Most of you will have enjoyed many years of entertainment from original videos to Summer of Sonic coverage through the Sonic Show‘s website and youtube channel.
Unfortunately due to a malicious attack, the Sonic Show site and youtube channels both suffered an internet attack from a hacker earlier this week. While the Sonic Show site has survived, the youtube channel was deleted by the hacker, and unfortunately this has meant the loss of many years worth of hard work from the likes of hard working staffers such as Discoponies and Brad – including the Summer of Sonic 2008 retrospective.
However it will take more than one moron with nothing better to do to bring the Sonic Show down! A new youtube channel has now taken its place, and slowly but surely materials are being re-added.
I call upon all of you Sonic the Hedgehog fans out there who love the community to unite and support this rebuild by subscribing to the new Sonic Show youtube channel, so we can get this great show back on it’s feet.
LINKS:
The Sonic Show Website
The New Sonic Show Youtube Channel
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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgpBacEzC9E&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
For those not in the know, Crush 40 have been playing a couple of gigs in Tokyo the past few nights to two delighted crowds, where the band played a whole host of Crush 40 hits from the past decade and beyond; event goers were even treated to some classic Hardline tracks including Hot Cherie. The two shows are the first Crush 40 live performances to have a full ensemble including Takeshi Taneda on bass and Toru Kawamura on drums.
Only a few videos have cropped up so far, but the one above is of high audio and visual quality – let’s hope more pop up in the future!
So now that Crush 40 have rocked Japan…who would be up for some gigs in the west? Let us know in the comments where you’d like to see Crush 40 play in the future!
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Sonic’s circle of friends and foes has grown huge as of recent, but there’s a cheeky purple weasel who dates all the way back to Sonic Triple Trouble (Or Sonic & Tails 2 if you hail from Japan) who has been long since forgotten by SEGA since Sonic the Fighters. Fang the Sniper (or Nack the Weasel, again, depending where you are from!) has become a cult fan favourite, particularly it seems, amongst like-minded merchandise hunters!
First 4 Figures, the creators of the Sonic, Super Sonic, Metal Sonic and the upcoming Knuckles statues amongst many other Sonic-themed figurines have posed a question on their facebook page…would you buy a Fang the Sniper / Nack statue? Now while this question is likely purely out of interest, how cool would it be to see this character immortalised in figurine form?
If you’re interested, head over to the facebook group and cast your vote – who knows what might come of registering interest!
I’ll take three – 2 regulars, and a special addition…with a working cork gun and light up Marvelous Queen please!
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Less than five years ago I, was sat in a tea shop in Nottingham eating cake and sipping tea with AAUK and Dreadknux, celebrating Sonic’s 15th anniversary, joking about the prospect of a Sonic the Hedgehog convention. Five years on and we are celebrating our biggest and most successful event to date, with over one-thousand attendees passing through the event doors on the day. It fantastic that even though Summer of Sonic is a fan event, it has over the years evolved into something increasingly professional, and that has become growingly involved with SEGA on an official level.
We have also been fortunate across the four events to have comic artists such as Nigel Dobbyn and Nigel Kitching from Sonic the comic and our first international guests Iain Flynn Tracey Yardley this year. We’ve seen musical performances from the likes of Richard Jacques, TJ Davis, Bentley Jones, Julien-K and Crush 40, and we’ve even had the two big Sonic Team names, Yuji Naka and Takashi along on the day to give you guys an opportunity to meet them face to face.
Each year, our selection of playable Sonic titles grows larger, with opportunities to games that are months away from release. The input from the community has grown rapidly, with many prominent fans, talented with both the brush and the microphone, contributing substantially to making Summer of Sonic something special. You guys keep turning up in your droves in ever more elaborate and unusual costumes, and our prizes become ever more desirable! There is of course the social aspect of the day too, and many of you have met some of your best friends through SoS; some of you have met future husbands and wives. It is fair to say that many of you look forward to SoS more than you do to Christmas!
From an organisational point of view, Summer of Sonic went extremely smoothly this year, by far the least stressful Summer of Sonic to stage manage to date. But of course as this event becomes bigger, the amount of time, effort and organisation becomes greater. Summer of Sonic simply would not take place if it was not for the passion and dedication of the 20+ strong community team who hold the event together – whether they are at the front on stage as the compare, or at the back of the hall as door-safe; each member is vital to the machine and most notably they all work for nothing, giving up their day so you can have a fantastic time. A lot of them also donate substantial amounts of money for extra guests, prizes and events for the day – just so as much as possible can be packed into the day. Each one deserves a huge thank you from us all. I also want to thank all of our guests, some of whom returned for their second or third round of Summer of Sonic, and who also come to talk and perform to you for nothing; they come back every year because they love SoS just as much as we all do.
Summer of Sonic was once again a totally free event for anyone of any age who wanted to attend. We often get asked why we don’t charge for tickets, and the reason is twofold; first off it creates a lot of red tape and secondly, we don’t want a ticket price to be a reason for people not to attend. This is something we hope to continue. We’d like hope to make more opportunities for you guys who want to donate in the future; some of you did this year, quite generously I might add, and this year and that was a great help…especially considering the quantity of water consumed backstage!
I also want to thank all of you. As always, I was pleased with how well-mannered and courteous you all were to our special guests and to each other, particularly when queuing for games or to meet guests. Even with venue air conditioning running full blast it got very warm very quickly inside the building, but you didn’t let that ruin your fun.
At the moment we don’t know what the future holds for Summer of Sonic; our hope is that as long as you guys keep coming, Summer of Sonic will keep going and SEGA will continue to generously support us. Not just that, but the community prongs now extend all the way around the world, and I was extremely honoured to be able to represent Summer of Sonic this year at the Sonic Boom event in Los Angeles. This event proved just as popular as Summer of Sonic with thanks to the fantastic community team at SEGA of America, and we hope that Sonic Boom will be something that makes a return next year.
I will be stepping down from my duties as stage manager at Summer of Sonic; it’s been a fantastic job and I’ve loved being able to facilitate some fantastic stage events. Don’t think for one second though that means this is the last you’ll see of me though! I will definitely be at the next Summer of Sonic come hell or high water, but in a more supporting roll.
On this note, I would also like to thank Kevin Eva who will also be stepping down this year, who has been the linchpin in realising the Summer of Sonic dream. I tip my hat to him for the incredible amount of work he has done over the last three years in getting Summer of Sonic off the ground and building strong bridges between SEGA and the community. We wish him all the best in his future endeavours!
I would also like to give our thanks Thank you to SEGA of Europe too, who have continued to support us in all of our endeavours, and I hope this partnership will continue into the future.
On my final note I’d like to wish Sonic a very happy 20th birthday, and that I hope that our celebrations continue to unite fans, old and new, with their mutual love of a little blue hedgehog.
SUMMER OF SONIC FOREVER!
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If you’re a big Sonic fan then you’ve no doubt at some point in your life dreamed about working for SEGA, getting to see all those fresh new titles ages before anyone else!
Well, for one of you, this dream could become a reality! SEGA of America are currently advertising for the role of Assistant Community Manager, the roll until recently held by RubyEclipse.
The job itself will involve community-focused marketing activities, including the running of forums and blogs, along with liasing with key community members and sites.
The full job description and requirements can be found here, along with details on how to apply for the position. Who knows, it might be your face we see on future Free Stuff Friday videos! If you live out in California, or are willing to move…this has definitely got to be a dream job worth considering!
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This year’s Summer of Sonic convention had so much going on…competitions, Sonic Generations, music performances, guests and loads more – even if you attended, you no doubt missed some parts of the day.
But have no fear! Discoponies and the cyberwizards over at The Sonic Show have put together a 75-minute Summer of Sonic retrospective show, absolutely packed with all the events of the day!
Even if that doesn’t satisfy your appetite for Summer of Sonic or if you’re still feeling blue and missing hanging out with all your fellow Sonic fans…there is a whole heap of other bonus footage to catch including the Nevermind the Buzzbombers competition, all 40 minutes of Julien-K’s performance, and of the uncut, unedited Sonic Team Interview!
You have absolutely no excuse to be bored this weekend!
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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyHrR7K4fS4[/youtube]
Live in America and can’t afford the flights over? Mum and Dad are busy so you can’t be accompanied? Can’t come because you’re washing your quills that night? Don’t worry! Our Summer of Sonic technical team headed by Sonic Show guru Discoponies have got it all sorted!
Those of you who can’t make it to Summer of Sonic for the event itself will be able to tune into the live video stream from the event itself. Join fellow Sonic fans and have a chat while you watch the event from a bird’s eye view of the stage!
To tune in on the day, follow this link!
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Masato Nakamura, the mastermind behind the original Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 soundtracks and member of the popular Japanese super-band DREAMS COME TRUE will be producing a commemorative CD soundtrack to be released over the summer.
Not only will the soundtrack contain songs taken from the first two Sonic the Hedgehog titles for the SEGA Megadrive/Genesis, it will also include a reprint of the original sound demo tapes from both games, along with other bonus tracks yet to be announced.
This will surely be a must-have item for every fan amongst the community, let alone videogame music connoisseurs. Similar to the Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes re-release soundtracks, this CD album looks set to only be available to Japan.
Sonic Stadium will keep you up to date as we learn more about this fantastic compilation!
Original story taken from Japanese Famitsu Webpage
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One of the most frequent questions we get asked every year is whether or not Summer of Sonic would ever be held in the United States, but due to many reasons “SoSUS” never come to fruition. Unsurprisingly though there has been a huge demand for a Sonic convention state-side, and it was really only a matter of time before one materialised.
With the Sonic’s 20th anniversary around the corner, SEGA of America spearheaded plans to create their own official convention, the appropriately named Sonic Boom. Aaron Webber, the newly appointed Sonic Brand Manager took on the role of chief coordinator for Sonic Boom and got in touch with Dreadknux and myself a few weeks back, and cordially invited us both to the event.
We didn’t need to be asked twice!
The convention had been carefully timed to coincide with the E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles’ downtown convention centre venue. Sonic Boom was scheduled to take place in the moody and ambient environment of Club Nokia, a versatile bar come night club within walking distance of E3; a perfect site to celebrate twenty years of Sonic the Hedgehog.
I arrived at the venue early in the afternoon with Aaron, and before we’d even made our way upstairs we were greeted by fans queuing outside Club Nokia; some of them had been camped out since 6am that morning in order to score a place inside the venue as they had not been able to acquire a ticket. If that’s not dedication, I really don’t know what is! Kellie and Julian from the American community team (who you will know from the Free Stuff Friday videos!) were running around upstairs in the venue coordinating the setup of stands, pods and making sure everything was in place – a familiar scene to anyone who has been involved in the organisation of Summer of Sonic!
Even more familiar faces were up on stage as Jun Senoue, Johnny Gioeli and Alex Makhlouf (from Cash Cash, the band involved with the Sonic Colors soundtrack) were performing a dry run of the tracks they were going to be playing later on that evening. After a warm reunion with the guys I sat back to take some snaps and enjoy the privileged position of being an invited guest backstage at an event. I must have looked pretty dumb, but nevertheless I could not get rid of the huge grin on my face as the guys blistered through their fresh new set list, which included a brand new version of Sonic CD’s “Sonic Boom” and Sonic R’s “Super Sonic Racing”. What’s more, Alex’s accompaniment on synthesiser added another layer of ecstasy to the already monstrous set, and took the lead on the funky fresh new version of “Escape from the City” which will be gracing the in-game soundtrack for Sonic Generations!
I got an opportunity to briefly catch up with Johnny after rehearsals, and as always was up for a bit of laugh, as you can see from the picture (although I don’t think SEGA will be taking him on as their new mascot – stick to your day job, Johnny!). Another act rehearsing on stage before the doors opened was the cast of Needlemouse the musical. American fans will remember this bunch as the winners of the 19th anniversary competition last year, and were the lucky recipients of a trip to Japan to play Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode One. These guys were fantastic and incredibly animated on stage, so much so most of us assisting set up had to pause to watch and laugh at the jokes they were cracking. AJ and the bunch came to talk to me after their run-through, and were even kind enough to let me have my picture taken with them – an absolutely great bunch of guys and gals and well-deserving of the incredible ovation they received later in the evening (watch their performance here!).
By 5 o’clock the venue was taking shape, with the merchandise stands set up (each entrant received a Sonic hat, a special edition Sonic Generations T-Shirt and badge set) and nearly twenty gaming stations were primed and ready to give the throng of rabid Sonic fans outside a chance to play the demo of Sonic Generations. A number of photo booths had also been established to allow fans to record photographic postcards and video messages for Sonic’s birthday (you can check out Aaron and my postcard here, Dread’s postcard here and Yuji Naka’s here). Outside a huge queue of fans had formed, eagerly awaiting entry into the venue. Aaron and I went outside to rattle the crowd up a bit, and got to shake the hands of a few fans that had recognised Aaron and me.
At 6 o’clock sharp the doors opened and the mass of fans piled in. I took a brief trip upstairs to the VIP lounge, where the likes of Iizuka-san, Oshima-san and Naka-san were meeting other industry members at an exclusive VIP event. Unfortunately I was not introduced to Naka-san, but I was reintroduced to Iizuka-san, who smiled courteously as we had already met that week! Dreadknux appeared at the venue after his busy day at E3 (and was fashionably late as always!) and we proceeded downstairs to the main event floor.
A heap of guys came to greet Dread and I (there are far too many of you to mention!) and it really made our day – so if you came up and said hi, thanks loads; it really a pleasure to meet you all! TSS staffer, Sonic Retro writer and Sonic Show star Brad Flick was down on the time trial competition station hastily jotting down top scores on Green Hill Zone – you will have to keep an eye out for some hilarious pictures of Brad and Dreadknux in their bronik poses! Similarly to Summer of Sonic, there were a massive variety of cosplayers at the event too, including SSMB’s own mikeblastdude who came in an awesome Metal Sonic getup, and an excellent Charmy the Bee cosplayer. We also caught up with Scarred Sun from Retro and Shayne representing TSSZ news. I’ve never met either in reality before so we got to have a good chinwag and posed for a few photos for posterity – both are fantastic people and I certainly hope we get to all meet again in the near future.
Aaron appeared on stage to welcome all of the guests to Sonic Boom, and it wasn’t long before Jun, Johnny and Alex were on stage blowing the socks off all those in attendance. A lucky few spotted Naka-san on the event floor and managed to grab his autograph and a photo before he disappeared backstage once more. Jun, not one for passing up the opportunity to meet fans, came down off stage with the legendary Sonic guitar to sign autos and pose for pictures with a handful of fortunate fans.
Following Needlemouse: the Musical, the best of the cosplayers were invited on stage to participate in the cosplay contest, and Iizuka-san, Miyamoto-san and Senoue-san were all invited up to wish Sonic a happy birthday and to sing him a happy birthday song…and of course, Sonic was present too, along with his birthday cake! It wasn’t long before Dread and I found ourselves up on stage, telling the Los Angeles crowd all about Summer of Sonic. I had been really nervous beforehand about how the crowd would receive us on stage (especially considering the acts we were following!) but the audience were really receptive, and cheered us on – thank you all for letting us talk to you briefly, and hopefully we’ve enticed some of you to come to Summer of Sonic!
Naka-san and Miyamoto-san, along with Oshima-san joined the cast on stage at the end of the show once again and were presented with the graffiti artist’s drawing of classic and modern Sonic which had been created over the course of the evening. I’m sure most will agree the evening past all too quickly, and before long it was time to close up the evenings proceedings.
Dread and I pitched in to assist with the clean up, and ended up collapsing in the dressing room to have a chin-wag with Alex (who is also a massive Sonic nerd by the way!) After moving a precious cargo of guitars, we emerged on the street next to the Nokia theatre and ran into our good friend Richard Jacques, who was just as surprised to see us as we were to see him! Exhausted, we crashed for a few drinks at a local bar as well as a few last photographs of the day, and toasted the success of Sonic Boom.
I’d like to end by applauding the fantastic job Aaron and the team at SoA did putting together an event of this magnitude in such a short period of time, and all those involved in the stage entertainment over the course of the evening. America has now had a taste of a Sonic convention, and I’m sure this won’t be the last we hear of Sonic Boom. I’d also like to thank Aaron on behalf of Dread and myself for sponsoring our trip to Sonic Boom; I’m sure I also speak for both of us by saying we are both honoured and flattered to have been considered during the creation of this event to represent Summer of Sonic; we’ve had the time of our lives, and I’m sure I speak for hundreds of other fans when I say…
SONIC BOOM ROCKS!!!
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Summer of Sonic is once again shaping up to be yet another top notch event, with the announcement yesterday that Sonic Generations, the highly anticipated multi-format title will be available for event-goers to play hands-on during the day.
You honestly thought we would host the world’s greatest Sonic the Hedgehog party and not give you the opportunity to play the game that everyone is talking about? Of course not! This year, at the Summer of Sonic 2011, you will be able to play Sonic Generations – months before it hits the store shelves!
Sonic Generations is the 20th Anniversary game that sees our beloved blue hero join forces… with himself! That’s right, you’ll get the chance to play as two distinctive styles of hedgehog. Get reacquainted with modern Sonic, and blitz through colourful 3D landscapes at mach speed while the world warps around you! Or take it back to the old school with classic Sonic – 2D platforming action just like you remember it!
Whichever Sonic you pick, the adventure will be filled with classic badniks, colourful set pieces and recreations of traditional stages such as Green Hill Zone. As far as Greatest Hits compilations go, it doesn’t get any better looking – or come with more attitude – than this!
There will be several gaming pods on the Summer of Sonic show floor with demonstration copies of Sonic Generations installed. Make sure you take the time to come down and enjoy the first few levels of the game in public before anyone else in Europe! You’ll be the envy of all your friends – all while you’re making brand new friends at Summer of Sonic!
As stated on the blog, we aren’t anywhere near finished with our announcements for Summer of Sonic – keep your eyes peeled for more exciting news!
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With the Sonic Adventure soundtrack released only a few weeks ago, details of the second anniversary soundtrack installment are now coming to light.
Sonic Scene have obtained a high quality image of the soundtrack cover, along with the full track listing on the album. Many of you will be pleased to know the abridged 30-song tracklist is the cream of the crop, featuring themes of all of the main characters along with Escape from the City, Metal Harbour and Pumpkin Hill to mention a few.
The album will be released on the 22nd of June, and will be the modest price of ¥2,400 (£19/$30) as stated on the Japanese Sonic 20th Anniversary page.
Thanks to Woun for the heads up!
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A few months ago Hachette Partworks Ltd. announced the production of a fortnightly Sonic the Hedgehog Chess Set Collection, in which fans could subscribe to a magazine in order to receive their chess set piece-by-piece over the course of several months. This stirred several fans into a frenzy, with promise of individually tailored pawns in the form of eight different chao and classic badniks. However, no launch date was given, and fans subscribing to the magazine earlier this year have grown increasingly frustrated with no news, confirmation of their subscription or delivery date being announced.
SSMB forum member Stiv has been one of the first to receive a letter of apology this week stating the reason for delay: the magazine will not be making it into mass production. Quoting from Stiv’s letter:
Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our control, we have had to cease publication of Sonic the Hedgehog Chess Set Collection.
As we are unable to complete the series at this time, we would like to apologise by enclosing a LED keyring free of charge.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
No doubt many fans will be disappointed and frustrated to hear this news. However with the huge array of Sonic the Hedgehog 20th Anniversary merchandise being released over the course of the next few months, some fans may be relieved that they will now have a little money in their pockets.
Did you subscribe to the Sonic Chess Collection Magazine? Let us know your thoughts and feelings in the comments!
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SSMB forumer Woun has kept their finger to the pulse with SEGA Japan’s 20th Anniversary twitter feed, who treated followers to a sneaky peak of a piece of official 20th anniversary merchandise we will be hopefully able to get our merch mittens on soon! There’s no indication of sizes, costs or availability yet, so I all of you fans hungry for some anniversary goodies will have to wait for more details to come to light. Still, gotta love that nice shiny base!
Stay tuned for more details!
UPDATE 1: Looks like this item will be a Japan UFO catcher figurine, roughly 18cm tall, and will be released i late June.
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SEGA in recent years have had greater invested interest in the opinions and the involvement of the Sonic the Hedgehog fan community with many aspects to the franchise. One of their greatest assests are the people who work as the community teams, and liase with the fans; this line of communication has definitely had a hand in shaping the face of games over the past half decade.
Three years ago a new member joined the crew at SEGA of America, appearing frequently on the SEGA blogs and known only as RubyEclipse. Today, after many Free Stuff Fridays and blogs (and the occasional festive fanmail reading video), Aaron Webber has become one of the most well-known community members – and with good reason. Aaron has struck a fantastic balance over three years on the community team with SEGA, between being a professional, effective representative and ambassador for SEGA, as well as being a Sonic the Hedgehog fan himself. Aaron’s enthusiasm for his work along with the rest of his team has shone through and has remained unwavered in his time at SoA.
It will therefore sadden many of you to hear that Aaron has announced he will be departing the community team, however I’m sure you will all join us in congratulating Aaron in his promotion to Associate Brand Manager at SoA. We wish him all the best in managing his first assignment of the highly anticipated Sonic Generations (and we hope we will still see him pop up occasionally on FSF vids too!). You can read his final heartfelt blog on the SEGA blogs site.
I’d like to end on my favourite Webber moments from the last few years – if you haven’t seen these before…enjoy!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB3Mk0cHY_E&feature=channel[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwYScW9ZC4Y&feature=channel[/youtube]
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Wow! Summer of Sonic sure is shaping up to have a huge Archie comics presence this year! Quick in the wake of the announcement of Archie Sonic Comic artist Tracy Yardley on Monday, Summer of Sonic is extremely proud to announce our second Archie comics guest this year, Ian Flynn!
Flynn has been head writer for the American based comic since way back in 2005 (issue 160 to be precise!) and has rapidly gained fan popularity with his finger firmly on the pulse of the Sonic the Hedgehog community.
We look forward to seeing both Ian and Tracy at this year’s convention – in fact we can hardly maintain our excitement!
More guest news will be available very soon, so do keep checking the Summer of Sonic website!
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With Summer of Sonic 2011’s date rapidly approaching (Less than two-and-a-half months to go now!), expect to see a whole host of announcements over on the Summer of Sonic website with regards to guests and events at this year’s convention.
To start us off, we at the Summer of Sonic can proudly announce that Archie Comic artist Tracy Yardley! will be attending this year’s convention! As many of you know Tracy has been involved with the franchise since 2005 and has become one of the most recognised artists in the comic series. We hope you are all looking forward to meeting Tracy at this year’s convention!
If you are considering coming to Summer of Sonic and this is your first convention (particularly if you are travelling from overseas), don’t forget to check out the travel guide on the SoS site for handy hints and tips on getting to the Camden Centre venue and on places to stay.
Don’t forget to keep track of guest and event anonuncements on the SoS website!
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Nope, this isn’t an April Fool’s (as I’m sure you’re all “Chuckled out” by now!) The Sonic the Hedgehog news site TSSZ News celebrates it’s 12th year in action today, the site first taking to the net way back in 1999 when we were all still dreaming of Sonic Adventure.
TSSZ has proven a popular choice as a news source in the Sonic community, bringing many pieces of breaking news to light first, and providing deep insight into the current SatAM cartoon projects and fan games in development. Although TSSZ has sparked much controversy in many ways over the past few years, the site has maintained a strong following from it’s “no holds barred” reporting. Regardless of the tensions between TSSZ founder Tristan Oliver and other members of the community, TSSZ has been key in promoting the Sonic Relief charity drive, as well as other good-will causes supported community wide past and present.
We at the Sonic Stadium wish TSSZ a very happy birthday, and hope to see many more years of the site delivering news and reviews.
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Due to the current circumstances surrounding the 9.0 magnitude earthquake that has lead to the humanitarian distaster in Japan, Crush 40 have cancelled their two conert dates, which were set to go ahead on Saturday, 2nd of April and Sunday, 3rd of April in Tokyo and Osaka. I’ve been in touch with both Jonny Gioeli and Jun Senoue this week, and after careful consideration they have decided this is the most appropriate action to take at this time.
Wavemaster Entertainment and Crush 40 extend their sympathies to all of those affected by the events in the north east of Japan, and apologise to all of those who had bought tickets to the two sold-out shows.You can read the official statement on the Wavemaster Crush 40 Concert page.
We will keep you updated here at the Sonic Stadium when dates for the rescheduling of these dates is due.
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Many of you will now be aware of the magnitude 8.9 earthquake that has caused major damage across the north coast of Japan. The Tsunami has already killed many, and shown us incredible scenes of cars, boats and ships being swept away. Like many of you, I have a strong connection with Japan and people living there, and I’m sure the images being shown have been incredibly distressing to watch.
I have been in communication with SEGA composer Jun Senoue and SEGA of America community manager Aaron Webber, who are both in Tokyo at the moment; you will be relieved that both are safe and unharmed. Aaron recently updated his facebook status: “We’re stranded right now, but alive. We’ll make it.”
TSSZ have also updated their site on the current situation and have also been in touch with their Japan based reporter, Danny Russell. “We have just touched base with him, and we are happy and lucky to report he is safe and all right.” TSSZ also have several useful links if you are concerned about any friends or relatives near or in the affected areas.
I’m sure I speak on behalf of the community in sending our thoughts to Jun, Aaron, the SoA team in Japan, and all of those affected by these events.
[UPDATE 4:00AM GMT from Jason Berry] This TSSZ article comes a bit of a surprise out of the current Earthquake news. In what appears to be a case of bad timing, this was the week that the Sonic 4 Video Contest winners finally arrived at the Sega offices in Japan. They were chaperoned by Arron Webber. Some have posted on their Twitter accounts that they and everyone else are safe and sound.
As always, our thoughts and prayers are with all the victims of this tragic event.
[UPDATE 5:00PM GMT from T-Bird] Yuji Naka has placed a message on facebook to let everyone know he and his family are safe and well.
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Many of you who have set foot in a Summer of Sonic event will know Kevin “AAUK” Eva. If you’ve read the SEGA blogs or have dealt with SEGA, you will have no doubt dealt with him at some point along the way. Unfortunately, as of today Mr. Eva is hanging up his Sonic shoes and parting ways with SEGA.
Kevin has, amongst a plethora of feats spearheaded many of the community related events over the past four years, most notably creating the Summer of Sonic convention with TSS creator Dreadknux, which has gone from strength to strength over three years.
AAUK talks a bit about what he hoped he would achieve at his time at SEGA:
My initial goals of being here have been realised; SEGA is now very much aware of the Community and has a great deal of respect for it, other matters I’ve been fighting for over the years have been realised too and I think it would be fair to say the direction Sonic is going is most assuredly upwards. I’m stopping as I’d like to try my hand at some other things, so it’s hardly that I hate that hedgehog, what exactly I’ve yet to really decide on but things that don’t involve hedgehogs 24/7 would probably be nice(!) You’ll not be completely rid of me within the community, I’m still the main organiser behind Summer Of Sonic for this year anyway and I’ll probably still be active on Sonic Wrecks and other places. This, is who I Am.
You can read the full sign-off on the SEGA blognik. I for one would like to thank Kevin on behalf of the community for going above and beyond the call of duty, and for the many sleepless nights involved in mobilising Summer of Sonic. SEGA has surely lost a valuable asset.
If you have any farewells or messages of thanks for AAUK, please do post them in the comments.
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Web podcast Destroy All Slackers get down to the nitty gritty with Howard Drossin, sound composer for Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic Spinball and Sonic and the Black Knight (along with some other amazing titles like Comix Zone!) in their latest podcast released.
Drossin gives a very frank account of working for SEGA, putting the Spinball theme in two hours and the big question that seems to still be on everyone’s mind of Michael Jackson’s involvement in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 – it’s a fantastic interview, so do go check it out!
Link to Destroy All Slackers Podcast page.
Props to TSSZ for spotting this!
Oh…and if like me you’d eat your own hat to hear a Howard Drossin compilation CD (with unreleased stuff!), let your voice be heard in the comments!
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Loads of you are dying to know details about Summer of Sonic 2011 and are inundating our inboxes with questions – I can assure you we will be bringing you details on this year’s event as soon as we can! So while you patiently wait, you can watch the retrospective episode of last year’s Summer of Sonic courtasy of the Sonic Show, right here on TSS (its nice an interactive too!) Enjoy!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C4sV1MoCjw[/youtube]
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[UPDATE: Check out friends in Germany @ Spindash.de and their photos – credit goes to those guys for these photos and many more!]
Earlier this week we saw footage and images taken from the Nuremburg Toy Fair of the new Jazwares line available later on this year. Well, our friends over at SEGA Memories have managed to obtain snaps of many of the figures and toys to be released to coincide with the 20th anniversary. Some of these have been seen before, but some photos include some others that haven’t been seen before such as the Classic Tails with Badnik figure (see picture – it’s that annoying thing that grabs you in the Chemcial Plant!).
The images also include some “Battle Game” figurines, as well as images for the cover of Archie comics Issue 226, within the classic Sonic & Amy Rose figure set.
Protagonist & Badnik Set
Classic Sonic & Amy Comic Book Set
Jazwares Display at Nuremburg Toyfair (inc. “Battle Figures”)
Needless to say, I don’t think anyone is going to be short of new merchandise this year!
Cheers to Hogfather and SEGA Memories for the tip and the photos!
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In amongst the influx of 20th Anniversary news, particularly surrounding music, it appears that we most certainly have not seen the last of reworkings of classic soundtracks, even after the announcement of a special edition of the Sonic Adventure Soundtrack! Tony Harnell, ex-TNT frontman and of course the legendary vocalist from “We Can” and “It Doesn’t Matter”, has confirmed via his facebook page that he will be shortly be visiting the studio to record a new version of the Sonic Adventure 2 track “Escape From The City”. Fans will no doubt be pleased by the prospect of hearing a reworked version of their favourite track, along with the prospect of what might further be in store!
If you haven’t added Tony’s new band Tony Harnell and the Mercury Train to your likes on your facebook account, head over there and show your support for one of our favourite singers – and check out his new material too (10,000 lovers is fantastic). Oh…and don’t forget to say that T-Bird sent you on his most recent status update, amongst telling him how excited you are about hearing the new version!
Looking forward to hearing the new version of Escape from the City? Hoping for any other remastered tracks? Let us know in the comments!
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Quick on the heels of news that SEGA and Wavemaster Entertainment have things in the pipeline for Sonic’s 20th Birthday celebrations, a number of websites across the internet have already begun advertising a Sonic Adventure Original Soundtrack 20th Anniversary Edition album.
Those who have been despirate to own a copy of this seminal soundtrack will be pleased, as the original Sonic Adventure “Digi-LOG Conversation” CD double album has been out of print for many years, and now fetches in excess of $150 on ebay auctions.
The album is tipped for a April 20th release this year in Japan, at the rather modest price of ¥2,400 ($30/£20). Those with keen eyes may have noticed this is currently tipped as a single CD release, and as no track list is available at present it is unknown what portion of the entire soundtrack will be included, along with any possibilities of remixed or reworked material.
Relieved you can now get an official copy of the soundtrack? Let us known in the comments section!
Props to Woun on SSMB and SoA at JunSenoue.com for the heads up!
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A double whammy of music updates today!
First off, tickets for the Crush 40 Live In Tokyo gigs will be on sale tomorrow from 10am Japanese time (2am GMT). The band, consisting of Jun Senoue, Johnny Gioeli and the first live appearance of bassist Takeshi Taneda, will be playing two dates at the GUILTY LIVE STAGE on the 2nd and 3rd of April and will be playing a host of classic Crush 40 tracks…and possibly some surprises too! You can follow this link to the Japanese Wavemaster Site to book your tickets should you be lucky enough to live nearby! Tickets are priced at ¥5,500.
Secondly, it looks like the Wavemaster, the record label on which the majority of Sonic the hedgehog soundtracks are now released under, are gearing up for some serious 20th anniversary releases with a placeholder page now online. Although nothing has been announced yet, it is likely fans will be able to snap up some nifty OST releases this year!
Stay tuned for more details in the future!
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It’s 3am on Thursday, the 3rd of February, and fortunately for me Groundhog day won’t be repeating itself for me (although today seems to have gone on forever!) However for many of our American fans, their local groundhog will have predicted whether or not they will be having 6 more weeks of winter, of if early spring is on it’s way.
However the tradition of calling the 2nd of February “Hedgehog Day” was a tradition continued by SEGA since the announcement of Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 a year ago. The SEGA America Blog is celebrating Hedgehog day in a very mysterious way…and no, I don’t mean the hedgehog weather-sensing facts either!
Keen-eyed fans will notice that certain letters are highlighted throughout the blog, and in order, spell “Berlin”.
Is SEGA giving us a hint as to a possible announcement that could take place soon in Berlin? Are the SoA employees enslaved to write the blog trying to tell us the city in which they have been locked in a dungeon and chained to a laptop? Is Sonic changing his name to Hans and moving to Germany? No doubt many fans will find this too much of a coincidence, and with two or three Sonic titles in the works this year, this is bound to get the fans talking.
So what’s going on? Answers on a back of a postcard…or let’s hear your conspiracy theories or know-how in the comments!
UPDATE: LordSpeed has a pretty convincing theory:
“Isaiah Berlin with his essay called “The Hedgehog and the Fox” takes the hedgehog as the type of the person who knows “one big thing”, as opposed to the fox, who knows many things. This was taken from a poem by Archilochus -> (image of Sega Blog) (Wikipedia).”
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Newgrounds animator Egoraptor returns, this time with another Sonic-themed videogame parody, this time of the 32X title Knuckles Chaotix (if you haven’t seen the original Awesome the Hedgehog, check it out here). Expect lots of street talkin’ , a totally stacked Espio the chameleon, and an Oscar award-winning performance from Knuckles at the finale. Get your hankies ready.
Check out Awesome Chaotix on Newgrounds here (NSFW!!!)
…
LOOK AT HOW SMALL YOU ARE!
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Earlier this week we reported on the Sonic Colors Soundtrack VIVID SOUNDS X HYBRID COLORS getting a digital release in Japan with no sign of release in the west…well…be disappointed no more!
As of today, VIVID SOUNDS X HYBRID COLORS is available to download from iTunes in North America and Europe! Not only this, the price of the soundtrack has scaled with the market!
The Soundtrack is again released in 3 volumes, each disc costing £7.99/$9.99 to download. “A great price!”, you say, but are you only after specific tracks? Then don’t worry! You can buy individual tracks from the iTunes store for the bargain price of 0.99p / $0.99! Yes! That means you can have your fill of Cash Cash for the price of a hamburger!
So whether you fancy just reaching for the stars for a quid, or downloading the whole experience for £24/$30, iTunes will let you do so, at a much reduced price to importing the physical soundtrack.
To check out the tracks available follow this link.
So, will you be purchasing any of these tracks from iTunes? Let us know in the comments!
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With older Sonic the Hedgehog soundtracks becoming more scarce and difficult to obtain, along with newer releases frequently only being available to Japanese markets, the cry from fans for Sonic music to be available for download has become greater in recent years. This is set to change however, with the announcement that the Sonic Colors Official soundtrack album VIVID SOUNDS X HYBRID COLORS will be available from the 26th of this month for download from iTunes.
However don’t jump for joy just yet; the album will only be available to the Japanese market in which Wave Master Entertainment (long time Sonic OST publishers) operate, meaning Western markets will be no closer to getting Sonic soundtracks on general release (although there are ways in which to buy through the Japanese iTunes). Unfortunately the soundtrack does not come cheap; the album is sold in three volumes each costing ¥1500 ($19/£12), with individual tracks being unavailable for purchase. Some fans may find this deal not to be worthwhile, with the physical 3-CD soundtrack costing ¥300 less than downloading all three volumes. Those looking only to purchase the title “Reach for the Stars” by Cash Cash will also be disappointed.
VIVID SOUNDS X HYBRID COLORS is still available for import through CD Japan for ¥4200 ($48), although expect to pay appropriate shipping charges and import tax. Although it may appear that the west is no further forward into getting similar releases to this, it is certainly a step in the right direction.
Read the original article on the Japanese site 4.Gamer.net
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Many of you will no doubt have heard of SEGAWorld Sydney, that once stood proudly on Darling Harbour. Although housed in a grand building and offering a variety of attractions, SEGAWorld Sydney was only open for four brief years during 1997 and 2000, with the park closing November 2000 and the building being demolished in 2008. The park was host to many rides and a whole bunch of merchandise that now goes for crazy prices on ebay, but one of the main attractions was a live hour-and-a-half stage show involving actors dressed as a host of characters and a plot loosely based around the SatAM universe (with some pretty cheesy songs which you can hear if you’re lucky/unlucky enough to own the “Sonic In Sydney” soundtrack CD).
Unbeknownst to most this show was not the only to grace the SEGAWorld Sydney stage. Forumer SonikkuForever has been doing some digging and has been in touch with Philip Einfeld of Philip Einfeld’s Puppetoons, who was comissioned to produce an puppet show to replace the stage show. Philip has been kind enough to share photos from the show along with a description in his correspondance, and considering I think very few have heard of this, or even know this show existed, it deserves mentioning here on TSS.
The Sonic the Hedgehog Puppet Show performed 3-4 half hour shows daily in Sega World Sydney throughout 1998-99.
It was performed on center stage, pretty much in the middle of Sega World next to the food court. People could dine at their tables while watching the show.
The show was designed, written, produced and performed by Phillip Einfeld Puppetoons. It involved 2 puppeteers and a live hostess.
Dr. Robotnik had devised a plan to finally defeat his arch enemy Sonic. He has concocted a robot making machine that would build the ultimate, evil, robot with every device needed to catch Sonic. With the help of his buddies Tails and Princess Sally, Sonic defeats the robot (Grounder) who turns out to be a bit slow physically and mentally. Robotnik blasts off back to his secret laboratory in anger and everyone lives happily ever after.
Originally, a show with dancers and costumed characters performed on the stage. The soundtrack you have heard is from that show. I think I may have the puppet show sound track in my files somewhere but it could take some time to find it.
When Sega decided to disband the original stage show, due to it not being very dynamic, late 1997, I was brought in to replace it with the puppetshow and some animatronic displays.
I redesigned the stage to represent planet Mobius, on either end were magic mountains, every 15mins except during show times, audio animatronic Sonic and Tails characters rose out of top of mountains and spoke to each other and audience, anouncing show times and upcoming events in Sega World. In center of stage stood the large, fully sculpted puppet theatre. Perched above the theatre was a big ,purple, animatronic bird that spoke to the audience. Above the stage was a large vid screen. Segments of the puppet show where filmed and appeared on the screen i.e when Robotnik blasts off in his space ship he is seen flying across a planet strewn sky above the audience (on the screen).
The puppets were large, muppet style creations, Sonic, Tails, Princess Sally, Dr. Robotnik and Grounder the Robot. A large ‘Robot making Machine’ prop was made along with special Sonic hats for children chosen from audience to wear. The show included much audience participation. I had 3 original songs recorded (I attached the lyrics).
I used all my own people for the voices (all approved by Sega) From memory I voiced Grounder, Dennis White voiced Dr.Robotnik, and Sonic, Tails and Sally were voiced by Alexis Nagy. The original music and songs were written and produced by myself and Mark Rosenberg.
Here are a selection of photos also sent by Philip:
Many thanks once again to SonikkuForever and Philip for giving us a peak into one of the many forgotten chapters of SEGAWorld!
Did you ever witness this show or any other on a visit to SEGAWorld Sydney? Let us know in the comments!
For more discussion, head to the thread in the SSMB.
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Happy New Year Everyone!
We hope you’ve all enjoyed whatever celebrations you’ve attended over the past weeks, and are looking forward to what the New Year has to offer! 2010 has been and gone, and boy it’s sure been a rollercoaster year! We’ve seen the long-awaited Sonic the Hedgehog 4 released and met with mixed reviews. We’ve been pleasantly surprised with the new cast of Sonic voice actors and with how fantastic a title Sonic Colo(u)rs turned out to be. Some of us got the opportunity to rock out with Crush 40 at Summer of Sonic ’10, and some of us have probably fallen over while trying to play Sonic Free Riders.
If you’re resident to the UK then no doubt your parents or grandparents will have insisted on watching the Queen’s speech on Christmas day, where our majesty usually talks about something relevant to the past year’s events. Well, I’m not royalty, but I’d like to talk to you guys and gals about friendship and tolerance. One of the things that makes this fan base so unique is the variety of talent and knowledge that you all harbour…not to mention the kindness, the generosity and the good nature you all display on a regular basis. I know a lot of you have forged strong friendships and have even found love through a mutual passion for Sonic. These principles of friendship are undoubtedly the backbone to many elements of what this community provides from general day-to-day conversations on the forums to real life meet-ups. Another thing that makes the community special in many ways is the diversity of opinions. I’ve always maintained we’d have one pretty boring world if we all agreed on everything, and it’s been rewarding to have lengthy discussions debating music, games and merchandise with many of you over the many years I’ve been a part of this community. I’m sure many of you who share the same passion will have had similar experiences.
Of course sometimes this passion can mean we lead with our heart and not with our minds, and from time to time discussion can become heated. More often than not the result causes an exchange of words that serves any purpose but to antagonise the other party. I am pleased to say that over the last year I’ve seen a massive decline in this happening in the comments on articles or on the SSMB forums, and I hope that you guys will continue this attitude, as well as to extend this to our brethren across all other sites and forums as well. Opinions are exactly that: opinions. We are all allowed to have them, and regardless of whether or not you agree with them, you have to respect the opinions of others. I hope TSS will continue to be a place where thoughts, feelings and opinions can be shared and discussed constructively.
Our network of friends continues to expand every year, and we are pleased to have been able to add many new names to the list of sites we communicate with, and we hope to add more to that this year as well as reinforce our bonds with those we already work with. 2010 has also seen our connections with SEGA grow even stronger; this has included opportunities for exclusive news, but it has most notably manifested with the increasing support we have had for the Summer of Sonic convention. I’m sure that the near thousand-strong crowd who came along to play games before anyone else, to pick up prizes and freebies available nowhere else and to see the UK’s first Crush 40 performance will agree that this event was something special.
These things don’t just pop into existence however; without the creative powers of Dreadknux (our very own Svend Joscelyne) and AAUK (Mr. Kevin Eva, SoE) to mobilise the massive undertaking, without the financial support from SEGA, and without the band of merry men and women from TSS, Sonic Wrecks, Emerald Coast, Nights Into Dreams (who will also be celebrating NiGHTS 15th anniversary this year!) and so forth, Summer of Sonic simply wouldn’t happen.
Our ties with SEGA still don’t end there though; we’ve also been fortunate enough to have been in a position to be able to give our feedback on games such as Sonic the Hedgehog 4 directly thanks to SEGA Community Events (attended by our very own Brad Flick late last year). Events like these are heralding the beginning of a paradigm shift to an era in which SEGA are listening more and more to what the community and to what the fans want. Even if you don’t think Sonic 4 is the perfect title, the feedback our community contributes will assist future direction to the franchise. For those of you were totally unimpressed with the title, exercise tolerance; creating the perfect game is surely an iterative process, and thus we should exercise patience as frustrating as it is. In any case I toast AAUK, RubyEclipse (Mr. Aaron Webber, SoA) and the many others who have taken the time to make this their mission to talk to us fans, and hope they will continue their work on into 2011 and beyond.
For those of you still sceptical, then I invite you to come along to Summer of Sonic this year and meet fellow fans for yourself. Dread often talks 
of something that has now become affectionately known as “SoS syndrome” – the fantastic feeling you get from coming along to Summer of Sonic, and which usually lingers for weeks after the event. I’m sure it will change your mind.
So what does 2011 have in store for us? Well it looks like there are two or three new Sonic titles to look forward to, as well as Sonic’s 20th anniversary, which is already being teased by SEGA of Japan’s website. Of course if that wasn’t enough, you can expect Summer of Sonic ’11 in June as well; I can guarantee you won’t want to miss this year’s festivities! As per usual we’ll have some awesome stuff to give away to you guys as well, so keep your peepers peeled for new competitions just around the corner!
On behalf of all the staff here at TSS, I wish all of you the best for the year to come, and we hope you all enjoy sharing and celebrating two decades of Sonic the Hedgehog with friends new and old with us here at the Sonic Stadium!
T-Bird, TSS Staff
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As yesterday marked the release of the Sonic Colors official soundtrack CD Vivid Sound X Hybrid Colors, the SEGA of Japan Sonic the Hedgehog site Sonic Channel interviewed composer Kenichi Tokoi (who previously composed for Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games and Sonic and the Secret Rings) and producer Tomoya Ohtani (Who composed for soundtracks such as Sonic World Adventure and Sonic Rush Adventure) with regards to their involvement with the soundtrack.
Although the interview was conducted in Japanese, we’ve picked out some interesting topics discussed! Tokoi and Ohtani first discuss how the title of the album came about; vivid was deemed a lively term and reflected the nature of the game well, with the word hybrid uniting the liveliness of the game with the music. Because of the mix of synthesised music, autotuned vocals and orchestral music, the term hybrid was also thought to also reinforce the nature of the diversity of music on the soundtrack.
Tokoi and Ohtani also comment on differences to composing the soundtrack compared to Sonic World adventure (or Sonic Unleashed), whereby the music in the game did not change for the stage, where as now every act on the Wii version of the game has a different tune. Thetr is also discussion of the similarities and differences between the title track “Reach for the Stars” and that for Sonic World Adventure “Endless Possibilities”, and how they feel variation of lead singers for the title tracks is beneficial.
The pair go on to talk at great extent about the inspirations and vibes considered when composing for varying levels; for example the twangy guitar was thought to capture the subtle hilarity of Sweet Mountain being an armoury masquerading as a confectionary factory. Heavy guitars were employed for the fast pace of the Asteroid Coaster, and the darker themes were used to convey the feel for the Terminal Velocity stages. Both composers also enjoyed creating the 8-bit versions of the tracks used during the virtual stages!
They interestingly also discuss how they feel they have not deviated much from the framework of most sonic Sonic soundtracks, but hope fans appreciate the more pop-themed opening tunes rather than feeling betrayed by the decision to have Cash Cash perform.
You can check out the full interview with pictures on the Sonic Channel Page.
If you haven’t ordered your copy of Vivid Sounds X Hybrid Colors, you can purchase this now from CD-Japan for ¥4200 (about $47 USD or £32 GBP).
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Words cannot describe…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB3Mk0cHY_E&feature=channel[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwYScW9ZC4Y&feature=channel[/youtube]
I like to think Aaron sits around in his dining room enjoying a glass of sherry, listening to uplifting Vivaldi overtures, and delivering gifts to children all over the world on Christmas day.
Who agrees with WebKitty and thinks the special dude being chased by the square man is so cute?
Answers in the comments box please…
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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CafgpUojSxw&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
Can’t get enough of the awesome dialogue in Sonic Colours? Well, our friends over at Sonic Retro have been busy digging, and Retro Tech Member Technokami has managed extract some unused one-liners from Sonic and Doctor Eggman that never managed to make it into the game itself. Admittedly some of these lines are pretty dire, but are most definitely in the vein of most cheesey Sonic vox pops.
As Sonic (apparently) would say…“You can’t be quality with quantity!”.
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Angie at Crush40-fanclub.de had a chance to catch up with Sonic music legend and Danger Danger vocalist Ted Poley to interview him on his work past and present, as well as his collaboration work with Jun Senoue on tracks such as “Escape from the City” from Sonic Adventure 2 and “We Can” from Sonic Heroes.
Watch the whole interview over on the Crush 40 Fan Club Website. Oh, and do check out Ted Poley’s site too!
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