SEGA staffer Ruby Eclipse has made an update on the SEGA of America Blog regarding Project Needlemouse Challenge II. It appears the Sonic community has pulverised the requested 100 pieces of art as the current ammount of submissions now stands at over 350 entries so give yourselves a well deserved pat on the back.

In celebration of the effort that’s been put in RubyEclipse had this to say –

That makes all of us – including, hopefully, you guys – very happy. The challenge has been bested within 48 hours, and as a result next week is going to be the Week of the Hedgehog! The celebration will begin next Tuesday on Hedgehog Day, (step aside, groundhog!) with a special massive swag giveaway and concept art reveal, and will lead into our biggest announcement going live as we approach next weekend. Trust us when we say that February is going to be a very good month.

Now then – to celebrate your success, we’d like to offer you guys additional rewards for continuing to send in your concept art – and some very awesome concept art, at that! So,for every 50 pieces of Concept Art (past 100), we will give away one extra piece of Sonic Merchandise during our Hedgehog Day giveaway!

To close RubyEclipse wanted to put an end to a rumour about the project that’s been going around to no end until now –

Oh, and as another bonus, let’s go ahead and dispel away a little rumor that we’ve noticed in the comments:

Project Needlemouse is not an HD version of Sonic 1. These may be old badniks, but when we said all-new adventure, we meant it.

The SEGA staff have picked out a bunch of their favourite pieces of concept art sent in and posted them up on the Blog for all to see. Has your entry been posted up? Excited about Hedgehog Day? Let us know in the comments

Thanks to jeremycarrier over at the SSMB for the heads up!