&#8220;NO LONGER MUST WE ENDURE RACING WITHOUT BALLS!!&#8221;

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Classic Clash: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (16-Bit) vs. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (8-Bit)
byJezMM.

The soundtracks to the 16-bit and 8-bit versions of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 are quite tough to review this long after their release, what with all the nostalgia involved. These are not just soundtracks to games, but to childhoods after all! The biggest thing that both versions brought was a sense of urgency that the first Sonic the Hedgehog titles lacked. Both 16-bit Emerald Hill and Chemical Plant Zone tracks say “this is cooler than Sonic 1” from the get-go, with their faster tempo, snappier percussion and simpler melodies. The bold choice to start with an intense lava level – and an equally action-packed tune – gave 8-bit Sonic 2 a similar feeling. Green Hills Zone features a fast-paced masterpiece that Sonic fans would soon hear reprised in “You Can Do Anything” for Sonic CD. While the original Green Hill theme will always bring a tear to every nostalgic eye, this one just screams “I’m Sonic; I run around very fast and it’s awesome”. The Scrambled Egg Zone features a touch of surreal by layering lots of interesting sounds throughout and a downright epic solo of bleepy-bloops serving as the main melody.

Then we come to the chilled out songs. 16-bit has the likes of Aquatic Ruin, Hill Top and Oil Ocean Zone themes. Now this is just my opinion, but I found the slower tracks to be the weak spot of 16-bit. They all felt either repetitive or just a bit dull, not quite fitting in with the rest of the soundtrack. 8-bit however, had some much funkier tunes for the slower levels, such as Sky High and Aqua Lake Zone. While Aqua Lake’s melody meanders around a bit more than Sky High, they’re both very catchy, toe-tapping tunes. The Gimmick Mountain Zone theme is incomparable with anything in 16-bit counterpart can offer, and perfectly captures a far more surreal tone than most Eggman strongholds, with many fades, and a mysterious and sinister melody. 16-bit has Casino Night, Mystic Cave and Metropolis, all three of which escape the problem I had with the other slower tracks, thanks to their fantastically written melodies.

Coming to the finale tracks, 8-bit’s Crystal Egg Zone is one of the more surreal endings in the franchise. A totally wacky and chirpy tune portrays this strange zone fantastically. I find 16-bit’s finale to be a mixed bag though. Sky Chase is a beautiful song, but I can’t help but think its all “sky” and no “chase”, making it a little unfitting. In a similar manner, Wing Fortress perfectly represents Eggman’s triumphant creation, but not the fact that Sonic is running about messing the thing up. Death Egg is also a bit of a funny track. The bit you hear is great but the unused portion of the song is just weird and loses the sinister feeling of the start. I’m glad that Death Egg was not a full stage with this looping in the background.

To close, we come to the boss and ending themes. 8-bit’s boss theme is used for every boss, including the final one. The Game Gear uses a very fast-paced tune, whereas the Master System is a more scrambled sounding manic theme. Both are very fitting, but certainly not something you’ll be humming the next day whereas the boss themes of 16-bit version have become legendary melodies. The 16-bit ending uses the classic medley formula, whereas the Master System goes for a very sombre piece with a gorgeous melody (getting the good ending on Game Gear grants a different tune which, while not quite as memorable, is also a very pleasant listen).

8-bit has fewer tunes of a consistent quality, which likely means you either love or hate the whole thing, whereas 16-bit is larger and more varied, making it more likely for one to love or hate individual tracks. I do however feel that both soundtracks are still fantastic, and paved the way for an all new tone of cool for Sonic in his first sequel.

Favourite 16-bit track: Chemical Plant Zone
Favourite 8-bit track: “Bad Ending”
Personal Favourite: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (8-bit version).

BLITZCHRIS:
“It’s really quite a difficult task to compare the soundtracks from both of the 1992 versions of Sonic The Hedgehog 2, especially when there is an existing bias already in position for one of them. All things aside, each soundtrack brings something different to the table. Nakamura’s work on the MegaDrive version is brilliant. Each piece really captures the atmosphere and mood of each stage, whether it be the simulated brass and slap-bass in Casino Night, the scratching and popping of the mechanical Metropolis or the eerie wails of the dark Mystic Cave. One of my greatest joys about the soundtrack are the 2-Player tracks, which use essentially the same instruments as their “1-Player stage” counterparts, but tune to something more suitable for competition.

Contrast this with the Master System collection of tracks. The tracks are hearty for an 8-bit based soundtrack, but I’m not convinced that if the tracks were recreated 16-bit style, they would have the same flair. Using what he had, Tomozou Endo created the very jerky and sporadic Scrambled Egg which lives up to its name, while Sky High is just too simple a track to enjoy and really doesn’t spark enthusiasm. However, Green Hills Zone will always have a special place in my heart as the music that eventually grew into the theme song for Sonic CD, “You Can Do Anything”. Having said this, Tomozou Endo hasn’t really done a bad job with the technology he had. Nakamura just set the bar way too high. ”

Favourite 16-Bit tune: Casino Night Zone 2P.
Favourite 8-Bit tune: Green Hills Zone
Best Soundtrack: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (16-Bit Version)

T-BIRD:
“I think some would see the comparison of these two soundtracks as a bit one-sided in favour of the Megadrive/Genesis score. Granted, the 16-Bit iteration is close to superb, but guys, go back and listen to the 8-Bit version. The Yamaha sound chip on the MS may not be up to its big brother’s standard, but Endo’s pushed that to the limit. Crystal Egg and Gimmick mountain have nearly four “voices” in each track (percussion, bass, rhythm and lead melody), and that is extremely cool consider most other titles on the console rarely utilize more than two. Plus, I dig anything vaguely rock, and I’m pretty sure that both Scrambled Egg, Underground Zone and the boss themes were all written with a thrash metal vibe in mind, so Endo-san rocks!

What starts to really rake me back though is listening to Chemical Plant and Mystic Cave, with an incredibly convincing slap-bass synthesised by Nakamura-san. Each track shines in its own respect with a real clean sweep across a huge range of emulated genres and all maintaining an allegro I think no other Sonic game has managed. Who can say the mechanical resonance of Metropolis (what with that wonderful scratch and guitar-riffic chorus!) doesn’t send a shiver down their spine? So how do I choose between these two soundtracks? I think actually can’t…but because I have a feeling it won’t get as much love (and I have to make a decision!), my vote goes to the underdog!”

Favourite 16-Bit tune: Mystic Cave Zone
Favourite 8-Bit tune: Scrambled Egg Zone
Best Soundtrack: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (8-Bit Version)

EXTATICUS:
“Undoubtedly, the main problem with the soundtrack to the 8-Bit iteration of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 soundtrack is the boredom factor; there just seems to be a distinct lack of any kind of excitement or variation throughout the whole thing, and it almost sounds like a lethargic and dull version of Sonic Chaos’ superb music. It even uses similar note sequences to its successor, although they were far more polished and improved in the latter game than they were in Sonic 2. Save for some points of Underground Zone (the intro was rather repetitive and dull) and the Boss theme (Master System version only), the entire OST was generally monotonous, uncreative and uninspiring; a huge disappointment for all who were expecting a stunning follow-up to the first game’s awesome soundtrack.

The MegaDrive version‘s musical score, on the other hand, is a marvellous concoction consisting of nothing but purely excellent electro and synth-pop, played out on the astonishingly outstanding YM2612 synthesizer chip. Masato Nakamura really outdid himself with the likes of Chemical Plant Zone and Emerald Hill Zone; making excellent use of the vip-vip-vow synth sounds of the MegaDrive and conveying shockingly good melodies and basslines, they both shine out from all the other tunes as the absolute finest pieces of music on the game, and completely blow the 8-Bit version’s soundtrack out of the water and into orbit. Additionally, catchy classics such as Aquatic Ruins Zone and Metropolis Zone will be lodged into your brain for years; you’ll doubtlessly find yourself involuntarily humming them in public toilets for all the world to hear!”

Favourite 16-Bit tune: Chemical Plant Zone
Favourite 8-Bit tune: Boss Theme (Master System Version)
Best Soundtrack: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (16-Bit Version)

Well, it looks like we can’t reach a unaninous decision folks, so I guess this means you guys are going to have to settle the debate for us once and for all! Do you have a favourite out of the two soundtracks? What is your favourite track and why? Let us know in the comments!

27th February 201027th February 2010

Sonic Wrecks Holding Competition To Win ASR Concept Art

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Sonic Wrecks have just announced a Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing competition in which you can of course win Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing merchandise but a couple of the prizes arent your average type of merchandise they’re large prints of concept art for Sonic’s car and Big the Cat’s bike.

So how do you enter?
What do you have to do to enter?
What are the rules?
Are there any runner-up prizes?

Here’s the full details from Sonic Wrecks:

THE TASK

Imagine through some ingenious act of blackmail, presumably involving photos and/or inciminating video footage, Sonic Wrecks has procured a spot on the SEGA board and has already made sure there is a Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing II. Yay us! Now being a benelovant and charasmatic despot we’ve seen fit to grace our fans with the chance to participate in choosing new characters to add to the roster – I should point out in this fiction NiGHTS is already in so you’ll need to think of someone else that can be from any point in SEGA’s past. Anyone at all, though maybe you think we might be able to tie up an exclusive character for our Wii2, PS4, XBox 720 or DS2 formats and have a suggestion? Well the suggestions box is OPEN.

We want to know:

•The Character
•The Series
•The Vehicle
•The All-Star Move
•And why they’d make a good addition
“WHAT CAN I WIN, AAUK?”

No you can’t win AAUK silly… but we do have 10 prizes to give away! The best justified suggestions as judged by the Sonic Wrecks staff will be awarded the following prizes.

1st Prize – A large Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing print of the Sonic The Hedgehog car concept art.

2nd Prize – A large Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing print of the Big The Cat bike concept art.

3rd prize – Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing – Double sided A2 poster + door hanger.

7 Runners Up – Receive a Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing door hanger.

HOW TO ENTER

Simply leave the details for your prospective ASR2 entrant in a comment which you can write at the bottom of this page – hey why not sign up for a user account on SW while you’re at it and set your own avatar and other details. Please note: Comments are moderated so will not appear immediately, this does not mean your entry has not been recieved.

THE RULES

•Entries must be received before 12:00 UK Time on March 12th.
•The contest is open Worldwide, yes even Puerto Rico and Quebec.
•One entry per person.

•Entrants must include their email address in the required comment field.

•All decisions are final.
•Abusive comments will not be approved and your entry will be invalidated. Sonic Wrecks retains the right to refuse any entry.

•Winners will be individually contacted by email and asked to supply name and address for postage, refusal to supply or failure to reply to the email will result in the prize not being sent.
Good luck!

Note: The above info is a quote from Sonic Wrecks where the competition is being held so please dont post your entries in OUR comments box :p

Source: Sonic Wrecks

27th February 201027th February 2010

Tony Blair Plays Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing

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Did you know ex UK Prime Minister Tony Blair enjoys a bit of Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing? Well if you own the DS version you’ll find he is a very competitive player as he is in quite a few of the top 6 leaderboards. Think you can beat his times?

TSS Competition: XBOX 360 Avatar Art…Canvas Scribble A-Go-Go!

I appear to be far to slow at posting…I’ve already been beaten to this by Shadzter! No doubt we’ll all looking forward to being able to relentlessly slam Sonic’s car into a wall until he submits and gives us Axel from Streets of Rage as DLC…or something.

I quite like how this is a blank canvas, so here’s what I want you to do…get yer pencils, pens, paper and drawing tablets out and have a good doodle on this for me. Write speach coming out of the mannequin’s mouth. Give it humourous expressions. Graffiti on him. Turn them into Sonic characters. Take your favourite frame and draw/photoshop your avatar in… I don’t mind what skill level you have, or what you do…I’m looking for entries that make me laugh. Make me laugh hard enough, and maybe you’ll be rewarded handsomely with a SEGA prize Europe Sonic the Hedgehog plush for the effort.

You have until next Friday (5th of March 2010) to get your scribbles in. Please send all entries to the usual competition address: tbird [at] sonicstadium.org. This competition is open worldwide (although I’m secretly hoping there’s no one talented in Alaska as I don’t fancy thouse postage costs!). Best entries will be posted up here next week.

EDIT: POUR EXAMPLÉ:

Read the original article over on the SEGA Blognik.

Mysterious Picture Appears at Sonic City Blognik

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ArchangelUK at the Sonic City Blognik has posted up a mysterious sketch of a figure playing with a remote controlled car which could be a clue to an Xbox 360 Avatar Marketplace item given the sketched out character clicks its fingers to make the controller and car appear like with alot of Avatar items. Wether this will include costumes or other items too or not we’ll have to wait and see.

Source: Sonic City Blognik

ASR Steam Release Silently Pushed to March 2nd

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What’s the deal with the Steam release?

If you were looking to download the PC version of Sonic and Sonic SEGA Sonic All-Sonic Stars Sonic Racing featuring Sonic yesterday, you might have already seen the date change and have gotten miffed at it. The game’s Steam profile changed the release date, with no announcement whatsoever, to March 2nd.

Previously, the release date was changed to yesterday, the 25th, from its original release date of the 23rd. SEGA and Sumo Digital have not acknowledged the delay at this time and many retailers are listing the PC version “out now.”

ASR’s Steam Profile

[via The Temporal Conduit]

Sonic, in Pixelated Post-It Form

26th February 2010

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Thanks to Silva Rymes for sending us these photos.

Photos via Wendy Cat’s Flickr.

ASR DLC Coming Sooner Rather Than Later, No All-Star Moves Online Explained

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Steve Lycett Executive Producer at Sumo Digital has posted over at the SSMB an explanation as to why why All-Star Moves are disabled in online play on Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing(all versions) after forum members questioned the absence, here is what Steve had to say –

There’s no All-Star moves online on any platform. Basically those moves are quite complicated and extremely difficult to network. We did a few of them too, and the latency we were seeing didn’t work very nicely. Rather than put something in that didn’t work to everyones expectations – we thought it better to disable them online for a better play experience.

If you’re seeing someone do All-Star moves online, they’ve hacked the game. Kick them out of the lobby

Steve also confirmed at the SSMB that DLC will be coming very soon rather than later, the DLC will be announced by SEGA instead of Sumo Digital but Steve did say he’s been playing it and in his oppinion its awesome –

You’ll hear more about DLC very soon. I don’t want to steal SEGA’s thunder on this. But you’ll be seeing some sooner than you expect – and it’s AWESOME. I’ve just played it 🙂

Also of note we may be seeing more concept art from the game if SEGA of Japan give the green light –

I’ll see what I can do on this. Traditionally it’s quite hard to release art that’s not been approved by SEGA Japan, as we need to make sure any ‘official’ release of art is consistent with the ‘expected’ looks of their characters.

The Xbox 360 has already received a frame-rate patch but both Xbox 360 and PS3 may be getting a patch when the DLC is released –

There already is on 360. We’re still tweaking with the engine, so you may well see further improvements when we launch the DLC. It’s pretty smooth now though for the final release, don’t expect a jump to 60fps though…!

UPDATE:
A deeper explanation from Steve Lycett regarding no All-Star Moves online at the SEGA Forums –

Right I’m back.

I was down in London for two days, attending a Microsoft Dev conference. Only access I had to the web was my iPhone. Have you tried posting a long and complicated forum post on one of those? Trust me, it’s not easy

Also remember I do this in my free time, I don’t get paid for it, I don’t get thanked for it, and I do have to spend time with my family now and again!

Anyway, on this topic. As with all decisions, don’t think we made this one lightly.

The first point is that all the All-Star moves work differently, so we’d effectively have to code each one with specific network code. With all the differences in characters, that’s 23 different bits of code to write there.

Then lets look at what we have to work with. Whilst most of you have super fast download speed, what you don’t realise if you don’t have superfast upload speed. Our target for game communications is 64 kilobits. Note bits not bytes. In that very small amount of data we have to send everyones current position, projected vector, all weapon fire as well as voice chat. Not everyone is on fiber optic broadband you know!

So we’re already sending lots of data, and the ASM’s mean that we’d have to compress this down even further for extra weapon fire.

Of course a lot of the All-Star moves also include increased speed, so in cases with high latency where we’ve already got to be sure we’re not jumping cars around all over the place, we then would have even more extremes of movement -which under high lag would result in false positives for ASM hits. I.e. you maybe nowhere near Super Sonic – but you get blatted off the track as someone has dropped packets and the dead reckoning *thinks* you might have been hit.

Finally, when it comes to network games, you have to be sure that all the systems are deterministic. Basically that if you fire a weapon on one machine, it will fire the same way on another. If this isn’t the case you wind up with synchronisation issues, quite simply what you see on your screen, won’t be what other player see on theres. Not all the ASM are deteministic as they’re all different, the best example is length of use. Depending on where you are in the pack, they last for varying amounts of time. So if we’ve got any latency causing the positions to be out of sync – even for a millisecond – on one machine it may last for 4 seconds, on the other 10. That happens, and oh oh, we’re really out of sync. Cue everyone gets booted back to the lobby.

So with much reluctance, we conceeded that rather than ship it with things that could go wrong down to latency, especially with cross continent play, it would be a better experience to ship it with the ASM disabled during on-line play.

So that is why it’s not available, as we didn’t want to ruin the online experience with All-Star moves that didn’t work consistantly and fairly. I think when you understand this – the decision makes a lot more sense.

Will we add it back in the future? I think it’s unlikely. In the future when everyone has an internet connection that runs at LAN speeds, it’ll be doable, but not for a few years.

—
S0L
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Destrutoid Speaks Out Against Whining Sonic Fans

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Jim Sterling at Destructiod, like many people in the online community, has had it with the perpetual complaints from video game “fans”. In two of his recent articles published over the last day, he specifically singles out the current responses to Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1. Jim tackles a lot of the complaints that have so far been made about Sonic 4:

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — Sonic was never about speed. Sure, speed was a factor, but it was there as a gameplay reward, not a gameplay substitute. The focus was on level design, and you’d get short sections of rails-like speed as little exhilarating treats throughout the game. Go play the first three Sonic games again and try to tell me that it was about speed. Compare Sonic 3 to Sonic 4 and try to tell me that Sonic is “too slow.”

Then there are other arguments. Petitions for Sonic to be redesigned so that he looks exactly like his 16-bit counterpart. People going so far as to criticize the fact that Sonic has some color in his eyes, or that his legs are too long. Once again, this is a game people have wanted for a long time, and as soon as they get it, they start finding other things to moan about.

You can read the full article at Destructoid.

Not only this, it turns out that there are some generating petitions that involve buying Sonic 1 on Sonic 4 launch day (A very original idea, of course – see: Rage Against the Machine for Christmas No. 1 ), effectively telling SEGA they want a remake of the original rather than something new.

So, what is your opinion then? Is Jim right? Should supposed fans who don’t like what they’ve seen of Sonic the Hedgehog 4 so far shut up? Perhaps if the series is so far gone in your opinion, maybe you should stop playing the games…or as Jim puts it “Maybe just shut up about everything and try to enjoy something.”

25th February 201025th February 2010

Newtron Revealed at Sonic 4 Site

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The official Sonic the Hedgehog 4 website has revealed Sonic 1 badnik Newtron in motion, we’ve seen him before in the leaked footage but now we have a bit of text with him and some concept art –

Newtron surprises Sonic again using optical camouflage to try and blast Sonic. He can also transform into a rocket and charge towards Sonic.

So unlike Motobug it appears he doesnt do anything new but its still cool to see him make an appearance again.

Concept art and animation at the official Sonic 4 site

Thanks to Eggman123 for the heads up!

25th February 201025th February 2010

Notes And Warnings Regarding ASR Ryo-Forklift Pre-order Code

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Alot of people in Europe will have received their copies of Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing in the post today if not tomorrow, those of you who pre-ordered the Xbox 360/PS3 versions with specific retailers e.g. in the UK GAME, Gamestation and Gameplay will have gotten their pre-order gift code to allow you to play as Ryo Hazuki in his forklift truck as his main vehicle.

I’ve received my Xbox 360 version in the post and code by e-mail so I’ve been playing as him for the past couple of hours and after my experience I thought I’d share some notes and warnings.

1. You can play as Ryo Forklift on and offline

2. Ryo forklift is treated as a seperate character so one person can be Ryo-Forklift and another as Ryo-bike, this works on and offline.

3. You’ll be given an hard time online using Ryo Forklift as barely anyone knows about this pre-order gift code, especially those in countries that didnt get this bonus so people will be accusing you of cheating and/or hacking to use your All-Star Move throughout the game but Ryo-F has his own ASM that like the other characters cant be obtained in online play. In most cases people will have a go at you over their headset, leave or cancel the session. Its been happening to me over and over for the past couple of hours, so this gift is best to be played with locally with friends and/or family.

Sorry to be a downer and this isnt me having a public rant, I just thought I should warn people and pass on the the top 2 tib-bits of info. I hope this will enlighten people who have seen Ryo-Forklift on their travels online and thought the person using him was cheating/hacking.

Sonic the Balloon Animal

22 Comments

Seen at AOU 2010 in Japan:

Also, a sweet Sonic costume:

[via UK:R]

Sonic the Polish Pickle

32 Comments

[via Destructoid]

Pre-Orders for AoSTH Volume 3 DVD Now Being Taken

Pre-Order AoSTH Volume 3 at Shout! Factory

In the U.S., Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog Vol. 3 is now up for pre-order over at Shout! As mentioned in a previous post, it will only be sold online through Shout’s online store.

The price is $29.99 + S&H, and the release date is March 16, 2010.

Beyond the final 22 episodes, the set will include “Sonic Christmas Blast,” and a bonus featurette, “How To Draw Tails.”

25th February 201025th February 2010

Nintendo Listing Reveals Sonic 4 Cover Art

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Yeah, it’s a downloadable game, but people still make boxart for it. A listing at Nintendo’s website reveals the game’s “boxart.” It’s nothing that you wouldn’t expect, but I figured most of you guys would be interested to see it:

Looks pretty similar to another piece of boxart (amongst other things), if you ask me.

[via Nintendo.com]

24th February 201025th February 2010

Check Out Some ASR PC Footage

24th February 201024th February 2010

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFta2YtEzhQ&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

During Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing’s development we’ve not seen anything of the PC version of the game be it footage or screenshot but with the games release we can now see how it looks thanks to YouTube user RosenGosen who has posted up two videos, one of a Seaside Hill track and the other a Casino Park track.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DnNiJkmVDM&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Thanks to Clisp at the SSMB for the heads up.

PC System Requirements are –
Minimum:
OS: Windows XP/Vista. (if running Windows Vista SP1 is recommended)
Processor: 3.2 GHz Intel Pentium 4/Athlon 64 3000+ or equivalent processor
Memory: 1GB RAM (2GB on Vista)
Graphics: DirectX 9.0c compliant video card with 256 MB RAM (NVIDIA 7600 or better, ATI X1300 or better)
DirectX®: DirectX 9.0c
Hard Drive: 6 GB Hard Drive Space
Sound: DirectX Compatible Sound Card

Recommended:
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.4Ghz or Athlon 64 X2 4200+ or better
Memory: 1.5GB RAM
Graphics: GeForce 8800 or ATI Radeon HD 3800 series with 512 MB of VRAM or better
Hard Drive: 7 GB Hard Drive Space
Sound: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Sound Card

It will be available on Steam from the 25th Feb and on disc in Europe only from the 26th Feb.

Thanks to TheWax in the comments for the system requirements list.

xxOLDArticles

The Jun Senoue Interview – Part Two

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9:00PM on Sunday, 7th of February 2010. Shibuya, Tokyo. Jun Senoue, Jeriaska from Gamasutra and myself have just enjoyed a couple of really good pizzas, and had finished discussing video game music as well as music remix projects (see my other post regarding the Game Music 4 All project!). Jun had answered my questions regarding Crush 40 and Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1, but thanks to you guys, I still had a heap of questions for him…

T-Bird: Ok Jun, I’ve got some questions from the fans here! First off is from ibbod0; how did you meet Johnny and the rest of Crush 40?

Jun: Wow, good question…actually, I was a huge fan of Hardline. Usually when I compose the songs and write the melody, I think about who would make a suitable singer for the song or a good singer for the melody or something like that. With the song “It Doesn’t Matter”, the original version for Sonic Adventure, it has a very high note-melody. When I was writing it I thought Tony Harnell would be the ideal singer, and in the end he performed on that song; this in now my way of composing. Talking about “Open Your Heart”, I had Johnny in mind, but I did not have any direct contact with him. Actually my friend who lives in Los Angeles knows Doug Aldrich [The guitarist for Whitesnake these days! – T] . For a short time Doug played in one of Johnny’s previous bands, Brunette, and I knew they still had a good relationship and that Johnny had appeared on Doug’s first solo release [on a track called “Face Down” on the album Alter Ego – T]. That meant maybe Doug could get in contact with Johnny, and so I asked my friend to get in contact with Doug, then Dough got in contact with Johnny…and that’s how I first got in touch with him.

T-Bird: Ok, so SoA, Admin for the js.com forums asks, if say you had to replace Johnny, and of course that would be an impossible task, who would you ideally want as your dream replacement?

Jun: Replacement?

T-Bird: Yes…if you had to.

Jun: That would mean Crush 40 would be disbanded, seeing as Crush 40 is the teaming of Johnny and myself, in which case you would need to find a replacement for both of us! The lack of me or lack of Johnny would mean…yeah (laughs).

T-Bird: Great answer – I honestly don’t think you could replace him either! Thirdly, Sonic1991 asks how did the collaboration with Emma Gelotte, Tinna Karlsdotter and the legend that is Marty Friedman [Legendary because he was the guitarist on my favourite Megadeth album! – T] come around for the track “With Me”?

Jun: I wrote that song for the final boss in the Sonic and the Black Knight, and I so first I tried to find the female singers for that song. One of my friends in a Japanese record company takes care of dealings with All Ends [Tinna & Emma’s band – T], and so that’s how I got in touch with them. With Marty, although he was now living in Japan, I didn’t know him personally. I didn’t know his manager or any of the other business guys who dealt with him, so I asked him directly. Originally I planned to ask him to play all of the guitar stuff, but when he came into the studio, he said “hey, we should just keep these backing tracks!” We booked the studio here in Tokyo to record the lyrics and Marty’s guitar solo, but then the other guys came into the studio and wanted me to change the key, so I said “please give me one hour!” Since we use Pro-Tools, it was easy enough to raise the track one note, but it did not have very good clarity. We changed the key digitally anyway, then tracked the vocals, then Marty tracked his guitar. I went back later on and tracked all of the backing guitar in the correct key.

Originally my idea was to have that song in a lower key, and in fact we [Crush 40] did the demo in that much lower key, and that was featured on the Sonic and the Black Knight “Face to Faith” album and it is much heavier.

T-Bird: I think a lot of fans liked hearing a heavier version…and thanks for sharing the story! Short question: BlueLightning asks, what was your first guitar?

Jun: He wants to know my first electric guitar? Actually, before I started playing electric guitars, I got an electric bass, since I was into Duran Duran at the time.

T-Bird: Haha! That’s awesome!

Jun: Andy Taylor the guitar player didn’t play any solos with Duran Duran or anything and the bass player was so much more…

T-Bird: …Interesting?

Jun: Yeah! Originally I played the keyboard, but the drummers and the keyboard players were always at the back of the stage, and I always wanted to be one of the guys in front of the stage. I’m not good at singing, and I was not interested in singing, so I picked up the bass. However, after watching some MTV videos by the band called Ratt [Rock history lesson right here kids! – T] and Night Ranger, I got really into those bands, and so my very first guitar was a duplicate of the guitar the Ratt guitarist had…and I still have it.

T-Bird: Do you remember what make it was?

Jun: I think it was Fernandes, but these days I’ve replaced the neck with a performance neck…I will post a picture of it sometime!

T-Bird: Haha! Definitely! So, Sinister Swiss asks after the remixing of the Angel Island Zone track for Super Smash Brothers: Brawl, have you considered going back and reworking any other classic songs from those classic titles?

Jun: Interesting! It was very fun to do the remix for Angel Island, and also I made another arrangement of Sky Sanctuary from Sonic & Knuckles for the Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, and if I get a chance I want to try to do more of those kind of remixes.

T-Bird: Any particular tracks?

Jun: Ummm…talking about Sonic the hedgehog 3 and Knuckles music…*starts humming*

T-Bird: HAHAHA! YEAH! Death Egg Zone from Sonic & Knuckles! I think that would make a lot of the fans would love that! I know we’ve covered this in the previous half of the interview, but Michelle Palmer asks if you are considering any tour dates?

Jun: As I was saying, I am going to try and organise some Crush 40 dates around August time. [As a side note kiddos, Jun has a new band Bubbilicious Blvd. And is playing shows in Tokyo! Check out the TSS article on them! – T].

T-Bird: Ok, last question…Hawkz asks, what would you say has been the defining moment of your career?

Jun: Hmmm…I’d have to say there are several. The first one is back in ’96, the moment I teamed up with Eric Martin. It was a very special moment for me. From that point I started trying to find direct connection with the artists, and that’s the way I’ve been doing it for years now.

Both Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 are very important games for me and very important titles for me, since Sonic Adventure was the very first time I was the sound director for a Sonic title, and I changed the sound of Sonic music drastically. With Sonic Adventure 2, some of us moved to the States, which changed our lives, and this time around we tried to make the music for the American market. It was very fun, and a very special time for not only me, but for the team too.

Finally, with Super Smash Bros: Brawl We provided several pieces of Sonic music to be used in the game, and lots of new fans – by new fans I mean the players who did not have any experience playing Sonic games – listened to the music for the first time while playing the Smash Brothers game…to me that was a great experience.

T-Bird: Lots of fond memories, and I’m sure a lot of fans hold some of those moments close to their heart too! Thanks loads for taking our questions Jun…hopefully we can talk to you again soon with more burning questions!

And we will have more questions answered very soon! Stay tuned for Part 3…but before you do, a quick message to someone…

24th February 201024th February 2010

Some ASR reviews scores are in; looking good! [UPDATED]

Nuckles87

30 Comments

I’m pretty sure Sonic fans are used to horrendously low review scores to their most anticipated games. It looks like SEGA Allstars Racing is breaking that cycle. The following are the conclusions and review scores from IGN and 1up, two of the biggest game sites out there.

IGN:

Closing Comments
Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing may not have a whole lot in the gameplay department that it can call its own, but Sumo Digital took what worked and built a SEGA-themed experience that captures what makes the company’s games so memorable. This racer is surprisingly deep and robust, and even with its unoriginal design it’s a great time no matter which version you get.

IGN Ratings for Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing with Banjo Kazooie (X360)

Rating Description

out of 10 click here for ratings guide

8.0 Presentation
There’s a huge variety of characters and tracks that reference SEGA games, but it’s hard not to wonder where missing franchises are. At least there’s Banjo Kazooie for 360 owners!

8.0 Graphics
The HD versions look excellent with some fantastic texture and lighting detail. Shame the framerate can’t keep up.

8.0 Sound
Lots of variety in the background tunes and the character remarks during a race. The obnoxious play-by-play is hilariously Americanized British: “The crowd go crazy!” and “Tails takes a pounding.”

8.0 Gameplay
Fun and tight action racing with a decent sense of speed that lifts most of its ideas from Mario Kart Wii.

8.0 Lasting Appeal
Tons of single player modes, and a great focus on multiplayer, both offline and on.

8.0
Impressive OVERALL

Rating	Description
out of 10	click here for ratings guide
8.0	Presentation There’s a huge variety of characters and tracks that reference SEGA games, but it’s hard not to wonder where missing franchises are. At least there’s Banjo Kazooie for 360 owners!
8.0	Graphics The HD versions look excellent with some fantastic texture and lighting detail. Shame the framerate can’t keep up.
8.0	Sound Lots of variety in the background tunes and the character remarks during a race. The obnoxious play-by-play is hilariously Americanized British: “The crowd go crazy!” and “Tails takes a pounding.”
8.0	Gameplay Fun and tight action racing with a decent sense of speed that lifts most of its ideas from Mario Kart Wii.
8.0	Lasting Appeal Tons of single player modes, and a great focus on multiplayer, both offline and on.
8.0 Impressive	OVERALL

You can find the full review here. It should be noted that, while not all versions of the game share the same categorical scores, they all share the same overall score.

1UP:

Though it has some hiccups, unexciting party modes, and a questionable difficulty curve, All-Stars Racing is a respectable effort that makes a good kart racer at its core (and is at least much more cohesive than Sega Superstars Tennis). But, again, it’s storied Sega fans that will get the most out of the game — because, really, who else is going to recognize or care about racing as the cartoon lovers from the Japan-only House of the Dead EX?

Well, I do.

Grade: B

You can find the complete 1Up review here.

UPDATE: And rounding out the big three, GameSpot has also put up their review:

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing Review

Smooth controls and a bunch of awesome tracks make this an exciting kart racer.

The Good

Tight controls with a great sense of speed

Well-designed courses with lots of variety

Good mix of characters, from the popular to the obscure

Racing against friends, online or offline, is a blast

Great visual style with a steady frame rate.

The Bad

Online play is limited to just racing

No way to play through Grand Prix with a friend

Score: 8.0 “Great”

You can read the review in full here.

23rd February 201024th February 2010

Screenshot of Sonic 4’s boss battle? [UPDATE 2]

Nuckles87

117 Comments

Sonic games are no stranger to leaks these days, and this latest one could very well provide another glimpse into what to expect from Sonic 4. The following screenshot, originally posted up on the Sega news site SegaBits by their resident troll Kogen, can be seen below.

Special thanks goes to SegaBit’s own Shadi for sending in the tip. Though, it should be noted that even this screen’s source is unsure of the authenticity. For the full size screen, click on the thumbnail below.

Thoughts?

UPDATE:

Seems the person on SegaBits got the pictures from Sonic Retro. Seems they where not meant to be leaked to the public yet, but where accidentally posted on Retro’s IRC channel. You can get the full story, as well as additional screenshots, at Sonic Retro’s website. It’s also been confirmed via one of these screens that the game will be selling for 400 microsoft points, or $5.

UPDATE 2: It should also be noted that these screens where leaked by Endri, proving that he has indeed confirmed the game.

Calling all remixers and remix enthusiasts – Game Music 4 All

Game Music 4 All Website.

21 Comments

Now while I was in Tokyo I met an awesome bloke who goes by the name Jeriaska who is a correspondent for Gamasutra. As well as being heavily involved in a lot of video games reporting, Jeriaska is also in the midsts of organizing the next Game Music 4 All compilation.

Most of you will probably be aware of some of the tracks that were on some of the previous compilations, particularly the “Loser: A SEGA Genesis tribute album” which includes the likes of the awesome “Sonic” track by The Adventures of Duane and BrandO, and the remixes by the prominent artist Spheres of Chaos. Well, the team at Game Music 4 All are looking for new tracks to add to their compilation! So, if there are any budding remix artists out there who want to get their mixes heard, or if you’re already big on the scene, then get over to the wordpress site and get your tracks submitted!

Do also be sure to visit the site for some of the most up-to-date news on the remix scene across a whole plethora of music cover bands, video game remixers, concerts, reviews, interviews…basically if it’s remix-related, it’s there!

If you’re about at PAX East this year, also keep your eyes open for Jeriaska’s presentation on the project! So come on UK remixers – lets get some representation this year!!! Oh yeah…and tell them T-Bird sent ya!

…and ok, here’s another excuse for Duane and BrandO (parental warning! Naughty words ahoy!)…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNC9dpy2EYU&feature=related[/youtube]

xxOLDArticles

The Jun Senoue Interview – Part One

23rd February 201024th October 2022

12 Comments

Shibuya, Tokyo, 7:30PM on a Sunday evening. Night time means nothing in this city, as the streets are still rammed full of shoppers going in and out of the many music, entertainment and fashion stores that line every main street and side alleyway. A sign and a menu is all that marks the rather uninteresting entrance to a well-known Italian restaurant, and three floors down, I’m sitting with the legendary Jun Senoue. Jun has been at the forefront of Sonic the Hedgehog music since 1993 and has since redefined the face of Sonic music with the formation of Crush 40 and their soundtrack to Sonic Adventure. TSS and junsenoue.com have been lucky enough to grab Jun for an exclusive interview…

T-Bird: So Jun, how are you, and what projects have been keeping you busy?

Jun: I’m working on several projects, at this moment I can only tell you that I’m working on Super Monkey Ball: Step and Roll which was released this month. I was not the composer; I took care of finding the singers and talent in a similar way I did for Sonic Unleashed and Sonic the Hedgehog 2006. The composers were Tomoya Ohtani and Mariko Nanba. There are eight vocal songs which meant I had to find eight singers; In the end these were two Japanese singers, three North Americans and three from Europe, with the genres of the tracks focusing on dance and club tunes.

T-Bird: To sort of follow on, can we expect any new material from you this year? I think “The Works” went down exceptionally well last year, and the burning question on everybody’s lips is when is the second Crush 40 album due out?

Jun: Yeah…we [Jun and Johnny Gioeli] are discussing when we should start work on the next album, or the next show. Originally I had a plan to do other Crush 40 shows here in Tokyo in early May, but Johnny is quite busy with Axel Rudi Pell [the German rock act Johnny performs with] so maybe we will get around to doing some shows. We had a TGS (Tokyo Game Show) performance in 2008, and a lot of kids wanted to be there. Unfortunately they could not attend as the event was during school time, so the aim is to do some shows during the summer or spring vacations.

T-Bird: Wow, that’d be very cool for the Japanese audiences! I think one of the most impressive soundtracks from last year was the Sonic and the Black Knight OST on the principle it was so musically diverse – how did you go about getting in touch with Tommy Tallerico, and what was it like working with him and Richard Jacques amongst others?

Jun: Talking about Sonic and the Black Knight, I ideally wanted to work with the guys who provided the songs to previous Sonic titles instead of teaming up with the SEGA composers I usually team up with. I asked Richard Jacques, then spoke to Howard Drossin. Talking about Tommy though, he was not an original Sonic composer. I’ve known him for years and we are good friends, and I thought this would be a good opportunity to team up with him and have him as a composer on this title.
Tommy provided us with ten ideas for tracks, and basically I selected three ideas from his list. He composed one of them from the start to the finish, and then the other two tracks I used the ideas and took care of them, arranged them and tracked the music with my band. It was a very fun experience!

T-Bird: I bet! Ok…(laughs) I guess this would be a good time to bring up Sonic the hedgehog 4: Episode 1 which has just been announced this week. Any thoughts? Anything you can tell us like, are you involved with the soundtrack?

Jun: Uhh…Ok. My answer is this; I hope I can tell you all the details in late spring or early summer!

T-Bird: Haha! Ok, I guess we will just have to wait then! As we mentioned before, you’ve heard of the Summer of Sonic. In 2008 we had TJ Davis and Richard Jacques, last year we had Bentley Jones return to perform…any chance in the near future for a Crush 40 appearance?

Jun: Talking about the shows we’ve done so far: with had a TGS performance back in 2008, and for that we played along with some backing tracks. For our next shows in Japan (more later!) we plan to have full band. If we come over to the UK, we will probably do something similar to what we did at TGS, but yes, we [Jun and Johnny] will be talking about it!

Don’t miss the second part of the Jun Senoue interview tomorrow, where Jun has answered some of the burning questions posed to him by you, the fans!

A massive thank you to Jeriaska from Gamasutra for the excellent photos!

Ring In ASR Launch Day With This New Trailer!

14 Comments

[youtube width=”560″ height=”340″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSBMmmobuLA[/youtube]

“NO LONGER MUST WE ENDURE RACING WITHOUT BALLS!!”

Nintendo Power Previews Classic Collection, Notes Framerate Issues

Nintendo Power have just released their preview of Sonic Classic Collection in their latest issue (#252) and give an expectedly straightforward preview. It mentions everything that you thought that it would, thanks to the recent string of media that hit the net last week. One thing that sticks out is the preview’s mention of “framerate issues.” Nintendo World Report’s preview also made light of hiccups in the collection’s framerate.

What has yet to be determined is whether these framerate issues are old or new. Yeah, when you had a lot of rings and lost them all, for instance, the originals chugged, but are there new framerate issues as a result of porting? We will find out soon enough.

Check out the scanned image of the preview below:

11 New ASR Videos at Gamespot

1 Comment

Just a very quick heads up, Gamespot.com have 11 new gameplay videos for Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing showcasing 4 player split screen action, All-Star Moves and more. Plenty to get you excited for the games release on the 23rd U.S. and 26th Europe.

Source:
Gamespot via Skulldevil1 at the SEGA Forums and Clisp at the SSMB

5 more here

Note: You have to click ‘most recent’ to make them appear.

Big Shows the Beaver in a Pinch

MaxieDexide sent this in to TSS and I had to double take at what I read. He went to the old Japanese Sonic webpage and had Google translate it. Big’s character description is the best:

Heh, now I have an excuse to post this video. Thanks, Canada:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t73W-LxdjjA[/youtube]

Hate away.

GamePro Germany reviews SEGA Allstars Racing

Nuckles87

13 Comments

Another review is in, and this ones from Germany. Here’s the translated summary:

controls:
+very simple, buttons for gas, brake, drifts and weapons.
+Drifting is essential for survival in this game, but lots of fun and works great.

graphics & sound:
+ great range of vision
+ lots of detail
+ charming SEGA flair
+ great effects (when using weapons or drifting)
+ framerate doesn’t hurt & much better than in preview versions…
– … but not totally perfect (e.g. camera panning)
+ soundtrack and sound effects are awesome…
– …commentator is not (but can be turned off)

more:
+ 24 tracks
+ unlock characters
+ great multiplayer
+ mission mode

version check:
+ Wii version not quite that beautiful as XBox and PS3 versions…
+ … but differences are minimal
+ PS3 version looks best, but framerate is better on XBox
+ Wii: Miis and XBox: Avatars + Banjo & Kazooie

Lead tester:
“I liked Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing immediately. Gameplay is mostly smooth, characters are great and tracks bring back lots of good old memories. And playing as Ryo Hazuki is a good thing, as there’s still no sign of a new Shenmue game. Would have been great if there were more tracks from other IPs. To put it in a nutshell: even if there’s nothing really new to this game, it’s really a great funracer.” 9/10

You can find the complete review here and the video review here

22nd February 201022nd February 2010

Free Sonic Toy with Purchase of DS ASR at Toys ‘R’ Us

8 Comments

According to Toys ‘R’ Us’ weekly newspaper ad, if you purchase the DS version of Sonic & Sonic SEGA Sonic All-Sonic-Stars Sonic Racing featuring Sonic, you’ll get a free Sonic toy (valued at a whopping $4.99).

The deal only lasts through February 27th until 5 PM.

[via Toys ‘R’ Us]

22nd February 201022nd February 2010

ASR PS3 Wheel Bundle Revealed

15 Comments

GAME’s Spanish website has revealed a new wheel bundle for Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing only its not for the Wii but for the PS3 version instead. The wheel is an officially licensed product made by 4Gamers which you may recognise from the recent PS3 trailer where those actors are utilizing it to showcase the PS3 controllers Six-Axis motion control.

The wheel bundle costs 12 more Euros than the game on its own so like the Wii Wheel bundle its not a freebie. This isnt the first SEGA racing game to use Six-Axis, SEGA Rally(SEGA Rally Revo to you guys in the U.S.) fans may recall that game supported the feature to add optional motion steering which worked well in my experience.

At the moment we only know of Spain getting this bundle but if we find more retailers selling it we’ll let you know.

Thanks to Blue Blood at the SSMB for the find.

21st February 201022nd February 2010

>UPDATE 2< ArchangelUK Reveals More Info About ASR

14 Comments

UPDATE 2: ArchangelUK has revealed another music track in this post at the SEGA Forums –

I’ll tell you one track thats on there that I’ve not actually revealed yet, thats Crank The Heat Up from Sonic Adventure – that really works racing. Was a really good choice by SUMO.

UPDATE 2 END

UPDATE: ArchangelUK has kindly given us some more information via the SSMB, many thanks 😉

SSMB EXCLUSIVE~!

The Sonic CD track is indeed Palmtree Panic (Present) – Japanese/Euro version.

As I corrected myself earlier on Wrecks, Wrapped In Black does appear but only the Wrapped In Black end of level jingle.

The instrumental version of E.G.G.M.A.N is also purchasable.

One of the multiplayer modes, Grab, consists of you battling for control of the seven chaos emeralds… VERY addictive.

There are three arenas – the Curien Mansion graveyard, “Seaside Square” and a monkey ball level arena with ramps and a bridge.

UPDATE END

After his revelation yesterday regarding 2 pieces of Sonic R music, SEGA Europe community manager ArchangelUK has revealed via his Sonic Wrecks website some juicy new information about Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing he’s discovered in the Xbox 360 version through time spent with the game over the weekend.

Here is a list of 10 of his findings –

•The music also contains a piece from Sonic CD and Sonic Rush tracks also feature… but Wrapped In Black doesn’t. BOOOO!
•Fish Hits plays when Big does his All-Star move.
•Switching difficulty to “Off” removes the AI from a multiplayer game.
•Race distances can be set between one and nine laps in length.
•There IS a reference to Ryo and sailors in the game. You can officially rejoice.
•There is at least one line of dialogue from the announcer when talking about Big that…well… it made me choke on my drink.
•Amigo’s boost is probably the most powerful in the game. It certainly seems to be from off the line.
•There is a very clever way of getting the “no collisions” achievement.
•It is entirely possible to legitimately do the “Wonder Boy” (winning by reversing over the line) achievement.
•You will definitely need to master drift for later Super Monkey Ball levels as they mirror the games a lot. This means lots of 90 and 180 degree turns

Source: Sonic Wrecks

Kotaku Holding Contest for ASR ‘Shops

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Worst Sonic & Sega Cameos Edition

7 Comments

A recurring contest at Kotaku, the “‘Shop Contest” has always produced some quality images that are worth a chuckle. Kotaku staff writer Owen Good is looking for people to Photoshop characters from other IPs into the upcoming SEGA kart racer.

You can use any image that you’d like. Submit them in the comments section of the contest’s page found below.

M&S Winter Olympics Moves 6 Million Units

21st February 2010

12 Comments

NBC might be losing over $200 million broadcasting the Winter Olympics, but that doesn’t mean everybody has to. SEGA and Nintendo decided to remind us that the Mario and Sonic series prints money. How good are times at SEGA HQ? Just ask SEGA West CEO Mike Hayes:

“The original Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games was a huge success for SEGA,” commented Mike Hayes, CEO for SEGA America and SEGA Europe. “Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games is one of the leading third party games for Wii and DS and we were confident the title would have longevity within retail. The start of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games is a perfect time to ensure SEGA is at the forefront of the consumer’s mind when it comes to recreating that Olympic Winter Games feeling in living rooms everywhere.”

Funny. Not once have I thought of blue hedgehogs and pudgy plumbers while watching the games. Oh, press releases…

Speaking of the Winter Olympics, is anybody here watching them as avidly as I am?! Speed skating and snowboarding have been very entertaining, but nothing is as compelling as the play unfolding in men’s ice hockey. A classic battle between Russia and the Czech Republic unfolds this afternoon, but USA vs. Canada will be in an all-out rivalry game at 7:40 PM EST tonight. Canada, David Backes will run you over.

21st February 20102nd June 2013

Sonic Relief 2010 Update

5 Comments

MK Skillz the generous guy behind Sonic Relief who we’re working with to help raise money for the Sport Relief 2010 charity fundraiser has issued the following update:

SONIC RELIEF 2010: THE FINAL SPRINT!

We’ve officially hit the halfway point of Sonic Relief 2010’s two month fundraising drive, with just one month remaining until the campaign ends at midnight (GMT) on 21st March.

With the official Sport Relief campaign now kicking off in the UK, it’s now a mad dash to the finish line to raise as much money as we can!

The total currently stands at £154 thanks to some generous donations on our JustGiving page, but the number of actual entries we’ve received (be it artwork, music, video… anything!) has been disappointingly low. In fact, you can count the amount of entries we’ve had so far using the fingers on one hand, which pales in comparison to the 30 or more entries we received in Sonic Relief 2009’s shorter two week run.

So our message to you all is this – we need your entries! You know what they say, the more the merrier!

The theme for entries this year is “something sporty” but you can make them as humorous as you like as well! Why not take some inspiration from the upcoming Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing, or Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Winter Games… both sport-related Sonic titles! We’d love to see your submissions based on these recent games!

Remember, you don’t have to make a donation to enter. However, entries that are accompanied by a donation to our JustGiving page will be entered into the “Best of Sonic Relief 2010” competition and the winner will receive some fantastic Sonic goodies (which we will hopefully be able to reveal to you soon!)

What are you waiting for? Get your imaginations in gear and get creative! Do your bit for the community as well as for a good cause! This is your time to shine, Sonic fans!

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
Submissions wishing to be entered into the contest should be sent to shadzter@sonicstadium.org as an attachment or a link (depending on what your submission is), along with some form of proof that you have made a donation to Sonic Relief 2010 (be it a name so that we can check you have donated on our JustGiving page or a print screen of your donation).

All other submissions should be posted in the official Sonic Relief 2010 topic. It is recommended that submissions both paid and non-paid should be posted in this topic to give inspiration to others, as well as showcase your creative talents!

Boxer Hockey: The Finale

33 Comments

Boxer Hockey
Thanks to Indigo Dude for the heads up.

Ridiculously Low Price Drops Result In ASR Wii Selling Out

DVD: £26.99
DVD wheel bundle: £29.99

4 Comments

UPDATE: All retailers that were selling the solo Wii version cheap then sold out have removed the listing. /UPDATE END

You may remember a few days ago we reported on many UK retailers listing ridiculously low price drops for the Wii & DS versions of Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing well you can guess what has happened, they are now sold out for the Wii version at least but we expect the DS version will soon follow the same path so if you want that version jump in now.

Sold out status would normally be somewhat good news but selling out at those crazy prices you have to wonder if its at a loss to the retailers. To the consumer though a price drop makes a saving on the wallet, so if you want the DS version jump in now. Those retailers who sold the Wii version cheap still have stock but only of the Wii wheel bundle and its not as cheap as the solo version was listed at.

Retailers listing the DS version ridiculously cheap are :
ASDA: £17.91

UK retailers still stocking the Wii version and the Wii version & Wii Wheel bundle at standard price are –

GAME: £29.99
GAME wheel bundle: £34.99

Amazon: £29.73
Amazon wheel bundle: £29.99

HMV: £29.99
HMV wheel bundle: £34.99

Zavvi wheel bundle: £29.95

Simplygames: £29.95

Play: £29.99
Play wheel bundle: £34.99

Gamestation: £29.99
Gamestation wheel bundle: £32.99

Gameplay: £29.99
Gameplay wheel bundle: £32.99

ShopTo wheel bundle: £29.85

Woolworths wheel bundle: £29.97

Tesco: £31.47
Tesco wheel bundle: £31.47

Chips World wheel bundle: £29.99

ASDA wheel bundle: £29.91

WH Smith wheel bundle: £29.93

Argos: £29.99

TheHut wheel bundle: £29.73

CD Wow: £30.99

Blockbuster: £34.99

Sonic 3 Level Designer Working On Sonic 4