Categories xxOLDArticles, xxOLDSite Updates

The Spin: “2014: A Hedgehog Darkly”

Posted on
Author Dave Luty

spin

You know, there are some well respected scientists who are convinced that there exists a bunch of parallel universes in which things are similar to our own, but have some slight differences. Let’s imagine for a while we live in one of those universes, the one where Boom the game isn’t terrible.

boombeards

In an alternative universe, they all have beards because.

 

There are around 22 hours left of 2014 by the time I post this. Cast your mind back to nearly a year ago, when this happened. Exciting wasn’t it?

Now, let’s address one thing which I know a certain class of people will say “Well Sega never said that publicly!” and “They never intended for that to come out!” That really doesn’t work as a defence or as a counter claim for the following reasons.

1: That was a piece of official documentation given to the press, every single member of the press was more than free to say ‘Year of Sonic’ following the embargo date. That is an official document from Sega stating that they see 2014 as being ‘The Year of Sonic.’

2: It did come out. It came out 24 hours prior to the intended date, but it so easily could have come out 24 hours after the event, at which point there would be none of this ‘Sega didn’t intend it to come out.’

So then, 2014, the year of Sonic. How did you all enjoy it?

Let’s get right to it. Sonic Boom has set back Sonic’s reputation by nearly a decade. After the disaster to Sonic, Sonic Team and Sega’s reputation which was Sonic 06, we are right back there again. If you were not around back in the time of 2006. Congratulations, you now know how it feels. The only difference is that the vast majority of people saw what Boom was and was prepared for a catastrophe, the only horror was how the game was even lower than the majority of negative expectations.

Anyway, let’s pretend for a moment that didn’t happen. That Boom was somewhere around Generations level of quality, e.g. a good-great game. How was it? Actually… let me put it another way.

Imagine Boom was a good-great game and you lived outside of the United States how was the year of Sonic?

It would still have been kinda naff.

The year of Sonic 2014 is in my opinion, especially if you live outside of the US was a complete non starter. Even if Boom the game was a success, the Year of Sonic was a doomed to fail concept which never saw any life.

Why? Well let’s look at it. Boom is supposed to have three main support pillars. Game, TV Show and Merchandise. How many regions have all three?

So far, only the United States.

How many countries have two? Just One, France.

Everywhere else has just the game or none at all. Put aside the fact that Sega have all but doomed the future reception of Boom in those other nations thanks to the quality of their first product for just a moment and think about it.

How can this be a year of Sonic when it’s no different than previous years, had less impact and less substance?

Now before there’s a flood of ‘EUROPE GETS EVERYTHING’ or “AMERICA GET’S EVERYTHING!” comments which normally follow stuff like this. First of all, grow up. Not every nation can get every single announcement or idea, there’s always going to be some things specific to a region.

However this one is different. Sega announced that this would be ‘The Year of Sonic.’ They then went onto their blog and relayed all the exciting information. There was no ‘it’ll be coming to the UK or other regions by the end of 2015,’ it was 2014 is the year of Sonic.

boombeards2

Following on from other ‘Year of’ Such as Luigi who saw a huge worldwide promotion of him as a character and from other so called ‘year of’ promotions in other media which saw an equal share of promotion worldwide. Sega knew exactly what it was doing with this one. In fact I wouldn’t doubt it if it were someone in a marketing meeting said ‘Well Nintendo just did Year of Luigi!’ without thinking about having content to back that up.

Some people might be thinking ‘well the merchandise will come when the TV Show does. How I wish I shared your belief, outside of America, especially in Europe, video game merchandise is in shockingly short supply except if your game is called Minecraft.

Despite a strong showing at various toy and merchandise shows, video game merchandise, especially Sonic merch in Europe seems to get a very poor showing. Jazwares is a grand example of this, despite having their own UK office and promoting new distribution partners in the UK, what was release was painfully small compared to the US.

Should Tomy decide to release their Boom toys in Europe, I will be very surprised if it’s the entire range shown so far in the United States is released in Europe, it has never happened before and I very much doubt it will happen for a long time.

But aside from that. Only one nation got all three of the main pillars, so why should anyone else care or feel that this year was any different even if Boom were any good?

For that matter, even if you live in the United States, even if Boom were good, there seems to be major lack of what was promised.

Skip to 1:40 in this video.

We assume you have heard of Sonic The Cosplayer? If not, he takes a unique “spin” on cosplaying by always acting in character as “Sonic”, a special Sonic who likes to cosplay as a variety of cool characters. Every wondered how Sonic would dress as Mario, or how the blur blur would look as Harry Potter? Then this is your guy!

Image8We love him so much, we thought he was the perfect guy to go head to head with in our second The Sonic ShowDown. A series where we challenge people in the community to see who is superior. Which cosplay did you prefer from this challenge?

You can watch the last episode of our ShowDown series below.

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Categories xxOLDArticles, xxOLDSite Updates

Sonic Boom: The Rise and Demise of a Spin-Off

Posted on
Author Adam Tuff

SB12014 has been a significant year in my books; To mark my 30th I’ve been fortunate enough to have also celebrated Sonic the Hedgehog at three different events across three continents with many fellow enthusiasts. 2014 has also been a year in which SEGA has proven it can still put on a show. Sonic Boom (the fan event, now in its 4th year) was yet another fantastic showcase of the best of what the Sonic franchise has to offer, including the a troop of extremely talented musicians, artists and voice actors presented in an incredibly well executed evening. Sonic Boom (the show, the 5th Sonic the Hedgehog TV series to date) is currently airing State-side entertaining kids young and old alike with its unique brand of slapstick sitcom comedy, packaged snuggly into accessible, digestible episodes. But while two Booms seem to have won over the fans, the third, Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric for the Nintendo Wii U, is most certainly not – and it doesn’t take much searching to find there is a rather polarised, negative opinion of the game.

The game’s origin is unusual in that it is rather Inception-esque: a spin-off game from a TV show, which in itself inspired by the Sonic the Hedgehog series. If SB:RoL were to be purely judged as a tie-in with a TV show, it could be taken as a typical endeavour designed purely to reinforce sales of merchandise.

SB2Unfortunately, SB:RoL doesn’t get off the hook that easily for several reasons; most notably, the Big Red Button brand bred high expectations with many fans for a full and thorough development of something potentially fresh and exciting. It seems like cracks in the game began to manifest fairly early on, likely compounded by the en-mass exodus of staff from the developer. Furthermore, the herculean marketing drive for the game across the many months led many to believe that something special was in the pipeline, myself included. This was further reinforced by the waves of concept art and character designs which came cascading out from official releases; peaks at lush, organic environments and teasers of gargantuan mechanical leviathans confronting our heroes was more than sufficient to induce salivation from a large fraction of the fan base.

So what, in the end, did Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric deliver? The premise is something like this: Sonic and his friends accidentally awaken Lyric, a biomechanical snake with a penchant for destruction, and it is up to the heroes to collect crystals in order to prevent him from eradicating life from the planet. The game takes a triple threat format of speed, puzzle-solving and exploration stages, interspersed with arenas where the player does battle with an onslaught of cybernetic creations.

SB4The game commences with an apparently arbitrary flash-forward before switching to a brief encounter with Eggman and Metal Sonic, after which the player is dropped into the world and SB:RoL begins to show it’s true colours. The bulk of the game consists of navigating through a number of linear dungeons lying off a main hub world. From the get go it becomes strikingly obvious that the sheer scale of ambition in this title has been its demise, resulting in a lack of focus on any element of gameplay. Speed sections, at full pace, give the players few chances to react properly to any obstacles; bizarrely you can also slow to a snail’s pace with virtually no consequence, other than to prolong the experience. Sections involving combat require little to no skill or tactics, and can be completed successfully with the age old art of button bashing. Additionally, there is no consequence in running out of rings as death simply results in an instant respawn, meaning players can operate with near immunity throughout. From start to finish puzzles lack variety or originality and will fail to challenge even the youngest players, and although some differential is offered through each of the characters wielding their own unique abilities, most areas can be navigated regardless of character selected, rendering differences in skill sets as arbitrary and pointless on the most part.

SB3Contrary to what some of the early screens indicated, the worlds of SB:RoL feel empty and flat – almost reminiscent of a past generation game that might have been expected from a title released ten or even fifteen years ago. The sparseness of the realm is baffling as the characters can only saunter along at a leisurely jog (ironically unless you are on water) requiring the player to traverse vast distances to get to and from areas and characters of interest. A number of optional quests delegated by supporting characters fail to provide any unique gaming experience, with the rewards providing no noticeable benefit gameplay whatsoever. What’s more are the numbers of objects dotted around such as crowns and “shinies”, which seem to serve no purpose other than to be sought after by completionists. Fortunately, only one game-breaking bug was encountered in the play through, but demonstrates a distinct lack of any comprehensive QA tests having been carried out.

The story is inconsequential and predictable on the most part, and includes two completely inexplicable encounters with Shadow, the inclusion of which can only really be explained away as fan service. The dialogue in the game is probably one of the highlights, with Mike Pollock once again stealing the show as the voice of Dr Eggman. However, amongst the fleeting moments of humour are the endless cycles of character soundbytes that remind the player repeatedly of the obvious (e.g. ramps can be used as ramps), over and over again.

Needless to say the overall state of Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric is disappointing, but the problem with this title, and the continuing problem with modern Sonic games, is much more deep-seated. SEGA has in recent years felt the need to perpetually reinvent Sonic in aid of keeping the franchise fresh to younger audiences. While the redesign of Sonic and fellow protagonists are probably subjective and down to personal preference (and although they are not ‘canon’ could be argued as uncalled for anyway), the deviation from what makes Sonic games so special is where these modern Sonic titles fail. The Sonic games that fans fell in love with back in the nineties won over flocks of gamers because of their originality, their pace, their music and the worlds they painted – it was because of this revolutionary take on the platformer that Sonic became immortalised as videogame legend. While other successful franchises, such as Mario, continue to grow and evolve with ever increasing computational capabilities, we’d have expected Sonic to do similarly. But while Mario retains a familiar identity (characters, themes) and first and foremost its high-calibre of gameplay, Sonic games of recent have futilely attempted to mimic the architecture of others; one recent exception is Sonic Generations, a title that retained the core of what constituted as quintessential Sonic gameplay, and succeeded because of this.

The other great successes of recent have also been the fantastic revampings of classic titles for iOS by Taxman and Stealth – two veterans of the Sonic community. While the success of these titles will have been partially due to the capitalisation on nostalgia, you can ask any die-hard Sonic fan about these versions and they will tell you they aren’t the original game – they are loving restorations, painstakingly tweaked with additions that have breathed more beauty into what were already masterpieces. This duo are already demonstrating they can do the same with Sonic & Knuckles, and we can only hope that this title will get a similar official release. If I was in the shoes of those responsible for mobile gaming at SEGA, I’d be asking these guys to build a whole new game with a neo-retro look around the old engine; retro sells.

YouTube Preview Image

From a consumer perspective some of these moves made with Sonic Boom seem logical, and perhaps, as stated before, this game should only be regarded as a spin-off – but from a fan perspective there is a great fear that Sonic is or has mutated into nothing more than the face for market products with, as opposed to a high-calibre game series lovingly constructed by an enthusiastic and capable ensemble and equally loved by those who play them. I hope that the overwhelming opinion on this title will be observed by the powers that be, and that the criticisms, or perhaps even the suggests from the fans and reviewers alike are heeded. I, like many others, am extremely passionate about the Sonic universe – and we want to see great games created.

I’m still ever hopeful that Sonic will return to form very soon, and I certainly hope by the time my 40th rolls around that the Sonic franchise will have found its stride again. In the meantime, the show must go on.

Many thanks to Nintendo PR for supplying TSS with a review copy of Sonic Boom

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Categories xxOLDComics, xxOLDOfficial News

World’s Collide 2: Sonic Vs Sonic Boom Vs Mega Man, Vs Mega Man X

Posted on
Author Dave Luty

worldscollide2

 

Oh my goodness, what is happening?

According to IGN UK, the sequel to the Sonic Vs Mega Man comic book Worlds Unite will not just star the Sega Sonic and Mega Man cast, but will also include Sonic Boom and Mega Man X.

The only other bit of information given was that the storyline is set to begin around Spring of 2015.

Are you excited?

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Categories xxOLDNews

Sonic & SEGA Racing and Sonic Racing Transformed Concepts Found

Posted on
Author Shadzter

Concept_Racer_02

The Sonic Stadium has uncovered a large amount of concept artwork for popular racing titles Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing and Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. Some of the art is from the very early stages of development, right to the initial pitch itself in Transformed’s case. We have even found the Gilius Thunderhead on Chicken Leg concept Sumo Digital’s Steve Lycett spoke of in a developer diary entry.

Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing

Artist Sam Neale has released some early concept pieces of Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing, including art of Gilius Thunderhead from Golden Axe who was once planned to be in the game. Also revealed is that the game used to be called SEGA Superstars Racer.

– Sega Superstars Racer concepts, to design racing vehicles to suit the characteristics of each Sega character.
– This was a quick 2nd concept visualisation stage.
– Characters included: Alex Kidd, Eggman, Gilius and Monkey Ball.
– All modelled very basically and quickly in Max with simple max material shaders.

Doctor Eggman’s vehicle went through a few changes during development.

Dr. Eggman’s Kart made for ingame demo . I have also added the game textures: Diffuse, Ambient Occlusion, Specular and Normal map. Renders in VRAY, textures created from Max and Photoshop.

Gilius Thunderhead’s and Alex Kidd’s vehicles closely resembled their rides in their classic games at this early stage.

Sega Racing concepts for Golden Axe “Gilius” & “Alex Kidd”. A blend of 2D images and 3D renderings for 1st idea phase. The 3D images used a three colour cell shader, combined with an Ink & Paint shader, to give a unique art style.

Like Doctor Eggman, AiAi’s vehicle also went through a lot of changes. Early designs show him in his ball as standard.

Sega Racing concept sketches through design development phase, from pencil sketches through to final in game kart model used for demo. Ideas for MonkeyBall and Eggman Racers.

Surface3D were hired to help out Sumo Digital with the user interface and promotional renders for Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing. The above images released show early concepts of the UI with very different icons to the final game and re-used placeholder artwork for the characters.

Speaking of characters, it appears that the roster may have once featured a lot more Sonic characters. On the character selection screen we can see Blaze, Silver, Rouge (or Rogue as she’s been named here), Vector and Espio. Also noteworthy is that the tracks had different names earlier in development.

The following description was also released:

Sonic All Stars Racing • User interface design and promotional renders
Project InfoClient: Sega / Sumo Digital
Platform: XBox 360 and PS3

This game was Sega’s answer to Mario Kart, taking the game in a slightly different direction, Sega joined forces with Sumo to build a Sonic and other famous Sega characters into this driving game.

Initially tasked with helping Sumo develop the User Interface, we had to work within strict constraints of what their engine could do.

After creating some diverse interface designs, Sumo narrowed this down and we got to work on the asset creation for the UI.

Additional support was provided by rendering out characters for the promotional material, we posed and rendered Ryo on his motorbike. The final box art also needed some composition and character work to finish it off.

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed

Artist Richard Tawny has released some early concepts for Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing‘s sequel Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, including an impressive piece of jungle artwork made for the initial pitch to SEGA showing the sea and air idea. Billy Hatcher, who didn’t make it into the final game, can be seen flying behind Sonic.

Tawny also shared this description:

// SEGA Allstars Racing Transformed //
SEGA Europe Ltd.
Here is an early concept of an all-star racing game with flying cars.
I am working closely with SUMO Digital in their up-coming racing game; With the help of Scott Robertson (Design Studio Press), I developed Sonic’s Car, Plane and Boat design to feel like a true speedster capable of racing in any world, real or otherwise!
The car was developed in Modo and was iterated many times between myself, the Producers at SEGA Europe and Sonic Team in Japan.

Alex Suermondt has shared some vector images of artwork made for Sonic & All-Star Racing Transformed‘s boxart and promotional materials.

Suermondt also gave a description of the project:

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed –
Vector Illustration
Project completed over 2-3 days
I was commissioned by Sega to produce a series of vector illustrations for Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed.

These were vector iterations of the game’s main vehicles to be easily scaled for a variety of purposes. This was based upon the vehicle shots for the pack artwork and another set was produced after being carefully refined to allow the print to be carried out with only a few colours.

Sources: Alex Suermondt’s portfolio, Richard Tawn’s portfolio, Surface3D and Sam Neale’s portfolio (Link 1, Link 2)

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Categories xxOLDNews

Sega is Going Into the Movie Business

Posted on
Author Dave Luty

sega_logo

It’s not often that we cover non Sonic news… however I think this can make an exception since it’s such a significant move and with the Sonic movie in pre-production it might give us all an indication as to where Sega is going.

And if this report is anything to go by, it’s the movies!

According to Variety, Sega has hired Evan Cholfin to lead efforts into adapting Sega franchises into movies.

Of the vast library of titles that Stories has the rights to adapt, it’s moving forward with “Altered Beast,” “Streets of Rage,” “Shinobi,” “Rise of Nightmares” and “Crazy Taxi” first as English-language live action and animated spinoffs. “Virtua Fighter” and “Golden Axe” also are part of the portfolio of properties.

With both EA & Ubisoft making in house movies of their own franchises and a Tetris movie in production as well as Sony also making moves with it’s own franchises, this might not seem like such a wild move as you may think.

Personally I’m quite excited at the though of some of those titles getting movie adaptations, so long as they’re going to be careful and not just make a movie with the IP attached to it just for the sake of it. Though if Streets of Rage does happen, it needs to be set in the late 80′s and not just a rip off of ‘The Purge.’ Also I can finally stop pretending that this is a Streets of Rage movie.

The Warriors Trailer

Source: Variety

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Categories #Games, News

Sonic Riders Was Once Planned For GBA

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Author Shadzter

The Sonic Stadium has discovered that a handheld version of 2006 racing game Sonic Riders was also being developed for Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance. Continue reading Sonic Riders Was Once Planned For GBA

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Preview: Sonic the Hedgehog #267

Posted on
Author VEDJ-F

Christmas in a tropical jungle? That’s this month’s issue for you.

Sonic_267-0

The festive season may be upon us, but this climax is set to be electrifying, and Comicosity has a glimpse into the pages. In Sonic the Hedgehog #267, Sonic has just about learned how to use his furry (furrier, anyway) new form to his advantage. And not a moment too soon either; Sally, Antoine and Bunnie have found themselves in a spot of bother with not only three E100 series models on their tails, but an angry and vengeful little Egg Boss in the shape of Thunderbolt the Chinchilla! Not only will the heroes have to pitch in to stave off the situation, there’s some nasty surprises still around the corner in “Ambushed”: part 2.

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #267
Written by: Ian Flynn
Art by: Jamal Peppers, Evan Stanley, Terry Austin, John Workman, Gabriel Cassata
Published by: Archie Comics
Release Date: December 10, 2014
The THUNDEROUS conclusion to the latest Sonic story arc crashes to a close at LIGHTNING speed! “Ambushed!” Part Two: Sonic’s gotten himself into a hairy situation! The savage Werehog threatens to erupt from within, and the vengeful Egg Boss Thunderbolt attacks from without! What’s a cursed hedgehog to do? Unfortunately he won’t get by with a little help from his friends—the Freedom Fighters are far too busy fighting for their lives against three killer E-100 robots! Don’t miss the explosive ending featuring cover art by Stanley, Austin and Hunzeker, plus a hilarious new “Holiday Havoc!” variant cover with pencils by the latest Sonic artist extraordinaire Jennifer Hernandez!

Sonic #267 is out now in comic stores and on digital formats. Swing by your preferred source to catch the action…and watch out for trees.

Source: Comicosity

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Categories xxOLDMerchandise, xxOLDNews, xxOLDOfficial News

Sonic Boom Toys to Appear at Nuremberg Toy Fair

Posted on
Author Dave Luty

tomyboomgermany

You may remember a few months ago we brought you word that Tomy were indeed planning on releasing the Sonic Boom toys in the UK. Well, since then there’s been very little word on when exactly this will be happening, however it looks like that the toys are indeed on their way to both the UK and Europe as a whole.

An advert printed in the December issue of ToyWorld Mag for the Nuremberg Toy Fair confirms that not only will Tomy be there, but that they will also have on show the Sonic Boom toys.

Now, this unfortunately doesn’t give us a clear indication as to when the toys will actually be released. In the period of January – February, there are major toy fairs in New York, London and Nuremberg, what typically happens at these events is that toys due for release much later in the year are put on show, buyers then do deals for their stores later in the year.

The thing to take away from this is that this advert confirms that the toys will come to Europe, however there’s no firm release date yet and no word on the exact range, since for previous toy lines the EU range has been significantly reduced.

Source: ToyWorldMag.

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Categories xxOLDMedia, xxOLDOfficial News, xxOLDSpotlight, xxOLDVideo

Classic Sonic and Super Mario 3D World cross paths!

Posted on
Author Jay Egge Mann

YouTube Preview Image

We cover fan stuff all the time, but have you checked out this cool project? Currently in alpha release, this fan game using Blender sees classic Sonic explore a Mario 3D World inspired level landscape.

Creator Chishado describes his fan game as, “A fan game made in the blender game engine and gimp.  It has a very different art style and gameplay from the norm, however it is very interesting in it’s own way. This game have a lot of inspiration from Sonic Lost World and Mario 3d World game. It was the general look that I was going for and feel. The game will have platforming, team work, and speed.”

We like what we see and while it clearly is a WIP, we still had fun playing it!

Play it for yourself at http://shad-unit.webs.com/sonic3dadventure.htm and share your thoughts in the comment section!

 


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Categories Video, xxOLDPodcasts, xxOLDVideo

Boom Commentaries Uncut: Episode 8 Eggheads

Posted on
Author Jay Egge Mann

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In today’s episode, Eggman bakes up some “evil cookies” which turn Sonic’s friends into Eggman’s henchmen. Plus check out the podcast version for OVER AN HOUR of discussion on this episode! You check the audio podcast at this link or just search for The Sonic Show on itunes to listen to them all!

What did you think of this episode and was it a good “season finale”? Sound off in the comments!

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Categories xxOLDNews, xxOLDOfficial News

Sonic Boom Mid-Season Finale Airs December 6th

Posted on
Author Dave Luty

Sonic Boom cartoon screenshot

Call it a mid season finale (after only 8 episodes), Christmas break, a marketing decision, or whatever you want to call it, Boom isn’t going to be showing new episodes for a while.

According to a post on NintendoLife, Sonic Boom on Cartoon Network is going to be taking a break for Christmas, the last episode (entitled “Eggheads“ will be aired on December 6th which is this Saturday. Whilst no specific date was given, the show is due to return to screens early next year.

What is odd is that reruns of the series so far will still be shown around it’s usual timeslot.

Source: NintendoLife

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Categories xxOLDNews, xxOLDOfficial News

Joypolis Hosting Sonic Fan Thanksgiving Event

Posted on
Author Dave Luty

sonictoon

Sega have announced on their Joypolis news site that they are to hold a special ‘party’ to celebrate the launch of Sonic ‘Toon’ in Japan.

Translated the event is named ‘Sonic Fan Thanksgiving 2014′ and will be held at Tokyo Joypolis on December 28th 2014. Tickets to get into the fan event are free, however you will need to pay for admission to Joypolis itself.

Events confirmed so far are as follows…

  • Stage Events.
  • Autograph Session.
  • Art Contest.
  • Prize lottery
  • A game tournament (This might be a miss-translation).
  • Sale of original/new merch.

There’s also the mention of something called ‘A Sonic fan Thanksgiving passport with novelty’ which is being sold.

The list of confirmed speakers include Takashi Iizuka, Jun Senoue and a number of other Sonic Team/Sega staff.

Full Details at Joypolis.

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Categories #Games, Features

TSS Second Opinion: Sonic Boom (Wii U/3DS)

Posted on
Author Doctor MK

This whole Sonic Boom business has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride, hasn’t it? Announced in February alongside the CG cartoon of the same name, the third and final entries in Sonic’s Nintendo exclusivity deal – Rise of Lyric for Wii U and Shattered Crystal for 3DS – were the source of much speculation and debate. Not only did it signal the start of a whole new branch of the franchise, one where the convoluted mistakes of the past could be wiped clean and start afresh, but the games were being handled by a whole new development studio. Sonic Team, for better or worse, were taking a back seat this time to Big Red Button and Sanzaru Games – both newcomers to the series – which meant we could expect a brand new take on the characters we all know and love… and boy oh boy, a brand new take is certainly what we got. Continue reading TSS Second Opinion: Sonic Boom (Wii U/3DS)

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Categories xxOLDMedia, xxOLDVideo

The Sonic Xmas Gift Guide: For Music Lovers

Posted on
Author Jay Egge Mann

This Christmas our very own friend, Santa The Claus (Original Santa, do not steal) will be guiding you through the must have gifts for your Sonic chums or maybe your own wish list!

Today we cover the perfect album to put at the top of any Sonic fan’s Christmassy needs!

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What do you think of our choice? Sound off in the comments!

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Categories xxOLDArticles, xxOLDMedia, xxOLDPodcasts

Sonic Boomcast Episode 5 “The aftermath of the Boom”

Posted on
Author Jason Berry

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Sorry for being so late on this one folks (two weeks after the recording), but as a retail clerk, you can imagine it’s been a real busy week for me. I even forgot to add the intro and ending music! GAAHH!!

Anyway, this is the episode that’s been four other episodes in the making! No more speculation, no more talking about demos or trailers. Sonic Boom is fully out there now and me, Christian and Lidice will be discussing the comic, the cartoons and the games in detail.

You can also catch me doing more talk on the Sonic Boom games on my other Sonic podcast, “Sonic Talk” over at Segabits and I’ll also be a guest on Act 64 of the Spindash podcast at nevershutup.com.

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Categories xxOLDComics, xxOLDNews, xxOLDOfficial News

Preview: Sonic Boom #2

Posted on
Author VEDJ-F

It was a friction between friends waiting to go…uh, boom.

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Comic Book Resources has a preview for the latest issue of Sonic Boom, and there is treachery afoot! Following from the debut issue’s hijinks, Sonic and the team are out again for some old-fashioned Dr. Eggman beating good times. But there’s traitorship amongst the team that’s going to halt them in their tracks if they can’t get it resolved. And they’ll need to be more diplomatic if they ever hope of doing that. This is “Knuckleduster”.

Get ready for the BOOM, baby! The NEW HIT ONGOING SONIC COMIC BOOK SERIES from Archie Comics continues here with Sonic Boom #2: Knuckleduster! Race along at Sonic speed with the blue blur and his pals Tails, Knuckles, Amy Rose and the newest edition to the team—STICKS! But is there a traitor in our heroes’ midst? Say it ain’t so! Find out in this sensational second issue, featuring explosive new cover art from Sonic art legend Patrick “SPAZ” Spaziante, and a super-special “SONIC SPOTLIGHT” variant cover by artist T.REX! Be sure to pick up this next exciting chapter and own a piece of Sonic comic history!
STORY BY: Ian Flynn
ART BY: Evan Stanley, Rick Bryant
COLORS BY: Matt Herms
LETTERS BY: Jack Morelli
COVER BY: Patrick Spaziante
PUBLISHER: Archie Comics
COVER PRICE:: $3.99
RELEASE DATE: Wed, December 3rd, 2014

Sonic Boom #2 is out in stores and digitally later today. Pick up a copy of the newest addition to the brand new comic line for yourself!

Source: Comic Book Resources

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Categories xxOLDNews, xxOLDOfficial News

Humble Sega Bundle: ASRT, Sonic Adventure for 60p! Generations for under $4

Posted on
Author Dave Luty

Once upon a time someone had an idea, it went like this “Why don’t we gather together a bunch of games each week, put them in a bundle, and charge as little as 60p for the majority of them, and let people give most of that money to charity!?” And somehow this idea gets supported each week by various game studios, and it works!

Sonic Generations for PC

Well, it’s the turn of Sega to join the Humble Bundle, and there’s a bunch of Sonic games included in it as well as some top Sega titles, all for the PC all require a Steam account, but for the price, really can’t complain about it.

For as little as 60p or $1, you get the following.

  • Dreamcast Collection: Includes Sega Bass fishing, Crazy Taxi, Space Channel 5 & Sonic Adventure.
  • NiGHTS Into Dreams
  • Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed
  • Rome 2 (DLC pack)
  • Football Manager 2015 (DLC Pack)

If you donate more than the average price (at time of writing is $3.72) you also get…

  • Empire: Total War
  • Company of Heroes 2 (Multiplayer stand alone)
  • Sonic Generations
  • Viking: Battle For Asgard

Donate more than £10 and you get…

  • Total War: Shogun 2

Donate more than $50 and you get a limited edition Dreamast T-Shirt!

Personally I’ve gone for the ‘average price’ tier and I really can’t complain, Sonic Generations in 60FPS glory along with the modding community makes me a happy panda. But also, ASRT on PC for 60p and all those Dreamcast titles!? Seriously what are you waiting for!?

Source: HumbleBundle

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Categories xxOLDArticles, xxOLDColumns, xxOLDGames, xxOLDReviews

Retrospective: The Colours Still Feel So Right

Posted on
Author Doctor MK

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2010 was an interesting time to be a Sonic fan. At the start of the year, the franchise was at one of its lowest points, with jokes about the Sonic Cycle being thrown around every which way following the downward spiral of quality in the games – Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic ’06, Sonic and the Black Knight… even 2008’s Sonic Unleashed, the closest thing to a step in the right direction we’d seen, was critically panned and bogged down by poor design choices. Luckily, there seemed to be a shining ray of light on the horizon, one that the entire fanbase was clinging their hopes onto, something that promised to set the series back on track at last…

That game was Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1. And we all know how that turned out.

Yes, rather unjustly in retrospect, it was the disappointing sequel to the classic Sonic trilogy that garnered the most attention in 2010. Instead, there was another, far better, far more memorable Sonic game released that year that deserved to receive the lion’s share of fan interest. Announced slap bang in the middle of the Sonic 4 hype, Sonic Colours – or Sonic Colors, for our American readers – was eternally in the shadow of its downloadable counterpart, with only a month separating the two games’ release dates in October and November respectively. It’s understandable, of course – the game’s rather obscure title and lack of concrete gameplay details upon its initial reveal made Colours a bit of a harder sell compared to the prospect of a follow-up to Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Even I’ll admit, I thought Sonic Colours would be a puzzle or spin-off title when I first saw its announcement… but fast forward a few months, and it ended up being one of my favourite Sonic games of all time.

NE Sonic Colours Wii 5

Whereas Sonic 4’s hype train went out of control before well and truly coming off the rails, the more quiet and subtle excitement surrounding Sonic Colours actually worked in its favour. When the astonishingly good reviews came rolling in – that all important first score of 86 from NGamer and an 8.5 from IGN, to name but a couple (let’s just forget that 4.5 from Destructoid though, eh?) – it caught us all by surprise and made us appreciate the game even more. It not only surpassed Sonic 4, it trampled all over it and gave us the first genuinely good Sonic experience in years. Say what you want about the game, but you cannot deny that Sonic Colours set alight the hearts of several fans and critics again after oh so long.

So what was it about the title that sparked off such acclaim? Well… a bit of everything, really. Presentation-wise, Colours definitely delivers on its title – this is a bright, quirky, visually appealing adventure that really pushes the graphical boundaries of the Wii to their limits. While we’ve since seen the likes of Planet Wisp and Starlight Carnival recreated in high definition in Sonic Generations and Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, their original incarnations still hold up beautifully on Nintendo’s last-gen system. What really stands out about Colours though is its sheer imagination, fusing recurring Sonic tropes into entirely fresh new locations such as the tropical casino aesthetic of Tropical Resort and the watery Chun-Nan that is Aquarium Park. Despite being a modern 3D title, Colours captures the vibe and essence – and, dare I say it, magic – of the classic era better than ever before (arguably better even that Sonic 4 did), to the extent that famous badniks like Motobugs even make their long-awaited return with a few new twists of their own.

Sonic Colours Wii screen 1 1st Aug

Musically, the soundtrack is also up there with the finest in the series – and that’s an impressive feat considering how consistently brilliant Sonic music tends to be (Chronicles notwithstanding). Almost every tune is a joy to listen to, ranging from the adrenaline-pumping sounds of Terminal Velocity to the gentle and serene Planet Wisp tracks. It’s also the last time we had a vocal song as the main theme of a Sonic game – can you believe it’s been four years already? – and, while Cash Cash’s Reach For The Stars and Speak With Your Heart aren’t to everybody’s taste, they’re serviceable enough and undeniably catchy for those who want to sing along as the credits roll.

Most importantly, Colours nailed the gameplay. Taking the day stages from Sonic Unleashed as a basis, cutting out all of the nonsense like medal hunting and Werehogs, every stage was a high octane blast of speedy Sonic fun. The level design is top notch with some hugely enjoyable courses to overcome right from the off – there’s no messing around with opening cutscenes or tutorials, you press Start at the title screen and you’re straight into Tropical Resort Act 1. It’s a platformer at its most straightforward – clear one level, move onto the next, rinse and repeat until you face off against the world’s boss, then move onto the next area – and it’s all the better for it, with nothing to get in the way of the fun and preventing it from becoming sidetracked by anything unnecessary.

Sonic Colours Pink Wisp screen 1

It’s the Wisps that really steal the spotlight here though. Before 2010, if you heard the words “Sonic” and “gimmick” in the same sentence, you’d shudder in horror. Fishing, treasure hunting, guns, motion controls, stretchy armed brawling, talking swords… you name it, Sonic had probably tried it, often to disastrous effect. But the Wisps did something that none of these other gimmicks were capable of – adding to the basic Sonic gameplay rather than detracting from it or outright replacing it. Each of the different coloured Wisps grants Sonic a new kind of Colour Power to utilise as he traverses his way through a level, be it a quick-firing laser, the ability to hover, or a drill to dig through the earth (or cake, if you happen to be in Sweet Mountain). Each is a bite-sized burst of fun, never outstaying its welcome and often leading to some previously unexplored section of a stage. In a game where the gimmicks are almost entirely optional, you’ll be actively wanting to use them more than ever, going back to previous locales to seek out those hidden Red Rings you missed first time around because you hadn’t unlocked the right Wisp yet. They’re a joyous addition, and it’s a shame that they were used much less gratifyingly in their comeback appearances in Generations and Lost World.

This isn’t even scratching the surface of what Colours brought to the table – a brand new voice cast featuring Roger Craig Smith in his Sonic debut (if you conveniently ignore Sonic Free Riders, as most people do), a more simple and streamlined narrative focusing on just Sonic and Tails rather than the cavalcade of sub-par sidekicks seen previously, the infamous Eggman P.A. announcements, and the first time we’ve seen Super Sonic playable in regular levels in a 3D game. It was a total shift for the Sonic series, both tonally and reception-wise, and it was just the ticket to dig the hedgehog out of the hole he’d dug himself into over the preceding years.

All praise aside, it’s not the perfect Sonic game – there’s some awkward difficulty spikes, it’s only a few hours long, and the story is rather minimal with some love-it-or-hate-it scripting – but it’s by far the most original entry we’ve seen in the franchise in recent memory, Generations included. There’s a certain magic and a certain joy that I get from playing and looking back on Sonic Colours, and that’s something that’s distinct from any other entry in the franchise.

Sonic Colours Wii screenshots 21

In this uncertain age where Sonic is once again descending into mediocrity, it’s enlightening to remember that once upon a time, when even the most promising of projects led only to the bitterness of disappointment, a game like Sonic Colours came along out of nowhere and revitalised the series in a way no one expected. Who’s to say that lightning can’t strike twice…? And, if nothing else, it proves that Sonic can do Nintendo exclusivity right when it puts its mind to it. Sorry Lost World and Boom, but you’ve got nothing on this gem.

With Sonic Colours, SEGA reached for the stars – and boy, did they come close. Four years on and the colours still seem as right and as bright as they ever did. Long may they continue to shine.

What are your feelings and memories about Sonic Colours? We’d love to know your thoughts too, so sound off in the comments! Don’t fall apart, speak with your heart!

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Categories xxOLDOfficial News

Rise of Lyric Demo arrives on 4th December

Posted on
Author Doctor MK

sonic-boom-rise-of-lyric-wii-u-wiiu-1401974567-014

Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric has been out on the Wii U now for a couple of weeks and has since been met with some… less than favourable reviews, shall we say?

Given the game’s dubious reputation, and with Christmas drawing ever closer, you might want the chance to give it a try before you splash out your hard-earned cash. Well, good news! Just like with Sonic Lost World last year (but curiously unlike Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal on 3DS), SEGA have decided to release a post-launch demo of Rise of Lyric through the Wii U eShop, which will be available in Europe and North America from this Thursday, 4th December. Of course, it will be free of charge, although there’s no word yet on how many tries you get or what the actual content will consist of.

If you’re also a European 3DS owner, there’s some more Sonic love heading your way – four brand new Sonic 3DS themes (already released in the US) will be available on the 3DS Theme Shop from Friday, 5th December. Choose from Sonic, Shadow, Amy and Chao designs, all priced at £1.79 apiece.

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Will you be downloading the Rise of Lyric demo or any of the Sonic 3DS themes? Let us know in the comments! In the meantime, you can read our very own TSS review of Rise of Lyric to give you some idea of what you’re letting yourself in for!

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