SEGA Europe Community Manager AAUK Leaves SEGA

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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Avatar Doodle Contest: The Winners

Ok, so a couple of weeks back we were treated to a sneaky peak at some DLC for Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing on the XBox 360 over on the SEGA Blognik. I set a little task to go about doodling on the avatar in a no-holds barred contest to basically make as humorous an entry as possible. Well as per usual at the promise of free goodies, the entries came in their masses, which were whittled down to just a handful. The TSS staff then had a look, and out of the selection we picked a winner…the quality of the entries was so spectacular, that I think they deserve a mention here too…

3RD PLACE: MUSHROOM 64

It looks like Sonic is taking a real pounding! Genius! Mushroom 64 is the proud winner of a First4Figures mini Knuckles figurine!

2ND PLACE: Adamis

It looks like two wheels are better than four! Big is leading the pack! I think the bias for anything Big related shone through here! Again, hillarious!  Adamis is the proud winner of a First4Figures mini Sonic figurine!

WINNER: T. Brockmüller

…OK, so I’m out of ASR quotes….but Rotor’s face cracks me up in this last frame. Also, SatAM really does not get enough love! Props to you Mr. Brockmüller – you are the proud receipient of a SEGA Prize Europe Sonic plush!

All winners please send your postal details to the competition email address, and I’ll get your prizes out to you! A big thumbs up to all of the other competitors…keep an eye out for more competitions in the future!

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Keep Others Out With ASR Door Hangers

With Christmas and the New Year over SEGA have started to put the pedal to the metal with it’s publicity for Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing. Hopefully you’ve already seen the new in game pictures and pre-rendered character art posted here at the Stadium earlier today. Keen eyed Sonic fans will also have spotted what appears to be the first of a series of updates from ArchangelUK on the Blognik about ASR merchandise. Figures and steering wheels have been mentioned in the past but unveiled to the world today for the first time: pictures of ASR door hangers! I kid you not, take a look at the picture below. 

No details on how to get hold of the door hanger have been revealed but AAUK has promised updates about more ASR merchandise including the Wii wheel in the near future. The game will be bundled with different things depending on the territory you live in but concrete details on that are also yet to be revealed. It’s not too long until the games release but TSS will answer all the above questions when SEGA is ready to release the answers. Chief among all of them is the games actual release date!

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More Chances To Win Mario & Sonic Snowboard Teased

Sega Europe Community Manager ArchangelUK apparently loves to tease people. For example, I present to you the official Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games branded Snowboard he showcased earlier today.

It looks great doesn’t it? In fact it looks even better if you go here to see them full size. So how about an opportunity to get your hands on this fabulous merchandise? Alas, you can’t buy this thing in the shops but it can be won in the UK Mario & Sonic Sweepstakes. I’d hurry though, the competition is only open until November 17th so you need to be as fast as Sonic himself to enter before the deadline. Terms and conditions for the competition can be found here and should you not be the lucky winner don’t fret, AAUK has also teased that there may be other opportunities to grab one. TSS will endeavour to keep you posted.

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Facebook Fans Want Sonic To Go Greek

greekNot content with Sonic visiting the extremely Greek themed Apotos in Sonic Unleashed, fans of the blue blur have voted on Facebook that they’d like to see him appear in Storybook series featuring Greek Myths and Legends. The poll, which was defiantly for fun and will have absolutely no bearing on the direction of any future Storybook games, tasked fans with voting for which scenario they’d like to see Sonic in next with the Greek theme taking home 33% of the vote. The full results can be found on the Sonic Blognik here but my personal favourite idea of Sonic in a Sci-Fi environment came second with 21%. “Sonic In Spaaaaace” with exactly that many ‘a’s would be fantastic, trust me.

So Sonic in Greece? There’s certainly enough mythology to draw from with him being able to battle with or against any number of the Gods. I’m not an expert on the matter but a quick glance over Google leads me to believe a number of Sonic characters could happily portray the Gods in Greek Legend. Here are some descriptions I found:

Hermes = Sonic?
“He is the messenger of the gods. He is the fastest of the gods. He wears winged sandals, a winged hat, and carries a magic wand. Hermes is the god of thieves and god of commerce. He is the guide for the dead to go to the underworld.”

Hades = Eggman?
“Brother of Zeus. God of the underworld, ruling over the dead. He is also the god of wealth, due to the precious metals mined from the earth.”

Aphrodite = Rouge?
“Goddess of love, desire and beauty. Aphrodite rises from the foam of the waves of the sea, enchanting anyone who sees her and inciting feelings of love where ever she goes.”

Hestia = Blaze?
“Sister of Zeus. Goddess of the Home. Each city had a public hearth sacred to Hestia, where the fire was never allowed to go out.”

Apollo = Tails?
“Apollo is the god of music, playing a golden lyre. The Archer, far shooting with a silver bow. The god of healing who taught man medicine. The god of light. The god of truth, who can not speak a lie.”

Do you have any suggestions? Did you’re favourite scenario not do well in the poll? Let us know on the comments. After you’ve done that you can head to the new Facebook Poll to answer the eternal question; Who would win in a fight, Sonic or Knuckles? As Bruce Buffer would say, “IT’S TIME!”

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Sonic & the Black Knight Art Contest: Update

Right, it seems there’s been some crossed wires along the way as far as the Sonic and the Black Knight competition is concerned, but as per usual Mr. AAUK (or should that be Mr. AAUSA?) has been on to clue us in on some of the more hazey parts of the contest – it appears there is a bit of a delay with this news hitting the SEGA Blognik in his absence, and due to there having to be translations into several European languages.

  • First off, the competition WILL be open to the Europeans too; the competition rules are virtually identical to the US rules, so you can get cracking on your masterpieces immediately!
  • Austrailia is classed as part of SOE’s territory, so your Aussies can also feel free to enter.
  • Finally, the use of fan characters or non-Sonic Universe characters in the art is advised against, purely on the grounds they probably won’t be used.

It also turns out this is something that the Japanese branch of SEGA came up with, not their European counterparts! Maybe Japan have also finally realised getting the fans involved isn’t such a bad thing afterall…isn’t it?

Thanks again to AAUK for clearing this up.

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Unleashed, De-Fanged

No Fang 4 U

After much hype and hearsay about the return of what some deem to be a cult character from the Sonic Universe, it looks like the Hatted Weasel/Wolf character, Fang the Sniper, WILL NOT be appearing in the up-and-coming multi-platform game Sonic Unleashed.

The SEGA Blognik, run and maintained by the ever present ArchAngelUK, made a post earlier afer enquiries had been made with SEGA’s brand manager in regards to the rumours about the return of Fang the Sniper: ” I asked the brand manager directly. The answer was “who’s he?” “.

So unfortunately kids, it looks like we aren’t going to see the return of Fang. Disappointed? Perhaps, perhaps not. On the positive side, the images released from Leipzig looks promising, so hopefully the lack of cork guns won’t ruin what looks to be a promising game.

I seem to have misplaced my DS…if anyone sees it, let me know.

Props to Mr. AAUK for the info!

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