Today we announced Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing, a fast and furious battle to the finish line in this supercharged racer.  Developed for the Xbox 360®video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the Wii™ system, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and the Nintendo DS™., Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing will speed into stores in early 2010.

In a frantic battle to the checkered flag, Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing sees Sonic and friends speed around tracks set in medieval castle ramparts, lush rainforests and bustling cities, all taken from the visually rich and varied universes of Sonic and SEGA.  Fan favorites such as Dr. Eggman, Tails, AiAi, Amigo and many more will join Sonic in their custom built vehicles, revving their engines and jostling to stay ahead of the pack.  Each character will race around the track in cars, planes, motorbikes, and in AiAi’s case – a banana mobile!  Secret short cuts, swift handling and avoiding strategically placed obstacles are certainly the best way to get to the top of the podium.

And winning is only part of the fun in Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing!  Each character has a specific All Star move such as Super Sonic, Banana Blitz and Tails Tornado, allowing a quick way for competitors to get back into the race!  Power ups and weapons can also be collected around the tracks and used against the opposition to ensure they don’t become a threat to that number one position. Players can battle it out in single or multiplayer mode, allowing up to four friends to race in frantic split-screen action, or up to eight players to compete online in the ultimate racing showdown.

Want to see more? Here’s our announcement trailer:

You can also see all 5 screenshots in our Flickr set for this game.

It’s time again for Free Stuff Friday on Twitter! As you can see, we have some great stuff to give away this week. Read on for details about each item, including eligibility requirements (for the games). If you need a refresher on how to enter via Twitter, details are at the bottom of the post.

On the Block This Week

Item 1: Empire: Total War

Brand new, in the plastic copy of Empire: Total War for PC. Only people in the US, Canada and Mexico are eligible to win this prize due to region locking of the game. Please note the technical requirements for the game, including Steam activation.

Congrats to @iluvrobot for winning this prize!

Item 2: PictoImage for Nintendo DS

Brand new copy of PictoImage for Nintendo DS. Only people in the US, Canada, Latin America and Mexico are eligible to win this prize.

Congrats to our winner, @robby1051!

Item 3: MADWORLD Wii Decals

Skin your Nintendo Wii up with these Madworld-themed decals. They look pretty sweet. All regions are eligible to win.

Item 4: Sonic Chronicles Strategy Guide and Sonic Pen

Check out this brand-new strategy guide for Sonic Chronicles. With it, you get a Sonic-topped pen, from the personal collection of RubyEclipse! Our forums members voted on which pen to give away, and Sonic won! All regions are eligible to win.

Congrats to @konkonkon!

Item 5: SEGA shirt

This is a black button-front shirt (buttons all the way down) with an embroidered SEGA logo on the upper left side. It is a size small. These shirts were worn by SEGA staff a few years ago at E3, and now you can have one! Don’t worry, it’s brand new (tag still on). All regions are eligible to win.

Congrats to @reinaurre!

Item 6: Golden Axe Beast Rider Art Book

This is a new art book for Golden Axe Beast Rider. All regions are eligible to win.

Congrats to @ksarart!

How it Works

1. You must be following us on Twitter to be eligible. (If you don’t have a Twitter account, you can create one by going to http://www.twitter.com and click the green “get started — join!” button in the center of the page.)
2. At random times on Friday, we will announce the prize we are giving away, and what number of response you need to be to win. Send us a direct message (DM) via Twitter and be that number to win the prize. (@ replies do not count as entries!)
3. All followers are eligible to win all prizes, unless a restriction is noted. Restrictions are usually due to the prize being region-locked. For example, US games that won’t work on UK gaming systems.  There may also be age restrictions due to the rating of the game.
4. We will announce the winner on our Twitter feed once eligibility is confirmed.

Make Sure We’re Following You on Twitter

If you are currently following us on Twitter, please be sure that we are following you as well. You can do this by making sure that SEGA is in your “followers” list, or by going to DoesFollow and typing SEGA in the first blank, your Twitter username in the second, and pressing the “check” button. You can reverse this to be sure that you are following us. If you are following us, but we’re not following  you, please send a message to @SEGA and we will follow you. This is important, because only people we follow can send us direct messages (DMs), and DMs are the only way to enter the giveaways.

How to Send Direct Messages on Twitter

There are a few ways to send us a Direct Message on Twitter. The easiest way is to go to our Twitter page and select “message” under the “Actions” heading in the side bar. If you do not see “message”, this means that we are not following you. Please send a message to @sega to let us know, and we will follow you. When you click “message” you will be taken to a window where you can type a message and press send.

You may also select the “direct messages” tab from your Twitter homepage, and select SEGA from the drop-down menu at the top of the page. Again, if you don’t see our name there, it’s probably because we’re not following you. Let us know, and we’ll follow you.

There are also many Twitter clients that you can use instead of using the website. These include TweetDeck, Twitteriffic, Tweetie, and Twhirl. Each of these programs works differently, so you’ll want to figure out how to send a direct message on the program you use. If you want to send us a test message, we’ll let you know if we received it or not.