UPDATE 2: The patch is now available in Europe too and is 21MB instead of 28MB like the U.S. patch. /UPDATE 2 END
UPDATE: AugieD369 at the SEGA forums says the patch definitely fixes the Trophy unlock problems and also adds a short cut via the square button to the ASR section of the PlayStation Store confirming the patch does indeed prepare the game for the upcoming DLC just like Sumo Digital’s Steve Lycett said it would./UPDATE END
Clisp of the SSMB has revealed via the SSMB that the Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing patch Steve Lycett of Sumo Digital has been informing the community about is now live and weighs in at 28MB. Steve has said in the past that the patch will fix Trophy unlocking issues among other things aswell as prepare the game for the upcoming downloadable content.
The patch is also due to be released for Xbox 360 too, so we’ll keep an eye out for that. We’ll also let you know when the PS3 patch is available in Europe and if we find out any other problems the patch fixes.
Thanks to Clisp at the SSMB for the heads up!
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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebhpWXNDbdE&feature=player_embedded#[/youtube]
I think next to Wonchop’s Knux Does Sum Awesum clip, this has been the video I’ve revisited the most recently, purely because it is so amazing.
If I win the lottery between now and August I will pay for Mr. Farfegnugen to follow Dreadknux around at Summer of Sonic playing this all day.
…and pay AAUK to dress as Wes Weasley.
Check out FromtheGang’s Channel on youtube for another version of the theme…this time on a church pipe organ!
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The University of Manchester “Korfball” team (linkage here if you said, “what the fuck is Korfball?”) loves to play Korfball and have team socials. With all that partying, the kids have to mix it up every once in a while, eh? At their most recent social, they decided to all dress up like Sonic.
Here is the result of college students, lots of alcohol, and blue paint:
The man who submitted the photos to UK: Resistance says that these photos were the least incriminating. Save us all.
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Some dude at Sonic Retro named “infinity” has managed to get a hold of the Sonic 4: Episode 1 soundtrack and has posted it at SoundCloud. These are not fake and not an April Fools. We will not be posting the actual files here, but if SEGA wants us to take the link down, then we will comply as always.
UPDATE 1: The “ending theme” has been added to the page.
UPDATE 2: The soundtrack has been pulled from the link below. Again, we will not be hosting the files here, but I’m sure somebody you know downloaded the whole thing. Ask around if you still want to listen. I recommend not hosting them though, because SEGA is making their rounds. I’m all for discussing leaked material, but not distributing it.
Check out the tunage over at SoundCloud.
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Sonic Relief Founder MK Skillz has issued the following announcement –
And so, the curtain falls on another Sonic Relief campaign. Despite things getting off to a pretty slow start, your entries soon flooded in and we’ve had another successful year of Sonic-related fundraising!
Following last year’s surprising £102 total, we tried to be a bit more experimental this time around. Some of the new features worked well, others not so much – the introduction of JustGiving allowed anyone to make a donation to our cause, whereas the “something sporty” theme was perhaps a bit more limiting. Needless to say, we will be taking all of these things into account in the future.
One thing to keep in mind is that Sonic Relief is still relatively new, and still something unknown to many people in the community. With more time, more publicity and more support, there is plenty of potential still to be unlocked. I’d also like to clear up a possible misconception and say that Sonic Relief is not just a charity campaign – it’s a creative showcase for the community, with your efforts going towards helping a good cause.
Now, before I move on to the announcement of this year’s grand total and our winning entry, I’d like to thank a few people. First, a huge thanks to everyone who entered and donated – I said it last year and I’ll say it again, we couldn’t have done it without you! Thanks also go to T-Bird and Urtheart for donating prizes, to Pelly, ArchangelUK and Vger for helping to promote the campaign and for their general support, and to Dreadknux for letting us hold another Sonic Relief here on The Sonic Stadium. And of course, a massive shout out to my good friend Shadzter who helped to make this whole thing possible for the second year running.
Right then, I think I’ve kept you in suspense long enough! I can reveal that the grand total raised by Sonic Relief 2010 is…
£375.55! (or, if you include Gift Aid, £417.29 !)
That’s an absolutely whopping total, folks! Everyone who participated deserves to give themselves a huge round of applause. If we can raise this much even with a lack of publicity, imagine what we could do if the whole community got involved!
But what of those people who participated though? For the first time in Sonic Relief history we’re giving away prizes for our favourite entry, and we’ve had some real crackers this year. It was certainly tough picking a winner, and everyone who entered should be proud of their work, but here is our favourite entry of 2010…
Winner: Tina Jackson
This entry was picked as the winner because it truly represents what Sport Relief is all about – bringing the worlds of sport and comedy together! Congratulations to you, Tina – you’ve got your hands on those exclusive Sonic and Knuckles plushes, as well as a copy of Sonic Heroes on PC!
I’d also like to make a special mention to Gavvie and his Songs For Sonic album, which raised £100 all by itself. Unfortunately we haven’t got any more prizes to give away, but we can’t thank you enough! Creative ways of fundraising like this are something we want to promote in the future…
And that’s about it for this year’s campaign. Will we be back in 2011? I’m certainly up for it, but it’ll depend on how much the community will get involved – so the more support we get from you guys, the better!
In the meantime if you have any suggestions for future campaigns please do not hesitate to get in touch with either Shadzter or myself, your ideas are much appreciated! Or you can do us a huge favour and just help to spread the word about Sonic Relief!
Thank you all once again for your support and we’ll hopefully see you again soon for more fundraising antics!
Huge thanks goes to Sonic Relief founder MK Skillz, without all of his work this achievement couldn’t have been possible. Thanks from myself also go to everyone who contributed, Dreadknux, T-Bird, Urtheart, Gavvie, Pelly, ArchangelUK, Vger and to everyone who entered the competition and made donations.
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This just in from GoNintendo, seems some Sonic fans are playing through Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 in a 24 hour marathon to raise donation money for Haiti. This event was organized by A Challenger Approaches! Charity Speed Runs, in the interest of raising at least $25 for the organization. At the moment, they are up to $8.15. You can check out their speed run below. The link you need to click to donate is under it. I will personally be donating some money later tonight
Regrettably, it doesn’t appear that we can embed UStream into this news post. You can find the live stream here. You can also join a live chat that can be seen alongside the window.
To donate, A Challenger Approaches! has provided this link and “ChipIn”. You will need a Pay Pal account to donate.
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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8DQPID-OPg[/youtube]
The Sonic themed downloadable content for Media Molecule’s innovative PS3 title LittleBigPlanet has barely been out for a day and there’s already some imagination at work. The above video showcases user Green_Scorpion’s very well crafted rendition of Sonic 1’s rotating maze Special Stages together with similar music.
Very well done to Green _Scorpion! Thanks to JasonTheJackass for the heads up and recording the stage.
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The official Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 website has updated with Buzzers full in-game animation and a brief description. No mention of any new actions or features like some of the other badniks.
Four new screenshots of Splash Hill Zone have also been added to the Screens section showcasing more of Act 3 in which the level is played at sunset. The extra life item box is seen in one of the screens which like the ones in the classics contains Sonic’s head on the screen. Also seen in the new screens is badnik Newtron in which he looks to have a new jumping action to avoid Sonic’s spin attack, either that or he’s just about to change into his rocket form.
The next badnik has a timer of 2 weeks until it is revealed, could we have seen the last of the Splash Hill badniks? Could we be seeing the next zone soon? As usual we’ll keep an eye out for new info and media.
Head over to the site to check it all out.
Thanks to Doctor Eggman at the SSMB for the Buzzer pic grab!
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Yet another Sonic 4 preview has hit the net, this time from Gamespot who seem to be more concerned about the game than IGN and GamesRadar. Gamespot seem to think the game will strike a chord with classic fans but are worried about how the controls will work seeing as their preview was eyes-on rather than hands-on.
An interesting part of the preview is the details regarding special stages where we find out the giant ring that requires 50 rings to enter the special stage at the end of an act is returning. Also revealed is that the Sonic 1 type maze special stages will contain barriers in them that only open when you have the required amount of rings.
If you reach the end of these levels with more than 50 rings collected, you have the opportunity to jump into a giant ring that takes you to a bonus level. These levels are similar to those found in the original Sonic the Hedgehog in that you have to guide Sonic through a rotating maze. The interesting thing here is that in the Wii and PS3 versions of the game, you can use the Wii Remote or the Sixaxis controller to rotate the level manually to guide Sonic through (the 360 version will just use the analog sticks). There are barriers in the maze, but these can be unlocked by collecting a specific number of rings.
Check out the full preview with a few new screenshots over at Gamespots website.
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Busy day for Sonic 4 news today, first GamesRadar post up a Q&A after getting a look at the game and now we have a preview from IGN who also got to check out the early stages of the game. IGN say some kind words about the game and even think it’s better than the original classics. The homing attack’s presence that alot of fans are worried about is also given alot of praise saying that it’s been worked well into a 2D space and is an invaluable tool to chain enemies together in order to maintain speed.
Those who claim IGN are IGNorant to Sonic may want to think again after reading this Sonic 4 preview.
Thanks to Doctor Eggman at the SSMB for the heads-up!
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GamesRadar’s Justin Towell has recently got to have a look at Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1, the first 3 levels to be exact and so asked the public to submit some questions about the game via their Twitter and Facebook. Today Justin has posted up 4 pages worth of the questions and his answers for your viewing pleasure.
Check them all out over at GamesRadar.
Thanks to Tornado over at the SSMB for the heads-up!
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Today is the day for the Sonic themed LittleBigPlanet items you may remember we reported about last week. The items are out now in todays PlayStation Store update but that’s not all as a lot of other Sonic related goodies including a price drop on PSP title Sonic Rivals 2 from £11.99 to £6.29. Continue reading UPDATE: Sonic LBP DLC Out Now, Sonic PSN Price Reductions
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UPDATE: Avatar items now available on the Xbox Live marketplace. /UPDATE END
Sonic Wrecks owner and SEGA Europe Community Manager ArchangelUK has revealed full details together with a picture of Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing Xbox 360 Avatar items. The items will be made available today at the Xbox Live marketplace.
Here’s a full list of the items you will be able to purchase –
Ryo Hazuki Jacket (160pts)
“I hope they do Ryo’s jacket!” I think we can manage that! Its the most iconic leather jacket in the history of video gaming and yes its got the tiger on the back. Caution: May make your avatar suddenly feel the need to hunt down sailors.
Dr.Eggman Glasses (80pts)
Villainy has never looked this good, the Doctor’s mirrored glasses are yours for the taking. The world maybe not so much.
Crabmeat Prop (240pts)
Own your very own Badnik! This Crabmeat can be summoned at the snap of your fingers and is totally under your control… sort of. Watch your toes! (This one was very much my baby, I insisted it was made so make sure you buy it!! – AAUK)
Sonic Car Prop (240pts)
You may have seen a little sketch of this perhaps? Summon your very own Sonic RC racer!
Tails Tornado Prop (240pts)
When you’re alone in your chair, you can just go about wishing for a Tails Tornado RC plane as well. Shazaam! Your wish is our command.
SEGA T-Shirt (80pts)
You’ve been waiting for this one and we’ve made it happen! A SEGA logo t-shirt!
Billy Hatcher Helmet (80pts)
Its Billy’s chicken hat, what more is there to say? Epicluck-cluck win.
Beat Glasses (80pts)
The Rokkaku fashion police won’t be stopping you with these fancy shades of Beat from Jet Set Radio.
Samba De Amigo Sombrero (80pts)
Shake your maracas Amigo-style with this funky Sombrero, star eyes not included.
AiAi T-Shirt (80pts)
Wear the funky monkey’s iconic orange “A” t-shirt!
AiAi Monkey Ball Prop (240pts)
…or AiAi himself in a Monkey Ball!
SEGA helmet (160pts)
Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing Helmet (160pts)
Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racesuit (160pts)
Available in both ladies and gents styles, suit up with some highly appropriate racing equipment.
Sonic and SEGA All-Star Racing T-Shirt (80pts)
Sonic and SEGA All-Star Racing Cap (80pts)
Sonic and SEGA All-Star Racing Beanie (80pts)
Source: Sonic Wrecks and Sonic City Blognik
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Two new Sonic 4 Wii screenshots have been added to Nintendo of America’s Sonic 4 product page they opened last month along with an hi-res version of a screenshot seen a while ago in Nintendo Power(the waterfall one). The page also confirms online leaderboards will be in the Wii edition of the game.
Features
• Classic Sonic gameplay with enhanced new features
• All new 2D adventure
• Full HD resolution and wide-screen format
• Special Stages return along with the 7 Chaos Emeralds
How does this game use Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection?
Compete with your friends to see who’s the fastest with online leaderboards!
Nothing else of note is present on the page right now but we’ll keep you posted if anything new appears. For now you can check out the other 2 screenshots below –
Source: Nintendo of America
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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vI2oLD8QsVA[/youtube]
YouTube user serbadork has done us all a favor(?) and made a video version of the wildly popular Boxer Hockey series of Sonic comics. I love the use of “Ren and Stimpy” music!
Be warned, though, your ears may get raped. Somebody doesn’t know how to read a peak meter. Clip clip clip clip…
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It’s been a month since Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing was released in the U.S. and to mark the occasion SEGA have released the last game in the Superstars/All-Stars series SEGA Superstars Tennis on the Xbox 360 Games On Demand service. The game costs £19.99 in the UK and $19.99 in the U.S. and weighs in at 3GB in size so it’s not too big compared to other Xbox 360 titles. If you’d like to take a swing at a court first you can download a free demo before you net yourself the game. Let’s hope this re-release will get the online multiplayer ball rolling or in this case bouncing again.
UK Xbox Live Marketplace
U.S. Xbox Live Marketplace
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Official Nintendo Magazine UK have posted up their Sonic 4 interview which contains questions fans sent into ONM staff to be put forward to SEGA’s Takashi Iizuka.
Here’s the list of questions and answers below –
Why has Sonic 4 taken so long to come about? – BADGERGAMER
Takashi Iizuka: Ever since Sonic Adventure was released in 1998, Sonic has evolved into a game which is faster and features new actions for Sonic. On the other hand, the sense of speed from side scrolling means that the popularity of ‘classic’ series still remains high. Even now a lot of fans enjoy playing those classic games via the Wii’s Virtual Console. The aim for Sonic 4 is to provide a ‘new classic series’ using modern techniques that have only been around for the past few years for fans from all around the world who love the ‘classical’ series.
How long has Sonic The Hedgehog 4 been in development and how has the approach for designing a downloadable game differed from the way you design other Sonic games? – MK Skillz
TI: About a year including concept development. As this is a downloadable title, the data size and price is very different from a packaged title. We just focused on old school classic game content to minimise data size and price.
Why did you decide to make it episodic? – Aki-toriko
TI: The object of this project was to make a game with a lower price which can be played and downloaded easily from the beginning. We are exploring making each episode volume small and having an increased number of possible episodes.
Why did you decide to use the WiiWare service rather than releasing the game on one disc? – Deku Scrub
TI: As stated previously, this was always planned as downloadable exclusive title. We thought the users who purchased classic games like ‘Sonic 1’ and ‘Sonic 2’ through the Wii Virtual Console would be the most interested in the downloadable titles.
Were you inspired by the success of New Super Mario Bros on both Wii and DS? In terms of giving the retro fans what they wanted? – FlibyFlow
TI: At first we weren’t aware of it. At the beginning of the development we wanted to create a downloadable exclusive title but knowing that the Wii version of New Super Mario Bros. has become a major hit in Japan and also around the world, it encouraged us as even now 2D platform action is loved by a lot of people.
All The classic games since Sonic 2 have featured Miles “Tails” Prower. Will Tails be featured in any one of these episodic adventures? – SuperKnightAI
TI: Tails won’t appear in Episode I. I’ll leave it to your imagination whether he’ll appear for further episodes!
What made you decide to include the Homing Attack, and does it have any impact on the classic- gameplay? – MK Skillz
TI: As you know, Homing Attack was an action featured from ‘Sonic Adventure’ and it didn’t appear in the classic series. In Sonic 4 the Homing Attack is added, and this provides sense of speed that none of the classic series have.
Can we expect only levels or enemies inspired by the original games or will there be anything completely new? – bleedOrange
TI: Sonic 4 stages have motifs that remind us of previous series, but they have been designed to be completely new for this game. We prepared many gimmicks and devices that are classic and also some you have never seen before!
Now Sonic has returned to his old roots, will he remain this way from now on or will we still see him return in his 3D adventures such as Sonic Adventure and Sonic Unleashed? – Dooby
TI: I think Sonic 4 is positioned as a game which provides simple classic gameplay, so it is not considered the same as something which evolved as a 3D action series. I cannot answer how 3D action series will expand from now on unfortunately.
Will Super Sonic be available to players who collect all 7 Chaos Emeralds? – Sonic Boom
TI: It is one of the biggest characteristics of the classic series but whether it is in this game or not, I’ll leave to your imagination.
In your opinion does this game have most in common with the Sonic the Hedgehog trilogy, the Sonic Advance games, or the Sonic Rush games? – spambot404
TI: Of course Sonic the Hedgehog trilogy is the one this has most in common with. With the DS Sonic series, you have various actions like grind or boost. What I am creating with this title is a simple platform action game that you can enjoy with one button.
Any chance we could see a return of the Vs Mode from Sonic 2 and Sonic 3, where you have to race a mate to the end of the zone? – Random_guy_14
TI: We don’t provide Vs Mode in Episode I. Unfortunately, I cannot answer about further episodes at this point.
Will the Wii version offer something different to the PS3 version? – The Batman
TI: Basically we prepared identical game content so users could enjoy playing with their preferred hardware platform. However, some hardware specific capabilities are implemented. For Wii, you can enjoy a special stage by using the Wii Remote’s tilt control.
What is your favourite thing about the game so far? – Flash7
TI: What I like most is being able to provide new [games like the] classic series after 16 years. Developing a classic Sonic world that used to be pixel art and making it high-res by using CG rendering means a lot for me as I was one of the developers of the original classic title.
Source: ONM
Thanks to Velotix Lexovetikan at the SSMB for the heads up!
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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNGjSSJWgq0[/youtube]
Well, I’ve just spent a weekend at the Alton Towers theme park in Shropshire, UK. As well as sighting Jonathan Ross, skipping past the rest of the crowd and getting into the park before the rest of the public, and riding Nemesis 5 times in half an hour (no queue! Insane!), I was there, in true T-Bird style, for the Sonic experience. I was lucky enough to be the first member of the general public to book into the Sonic the Hedgehog Room (which Dreadknux got to stay in a month ago for nothing…lucky badnik he is!) and once I’d stopped running around the room screaming like a child, I recorded a little video tour of the room – enjoy!
Also it seems like my UFO plush machine luck has taken a full turn, as I’ve come back with quite a handful without having to sell any kidneys for money! All the hats, keyrings etc are available from the Alton Towers gift shop.
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UPDATE: After fixing the Wii leaderboards, the DS online leaderboards have now been fixed too. /UPDATE END
You may have heard word about a glitch in Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing revealed yesterday that can be abused to rank high on the time trial modes online leaderboards with very short lap times. The glitch is in all 3 home console versions Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii but the Wii version aswell as the DS version also contain times achieved using cheat devices.
Good news is that Sumo Digital and SEGA are aware of the glitchers and cheaters and are hard at work to fix the problems. The Wii version has today had the problem players times removed from the leaderboards and the names of those players filed so if they try to cheat/glitch their way onto the leaderboards again they will be banned.
Here are some statements from Sumo Digital Executive Producer Steve Lycett at the SEGA Forums –
I’m trying to decide, is this a thread bemoaning an exploit, or the Wii online?
I’m taking a look into this now with SEGA, then we’ll decide what to do to address it.
Watch this space
—
S0L
—
Link
Whilst you’re busy bashing the Wii – I’ve just cleared all the hacked times and glitch times from the Wii leaderboards
I’ve got a log of the folk doing them too. Don’t make me break out the ban hammer
Just looking into the other platforms now.
—
S0L
—
Link
A response from Shadi Wulf –
Yeah =P but how long is that gonna last until people start uploading more glitched times.
Link
Back to Steve Lycett –
“I’ve got a log of the folk doing them too. Don’t make me break out the ban hammer ”
*cough*
As above
—
S0L
—
Link
Another post from Steve at the SSMB –
Yeah, I’ve sorted the Wii out, just looking into sorting the others. I don’t want a few people ruining the fun for the majority
—
S0L
—
Link
We don’t condone the glitch and cheats so to not encourage people to perform them we aren’t posting the methods of how to perform the glitch or info for the cheats. We’ll let you know if and when the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions get a fix.
In other news, Sumo Digital staffer SumoRex at the SEGA forums has made a comment regarding the upcoming DLC –
Well. It’s impossible to please everyone, with people who love, and others who hate the same content. That was one of the things that made me quit. You can’t please everyone. No matter how hard you try.
Anyway, without giving anything away, the stuff you’ll get is nice. IMHO.
I dunno what the price is, but it’s not just an unlock, it represents LOTS of man hours.
Link
Thanks to Starlight Rage Zone at the SEGA Forums for the heads up on SumoRex’s statement.
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Thanks to DVD Smith for sending us the quotes and the scan (check the update at the bottom).
British gaming magazine, NGamer, just sent out their latest issue in the mail and within its many pages lies a preview of Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1. Most of what is detailed within the preview was described to us back when a community member playtested the game a month ago. A lot of people decided to blow off what he said as “fake” or “a bunch of bullshit,” so it wasn’t “truly” confirmed (that’s par for the course when materials are leaked, I guess). Now, we can say that more details that he described have been verified, including a few new ones, like how many episodes will make up Sonic 4!
Here are a few key points in NGamer’s preview:
“The sound effects are pulled straight from the 16-bit days, and both the loading screen and the extra life icons rip their sprites straight from the heart of the nearest Mega Drive”
“The bonus stages, activated by finishing a level with over 50 rings, resemble the mazes from the very first Sonic the Hedgehog, but with a modern twist. Now, instead of reacting to the spin of the maze, the player controls it by titlting the Wii remote. A Chaos Emerald is still the prize, but now Sonic has to fight for his right to even be in the same room as the gem – doors blocking off access have t be removed by collecting a set number of rings.”
“Sonic 4 will be split into three episodes, each containing four zones of three acts (and a boss) apiece.”
“Act 3 of Splash Hill Zone is the only act to take place at sunset.”
UPDATE: DVD Smith has sent us a low-quality scan of the preview. Check it below (click for larger size):
UPDATE 2: Sonic Retro member, Wolf Rogers, has better scans of the screenshots included in the preview. Check out the gallery below:
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Guess who’s back. Back again.
Today, in honor of the recent release of Splash Hill screenshots and music, we’ve got a pair of remixes (holy shit, already?). This first one is a “modern” twist on the latest obligatory green zone by remixing it in the style of the Adventure games or Sonic Heroes:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FxHLb5F6GU[/youtube]
Reminds me of Seaside Hill, so big ups on this one. Seaside Hill is my joint. P4KO, nice work on this remix and thanks for sending it our way, bronik.
This next remix of “Green Hill: Part 7,000” is by none other than Gecko Yamori. His interpretation is of the “classic” variety, using the 16-bit sounds found within the Genesis/Mega Drive:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIwQQGOGcCQ[/youtube]
Once again, I am personally wowed at how fan remixes have been making the Sonic 4 songs catchy. I guess I just find the choice of instruments obnoxious in the official tracks, especially the synth. That’s just me, though, so what do you guys think about the music and these remixes?
Do that shit.
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Emerald Coast owner, SSR DJ and all around cool guy Vger reports that UK collectibles retailer Forbidden Planet are now stocking three characters namely Sonic, Tails and S&TBK Sonic from a range of new figures priced at just £4.99. The back of the packaging informs that more are on the way but no information as to who or what they are. We’ll keep an eye out for them and report back here.
Meanwhile if you’d like a closer look at the three figures currently available head over to Emerald Coast.
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The team at the Official U.S. PlayStation Blog have set up a new feature simply called PlayStation Blog Share where users can set up suggestion polls to get their idea’s out there for consideration and get a clear idea of how high or low demand is for said suggestion with a positive and negative vote system.
Casanova at the SSMB has set up a suggestion poll there for Sony exclusive characters for DLC in Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing PS3. If you are interested you can place your vote here.
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The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
I’m sure you’re all well aware of the Sonic costumes that are coming to LittleBigPlanet; well, looks like we might be getting them soon, now. A new trailer, showing the costumes off in a Green Hill inspired environment, has just been released on the LittleBigPlanet website.
The costumes really do look great, and the Green Hill level definitely shows off how versatile the game’s level designer can be.
In addition to the trailer, it has also been confirmed by the website that the kit will be launching March 25th, for the price of £4.79/ US $5.99!
In addition to the costumes, the pack will also come with Sonic themed stickers, which can be seen below.
These stickers can be pasted onto objects, allowing you to make classic Sonic levels!
Special thanks goes to Jason the Jack Ass for sending me the tip over IM.
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SEGA have updated the official Sonic 4 website with 8 new screenshots and some music from the Splash Hill zone, the first level of the game. The music gives off a very retro feel that the game is aiming for. The screenshots give us a better look at Sonic’s ‘wheel’ running animation seen very briefly in the leaked footage, another homage to the classic Mega Drive/Genesis titles. Also shown is more of the homing attack and and the return of some retro items in the form of the star post checkpoints, the vine swings and the item boxes/tv’s that we’ve seen before. Eggman and his profile have also been unveiled next to Sonic in the Featured section.
You can check out all this new media at the Sonic 4 website.
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In 2 posts today at the SSMB Steve Lycett Executive Producer at Sumo Digital has spoken out regarding some files in Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing, first shared by nineko at Sonic Retro and then searched through 12 days ago by imarafan at the SSMB who found some unused voice clips in the files. The voice clips referenced a mirror mode and a rivals mode.
Here’s what Steve had to say on the matter –
I was going to reply to that post too, but I think I’d been to the boozer and couldn’t quite type properly when I saw it 🙂
As with all games, we recorded the commentary quite early on, so we recorded more than we planned to use, with some alternatives in case we made any late changes. Some things didn’t make it into the game, or made it in but in a different form.
The rivals one is quite interesting, what we *used* to do is have each character having a defined rival, so of course as Sonic, your rival would be Eggman. If you beat them in a GP, you’d get something extra. In the end we took this out as it wasn’t massively intuitive or clear, though… It still will give you a few extra miles even now for beating Eggman as Sonic in a race (or indeed any of the rivals we picked!)
If you’re expecting the un-used commentary to be used for DLC though, you’re barking up the wrong tree 😛
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Well, that was part of the problem, it’s not immediately clear for some characters who their rival would be…
Ryo though has Jacky and Akira as his rivals, all martial artists, you see. You’re right about Samba and AiAi though 😛 I can’t remember off the top of my head who we had Beat have as a rival. Bear in mind of course, we considered these friendly rivalries 😛
Reverse tracks were something we originally planned to do, but as you’ve probably guessed, most of the tracks wouldn’t work the other way around due to some the jumps. We decided to focus on making them all fun the right way around! So if you do grab those VO clips that TSSZ has rather cheekily posted, now you know why 🙂
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Got an Xbox 360 and Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing? Enjoying the game? Fancy yourself as a bit of a pro? Want some competition? Like prizes? Well Xbox Live Addicts are hosting a racing league with SEGA Europe as official sponsors, which means you have the chance to win some official SEGA prizes. The league is open for 6 weeks and sign up for week 2 has just begun, if you’re interested you can go put your name down here. You must be a member of the league and the site to play of which you can register for here.
Source: Sonic City Blognik
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UPDATE: CVG have just posted up part 2 of their interview, though nothing Sonic is included but it’s still a good read. Check it out here. /UPDATE END
CVG have posted up part 1 of an interview they’ve had recently with SEGA’s head of the western territory Mike Hayes. The interview discusses SEGA’s game plans for 2010 covering all IP’s including Sonic the Hedgehog where questions about Sonic 4 arise. Mike Hayes reveals the following game plan he holds for Sonic in 3 franchises, Sonic, Mario & Sonic and the All-Stars. Mike Hayes informs that Sonic 4 is being made for the ‘legacy’ fans which should make people who fall under that category happy to hear as long as the final product is what they hoped for. The question about episodes as seen in many interviews pops up again to which Hayes responds with a number of reasons such as low costs which means it is a better option to test how this kind of game is received.
You can check out the Sonic related section of the interview below:
Talking of classic Sega IP, we’ve seen the new Sonic game…
Doesn’t it look great?
For a 2D fan – yes, it does. What was the thinking behind its creation? Bizarrely, it’s a next-gen, old-school title…
The thing with Sonic you need to understand is that there are different parts of the Sonic family. This is how we’re building the whole strategy. In one corner you’ve got Mario & Sonic franchise, in the next you’ve got Sonic The Hedgehog. Then you’ve got the All-Stars – that’s pretty much everybody. Then you’ve got something we haven’t seen for a while, which is like Sonic Heroes, multiplay-type game.
Those are the four areas we want to develop. Interestingly, each of those is going to have different audiences. With the Sonic The Hedgehog brand, we have a lot of people who are legacy fans in a way. And that’s where the new game came from: Wouldn’t you like to play in the style of your old Genesis or Megadrive but in the beauty of re-enhanced high definition? It doesn’t mean we won’t tap into the All-Star games, or we won’t take Sonic in other directions in future.
Why make it episodic rather than a standalone New Super Mario Bros-style release?
Kind of a mixture of reasons. A lot of it is the whole digital entertainment part. We like everybody else are trying to learn how best to deliver entertainment in the future to consumers. This was a relatively low cost part of Sonic. We wanted to see how it was received via that delivery.
For something like Sonic 4, the consumer will often be quite core. They play a lot of multiplayer, a lot of downloads off XBLA and PSN. We’re feeling our way if we’re perfectly honest, but it seems to make sense.
We’ll keep an eye out for part 2 of the interview and let you know if anything Sonic is discussed.
Full interview at CVG
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Well, I guess there’s such a thing as being too quick on the trigger, eh? Some of you may be wondering why the earlier news post was removed; well, it appears the screenshots were a hoax. Perhaps the most glaring flaw was the use of the Egg Dragon, which served as the final werehog boss battle from Sonic Unleashed. I suppose that particular boss battle wasn’t exactly memorable, as several sites seem to have fallen for the hoax to some degree.
Well played, hoaxers, well played! Good going on not using a boss from the Rush games either: Egg Dragon was a pretty good choice for something like this. I, for one, am glad that Microsoft’s lax security measures over at PartnerNet (the source of most of the Sonic 4 leaks) hasn’t spoiled the final boss for the rest of us: we can only hope the final boss battle will remain unspoiled until the game’s finished and out. A special request to all those with access to PartnerNet: please, don’t spoil? 🙂
And no, we are not putting the screens back up. 😛
Oh, and special thanks goes to SSMB member Dusk for bringing this to my attention! Appreciate it, man ;). I would also like to take this opportunity to push the website SEGA Bits, were I first found the hoax.. They are a great new site for SEGA fans everywhere, without the Kartel’s silly ads. I highly recommend a visit!
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YouTube user SongeLeReveur is a veritable prodigy if I ever saw one. Not content with learning to play bass guitar, acoustic guitar, bongos and a freaking ocarina (among others), he proceeded to don a doll of Spongebob Squarepants and splice footage of all four five into an awesome mediterranean take on Marble Zone‘s theme from the original Sonic the Hedgehog.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umdvy2l0FAs[/youtube]
His latest variation on a Sonic theme is a jazzy rendition of a forgotten classic, Sky High Zone from the Master System and Game Gear version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDLolaystog[/youtube]
SongeLeReveur’s done a number of other Sonic tracks, along with other series such as Final Fantasy, and film/TV classics such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Back to the Future. But you’ll just have to go find them yourself, wun’cha sunshine?
Someone sign this guy.
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Earlier today Lee Brotherton – better known as Bentley Jones – posted a statement on his blog regarding the use of his work on recent Sega/Wavemaster music album releases. In an uncharacteristically formal language, he singled out last year’s True Colors: The Best of Sonic the Hedgehog Part 2, notable for his previously unheard vocals in the track Open Your Heart (K-Klub Remix).
The full message from his blog is below.
It disappoints me to announce that the latest SEGA / Wave-Master releases relating to the Sonic series have proceeded without my consent, approval or notification. Specifically regarding the “True Colors” album, I wish to stress that I have not paid any direct contribution to its production at any point and is therefore not an accurate representation of my work. Furthermore; the music, vocals, production, engineering and my likeness(es) that appear on these albums do so without my permission, proper crediting and, in some instances, by breaching the copyrights of my work.
The royalties that I would normally be entitled to for any music that I have written have been denied, and so the only people who have been profiting from the exploitation of me and my music are SEGA.
The delay in issuing this statement has been due to legal investigations, and because of ongoing inquiries it may not be possible to comment on this area of my work through any medium: my sincerest apologies to the fans. Under protest, I will not list nor promote these albums as I do not consider them to be official additions to my discography.
I hope that my fans will understand and sympathise with this situation and I hope it will be resolved very soon.
// Bentley x
Bentley Jones rose to Sonic stardom some years ago when he was invited by Jun Senoue to create some remixes for Shadow the Hedgehog’s soundtrack. He has since worked on one of the theme songs to Sonic 06, Dreams of an Absolution, along with various remixes. From this – and his past work creating club mixes of pop songs for Remix Factory – Bentley Jones has created a solo career that resulted in a hit dance cover album in Japan. His popularity in the fanbase has made him a regular at the Summer of Sonic convention.
This could be a case of legal misunderstanding between the two parties, and Bentley Jones remained tight-lipped about any potential litigation process. But, this is some pickle, and we at least hope it’s resolved soon with minimal fuss.
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The first piece of downloadable content for the Xbox 360 version of Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing at least has hit the Xbox Live Marketplace. Priced at 400 Microsoft Points you get what is essentially a key to unlock all content in the game, so those hoping for characters, tracks or music will have to wait a little bit longer.
The content is described as below –
Race past the competition and speed your way to victory with a whole host of Sonic & SEGA All-Star characters and exhilarating tracks. Unlock all 24 tracks and 22 characters from the start with this exclusive download. Winning has never been so sweet!
In a post at the SSMB Steve Lycett Executive Producer at Sumo Digital has confirmed there is better DLC coming –
Yeah, that’s the boring DLC, it gets better
Laser gates? LOL – yet another one to add to the gaffe list. The Final Fortress tracks used to have laser gates that popped out of the tracks to block you. We took them out as they really slowed the race down – and could pop up right when you least wanted them.
Of course there was a cameo on the Final Fortress tracks too….
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This first piece of DLC hasn’t hit the PS3’s PlayStation Store yet but we’ll keep an eye out for it.
UK Xbox Live Marketplace
U.S. Xbox Live Marketplace
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SEGA of America community staffer RubyEclipse has posted a new topic at the SEGA forums informing the Sonic community that SEGA are ready to reveal new information about Sonic the Hedgehog 4 but they want to get the fans involved again. SEGA are holding a poll with two topics to choose from, either the homing attack or music and sound effects.
RubyEclipse’s post is below –
Hey everyone,
In the near future, we’re going to get a chance to talk to you guys more about Sonic 4, including some in-depth discussion about the finer parts of the game.
So, we’d like to let you guys decide which parts you’re most curious about and would like to hear more info on. There may be even more polls like this in the future, but this time around we’re letting you choose between more details on how the Homing Attack works in the game, or, alternatively, the Music / SFX in the game.
Cast your votes between now and this Friday – there’s not an “all of the above!” option just yet, but we’d like to see what interests you the most.
Thanks all!
If you are interested in taking part you will need to sign up for a SEGA Pass if you don’t have one already.
Source: RubyEclipse’s topic posted at the SEGA Forums
Thanks to Dusk the Biohazard Keeper at the SSMB for the heads up.
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So while TSS takes a break from competitions for a moment, our friends over at Sonic Wrecks are taking up the reins! In fact they’ve got an extremely tasty morsel to give away in the form of the Sonic Classic Collection Limited Edition Collectors Tin set, containing a copy of Sonic Classic Collection on the Nintendo DS, 5 glossy postcards of classic art, and a First4Figures mini Sonic statue. This isn’t available outside of Spain and Australia, so this is a must-have for you die-hards outside those regions!
All you have to do is simple:
THE TASK
Sonic Classic Collection brings the classic quintet of Sonic’s original Mega Drive outings to the Nintendo DS for the first time, but what we want to know is something completely bogus. That’s right, I want your best entirely ficticious Sonic The Hedgehog “facts”! The best one wins… simples!
If you’re stuck for ideas, here’s an example: “The idea for the character of Knuckles the Echidna came about from one of Yuji Naka’s anecdotes, in which he claims to have defended himself against an army of Nintendo fanboys in a bar fight, using only an anteater “.
Ok, so my mind works in wonderful ways. Lucky for you, I’ve already got one. It’s very nice.
Anyway, the competition is open until the 26th of March 2010, so get yer thinking caps on; a crackers fact could bag yourself a lovely piece to add to your collection!
Check out Sonic Wrecks for full details and to enter!
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Jut a quick heads up, Chart Track have today unveiled last weeks UK video game sales chart for the week ending 13th March. Final Fantasy XIII has taken the top spot of the all-formats chart but how have Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing and Sonic Classic Collection fared?
All-Formats Top 40:
ASR down from 5th to 7th place
Sonic Classic Collection 35th
Individual Formats Top 40:
ASR –
Wi version down from 12th to 15th
DS version down from 17th to 21st
Xbox 360 version down 19th to 36th
PS3 version down from 27th to 40th.
Sonic Classic Collection 32nd
PS3 Top 30:
ASR down from 6th to 10th place
PC Top 20:
ASR hasn’t placed in full price or budget charts
Xbox 360 Top 40:
ASR down from 6th to 8th
DS Top 40:
ASR down from 1st to 2nd
Sonic Classic Collection 6th
Wii Top 40:
ASR stays at 2nd place
It appears all versions of Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing minus the DS version have dropped a little in the charts though remaining in the top 10 is still a positive to say the game has some heavy competition in games like Final Fantasy XIII, Heavy Rain and Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Will Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing be able to stay put in the top 10? We’ll let you know next week.
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