When Gagaman of SEGA Memories wrote about the “Sonic Generation” fan art show in Philadelphia, PA, I knew I had to make the long trek to check it out. Grabbing my old near-broken digital camera (my new one is being repaired), I headed out into the tepid weather and braved the 9 minute subway ride to the Brave New Worlds comic book shop. The show, which is actually rather small despite the spiffy website, features various renditions of Sonic, Tails and Eggman from a variety of artists. Located in the outer lobby of Brave New Worlds, the gallery takes up what usually would have been a blank wall.
2011 has been a huge year for Sonic in a number of areas: we’ve seen the return of the Genesis-style gameplay, Archie’s Sonic series gave us a great adaptation of Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 and the toy company Jazwares has released a number of action figures celebrating Sonic’s 20th anniversary. While I haven’t been posting about the many figures here at SEGAbits, over at SEGA Network affiliate SEGA Memories I’ve been regularly sharing the Jazwares toys. As of this week I’ve collected the full line of 20th anniversary figures, at least until Jazwares releases more which they have hinted at doing. What follows is a handy roundup of all my Jazwares figure posts from the past year, where I review each figure and share photos. Enjoy!
The French are such lucky dogs (or should I say, “lucky frogs”? sorry, bad joke), they’re getting a beautiful 300 page book spanning the history of the Sonic franchise. Released by Pix’n Love Publishing, with approval from SEGA of Japan, the initial release touts a blue hardcover with a gold printed logo and a unique serial number. The book is up for pre-order with an expected January 2012 release and Pix’n Love ships worldwide for a nominal fee. I was able to preorder the book for 35.50 euros, that’s 30 euros for the book and only 5.50 euros for shipping, roughly $47. The downside? Most of it is in French, the upside, a bit of it is in English and there are a lot of pretty pictures to look at. Also, Pix’n Love Publishing has an English language site and they have released a few of their more popular French books in English. So if their History of Mario book is anything to go by, there may be a softcover English release of the Sonic book in late 2012. For more images of the book, check out their virtual preview on their pre-order page.
UPDATE: A rep from the UK Pix’n Love shop has said that an English version is coming, and pre-orders should start in a few weeks. Time to cancel that order from France!
Over 200 volunteers from SEGA, KaBoom! and Youth Uprising built a playground in Oakland, CA in just one day.
What better way to celebrate Sonics 20th anniversary than to build a playground? I think this is such an awesome idea and further cements in my mind that Sega are one of the best videogame companies out there and in fact goes a long way to show videogames aren’t all bad like the media likes to make it seem! As strange as it may sound I think it can be easy to forget that videogames are just as much for kids as they are for us adults that never grew up.
Yet more Sonic news today, here is some game play of the re-release of Sonic CD on Tablet devices, XBLA and PSN. It will feature improved physics, real HD and Tails as a playable character.
If you can find your way to a GameStop, you can test the game on tablets now.
While Sonic Generations is just over a week old, fans from all corners of the interwebs have started to discuss what’s next for the hedgehog. I would say it’s a bit too soon to start speculation on the next game, but even series producer Iizuka has started hinting towards the future. So with Generations considered completed and released, let’s look towards 2012 and beyond, and just what we might expect from the next Sonic game!
Thanksgiving may be three weeks away, but folks are already at work preparing for the famous Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. A cool video surfaced showing the kick-off of the balloon handlers practicing. There are lots of shout outs to Sonic’s 20th anniversary, as well as a fun little “let’s hear it for Sonic!” at the end. This sort of stuff gives me that warm fuzzy feeling last felt in 1993 when Sonic appeared in the parade. Though let’s hope the hedgehog doesn’t pop like he did back then.
Check out the Sonic Generations launch trailer, not long to wait now!
The game is generally scoring in the 8/10 region, which I think is well deserved.
Of course there is always one isn’t there? This time Tim Turi of Game Informer was the culprit. He took all but 4 minutes out of his life to write four paragraphs and call it a professional review. He gave Sonic Generations 6.75/10, I won’t provide a link to the ‘review’ because he decided to spoil the ending in it.
His reason for giving the game a mediocre rating? Apparently all post Dreamcast era levels ruin the game for him! Yep, somehow the aesthetic alone or perhaps simply knowing they are from post Dreamcast era has made the level design terrible. I suspect that Tim didn’t get the memo that they aren’t actually the SAME levels, they simply share the same aesthetic as the original levels.
GETTA LOADA THIS:
“Why would Sega pass up full level tributes to Sonic 3 or Sonic CD in favor of a remixed version of a stage from Sonic Colors, which released only a year ago?”
Game Informer.
I’m actually convinced that some critics wouldn’t know what made a good Sonic game if it hit them in the face. Was the concept of celebrating 20 years of Sonic lost on this guy? And why pick Planet Wisp of all levels to take out his misguided anger on? One of the best Sonic Levels in recent memory… There used to be something very wrong with Sonic games, now there is something wrong with videogame critics. I can’t believe they get paid for this shit- what a Joke.
In contrast, GameTrailers’ review was fantastic, it not only highlighted the best parts of the game, it mentioned the real issues too and does so in a truly professional manor. My hat is off to you GameTrailers!
Retro Sonic fans better enjoy their classic Sonic while they can, because it looks like they won’t be seeing him again, at least not for a while.
“Do you know what? There are no plans, to be brutally honest, to bring Classic Sonic back. The reason for bringing him back for this game was because this is a celebration of 20 years of Sonic. It was a real fitting time to do it. He’s really well loved. Let’s see how Generations does. You can never say never in this industry, but at the moment there are no plans.” – David Corless, Brand Manager SEGA Europe
Personally, I don’t see the point in bringing classic Sonic back after this, at least not until the 25th anniversary. Classic Sonic holds a special place in Sonic history. He is all about the 90s when cute little pudgy animals dominated video games. Let him continue to exist as a part of that era, not this one.
After many months of speculation, rumours, leaks and everything in between the latest Sonic Generations for PC news all but confirms what many Sega fans already know, Sonic Generations IS coming to PC! The latest news comes from Direct2Drive and GreenManGaming where recommended specs for the PC edition of Sonic Generations have been listed.
I’m really looking forward to seeing not only the beautiful Hedgehog Engine running on high end PC’s but also what the modding community can do with a good Sonic game, which Sonic Generations is shaping up to be!
Also revealed were the system requirements:
Minimum Requirements
Microsoft Windows 7/Vista/XP Intel Pentium Dual-Core T4200 (2×2.0GHz) or AMD equivalent 2GB RAM (Windows 7/XP)/3GB RAM (Windows Vista) NVIDIA GeForce 8800 / ATI Radeon HD 2900 11 GB free hard drive space
Recommended Requirements
Microsoft Windows 7 Intel Core i5 @ 2.66 GHz / AMD Phenom II X4 @ 3.0 GHz 3GB RAM NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 / ATI Radeon HD 5850 11 GB free hard drive space
It’s Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games… What a mouthful!
If there is something I don’t think anyone could fault Sega for, it’s their very impressive CGI and Mario/Sonic/London as I’m now calling it does not disappoint on the CGI front!
A great trailer and hopefully a great game! Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games will release for the Nintendo Wii on November 15th in North America, November 18th in Europe and the DS version will release Febuary 2012.
Well GagaMan is at it again (actually he was at it a while back, we’re just late with sharing it), in order to celebrate Sonic’s 20th Anniversary on time. DCJY dusted off their copy of Sonic Adventure 2: Birthday Pack and gave those who still haven’t owned it a definitive look at one of the most cherished Dreamcast Collectibles.
The review is even more spectacular, it echoing my own personal perspective towards the Gamecube (well that’s what the next Generation of Sonic fans grew up on).
Whether you like it or not a new Generation of fans have grown up on it, with just as much nostalgia for it as we have for the old games _ Master Gaga.
Much like their “Life with Archie” magazine, Archie is planning a quarterly magazine dedicated to Sonic “Sonic Super Special”. Similar to the UK’s “Sonic the Comic”, it will be mostly made of reprints of some of the bigger Sonic stories from the comics (although the UK version had new stories in theirs), but with some extra and articles included. The first issue arrives in late October. Press release after the clickity-click.
As a child of the late 80’s and early 90’s, two of my biggest obsessions were Sonic the Hedgehog and The Simpsons. Despite having very little to do with each other, both franchises were at their heights in the early 90’s. Sonic’s first game saw release in the summer of 1991, just as The Simpsons were nearing the end of their second season, debuting a number of episodes that came to define the series and showed that they had greatly improved upon the so-so first season. The Simpsons had also invaded the world of video games in 1991, with the release of Konami’s The Simpsons Arcade and, of note to SEGA fans, a number of Master System, Game Gear and Genesis titles. 1993 saw the release of The Simpsons Comics series and Archie’s Sonic the Hedgehog, both still in print to this day, a rare feat for licensed comics.
It was only a matter of time before The Simpsons and Sonic crossed paths by way of The Simpsons propensity to reference popular culture. In this week’s SEGA in the Media we take a look at all the moments Sonic appeared on The Simpsons!
A trailer which shows some of Sonics greatest highlights through the 20 years since his creation, most of the worst offenders in the series were tastefully left off of this video although Sonic 06 managed to sneak its way in there. Interestingly Sonic 4 was not included but thankfully Sonic Colours was, awesome!
Very excited for Sonic Generations, do us proud Sega!
