Another year comes to an end, and with it we present to you the SEGA News Bits videos featuring our favorite and our most disappointing SEGA games of 2017. Seeing as these are being posted on Sonic Retro, I think you might already know which games we discuss.
If you enjoy our SEGA News Bits segments and want to support us: Give us a sub and give this video a like so it shows up on more like minded fans YouTube recommendations. You know, how that YouTube algorithm is.
The December update of fan game Sonic Gather Battle, has been found guilty of malicious code and is now considered malware. As noted by GerbilSoft on our forums and found by several Discord and Reddit users, Gather Battle will do the following to your system:
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If any open window has certain keywords in the header (such as “cheat” or “hack”) it will close that window without your permission, including folders, programs and browsers.
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If it thinks you’re trying to tamper the game, it will remotely blacklist your system from running the game, and the only way to unblacklist it is to convince the developer directly.
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It exhibits a lot of other malware-like behavior, including storing a hash of your system information on a remote server, modifying system files, and running unusual and shady system commands in the background.
If you downloaded the December update of Gather Battle, the current recommendation is to delete the game immediately and run a scan on your system. You may also want to consider restoring your system if possible. If you’re truly curious, you can check out this YouTube video showing off the game’s intrusive measures at work.
After a turnaround from last year’s showing, the Sonic Hacking Contest 2017 draws to a close with the winners of this year’s showing for trophies rewarded by both Hacking Contest judges and the community. The contest celebrated big this year for it’s 15th anniversary with a brand new website, a public showing at this year’s Fan Jam and featured a game industry participant, Jon Burton of Traveller’s Tales, with Sonic 3D Blast Director’s Cut. There’s plenty to be excited for this year’s showing of ROM hacks and mods for Sonic R, Sonic Heroes, Sonic Adventure DX, Sonic Mania and Sonic Lost World. You can discuss the results of the hacking contest after the jump or via the forum here. You can also watch the first part of the results show from MegaGWolf’s Twitch channel at the top of this post. You can then watch part 2 of the show here.
This upcoming Saturday November the 18th is the return of the Sonic & SEGA Fan Jam, 2017 edition, taking place at the Embassy Suites in Savannah, Georgia. You can join Matt Mannheimer, formerly of Tails Channel, and some of his Sonic Retro and Sonic Fan Games HQ pals David the Lurker, NeoHazard, Volg Shan and your ol’ pal Bart as we discuss all things Sonic the Hedgehog. Those who are able to join us in person are also eligible for winning mystery prizes, What are they? You’ll have to come and find out for yourself when our panel starts at 4:15PM.
Those unable to attend you can watch us via a livestream of the event from this link which will go live Saturday morning. You can follow along with the day’s schedule and further updates from the event’s Twitter account here.
No longer a sub domain to Sonic Stuff Research Group, the Sonic Hacking Contest website launched on it’s own domain at http://sonichacking.org and it’s live right now along with your opportunity to submit your hacks for the event!
The stakes are going to be higher for everyone this year with the introduction of new quality control measures and newly split trophy requirements. If you are not participating, you can always hit up our forums to talk about the contest in this thread here. Are there any entries you’re excited to see? To bring you up to speed with the goings on with the contest hit the jump to check out some things to make note of.
Game News, Game Secrets, Hacking
Sonic 3D Director’s Cut ROM Hack Announced by Traveller’s Tales Founder
How’s this for a little role reversal? Where Sonic Mania features fan game developers work in a commercial Sonic game, a Sonic game developer makes works on a ROM hack?
GameHut is the YouTube channel run by Traveller’s Tales founder Jon Burton which recently celebrated his achievement of 25,000 subscribers. The channel provides a constant stream of video material showcasing old prototypes, special builds and insight on coding techniques of Traveller’s Tales’ work over the years. There’s a greater focus on Mega Drive material and more recently a focus on their work on Sonic R and Sonic 3D Blast / Sonic 3D Flickies’ Island. As an example I reported on videos on SEGAbits that covered a prototype for Sonic R and unseen footage of an unannounced sequel to Mickey Mania.
In a surprise announcement for achieving 25,000 subscribers on the channel Jon announced that he is working on releasing an unofficial patch for Sonic 3D titled Sonic 3D Director’s Cut that focuses on restoring content and adding enhancements to the game. This has no involvement with SEGA or any other company and is only being developed by Jon himself in his spare time. Details about the hack can be seen in the jump.
We all know the long story about how SEGA and Archie had a disagreement with the Sonic the Hedgehog license and that they are now relaunching the long running comic book series under publisher IDW. Thanks to the New York Comic Con ‘IDW Sonic Comic Town Hall panel’ we now know new information on the relaunch that has been confirmed for April 2018. On this episode of the SEGA News Bits we talk about getting four issues in April 2018, Ian Flynn being named head writer, Tyson Hesse doing promotional art for the event, and… the return of The Freedom Fighters? Tune into the episode and let us know your thoughts on the IDW Sonic the Hedgehog comic book relaunch in the comments below!
If you enjoy our SEGA News Bits segments and want to support us: Give us a sub and give this video a like so it shows up on more like minded fans YouTube recommendations. You know, how that YouTube algorithm is.
Sonic Mania is now older than a month. What was once a pipedream of a brand new Sonic developed by fans has finally happened. David The Lurker, Cinossu, Overlord, Bartman3010 and InstantSonic lend their voices to talk about the Mania and not-so Mania about Sonic’s return to 2D glory before the start of this year’s Sonic Amateur Games Expo and the Sonic Hacking Contest. Music composed by Tee Lopes. Expect spoilers in this one!
We’re less than a week out! We’ll be playing through some of the SAGE 2017 entries before the show this Friday, September 29th, at 8:00pm Central Time on the SAGE YouTube channel! See you then!
On November 7th, 2017, Sonic Forces is slated to be released across the gambit in both digital and physical formats. It seems like only yesterday the cryptic CG trailer was premiered in front of fans, and now we are less than two months away from experiencing it first hand. On Tuesday, the official Sonic the Hedgehog YouTube channel revealed something unexpected. It’s not a hoax or an imaginary dream, that is indeed a playable Shadow the Hedgehog in a new Sonic game!