So those Sonic Boom announcements sure happened. It was probably the biggest Sonic-related announcement since they revealed Sonic Adventure. If you somehow missed it or want a brief summary of what was revealed, here’s the gist of it: SEGA of America has started a new branch to the Sonic franchise with the non-confusing name: Sonic Boom, which is basically a westernized version of Sonic with it’s own world and redesigned characters. Of this they’re making a TV show and two new games for Wii U and 3DS, all of which will be released later this year. In this universe Knuckles gets buffed up for real, Tails gets a toolbelt, Amy realizes that she’s been wearing the same clothes for years and Sonic wears a scarf for some reason. Also they all roll around in sports tape. Also it won’t replace the main series of games that Sonic Team is making.

Anyway, considering how many previews and interviews there are, Sonic Boom will get it’s own section this week. :

Retro/Bits News

• Just in time for the Olympics, GerbilSoft wrote a review for Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games [Retro Review]
• SEGAbits is doing a Sakura Taisen-themed week [Click on this if you’re like me and don’t know what Sakurai Taisen is]
• This Swinging’ Report Show episode is dedicated to Segalization [Get it they combined SEGA and localization]
• SEGAbits is celebrating it’s fourth year anniversary [To four more years]
• A contest in which you can win SEGA iPhone 5/5S cases is being held [Check out the consoles!]

Sonic Boom Stuff

• Here’s all the trailers and screenshots along with some info that was released [The basic stuff]
• Polygon did an interview which includes more details, like how the games and TV show won’t be released in Japan [Also why Sonic has a scarf]
• This interview from CVG answers some of the questions about the development of the game [More answers to questions]
• If you’re not really into reading (and if so, why have you even read to this point?), Nintendo World Report did a video interview [Moving pictures with words]
• Another video interview from GamerHub, cause why not [Also a small tour of the press event]
• Something that’s not an interview: Chris Senn asked people about what the next Sonic game should be like long ago on his own forum in the same month as when he joined Big Red Button Entertainment [Neat]

Sonic/SEGA News

• The sales numbers are in and Sonic Lost World actually did pretty alright [Also SEGA earned money]
• Oh crap it’s a Mega Drive that transforms into Megatron [Coolest toy ever]
• A song from Total War: Shogun II was featured at the Olympic Games [No appearance by Mario or Sonic though]
• GamersGate is having a SEGA Sale with lots of games being 75% off [Renegade Ops Renegade Ops Renegade Ops]
• A demo for Yakuza Restoration is being released on PSN for Playstation 3 and Playstation 4 [Only in Japan]

Other Stuff

• Sonic Retro member Trunks has released his game Love onto Steam [It’s two bucks and pretty neat]
• The LEGO Movie is getting surprisingly great reviews [Only six negative reviews]
• Valve has uploaded videos from the Steam Dev Days [Pretty interesting stuff]
• There’s a Goat Simulator now and it’s as hilarious as it sounds [Because why the hell not]

Video of the Week