Game Videos have posted a cool off-screen video of Sonic Unleashed in action at Leipzig’s Game Convention. The most notable about this video – despite the fact that you can see for yourself how awesome it’s looking with it’s alternate paths – is the rather random first appearance of a new character called Chip. Now, remember when we broke news that Sonic Unleashed would add a new character to the series? Looks like we totally called it, but we never thought Sega would reveal his/it existence so unceremoniously. Seriously, we’d have thought there’d be some sort of super-announcement for it or something.

Chip, from what we’ve seen and heard, appears to be some sort of tutorial pal and may well be integral to the story. Long as he doesn’t say a damn word during levels (so far so good) and stays on a totally platonic relationship with Sonic, I think we’ll be OK. Seems kinda cute actually. I hope Sega are as careful with Chip in consideration for future games as they have been with Blaze and Marine and not, for example, Shadow, however. I wouldn’t want to see this purple thing in every Sonic game since.

Check out Sonic’s assessment of his ranking at the end of the level with Chip, and the proceeding breakdance once he’s discovered he got an ‘S’ ranking. Pure Sonic gold, that is.

Really really nice, as it happens! There were fears that the lack of horsepower on the waggle-console would lead to a decidedly crappier looking game, but Dimps appear to be doing a fantastic job of maintaining the style of the next-gen experience and pumping their own Wii-specific controls into it. Naturally there’s a graphical deficiency that you notice if you compare Wii to 360 graphics, and Nintendo’s console is having a bit of a palette downgrade going on (looking a bit more brown I’d say) but you gotta admit it’s pretty tasty all the same. Looks like Sega really do like to push the graphical power of the Wii as much as they can.

Hit the jump for the gallery, you can also see some Wiire-hog action going on. Look, he’s jumping over razorblades like in Sonic 1! But… he’s a werewolf! Khaaaan!

I had an interview with Miles Holmes, the Lead Designer at BioWare for Sonic Chronicles a while ago, which should be published on a website I’ve been writing for very soon. His favourite game is Sonic Heroes, as a random tidbit of information there. Interesting, no?

Hit the jump for the gallery of new screens.

Sure, we mock it but Sonic Unleashed is really turning out quite nice. We’re just not sure about the Werehog bit – he’s either fighting some alien creatures that, despite looking rather cute, seem like Sonic’s fighting Iblis Mk2 again (not very ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ at all), or he’s doing careful platform traversing that just makes you wonder “That could have been normal Sonic doing that in his stages”.

If Werehog’s doing all the skilful platforming, does that mean the awesome ‘speed’ stages that Sonic’s involved in has no substance other than just running full tilt and pressing the odd button every now and then? We hope not – only time can tell.

By the way, we’ve also been sent a BONUS ART PIECE for the game, you can click the image above to grab it in full size. Otherwise, hit the jump for screens of Werehog dealing out da punishment!

Head on over to NiGHTSintoDreams.com for the full diary and details.

TSS will post this footage as soon as it’s up, so be sure to check back to this news post. Again, SPECIAL THANKS to Mrs. Ditmer and NiGHTSintoDreams.com! There will be more info, including hands on impressions, in the next news update later today, so stay tuned

Well, Mario and Sonic at the Olympics took the award home today, according to Sega Europe’s blog. Certainly an impressive feat.

In addition to the award, Mario and Sonic took home some glowing praise from the media:

IGN’s impressions

GameSpot’s Impressions

Nothing else has been mentioned, other than the fact that the title exists. First details will pop up at the upcoming Tokyo Games Show in September.

However, this has not been the first time we have seen a potential next-gen Sonic – at E3 2005 The Sonic Stadium obtained some exclusive footage of a SEGA trailer that featured Sonic throwing ring boxes and destroying enemies in real time. Whether this trailer is any indication of what to expect from next generation Sonic is anyone’s guess right now; but we’d wager E3′s showcase was merely a technical demo.

When those details on ‘Sonic Next’ come out of the Tokyo Games Show, expect SONIC NEWS to be right there to relay the information to you.

Credit to “Metal King” and “MSQ” from the SSMB Forums for the heads-up.

August 17th will be a special developer’s-only day which Naka-san will attend, to present the three latest Sonic the Hedgehog titles in the saga (that’s Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic Gems Collection and Sonic Rush in case you haven’t been catching up). The event would be perfect for European fans to learn more about the upcoming games (and perhaps on secret projects too) but we assume this pleasure will be reserved for the Tokyo Games Show commencing mid-September instead.

More interesting for fans is the Samba-meister’s appearance the following days (18th August), which is open for the public. He will be available to sign autographs for one hour between 11:00am and 12:00noon. The signatures will be made – for the benefit of those able to go to the show – at the Game Pro stand in Hall 5, Stand C16.

If you live in or can get to Germany and manage to meet the Phantastic (sorry!) man in person that day, be sure to drop us a line and let us know how the event went (and show us your pictures too, we love seeing them). For those who won’t be able to make it, the Games Convention Germany will still be open until the 21st August to the public, sans Naka-san.

Thanks to ‘SuperDragon’ on the SSMB Forums for the tip-off.