Welcome to the Archive site of The Sonic Stadium (2008-2023)
Please note that this site is no longer being updated or maintained; as a result, there may be design issues, and links to images and other media may be broken. Links to posts may redirect you to the same article on the current Sonic Stadium website.
Once again SEGASonic:Radio returns with it’s annual day long radio event on Sunday the 11th of December 2011! This year’s 24-hour LiveCast will play host once more to your favourite SS:R DJs old and now, bringing you the best of Sonic the Hedgehog music and related banter throughout.
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You might be aware of the London Gaming Convention. If not, why not? It’s an annual event that takes place every December, that aims to bring people together in their love for computer games. This weekend, the LGC returns to the Rocket Complex Metropolitan University – and The Sonic Stadium is going to be there.
The convention is open on both Saturday and Sunday, with a large range of activities and events taking place across the venue. On Sunday, I will be hosting a special ‘Mario versus Sonic’ tournament, where two Sonic fans and two Mario fans will do epic battle for some nice prizes. What will these challenges be? Ah, you’ll have to wait and see.
I will also be representing the Sonic scene with a special Club Sonic taking place Sunday evening, from 7pm onwards. I will be hosting the afterparty with my good friends RadioSEGA, who will take over later in the evening. It promises to be a great time.
Fellow fansite Sonic Wrecks is also getting involved, having a large part to play in the organisation of the event on both days, so go and say hello to ArchAngelUK when he has a spare second.
Go to the LGC website for more information, including travel and ticket information. You can pay on the day by simply rocking up to the door, so don’t worry about pre-ordering tickets too late or anything. Entry is £10 on the door each day. See you there!
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Many of you will know and love Dan Green for the many characters he has bring to life through his voice acting career across many different mediums – most notably voicing Knuckles the Echidna in recent years.
Unfortunately, Dan’s wife has passed away after giving birth to their twins last week. We here at the Sonic Stadium would like to extend our utmost sympathies at this time to Dan and his family in this tragic loss.
We call upon you, Sonic fans, to visit the Dan Green Guestbook. Here, you can donate to help Dan take care of his daughter and son. Even if you cannot spare anything monetary, spare a thought, leave Dan a message on the page, and show him the love and support he has from his many fans.
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New Year’s Eve is a special night to see out the last twelve months with friends and family. But what if your friends and family are fellow Sonic the Hedgehog fans? Then you might want to check out this fan-planned New Years Eve party, by the organisers of the (unofficial) Summer of Sonic 2011 pre-party.
It will be located at the same venue – Jetlag bar, 125 Cleveland Street in London – and will feature Sonic music, HD cinema screens for multiplayer Sonic races and a range of food and beverages on an all-you-can-eat basis. Naturally, you’ll need to be over 18 to attend.
Attendance will cost £35 per person, and a minimum of 50 people need to be signed up before the venue can actually be booked and secured. So if you want to go, make your voice heard on the Facebook page sharpish, like.
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Summer of Sonic was absolutely mental this year. Largely because it was the biggest show we had ever done, with over 1500 people wanting to cram into the venue, the surprise performance by Jun Senoue, the appearance of Yuji Naka and Takashi Iizuka and the exclusive clash of Sonic comic legends to name but a few reasons. So it goes without saying that we had the whole thing filmed.
Gracious Films, the company that was responsible for the 20th Anniversary DVD Documentary found on the Collector’s Edition of Sonic Generations, filmed a considerable amount of footage from Summer of Sonic 2011 for inclusion on the disc. Sadly, due to time constraints it was cut from the DVD, but Gracious Films has very kindly edited and created a full-length nine-minute documentary specially for us.
You can watch the video on the company’s Facebook page – click here to go straight there. The company is currently working on a new video game related project, called ‘From Bedrooms to Billions’ – it tells the story of the last 40 years of gaming and will cover legends such as Nolan Bushnell and David Braben, with plans to speak to the top Japanese developers.
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Warning: Video contains swearing. And awesomeness.
Sonic Generations was released to stores in the UK today! In the US, the game landed on Tuesday, and one chap was so excited about it that he decided to make a video. A most epic video that will make you raise an eyebrow. Or two.
Instead of actually opening the disc and playing the game, ‘Ducttaped32x’ videotaped his sheer happiness at obtaining the 20th Anniversary game. Plenty of bizarre phrases involving leprosy, hedgehogs on women and spindashing enemies lie within the video, above. But the best bit has to be his epic rolling around and attempt at Sonic breakdancing, Modern style. The falling poster at the end is the pièce de résistance of the minute-long lunacy.
Watch it, and discover why he is a national treasure. I want to meet him someday. I’ll buy him a beer.
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So, TSS has had a recent lack of content to do with remixes and the great efforts of the community to highlight one of the strongest components of the sonic games to date – the music. Whether you’re into the new generation or the classic style, there is no arguing that everyone loves a good remix. I’ve spent the last week or so digging through my ever-expanding remix collection to share with you some of the greats from around the world.
For those who don’t know, Erock is known on youtube for his amazing ability to transform television and video game music in works of pure, unadulterated metal. Don’t confuse his trademark wink at the start of his video as a sign he’ll hold back on you. Prepare your ears for bliss.
But let’s be honest, Metal isn’t everyone’s deal, and while I may think you’re a little bit nuts, I’ll respect your opinion and throw some funk your way. That’s right. Funk. The latest addition to the OverClocked Remix archives is HydroFunk, a trendy remix of Sonic 3’s iconic water stage. With a past resume including “Above The Sky” and “Snowboardin’ Sonic” WillRock doesn’t disappoint.
TRIVIA TIME: WillRock’s track HydroFunk has been up on his TinDeck page for longer than a year.
I’ll be diving back down into my archive in the following weeks to showcase more works of art for those keen on filling up their iPods.
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Wondered where our artistic friend Elson ‘Darkspeeds’ Wong had gone? Turns out he had bunkered down for many weeks working on a brand new Sonic fan project. Turning his hand to animation, Elson has brought Archie Comics’ Silver Saga from Sonic Universe to life with sound effects, camera pans and original artwork to complement the action within the frames.
It’s a wonderful piece of work, and isn’t without its fair share of stress and challenges. Have a look at the first part of Elson’s work above, which was released to YouTube this morning – then see the video below which takes you behind the scenes of exactly what goes into the project. Along with some impromptu shirt-lifting. Nice. Continue reading Sonic Universe’s Silver Saga – Now Fan Animated
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Sonic Generations has been making us all salivate with anticipation ever since it was first announced. That’s because, with Sonic Colours setting a precedent (and some of us having played it) there’s a good chance that Sonic Team are finally on the right track with the franchise. Classic Sonic physics – good. Modern Sonic inertia and level design – good! It’s looking good!
According to one passionate fan though, not everything is all blue skies and Green Hills. YouTube user “SONIC1SONICHEDGEHOG” (no prizes for guessing what kind of Sonic fan he is) feels that the 3DS version of Generations has been broken by what he sees is a betrayal from Dimps. Classic Sonic has a homing attack, you see. That’s not ‘Sonic 1 Sonic’ at all. And grey soles? What?
Listen to his impassioned tirade, in which our eloquent friend transforms Werehog-style into a screaming ranting puddle of goo. To be fair, we can kind of see his point (well, on the homing attack thing. Really not quite sure what he’s talking about with the soles). But you know… I wouldn’t go into SEGA’s boardroom and display fan disapproval in quite the same way. Or maybe we should. Maybe that’s where Brad went wrong in meeting Ken Balough. Needs more shouty.
(As the headline suggests, this video is more than shouty – it’s sweary too. You might want to wait til you get home before you watch this one)
Cheers to Gavvie for pointing us to this video. It’s made our Friday!
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This is awesome. A couple of bedroom composers have made a cover version of Kenichi Tokoi’s Planet Wisp theme from Sonic Colours, using nothing but a Logic sequencer and a keyboard.
According to Aivi Tran’s YouTube page, collaborator Dave Harris transcribed the entire track by ear – which is not an easy job by any stretch of the imagination. Aivi then took to her Roland RD-700NX and performed the piano and solo sections.
It’s a great take on a fantastic track, and there’s even a surprise Green Hill Zone medley thrown into the mix as well. It’s a testament to epic the Sonic Colours soundtrack in its entirety really is. Now, somebody do Starlight Carnival!
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It’s been a while, old friend. The Sonic Amateur Games Expo – an online fan convention that showcases the best of creative programming within the Sonic community – is back for another run with fangames and ROM hacks galore to try out, along with one or two surprises.
A gameplay trailer has just been released by the show’s organisers, and it highlights some of the games that you’ll be able to download and try out. I remember the name Sonic Axiom – if I’m not wrong, it’s a returning showcase of the interesting little title that takes advantage of Sonic CD’s engine mechanics.
The Sonic Worlds Collaborative Project looks to be a very extensive piece of work, it will be fun to see the work that has gone into this one. Sonic Fusion is looking great as ever – one of the few high profile fangames still using Sonic Advance sprites and looking more unique as a result of it. Plus, Espio! No doubt the most interesting on my radar has to be Sonic: Before the Sequel – an adventure starring Tails which opens up an opportunity for some fan-based filling of storyline gaps.
SAGE will also be running a radio broadcast throughout the event, as well as provide video content in the form of live music performances and an animation demonstration of Nate Horsfall, the character animator for Sonic Rivals 2. There’ll be a Hacking contest between some of the best coders in the fanbase too, which I’m personally dying to spectate.
Things kick off this weekend and festivities will last for an entire week. Check out SAGE’s Facebook page and Twitter feed for the latest news, and if you’re looking for exhaustive information on the show check out the topic on Sonic Fan Games HQ, the spiritual home of SAGE.
And of course, there’s the event website itself for all the action – http://www.sagexpo.org
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The Australian side of video game retailer GAME is celebrating Sonic the Hedgehog’s 20th Anniversary in a most curious way. Its video presenter, Ed, is going on the Amazing Sonic Quest – a charity drive that auctions off games from the franchise’s history for a good cause. And if you help him, you can get a free copy of Sonic Generations.
Ed has a problem, you see. He doesn’t have all of the 45 Sonic games that he needs to sell. This is where Sonic-mad GAME customers come in – anyone who has an old copy of one of the listed Sonic titles will be encouraged to send it to Ed via post. Doesn’t sound much like a quest on Ed’s part, if we’re being honest.
There is an incentive to part with your long-loved Sonic games, though. Everyone who is able to check off Ed’s list will get a AU$50 GAME voucher as well as free copy of Sonic Generations.
It’s likely that the copy you’ll receive is the Standard Edition, and not the insane Collector’s Edition (that GAME also handily advertise on the Amazing Sonic Quest page), but free is free and it’s all for a good cause, right? Head to the GAME page, see what games Ed is missing and see if you can help him out!
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Reader mul-tec-rnb has sent in the above video of his recreation of Wii and DS game Sonic Colours‘ Planet Wisp stage using tools in the PS3 title LittleBigPlanet 2. It’s quite the faithful design, from the flowers to the construction site parts.
Check it out and share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Thanks to mul-tec-rnb for sending this in.
Got something you would like to share with the community here on The Sonic Stadium? Send it in to thesonicstadium@googlemail.com, shadzter@sonicstadium.org or via Twitter at @Shadzter.
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When you think about great Sonic music, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on the Game Gear (and Master System, don’cha know?) isn’t usually the game that comes to mind. That’s nothing to do with how good the music is, though – the little S2 has some real forgotten classics.
French jammer SongeReReveur hasn’t forgotten, though. We featured him last year for his mellow rendition of Sky High Zone – that and a somewhat… different Marble Zone – and he recently returned to Sonic with another Sonic 2 gem.
This time it’s Green Hills Zone, which was famously re-jigged for the European and Asian versions of Sonic CD (as well as the worldwide re-releases later this year). SongeLeReveur has a habit of taking his themes in a different direction than most, and this dreamy track is no exception.
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Those of you who were at this year’s Sonic Boom event will definitely recognise this trio! RandomEncountersEnt have returned to thank everyone for 80,000 views of their Needlemouse: The musical video which won first place in the 19th birthday video contest last year.
Their thank you comes in the form of the above video – enjoy!
There’s also a dancing Eggbot…Dreadknux and I apologise for talking over the top of it’s funky moves.
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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.
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Hey folks! I wanted to let you in on a lesser known Sonic Podcast The Spindash “Your source for all things blue, rapid and spikey” as it has just celebrated it’s 50th episode with a 2 hour long show. This small podcast has been running for about 2 years now and is hosted by GX Echidna, Evil Dr. Reef and Saber Pilot with myself as the occasional guest. In this episode, we discuss the Chemical Plant Zone, current Sonic news, a look back at issue #50 of the Archie Sonic comic and some other silly stuff. So, if you got an MP3 player and/or 2 hours to kill, check ’em out!
BTW, also check out their 48th episode which is a hour long interview with the great, wonderful………me! Also, I’ll be getting pics and info of the upcoming contest as soon as my witless brother gives me my memory card back for my camera.
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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?
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.
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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Sonic’s favourite thing is running, right? So it only makes sense that the blue blur does so for charity! A rather nice chap called Dave Moran is signed up to run the Asics British 10K London Run 2011 this Sunday, and he’s dressing up as everyone’s favourite hedgehog to raise money for the SpecialEffect charity.
SpecialEffect is a charity that recently hit the spotlight for its brilliant work in allowing disadvantaged children to explore and enjoy interactive entertainment. The organisation had a stand at last year’s Eurogamer Expo, where it was demonstrating a racing game that can be controlled simply with a person’s eye movement.
A truly inspiring cause, and one that resonated with Dave when he decided to take on the London Run. “I first found out about SpecialEffect at the Eurogamer Expo 2010. It didn’t take long for me to see how special a charity they were,” he writes on his JustGiving page. “For these children, the majority of computer games are simply too quick or too difficult to play, and we can help them and their parents to find out which games they CAN play, and how to adapt those games that they can’t.”
Dave is aiming for a target donation of £250 – amazingly, he has passed that and is currently at £429! Let’s give Dave some support for a great charity and see how far we can get that total. If you want to donate a sum of change to the cause, just head to Dave’s JustGiving page.
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It’s always great to see the many ways the Sonic community celebrates Sonic’s Birthday. Deviant Art artist Sonic Dash is marking the special occasion for our favourite video game icon by helping to raise money for Child’s Play, which is a charity organisation that aims to make the lives of children in hospitals a little better with the gift of video games.
Sonic Dash will be livestreaming on June 23rd for 24 hours and will continue through the 24th if the stream is successful. Throughout that time Sonic Dash will be creating more of his impressive art pieces and by donating a certain amount of money (yet to be defined) you’ll get a copy of the PSD files of the pictures designed, sketches and another piece created by a mystery artist.
I will color at least two Sonic related pictures (one is a Rouge pic), sketch Sonic pics and take sketch requests. It’s even possible that I’m going to color a few of your requests or some of my WIP’s. Of course I will entertain your ears with music from the Sonic games.
Time Schedule
I will start live streaming on thursday, june 23rd. No specific time, but I’ll make a journal before I start. From then on I’m going to stream for 24 hours straight. I’ll continue for another 24 hours if the stream is successful enough and after I took a little break. ~CyanZack will entertain you with Sonic games until I come back for more.
I know most of you will not be able to donate something on these two days, being it close to the end of june and at least one convention around the corner. That’s why the ChipIn for Child’s Play and the fundraising for Red Cross will stay open until sometime in july. My ChipIn will stay open until july 15th and I’m going to make short streams from june 25th to july 15th.
Unfortunately my Livestream can only have 50 people watching. Also please be aware that I can’t stream or have to stop due any emergency (It’s thunderstorm season, for example).
Donation Pack
It will include PSD files of pictures I color on that day, some sketches and a picture by an awesome artist that likes Sonic games but does other stuff. You’ll receive it after july 15th, though only if you are willing to donate a minimum amount.
Thanks to the SSMB staff member Urtheart for the heads up!
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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!
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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!
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Crush 40 guitarist and sound director for many Sonic the Hedgehog titles, Jun Senoue, appears to have had something of a spellbinding effect on fans, as he is the most requested celebrity to return to The Summer of Sonic convention this year.
That’s according to a poll hosted by Sonic Wrecks, which asked who visitors would like to have most if given the choice of guests from past years. 56% of its visitors would like the opportunity to meet with the Japanese musician a second time. Jun attended The Summer of Sonic last year and enchanted the crowd with an instrumental performance on stage before rocking the house with Johnny Gioeli for an exclusive Crush 40 gig.
Both Jun and Johnny have expressed an interest in returning to The Summer of Sonic, but so far it’s a mystery as to whether either will be able to make it this year. The pair’s schedules have been jumbled as Crush 40 cancelled key gigs in Japan following the country’s tsunami crisis. So far, no announcement has been made on their future plans.
Jun lead the Sonic Wrecks poll, but it was Dreams of an Absolution star Lee Brotherton (aka Bentley Jones) that came a close second, winning 50% of the vote. Lee attended the first event in 2008, and was the highlight of 2009’s convention when he performed twice for excited fans.
Crush 40 singer Johnny Gioeli came third with 38%, followed by acclaimed composer Richard Jacques. The British musician, who created the soundtrack to Sonic R and the Sega Saturn version of Sonic 3D: Flickies’ Island, headlined the very first Summer of Sonic convention with a majestic medley of SEGA classics.
Singer TJ Davis earned 27%, and Fleetway comic legends Nigel Kitching and Nigel Dobbyn brought up the rear with 16% and 13% respectively. Here are the results in full:
Jun Senoue – 56%
Lee Brotherton – 50%
Johnny Gioeli – 38%
Richard Jacques – 33%
TJ Davis – 27%
Nigel Kitching – 16%
Nigel Dobbyn – 13%
The only confirmed guests for The Summer of Sonic 2011 so far have been Archie Comics’ Ian Flynn and Tracy Yardley, along with Nigel Kitching. Who would you like to meet most at the convention this year?
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The recent hack attack on Sony’s PlayStation Network may have been no joke, but Channel 4’s news team still saw fit to throw in a bit of light-hearted spin on the crisis – by turning to Sonic the Hedgehog, of course.
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 is available to download on the PlayStation Network, and was used as the primary example of playing games on the PS3. Bit of a strange choice really, but we’re certainly not complaining – especially as the report goes a bit ‘Brass Eye’ at the 3:00 mark.
Benjamin Cohen concludes his report by stating that the PSN downtime is allowing gamers to go outside and grab some sunshine, before cheesily running across the screen in a park collecting rings. It’s… well… it’s rubbish really, but it’s also awesome because it’s so rubbish. Keep shining, Channel 4.
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SEGA has just confirmed Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Of course, being the legendary combination of video gaming frenemies and sporty decadence that it is, the publisher wasn’t going to make the announcement quietly.
So to celebrate, Mario and Sonic once again took time out of their busy in-game schedules to party in the streets of London. It wasn’t really a case of ‘blink and you’ll miss them,’ as the pair were directing traffic at Tower Bridge and posing outside of the Houses of Parliament. Well, Sonic was – not really sure what Mario’s doing, there.
A big red London bus toured the city as well, smothered in all sorts of Mario & Sonic branding as it passed Big Ben and surprised the flock of tourists sitting around Piccadilly Circus.
As the 2012 Olympic Games draws ever closer, there’s a growing excitement in Britain to see the best that the sporting world has to offer – and of course a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to cheer our national sporting heroes on our own home turf. The Mario & Sonic series has always been incredibly popular, but with this in mind you can bet your last gold ring that Brits will absolutely lap up this upcoming Wii and 3DS sequel.
Check out the gallery below for the grand London tour.
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SSMB member Hogfather has reported in a topic at the forum that Sonic the Hedgehog will be appearing at a UK GAME store in Hull’s St. Stephens Shopping Centre from 11am to meet fans and help the store raise some money for charity.
Hogfather queried with the shopping centre’s management regarding whether or not you can take photographs at the event, since the centre is normally strictly against picture taking, and they told him that picture taking is allowed for a small donation.
Of course you can take photographs of Sonic!! For a small donation at least it is for charity.
Have fun.
Debbie
Centre Receptionist and Administrator
No word on which charity the store is raising money for, but we expect it’s for a good cause.
If you plan to head to the fundraiser, you can find help for getting there at St. Stephens Shopping Centre’s website and GAME’s website. If you manage to grab some pictures or video from the fundraiser and don’t mind sharing them, send them in to us at thesonicstadium@googlemail.com and we’ll post them in a blog post on the site.
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Ever want to hear what a Sonic song would sound like if it was on Glee? Well now you can! The Video Game Music Choir posted a mini concert of them singing “Escape From the City” on Youtube. The concert this advertises has already come and gone, but the song itself is still definitely worth a listen!
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Looking forward to the Summer of Sonic 2011? We sure are, especially as we’re setting it all up (and we know what’s coming)! But Summer of Sonic only happens for one day – what if you want something to do before the official proceedings kick off? Well, that’s where a group of plucky fans have stepped in, as they have kick-started an unofficial pre-SoS gathering of their own.
Fellow Brits Ben and Rebecca have booked the Jetlag Sports Bar and Restaurant in London’s Marylebone district on Friday 24th June at 6pm, and anyone who might be travelling from afar to see the delights of the Summer of Sonic convention is more than welcome to attend.
At this juncture it’s worth pointing out that this event is not associated with the Summer of Sonic 2011 Convention, taking place on Saturday 25th June at Camden Centre. This event is fan-run and organised by a third party – The Sonic Stadium is simply spreading the word to all who might wish to attend.
Got that? Good. If you’re interested, check out the Facebook page here and register your interest. There’s an entry fee of £7 to get in and a minimum spend of £12.50 per guest, so have some wonga ready and enjoy a relaxed night out with some Sonic friends before the big party kicks off on Saturday.
I’m afraid you won’t see the likes of myself, T-Bird or AAUK there – we’ll be having pre-SoS parties of our own (well, I will, everyone else may be sleeping) – so we’ll see you all on the Saturday instead! Have fun!
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djpretzel is reporting over at OC ReMix that their latest fan remix album ‘The Sound of Speed’ is now complete and available for download now. The album was remixed by OA and Scaredsim and is the sites’ 25th arrangement album.
Here’s what dj pretzel had to say about the album:
Right then – on to the ReMix!! This namesake collab between OA and Scaredsim rocks ‘Green Hill Zone’ out with upbeat rock/pop arrangement featuring crunchy guitars, polished production, some really cool, syncopated drum work, and a generally positive & anthemic vibe. Simon’s lead guitar meshes perfectly with Andrew’s arrangement & …pretty much everything else. The melody stays pretty conservative, but the accompaniment has some really smart, interesting components & details. Starting at 1’16”, the backing drum track really gets cheeky, in a good way, and in general this is an arrangement you can mindlessly toe tap and rock out to, but which ALSO warrants concentration & focus to appreciate the craftsmanship.
Director halc says:
“Ah, the infamous Green Hill Zone. OA was the first person I invited to the project back in July of 2009. I was quite into his wonderful Animal Crossing remix ‘Letting Go’ at the time, and figured Green Hill would be a perfect match for his style. Incidentally (and to my delight), he had some interest in said song. Scaredsim jumped in to lay down the guitars, which meshed wonderfully with OA’s arrangement. This is the “definitive” Green Hill remix, IMO, and I’m very proud to share my beloved album title with it. :P”
You can download the album or a preview of it over at OC ReMix or from the album’s website now.
Thanks to Velotix Lexovetikan at the SSMB for the heads up!
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Brazilian Sonic the Hedgehog fansite Power Sonic is celebrating their 10th Anniversary today. The website launched in 2001, back when SEGA was celebrating Sonic’s own 10th Anniversary with Sonic Adventure 2’s release on their Dreamcast console. Power Sonic is a dedicated source for Brazilian Sonic fans, with regular news coverage and a large archive of content to explore that caters to all aspects of the fandom, be they video game fans or animation fans. The website also offers competitions and a huge amount of free media to download, both official and fan created. Power Sonic continues to prove that there are many passionate fans of the blue blur out there around the world and we congratulate them on this milestone.
All of us at The Sonic Stadium wish Power Sonic a happy birthday and hope to see them around for many more years to come.
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I’m sure some of you remember when my good friends at Speed Demos Archive raised over $52k for charity at their live speedrunning marathon back in January. Not least, a beast known only as Stanski tore up Sonic 2 on the Sega Genesis in one take.
Normally, SDA isn’t one to do marathons all the time – they usually only have one a year and put everything into it – but last month some place called Japan had its east coast wiped out by a wave reaching 23 metres high, leaving over 10,000 people dead and another half a million without a home.
So, towards the end of March, and with marathoning for Japan seemingly de rigueur right now, SDA decided to join the bandwagon and plan a top marathon in two weeks. Unlike their usual efforts, this one will be done online from the gamers’ homes, and yours truly will also be joining the party.
This time Japan Relief Done Quick will be raising funds for Doctors Without Borders, the American branch of the international medical aid group Médecins Sans Frontières. A Nobel Peace Prize recipient, MSF has operations in over 60 countries, and is in Japan right now providing medical treatment to those affected by the earthquake and tsunami.
Now, January’s marathon was a bit disappointing from a Sonic point of view, but that’s not the case this time. Early Friday morning in the UK, there’s a solid four-hour slot where five Sonic games will be played through:
First up is the original Mega Drive title, Sonic the Hedgehog, played by MilesSMB on Genesis.
That’s followed by Sonic 3D on Saturn, played by Zyre who recently had a speedrun of another Sega classic, Skies of Arcadia Legends, published on SDA.
Next Venick will hammer his way through Amy’s story on the original Sonic Adventure on Dreamcast.
The greatest Sonic game ever made is next – Sonic 2006 on Xbox 360. Depending on donations, either Venick or Parax will go through one character’s story. If you’re planning on donating, personally I recommend Silver because some of the tricks will blow your mind.
Finally, Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 will be seeing a full game run. The runner is Parax, the top single-level speedrunner for Sonic 4 in the world right now. If you’re on 360, check the leaderboards and then check your calendar.
This marathon starts at 9PM in the UK on Thursday, and is set to run into Monday. You can see the full schedule at the JRDQ site, though if you’re planning on watching a certain game, bear in mind times can change pretty easily.
Be there, if only to laugh at me when I die in-game during my slot…
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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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Age: 3
Color: Made out of REAL Sapphire.
Height: 2 foot 5
Last seen: Hanging out with over 9000 mudkipz
He’s a real good kid, he doesent do drugs, or heroin hes not in a gang, but I think those mudkipz did something to him, I’m really worried about him, you can never tell about them mudkipz in groups of over 9000
With ANY info please e-mail skwiigo@hotmail.com No you can’t call us, we’re poor and nasty and can’t afford a phone yo, reward is very handsome, over 9000 pennies to who ever finds him.
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![Freakout Friday: umad, bro? [NSFW]](https://archive.sonicstadium.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Screen-Shot-2011-09-30-at-08.09.29.png)
Nope, this isn’t an 
