A short teaser trailer revealed at the SXSW Sonic panel appears to be hinting at the release of a new Sonic racing game.
The trailer features some images of a car that looks suspiciously like Sonic’s car from Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing before revealing a logo that is partially obscured. The logo appears to read “Sonic Racing” but it’s only the ‘R’ that’s illuminated; a nice little nod to 1997 Sonic racer, Sonic R.
There are no other details on this title available at this time, although it has been heavily rumoured that Sumo Digital are leading development on the title.
A new 5 part animated series called Sonic Mania Adventures will launch later this year.
The series will be released online for free and it appears to feature animation led by Tyson Hesse who previously collaborated with Studio Yotta on Sonic Mania’s animated sequences.
Check out the teaser trailer by clicking the embed below:
Sonic Mania is getting an enhanced physical release called Sonic Mania Plus. This new version adds Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel as playable characters. Mighty hasn’t been playable in a Sonic game since 1995’s Knuckles’ Chaotix and Ray hasn’t been playable since his one and only appearance in the Japan exclusive arcade title SEGASonic the Hedgehog which was released back in 1993.
This new package also includes something called Encore Mode, a new 4 player competition mode as well as a 32 page art book, a reversible cover featuring a faux-Mega Drive/Genesis look and holographic packaging. That’s quite a substantial upgrade over the previously digital-only release.
Sonic Mania Plus will release for PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch this summer.
The full list of included games has been confirmed by the PlayStation Blog. Notable exclusions from the collection include Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles which is likely due to licensing agreements regarding the soundtrack, which infamously features work by Michael Jackson. We also have confirmation of both offline and online multiplayer for games that support multiplayer options.
UPDATE 1
SEGA Europe have confirmed that the game will feature a new rewind option, a mirror mode and a selection of visual filters. SEGA Europe have confirmed the mirror mode mirrors the entire game horizontally – text and all. There has also been confirmation that Sonic 3 will not be included. The game will support trophies and achievements. An official website is also now live.
ORIGINAL POST
A new SEGA Mega Drive Classics collection will launch for PS4, Xbox One and PC on May 29th 2018.
This new collection appears to be based on the engine powering the SEGA Mega Drive Classics Hub for PC (complete with the virtual gamer’s bedroom), which is bizarre considering this is supposed to be getting a PC port as well. Will it become an update to owners of the SEGA Mega Drive Classics Hub on PC or will SEGA de-list the hub? We will update this story as we learn more.
This collection will feature over 50 Mega Drive titles including Sonic the Hedgehog, Streets of Rage, Golden Axe, Space Harrier II, Gunstar Heroes, ToeJam & Earl, The Revenge of Shinobi, Kid Chameleon and Altered Beast.
Puyo Puyo is now officially recognised by the Japan eSports Union, meaning Puyo players can now get a license required to compete in for-money tournaments in the country through this review for eSport acknowledgement statuses (due to gambling laws). This means it joins the ranks of Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, Call of Duty WW2, and several other titles in Japan’s eSports scene.
The first tournament will be held at SEGA FES 18, taking place on April 14 in Akihabara, Japan. There’ll be a 1 Million Yen prize for the winner (that’s around £6,750), with an overall prize pot of 1.65 Million yen (Around £11,150).
[ Source: SEGA, but the robust translation comes courtesy of GSK on Twitter. GSK regularly translates interesting video game information, so check them out! ]
When Tracker isn’t playing SEGA games, he’s talking about SEGA games. Or drawing about SEGA games. Or all of the above. You can also catch him over on Twitter.
Phantasy Star Online 2 is coming to Nintendo Switch, in the form of Phantasy Star Online 2: Cloud. The game’s been known about for a while now, but thanks to the recent Nintendo Direct we now know it’ll be landing on April 4th.
The game is, as ever, Japan-exclusive. It’s worth noting that the Switch is region-free, meaning those outside of Japan could technically get the game anyway – but as well as there being a huge language barrier that can be as easily circumvented as on PC, the game is actually streamed to the Switch, hence the “Cloud” moniker. As such there’s only a 40MB cloud-based application to download, but outside of Japan we can’t exactly imagine it’ll be a smooth experience, as all the servers the game will be streamed from are likely to be in Japan.
That being said, Phantasy Star Online 2’s Switch version does include a new set of items based on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which is a pretty wild thing to type. From the looks of things you’ll be able to get Link’s Champion duds, as well as the Master Sword and Hylian Shield. Also rather neat is that the game supports keyboard and mouse peripherals for the Switch, just in case you’ve got nostalgia for that one gigantic keyboard controller for Gamecube.
When Tracker isn’t playing SEGA games, he’s talking about SEGA games. Or drawing about SEGA games. Or all of the above. You can also catch him over on Twitter.
SEGA has announced that they are now prioritising native ports for SEGA Forever a la the ‘TaxStealth’ ports of Sonic 1 and 2, as opposed to emulated titles.
In a post on SEGA’s blog, they state that the native ports amongst the SEGA Forever lineup (Sonic 1,2 and CD, Crazy Taxi, and Virtua Tennis Challenge) are the most played – and as such, they intend to bring more of these sorts of titles to the service, rather than the emulated Mega Drive titles that make up a fair chunk of the current lineup. There’ll still be emulated titles added to the roster, but the focus of the initiative is now elsewhere.
As a result of this shift, the slew of releases for SEGA Forever is set to slow down a tad – however it appears the aim here is now “quality over quantity,” which will likely be music to the ears of many a SEGA fan. Also promised is “a surprise or two you weren’t expecting” amongst the upcoming emulated titles.
Speaking of which, the blog’s decor does tease another upcoming Mega Drive title for the service – it appears Treasure’s classic head-em-up Dynamite Headdy is coming to smart devices soon, as is… Super Monkey Ball?
When Tracker isn’t playing SEGA games, he’s talking about SEGA games. Or drawing about SEGA games. Or all of the above. You can also catch him over on Twitter.
The Yakuza 6 demo has been removed from the US Playstation store after some users found an exploit to allow them to play the full game.
The demo itself is 36.53gb in size and actually contains all the data for the full game, except the demo was designed to lock players into a small portion of the game with their progress being carried over to the full game on release day (17th of April 2018).
The full game exploit appears to be exclusive to the American version of the demo as the demo is currently still available on the UK and Australian Playstation store-fronts. If this changes then we will be sure to update this story.
Marking the end of the series’ over 10-year absence from Western shores, SEGA has announced Shining Resonance Refrain, a remaster of the PS3 title Shining Resonance. The remaster includes all previously released DLC, as well as a new ‘Refrain Mode’ that adds brand-new content. For those wondering, Shining had a bit of an image overhaul after Camelot broke ties with SEGA – so if you’re expecting something along the lines of the classic Mega Drive Shining series, this might not be what you’re after.
One slightly odd thing to note – while SEGA hasn’t localised any entries in the series for over 10 years, the fighting game spin off Blade Arcus from Shining: Battle Arena was localised, by Studio Saisenzen, and is available on Steam.
The game will also be getting a launch edition with a reversible metal slipcase – this will also be available in Europe, which is always nice to see. SEGA has also confirmed that the game will receive an English dub, with the option to use Japanese audio also being available.
When Tracker isn’t playing SEGA games, he’s talking about SEGA games. Or drawing about SEGA games. Or all of the above. You can also catch him over on Twitter.
The Hollywood Reporter have provided a fresh batch of details from Paramount regarding the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog movie – perhaps most notably, the release date.
The film is currently slated for November 15th 2019. The crew attached to the project includes Neil Moritz as producer, with Tim Miller of Deadpool fame in an executive producer role. In addition, Toby Ascher will also executive produce, whilst Dmitri Johnson and Dan Jevons serve as co-producers.
In terms of the director’s chair, it falls to Jeff Fowler – Sonic will be his directorial debut. In the past, Fowler produced Gopher Broke, an Oscar nominated short film – so perhaps the film’s in good hands after all?
Currently there’s no information on current writers or how the film is going to take shape – it can be assumed it’s changed significantly since Sony held the project, but one thing that hasn’t changed is the intended mix of live action and CGI. There’s no information on whether Marza Animation Planet are still on board either – it may well end up that Miller decides to use his own studio, particularly since Blur Studios have actually worked on Sonic games in the past.
All eyes are now on SXSW in March – could that be our first glimpse at the film?
When Tracker isn’t playing SEGA games, he’s talking about SEGA games. Or drawing about SEGA games. Or all of the above. You can also catch him over on Twitter.
Tags: Paramount, Sonic Movie, sonic the hedgehog Posted in News | Comments Off on Sonic the Hedgehog Movie Planned for Release on November 15th 2019, Jeff Fowler to Direct
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