All the major upcoming Sonic releases will be displayed to the Japanese public at the next generation World Hobby Fair, SEGA have revealed on their official ‘Sonic Channel’ website.
As with all gaming events in Japan, lucky showgoers will be treated to special hands-on test plays of Sonic Gems Collection, Sonic Rush and Shadow the Hedgehog. Free gifts will be showered upon visitors too, and the appearance is testament to SEGA’s further pushing of the blue blur. Continue reading Sonic Channel Updated
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It’s very nearly been three months since SONIC NEWS returned to the TSS Network with a fresh new vibe, new look and a new team of dedicated Sonic reporters. We’ve done our best to bring you the best, unbiased news on Sonic the Hedgehog as quick as possible.
We would now like to hear what you think of the SONIC NEWS service. Do you think that since March 11th, the website has delivered in providing the latest updates on the official and fan Sonic universes? Do you feel there is any room for improvement in our service? Continue reading SONIC NEWS Shoutout!
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Some days ago TSS reported on a confirmed Sonic online project, although it was not to be revealed by SEGA or SONICTEAM, but rather a small starting company called Panovation Studios.
A special interview on the SEGA Boards, a complete denial of a project existing by SEGA themselves and masses of rumours fired up by fans turned what was assumed as an “official” title to be slammed as nothing more than vapourware, and even stating that such a project does not exist. Continue reading Sonic ORPG: Panovation Explained
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A member from the SEGA Forums has managed to talk to Panovation Studios, who are apparently working on an online game of Sonic the Hedgehog.
SEGA Forums member “Mondo-Cool” secured an online interview with Mark Greig, “Head Founder” of Panovation Studios, and the result is a confirmation from a incredibly unknown developer that they are legitimately creating an online Sonic title. Greig made distinct comments on the project – which could mean the game is well in development – including the notion that it will be an “Online Sonic RPG”, and not a “Sonic MMORPG”. Bizarre in itself. A small portion of what Mark said is below: Continue reading Online Sonic Game ‘confirmed’
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Australia is set to have a nice surprise come Sonic’s birthday – an official SEGA exhibit all about Sonic the Hedgehog! And leading fan website, The Sonic Stadium, is being profiled as an example of Sonic fan culture at the event.
The exhibit, taking place and organised by the Australian Center for the Moving Image (ACMI) will be the second ever video games event the establishment has held, and is fully supported by SEGA-Europe and THQ Australia, who distribute SEGA games in the land down under.
In an agreement between ACMI and The Sonic Stadium, video footage will be recorded of this website, with added voiceovers and information detailing what the site provides in context of fan culture, and displayed in a special section of the Sonic the Hedgehog exhibit. It will be accompanied by a text panel discussing the fan culture surrounding Sonic the Hedgehog, which mentions fangame development such as the popular ‘Neo Sonic Universe’.
Continue reading The Sonic Stadium in Official SEGA Exhibit
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A special music concert playing in the US this summer focuses completely on Video Game compositions, and Sonic the Hedgehog is one of the series to be included.
‘Video Games Live’ is a touring concert series that is made up of video game composers, and will be playing a mixture of classic themes from a range of influential computer game series, including Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Mario, Legend of Zelda, Halo, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy and even Pong and Donkey Kong. The concert series will begin its tour in the States at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles (CA) on Wednesday 6th July, and will be hitting various hotspots in the US over the course of the summer.
The composers of the event are video game music maestros themselves, with co-creators Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall having made music for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, Earthworm Jim and Jade Empire, Splinter Cell respectively.
Continue reading Sonic Music to Feature in US Concert
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Blimey, it’s almost as if one event ends (E3) and another one is about to begin. I’m talking, of course, about the Sonic Amateur Games Expo (SAGE), of which The Sonic Stadium is proudly supporting alongside a roster of other Sonic sites. For those who don’t know, SAGE is like the E3 of Sonic Fangames. Interested in making a fangame? Join the Workshops and Tutorials. Wanna play some fangames? Come along, see the booths. Seeings as it’s all a part to help the fangaming community grow, TSS as well as others like Sonic HQ are more than happy to help spread awareness of this fab event.
However, TSS is also doing special things with the people behind SAGE and SFGHQ – specfically, I’m working closely with Smidge to help get awareness for SAGE as broad as possible, alongside other great plans. SFGHQ and SAGE, I can announce today, will also have a special Category in this year’s Sonic Site Awards event also (SSA-05 will, incidentally, take place a week after the SAGE event).
SAGE is plodding along for a good launch in early July. Hopefully you won’t be able to move without hearing the SAGE name – if you haven’t tried fangames, I suggest you do so at SFGHQ]. Seriously good stuff, and you can check out the SAGE happenings on TSS (yet again, TSS will exclusively cover the SAGE event this year) and the SAGE website itself:
http://www.sagexpo.org/
Go. Now. Play fangames.
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The Sonic Fan Games HQ is gearing up the opening of it’s latest Sonic Amateur Games Expo (SAGE) event, and the organisers are currently setting up hosts for ‘Workshops’, a recent addition that debuted in the last show.
To further cater for and cover all aspects of the Sonic Fan Gaming community, the aim of the ‘Workshops’ is for experienced fangame creators to tutor others in a dedicated chatroom in real time, about certain elements of fangame creation that usually prove troublesome for the novice.
The ‘Workshops’ first arrived at the last SAGE event, but recieved little attention. TSS and SFGHQ hope that this time the feature will be more appreciated – by more novice fangamers attending for help, and more experienced people to host these chats.
Continue reading SAGE Seeking Workshops
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Exciting news, guys. I have been approached by the Australian Center for the Moving Image (ACMI) in Melbourne, AU for permission to take movie footage of The Sonic Stadium. This website will then be profiled in a Sonic the Hedgehog exhibit they plan to launch in late June in their dedicated “Games Lab”.
Naturally, I’ve agreed. The ACMI’s Games Lab is a section of the Center dedicated to discussing Video Game Culture – basically, the fan culture phenomenon behind some of the biggest game characters. And obviously, because Sonic is such a loved game character, with thousands of fan material and sites on the web, the ACMI would like to highlight the culture behind the character.
They approached TSS because it encaptures all the aspects of online Sonic fandom, from games reporting to news, to fangames and to artwork and fan creation – and of course, discussion. At the exhibit you can expect a video of footage of The Sonic Stadium, with some voiceovers and information about the site, and how the fan community express themselves through Sonic (i.e. fangames, online radio). Expect TSS, SEGASonic Radio, the Sonic Site Awards and other minisites to be included in the footage.
Continue reading TSS at Official Sonic Exhibit!
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Yesterday the media arm of The Sonic Stadium, that’s responsible for offering most of the high-quality content we can’t provide on-site (for space fears and purposes), Fastfeet Media, returned. It’s had a whole bunch of cool stuff added to it, and old faves like Sega Sonic: TV, a direct feed to SEGASonic Radio on the site, plus (and I know you’ll like this) an FTP Service that only requires your use of your internet browser!
Yep, due to amount of mail myself and the FFM team got from people not being able to figure out connection using an FTP Client, we have reworked the Service so if you have IE, Firefox (with a small extension) or whatever, you can connect through that and obtain our high quality movies, soundtracks and stuff. How cool is that? 🙂 Head over the Fastfeet Media website.
Continue reading FastFeet Media Returns, TSS Online Shop
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SONIC NEWS FIRST: The Sonic Stadium has obtained the full movie of the next generation Sonic the Hedgehog demo in action. It shows stunning footage of how we can expect the blue blur to look like on next generation consoles.
The movie is of slight quality, due to the filming taking place from afar (covertly, one would imagine), but you can download it here from The Sonic Stadium from its exclusive E3 Coverage Section. Look under the “TSS Commentary” subsection. Continue reading E3: Next-Gen Sonic Video [UPDATE]
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IGN XBOX360’s website has given the world first details of a brand new 3D Sonic the Hedgehog title, which confirms that a new game is in the works, and that it is an XBOX360 project.
The event occurred during a special play of SEGA’s upcoming titles – brand new games for next generation include new game ‘Chrome Hounds’, a brand new Virtua Fighter (which is said to rival the graphical of Dead or Alive 4 even in early video form), a reprise of Afterburner and House of the Dead. And the best was saved for last, as a clip of Sonic “moving through a realistic version of the Green Hill Zone” started running. IGN’s commentary on the clip is below:
“A SEGA montage wouldn’t be complete without everyone’s favorite blue mascot. The final segment of the video displayed Sonic the Hedgehog running at full speed down a grassy path. The foliage surrounding Sonic was clearly next-gen material, but it was hard to tell at times because he was moving at an incredible rate. I’d like to imagine that Sonic was moving through a realistic version of Green Hill Zone.
Continue reading E3 BREAKING: Next-Gen Sonic the Hedgehog!
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For those concerned as to the rumours regarding Sonic Gems Collection being exclusive for Nintendo Gamecube, well we have some good/bad news. Sonic Gems Collection is exclusive to Nintendo Gamecube. Sort of.
It appears that Ninty caught exclusive rights to the title in the USA, while SEGA’s press release specifies that a PlayStation 2 version is in the works, but only for Europe. We don’t know yet whether the exclusive deal for Gamecube is temporary, like Sonic Mega Collection, but if SEGA doesn’t shift on the issue, gamers looking for that tasty Sonic the Fighters urge will be forced to consider a Gamecube purchase; or a Nintendo Revolution when it appears sometime next year.
Continue reading E3: Gems Collection Gamecube-only in US
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Sega this morning filed an official press release for Sonic Rush, the upcoming DS title starring Sonic and the new character, Blaze the Cat. (Read about it here) Whilst next to no new details were unveiled, Sega have said that they are aiming for a late 2005 launch for this title.
Stay With SONIC NEWS for more Sonic Rush information as it appears.
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Just a small update, the English Sonic Gems Collection logo and an unmarked copy of the artwork featured on the Japanese website has come across our newsdesk and we have decided to share it.
Both images are high resolution and completely free of watermarks or poor compression, enjoy!
Sonic Gems Collection Logo
Sonic/Metal Sonic Artwork
UPDATE:
We’ve since also received a copy of the logo for the upcoming Shadow The Hedgehog.
Shadow The Hedeghog Logo
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Now, for the news that everyone else didn’t seem to cover, the 1991 blockbuster Sonic the Hedgehog will be re-released again later this year in worldwide. In a press release that surfaced earlier today Sega announced their plans to include a port of the legendary MegaDrive/Genesis Sonic the Hedgehog sans the Special Stages with upcoming Panasonic phones.
The game will be embedded with the new Panasonic VS3, slated for release across Europe in this summer. It will later be bundled with Panasonic Mobile Communications’ latest GSM mobile phones. In Japan, the mobile version of Sonic The Hedgehog will be embedded with Panasonic Mobile Communications’ mobile phones for NTT DoCoMo.
Once again, SONIC NEWS brings you the news that slipped through the cracks, stay with us for any late breaking E3 updates.
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As new titles have been suddenly revealed at E3, Sonic Team have updated their website to reflect this too. Being E3, this is an unusually large update, unfortunately for English speaking fans close to all of the content is in Japanese and Flash, so Babel Fish cant help this time!
The first of the updates include the long overdue Japanese website for Shadow the Hedgehog. The website contains new movies and a few new screens, whilst confirms the game will be 1-2 player, no release date was specified.
The movie begins with Shadow loading a weapon before using Chaos Control to fly through a cityscape and Chaos Blast to attack some enemies. Some new landscapes were visible in the movie as well as Sonic rendered in the games alternate style.
Continue reading Sonic Team Official Website Updated
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Earlier today SEGA’s Japanese page for the upcoming Sonic Gems Collection was launched providing a host of new information about the game, all of which can finally be set in concrete thanks to it coming directly from an official source.
The site, which is laced with some beautiful new-classic styled artwork provides us with the following. The game will be released in August this year on Playstation 2 and GameCube. Finally, what everyone has been waiting for, the list of games to be included in this compilation.
Continue reading Official Sonic Gems Collection Information
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Sonic Rush, then. As with Sonic Gems Collection, this game was already being banded about well before SEGA could talk about it. They should really guard their secrets more often. There was talk that this was going to be an all new racing game featuring Sonic and co. But this turns out to be false, instead a rather new way of playing your classic 2D platformer. The name threw many fansites off the mark concerning genre, as many rumours were dead certain that a racing game was in the works.
Contrary to popular belief though, this isn’t your racing game, but a whole new take on the Sonic platformer. A 2D Sonic game, using 3D models, that uses both of the NDS’ screens to give a larger perspective of the gaming field. It’s a very cool idea that appears to be being put to good use judging by these first snapshots we have of the game. The graphics don’t appear to be up to the proper standard, but assuming we know our Sonic Teams, Naka and co are simply trying to make the gameplay as solid as possible before touching up the graphics.
The level design, although it’s folly to judge base on five screenshots, do look nice however – the backdrops look like a very gorgeous blend between Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic Advance style scenery and styles, with levels you could call Hydrocity, with the fourth image above reminding us all about the level design of Carnival Night Zone. The fifth screen, while bearing resemblence to Desert Palace and Sandopolis, is a great sneak peek at the potential for many alternate routes in this game. The screens certainly show a promising game, with Sonic grinding up a vine and double-screened loops shown.
Which leaves just a few questions; mostly concerning that purple character that’s posing next to Sonic. Well, we can reveal that her name is Blaze. Blaze the Cat. Blaze is the queen of another world, and protector of the “Sol Emeralds”. Much like the Chaos Emeralds, these Sol Emeralds are quite the dangerous tool if in the wrong hands. She’s also a bit nippy on the old legs, assumedly.
So what gives on the storyline? Well, Sonic and Blaze meet through a dimensional paradox that somehow collides Blaze’s parallel universe with Sonic’s own. Hedgehog and Cat (kind of an odd combination… but then what the hell, we’ve had a hedgehog and a fox for 13 years!) join forces to retrieve the Sol Emeralds before anyone else gets to them… presumably someone who happens to don a peculiar orange moustache…
Sonic Rush takes a nice and simple route regarding character control. At present, only Sonic and Blaze have been confirmed as playable characters. This is a somewhat refreshing move by Sonic Team; we were getting worried that every single Sonic game would have to have Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Espio, Cream and their mothers all join in on the action. Given how Sonic Team love characters so much (especially making new ones), we have to say we’re quite glad that the focus is solely on two characters (and undoubtedly, Eggman). Let Sonic be the star of the show for once. Having said that, Sonic Adventure 2’s early trailers merely played out Sonic, Knuckles and Eggman as potential playable characters, and then look what happened. Keep it simple, Yuji, we’ll love you for it.
All in all, we’re quite chuffed and, shall we say, excited about this one, despite the touch-ups required for the graphics. The touch screen will apparently be used for play, although how this will work out is yet to be seen. We do know that Naka-san specified that a part of the E3 2004 Technical Demo (remember, the one where you\’re rubbing the bottom screen to make Sonic run faster) will be incorporated into Sonic Rush, so perhaps we will be seeing this in a Special Stage of some kind. A brand new Sonic adventure, using touch screen, double-screened, lush backdrops and scenery, and only two characters? Slap us up some of that classic innovative design we’ve been missing for oh so long, Yuji and co, and you’ll have us biting.
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Well, with all the rumours being banded about well in advance of E3 2005, the announcement of Sonic Gems Collection was no real surprise, although it was a pleasing addition to the roster of upcoming Sonic titles. ‘Gems’ was first fired up for rumour when SEGA filed a patent for the name of the game, along with a logotype. Many suspected, due to hints being dropped by Yuji Naka and the similar namesake to Mega Collection, Gems would be a compilation of the hard-to-seek Sonic games. One of the bugbears of SMC was the omission of Sonic CD, which Sonic Team would seem want to address.
The demo pod for Sonic Gems Collection was discovered at Nintendo’s E3 booth, which added fuel to the rumours of Gamecube exclusivity. We have a feeling that the game is headed for the PlayStation 2, according to our sources. No word on XBOX, but assuming Mega Collection got the multi-format treatment, it would seem odd that Microsoft would be left out of the Sonic love.
So, WHAT are we getting? Well, first of all, as hinted in the first paragraph, you will be getting Sonic CD and Sonic the Fighters in the compilation, and what journo’s will be playing at the demo pod. This morning, Sonic Team launched an official Gems Collection website, and confirmed a (potentially tentative) game list, below:
- Sonic CD
- Sonic the Fighters
- Sonic R
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (GG)
- Sonic Spinball (GG)
- Sonic & Tails 2 (GG)
- Sonic Drift 2 (GG)
- Tails Sky Patrol (GG)
- Tails Adventure (GG)
Some may think that Sonic CD, Sonic the Fighters and Sonic R is enough for the compilation, regardless of the conservative choice of adding some Game Gear games. And that’s fair enough. We can clearly see why Sonic Team chose this selection of GG games too – these were the titles that were mercilessly missing from Sonic Mega Collection + on XBOX and PS2 – furthering the idea that this could be heading for consoles other than Gamecube. All the Game Gear games were present in Sonic Adventure: DX however, which makes the selection here rather dubious on Nintendo’s platform.
Despite the appeal of Sonic CD and ‘Fighters, we hope there’s room for some unlockables, akin to the original Mega Collection. Our “Sonic Collectioning” would be complete with at least Chaotix and SEGASonic the Hedgehog in the mix. As mentioned before, it would be slightly odd to have half the offering on a new Gamecube collection being something you could just get elsewhere (SA:DX). The screenshots and common elements seen in Sonic CD and Sonic R show PC versions – which means Gems must be using some kind of PC emulation to run these versions of games. Which is fine by us, as long as we don’t get Windows XP runtime errors booting up Sonic CD.
The extra offerings are what makes a retro compilation from Sonic Team so good. Sonic Jam still remains the ultimate king, with a 3D explorable world full of Sonic history, artwork and exclusive Japanese movies up the wazoo. Sonic Mega Collection managed a timid smattering of Archie cover scans, a yawnsome full scan of their tiresome “Firsts”, and some movies of little interest. Sonic Mega Collection + took things better (or worse) when the only movies they had involved Sonic Heroes in-development scenes (of which half were just the finished movies anyway). Special extras have turned out to be nothing but a crock as of late.
Let’s hope this changes somewhat – the images above, taken from the official website, shows a new section called “Sonic Museum”. According to the Japanese site, there will be many secrets including movies, character profiles and artwork. So far, so good, Sonic Team. So far, so good.
Now we’re all up to scratch on what Sonic Gems Collection is all about, it’s only a matter of time before we get more details. Hopefully, if we can get extras on the scale of Sonic Jam-style quality (even if we can’t have many of the quality Japanese adverts or movies, just having some will suffice) and squeeze SEGASonic the Hedgehog and Chaotix in there, this collection will surely live up to its name.
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The latest Sonic game to be revealed will feature a new character known as Blaze The Cat, who will also be playable along side Sonic. So far the games graphics and gameplay look to be very simular to the Advance series. Below info comes straight from GameSpot:
The Sonic the Hedgehog series has gone all over the place since games went 3D. Sonic Adventure sort of took the game away from its high-speed roots, though Sonic Heroes certainly delivered its own take on Sonic’s fast-moving antics. But still, there’s something to be said for the classics. Sonic Rush appears to be on that classic track, delivering the high-speed side-scrolling 2D that the early games in the series is known for. But by taking advantage of the Nintendo DS’s dual screens, Sonic Rush is definitely a new spin on an old favorite.
Sonic Rush puts you in the roles of Sonic the Hedgehog and Blaze the Cat as they run real fast and attempt to recover the sol emeralds. Blaze isn’t playable in the short demo being shown at E3, but she’ll have her own separate adventure that, of course, often crosses paths with Sonic’s.
Continue reading E3: Sonic Rush Revealed
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Woo, this is the calm before the storm. The E3 event’s yet to start (Wednesday), but the major companies are spewing forth their latest consoles and it’s exciting to see! SEGA have been on form though for next gen, and SONICTEAM’s creativity certainly lives on! We’ve just seen a trailer for a new Yuji Project, called Fifth Phantom Saga. Check SONIC NEWS for the first info, and check out the new TSS Game Page for the title. AND, Sonic Gems Collection IS A REALITY. We’ve only seen a Gamecube stand for it though, which fires up the rumours that Gems will be a Nintendo exclusive. SONIC THE FIGHTERS and SONIC CD are the only titles known to be on the Gems Collection at this point. Yuji does love us.
It’s only been a day and all this has spewed forth – remember, only at The Sonic Stadium and SONIC NEWS can you catch the SONICTEAM E3 information and media first. We’re not the #1 Sonic Resource for nowt you know. 😉 Nintendo’s conference is later on, and more SEGA surprises are apparently in store, so we’ll let you know on any breaking details.
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As Sony and Microsoft unveiled their latest consoles during their Pre-E3 Press Conferences on Monday, it was a good time for SEGA to start shouting about their advancement, now they’ve firmly gotten their feet dug into the third party game.
During the PlayStation3 unveiling on Sony’s side, there was a clip of a new SONICTEAM project called Fifth Phantom Saga. It’s marks the house of Sonic’s first attempt at a First Person Shooter – but as you’d expect, it’s not your bog standard fare.
While you do have a gun and can blast the crap out of baddies, the main protagonist appears to be a hellish, other-worldly creature that floats about and lays the smack on enemies. This somewhat evil-looking beast is controlled by the player, using the free hand not holding the gun. The unnamed creature can pick up objects and lob them at enemies, and can also appear to be used to solve puzzles: with one section of the trailer featuring the monster matching an effigy on a wall.
Continue reading E3: Fifth Phantom Saga
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Sketchy details have surfaced once again for Shadow the Hedgehog, the latest are hinting at Shadow not being the only playable character in the upcoming title.
Nintendo Insider tell us . .
More details have surfaced regarding SEGA’s GameCube title, Shadow the Hedgehog. According to Jeux France, Shadow won’t be the only playable character in the game, but Shadow will also be aided by Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and the infamous Dr. Eggman. Furthermore, the game features a unique time travel mechanism that allows players to alter their path in the game.
Whilst these details cannot be confirmed at the moment, if they are a sign of things to come could this turn around many of the negative responces and outcry of Sonic fans?
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Earlier today Nintendo Now posted an image from Nintendos E3 display for Sonic Gems Collection for the Nintendo GameCube, which sports the controller layouts for Sonic the Fighters and Sonic CD. Details at the moment are at a bare minimum, although this is definite solid evidence that these two games will indeed be appearing in Sonic Gems Collection and playable at E3.
The photo can be found under the media links. Stay with SONIC NEWS for more E3 2005 updates.
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On the run-up to E3, SEGA America have added a game page for Shadow the Hedgehog to their game entries. It includes new screenshots and a bulleted list of information already revealed about the game. Thanks to Professor Machenstein for the link. You can check it out here:
http://www.sega.com/games/game_temp.php?game=shadow
Stay with SONIC NEWS for the latest Shadow the Hedgehog details from E3 next week.
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As The Sonic Stadium is to be covering E3 2005 almost from the inside out, SONIC NEWS has made room for a TSS article to collate everything that’s already been said, what’s been confirmed, what’s been rumoured. E3 can be a very confusing and somewhat dangerous place for those who haven’t been catching up, so allow this article to hand you all the current information we have, so you get some background knowledge on what Sonic Team has and might be offering.
First of all, let’s base things on SEGA’s Official E3 Lineup. On the Sonic Team side, you have two titles; Phantasy Star Universe and Shadow the Hedgehog.
Phantasy Star Universe is, as the name suggests, the true sequel to Phantasy Star Online. It’s the “next generation” of PSO games. Sonic Team first revealed ‘PSU’ at E3 2004, but raised more questions than answers.
Continue reading TSS: What to expect at E3 2005
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In a press release sent to us by SEGA, the house of Sonic is fast preparing its offering for the E3 2005 event. Most interesting of note is that two BRAND NEW Sonic the Hedgehog games are set to be announced.
“SEGA is also fully supporting PC, handheld, and current-generation users with AAA titles like Spartan: Total Warrior (PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube), Shadow The Hedgehog, Virtua Tennis: World Tour (PSP portable gaming system), and Phantasy Star Universe (PlayStation 2, PC). And on the first day of E3, SEGA will announce two new additions to the Sonic The Hedgehog franchise.“
Shadow the Hedgehog has already been mentioned on the SEGA Press Release list, so this opens up some doors. We already know that the Nintendo DS Sonic the Hedgehog game is to be revealed in a near final form, so this will no doubt be one of the two ‘new’ games announced.
Continue reading Pre-E3: SEGA’s Lineup
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As The Sonic Stadium is to be covering E3 2005 almost from the inside out, SONIC NEWS has made room for a TSS article to collate everything that’s already been said, what’s been confirmed, what’s been rumoured. E3 can be a very confusing and somewhat dangerous place for those who haven’t been catching up, so allow this article to hand you all the current information we have, so you get some background knowledge on what Sonic Team has and might be offering.
First of all, let’s base things on SEGA’s Official E3 Lineup. On the Sonic Team side, you have two titles; Phantasy Star Universe and Shadow the Hedgehog.
Phantasy Star Universe is, as the name suggests, the true sequel to Phantasy Star Online. It’s the “next generation” of PSO games. Sonic Team first revealed ‘PSU’ at E3 2004, but raised more questions than answers. It appeared back then that Sonic Team weren’t sure whether to continue the PSO style of gameplay or revert back to a 3D form of the classic Phantasy Star games of yore. It appears PSU, as it stands, will be a mixture of both styles, offering the same online ability and freedom as PSO while information states that battle won’t be real-time. Whether this will mean we get turn-based battles akin to PSO Episode III is hard to tell, as Sonic Team are being pretty vague about it. And with good reason, E3’s only just around the corner. Characters will be even more customiseable than before, with your average bloke clearly satisfied with being able to adjust the size of female character’s breasts. PSU is only slated for a PC and PlayStation2 release at present.
Shadow the Hedgehog, on the other hand, is a game fans know plenty about by now. When it was notoriously announced at the Walk of Game celebration, many fans didn’t take kindly to it. Even TSS went on the defensive, believing this to be the next game in the Sonic series. As it stands, Shadow is a mere spinoff title, but it simply plays similar. As time has gone on, the game has gotten to be quite interesting, with several unique abilities open to Shadow. The plot’s been milked more than a cow farmer’s wife, but if you ignore that you have a game with multiple endings, based entirely on your actions during the game. Shadow can use Chaos Control abilities to do massive DragonBall Z style explosions and zoom past treacherous space, but the most controversial aspect of play to this day is the ability to weild “real life” weapons and shoot the crap from unfamiliar enemies. GUN makes a return, what a surprise, never saw that one coming either. One to watch, whether you intend on getting it or not. Confirmed for all major console formats.
The most interesting aspect of the SEGA Press Release is the line: “…on the first day of E3, SEGA will announce two new additions to the Sonic The Hedgehog franchise“. Depending on which raving fansite you believe, these two new games are going to be titles that have not so much as been talked about by official sources. Message Boards and other Sonic sites are rife with guesses which they believe to be “dead certs” or big fat definites.
The truth is, nobody really knows. If you put it into context, two of the most popular vague guesses, “Sonic Gems Collection” and “Sonic Rush” (details on these below), haven’t had so much as a real official word from SEGA nor Sonic Team. The best we’ve had is the odd Iizuka and Ogawa quip, but you know how much Sonic Team love to play with our minds – just cast your minds back to the Tokyo Game Show some years back, where a release schedule mentioned NiGHTS 2 in it’s timeframe.
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Last night, if you couldn’t reach SONIC NEWS for your latest information, log onto the SSMB for some chatter or load some pages from The Sonic Stadium properly, it was because something went awry behind the scenes that spun the whole site and network into server overload.
The cause was a piece of code that TSS administrators had been applying to a new version of the website, that promises smoother browsing, quicker navigation, support for SSMB members and a large emphasis on site-member interaction.
The bug has been fixed, as we apologise to all the visitors and SONIC NEWS feed visitors and webmasters who had any inconvenience caused by this blip. SONIC NEWS is now back in operation, and will continue its planned coverage of the E3 2005 event next week. The Sonic Stadium’s interactive revamp has not been affected, although for all those interested, a completion date has still not been finalised.
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Once again another entry and scarce details appears in the US Patent listings, this time Sonic Rush. Late last month it appears SEGA have registered the title to another Sonic game to be unveiled at E3 later this month, similar to when Sonic Gems Collection was registered not long ago. Unlike the SGC entry, unfortunately no logo was supplied with the entry.
Such news revives waves or rumors from last months ‘Sonic R Extreme’ sightings in upcoming release listings in the US video game retailer chain, Game Crazy. Whether this is indeed a Sonic R sequel or the name of the upcoming Sonic DS title is currently unknown, however many believe the answer will be revealed at the E3 expo later this month.
Thanks to grap3fruitman of SCARZ for the info.
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Nintendo Power have promised on their website (see “Source” link to the left) that the next issue will:
“… reveal emerging details about under-wraps thriller Geist, and preview Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, Donkey Konga 2, Need for Speed Underground 2, Advance Wars DS, an all-new Sonic game for GCN and a bevy of blockbuster superhero games.”
Nintendo Power magazine is the American magazine based on the famous video game company. Subscribers should get the June edition well in advance of June, so if anyone can aquire and submit a scan it would be greatly appreciated.
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Sonic Team are gearing up their Western release for the long-awaited PC version of Phantasy Star Online: Episode I & II, including a new “Episode IV” mode and a limited free trial.
The new version, subtitled “Blue Burst”, will be available for free trial download from May 10 on the official PSO:BB websites for SEGA Europe and SEGA America. The trial will allow players to get a feel of the PC version of Ragol, while offering 30 days of free online play.
Interestingly, SEGA will provide special quests for BETA players, perhaps in a way to trial every aspect of the game experience before releasing the final version in stores.
Continue reading PSO: Blue Burst BETA Trial
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Sonic Fan Games HQ administrator Smidge has reopened the SFGHQ site. The backend of the site has been improved, and a second site “skin” has been added.
In his returning update, Smidge affirmed that online games show the Sonic Amateur Games Expo is still planned for the week of July 3rd, and the SFGHQ is scheduled to return in time for it.
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Following our report yesterday from various sources, Long John Baldry is recovering well from his treatment in Canada for respiratory problems.
SONIC NEWS learned from various sources yesterday that the blues legend, who was the voice actor for Dr. Robotnik in Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, was in a “critical condition”. Some reports had even stated he had died.
Despite the report from SONIC NEWS perhaps being the closest on Baldry’s “stable” condition, the singer was reportedly “peeved” at various British media sources for laying outrageous claims on his health.
Continue reading Long John Baldry Update
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Blues singer and Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog voice actor, Long John Baldry, has been admitted to hospital with a viral infection, that has reportedly damaged his lungs.
Baldry has recently been hospitalised in London with lung problems. In March he returned to his home in Vancouver, but ended up requiring further treatment. According to spokespeople at Vancouver General Hospital, he is currently in intensive care in a stable condition.
Sonic fans will remember the star as the voice of Doctor Robotnik in US TV Show, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, where he provided evidently the best rendition of the belligerent dictator. Outside the fandom, he has helped bring the likes of Rod Stewart and Elton John to stardom in the music industry.
This disconcerting news follows the sad passing of fellow ‘Eggman’ voice actor, Deem Bristow. Sonic News gives its deepest regards to John and family, and hopes his condition improves soon.
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