In light of a few random messages we’ve been getting over the last week, we thought we’d better clear up some of the confusion people are having. The Sonic Stadium used to be host to a news service called ‘Sonic News’. This service involved providing readers with the latest happenings in the Sonic universe by being unbiased, serious and generally governed with a rod up its bum. ‘Sonic News’ became the new word for ‘The Sonic Stadium’, as it was the main thing getting updated every now and then, so something was done to combat this (as it was, after all, getting annoying. There is a website accompanying the news service, you know).

We brought back the News area into The Sonic Stadium. So, as we stated in our very first introductory post since we relaunched last month, Sonic News does not exist anymore. It’s not here. You can’t find it. Not even playing Hide and Seek. It’s gone for good. All news will be relayed via The Sonic Stadium, and will provide the facts you need to know coupled with some entertaining writing and perhaps even some thoughtful/homourous opinion. We are allowed to think independently of SEGA, despite our connections - the Rt. Hon. Romily Broad would have wanted it that way.

“Oh dear Svend, but a News site doesn’t apply opinion into their stories”. Quite right Sir/Madam, which is where you made your first mistake. The Sonic Stadium isn’t a news source. It’s a Sonic fansite. We write about Sonic because we are passionate about the series, we collect the games and merchandise, we watch the shows (even the piss poor ones like Underground). And further, we want to be a fansite that connects with you, another fan. If you don’t agree with our opinions, fine. But don’t get confused as to why we’re trying to be funny, or trying to pour some personality into a post to begin with.

We have different awesome writers with different opinions, making for a fruity bowl of Sonic fun. We could heavily edit some of our work to be a bit more ‘unbiased’ - I almost heavily edited the “Sonic and the Black Knight” article from last night. But you know what? What’s the point if fans can’t go a bit crazy sometimes and just tell it like it is? And if you don’t like it, why do you care?

This is, for all intents and purposes, a blog. Not a news site. If you wanted really serious, boringly-told stories with your seizure-inducing gaming session of Sonic Heroes, you shouldn’t be going to a fansite. You should be going to CNN. And you shouldn’t be playing Sonic Heroes.

We hear a lot of people were in fact confused about why the ‘News stories on Sonic News had gone downhill’, and I thought it best to explain why. This is not Sonic News, we have not gone downhill, we are writing to entertain and to inspire your mind. Or something. And if you didn’t read this, at least we’re covered just in case you’re Quexinos and want to complain that facts you provided to Sonic News in 2007 were sourced incorrectly (that’s why the post doesn’t exist anymore, Richard). Got it? Cool. Let’s rock.

A ‘true Sonic fan’, reading The Sonic Stadium yesterday. Like, chill out man. Walk outside for a bit.

Looks like a few people want Sonic to go all ‘Legend of Zelda’ on us after all. Since our (note) not-news-story broke of the new Wii game, we have had a few comments of complaint. It’s nice when people don’t bother to use the ‘Contact’ form to inform us of new Sonic happenings, but it’s used up the wazoo when a BLOG states its opinion on a new title. Guess all people can do is complain.

But we thought we’d address each comment directly, and provide a broad generalisation as to just why we reacted the way we did. So here goes.

dude seriously i dont think you are a sonic fan i mean seriously mario had to travel through space to find a freaking princess its the same story line over and over again, so what if sonic makes a game about sub characters it just adds to the story line, at least sega is trying unlike  nintendo, or YOU, they have great ideas, u can take this feed back anyway u want, seriously just let sonic be the way he is, and stop bitching about something new about him,

yous sincerely a true sonic fan

We’re not Sonic fans at all, no. Oh sorry, for a second there I thought we were on the Mario Stadium and not the Sonic Stadium. OK, so Super Mario has to repeat the same basic storyline ad nauseum. But think about it. Do you play a Sonic game for its gripping storyline? If you do, you’re probably better off grabbing an RPG and playing that - recent attempts to add a ’serious’ tone to the Sonic games have been poor, and it shows it’s just not possible in the realm of Sonic. When you consider we’ve had seven years of poor console Sonic titles you’d think Sonic Team would drop the whole ‘plot’ thing by now.

Funnily enough, if we wanted to bitch about Sonic, we would really be having a go at Sonic Unleashed right now. But we’re not, because 50% of that game is looking absolutely fantastic. There’s this weird perception at the moment that, because a game concept is totally rubbish (Sonic with a sword? Really?) and we say it is, that means we’re automatically ‘bitching’.

You like the idea of Sonic and the Black Knight. Good for you. Seriously. Have a brownie. But don’t tell us where to get off because a lot of other people are facepalming themselves right now. Consider: Sonic Rush Adventure, the Sonic side of Sonic Unleashed. Now consider: Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic 2006. The latter two games sucked - you might love Shadow or Sonic 2006, but no opinion will get around the fact that they are poor, misprogrammed, rubbish-concept games.

What is a ‘true Sonic fan’ anyway?

Read the rest of this entry »

Words cannot express how pissed off I am right now.  This “leaked” Nintendo Power cover better be a hilarious prank. Knowing SEGA, though, I doubt that it is.

Svend: “Dear SEGA…

NO.

Yours sincerely,

Everyone”

EDIT: Whoever scanned this cover is obviously unaware of the rules of the Internets, so we removed his name and address where necessary. Can we learn how to do this in future so we don’t end up having to do proper work? (EDIT 2: This was a joke at ourselves and not at the awesome dude who originally scanned this page. We had to write this disclaimer because several retards kept assuming we were taking the piss out of the poor chap.)

SFGHQ member, Shadix, has posted the first chunk of information for the 2008 Sonic Amateur Game Expo.  Currently, the thread has surfaced only at SFGHQ, but it will shortly be making its rounds to every major Sonic fansite, including TSS.  Here’s the scoop on what’s confirmed for this year’s event:

GAMES

• SONIC NEXUS - a new engine and demo featuring a brand new zone
• SUPER MARIO KINGDOMS - created by Sonic XG team member, Nitemare
• SONIC FRENZY ADVENTURE - a new demo!
• SONIC TIME TWISTED - the only good fangame to implement time travel
• THE WHITE BOX - featuring Sonic Puzz, Avalon REMAKE, and Destiny Blade

CHAT ROOM GUESTS

• RYAN DRUMMOND - time of appearance to be announced at a later date

COMPETITIONS

• THE REMIX COMPETITION - remix a tune from Sonic CD that’s at least 2:00 in length and NOT a midi rip
• COMPLETE GAME - if your game is complete when SAGE rolls around, you’ll get your project spotlighted on the front page!

OTHER CONFIRMED DETAILS

• SAGE EXTRAS - comics, videos, and other non-game media are welcome to be put on display.  Contact Shadix for more information.
• SAGECASTS - it has been around since the beginning.  Listen in or host a SAGEcast!
• WORKSHOPS - none have been confirmed, but there are unannounced ones that have been lined up

Stay tuned for more information regarding the biggest, Sonic online community event for the past decade - SAGE 2008.

Source: SFGHQ

Probably because they’d pronounce it “Un-reashed” and that would just be silly, SEGA Japan has taken it upon itself to rename Sonic’s latest outing for Asian territories.

There were massive rumours that the game had suffered a name change - heavily debunked by SEGA Europe, with the explanation that World Adventure was merely a work-in-progress title. Turns out nobody keeps each other informed in the land of SEGA, and now we have semi-confirmation (semi because it is Japan only after all) in the form of a new official website.

There’s really not a lot else going on with the website, so don’t expect waves of information. But if you’d like an updated Sonic Un… World Adventure experience check it out. The website does look very nice though.

Dasgamer have put up their thoughts on Sonic Unleashed at E3 and were lucky enough to meet Sonic the Werehog in person (well… OK, just a guy that’s dressed up for Halloween early, then). Like Sega’s past Sonic costumes (apart from the Mario & Sonic costumes) it really does resemble the in-game model. Would be good advertising for the game’s November release if Sega could put out some Halloween Werehog costumes to go trick-or-treating in, you could hold alot of candy with those hands.

Dasgamer article

Smart company Blaze have gone and done it, they’ve created a handheld Mega Drive for you to show off on your travels. The portable machine has 20 built-in games and runs off triple A batteries and can also be hooked up to your TV.

Games included are -

The handheld is out now and retails for £29.99. You can buy it here.

The 2008 Sonic Amateur Game Expo, hosted by Sonic Fan Games HQ, is exactly one month away and to celebrate, TSS member Huepow00 is helping build excitement by releasing a teaser video.  The video also serves as a reminder for those who are thinking of entering to start working if you haven’t already, so get going people!  The show can never have enough projects!  Guests (most notably, Ryan Drummond, who is back for his second year) and events are being finalized and added as we speak, so it looks to be another stellar community event.

SAGE 2008 will start August 17th at 12 AM GMT.  Registration for booths will happen August 4th through the 8th.

Check out Huepow’s SAGE 2008 Teaser

Check out the SAGE 2008 Press Site

Everyone and his dog wants to go to the Summer of Sonic convention. That much is obvious. So what exactly will be there for people to salivate over? Sure, Sonic nerds like me and you can hang and play Sonic Rivals for six hours, but will there be any EXCLUSIVES, yo!?

Well guess what. If you can even manage to get inside the hall on the day (I’m not even joking, it’s going to be packed in there) then your prize will be playing Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood first. Before anyone else in the world (it’s being released in September, you see). How does that strike you? You probably won’t be able to hear the lovely Richard Jacques soundtrack with all the background noise most likely, but we should have a remedy for that…… headphones, for example.

It’s probably a good idea to keep an eye on the Summer of Sonic website on a regular basis from now on - there are two (three?) more special guests that have yet to be revealed, all of which will make the Sonic fan cream thyself. The second special guest to complement Lee Brotherton will be announced tomorrow. If you fancy playing a little guessing game, head over to the SSMB where a clue has been dropped of the guest’s identity.

Play Sonic Chronicles Before Release - Summer of Sonic

Gamespot’s at E3. We aren’t. SAD FACE. But luckily Gamespot’s able to pick up the slack that we can’t otherwise manage, and have grabbed a SEGA Brand Manager guy to help showcase some real in-game demos of Sonic Unleashed. What’s interesting to note here is that the 3D segments, contrary to popular belief, are not on rails, and many are fully 3D analog-stick playable. We saw some areas in the China stage that looked more like a SatSR-style “shift left, shift right” style of 3D play, but generally we’re looking at some good old 3D movement here.

The guy demoing the game’s not too hot, and there was one section where Sonic glitched and failed an automatic spring-to-grind section, but the rest looks solid. We’re told that there will be equal nighttime versions of every stage, and Sonic segments will be much longer than the Werewolf ones to compensate for the speed at which you blitz through them. The nighttime alter ego is officially labelled as ‘Sonic the Werehog’, and the fighting aspect does look pretty cool.

Truth be told, this demo lays some concerns to rest, particularly with the Werehog. Sure, we could have done without any brawling segments at all and just had Sonic run from left to right and up a Z-axis, but the nighttime sections do look like they’re going to hold some enjoyable, classic platforming action. There are two attack buttons and a grab move in addition to your jump (which also has a double jump for additional height), and while Werehog isn’t as agile as traditional Sonic, he can use his massive arms to grab ledges and pull himself up. We still don’t like carrying pots around but grabbing enemies doesn’t seem compulsory at least. In fact, the whole thing reminds us that we want a new Streets of Rage game; this mechanic would be perfect for it.

SEGA pretty much confirmed that alternative characters may be playable (using the classic PR “We’re not ready to announce anything yet”) besides Sonic, which sounds like a bowl of fail. Let this be a game about Sonic for once and not his over-publicised friends. Sonic Unleashed will also have an online component, although quite what this is has yet to be revealed. Check the video if you have half an hour, it’s a good watch.

Sonic Unleashed E3 2008 Stage Show Demo - Gamespot (via SSMB)