English version of The History of Sonic book coming courtesy of Udon?

GoNintendo has stumbled upon a pre-order listing on Amazon for Pix’N Love’s The History of Sonic book. The fact that there is an English language version isn’t a surprise, since Pix’N Love confirmed that one is in the works earlier this month. What is a surprise is that the book is not being sold on Pix’N Love’s English site, and that the book looks to be published by Udon Entertainment. Udon Entertainment, for those who don’t know, is a Canadian based publisher responsible for gaming art books both original and imported including the Valkyria Chronicles 2: World Artworks book and the upcoming The Eyes of Bayonetta art book. So has Pix’N Love left the English language duties to Udon? Seems like it. The English translation already exists, as it was approved alongside the French translation several months ago. So at most, Udon would have to handle printing and perhaps a slight redesign to the cover to accomodate their logo. Pix’N Love estimated that the book would sell for between $45 and $50, and the MSRP on Amazon matches that guess at $49.99. However, Amazon currently lists the book for a cool $32.14. The release date is tentatively October 9, 2012. An Amazon.co.uk listing also exists, however a price is not given. The UK release date is listed as September 19, 2012.

A big thanks to Tracker the Doggy for the heads up!

Sonic pops up in Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz via DLC


Sonic the Hedgehog
will be turning 21 years old in a few days, what best way to celebrate his birthday in Japan than giving users a free Sonic DLC pack? The DLC pack is for Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz on the Playstation Vita, so far this DLC has only been announced for Japan since the game isn’t really out in the west yet.

The only thing this free piece of downloadable content really gives you is a model of Sonic, as an object that you can use to in stage creation mode. That means that when you share your banana-fied courses of mass destruction, you can now put a happy looking Sonic giving the player a wag of his finger. No, not that finger, keep it PG.

 

The Mystery Science Theater guys briefly rip on Sonic ’06

Leave Sonic alone! Oh wait, it’s Sonic ’06 you’re kicking in the ribs? Please, continue.

Former Mystery Science Theater 3000 stars and current RiffTrax riffers Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett applied their brand of making witty comments while watching movies to a slew of video game cutscenes over at Joystiq. One of their subjects was none other than 2006’s Sonic the Hedgehog. Just what nice things do the guys have to say about Sonic getting some love from Princess Elise? Well, see for yourself here. Sonic’s scene starts at the 1:11 mark, but you might as well watch the full thing.

Sonic Monopoly gets officially announced

We knew this was coming, USAopoly had a listing for it awhile back. Now it is official via USAopoly’s facebook, which announced Sonic Monopoly this morning. So what do we know about this board game beside that it’s a Sonic themed Monopoly game? Nothing much sadly. All we have is the picture above and the quote below.

“Here is a sneak peek at a few Sonic The Hedgehog titles speeding their way to retail shelves in the near future, also be on the lookout for a new Sonic puzzle as well!”

Yeah, there is also going to be a puzzle game based on the Sonic the Hedgehog IP. Not that its as exciting to fans as a monopoly game. If you don’t have the money for it, you can check out BarryTheNomad’s free print out Sonic Monopoly project here.

First4Figures reveals their modern Sonic statue

Via their Facebook page, First4Figures have revealed the first in their modern line of Sonic statues: Sonic the Hedgehog. Like the photo says, pre-orders start May 15th, 2012 and there will be a very limited number of statues available. I have to say, when I heard of a modern line I was iffy, but this statue looks great! While I won’t be getting it, the F4F statues are too rich for my blood, I do love looking at photos of them. What do you think, dear readers? Would you let this hedgehog into your home?

Spoiler Alert: See every page of The History of Sonic book

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGURDOlBcQ8

Pix’n Love Publishing’s The History of Sonic book has finally released… in French! So while English readers await the release of the English version, which is coming, enjoy this spoileriffic page by page video of the book. The book looks to be very impressive, with a lot of artwork and screens as well as a good amount of text, a nice balance of pictures and words in my opinion. The most awesome aspect of the book is that it has never before seen artwork! After the break, part two of the book.

SEGA in the Media: Tosh.0 reveals how Sonic died

I’m starting to think comedian Daniel Tosh is a Sonic fan. Back in 2010 his Comedy Central show Tosh.0 did a segment on real life speed runs, based off of a Sonic 2 speed run video. On the March 13th episode of this year, Sonic got another mention in a segment on a failed parkour video. After showing a woman smashing her face into a concrete wall, Tosh quipped “of course the greatest parkourer of all time was Sonic the Hedgehog – who died turboing through a triple corkscrew. He got greedy.” You can see the full segment at the Tosh.0 show page, tell them SEGAbits sent you.

Check out this Sonic the Hedgehog hack, the prequel “Dr.Robotnik’s Creature Capture”!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2dFzO_LEAFE#!

Ever wonder how Eggman captures all those little animals and stuffs them into a capsule? A recently released hack of Sonic the Hedgehog answers this question with “Dr.Robotnik’s Creature Capture”! The game has you, as Robotnik aka Eggman, running about the first Sonic the Hedgehog’s stages catching animals with a net and placing them in a capsule. Once the capsule is full, you must find the sign post and turn it from Sonic to Robotnik, thus setting the stage for Sonic the Hedgehog. Hurry and fill that capsule before Sonic begins his own game! So in essence, it’s a prequel.

You can find the game at sonicresearch.org, so give it a play and if you’re inclined to leave them a comment, let them know SEGAbits sent you.

Check out these hand painted Sonic the Hedgehog shoes

lumpyheadedbunny over at Reddit has posted their ‘Sonic the Hedgehog‘ hand painted shoes. Oh, yes, they look nice and flashy. So how long did it take them to paint the shoes? 45-65 hours per pair. You are probably going to ask how much it would cost to have lumpyheadedbunny make you a pair. The answer is: $350+. Yes, too rich for my blood.

He says he is working on a site to put all his designs. That is cool, what do you guys think? Is he charging too much? Can you do better?

Check It Out: Sonic the Hedgehog Medley Performed Live!

Full disclosure: I know the bass player in this video, he’s marrying my wife’s best friend. But regardless of whether I know him or not, it’s a good set! I was there live the night they played this. The group is called Beta Test and they perform in and around the Philadelphia, PA area. The night they performed this, March 3, 2012, they also played music from Super Mario Land and the Zelda series. I asked my wife which set she liked most and she said the Sonic one. I asked if she was just saying that because I was the one asking, but she said she honestly liked the Sonic music the most! If she had said “Mario”, it would not have been a good night.

Four Sonic the Hedgehog titles being removed from Nintendo’s Japanese Virtual Console

Most of the retro Sonic titles are being removed from the Japanese Virtual Console service. There has ben no word if these games will also be removed from the American and European Virtual Console. Games removed from Virtual Console can’t be bought by any new users, though they can be redownloaded once bought.

The Sonic titles being removed:

  • Sonic the Hedgehog 1
  • Sonic the Hedgehog 2
  • Sonic and Knuckles
  • Sonic the Hedgehog (MS)
Reason wasn’t given for the pull.

Sonic the Hedgehog is faster than lighting

Can you see Sonic going super speed? Most people would assume he would be a sexy blurry mess. Well, Reddit user josepheatsbrains used the power of the brush to bring this painting alive. Not a super difficult piece, but I like the look of brush strokes.

If you guys stumble upon any other great fan made projects, throw us a line or post them in the comment section!

SEGA in the Media: Breaking Bad plays a Broken, Bad Sonic Game

The AMC series Breaking Bad has depicted some pretty detestable things, including producing and selling meth, but perhaps the show’s biggest offense was the depiction of characters enjoying Sonic ’06. In the eleventh episode of season four, titled “Crawl Space”, the character Jesse plays a two player match of Sonic vs. Shadow in Wave Ocean with his girlfriend’s son. Warning: the following clip features some very bad pretend video game playing.

Tails getting his own collectible statue

If you saw the title and got a bit excited, you are probably a Tails fan. Hi, how are you doing? Good? Great. First things first, who is making the figure? First 4 Figures, they are known for doing other Sonic collectible statues. How much is it going to cost? A cool $199.99. Expensive yes, but it is 12 inches and only limited to 500 units. Did I mention it has two fully spinning tails and a mushrooms that pulse with light?

Its damn impressive, hit the jump to see a ton of pictures of the statue in action.