Categories #Games, Features

E3 2016: Sonic Boom Fire & Ice Preview, Jason’s Take

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Author Jason Berry
16 Comments

“A delayed game is eventually good. A bad game is bad forever.” – Shigeru Miyamoto

While these words aren’t necessarily true (just look at Duke Nukem Forever), a delayed game with the purpose of fixing it’s issues can only make a better game. Such seems to be the case with Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice. A game originally scheduled for November 2015 that looked like it might be just a slight improvement over the original, but nothing major. Fast forward 8 months later and lo and behold, we seem to have a pretty good game on our hands. Continue reading E3 2016: Sonic Boom Fire & Ice Preview, Jason’s Take

Categories #Games, Features

E3 2016: Sonic Boom Fire & Ice Preview, Alex’s Take

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Author Alex Peal
17 Comments

I didn’t care for Shattered Crystal back at E3 2014. Between the maze-like level design and clunky character switching, the game left me frustrated by the end of my 20+ minute play through of a single level of the game. My opinion of the game improved somewhat when it was finally released, but many of the issues I had with it remained. If Fire & Ice’s E3 demo is any indication, Sanzaru has learned a lot from their last game’s mistakes. Continue reading E3 2016: Sonic Boom Fire & Ice Preview, Alex’s Take

Categories #SEGA, Features

E3 2016: Interview With Aaron Webber

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Author Jason Berry
14 Comments

Yesterday, I sat down in a quiet location of E3 with the master of memes himself, Aaron Webber. We discussed a little bit of Sonic Revolution, Sonic in Lego Dimensions, but mostly Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice. You’ll hear about improvements made due to the delay, the trailer cutscene, the length of the game and much, more! So please watch and enjoy. Continue reading E3 2016: Interview With Aaron Webber

Categories Features

E3 Day One Summary + Fire & Ice First Impressions

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Author Alex Peal
6 Comments

As a veteran of six (as of this year) E3s, I have begun to enter the show with a certain amount of confidence. “I’ve done this all before” I tell myself, “I’ve got this.” Every single year, this show finds some way to prove my confidence premature. For the first time since I started going to this show back in 2010, I had a lot of genuine difficulty logging time on a Sonic game. Or really, any game SEGA or Atlus had on display. Continue reading E3 Day One Summary + Fire & Ice First Impressions

Categories #Games

Mystery of New Animation in Sonic Boom Fire and Ice Solved

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Author Jason Berry
13 Comments

You may have seen the new Sonic Boom Fire and Ice E3 trailer and seen a brand new cartoon scene mixed in with cuts from the first season. Many speculated that this new spot consisting of Sonic and Amy using teamwork together was from the “totally not confirmed” second season. Not so! Continue reading Mystery of New Animation in Sonic Boom Fire and Ice Solved

Categories #Games

Sonic Boom Fire & Ice E3 Trailer

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Author Dave Luty
38 Comments

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmITKKx8p9I

After months of inactivity, Sonic Boom Fire & Ice has finally got a new trailer. The trailer is a combination of game play footage and CG sequences. I’m unsure as to if there is anything really new in the footage, but it is nice to finally see the same after so many months of silence.

I’ll reserve judgement on what I think of the trailer for now, but let us know what you think in the comments.

Edit: I looked through both the trailers to see if I could find any noticeable differences, this was the best I could find.

Boomcomapre

There is quite a difference.

Categories #Games

Sonic Generations (3DS) and more are on sale on the NA Wii U and 3DS eShop

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Author Hero of Legend
7 Comments

Nintendo today released the PR of their weekly NA eShop update. Among the releases of this week’s games and weekly sales, was the news of four Sonic games being discounted on both the Wii U and 3DS eShop. Games and prices are below. Continue reading Sonic Generations (3DS) and more are on sale on the NA Wii U and 3DS eShop

Categories Features

Sonic Talk 37: Bubsy Modded

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Author Jason Berry
4 Comments

In this month’s Sonic Talk, join Jason, Alex and GX Echidna as they discuss the Ratchet and Clank movie, Star Fox Zero, the Lego Dimensions Sonic rumor, Jon Gray leaving Archie comics, Sonic conventions, the new Sega Genesis hub with mod support on Steam (while driving Alex nuts about Bubsy mods) and…Sonic facial Cream? Continue reading Sonic Talk 37: Bubsy Modded

Categories #Comics

Comic Previews: Sonic the Hedgehog #286, Sonic Universe #89 and More

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Author VEDJ-F
19 Comments

Let’s face it, all the build-up in world is going to be overshadowed here, isn’t it.

After another cooldown month to catch up with the delay, new solicitations and covers for August have finally been revealed courtesy of Comics Alliance! Their batch leads in with Sonic the Hedgehog #285, but we covered that in March so head back there if you want a refresher. What is new is Sonic the Hedgehog #286, which sees our heroes fighting back against Dr Eggman’s attack! Continue reading Comic Previews: Sonic the Hedgehog #286, Sonic Universe #89 and More

Categories #TV/Film

Sonic Boom Coming to US Hulu This Month

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Author Alex Peal
31 Comments

Sonic Boom will be made available for streaming in the US as a Hulu exclusive later this month. This will put an end to the show’s strange absence from digital services, which has made it notoriously difficult to watch legally for anyone who doesn’t want to watch the show on TV. Continue reading Sonic Boom Coming to US Hulu This Month

Categories #TV/Film

Sonic Boom Episodes to be Removed from YouTube

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Author Alex Peal
48 Comments

SEGA will soon be issuing takedown notices to YouTube channels hosting full Sonic Boom episodes. Aaron Webber announced on SEGA’s blog that the company would be issuing letters to the offending channels before any videos are taken down, to give them all a chance to remove the episodes. Any channels that don’t remove the videos afterwards will have the videos taken down by a DMCA takedown notice. Continue reading Sonic Boom Episodes to be Removed from YouTube

Categories #Games

Sonic 2’s Special Stages Return in Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice

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Author Dave Luty
42 Comments

A listing for Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice over at Play-Asia has revealed some new details about the game both in terms of plot and gameplay. First, the game will have only 4 bosses, there are also six exploration-based levels and bonus stages similar to those found in Sonic 2. Continue reading Sonic 2’s Special Stages Return in Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice

Categories #Community

Super Bunnyhop looks at the first level of every main Sonic game

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Author Hero of Legend
71 Comments

The YouTube channel Super Bunnyhop has uploaded a 39-minute look at the first level of every main Sonic game. Hit the jump to see it, and also to get a full list of the games covered. Continue reading Super Bunnyhop looks at the first level of every main Sonic game

Categories #Community

Sonic Revolution: Sonic Boom TV Show Producer & Writer Confirmed As Special Guests

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Author Adam Tuff
9 Comments

Sonic Revolution 2016 has announced the attendance of two more special guests to their event roster.

BFRIEDBERGER

Co-executive producer on the Sonic Boom TV series, Bill Freiberger, will be in attendance. In addition to his production role, Bill also provides the voices of Comedy Chimp and Lady Walrus, and was one of the writers on the Sonic Boom comics during their run.

Alan_Denton

Accompanying Bill is Alan Denton, Creative consultant and writer for the Sonic Boom TV series, accredited with penning such classic episodes as “Battle of the Boybands” and “Cowbot”.

An additional ticket option “Classic Sonic Pass” is now available for $4.99 via EventBrite, which grant entry into the event. All tickets are available at http://sonicrevolution2016.eventbrite.com/

To find out more about the event, visit the Sonic Revolution Website

Categories #TV/Film

Sonic Boom Season Two Coming Fall 2016

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Author Symbotic
21 Comments

Toy manufacturer Tomy have revealed that the season two of the popular Sonic Boom cartoon is scheduled to launch Fall 2016.

Announced to be getting a second season last year, Tomy revealed via a flyer at Toy Fair 2016 the cartoon was scheduled to return later this year – only a year after it finished its initial season run of 52 episodes. Photographer Paul Nicholasi snapped the photo while taking various photographs of the Tomy booth. Continue reading Sonic Boom Season Two Coming Fall 2016

Categories #Games

Iizuka and Rafei Discuss History and Future of Sonic

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Author Symbotic
45 Comments

PlayingVideoGamesJPG.0

Polygon has published a lengthy new article detailing the history and future of the Sonic brand, and it contains several key contributions from big names such as Yuji Uekawa, Christian Whitehead, Al Nilsen and Takashi Iizuka, head of Sonic Team. It also comes with some very… peculiar looking art to accompany it.

Continue reading Iizuka and Rafei Discuss History and Future of Sonic

Categories #Games

More Sonic Boom: RoL Concept Art Discovered

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Author Shadzter
23 Comments

Jason Norton Sonic Boom 18

The Sonic Stadium has discovered even more concept art from Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric and a few pieces from Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal. The images were among the portfolios of artists Oscar Ponce and Jason Norton who used to work at Big Red Button Entertainment. The latter’s artwork is especially intriguing as it reveals scrapped ideas for Eggman’s mech, a ‘battle mode tank’ and what we can assume is a golem boss battle. Check out all fifty seven of the images in our gallery below and give us your thoughts in the comments.

Continue reading More Sonic Boom: RoL Concept Art Discovered

Categories #Merchandise

Toy Fair 2016: New Sonic 25th Anniversary Toys Revealed!

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Author Dave Luty
34 Comments

tomytoyfair2016

It’s that time of the year again, Toy Fair season is in full swing and with London Toy Fair just coming to a close this week, we here at TSS decided that we would actually go along and see what there was.

Continue reading Toy Fair 2016: New Sonic 25th Anniversary Toys Revealed!

Categories #Games

More Sonic Boom RoL Concepts Found

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Author Shadzter
24 Comments

Sonic Boom Amped UX 14

The Sonic Stadium has discovered even more concept work for 2014’s Wii U exclusive Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric. The work was found on Amped UX’s website revealing they too had a hand in the game’s development.

The studio provided the following services:
* UI/UX Design, Wireframes, and Project Management
* Heads Up Display (HUD) UI Actionscripting
* Progression/Systems Design
* Localization Production & Integration
* High Level Concept & Documentation
* Secondary Quest & NPC Design
* Level Geometry Whiteboxing & Visual Scripting
* Final Script ​Debugging and Level Layout Revisions

You can learn about these development procedures in huge detail over at Amped UX at the below links. They’re a good read if you’re interested in game development or getting into the industry.

Source: Amped UX [Link 1, Link 2]

Categories Features

Sonic Talk Episode 35: Jolly Holly Hedgehog

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Author Jason Berry
3 Comments

Merry Christmas from Sonic Talk!

While I have dreams of lightsabers dancing in my head (this was recorded on Dec 17 so I was pretty anxious to go see Star Wars), Alex and GX talk all things Xenoblade while I zone out. Then, We discuss the latest game from Yuji Naka “Rodea the Sky Soldier”. Other topics include Sonic Boom DVD coming to the UK, updates for Sonic Dash 2 and Sonic Runners, my opinion of Sonic Lost World on PC and much more! Merry Christmas and a Happy Life Day!

Categories #Merchandise

Tomy Reveals New 2016 Sonic Boom Toys

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Author Dave Luty
21 Comments

boom2016

It never fails to amuse me when I see someone say “The Boom toys are a failure!” despite the fact that they’ve continued to expand over the last year, both in quantity and availability, well it looks like that trend is going to continue into 2016.

Tomy has just revealed via their catalogue for 2016 a boom in the number of new Sonic Boom toys. Coming in 2016 are new plush lines, including Metal Sonic, Shadow, Amy and for the first time ever Sticks is to get a plush incarnation.

Also included in the range are new action figures including the odd one or two badniks, Shadow, Metal Sonic and even a new Eggman model. But the surprises don’t stop there, Orbot and Cubot are also going to get a plush incarnation, another merchandise first for Tomy.

Thanks to Lhancat for bringing this to our attention.

Categories #Merchandise

Sonic Boom Monopoly Revealed

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Author Dave Luty
27 Comments

D4839.w300h300

First announced several months ago, there has been little information regarding the Sonic Boom Monopoloy game depite both the show and the toyline doing really well, however retailer Forbidden Planet have today  posted a listing of the game which includes price and a release date.

The game is set to be released on November 30th of this year and it’s priced at quite a hefty £29.99.

From the quality of the photo it’s difficult to see what each board sapce is based on, however from a quick inspection it seems to be based on Sonic Boom the TV series and not the disasterous videogame which is exactly one year old today… happy birthday.

Furthermore, no game pieces can be seen but money has different characters on it depening on it’s value.

Just think, soon you’ll be able to build a hotel complex on Meh Burger or stay at Hotel Del Sticks or own property at Eggmans Base.

Going to buy this? Let us know in the comments.

Categories Features

Sonic Talk 34: Sonic Boomiversary with Aaron Webber Interview

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Author Jason Berry
14 Comments

It’s been almost one year Since the Sonic Boom franchise officially launched with both the games and T.V. series and we celebrate by looking back on the first season. Join Jason, GX and guest Evil Dr. Reef as we discuss not only Sonic Boom, but the latest Sonic news and make Stick puns. Mostly by accident.

After that, Jason gets a one hour, one-on-one interview with the man who made Sonic the coolest thing on Twitter, Sega’s own Aaron Webber! He talks about Sonic Boom, the upcoming Sonic Lost World and much more including some exclusive Sonic Boom info This one’s a must-listen!

Categories #Merchandise

Sega’s Booth At Brand Licensing Europe: 25th Anniversary & Boom Spotted

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Author Dave Luty
26 Comments

ble2015booth1More Brand Licensing news, several images of Sega’s booth have been posted on twitter by none other than Sega’s own Tadashi Takezaki!

The booth appears to at first be very Sonic Boom heavy, however there are other Sega games around the outside of the booth including a ‘retro collection’ area.

However, eagle eyed readers may also find the image at the top of this article of interest, we can see the 25th anniversary logo again but this one is on a mural of classic Sonic and Eggman from Sonic 1. Is this a further clue as to the tone/nature of next year?

But more interestingly… is the fact that it was Tadashi Takezaki who took these images in the first place, in previous licensing events, both in Europe and the United Stages, it’s normally the local staff who handle and run the event, this is the first time that someone from Sega of Japan has been brought over to oversee an event. Dare I suggest that there is something of high importance at Brand Licensing Europe which he has gone over to oversee?

You can see the rest of the images in the gallery, keep checking TSS for more updates as and when we get them.

Source: Twitter

Categories #Merchandise

UPDATE: Sonic Boom Amy & Tails Official Mascot Costumes Spotted at BLE 2015

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Author Dave Luty
14 Comments

 

UPDATE: A new photo has been discovered.

boommascots

ORIGINAL STORY: boomble

Well we’ve had Sonic, so why not Tails & Amy too?

London’s Brand Licensing Europe 2015 is under way and Sega are attending the event and it would appear that they are trying to sell more Sonic Boom licenses. Well to aid them with this, it would appear that the Sonic Mascot is now joined by Tails and Amy.

In a picture posted to twitter by twitter user Ahrani of the show floor, the photo caught a glimpse of Sega’s booth, if you look closer (you may need to check the original tweet itself for the best quality), you can make out Amy & Tails mascot characters.

This would be the first time Amy & Tails have been seen in their Sonic Boom designs as mascot characters. In fact it might be the first time that Amy has ever appeared as an official costume and Tails’ last outing was way back in the mid 90’s.

So if you thought that Boom would be going away, better think again, you don’t spend a small fortune on costumes like this if you intend to shelf it soon within a year.

Odds are more information will come to light in the next few days, keep checking TSS for more information as and when we get it.

Source: Twitter

Categories #TV/Film

Sonic Boom Season 2 Confirmed

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Author Dave Luty
88 Comments

Every year, TV show people meet up in Cannes for the annual MIPCOM event, it’s basically a place where broadcasters go in order to secure the rights to show various TV shows around the world on various networks.

Well, according to the company LER who aside from one or two nations, distributes Sonic Boom around the world, Season 2 of Sonic Boom has started production. Continue reading Sonic Boom Season 2 Confirmed

Categories Features

Sonic Talk 33: Long Time, No See

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Author Jason Berry
10 Comments

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p6vUspDkAI&feature[/youtube]

Although we uploaded our last episode very recently, it’s actually been almost 6 months since our last podcast. But now that we’re back on our feet, you can expect more of Sonic Talk in the upcoming months.

In this episode, Jason and GX go on a lengthy discussion on “Toys to Life” games including Disney Infinity 3.0, Skylanders Superchargers and Lego Dimensions while Alex gives us his two cents on the Metal Gear Solid series. We then discuss the recent delay of Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice and why we feel it may have been delayed. We’ll also go into GE Entertainments new line of Sonic plushies, a certain hedgehog soon to show up the Sonic Boom cartoon and why the cancellation of the Sonic Boom comic and Super Special magazine could be good for the Sonic digests. All this and more on Sonic Talk!

Categories Features

Sonic Talk 32: Sequential Sonic (Interview with Ian Flynn)

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Author Jason Berry
2 Comments

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VswqWhqguZo[/youtube]

Welcome to the TSS premiere of Sonic Talk! We’ve moved our show from Segabits to here at the Sonic Stadium. Sadly this episode is very late but great and worth the wait! In this comic book heavy episode, we get a nice, long interview with Sonic comic book scribe Ian Flynn! We talk about the Sonic/Mega Man crossover,”World’s Unite”, the recent Sonic story arcs, writing comedy for Sonic Boom and a little behind the scenes on the reboot. Meanwhile, Alex gives his final two cents on a previous Sonic writer who shall remain nameless, but you can probably guess who. All this and more in the first Sonic Talk on Sonic Stadium!

Categories #Games

(Update: Confirmed) Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice Delayed to 2016

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Author Hero of Legend
34 Comments

SBFI_3DS_Packfront_high

Update: It’s officially delayed to 2016! Thank Aaron! 😀

—

Perhaps someone’s listening eh? 😉

The online game rental site GameFly is now listing the game for a Dec 31 2016 release date at least in North America, however this is just another way of saying it’ll be out in 2016 at some point. This change is very recent, as looking through a Google Cache of the site, it showed that as recent as September 8th that the game was still listed for November 3 2015.

If this is indeed true, we may just be in a very rare turn of events where we go a whole year without a retail Sonic game. Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Rio Olympics are also scheduled for 2016 as opposed to their usual release being in the year prior to said Olympics.

Wonder what’s up with this? I’ve wondered if the NX has anything to do with this, specifically for M&S if they want to do a premium NX version of the game, and also maybe they think releasing the game closer to the Olympics will give it more fanfare, what with the Olympics being the talk of the town at that point of course. 😉

For Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice, I dunno, there’s never been a cross-gen handheld release (being released on a current handheld, and also it’s successor at the same time, like if for instance Sonic Advance 3 was delayed on GBA for a few months and appeared on both GBA and on DS at launch), but this IS a great sign that they want to take more time to give it a nice extra layer of polish and/or to try better things with it. Maybe this is going to be better than the first one after all. 😉