The Sega Genesis is turning twenty this Friday, August 14th and we’re doing a mini blog series about one of our favorite systems. Over the next few days, we’ll be writing about our favorite Genesis titles and experiences and ending with some fun stuff on Friday, of which I can’t yet reveal (oooh, secrets)… We love the Genesis and know there is a healthy group of faithful Sega fans across our Twitter, Facebook, and forums too – this week is for you and everyone else who loves the Genesis. Sega!

Tasked with writing about the Genesis, Edward@Sega and I ventured down to the Sega Game Room to see what we could come up with. We had some ideas of articles and were curious what sorts of gems were hidden in the cabinets. The first thing that caught my eye was an original Genesis system box, which on closer inspection contained all cables and gear and the original styrofoam packaging, nice. We also picked up some games to write about, which we’ll be going over in the days to come. As always, we didn’t want to leave the game room, but we had to let our mastering lab get back to work (thanks Ken!).

To kick off the week it seemed fitting to have a mini-unboxing of the system itself. We were pretty stoked to find the original box and even carrying it back we stopped a few times to reminisce with people in the halls. Everyone we spoke to had such good memories of the system.

Ok, first up – the box. The box is a bit worn, but still in great condition for being 20 years old. We quickly examined the front, but the real info is always on the back, and quickly flipped to read through the features. One feature stuck me as odd, and was something I was unfamiliar with; sandwiched between 16-Bit and Stereo Sound text was the TeleGenesis – a modem, no way. We all were unaware of the TeleGenesis and after quick wiki, found it was on the original packaging as a feature, but never released in North America. A shame too, it actually had downloadable content and multiplayer, which is remarkably ahead of it’s time.

Next up – the gear. Ok, so the first image is essentially the last back of box, but I still think it’s cool that the original packaging is complete with the system. I know there’s probably a group out there that saves this stuff in extra mint condition, but for me, the box was the first thing to go. I didn’t buy it for the box after all, I wanted the system itself. If you are one of those that keeps the box, send us a photo, I’d love to see it!

On the gear side, we pulled a few cables out and had a laugh at old technology. I think the UHF/VHF adapter was foreign to Kellie and Edward, but I was one of the unlucky few to be without cable TV and was able to explain it right off. Of course, our TV did have a cable input and no UHF/VHF system, so we connected and we’re quickly off to memory lane.

So with that, we’ll leave you with some happy memories. Remember to check back throughout the week for more game memories and blogs and, of course, do tell us what you think – we always love your feedback.

The Xbox LIVE Games on Demand service launches today with 30 games, including Sonic the Hedgehog and SEGA Rally Revo. (Xbox LIVE Marketplace links) Sonic The Hedgehog is available in the US and Asia, and SEGA Rally Revo is available in Europe, Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Because Games on Demand is new, here’s some information on how it works.

Games on Demand lets you download and play Xbox 360 games right from your home, with 24/7 access. You’ll be able to purchase games with Microsoft Points or with your credit card. Download times are based on your connection speed and the size of the game, but Microsoft estimates that you can download a typical game on a high-bandwidth connection in 2-3 hours. You can also download game manuals — just locate the game in the web marketplace and select “see game manual”.

Each game is 4-6GB, so you might need a bigger hard drive if you’re planning on downloading a lot of games. You can buy a 60GB LIVE starter pack or a 120GB hard drive as separate accessories. Or, you can delete a game and re-download it again later if you’d like. If you don’t have enough space on your hard drive, you can still buy the game but it won’t download until you clear enough space. If you don’t have a hard drive at all, you’ll receive an error message instead of your game.

As for SEGA, we’ve got two games available today (Which one is available to you depends on where you live)–   Sonic the Hedgehog and SEGA Rally Revo (Xbox LIVE Marketplace links) — with more coming soon.

Happy downloading!

Updated to add territory-specific information for the games.