Please note that this site is no longer being updated or maintained; as a result, there may be design issues, and links to images and other media may be broken. Links to posts may redirect you to the same article on the current Sonic Stadium website.
Stop the presses! It’s back! SEGA’s official blog has confirmed that it will be working with the fanbase once more as the Summer of Sonic convention reaches its landmark fifth year. And for US fans, SEGA has announced the return of Sonic Boom as well – making for a tag-team Sonic party season that’s sure to satisfy on both sides of the Atlantic. Locations and dates were also detailed – hit the jump to find out more! Continue reading Summer of Sonic and Sonic Boom 2012 Announced
I’d like to give advance warning to all users of The Sonic Stadium and the SSMB Forums that we will be acting in protest of the controversial US bills, SOPA and PIPA on Wednesday 18th January 2012. Continue reading The Sonic Stadium & SSMB Will Protest Against SOPA
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIyXdqI57c8[/youtube]
We might not have a Mash-Up Monday for you today, but we have something just as awesome – a pair of YouTubing music artists, NoneLikeJoshua (Josh) and Boyinaband (Dave), have gone and fused Sonic the Hedgehog with this crazy Dubstep trend that’s going around.
The result? Pretty incredible. I particularly like the remix of the Sonic & Knuckles title screen – that’s just been dying for some Dubstep. The rap lyrics might not be all that, but to be fair they’re writing lyrics about a cartoon blue hedgehog.
Today also happens to be that phony ‘unholiday’ that they call Blue Monday (which is not only false but annoying as well – cheer up!), so let’s use this video to turn the meaning of Blue Monday into something more Sonic-oriented! Yeah. We’re taking it back. Bitch.
Thanks to Elson ‘Darkspeeds’ Wong who made us aware of the video.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppj1lmf6QWg
Some fans always complain about how Sonic should go back to the ‘classic’ style. Well, what if that was taken literally? Today (in 2011), animator Mr Stupes has released a cute little cartoon presenting the blue blur as the hero of a silent movie! Continue reading BlueTube: Sonic the Sound Cartoon (Again)
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=078_LmGvz10
So, 2011 has come and gone. And what a wild ride it has been for the Sonic the Hedgehog community. Sonic Generations, Sonic Boom, Summer of Sonic, Sonic CD, 20th Anniversary… the last 12 months has certainly lacked a sense of overwhelming vitriol that has plagued the fanbase in recent times.
Maybe it’s because, for the most part, SEGA hasn’t really set a foot wrong with the Sonic franchise this year, and the usual cringe-worthy auto-haters (be they of classic or modern variety) have been silenced. Perhaps it’s simply that the online community is maturing, and we’re all getting older and wiser. I know for a fact that I have. Continue reading Ringing in the New Year: The Sonic Stadium’s 2012 Message
It’s Christmas! Which means a brand new giveaway has kicked off in the SSMB Forums! Former Julien-K Street Team and Promotion Leader Lee Adams is kindly offering a whole collection of merchandise from the band behind Sonic Heroes theme ‘This Machine.’
One first prize winner will bag a ‘Dreamland’ single CD signed by all four members of the band; a rare ‘Kick the Bass’ EP which can’t be bought anywhere; album release promo fliers; 2010 tour promo fliers and a set of promo stickers. Three runner-up winners will get a ‘Kick the Bass’ EP and a set of promo fliers. Continue reading Julien-K Christmas Contest: Win Signed CDs and Special Promos!
Well, it took a while, but we’ve finally found time to get up the Christmas decorations here at TSS. Hope you like the layout! This place shall be henceforth referred to for the next few weeks as The Ice Cap Stadium! Or something! You love it, it’s everyone’s favourite level from Sonic 3. And if it isn’t, why not? It better not be Marble Garden, I swear to God.
Now, you’ve probably noticed already, but this new festive feel brings more than a different colour scheme. The design of the site has been updated slightly, to make things a bit more friendly and easier to navigate on the whole. The Top 3 “Hot Stories” feature we used to have on the home page were incredibly useful and popular, so we’ve expanded it to five and placed them above the content. So no matter where you are on the site, you can easily check out the latest breaking stories on TSS. Continue reading TSS Gets Festive! Merry Christmas!
You might be aware of the London Gaming Convention. If not, why not? It’s an annual event that takes place every December, that aims to bring people together in their love for computer games. This weekend, the LGC returns to the Rocket Complex Metropolitan University – and The Sonic Stadium is going to be there.
The convention is open on both Saturday and Sunday, with a large range of activities and events taking place across the venue. On Sunday, I will be hosting a special ‘Mario versus Sonic’ tournament, where two Sonic fans and two Mario fans will do epic battle for some nice prizes. What will these challenges be? Ah, you’ll have to wait and see.
I will also be representing the Sonic scene with a special Club Sonic taking place Sunday evening, from 7pm onwards. I will be hosting the afterparty with my good friends RadioSEGA, who will take over later in the evening. It promises to be a great time.
Fellow fansite Sonic Wrecks is also getting involved, having a large part to play in the organisation of the event on both days, so go and say hello to ArchAngelUK when he has a spare second.
Go to the LGC website for more information, including travel and ticket information. You can pay on the day by simply rocking up to the door, so don’t worry about pre-ordering tickets too late or anything. Entry is £10 on the door each day. See you there!
New Year’s Eve is a special night to see out the last twelve months with friends and family. But what if your friends and family are fellow Sonic the Hedgehog fans? Then you might want to check out this fan-planned New Years Eve party, by the organisers of the (unofficial) Summer of Sonic 2011 pre-party.
It will be located at the same venue – Jetlag bar, 125 Cleveland Street in London – and will feature Sonic music, HD cinema screens for multiplayer Sonic races and a range of food and beverages on an all-you-can-eat basis. Naturally, you’ll need to be over 18 to attend.
Attendance will cost £35 per person, and a minimum of 50 people need to be signed up before the venue can actually be booked and secured. So if you want to go, make your voice heard on the Facebook page sharpish, like.
Summer of Sonic was absolutely mental this year. Largely because it was the biggest show we had ever done, with over 1500 people wanting to cram into the venue, the surprise performance by Jun Senoue, the appearance of Yuji Naka and Takashi Iizuka and the exclusive clash of Sonic comic legends to name but a few reasons. So it goes without saying that we had the whole thing filmed.
Gracious Films, the company that was responsible for the 20th Anniversary DVD Documentary found on the Collector’s Edition of Sonic Generations, filmed a considerable amount of footage from Summer of Sonic 2011 for inclusion on the disc. Sadly, due to time constraints it was cut from the DVD, but Gracious Films has very kindly edited and created a full-length nine-minute documentary specially for us.
You can watch the video on the company’s Facebook page – click here to go straight there. The company is currently working on a new video game related project, called ‘From Bedrooms to Billions’ – it tells the story of the last 40 years of gaming and will cover legends such as Nolan Bushnell and David Braben, with plans to speak to the top Japanese developers.
The project needs your help to become a reality however – watch the cool Summer of Sonic video that the company has prepared on its Facebook page, and then please click ‘Like’ on the ‘From Bedrooms to Billions’ page that you see before you. Let’s try and get another cool video game related documentary on the TV!
Hey you. Yeah, you! No, not the guy next to you (well, maybe him too), YOU! You’re here because you absolutely love the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, right? Do you think you have the same passion as myself, T-Bird, Bmn, Brad, Shadzter, nuckles87 and Jason? Well, good, because we’re looking for people like you.
The Sonic Stadium is looking for volunteer writers to help keep our awesome content rolling. In the words of Sonic 2’s marketing slogan, “Are you up 2 it?”
You need to have the following qualities:
What you need to do in order to be considered, is submit two sample articles to us:
Edit: Seems we didn’t actually set the email address up properly! Apologies to everyone that tried to send in their app to us and got an error – can you send it again?
Warning: Video contains swearing. And awesomeness.
Sonic Generations was released to stores in the UK today! In the US, the game landed on Tuesday, and one chap was so excited about it that he decided to make a video. A most epic video that will make you raise an eyebrow. Or two.
Instead of actually opening the disc and playing the game, ‘Ducttaped32x’ videotaped his sheer happiness at obtaining the 20th Anniversary game. Plenty of bizarre phrases involving leprosy, hedgehogs on women and spindashing enemies lie within the video, above. But the best bit has to be his epic rolling around and attempt at Sonic breakdancing, Modern style. The falling poster at the end is the pièce de résistance of the minute-long lunacy.
Watch it, and discover why he is a national treasure. I want to meet him someday. I’ll buy him a beer.
Just a quick message to everyone in case you forget – you only have until the UK release date of Sonic Generations (November 4th) to submit your contest entries for our ULTRA-SPECIAL prize.
If you need reminding, we’re giving away a one-of-a-kind Sonic 20th Anniversary statue. These babies can’t be bought in stores, and were given away as a promotional item. There are only a thousand or so in the wild, and thanks to our friends at SEGA you could win one!
So what are you waiting for!? Head on over to the competition page RIGHT NOW and work hard on your entry, before we close it all up!
This is part of an ongoing series of features that looks back on the history of The Sonic Stadium. You can find out more about how this website changed the Sonic community, what it looked like back in the day, and even special images and update notes from the archive..
October and November, 2010
No sooner had The Sonic Stadium celebrated its tenth anniversary, that we would have the opportunity to celebrate the incoming launch of Sonic Colours in some unique and exclusive ways. Thanks to my professional career as a games journalist, I was able to obtain an advance preview copy of the intergalactic Wii adventure and play it extensively for two weeks on a loaner development Wii unit.
I was excited about the new talent being brought in to voice Sonic and co – Roger Craig Smith (also the voice of Ezio Auditore in Assassin’s Creed) was definitely a good choice for Sonic, but above all else the dialogue was spot on and the writing perfect. I wasn’t exactly able to communicate my glee to anyone else short of dumping a bunch of footage – which would not have put me in good professional stead.
So imagine my delight when SEGA Community Manager ArchangelUK offered to present a special cutscene video as a world exclusive to TSS, Sonic Wrecks and Sonic Retro. The result is a news post the likes of which you’ve never seen – nearly 250 comments on that bad boy, all of fans chiming on their thoughts on the new Sonic voice. Pretty killer. See it again here.
In November, TSS was also able to offer an exclusive Sonic Colours wallpaper to its visitors. You can still grab it in this post here.
November 2010
It finally happened. Ever since Brad started writing posts on The Sonic Stadium back in 2008 or so, I always loved how he wrote about his favourite game series with such passion and character. That’s kind of why I still let him out of his cage these days. One big part of his character – and one that is probably lacking in a lot of fans – is his sense of humour, and how he loves to joke about everything. A lot of people are put off about that. Basically, if you read his posts as if it was your mate telling you a tale in the pub, you’d probably learn to understand where he’s coming from a bit more.
I was worried that was going to be lost on SEGA America’s Ken Balough, as Brad has had a history of completely chewing him out on TSS, Retro and many other places. To be fair, the guy does say some obtuse stuff. But at SoA’s very first community event, things could not have gone any better – the pair got on like a house on fire. I mean, look at that photo. Unless Ken’s secretly wielding a dagger in his left hand off-camera, I’d say they be tight.
This event was special for a number of reasons – SEGA’s American community department had started to engage in the online fanbase a lot more and this was one of the first kinds of outreaches in the country. We had been spoiled by London-based community days by AAUK, and now it was the turn of the boys in the US. And Brad, in his own words, had one of the best days of his life. Read his full report right here.
June 6-10, 2011
This was a little bit unreal. I had never been to the USA before, for starters – not even to cover the Electronics Entertainment Expo in person – and the reason I was even able to go this year was because SEGA America was very keen on having Adam and myself on board to help ‘oversee’ the hosting of its own special fan convention called Sonic Boom. The guys in San Fran were very excited about the fact that I was able to build Summer of Sonic into the event it is today, and wanted to replicate that same community feeling in the States without treading on our toes.
To be honest, Adam and I were just honoured that the community’s efforts in establishing Summer of Sonic were recognised. Despite this, I don’t think we were quite qualified to be the ‘judges’ of SoA’s ability to hold a party, because the night that Aaron, Kellie, Julian and the rest of the team held was really quite amazing. With our Access All Areas/Talent passes, we made sure to help out with anything and everything we could, and I think our presence was appreciated as much as we appreciated being there.
Watching an event being held especially for Sonic fans in another country was both a bit surreal and incredibly heartwarming. It was great to be on the other side of the organisational fence and chill with some American fans too – I was surprised at just how many people had heard of me, how many were members of SSMB and had even heard of SoS in the UK!
Massive highlights of the whole week included a photo opportunity that I had with Yuji Naka, Takashi Iizuka, Naoto Ohshima and Hirokazu Yasuhara (I totally nerded out) and finally meeting some age-old internet community buddies that I have known for so long but never had a chance to meet in person. I’ve known Shayne Thames of Sonic Kingdom since I started in this community – eleven years! And the moment I first met Brad in person – that was special too. We know we tight. It was amazing to meet TSS writers Alex and Jason there too, and to see their work at E3 (I had to work E3 on a professional level, unfortunately!). Just a great weekend and a fantastic opportunity.
June 2011
It’s every Sonic the Hedgehog fan’s dream to meet Yuji Naka. So what happened in 2011, on Sonic’s 20th Anniversary, had me tripping so many balls that I was in a constant state of mental pinching just to see if I was alive or not. The reality was, after eleven years The Sonic Stadium had finally made it – it was granted an audience with not only Naka-san, but current Sonic Team leader Takashi Iizuka too.
Iizuka-san, in the number of times I have had the fortune to meet him, always comes across as a laid-back, cool character who does actually understand what it is about Sonic the Hedgehog that made the original games so good. He worked on the Mega Drive titles, after all. It’s a direct contrast to how he is usually perceived in press – but half of the problem is in the translation of such interviews really. With Sonic Colours – the first Sonic title in years that Iizuka has helmed – he proved that he knew his stuff.
The fact that he is still very close to Naka-san is probably a reason for his understanding. And while Naka-san does have that (sometimes intimidating) steely expression of Japanese professionalism, I can tell that deep down the man cares deeply for the fans and the games he has worked on. Having the privilege of talking to a man who had shaped my entire childhood for 20 years was nothing compared to the honour – and incredibly daunting task – of looking after him on a professional level at an event that I created!
June 25, 2011
Once again, the Summer of Sonic convention becomes my biggest emotional investment of the year, and pays off in absolute dividends. This year’s event was very special indeed, largely in part to the 20th Anniversary celebrations taking place by SEGA around the world. As the publisher offered to become an even bigger sponsor in the fan-run convention, it was possible to really up the ante in terms of guests.
As you might already know, Yuji Naka and Takashi Iizuka were the headline attendees for SoS 2011 – and it was the first time that the pair had been subject the fans with such intimacy. They had already attended Sonic Boom, but at Summer of Sonic they spent two hours signing things for fans, and sat on stage with legendary sound director Jun Senoue for two hour-long stage Q&As. Trust me, these guys had never seen anything quite so energetic and atmospheric as the crowd in Camden Centre that Saturday. As they left at the end of the day, they expressed their deepest gratitude and asked for several names of people who had caught their interest during the Q&A and signings. They loved you guys.
But SoS was also the biggest we’d ever held for other reasons too – rock group Julien-K (This Machine, Waking Up) did a live performance, Jun Senoue came back to provide a surprise live performance at the end of the day, and comic fans were left amazed as Archie stars Ian Flynn and Tracy Yardley! met with Fleetway legends Nigel Dobbyn and Nigel Kitching for the very first time. Even Mike Pollock turned up on the sneak!
Sonic Wrecks brought the karaoke, TSS held a number of competitions, demos of Sonic Generations were plentiful, a fan variety performance allowed talented community members to show off their skills to the crowd and merchandise was finally available to purchase! Even the cosplay contest was out of this world in 2011 – someone even came dressed as Wes Weasley! But beyond what we had on show for attendees, what really made me feel like the whole thing was worth it was the audience, as always. Making friends, having fun and enjoying the day together. That’s what Summer of Sonic is all about, and as much as it emotionally exhausts me in terms of planning, I wouldn’t trade the results off for anything else in the world.
Yes, shh, I’m aware I’m a bit late. I’ve been working all day. 😉 But I did throw together a little surprise for those of you who are signed up to the SSMB Forums – the long-awaited return of the Sonical skin! Check it out at http://board.sonicstadium.org/ now!
Let that design sink in, because TSS will be seeing a similar tweak within the next day or two. It was planned for a release today, but WordPress is funny about this sort of thing. Instead, we’ve kicked off our comprehensive Sonic Generations Buyer’s Guide, so if you’ve yet to find the best deal on one of the biggest games on the calendar then check that out. Continue reading Happy 11th Birthday, The Sonic Stadium!
UPDATE: Some keen-eyed fans over at Sonic Retro have checked out the downloadable file and have confirmed that it is in fact a fake 2MB file of little value.
Oh dear. The PC version of Sonic Generations has been hacked to pieces by pirates, with torrents being made available on popular freeloading websites around the globe.
The torrent contains a disc image, along with crack executables and .dll files that allow Windows users to experience the entire of Sonic Team’s upcoming 20th Anniversary title without having a pay a penny for the privilege.
While The Sonic Stadium hasn’t downloaded or ran the package out of principle, early comments on various pirate websites appear to confirm that the torrent includes a full bona fide copy of Sonic Generations.
Thanks to SSMB member Vinyl Scratch for the heads up.
NB: The Sonic Stadium does not condone or endorse the pirating of video game software. Any requests or links to download the game on TSS or SSMB will result in member bans.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OwzWRm7iOs[/youtube]
Wondered where our artistic friend Elson ‘Darkspeeds’ Wong had gone? Turns out he had bunkered down for many weeks working on a brand new Sonic fan project. Turning his hand to animation, Elson has brought Archie Comics’ Silver Saga from Sonic Universe to life with sound effects, camera pans and original artwork to complement the action within the frames.
It’s a wonderful piece of work, and isn’t without its fair share of stress and challenges. Have a look at the first part of Elson’s work above, which was released to YouTube this morning – then see the video below which takes you behind the scenes of exactly what goes into the project. Along with some impromptu shirt-lifting. Nice. Continue reading Sonic Universe’s Silver Saga – Now Fan Animated
Well this is a surprise – continuing the trend for Sonic the Hedgehog soundtrack re-releases in Japan, it has been confirmed that Sonic CD will also be getting the 20th Anniversary OST treatment.
It follows the re-release of Sonic Adventure Digi-Log Conversation, multi-dimensional: Sonic Adventure 2 Original Soundtrack and the Sonic Heroes Complete Trinity soundtrack earlier this year.
The difference here is that Sonic CD was never officially graced with an OST release. The closest anyone came was Alfa Music’s Sonic the Hedgehog REMIX in 1994. Which isn’t really an original soundtrack at all. And also, super rare.
Naturally, the reason for the OST is the incoming launch of Sonic CD on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network. It will be released in Japanese music stores on the 23rd November for ¥2,400 (about £20), and will feature brand new artwork and the Crush 40 cover of Sonic Boom first heard at SEGA of America’s anniversary celebration in Los Angeles. HMV Japan has more information on the CD… in Japanese.
CDJapan are offering preorders at the same price of ¥2,400, and ship internationally. You will, however, have to deal with shipping costs and potential import duties.
I think he mad.
Sonic Generations has been making us all salivate with anticipation ever since it was first announced. That’s because, with Sonic Colours setting a precedent (and some of us having played it) there’s a good chance that Sonic Team are finally on the right track with the franchise. Classic Sonic physics – good. Modern Sonic inertia and level design – good! It’s looking good!
According to one passionate fan though, not everything is all blue skies and Green Hills. YouTube user “SONIC1SONICHEDGEHOG” (no prizes for guessing what kind of Sonic fan he is) feels that the 3DS version of Generations has been broken by what he sees is a betrayal from Dimps. Classic Sonic has a homing attack, you see. That’s not ‘Sonic 1 Sonic’ at all. And grey soles? What?
Listen to his impassioned tirade, in which our eloquent friend transforms Werehog-style into a screaming ranting puddle of goo. To be fair, we can kind of see his point (well, on the homing attack thing. Really not quite sure what he’s talking about with the soles). But you know… I wouldn’t go into SEGA’s boardroom and display fan disapproval in quite the same way. Or maybe we should. Maybe that’s where Brad went wrong in meeting Ken Balough. Needs more shouty.
(As the headline suggests, this video is more than shouty – it’s sweary too. You might want to wait til you get home before you watch this one)
Cheers to Gavvie for pointing us to this video. It’s made our Friday!
SEGA celebrated the end of the Tokyo Game Show in style last night, as Sonic Team director Takashi Iizuka wished Sonic the Hedgehog a happy 20th Anniversary and Jun Senoue took to the stage to perform a selection of songs with Tomoya Ohtani.
After a live performance of themes from Sonic Colours’ Tropical Resort and Sonic Adventure’s Emerald Coast, things kicked into Generational overdrive as a Modern mix of Chemical Plant Zone rocked out against a new video of gameplay from the upcoming Anniversary game. New footage of Seaside Hill and Rooftop Run was shown too.
The pair were later joined by Cash Cash frontman Jean Paul Makhlouf who sang vocals to City Escape, It Doesn’t Matter, Reach for the Stars and more. You can find the rest of the performance in the second half of the video, below. It’s a bit choppy as it appears to have been recorded from SEGA’s UStream site, but the sentiment is there and that’s all that counts, right?
Thanks to ‘WizzleKidd’ for the heads up.
This is awesome. A couple of bedroom composers have made a cover version of Kenichi Tokoi’s Planet Wisp theme from Sonic Colours, using nothing but a Logic sequencer and a keyboard.
According to Aivi Tran’s YouTube page, collaborator Dave Harris transcribed the entire track by ear – which is not an easy job by any stretch of the imagination. Aivi then took to her Roland RD-700NX and performed the piano and solo sections.
It’s a great take on a fantastic track, and there’s even a surprise Green Hill Zone medley thrown into the mix as well. It’s a testament to epic the Sonic Colours soundtrack in its entirety really is. Now, somebody do Starlight Carnival!
It’s been a while, old friend. The Sonic Amateur Games Expo – an online fan convention that showcases the best of creative programming within the Sonic community – is back for another run with fangames and ROM hacks galore to try out, along with one or two surprises.
A gameplay trailer has just been released by the show’s organisers, and it highlights some of the games that you’ll be able to download and try out. I remember the name Sonic Axiom – if I’m not wrong, it’s a returning showcase of the interesting little title that takes advantage of Sonic CD’s engine mechanics.
The Sonic Worlds Collaborative Project looks to be a very extensive piece of work, it will be fun to see the work that has gone into this one. Sonic Fusion is looking great as ever – one of the few high profile fangames still using Sonic Advance sprites and looking more unique as a result of it. Plus, Espio! No doubt the most interesting on my radar has to be Sonic: Before the Sequel – an adventure starring Tails which opens up an opportunity for some fan-based filling of storyline gaps.
SAGE will also be running a radio broadcast throughout the event, as well as provide video content in the form of live music performances and an animation demonstration of Nate Horsfall, the character animator for Sonic Rivals 2. There’ll be a Hacking contest between some of the best coders in the fanbase too, which I’m personally dying to spectate.
Things kick off this weekend and festivities will last for an entire week. Check out SAGE’s Facebook page and Twitter feed for the latest news, and if you’re looking for exhaustive information on the show check out the topic on Sonic Fan Games HQ, the spiritual home of SAGE.
And of course, there’s the event website itself for all the action – http://www.sagexpo.org
SEGA has released a brand new trailer for Sonic Generations, and it includes a stage from Sonic & Knuckles that many fans will be excited to see – Sky Sanctuary! With Egg Robos and everything! The video below comes courtesy of IGN is YouTube and therefore actually works in browsers, but we’ll get the un-watermarked version soon to place on The Sonic Show soon enough.
You can catch a glimpse of Modern Sonic action, Classic Sonic platforming as well as a sneak listen to the music tracks for both. What do you reckon? Colourful, huh? Let us know your thoughts in the comments box below!
Cheers for the spot, ‘Sonicaddictster’!
The Australian side of video game retailer GAME is celebrating Sonic the Hedgehog’s 20th Anniversary in a most curious way. Its video presenter, Ed, is going on the Amazing Sonic Quest – a charity drive that auctions off games from the franchise’s history for a good cause. And if you help him, you can get a free copy of Sonic Generations.
Ed has a problem, you see. He doesn’t have all of the 45 Sonic games that he needs to sell. This is where Sonic-mad GAME customers come in – anyone who has an old copy of one of the listed Sonic titles will be encouraged to send it to Ed via post. Doesn’t sound much like a quest on Ed’s part, if we’re being honest.
There is an incentive to part with your long-loved Sonic games, though. Everyone who is able to check off Ed’s list will get a AU$50 GAME voucher as well as free copy of Sonic Generations.
It’s likely that the copy you’ll receive is the Standard Edition, and not the insane Collector’s Edition (that GAME also handily advertise on the Amazing Sonic Quest page), but free is free and it’s all for a good cause, right? Head to the GAME page, see what games Ed is missing and see if you can help him out!
Hold onto your butts. Sonic the Hedgehog CD is getting a port to the Xbox 360’s Live Arcade service, and the first place anyone will get to play it is at the Penny Arcade Expo Prime event in Seattle.
Microsoft community liaison Major Nelson let slip details of the game’s existence on his blog today. It will be situated at one of the Xbox 360 Booths (#432) and be sat alongside a slew of other Live Arcade titles such as Trials Evolution, Trine 2 and Retro City Rampage.
SEGA has been extremely quiet on the possibility of bringing Sonic CD to current generation console platforms. It has been one of the most requested omissions from recent Sonic series compilations, and there had been murmurings that the company was interested in a homebrew port of the game on iPhone some time ago.
Nothing official has been said about the publisher’s intentions to bring back the Mega CD classic however – until now, that is. Are you going to PAX Prime? Be sure to go and play the ever-loving love out of the game, and let us know on TSS what you think of it! The Expo runs from 26th – 28th August 2011.
We already know that SEGA is planning to release a Special Edition of 20th Anniversary title Sonic Generations, but apparently there seems to be an even more valuable offering in the works. New Zealand retailer Mighty Ape is listing a previously unheard of Collector’s Edition for NZ$199.99.
We don’t know anything about the contents of said Collector’s Edition (PS3 / 360) – the Mighty Ape website writes that such details are “to be confirmed” – but we’d wager that it will contain a fair bit more than the DLC offered at GameStop in the US and GAME in the UK. Perhaps something physical?
We’ve been told Mighty Ape is responsible for distributing and selling 20th Anniversary merchandise in the country, so perhaps some kind of figure wouldn’t be such a wild guess. What do you think? What would you like to see for your hard-earned NZ$200?
The retailer also lists Standard (PS3 / 360) and Special Editions (PS3 / 360) of the game for both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Standard will cost you NZ$109.99 and Specials will set you back NZ$129.99.
Cheers to TenkoTAiLS for the news tip! We owe you a pint. Maybe. Depends if you’re old enough.
Sonic’s favourite thing is running, right? So it only makes sense that the blue blur does so for charity! A rather nice chap called Dave Moran is signed up to run the Asics British 10K London Run 2011 this Sunday, and he’s dressing up as everyone’s favourite hedgehog to raise money for the SpecialEffect charity.
SpecialEffect is a charity that recently hit the spotlight for its brilliant work in allowing disadvantaged children to explore and enjoy interactive entertainment. The organisation had a stand at last year’s Eurogamer Expo, where it was demonstrating a racing game that can be controlled simply with a person’s eye movement.
A truly inspiring cause, and one that resonated with Dave when he decided to take on the London Run. “I first found out about SpecialEffect at the Eurogamer Expo 2010. It didn’t take long for me to see how special a charity they were,” he writes on his JustGiving page. “For these children, the majority of computer games are simply too quick or too difficult to play, and we can help them and their parents to find out which games they CAN play, and how to adapt those games that they can’t.”
Dave is aiming for a target donation of £250 – amazingly, he has passed that and is currently at £429! Let’s give Dave some support for a great charity and see how far we can get that total. If you want to donate a sum of change to the cause, just head to Dave’s JustGiving page.
UPDATE: Well, that was fast. After ten hours, reservations were all taken up!
The Summer of Sonic convention has opened its advance registration service to potential attendees. The process, which was established to give peace of mind to those traveling from far and wide to attend the event, was launched at 10am this morning to a mad mob of fans desperate to be guaranteed entry for Sonic’s 20th Anniversary.
You can apply for a reservation card – which is not proof of entry and must be exchanged at the door for a wristband on the day – at the special registration page on the Summer of Sonic website, where you’ll receive a special card to print off for exchange.
Places are extremely limited – within 90 minutes over 350 people had signed up for reservation – so if you’re umming and ahhing about your travel plans, now is the time to get sorted out.
Source: The Summer of Sonic 2011
Crush 40 guitarist and sound director for many Sonic the Hedgehog titles, Jun Senoue, appears to have had something of a spellbinding effect on fans, as he is the most requested celebrity to return to The Summer of Sonic convention this year.
That’s according to a poll hosted by Sonic Wrecks, which asked who visitors would like to have most if given the choice of guests from past years. 56% of its visitors would like the opportunity to meet with the Japanese musician a second time. Jun attended The Summer of Sonic last year and enchanted the crowd with an instrumental performance on stage before rocking the house with Johnny Gioeli for an exclusive Crush 40 gig.
Both Jun and Johnny have expressed an interest in returning to The Summer of Sonic, but so far it’s a mystery as to whether either will be able to make it this year. The pair’s schedules have been jumbled as Crush 40 cancelled key gigs in Japan following the country’s tsunami crisis. So far, no announcement has been made on their future plans.
Jun lead the Sonic Wrecks poll, but it was Dreams of an Absolution star Lee Brotherton (aka Bentley Jones) that came a close second, winning 50% of the vote. Lee attended the first event in 2008, and was the highlight of 2009’s convention when he performed twice for excited fans.
Crush 40 singer Johnny Gioeli came third with 38%, followed by acclaimed composer Richard Jacques. The British musician, who created the soundtrack to Sonic R and the Sega Saturn version of Sonic 3D: Flickies’ Island, headlined the very first Summer of Sonic convention with a majestic medley of SEGA classics.
Singer TJ Davis earned 27%, and Fleetway comic legends Nigel Kitching and Nigel Dobbyn brought up the rear with 16% and 13% respectively. Here are the results in full:
The only confirmed guests for The Summer of Sonic 2011 so far have been Archie Comics’ Ian Flynn and Tracy Yardley, along with Nigel Kitching. Who would you like to meet most at the convention this year?
The Summer of Sonic convention has always been an awesome place to chill out with the legendary writers and artists behind the Sonic the Comic series, and this year is no exception. Nigel Kitching will be attending SoS this year to help celebrate the blue blur’s 20th Anniversary in style.
From the Summer of Sonic website:
Licensed by SEGA and published by Egmont Fleetway, Sonic the Comic was the perfect (and cheap!) way for British fans of the blue blur to get their dose of hedgehog antics. While initial issues back in 1993 played it safe with the license and offered one-issue strips, Kitching was responsible for spicing up the comic’s plot and giving the book its own unique flavour.
The result was a two-part story (Dr. Robotnik sending Sonic the Hedgehog into the near-future and taking over Mobius in his absence) that would set the foundations for an incredible alternate Sonic universe – one that wasn’t shy to veer from the convention set by the official games, but was also intimately respectful of its source material.
Nigel will be present at The Summer of Sonic 2011 to meet with fans and feature in a panel discussing his comic career and his time on Sonic the Comic.
The fun part is, so far The Summer of Sonic has exclusively announced comic stars as special guests. Could there be yet more guests in other areas that we don’t know about yet, or is this going to be an all-out Comic fest? I certainly wouldn’t place bets on the latter, if I were you…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df0y6JoydVA[/youtube]
The recent hack attack on Sony’s PlayStation Network may have been no joke, but Channel 4’s news team still saw fit to throw in a bit of light-hearted spin on the crisis – by turning to Sonic the Hedgehog, of course.
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 is available to download on the PlayStation Network, and was used as the primary example of playing games on the PS3. Bit of a strange choice really, but we’re certainly not complaining – especially as the report goes a bit ‘Brass Eye’ at the 3:00 mark.
Benjamin Cohen concludes his report by stating that the PSN downtime is allowing gamers to go outside and grab some sunshine, before cheesily running across the screen in a park collecting rings. It’s… well… it’s rubbish really, but it’s also awesome because it’s so rubbish. Keep shining, Channel 4.
SEGA has just confirmed Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Of course, being the legendary combination of video gaming frenemies and sporty decadence that it is, the publisher wasn’t going to make the announcement quietly.
So to celebrate, Mario and Sonic once again took time out of their busy in-game schedules to party in the streets of London. It wasn’t really a case of ‘blink and you’ll miss them,’ as the pair were directing traffic at Tower Bridge and posing outside of the Houses of Parliament. Well, Sonic was – not really sure what Mario’s doing, there.
A big red London bus toured the city as well, smothered in all sorts of Mario & Sonic branding as it passed Big Ben and surprised the flock of tourists sitting around Piccadilly Circus.
As the 2012 Olympic Games draws ever closer, there’s a growing excitement in Britain to see the best that the sporting world has to offer – and of course a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to cheer our national sporting heroes on our own home turf. The Mario & Sonic series has always been incredibly popular, but with this in mind you can bet your last gold ring that Brits will absolutely lap up this upcoming Wii and 3DS sequel.
Check out the gallery below for the grand London tour.
Looking forward to the Summer of Sonic 2011? We sure are, especially as we’re setting it all up (and we know what’s coming)! But Summer of Sonic only happens for one day – what if you want something to do before the official proceedings kick off? Well, that’s where a group of plucky fans have stepped in, as they have kick-started an unofficial pre-SoS gathering of their own.
Fellow Brits Ben and Rebecca have booked the Jetlag Sports Bar and Restaurant in London’s Marylebone district on Friday 24th June at 6pm, and anyone who might be travelling from afar to see the delights of the Summer of Sonic convention is more than welcome to attend.
At this juncture it’s worth pointing out that this event is not associated with the Summer of Sonic 2011 Convention, taking place on Saturday 25th June at Camden Centre. This event is fan-run and organised by a third party – The Sonic Stadium is simply spreading the word to all who might wish to attend.
Got that? Good. If you’re interested, check out the Facebook page here and register your interest. There’s an entry fee of £7 to get in and a minimum spend of £12.50 per guest, so have some wonga ready and enjoy a relaxed night out with some Sonic friends before the big party kicks off on Saturday.
I’m afraid you won’t see the likes of myself, T-Bird or AAUK there – we’ll be having pre-SoS parties of our own (well, I will, everyone else may be sleeping) – so we’ll see you all on the Saturday instead! Have fun!
The intentional venue for the Summer of Sonic 2011 convention has been revealed – and it’s right on your doorstep! The Camden Centre is situated right opposite Kings Cross St. Pancras Station in Central London, and is just a short walk from Euston station too, making it the most accessible SoS location to date!
According to the announcement on the Summer of Sonic website, the Camden Centre can house 900 raving Sonic fans (without any additional equipment clogging up the space), but any concerns of a cramped experience against all those tables will be relieved to hear that there’s a sizeable foyer and secondary hall that will also be used to hold stalls and other things.
“In terms of what it could offer us as a space, and after visiting the very friendly management there, the SoS team feels that Camden Centre is the perfect place to hold Sonic the Hedgehog’s 20th Anniversary,” reads the post by… well, me. More updates – including a closer peek at the venue – are to come at a more regular pace now that the intentional location has been decided. Stay tuned to TSS for the latest.
Today, we are offering the finest news, reviews and updates on the Chuckle Brothers, one of the UK’s greatest entertainment duos that ever lived. If you grew up watching Chucklevision throughout the 80’s or 90’s and still feel a small tingle whenever you hear that catchy theme tune, then come to the Chuckle Stadium, where you’ll find a true home from home.
You might think that the Chuckle Brothers have become rubbish throughout the years. That the comedy duo’s best work is behind them and that since the ‘Green Eye’ fiasco (did you see it? The episode where they got contact lenses? So funny…) Barry and Paul are but a shadow of their former selves. Not so, says the Chuckle Stadium. We think that, like a fine wine, Chuckles get finer with age.
So settle down, relax, and chat about YOUR favourite Chuckle Brothers moments – be it from ChuckleVision, To Me To You, pantomime or any of their other hilarious side projects. All fans are welcome at the Chuckle Stadium. Love Chuckle Brothers? Love The Chuckle Stadium.
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