That time of year is upon us once again – Summer of Sonic, the Sonic the Hedgehog fan convention in the UK, held its 6th show this weekend just gone; back in London again following a brief visit to Brighton last year. This year the event boasted as guests Takashi Iizuka, Jun Senoue, and Kazuyuki Hoshino; with a playable build of the upcoming new title Sonic Lost World available. So let’s dive in, shall we?
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An update for Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed just got released on Steam, and surprisingly it contains another new character. However Hatsune Miku fans will probably be disappointed as this is yet another PC exclusive character, meaning it’s probably from another PC-exclusive franchise. This time it’s…
Some guy from Total War: Rome II, which is coming out next month. Like General Winters this character was likely added in to promote Creative Assembly’s new game. Still, even if you don’t want to play as him you can’t really complain about more free characters. To play as him you just need to let Steam download the new update, after which he is added to the roster. Screenshots can be seen after the jump.
Community, Game News, Miscellaneous, Retro Contests, Sega Retro, Site News
I Forgot to do a Monday Links: Rated E10+ Edition
It’s the grand return of the not Monday Links! Seeing how some things happened (or are happening), I guess there’s reason enough to do one of these again. Also I’m bored and don’t want to do the things I should be doing. Anyway, here are some links:
Retro News
- Tomorrow is the last day you can add a new entry to the Sonic Hacking Contest 2013, so this is your last chance if you still have something you want to place in the contest! [SHC2013]
- Also tomorrow, an update to the Sonic Adventure Generations mod which adds 2 new levels. [Youtube]
Sonic/SEGA News
- A whole 15 minutes of gameplay of the Castle of Illusion re-imagining. [SEGAbits]
- The ESRB has put up the rating summary for Sonic Lost World explaining why it is rated E10+ revealing incredibly dark generic things villains usually say, obviously various fans overreact about it. [ESRB]
- Yuji Naka’s new game Rodea the Sky Soldier is still a thing. [Ferraris for everyone!]
- SEGA announced a new Sakura Wars game for Mobage while nobody wants it. [SEGAbits]
- A new Sonic game was announced and released. [Hurr hurr hurrrrrr]
Have you been wondering what Yuji Naka has been up to since leaving Sonic Team besides making a bunch of small and kinda neat games? Well, a new action adventure game called Rodea the Sky Soldier was announced for Wii and 3DS, publisher Kadowaka Games released a trailer which can be seen above. So why is it being released for Wii? Well, this trailer was released a little more than two years ago, after which the publisher never spoke of it again. Yuji Naka gave an update a few months later saying that the game was finished, but that they were waiting for Kadowaka Games to publish it. After a while everyone who did know about the game either forgot about it or assumed that it was scrapped.
Now we finally have an update on the title. Yoshimi Yasuda, the president of Kadowaka Games had said that they were having trouble adapting the control scheme to the 3DS version, which is being handled by the publisher. Yasuda said that the version is about 70% finished and that there will be more information in the near future. Maybe it’ll get a re-reveal at TGS 2013? We’ll see.
Prope also released a Digimon RPG called Digimon Adventure for PSP earlier this year in Japan, a western release doesn’t seem likely for this game though.
[Via: Destructoid, Source: Nintendo World Report]
Remember that weekend deal on Steam where every Sonic game was 75% off? Well, that deal is back as a daily deal during the Steam Summer Getaway Sale. Games on Steam include Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, Sonic Generations, Sonic CD and fan-favorite (sigh) Sonic Adventure 2. There’s also a collection with all Sonic games on Steam which is still the cheaper option, though it hasn’t been priced off. Click here for the sale.
Besides this, SEGA also added Steam Trading Cards to Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, which you can get by either playing the game, trading them or by buying them on the Steam Community Market. Valve has put up this handy page that tells you how these trading card things work.
Aaron Webber was on Gamespot’s SDCC live stream yesterday being Aaron Webber and also showcasing the new Sonic Lost World demo that’s playable at the event. This demo includes the Casino zone in the not so frozen Frozen Factory and also some changes to previously shown levels like tutorial prompts in Windy Hill and more cinematic camera angles.
If you just want to see the new Casino stage, just skip to 11:28. This new level introduces a new gimmick in which you have to collect chips to earn points and also a small pinball section. SEGA also showed off Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F on the same live stream.
If you were disappointed that Casino Night’s remake in Sonic Generations was nothing more than a downloadable pinball table, you’ll be pleased to see that Sonic Lost World will have a very similar looking zone. Yesterday a bunch of screenshots showing it were put on The Sonic Stadium’s Facebook page by an user named Leo Dz.
There are also screenshots of other new acts of zones we had already seen, including a stage featuring an owl with spotlight eyes. Also some cactus things with faces. These can be seen below, this post will be updated when higher quality screens are available.
Update: The screenshots can now be viewed in 1080p, more screens have also been added. Click on that “read more” button there to see them.
[Via The Sonic Stadium]
[1080p Screenshots from ONM]
If yesterday’s new Sonic Lost World trailer wasn’t enough new Sonic goodness for this week, than we have just the thing to satisfy your needs!
Wait crap you probably didn’t want this and I got it all over the front page sorry I’ll clean it right up.
In case you had forgotten in the simmering aftermath of E3 (what with real life catching up to all of us), SEGA is still hard at work on the latest Sonic title that’s to exclusively hit the Wii U – Sonic Lost World. With primary shades of blue and green and all sorts of running and jumping, how can one not get super excited at the prospect of being a blue dude with a cartoon attitude?
Well, to remind us all, SEGA has just released a brand new trailer through IGN for the game, showing off the return of the Wisps from Sonic Colo(u)rs. Yes, we knew they were coming back in some form. We can once again drill, laser and rocket about, but we’re not just dealing with the same ol’ perky aliens. We’re getting new ones. Some…a bit different than others. Take a gander below!
As you can see, Sonic, insanely jealous of all his friends being able to take to the sky, now has the power of EAGLE. Also new is ASTEROID, which has Sonic become a tiny planetoid, causing all sorts of subtle destruction for the platforms that so anger him. Finally, the latest Wisp to join the fray is RHYTHM, which turns Sonic into a giant music note, surely to cause desperate flashbacks to that one mission in Sonic Generations with Vector.
Peppered about are also quick looks at levels that have been previously unseen, such as what one can assume to be the first level of Desert Ruins, a jungle-type area, and a hint of the snow-capped trees in a winter level when Zeena’s smiling face shows up. Though there will surely be more info coming from SEGA before the game is released, you can now confidently say that the title is set to drop on October 22nd, 2013. Get those timers ready and set!
UPDATE: Europe will be receiving it a little earlier on October 18th, 2013. Also if you want a version of the trailer in which the word “colours” is spelled with an u SEGA has got you covered as well.
For those that doubted the power mobile platforms can have, Hardlight Studios has a bone to pick with you. Speaking with Joystiq, Chief Technical Officer Chris Southall is proud at the pace both Sonic Jump and Sonic Dash are downloaded and played daily.
According to Southall, Jump, which is a paid download, is currently at 8 million downloads while the speedy Dash, a free-to-play title, is currently zooming at 20 million downloads, with 1 million “Dash-ers” actively playing the game daily and an additional average of over 100,000 users adding the game to their devices for the first time.
“You can just see that Sonic is such a big IP; we haven’t actually done any advertising or user acquisition yet on Sonic Dash,” Southall said. “We’re doing updates through the year, we’re going to to keep doing that, and using the learning we’ve gained as a studio. And [we’re going to] start to actually advertise the game and push it more. So hopefully where we are now with Sonic Dash is kind of the beginning rather than the end.”
He finally teases that Hardlight Studios has already signed off on its next game, which will be using “a big SEGA IP” that isn’t Sonic. An open beta for the game is currently slated for early 2014.
Now more than ever will I repeat this: “Chao Game, F2P, mobile platforms. You’re welcome, Sega.”