You may remember a report we made a couple of years back about a LinkedIn profile we found for Sonic Xtreme’s Lead Artist Ross Harris which stated he designed character models for the game, including Amy Rose. Well, The Sonic Stadium has now found a portfolio website for the artist which features the above models for Amy Rose as well as models for Sonic and some badniks. Continue reading Sonic X-Treme Amy Rose Models Found
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
The Sonic Stadium has discovered even more Sonic Boom concept art, but this time for last year’s Nintendo 3DS release Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice. The images were found on the portfolio of Casey Holtz a contract designer who worked on the game’s level and system design.
Responsibilities:
Level layout on 12 Race levels
Level layout on4 Adventure levels
Boss battle design, tuning, scripting
General systems tuning and support.
The concept art gives us a look at early stage and boss level sketches. In the original image files we can see they date back between November 2014 and early 2015 telling us the game was still in the very early stages not long before it was announced in June 2015, so it’s no wonder the game was delayed until September last year.
Check out the images in our gallery below and share your thoughts in the comments.
Source: Casey Holtz’s Portfolio
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
The Sonic Stadium has discovered a proof of concept for a Sonic the Hedgehog virtual reality project. The concept was developed for SEGA by Big Sky VR a Los Angeles based studio who worked on Coachella Explorer the first-ever mobile 3D simulation of the Coachella Music Festival. Big Sky describes their Sonic concept as a puzzle game in which our blue hero takes the user on an adventure through typical Sonic environments, though they fail to elaborate on any puzzle elements.
Big Sky developed a proof of concept for Sega to help them bring their icon Sonic the Hedgehog to the world of Virtual Reality. In this puzzle game experience Sonic escorts our user along an adventure that takes him across land sea under volcanos and above the clouds thats true to Sonic form.
Big Sky’s Greg Edwards has shared a video of the demo on his Vimeo account two months ago indicating that this is a very recent project. Whether anything more will come of this further down the line is unclear, but it’s interesting to know SEGA is looking at bringing Sonic to the world of virtual reality.
sonic from Greg Edwards on Vimeo.
Source: Big Sky VR
Would you like to see a Sonic the Hedgehog virtual reality game? Let us know in the comments.
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
Following a report we brought you earlier this month from the latest issue of License Global which mentioned upcoming Sonic events, we may now know where one of them will be held. Continue reading SEGA in Talks for Sonic 25th Anniversary Party in LA
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
The Sonic Stadium has discovered some concept art pieces from 2012 racer Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. The highlight is the above collection of items and weapons featuring many that went unused. See more after the jump! Continue reading S&ASRT Item & Vehicle Concepts Found
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
The Sonic Stadium has discovered that back in January of this year SEGA of America hired motor vehicle industry veteran Brian Fox of Fox Marketing for the role of ‘Automotive & Motorsports Brand Development Consultant’. As well as helping build partnerships within the automotive industry for the Sonic the Hedgehog brand Fox has also been tasked with the designing, building and coordinating of a 25th Anniversary Sonic the Hedgehog vehicle. Continue reading SEGA Planning Anniversary Car for Sonic’s 25th
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
The Sonic Stadium has discovered even more concept art from Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric and a few pieces from Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal. The images were among the portfolios of artists Oscar Ponce and Jason Norton who used to work at Big Red Button Entertainment. The latter’s artwork is especially intriguing as it reveals scrapped ideas for Eggman’s mech, a ‘battle mode tank’ and what we can assume is a golem boss battle. Check out all fifty seven of the images in our gallery below and give us your thoughts in the comments.
Continue reading More Sonic Boom: RoL Concept Art Discovered
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
The Sonic Stadium has discovered even more concept work for 2014’s Wii U exclusive Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric. The work was found on Amped UX’s website revealing they too had a hand in the game’s development.
The studio provided the following services:
* UI/UX Design, Wireframes, and Project Management
* Heads Up Display (HUD) UI Actionscripting
* Progression/Systems Design
* Localization Production & Integration
* High Level Concept & Documentation
* Secondary Quest & NPC Design
* Level Geometry Whiteboxing & Visual Scripting
* Final Script Debugging and Level Layout Revisions
You can learn about these development procedures in huge detail over at Amped UX at the below links. They’re a good read if you’re interested in game development or getting into the industry.
Source: Amped UX [Link 1, Link 2]
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
The Sonic Stadium has found some early animation from the Sonic Boom TV series in four developer showreels. The footage is from production on season 1 and was worked on by various artists at Infinite Frameworks Studios. Continue reading Sonic Boom TV Development Footage Found
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
The Sonic Stadium has uncovered what appears to be an unused promotional poster for Wii exclusive Sonic and the Black Knight. The poster was created by a company called KJSCoverArt who have designed a lot of album covers for various artists, as seen on their portfolio. We assume this image must have been made pretty early on because you’ll notice Sonic is wearing two of the same gauntlet he wears in the game instead of just one, as well as a helmet, which looks much like Shadow/Lancelot’s. Other changes include slight differences in Caliburn’s hilt and the game’s logo.
What do you think of this artwork? Would you have preferred Sonic to have worn more armour? Speak out in the comments.
Source: KJSCoverArt
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
The Sonic Stadium has uncovered alternative designs for Sonic Boom’s logo that were scrapped in favour of the above final product we have now. The images were found on Senior Designer Henry Gray’s page at Creativepool where he describes Sonic Boom as “A grown up, adaptable and animated identity for the largest franchise from the Sonic stable to date”. You can check out the designs below.
Source: Creativepool
Do you think SEGA should have gone with one of the other logos, or do you like the one we have? Speak out in the comments!
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
The Sonic Stadium has discovered a mysterious Sonic listing on the resume of former Silver the Hedgehog voice actor Pete Capella. The title is Sonic the Hedgehog: Awakening by SEGA Inc and Capella again did voice work for Silver the Hedgehog in it. Unfortunately, that’s all we know, as there don’t appear to be any other signs of the project online. Capella voiced Silver between 2006 and 2009, so it’s pretty safe to assume this title (whatever it is) is dead and buried.
If we find any more details, we’ll let you know.
Source: Pete Capella’s official website and IMDB resume
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
It appears Sonic Classic Collection for Nintendo DS was originally going to be a much bigger collection at one point, with more games and content. The Sonic Stadium has found images on the portfolio of former SEGA Studios Australia employee Brooke Luder that reveal Sonic Spinball, Sonic 3D Blast (aka Sonic 3D Flickies’ Island) and Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine were all part of the collection during development. This would explain why sprites from Sonic Spinball and Sonic 3D Blast can be seen in the credits roll.
Another image shows that video content was planned too, though no examples are given. You can check out more images in the gallery at the bottom of this article.
SONIC CLASSIC COLLECTION
SEGA Australia had the good fortune (WOOO!) of acquiring the Sonic Classic Collection port to Nintendo DS.
I created all the UI artwork for the port. This included recreating all the game logos as Sega no longer had the original editable logos. It also involved designing and creating the in-game assets for all the front end menus and ingame menus that weren’t part of the original game play and creating sprite sheets for the EFIGS language conversions.
Studio: SEGA Australia
Fun Factor: OMG!
Publisher: SEGA America
Release Date: 2010
Platform: Nintendo DS
Position: Senior UI/UX Artist
Software: Photoshop, Illustrator
Skills: Graphic Design/Layout
In non-Sonic news that will no doubt disappoint a lot of SEGA fans, Luder’s portfolio reveals that a Crazy Taxi 4 pitch was made by SEGA Studios Australia. No information about the pitch unfortunately, but we’re shown the above piece of concept art at least.
CRAZY TAXI CONCEPT ART
A concept piece created for the Crazy Taxi pitch from SEGA Australia. Illustrated in Photoshop and logo design created in Illustrator.
Studio: SEGA, Australia
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Software: Photoshop, Illustrator
Skills: Illustration, Logo Design
Luder has also shared some concept art of SEGA Studios Australia’s official video game for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
LONDON 2012 OLYMPICS CONCEPT ART
I was involved in early stage graphics prototyping for SEGA’s London 2012 Olympics game. As part of this experience I created some of the early stage pitch art for game play prototyping.
Studio: SEGA Australia
Fun Factor: Gold!
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Position: Senior UI Artist
Software: Corel Painter
Skills: Illustration, Concept Art
Brooke Luder’s portfolio: Sonic Classic Collection, Crazy Taxi 4, London 2012 Olympic Games
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
The Sonic Stadium has today discovered a proposed Sonic game for iPhone on the resume and portfolio of illustrator Eric D Simmons. The game was being developed by 2XL Games and judging by the above artwork it was to be a motocross type of game set in familiar Sonic stages. A quick look on 2XL Games’ website shows that genre to be their speciality on mobile devices. No reason is given for this game not seeing release, but if we had to guess, it’s likely due to clashing with the mobile release of vehicle racer Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing and/or its sequel.
Would you have liked a motocross Sonic game or are you glad it was never released? Let us know in the comments.
Sources: Eric D Simmons’ resume, Eric D Simmons’ portfolio
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
SEGA Europe has appointed CPLG (Copyright Promotions Licensing Group) to handle its Sonic the Hedgehog licensing business in Europe. This deal will see the agency promoting both the Sonic Boom and Classic Sonic brands across all major European territories, utilizing the Sonic Boom TV series and by launching exciting new products.
CPLG is a big player in licensing and responsible for some major brands, like Tony Hawk, Jurassic World, Minions, Skylanders, Kiss, Sesame Street and more. No doubt it will be interesting to see what promotions and products we will see develop from this deal.
Source: Licensing.biz
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
UPDATE 2: Thanks to the Wayback Machine we can see there were no Sonic listings on Strassman’s resume on March 14th 2012, but there are in the next capture on September 5th 2012, including ‘Sonic II’.
UPDATE: We have since found an old copy of Strassman’s resume from 22nd January 2012 that still lists ‘Sonic II’. Either work had already started on the new game back then, it’s a cancelled project or this is an error.
Original story: The Sonic Stadium has today spotted a listing for a video game titled ‘Sonic II’ on the resume of current English Rouge the Bat voice actor Karen Strassman’s resume. A Google search shows Strassman’s resume was last updated 20th May 2014 and the game is listed after Sonic Free Riders and Sonic Generations, her last roles as Rouge, so it’s likely this is an upcoming unannounced game.
The title is strange, considering we had Sonic the Hedgehog 2 back in the 90s, but then again, we did have a new Sonic the Hedgehog in 2006. However, with such negative feedback, we don’t think SEGA would create a sequel to that game, especially if it performed as poorly. There’s also the possibility this could be a remake of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, but SEGA kind of did that on mobile devices not too long ago with the help of Taxman and Stealth.
We recently reported about another unknown title with a 2 in its name ‘Sonic Mach 2’, which we spotted on German Orbot voice actor Romanus Fuhrman’s resume. Could they be one and the same? We’ll have to wait and see…
If we get any updates, we’ll be sure to let you know.
Sources:
Karen Strassman’s website resume
Karen Strassman’s voice acting site resume
Google search results
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmM28X7m_WA[/youtube]
Big Red Button developers have been busy again by recently uploading more test footage and concept art from Sonic’s last console outing Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric. In the above footage taken from Tuan Nguyen’s demo reel (with Skylanders footage cut, thanks to SSMB’s Blue Blood), we can see the scrapped beautiful hub world first seen in the GDC 2013 CryEngine 3 demo footage in a playable state.
https://vimeo.com/116913752
Devon Roderick has also released two test footage clips in the above video, one of a cutscene and one of an NPC.
Onur Cayli has released a large amount of images showing character renders he worked on, including the rather creepy looking Shadow render you see above.
What do you think of these latest releases? Do you wish the beta hub made it to the final product? Speak out in the comments.
Sources: Tuan Nguyen’s demo reel, Devon Broderick’s demo reel and Onur Cayli’s portfolio
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
A new SEGA job advertisement for a ‘Director of TV Series Production and Distribution’ has appeared over at LinkedIn displaying a keen interest to continue work on the Sonic Boom TV series. Season one is already airing in parts of the world and this fresh job advertisement strongly suggests SEGA is planning season two. The ad also states that upon evaluation the company would maybe be willing to work on further seasons and what they describe as ‘other opportunities’.
This person will act as project manager and coordinate/communicate with all parties ensuring the animation production and distribution is kept on track and the various parties are kept up to date with new developments as the TV series is in production.
Help CCO of Sonic to evaluate business models for new opportunities/subsequent seasons of Sonic Boom with recommending continuity plan of Sonic Boom.
Despite planning further seasons, SEGA is still yet to give word on when fans outside of the US and France can expect season one to air in their countries.
Would you like to see more seasons of Sonic Boom? Let us know in the comments.
Source: LinkedIn
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
Following this morning’s Famitsu update about the proper unveiling of Sonic Runners, we have more translated details from Famitsu’s interview with Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka. News tipster Andrej has laid out all of the details in the below list.
* It’s an endless runner (duh)
* It’s Free-to-Play
* Graphics are like Sonic 4: Basically 2D, with 3D effects for added depth
* Simple controls: Sonic runs by himself, touch screen to jump/use items
* Stages can be completed in about 2 minutes
* Story is split into short scenarios spanning a couple stages each
* Some scenarios will be callbacks to the old games
* There will be 50 episodes on launch, more to come (I assume one episodes contain more than one stage, but they don’t really clarify that)
* Stages have multiple (and hidden) paths
* Sonic, Tails and Knuckles will be playable, more characters to come
* Eggman pops up during the stages and has to be driven off
* New music is being written for the game
* Color Powers make a return
* There will be “companions” or support characters; if you pre-sign up for the game (Japan only I guess) you’ll get a “special companion”
* There are leaderboards
* Events for Christmas etc. are planned
In other news, Iizuka has now revealed the above mentioned “special companion” you get for pre-signing up for the game on its website via his Facebook page. It’s the flying gold pig seen in the above promotional image for the game.
Thanks to Andrej for the translation! If you have news to share, please send it in to us at news@sonicstadium.org.
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
The Sonic Stadium has discovered that ex-Sonic Team environment artist Hiroshi Nishiyama is now employed at SEGA Networks. Nishiyama put in 4 years at Sonic Team Japan initially working on NiGHTS into Dreams and Sonic Adventure among others before moving on to Sonic Team U.S.A for nearly 9 years. At Sonic Team U.S.A he designed environments for Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, Shadow the Hedgehog and NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams.
Since leaving SEGA, Nishiyama has been employed with Namco Bandai Games and GREE and as of September 2014 he has now returned to SEGA at their mobile gaming division SEGA Networks. Could he be working on the recently announced Sonic Runners coming from Sonic Team and SEGA Networks?
Sources: LinkedIn, Facebook
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
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)
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
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
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
The Sonic Stadium has discovered video of what appears to be a cut animated intro from the 2008 Nintendo DS exclusive Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. The footage, showcasing a fight between Sonic and Dr. Eggman, can be seen at the 1:12 mark of the above demo reel of the game’s Art Director Joel MacMillan. We have also found artwork from the game from a couple of the game’s artists’ websites, which you can view in our gallery below.
What do you think of the finds? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
Sources: Joel MacMillan’s website, Into the Pixel, Joy Ang’s website
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
Update: Following a request from ichi-london, we have removed this video.
Original Story: Sometimes, while we’re searching the net for news, we stumble upon some cool finds, and today we’ve found an interesting internal SEGA video. The video was made in January of this year by freelance film editor & after effects artist Martin Hickford to be used internally by SEGA to showcase Sonic’s heritage in the run up to the announcement of the Sonic Boom brand.
The video’s description reads:
Edited at ICHI-London, this internal reel for Sega celebrates the heritage of Sonic The Hedgehog, in the lead up to the announcement of the new brand – Sonic Boom.
After viewing the video, I’d wager it would have likely been used to open that presentation SEGA gave to the press in February to announce the Sonic Boom brand.
What are your thoughts on the video? Did it bring back any memories? Speak out in the comments.
Sources:
Martin Hickford’s website, Martin Hickford’s Linkedin page
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
If plain white sports tape isn’t your thing and you like to keep your animal friends safe at night, then these luminous costumes (previously seen in the US) are for you. Simply pre-order Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric for Wii U at Amazon UK and you will receive a code following dispatch via e-mail to download the costumes for your game.
Interested? You can pre-order your copy here.
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
Via the above UK version of a recent trailer for the Sonic Boom games, Nintendo has revealed that fans who pre-order either Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric or Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal at their UK online store will get a free Sonic Boom t-shirt. The shirt (seen below) features all five members of the Sonic Boom gang and comes in small, medium, large and extra large sizes.
Interested? You can pre-order the game and shirt here. Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric and Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal will both release in the UK and the rest of Europe November 21st.
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
Armageddon Expo in Melbourne Australia has announced that SEGA will be exclusively presenting the premiere of the upcoming Sonic Boom TV show with them this Saturday October 18th at 10:00am. However, the premiere is for VIP Guests only. To obtain one of the limited seats for the premiere you can contact the organisers at bookings@armageddonexpo.com.
The Expo, held in Melbourne Australia, will also be the first place in Australia you can purchase new Sonic merchandise, including t-shirts, hats, and Sonic Boom figurines. Sonic himself will also be on hand for an arm wrestling and trivia competitions. Yes, you read that right, an arm wrestling competition with Sonic the Hedgehog.
For more information, visit Armageddon Expo’s website via the link below.
Sources: Armageddon Expo website, Armageddon Expo Facebook page
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
Remember our report earlier this month about Sonic Boom‘s TV series coming to Europe in 2015? Well, those of you hoping for an early 2015 release rather than a later one are in for disappointment, because SEGA Europe’s Head of Brand Licensing Sissel Henno has revealed the show will air in Europe Autumn 2015. This is much later than the late 2014 launch planned for the US and France and very strange considering the Sonic Boom tie-in games for Wii U and 3DS are being released in November this year.
“‘Sonic Boom’ is definitely an evolution; it’s a new look and feel for the brand,” explains SEGA Europe Head of Brand Licensing Sissel Henno. She says the new series – which will launch later this year in the US and France, and Autumn 2015 across the rest of Europe, along with tie-in video games, comic books and other licensed products – represents a new era for the beloved character and a platform to introduce Sonic the Hedgehog to a new generation of fans.
Henno also appears to imply that we’ll see more of Sonic on mobile platforms in the future.
Those additional opportunities include mobile games, such as the recent success Sonic Dash. Henno says the inclusion of Sonic the Hedgehog in Nintendo’s “Super Smash Bros.” video games is another area where SEGA believes new licensing partnerships can be made. “We think there’s lots of opportunities in the future,” she says.
You can read more about SEGA’s licensing plans for the future at the link below.
Source: Retail Merchandiser
Do you think Autumn 2015 is far too late for the Sonic Boom TV show in Europe? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVT93XgmRME[/youtube]
An E3 2014 demo and interview with Big Red Button’s Mark Vernon has revealed some new details on Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric for Wii U. The previously seen crystals are called ‘Chaos Crystals’ and there are nine of them to collect through the game’s story. Vernon also goes into more detail about the game’s time travel element and reveals that players will go to the past and the future, seeing areas in both times.
The name of the underwater base level played is ‘Ancient Template’ and in this demonstration we get to see some of the hidden areas of the level. Vernon gives us a look at the collectibles menu and a ‘Freeze Rod’ weapon that, as you guessed, freezes enemies in ice. It’s clarified that while these weapons are obtained from enemies, the enemies can’t actually use them and they are one-time limited use only. You can’t store them.
Vernon also explains that collectibles will earn you upgrades, which aren’t just for making your characters stronger, but also unlock new abilities. When asked about a release date, Vernon says he can’t remember the exact date, but it’ll probably be the first half of November. Finally, merchandise fans will want to stick around until the end to have a close look at some of the upcoming Sonic Boom action figures.
Source: The Family Gaming Team
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
SEGA Japan has announced that they will be demoing some of their upcoming games via a livestream event over at NicoVideo Monday June 30th at 9pm JST (1pm BST). Among the games present will be Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric for Wii U for its first public demonstration in Japan. Sonic Team’s Takashi Iizuka will also be on hand for a Q&A with viewers, so we may see some new details come to light. We’ll pass along any new media and information that comes out of the presentation.
Source: NicoVideo
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
UPDATE: It’s now available worldwide on iTunes. In the UK the album will set you back £7.99, while individual tracks are priced at 79p each.
SEGA Japan has today announced that the soundtrack for the SEGA Saturn classic racing game Sonic R is now available via digital download in Japan. You can grab the seventeen track album, which includes fan favourites like Resort Island : Can You Feel The Sunshine? and Super Sonic Racing, for ¥1,600 from iTunes and Amazon Music.
Source: SEGA Japan Twitter
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
SEGA of America has today announced Sonic Boom (the event, not the show and game with the blue armed hedgehog and buff echidna) will return this year. This time round the event is headed to New York City and more precisely the Great Ballroom at the Manhattan Centre. SEGA has set a date of Saturday, October 4th, 2014, and while there’s no solid time slot yet, the event will be held during the evening as usual.
Full details are below:
Sonic Boom 2014
Saturday, October 4th, 2014 (evening)
Grand Ballroom at the Manhattan Center
311 W. 34th Street (next to Penn Station)
New York City, NY
SEGA promises information about tickets, talent and more will be revealed in the coming months and we’ll relay the details here for you as they’re released.
Source: SEGA
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
![[UPDATE] Is SEGA Searching For a New Sidekick For a Future Sonic Game?](https://archive.sonicstadium.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Sonics-Sidekick-5-781x200.jpg)
UPDATE: We have learned that while the Sonic page wasn’t archived at Google until April 17th 2014, the images were uploaded to Michael Nagy’s site July 15th 2013. It’s now very likely that this is a scrapped project.
Thanks to Gatestormer at the SSMB for the heads up!
ORIGINAL ARTICLE BELOW:
It appears SEGA may be on the hunt for a sidekick for a new Sonic game they’re working on behind the scenes fronted by a new worldwide campaign titled The Search for Sonic’s Sidekick. In slides discovered by The Sonic Stadium at ad agency DDB Tribal artist Michael Nagy’s website there are images of an online mobile game SEGA will use in a competition to get fans involved in the new campaign. DDB Tribal are responsible for major campaigns for events such as The Queens Diamond Jubilee and advertisements for a variety of big brand companies.
The aforementioned mobile game sees players in twelve cities around the globe create a character and then race their character around their city using Google’s Street View technology. You then log your best time onto the leaderboard and the player with the fastest time at the end of the competition will see their character in the next Sonic game. The competition will run for eleven months and visit a new city every month.
We have created an online game using Google Street view where you compete to become Sonic’s sidekick. Your online avatar will be in the next game that is produced for Sonic. The competition will run for 11 months and move to a different city every month across the globe. The cities include Tokyo, Hong Kong, Berlin, Paris, London, Cape Town, Toronto, New York, San Francisco, Rio De Janeiro and Sydney.
The description doesn’t mention whether this is a console or mobile title, but for a campaign this big, it’s likely this could be for the next big console game from Sonic Team after Sonic Boom. We checked on Google and this page was archived just last week on April 17th 2014, so it’s very recent. The website http://www.runthestreets.com isn’t live yet, but the domain does appear to be up for sale and a Whois check doesn’t show any ownership by SEGA or Google just yet.
It’s also worth noting that there is no mention or indication of the new character replacing Tails as Sonic’s sidekick, so don’t panic, Tails fans. This new character could likely be playing a sidekick role similar to Chip in Sonic Unleashed or Yacker in Sonic Colours. Whatever the role, the character will obviously be important to the new game.
The images are currently still live on Michael Nagy’s website, but you can also find all of them in our gallery below.
What do you think of this campaign? Is it a good idea to get fans involved in the creation of a new character?
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
It appears the Deadly Six Edition of Sonic Lost World for Wii U has run its course in Europe. According to new listings on Amazon UK and Amazon France, the standard edition of the game is now available to buy. This edition was quietly released on January 7th and both sites have now run out of the Deadly Six Edition themselves. However, you can still purchase it via other sellers on their sites (UK, France), but it’ll cost you more of your hard-earned cash. GAME UK has also now replaced the Deadly Six Edition with the standard edition of the game.
The Deadly Six Edition still seems to be available as normal in the US, for the time being at least.
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
The Xbox 360 version of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed has quietly become a best seller in Europe and joined the Xbox 360 Classics range. According to Sainsbury’s Entertainment, the Classics edition was released October 10th of this year.
The official Xbox website features the following description for the Classics range:
Some games are born great, but only the best become classics.
That’s what the Xbox Classics range is all about; legendary titles, the toughest heroes and heroines, the best online experience with Xbox Live – and all for an amazing price.
At the time of publication, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is available at Sainsbury’s Entertainment for just £12.99. Bargain!
Source: Sainsbury’s Entertainment
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
UPDATE: SEGA’s RubyEclipse has answered the topic at the SEGA Forums to inform that SEGA is now investigating the problem.
Hi guys,
Thanks for your patience – we’re investigating this now. 🙂
If you’re having the issue and haven’t already, please do send in a ticket to Customer Support so we have you in our records.
Original story:
Sonic Lost World has finally been released in North America today, but it appears the wait hasn’t been completely worth it for those purchasing the Wii U version in Canada specifically. SSMB member XD375 grabbed his copy of the Wii U Deadly Six Bonus Edition today at his local EB Games store, but when he got home and tried to enter his DLC code on the eShop, it wouldn’t work. XD375 reports that his Canadian friends at other forums are also having this problem, as is a Canadian user over at the SEGA Forums.
American residents aren’t reporting any issues, so it appears the problem might be that SEGA has accidentally put codes intended for the American eShop in with the Canadian copies of the game, which don’t work on the Canadian eShop. Worse still, XD375 says his EB Games Store hasn’t received the advertised pre-order bonus DLC either.
XD375 has created a topic in the customer support section of the SEGA Forums, but so far hasn’t received a reply. If we hear anything from SEGA on the matter, we’ll update.
Thanks to XD375 at the SSMB for the heads up!
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
