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!

Ever wondered what Sonic 3 mashed with one of Lucky Star’s most annoying yet funny character would sound like? Akhts decided to try it out in the below video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Direct link
Thanks to Pearl at the SSMB for the heads up.

If that wasn’t enough Alex Day has expressed his thoughts about modern Sonic games in song which even the most hardcore Sonic fans should get a laugh out of.

Direct link

Thanks to Indigo Dude at the SSMB for the heads up.

OK, so a few weeks ago I saw an entry for the Bentley Jones So Much More Video Contest by Sonictoast that blew my hat off my head, with live action, stop motion, and a bloke dressed as Eggman. Well, today I spotted a nifty bit of art appear on BJ’s facebook page. Perousing facetube following a series of links turned up this cover of So Much more by a band called “Freen In Green”, which gives the track an Indie makeover – percussion, bass, rhythm and melody guitars, and of course some vocalz. 75% of band appear to be hiding off camera / behind hair, but I guess that’s forgiven because there’s a pretty good attempt at the solo! Anyway, this is another spiffing example of what you can do to really sweep away the competition and do something original, as well as have fun with your mateys (because it’ cool to show you have friends!). Anyway, I think this has made it onto my list of entries where “if it doesn’t place I will bear my backside in Fenwick’s window“. I like to put my money where my mouth is, so Yamino, if you don’t place in the winners, I will send you a consolation prize!

Check out the video!:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Oh, and they also have an account on facebook too!

You’ve only have until Friday (5th of March 2010) to get your entries in, so if you haven’t done so yet, you’ve got a busy couple of days ahead of you! If you spot any good entries, lets us know in the comments!

[Bentley Jones Official Site]

Click here to view the embedded video.

While sorting out “merch mountain” on my day off today I’ve been crusing youtube for my usual selection of heavy metal, Bentley Jones contest entries (still waiting for more killers!)…and eventually I came to this. A lot of you will already know of back2s0ul on youtube already, but this looks like it’s fairly new. The animation is fab and fluid, the choice of tune is catchy (Good ol’ Junior Senior, and this video seems to fit in quite well with their acid trip style of video) and there’s also a nod to the Sonic OVA.What more could you ask for. Why are you still reading! Watch the video…and perhaps this one too…over, and over, and over…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Watch “An Itch Sonic Can’t Scratch” BIG STYLIN’

Did you know ex UK Prime Minister Tony Blair enjoys a bit of Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing? Well if you own the DS version you’ll find he is a very competitive player as he is in quite a few of the top 6 leaderboards. Think you can beat his times?

I appear to be far to slow at posting…I’ve already been beaten to this by Shadzter! No doubt we’ll all looking forward to being able to relentlessly slam Sonic’s car into a wall until he submits and gives us Axel from Streets of Rage as DLC…or something.

I quite like how this is a blank canvas, so here’s what I want you to do…get yer pencils, pens, paper and drawing tablets out and have a good doodle on this for me. Write speach coming out of the mannequin’s mouth. Give it humourous expressions. Graffiti on him. Turn them into Sonic characters. Take your favourite frame and draw/photoshop your avatar in… I don’t mind what skill level you have, or what you do…I’m looking for entries that make me laugh. Make me laugh hard enough, and maybe you’ll be rewarded handsomely with a SEGA prize Europe Sonic the Hedgehog plush for the effort.

You have until next Friday (5th of March 2010) to get your scribbles in. Please send all entries to the usual competition address: tbird [at] sonicstadium.org. This competition is open worldwide (although I’m secretly hoping there’s no one talented in Alaska as I don’t fancy thouse postage costs!). Best entries will be posted up here next week.

EDIT: POUR EXAMPLÉ:

Read the original article over on the SEGA Blognik.

Thanks to Silva Rymes for sending us these photos.

Photos via Wendy Cat’s Flickr.

Jim Sterling at Destructiod, like many people in the online community, has had it with the perpetual complaints from video game “fans”. In two of his recent articles published over the last day, he specifically singles out the current responses to Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1. Jim tackles a lot of the complaints that have so far been made about Sonic 4:

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — Sonic was never about speed. Sure, speed was a factor, but it was there as a gameplay reward, not a gameplay substitute. The focus was on level design, and you’d get short sections of rails-like speed as little exhilarating treats throughout the game. Go play the first three Sonic games again and try to tell me that it was about speed. Compare Sonic 3 to Sonic 4 and try to tell me that Sonic is “too slow.”

Then there are other arguments. Petitions for Sonic to be redesigned so that he looks exactly like his 16-bit counterpart. People going so far as to criticize the fact that Sonic has some color in his eyes, or that his legs are too long. Once again, this is a game people have wanted for a long time, and as soon as they get it, they start finding other things to moan about.

You can read the full article at Destructoid.

Not only this, it turns out that there are some generating petitions that involve buying Sonic 1 on Sonic 4 launch day (A very original idea, of course – see: Rage Against the Machine for Christmas No. 1 ), effectively telling SEGA they want a remake of the original rather than something new.

So, what is your opinion then? Is Jim right? Should supposed fans who don’t like what they’ve seen of Sonic the Hedgehog 4 so far shut up? Perhaps if the series is so far gone in your opinion, maybe you should stop playing the games…or as Jim puts it “Maybe just shut up about everything and try to enjoy something.”

Alot of people in Europe will have received their copies of Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing in the post today if not tomorrow, those of you who pre-ordered the Xbox 360/PS3 versions with specific retailers e.g. in the UK GAME, Gamestation and Gameplay will have gotten their pre-order gift code to allow you to play as Ryo Hazuki in his forklift truck as his main vehicle.

I’ve received my Xbox 360 version in the post and code by e-mail so I’ve been playing as him for the past couple of hours and after my experience I thought I’d share some notes and warnings.

1. You can play as Ryo Forklift on and offline

2. Ryo forklift is treated as a seperate character so one person can be Ryo-Forklift and another as Ryo-bike, this works on and offline.

3. You’ll be given an hard time online using Ryo Forklift as barely anyone knows about this pre-order gift code, especially those in countries that didnt get this bonus so people will be accusing you of cheating and/or hacking to use your All-Star Move throughout the game but Ryo-F has his own ASM that like the other characters cant be obtained in online play. In most cases people will have a go at you over their headset, leave or cancel the session. Its been happening to me over and over for the past couple of hours, so this gift is best to be played with locally with friends and/or family.

Sorry to be a downer and this isnt me having a public rant, I just thought I should warn people and pass on the the top 2 tib-bits of info. I hope this will enlighten people who have seen Ryo-Forklift on their travels online and thought the person using him was cheating/hacking.

Seen at AOU 2010 in Japan:

Also, a sweet Sonic costume:

[via UK:R]