody would get anything, and that’s not very Christmassy at all).

So spare a thought for your friendly neighbourhood Dreadknux as he battles high temperature, a runny nose and massive headaches. Hope none of you are going through ill times either (some of our TSS writers are also getting the sniffles, as is the tradition for Britain every Winter), so if you’re feeling poorly get well soon!

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Roarey’s Raccomic: Double Feature!

In the past week, Roarey made two comics that were stemming from the same subject: the Sonic Unleashed reviews.  I forgot to put issue #4 up when he finished it, so now it’s grouped with #5 for super-awesome-double-feature-madness time.

Issue #4 deals with all you assholes in the community who pushed the mods at TSS so far that discussing the reviews in such a manner warrants a 7 day ban.  Issue #5 deals with the comment boxes at TSSZ, which are, easily, producing a hell of a lot of controversy within the community. Reading the comments after each and every Tristan-spun (aka “Trispin”) story on negative reviews made me take a much needed Internet vacation over the past week. Do we really need a story for each review, picking it apart its every word?  Heeeeelllll, no.

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Sonic + Bad Influence = Awesome

Are you from the UK? Do you remember an old gaming TV show on CITV called Bad Influence? No? Then you were either too young to remember or living under a huge rock. Bad Influence was the coolest TV show of the 90’s, you just couldn’t wait to get home from school and watch it. No-one had the internet to keep up with the latest videogame news, previews, reviews and gameplay video’s – sure, we had our magazines but to see games in action we needed our TV shows.

The show was presented by Andy Crane and Violet Berlin and contained news, previews, reviews(from actual gamers), reports on the latest technology, U.S. coverage, reports from the latest gaming events, cheats from Nam Rood and competitions. It was awesome!

Anyway, what has all this got to do with Sonic you ask? Well, the show covered the early console days back when Sega and Nintendo were rivals. Sonic features a number of times on the show and thanks to amazing James Osborne who has managed to get permission from Patrick Titley at Yorkshire Television(who own the show) the public now have access to a new website and a YouTube channel for the show and it’s episodes.

Sonic 2 proved to be very popular on the show, in Episode 4 their panel gave the game 2 5/5’s in their review. In the same episode Violet show’s a copy of the first Sonic character design sketches handed to her by creator Mr.Kanari. It’s the same sketches we’ve seen around the net for ages now but still cool to see an official copy.

Andy Crane got to visit the Future Entertainment Show where SEGA were in attendance allowing the public to get their hands on both the 16 Bit and 8 Bit versions of Sonic 2 for the first time ever in Episode 3 – Part 1(8:40, Future show begins) Part 2(0:04 Sonic 2 segment begins). You can also see a couple of the first official SEGA Sonic and Tails costumes, Tails suit has bushy eye brows for some reason.

In Episode 8 Violet visit’s SEGA Japan HQ to look at SEGA’s arcade machines and meet’s the head of the Sonic 2 project team who’s name couldn’t be revealed due to security reasons(anyone who recognises him, let me know by PM over at the SSMB). Violet is shown alot of Sonic 2’s design sketches for the Zone’s, 2 of which are shown up close in the episode. A cool Sonic statue/model can also be seen on the desk(Do want very muchly). The SEGA visit starts at 6:14 and the Sonic 2 bit starts at 6:42 just after the funny sleepy SEGA employee at 6:40.

Sonic Spinball got reviewed in Series 2: Episode 9 and given 2 5/5’s.

Sonic & Knuckles got reviewed too and given 2 4/5’s.

So, have any of you seen/remenber this show? Do any of you guys new to the show like it? What are your thoughts on Sonic 2 zone design sketches?
Let us know in the SSMB topic.

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Unleashed PS3 EU Release Date, Back Cover

SEGA Europe’s Sonic Unleashed product page has been updated with the release date of the PS3 version of the game. The game will hit stores before Christmas on Friday the 19th December 2008. Mr. AAUK has also confirmed this in his latest Sonic City Blognik entry.

In other news, Zavvi.co.uk are now displaying the back cover of the PS3 version and reveals the following:

  • ‘Network Features’: Will most likely be the downloadable content listed on the Xbox 360 back cover
  • Dual Shock 3 compatibility: For all your rumbling needs
  • 720p, 1080i and 1080p compatibility: The text is tiny but most PS3 games just list 720p on its own with no other text in that box, theres only 2 more words of text in there if a game is 1080i and 1080p compatible. Sonic ’06 was compatible with all 3 so it makes sense that Unleashed is too.

SEGA Europe’s Sonic Unleashed product page

Zavvi’s Sonic Unleashed PS3 page

Discuss over at the SSMB topic.

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Sonic the Hamilton

I like almost all music.  “Almost, you say, Slinger?”  Yeah, I cannot stand country whatsoever.  When you go to karaoke night at the bars every Wednesday night, the hicks in Nebraska love to sing their Garth Brooks.  I’m rather open about rap and hip-hop, as the beats and grooves can prove to be rather cathartic at the end of the day.  That, and it can really pump me up before I step onto the field.  I have been talking a lot about Charles Hamilton lately, because I like his sound and he has been making news with the release of his new mixtape, “Sonic the Hamilton.”  I have had a while to check out his new tracks and I urge you to give this Hedgehog-lovin’ rapper a shot.

As a mixtape, I expect a lot of songs to use sampling.  A majority of this mixtape does that and it is rather successful.  A well-executed sample can add new dimension to a song and allow people to relive the source material.  Many of Hamilton’s samples are, of course, Sonic tunes and when I heard the familiar Genesis tracks, I could not help but not my head with the beat. Continue reading Sonic the Hamilton

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Sonic World Adventure Xbox 360/PS3 dated

For those hardcore Sonic merchandise collectors out there who want a copy of Sonic Unleashed under the name Sonic World Adventure, SEGA have announced a release date for the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions that were delayed from their 18th December date a while back. The new date is 19th February 2009. The Wii version however is still going to be released to the original plan of 18th December 2008. 19th Feb is a long way away to say their still getting the game we’ve got in quality standards as SEGA said in a press release given when these versions first got pushed back.

The Japanese text announcement translates(in Google translator at least) to –
PLAYSTATION3 version / Xbox360 version, Release Date Announcement
2008 Release Date November 7 to tell us postponed, and was released in the spring of 2009, PLAYSTATION3 version of Sonic Adventure World and is the Xbox360 version of the “February 19, 2009” make the decision to release MASHITA.
We apologize for the inconvenience, but we will notify here.

Before the Release Date: Spring 2009
After the change of the Release Date: February 19, 2009
※ Wii version of the 2008 will be released on December 18

Link

Discuss over at the SSMB topic.

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Sayonara, Sonic Yoda

This is some very sad news. Sonic Yoda, the website that always took a light-hearted, optimistic view of the Sonic franchise, has closed its doors today. The webmaster, Lewis ‘Hairyman’ Clark, has stated that he simply cannot be optimistic about the series anymore following the release of Sonic Unleashed. Before you start, the chap played both current gen and Wii/PS2 versions. Apparently, what he saw and felt doesn’t resonate with what made him a fan of the franchise in the first place, so has decided to bow out rather than continue his fansite.

To be honest, I’m feeling sort of the same really – Sonic’s 20th Anniversary is fast approaching and what we have to show for it are a decade’s worth of games that range from average/fun for a bit to utter tripe. It’s a far cry from the sublime character and level design seen in the 16-bit era, and the situation is compounded by the splitting of the fanbase. Instead of going back to its Mega Drive roots like they probably (read: very much) should, the introduction of the modern Sonic fan has meant we now have a pocket of fans who want the games to stay in this downward spiral of mediocrity. Apparently ‘classic’ play is backwards thinking – nobody wants unique level design and original badniks, unpatronising stories and green hills, while we should embrace evolutions of the series such as broken cameras, boring enemy designs and apocalyptic monsters.

Enough about my ranting though, this is Lewis’ time to speak out. The Sonic Yoda website has been replaced with a page that details why he’s taken the sad decision to drop out of the fanbase:

I cannot continue this hobbie of mine knowing what Sonic has become. When I play Sonic games today, I have to force myself to finish them. I don’t enjoy them anymore. There’s no love in my relationship with the little blue guy. What’s made this worse is the release of Sonic Unleashed; another game which promised so much more than it could deliver. I’ve got to face the fact that Sonic will never be what I loved as a child. Werewolfs, multiple characters, ridiculous speed, guns, the end of the world and Eggman are all things I don’t want to see anymore.

What annoys me more about this than anything is the excuses that SEGA make. Whenever an interview occurs or a public statement is made, they’re always hiding the fact that they don’t know what they want Sonic to be anymore. This results in heavy rivalry in the fan community because people are told to like one thing when others grew up with another. The fans are confused and angry and all they want is a classic Sonic game with well designed, platform-based levels with multiple routes, lots of colour, happy music and Sonic as the only playable character going head-to-head with Dr. Robotnik.

The webmaster will start a brand new website called SEGADriven, which will be similar to another pet project of his, MegaDriven, only it will cover everything SEGA. A good idea, given many people look at Sonic games and judge SEGA as a whole by it. I mean, Valkyrie Chronicles, Yakuza 3, and Mad World to name a few awesome modern SEGA titles. Oh, and The Club. Why did nobody care about that game except for me?

From 2002-2008, Sonic Yoda has been one of the small sites that made it big; an unassuming fansite that didn’t quite get the attention it deserved, but to be honest never really wanted it. It was happy to simply tell the world about Sonic the Hedgehog, one of the best platforming franchises ever created. And it’s fansites like these that have the charm and charisma to stay the distance. We can’t all be fans of the same thing forever, and it’ll pain me to say ‘so long’ to Sonic Yoda. In honour of your retirement, we offer you tea and something to eat. Rest in peace.

Sonic Yoda Has Closed

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SEGA, Germans do something very right with Sonic Chess

Oh for God’s sake! First it was Shadow and all the shooting action, then we had Silver and his mind-moving stuff, and just recently we had to put up with a Werewolf… and NOW we get Chess in our Sonic games? This is unacceptable! This new game is just going to throw out the classic Sonic gameplay for Bishop-takes-Knight action. What has the world come to? SEGA, what are you thinking?

… Seriously, this is freaking awesome. German game maker Gaya Entertainment are creating these official Chess boards, complete with Sonic themed pieces that just melts the heart. It’s OK, adults who grew up with Sonic (and non-Sonic fans/classic fans), you can show this to all your mates and actually be cool because it uses the whole retro style to Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy. The chess board is 47cm x 47cm and the pieces are about 6cm in height, and made from PVC.

In this ‘MegaDriven’ game of chess, Sonic is the King (ironic being that the piece can only move one space at a time), Amy the Queen, Tails the Knight and Knuckles is (bashing) the bishop. Master Emeralds take the role of rooks, and to avoid using all those other shitty characters the Pawns are all rings. Wonderful. Missing Dr. Robotnik in there, would have been cool to have seen him in his Egg-o-matic and some classic badniks as the opposing side, but this is more than enough for me.

I’m not even kidding when I say this is probably the best thing SEGA have done with the Sonic franchise in a decade. Does Amy actually seem cuter to you in her Sonic CD outfit there or is that just me? Sonic looks so cool. Sigh.

If you’re as eager as I am for this (it might really be because I used to play Chess as a kid rather than the design), Gaya are selling this next February/March for 39.99 Euros.

Gaya Entertainment (via Sega Nerds)

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Sonic and the Black Knight Screens Make You Say ‘Ni’

“So hey, about Sonic Unleashed…” – What you say? Sonic Unleashed? That game is sooo last week. Let’s say we focus on something a bit more next year, girlfriend? Luckily SEGA Europe’s been sending out some screenshots of Sonic and the Black Knight for the Wii so we can be next year… in 2008. Yeah, we’re rocking that DeLorean.

Sonic and the Black Knight is the continuation of the ‘Storybook’ series of the franchise that was kicked off with Sonic and the Secret Rings on the Wii. So we’ll treat it as the spinoff that it is and not facepalm ourselves into the ground. That would be impolite. There’s not an awful lot going on in these screenshots, and they’ve appeared on other sites before, but it’s nice to see that the game still exists, especially since a lot of you are going to have your artwork stashed onto it.

Enjoy these screens, a few of which are in ‘Extreeeeeeme’ blurrovision, and some which feature a familiar red knight. Hm, his face is covered. Now I can’t tell who it is…

Hit the jump for the screens. Continue reading Sonic and the Black Knight Screens Make You Say ‘Ni’

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SEGA explains why Sonic games do non-Sonic stuff

Ever wonder why your Sonic games have shooting, emerald hunting, brawling, more shooting, telekinesis, lengthy cutscenes, hub worlds with annoying inhabitants, and various other things that are not running?  Well, during IGN’s “Red Light Podcast,” David Clayman talks about a discussion he had with one of the members of the Sonic Unleashed team at the Tokyo Game Show.  19 minutes and 40 seconds into the show, David said:

I asked one of the developers at TGS, you know I was like, come on everybody just wants Sonic running, like whats up with the werehog? And he was like, well, heres the deal… he [Sonic] runs at this miles per hour, kilometers per hour, and he laid out all of the statistics on how fast this hedgehog goes, and he was like In order to make a game where Sonic is running and everybody enjoys the whole thing we’d have to design this many miles of level, and it was some ungodly number. And he’s like and that would be like maybe a three hour game and I was like wow, well that kinda stinks and he’s like yeah, so we gotta do this other stuff.

Total bullshit, right? Continue reading SEGA explains why Sonic games do non-Sonic stuff

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TSS REVIEW: Sonic Unleashed

I found it hard to write this review. Not because I didn’t know what to say, but because I wasn’t sure how I was going to say it. Hashimoto-san and company have worked very hard on the latest Sonic adventure. It’s clear to see when you take a peek at the screenshots, or learn about the Hedgehog Engine, or hear about how they spent countless months designing Sonic stages that cover hundreds of virtual miles. Sonic Team haven’t scrimped here, they had something to prove after Sonic 06 that they can create a well-produced, non-glitchy game. And they have. Based on the effort put in, I’d give them as many Thumbs Up as humanely possible. Continue reading TSS REVIEW: Sonic Unleashed

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