SEGA News Bits: Sonic Mania Vinyl Pre-Orders Announced

What better way to celebrate a retro inspired game like Sonic Mania than get its soundtrack on a retro format? Data Discs has announced that they will be taking pre-orders for the Sonic Mania vinyl this weekend! On this episode of the SEGA News Bits we discuss all the information you need to pre-order the Sonic Mania vinyl, our thoughts on the design and a quick discussion of other Data Discs SEGA vinyl releases. What are your guys thoughts on SEGA teaming up with Data Discs for this Sonic Mania vinyl? Are you picking up a copy? Let us know in the comments below.

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SEGA to share some Archie Comics news this week

archiecomicscancelledDid you know that San Diego Comic Con is happening later this week? Its no surprise that the Sonic PR team did a live stream that actually mentions the whole Archie Comics and SEGA drama. If you don’t know what we are talking about, we did a whole SEGA News Bits episode discussing the matter, you can check that out. But basically comic pre-orders where cancelled for upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog comics, with people saying Archie Comics and SEGA have been working out a new deal for the hedgehog license. Its been months of radio silence on both ends but according to Aaron Webber, “the silence will be broken soon”, I assume we will have big news either way prior or at SDCC. The only thing that will be interesting is if SEGA stays with Archie Comics or if they move on with a new publisher.

The last Sonic the Hedgehog issue to be released has been Sonic the Hedgehog #290, which hit store shelves on December 28, 2016. So its been almost half a year. Its not like Archie Comics didn’t have more Sonic the Hedgehog issues planned as they sent out solicitations for #291, #292 and #293. They also haven’t released the super hyped, Sonic Mega Drive – Orverdrive one-shot that a lot of fans have been looking forward to.

Along with that, Aaron Webber has also promised more Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces news later this week, as teased in the live stream. What is your thoughts on the whole Archie Comics and SEGA licensing situation? Let us know in the comments below!

Fastest Food Alive: Unboxing SEGA Forever Sonic the Hedgehog Gold Rings Cereal

Fastest Food Alive takes a look at a modern promotional item advertising something classic: SEGA Forever Gold Rings cereal! Made to resemble a box of cereal, complete with actual cereal and a toy surprise, SEGA Forever Gold Rings was released to spread the word of the SEGA Forever classic games collection. The collection will bring games from the SG-1000 through to the Dreamcast to mobile devices in a free to play or $1.99 each to remove ads format.

If you enjoyed the video make sure to like, share and subscribe to us on YouTube if you haven’t already. Thanks for the support!

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Sonic the Hedgehog augmented reality experience coming to San Diego Comic Con

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Via Sonic Stadium comes news that a Sonic the Hedgehog augmented reality experience is debuting at San Diego Comic Con. The AR experience was revealed on the event’s official site, and is said to take place in the Omni San Diego Hotel Grand Ballroom between Wednesday, July 19th and Sunday, July 23rd. Also planned is a Tuesday evening concert from Shota Nakama, creator of the Video Game Orchestra, and a dome takeover on Friday.

Sega is presenting an AR Sonic experience and a special concert with the awesome Shota Nakama on Thursday evening, and dome takeover on Friday!

WHERE: Omni San Diego Hotel, Grand Ballroom, 4th Floor

WHEN: Wed., 7/19: Developer & Public Preview, 6:00–9:00 PM • Thu.–Sat., 7/20-7/22: 9:30 AM–7:00 PM • Sun., 7/23: 9:30 AM–5:00 PM

Once more is revealed, we’ll be sure to share!

[Source: San Diego Comic Con]

SEGA News Bits: Sonic Forces E3 2017 Hands On Impressions

Hello fellow SEGA fans, today on the SEGA News Bits we have our Sonic Forces E3 2017 hands on impressions video where SEGAbits staff writers Kori-Maru and Bartman3010 talk about the different types of gameplay in Sonic Forces, level design, musical changes, graphical differences between consoles and much more. This is the first time Sonic Forces has been playable by the pubic, so these early Sonic Forces E3 2017 hands on impressions are important to gauge the quality of the final product. Whatever you might think of Sonic Forces, you have to admit that there is quite a robust package being shown at this year’s E3 event and with this video we discuss all the demos that happened to be playable for the first time. Tell us in the comments below what your opinion on Sonic Forces so far and what did you think of our Sonic Forces E3 2017 hands on impressions?

If you enjoy our SEGA News Bits segments and want to support us: Give us a sub and give this video a like so it shows up on more like minded fans YouTube recommendations. You know, how that new YouTube algorithm is. Thanks for the support. If you want to read our full Sonic Forces E3 2017 hands on impressions in written format, check that out here.

[UPDATED] Data Discs to release Sonic Mania soundtrack vinyl

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Announced via a press release sent out on Sonic the Hedgehog’s 26th anniversary, Data Discs will be releasing a vinyl soundtrack for Sonic Mania! The exclusive vinyl is another SEGA release from the vinyl record company, and Sonic Mania is NOT the next in their numbered series of vinyls. The company has confirmed there will be no OBI (that paper strip found on the edge of other Data Disc releases) and the catalog number is DATA-S. The album will feature select tracks from composer Tee Lopes and exclusive gatefold art in the classic style of Sonic, Tails and Knuckles in the remixed Green Hill Zone. Three variations will be released: blue, black and a limited edition version. Pre-orders start in mid-July, and the album will include a download code of the album tracks in both lossy and lossless formats.

After the break check out the press release and the cover art!

Sonic the Hedgehog’s 25th anniversary comes to an end as the blue blur turns 26

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Happy Birthday, Sonic – now give us our presents! Today marks Sonic the Hedgehog’s 26th anniversary, which officially signals the end of Sonic’s 25th. While the past year has been light on games, the biggest moments for the franchise has been a change in focus in several areas. Sonic Boom has seen a massive downgrade. Originally a multimedia alternate branch from the main Sonic franchise, featuring games, toys, comics, an animated show and a big fan event in New York in 2014; now only the animated series remains. As of this moment, no season 3 is confirmed and less than twenty season 2 episodes have yet to be aired. Could Sonic Boom be on the way out? Funnily enough, Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice was the only Sonic game to release during the 25th anniversary timeframe, making it technically the 25th anniversary game. A Japan only special edition with 25th anniversary swag supports this.

First 4 Figures shows off their amazing Sonic the Hedgehog 25th Anniversary figure

The people over at First 4 Figures making some amazing, quality figures that can be rather expensive (quality costs money) and it seems they have out did themselves with their latest Sonic the Hedgehog 25th Anniversary figure. You can see the scale of the Sonic the Hedgehog 25th Anniversary figure above and the figure is HUGE! So huge, I capitalized huge. How huge is that? The Sonic the Hedgehog 25th Anniversary figure goes for pre-order on June 6th and will cost you a cool $384.99! A figure for the serious collectors.

If you want to see more of the statue, the guys over at First 4 Figures will have a live stream on June 6th:

  • 7:00am (California)
  • 10:00am (New York),
  • 3:00pm (London)
  • 4:00pm (Germany)
  • 10:00pm (Hong Kong)

First 4 Figures will also be giving away reward points, if you follow these instructions on their facebook page. First 4 Figures also has a wide array of other SEGA IP premium figures on their website; including Shenmue, Virtua Fighter, Jet Set Radio and even Skies of Arcadia. So if the blue blur isn’t for you, you should check out what other SEGA IPs they have done figures for.  What do you guys think of this Sonic the Hedgehog 25th Anniversary figure? Are you picking up one? Let us know in the comments below.

SEGA News Bits: Sonic Forces Custom Character Reaction

Sonic Forces custom character creator was revealed this morning, making this the 3rd game play style in the game. If you guys didn’t know, we discussed a Sonic Forces custom character (mostly as a rumor) in a couple of our past videos and now it seems that its actually true.  On this SEGA News Bits we discuss our thoughts on the Sonic Forces custom character game play, talk about the Sonic fan creation community, check out some hidden Easter eggs found in the trailer, and much more. So tune in to our special SEGA News Bits talking about Sonic Forces custom character reveal. What are your thoughts on Sonic Forces‘ using a custom character as its third gameplay? Let us know in the comments below.

If you enjoy our SEGA News Bits segments and want to support us: Give us a sub and give this video a like so it shows up on more like minded fans YouTube recommendations. You know, how that new YouTube algorithm is.

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Fan creates Sonic Mania Studiopolis Zone Winamp skin

Sonic Mania is a game that embraces old school aesthetics, so it is fitting that fellow SEGA and Sonic fan Ineedmorcowbell created a Sonic Mania skin for the old school program Winamp. Initially released in 1997, Winamp is a freemium media player for Windows, Android, and macOS. If you had a computer between 1997 and now, chances are you downloaded this program and still have it on your machine. What Ineedmorcowbell’s skin does is turn the entire player into Studiopolis Zone.

Ineedmorcowbell has this to say about the project:

After watching game play of Sonic Mania’s Studiopolis Zone, and seeing the Hornet Van. I felt like it needed to dance! This whole project was built around getting that Van to dance! From there, I designed how all the windows and standard features would be reskinned. There is all kinds of animations like the clouds moving, or lights glowing, to the projector playing different animations that react to the music.

All the sprites for this skin have been redrawn by myself! I used the debut, and various game play videos to collect the sprites to use, then redrew them in a much lower resolution. Similar to the original Genesis games. To produce a much crisper look then just using them straight from the videos. The only things that I didn’t redraw were some of the animations for the projector that use the developer logos and intro for the game. Christian Whitehead was redrawn because the original design was very seizure inducing. The Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles Head was done in illustrator.

I spent a lot of time and work really hard on this, so let me know what you think!

You can learn more about the skin and download it here. If you have any questions or comments for the creator, you can chat with him in our forums!

Swingin’ Report Show #87: Sonic the Hedgehog 25th Anniversary Art Book – Cook & Becker CEO Maarten Brands

The SEGAbits Swingin’ Report Show is back, bringing you an interview with Maarten Brands, CEO of Cook & Becker who is behind the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 25th Anniversary Art Book! In this, his first public interview talking about the book, Maarten goes into the history of the international art dealership Cook & Becker, how the SEGA partnership began and what fans can expect from the Sonic art book.

The book releases soon and comes in two editions, which you can pre-order now:
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 25TH ANNIVERSARY ART BOOK – COLLECTOR’S EDITION
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 25TH ANNIVERSARY ART BOOK – STANDARD HARDCOVER

[Download] [RSS] [iTunes] [Archive]

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SEGA in the Media: The Circle asks “Mario or Sonic?”

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Welcome to another SEGA in the Media! Its always fun spotting references to SEGA and its games in movies and television, but for me it is doubly fun when they screw it up somehow. Like when Suburban Commando tried to act like After Burner was some outer space alien game or when Jackie Chan gave a kid in a wheelchair a Game Gear with no games. Today we’re featuring the upcoming movie The Circle. I’ll admit, I’m late on this one. The trailer released back in December, and by the time I thought to make an article I had figured the movie was already out. But nope, they’re still advertising this and it is still not out! Do we really need five months of advertising for this stupid movie?

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New Sonic mobile game Sonic Runners Adventure leaked

Sonic-Runners-Adventure-banner-1A new Sonic mobile game has been leaked called Sonic Runners Adventure, an apparent successor/sequel to the controversial Sonic Runners that was released globally in 2015 but shut down in 2016. The most notable difference between the original and this new game is the change of developers, Sonic Runners Adventure being handled by Gameloft, a studio that produces miscellaneous mobile games. Sonic Runners Adventure was originally leaked in a dedomil.net forum post, further supported by the Gameloft website having a customer support section for the game.

The support page in particular goes into detail over different aspects of the game. A notable change is that online is not mandatory, only being needed at launch and to access external links, unlike it’s predecessor Sonic Runners where online is needed at all times. Another change is that characters can be directly purchased with Rings, while Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles are unlocked automatically by playing through the storyline. Characters are also divided up by three categories, Hero, Dark, and Chaotix, each category having a unique skill that triggers after collecting 300 rings. There are also three different ways the game is played. Finite where the goal is to simply reach the end, Looped where you race around a short level with the goal of reaching the end of the last lap, and Infinite where a level continuously plays until you clear a certain objective.

No word has been officially stated by SEGA, but stay tune for more information to likely drop of Sonic Runners Adventure in the future.

SEGA and Archie still in talks over Sonic the Hedgehog license

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If you didn’t know, the Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series has been delayed, this is the second month in a row that the series hasn’t appeared in solicitations, and of course this has long time fans worried. Archie Sonic the Hedgehog artist, Tracey Yardley gave us an update stating that Archie and SEGA are still ‘in talks’ regarding the comics, stating that if any updates happen he would let everyone know.

You can see ComicVine’s Archie solicitations and notice that Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comic series is absent. If you didn’t already know, Archie Comics recently also cancelled the Mega Man comic book series, so its looking weary for Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comic books which happen to be the longest video game running comic book series of all time. It is also confirmed that Sonic the Hedgehog Volume 5 graphic novel and Sonic Mega Drive: Overdrive #1 have been cancelled by Archie Comics. Sonic Mega Drive: Overdrive #1 was suppose to be the final part of the highly praised Mega Drive arc, a one-shot comic book series that debuted last year. As for our opinions on the whole thing, we did a pretty interesting SEGA News Bits video discussing our opinions, hopes and thoughts on the possibility of Archie cancelling the series.

But tell us what your thoughts on all this news is? Are you worried about the Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series?

[Via: Sonic Stadium]