Every so often, the fine folk of Resetera take a break from their usual schedule of complaining that video games journalists get all their news from Resetera, and post a Thing Of Beauty. For example: it's thanks to Resetera member AstralSphere that I know about Alistair Aitcheson's Magic Box and BizHawk retro emulation tools, which - amongst other things - allow you to play old Sonic the Hedgehog games in giddy parallel, shuffling between them whenever you collect a ring.
]]>Yuji Naka, the co-creator of Sonic The Hedgehog, has been found guilty of insider trading. The former Sega and Square Enix developer has been given a suspended sentence of two years and six months, and ordered to pay two fines totalling ¥173 million (around £948,000).
]]>Publisher Sega have joined the growing number of companies across the games industry to issue statements supporting reproductive rights, and have gone a step further than most by offering to match employee donations to non-profits supporting that cause. Sega’s decision comes in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturn of the Roe v. Wade ruling last month, which had enshrined abortion rights at a federal level for almost half a century.
]]>Let’s face facts: the old Sonic games have been re-released more times than I’ve had hot dinners. And every single Sonic fan has bought every single one of them, such is our sheer madness. We’re a little spoiled on PC for Sonic content these days, with every recent game of note having its own PC port that’s immediately been modded from bottom to breakfast. But it wasn’t always this simple, oh no. It used to be pretty slim pickings for us Sonicsters, and I’m here to tell you what we fought through to get to the promised land of ports we bask in today.
]]>One of the developers behind the component games of Sega’s Sonic Origins collection has spoken out on Twitter to defend their team in light of the collection’s numerous alleged bugs. Headcannon founder Simon Thornley, also known as Stealth, took responsibility for some of the collection’s issues in a lengthy series of tweets, but said that “a lot was beyond our control”.
]]>Not content with confusing people with the Sonic Origins collection announcement last week, Sega are now delisting old versions of the games included within it from May 20th. That means Sonic The Hedgehog, Sonic The Hedgehog 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Sonic CD will bid farewell to Steam in their standalone form. Oh well, there’s always emulation. Or forking out literally twice as much for Sonic Origins, I suppose.
]]>Sega have confirmed the Sonic Origins collection and announced it will launch on June 23rd, Sonic’s 31st birthday.
The classic side-scrolling Sonic games are part of the remastered collection, which includes Sonic The Hedgehog 1, Sonic The Hedgehog 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and the decent Sonic CD. Would’ve been nice to get some of the Game Gear stuff on there too, but hey-ho.
]]>Elden Ring, an action-RPG with hundreds of armour and weapon combinations. Stats up the wazoo. An evolving PvP meta where players invade each other and fight for supremacy. Who rules them all? Sonic The Hedgehog. No, seriously - Sonic The Hedgehog. He's the PVP champ and there's only one thing that can stop him: a click of the fingers.
]]>Here he comes, that speedy blue boy. Where will he go? Who knows! He can run around in an open world now, no longer restrained by specific paths which cause him to inexplicably die when he steps a toe off of them. I am, of course, talking about the newly announced Sonic Frontiers. The next 3D Sonic game is set to arrive late 2022, and we got our first glimpse of it at The Game Awards tonight.
]]>When the PC version of Monster Hunter Rise arrives in January, it will include all the post-launch content released so far on Switch, Capcom have confirmed. Yes, this includes the weird Sonic The Hedgehog crossover which launches today. So when the game finally comes our way, it'll be both larger and sillier.
]]>"After playing Mandela, it's very hard to read a script that doesn't have any of the qualities that man has," said Idris Elba to the BBC in 2013. "It's quite interesting what it's doing to my taste in characters."
Today, Idris Elba announced in a tweet that he would play Knuckles the Echidna in the Sonic movie sequel.
]]>Leafing back through my life, I realise I've never held a hedgehog before. I've locked eyes with one, though, as it scurried across the garden. For a couple of seconds, we were just bros being bros, then it moved on to eat worms or kick dirt or whatever hedgehogs actually do. I hope wherever that hog is now, it's doing well.
Whenever I've watched a Springwatch presenter hoist on into their arms, I always imagined a hedgehog weighs as much as maybe two sun-dried tomato, feta, and salad pasta pots. So fairly light, then. But having played Sonic Colours: Ultimate for preview, my theory has been trashed. Sonic's a weighty hog, which is something I hadn't expected.
]]>After a half hour hands-on preview with Sonic Colors: Ultimate, I'm reminded of just how fast the world's most famous hedgehog really is. If I'm honest, 30 minutes was nowhere near enough time to get a firm grasp on this garden dweller.
Colors: Ultimate is a remaster of a 2010 platformer originally for the Wii, remastered in time for Sonic's 30th birthday. It was well recieved by fans at the time, so I suppose HD-ifying it now makes sense. But if I pick through the blue dust left in Sonic Colors Ultimate's wake, I'm left with the feeling that I just prefer the going-fast hedgehog when he's focused on going fast.
]]>The year of Sonic celebration continues with more presents and cameos and remasters for the blue blur. If your idea of a swell 30th celebration is more lawn concert than Olympics tie-in, hey there's one of those too. For his official birthday today, Sega have pulled together a big virtual 30th anniversary orchestral concert chock full of Sonic tunes with some other special musical guest appearances too. You can watch it live here below when it kicks off at 8pm BST.
]]>In the late 90s and early 2000s one of my gaming heroes was an oddly proportioned anthropomorphic royal blue erinaceinae. Sonic the Hedgehog, as he’s known to you and me, was largely popular in this time period, with a string of successful Sonic Adventure games being accompanied by a non-canon animated TV series Sonic Underground. 2003 saw the brand spanking new anime Sonic X (the opening episode’s Sonic vs Formula 1 car high speed chase is delightful) and later the platformer Sonic Heroes – one of my favourite games of all time.
]]>Sonic turns 30 this year, so Sega are showering their favorite little blue dude with what everyone wants when they turn 30: game cameos, remasters, an animated show, and a cryptic teaser trailer. During their Sonic celebration yesterday, Sega announced the remaster Sonic Colors: Ultimate for September, which is coming to us PC folks. They've also teased some new, unknown Sonic game coming next year, also on PC. We don't know much about it yet but don't worry, at this rate the rest of 2021 has gotta go fast.
]]>Today is the day for announcement streams, it seems. Segaaaaah (I’m so relevant) will be hosting a Sonic the Hedgehog stream tonight at 5pm BST (6pm CEST / 12pm PDT). This is to tie in with the cobalt erinaceinae’s 30th birthday, and promises a first peep at projects and partnerships for 2021, the year of Sonic.
]]>In 2019, those sniveling worms in Hollywood changed the appearance of Sonic in the movie so he'd look cute. They lacked the courage to hold their original intent of confronting audiences with the cosmic horror of a dimension populated by sapient animals with ratty fur and human teeth. No, they bowed to the demands of babies who believed Sonic should 'look like in the video games' and 'not make viewers lose any faith they may hold in a god'. Despicable. Well, a wee trailer for the Sonic movie sequel dropped today with the official name and a reminder that it has Tails. PLEASE, YOU CAN ATONE BY MAKING THIS FOX AWFUL.
]]>Let us wish a blessed Good Friday to all the Catholics in the house. Now, get out. Your fish-sharing magician cannot compete with these 9 videogame characters who see death as nothing but a passing nuisance. These 9 heroes of reanimated flesh. These 9 unkillable beings of limitless power and mystery. Where is your precious Holy Spirit now, loser? Look at these 9 luminous freaks who have monstered sinew and reality to their will. Read my list feature, disgusting mortal, and repent.
]]>Humble unveiled a brand-new game bundle last night and it's absolutely rammed with Sonic games. There are 12 in total, ranging from the blue blur's early forays into marathon running and chilli-dog eating with Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Sonic CD all the way through to his more recent revivals in games such as Sonic Generations and Sonic Mania.
]]>The snivelling worms in Hollywood have jettisoned their creative vision for a blue humanoid hedgehog able to run faster than the speed of sound, bowing to public demands that such a monstrosity brought into the human world would look 'cute'. A new Sonic the Hedgehog movie trailer reveals the makeover promised by the spineless cowards following reactions to Cinesonic's big reveal in April. Sonic now looks more like he does in ye olde video games. What a shame. Hollywood dared to catch viewers off-guard and force them to see their childhoods in a new light, then instantly backed down. Where's your conviction, you charlatans?
]]>If you're a digital artist, or have a friend who is a digital artist, then you're intimately familiar with the dread associated with the following phrase:
"Your job looks easy, the computer draws everything for you!"
Art is not a game, but games can help produce art. In the hand of capable webcomic artists, games can become brush and canvas and muse, and be ripped apart and glued together in new weird forms. Take sprite comics, for example.
]]>Sonic the Hedgehog is to get a redesign for his Hollywood movie, director Jeff Fowler has said following reactions this week to the first trailer. Seems he and Paramount have made the terrible mistake of listening to the Internet. Oh sure, I was there, slapping out cyberposts about my FASCINATION with the sapphire snuffler's horrifying human teeth but what anthropomorphic animal isn't eerie? Aren't all CGI characters wrong? God, what are they going to do - shave his belly? Squish his head? Give him big puffy gloves? Fill his mouth with jagged hedgeteeth? Pssh. Choose your horror and commit to it.
]]>I was unprepared for Sonic the Hedgehog to have human teeth. Seeing as chilli dogs are his favourite food yet he eats them without soaking the bun in milk, I suppose I knew that Sonic wouldn't have the mouth and teeth of a real hedgehog in our world. I was still not ready for human teeth and weird lips. The first trailer for the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movie (or Sonic the Hedgepig, as it'll likely be named in the UK) has arrived, starring a CGI hedgepig voiced by Ben Schwartz (best known as Jean-Ralphio in Parks and Recreation) alongside human actors including Jim Carrey and James Marsden, and I just wasn't ready for the teeth.
]]>The 'Create-A-Soul' character editor in Soulcalibur VI truly is the gift that keeps on giving.
]]>Mr. Sonic the Small Blue Animal Guy With Good Rings is back into the racing circuit. It's certainly one of the lesser beloved game franchises, and I can't help but think that's because it would be ridiculous for a character whose super-power is being super-fast to trade that power for driving cars that are equally fast to all of his competitors. It just doesn't make sense, right? I mean, Sonic and Mario facing off at the Olympics was also a game, so I guess maybe logic doesn't matter here? Team Sonic Racing brings us back to the Sonic Racingverse, and I'm sure I'm in the minority, but this is that Game Content I crave. Check out the forthcoming Team Sonic Racing trailer with me.
]]>Sonic is trading in his power sneakers for driving brogues again with a new kart racing game, Team Sonic Racing. Sega today announced the racer, which is coming this winter from Sumo Digital - the folks behind the unreasonably good Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. Sadly, it seems Team Sonic Racing probably isn't another big wacky Sega crossover but hey, it is more racing from Sumo.
]]>Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.
I have! Here are some good things about Sonic R:
- It comes in an ‘Xplosiv’ box and costs £3
Jon Burton - founder of prolific studio Traveller's Tales and executive producer on the LEGO movie - has been working in the games industry for nearly three decades now. You pick up some interesting insights after that long, and now he's sharing some of that knowledge with us.
Over the past 6 weeks, he's been detailing coding secrets, unveiling abandoned concepts and demoing unreleased builds of older games on his YouTube channel, GameHut. Today he announced a project to polish up one of his most-maligned games through an unofficial 'Director's Cut' mod.
He's going to fix 1996's Sonic 3D Blast.
]]>Must travel quickly! That’s the infamous blue hedgehog’s catch phrase and it is doubly meaningful this afternoon, as the noted fugitive’s new two-dimensional adventure has been released on personal computers for all his troubled fans TODAY. Sonic Mania [official site] sees an alledgedly solid return for the steel blue country animal with a disturbing past. You'll be using his trademark guddies and retro style to traverse whole new levels, including but not limited to:
- The Green Place
- Consumption Zone
- Fermented Cactus Juice Bottling Grounds
- Disco Wetlands
- Customs & Immigration
- Mammal Hell
The ageing blue hedgehog who simply will not die was due to be back on all our machines by now in the retro-styled Sonic Mania [official site] but got delayed after, I don’t know, his shoes fell apart because he can’t afford new ones or something like that. It's too late in the day to come up with a "Sonic is not being very fast" joke. Anyway, he’s been re-scheduled for an August 15 release date, according to a fresh pre-order trailer.
]]>Sonic the Hedgehog celebrates going fast but what if he simply left sooner, yeah? Here he is, expecting to be treated as a celebrity, lauded as a cool dude, and showered with chili dogs because he was only ten minutes late for work despite oversleeping after being up all night watching YouTube in bed on his phone. Today Sega finally shared an in-game peek at Sonic Forces [official site], their new 3D Sonic game which they say will actually be good, and it's classic irresponsible Sonic all over again. The city is on fire, no one is to be seen, and oh! Here comes Sonic! An hour too late. Look:
]]>"I live my life a quarter-mile at a time," Sonic the Hedgehog famously said. "Nothing else matters: not the mortgage, not the store, not my team and all their bullshit. For those ten seconds or less, I'm free."
But when you look up from the asphalt, oh boy, life comes at you fast. As recently as last Friday, Sonic was telling everyone that his new throwback 2D adventure Sonic Mania [official site] would arrive in spring. And now spring is but three days away, whup! He's pushed Sonic Mania's release back into summer. Sonic, come on, you can't keep living this furiously. Live fast, sure, but the fury is gonna catch you.
]]>In the same way that ageing rockers prove they've still got 'it' by collaborating with hip young pop musicmen, Sonic the Hedgehog is getting re-re-remixed. As part of his 25th birthday celebrations, Sega have announced Sonic Mania, a new 2D platformer with a 16-bit style and zones inspired by ye olde Sonic games from the Mega Drive. It looks pretty interesting!
To prove that Sonic's new material is still really good and powerful and as good as he ever was, okay, Sega also announced a yet-unnamed new 3D Sonic game.
]]>Sonic the Hedgehog turns 25 on Thursday, which is a good cause to pull out the interactive photo book and look at how we once were. "Coo, remember when we hadta to fast?" you ask, jabbing at his cute pink belly in the picture. He frowns and tugs unconsciously at his neckerchief - give him a few years. "Ahh and remember when we wantedta go fast?" you ask, leafing through more pages. "Then... then we shouldnta gone fast. I'm sorry, I..." You take his gloved hand. "How are you really doing?"
All of which can only mean that Humble Bundle have a load of Sonic games in their latest pay what-you-want dealio. Some of them are quite good!
]]>I didn't mention on Monday that Sonic Lost World [official site] had just arrived on PC because, well, even enthusiastic impressions seem to boil the 2013 hedgehog 'em up down to being competent or good for a modern Sonic game - damning with faint praise, that. But! I know The Blue Blur (I do still laugh at Sega using that nickname seriously) means a lot to some folks and while I'm certain I'll never again feel the joy of Sonic 2, don't we live in hope? Don't even bad Sonic games remind us of happy times? The point is: Sonic Lost World has arrived on Windows, two years after its Wii U debut.
]]>If you were a Mega Driver back in the day (or Genesis-er if you live Stateside) then you'll know Sonic 2 was the best Sonic. The original Sonic the Hedgehog introduced the concept and set the tone, whilst Sonic 3 tried too hard with its dodgy boss melodies and pain-in-the-arse bonus levels. Anything after that was mince. Sonic 2 was the sweet spot in the series.
Why is this relevant here at RPS's House-O-PCs, I hear you ask? A ROM hacker has given Sonic something very cool from our home: an Aperture Science portal gun.
]]>Here's some complete nonsense to kick off your Thursday morning. A fly-on-the-wall mocumentary of the birth of one of gaming's most iconic characters. It's not Pong 2.
]]>I thought I could let this pass without posting about it. It's just a bit of character DLC for Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed, a kart racing game few people other than me seem to love. But... it's too good. It's Shenmue's Ryo Hazuki driving a transforming car/boat/plane modelled to look like an OutRun arcade cabinet. It's beautiful. It's the Sega singularity. I've recorded a video of me racing that OutRun arcade cabinet around an OutRun track while the game's announcer calls out phrases like "Football Manager has gone All-Star!" and "Stickers unlocked!"
]]>The early/mid 90s was a confusing time to love Sega games. Sure, they were still pumping out classic software left, right and centre, but they couldn't make their mind up about which piece of home console hardware they wanted you to own the most. The Mega CD was a CD based expansion for their trusty Mega Drive, which let you play many of the same games as you could play on cartridges, just with higher audio fidelity and price tags. There was also a few Mega CD exclusive games though, probably most noteworthy was their flagship platforming mascot's imaginatively titled Sonic CD, which is now heading to PC (again).
]]>Is this allowed? Are shotgun-wielding Sega employees hauling a bound and gagged indie developer to a shed in the everglades even as we speak? Quick, before it's too late: one Mr Sonic T. Hedgehog is wearing his PC hat for the first time in years, in the form of a fan-made remake of his classic jewellery-thieving, animal-bothering outing. Given half the world's frothing/complaining about having Sonic 4 on their eXecutableBoxes this week, it's good to have a spot of blue spiky retro-fetishism on PC too. It's a sort of 2.5D thing: modern visuals, olden DNA.
Here's the 100MB demo, but as it's only hosted on RapidShare for the time being, you might want to stare at the below video while you wait. Pretties, if on the manic side.
]]>Alphaxion noted that old romantic partners of RPS, UK Resistance has broke the news of a new Sonic the Hedgehog PC game. It's clearly an entirely legitimate product from Sega, and in a Modern-Warfare-2 piece of relevancy, the eponymous spiked-creature is now homeless, living under a bridge and doing drugs. Nice one Sega. Developed by one chap in four days, it's simultaneously a revisionist masterpiece which makes us reconsider our relationship with the medium and total crap. More details over at UK:R. Send our love.
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