On February 2nd in 1994, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 was released in the US, and it was dubbed “Hedgehog Day”. In the past few years, we’ve revived this Sonic holiday as a day for fan celebration, and some news and goodies for Sonic fans.

This year is no exception. We’ve got an extra special dose of concept art from Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode II, and a couple “save the date” announcements for this summer. Although we’re not ready to talk about all of our plans for this year, we’ve got some great stuff in the works. I think it’s going to be a great year to be a Sonic fan.

From all of us at SEGA to all of you — Happy Hedgehog Day!

 Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode II – Egg Serpentleaf

We normally do concept art on Fridays, but we’ve got a special extra for you on Hedgehog Day!

Save the Dates for Summer of Sonic and Sonic Boom 2012!

Fans of Sonic on both sides of the pond will have a chance to gather this summer, as Summer of Sonic returns to the UK and Sonic Boom returns to the US!

We’ll have plenty more details in the coming months about both fan gatherings, but we’re so excited about seeing all of you this summer that we just had to give you a special sneak peek at what we’re planning.

Summer of Sonic will be held in the London area on Saturday, July 7^th. This will be the fifth anniversary of Summer of Sonic – and we’re determined to make it the biggest and best show yet! SoS is an all-day event that celebrates all aspects of the Sonic franchise. ‘Zoned’ areas offer a range of different activities – budding artists can sit down at the fan art tables and compete in competitions, speed runners can challenge each other at the retro gaming pods, and the latest Sonic titles are available for fans to try before they’re even released.

Sonic Boom will be held in San Diego, CA on Friday, July 13^th (during San Diego Comic Con) at the House of Blues. We’ll have more information about ticketing in the future, but you will not be required to have a Comic Con badge to attend Sonic Boom. Hotels in the San Diego area fill up quickly for Comic Con, so if you will need a hotel room, we suggest that you book early and/or consult the San Diego Comic Con hotel page.

At the first Sonic Boom last year, fans had a chance to play Sonic Generations, get some great swag, enjoy a great musical performance from Crush40, and more. We don’t want to give too much away about what’s in the works for this year (at least, not right now!), but we’re aiming to make it a great time for Sonic fans of all ages. We hope you’ll come hang out with us, Sonic, and a bunch of Sonic fans!

On the Block

1.Sonic 20th Anniversary Steel Book

2.Sonic Colours Wii Limited Edition Pack (PAL Region)

3.Sonic the Hedgehog figure from ‘Sonic and the Black Knight’

4.Metal Sonic Mini Figure

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, a word or phrase, 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!) We only accept one direct message per person per prize!

Example:

We tweet “GIVEAWAY: Sonic T-shirt, size L. Be the 15th person to DM “Sonic Adventure” to win!”

You see this, and want to win it, so you send us a direct message that says “Sonic Adventure”. If you are the 15th person to do so, you are the winner!

Quotation marks do not matter, capitalization does not matter, but spelling does matter!

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.

Other Assorted Information:

• Free Stuff Friday duties alternate between the London and San Francisco offices and are done during business hours (usually mid-morning) in our respective time zones.
• No, you can’t know what number message you were – so please don’t ask! We will tell you that the information is classified!
• If you have questions during the giveaway, please contact us with an @reply. As you can imagine, we get a whole lot of direct messages during the contests and there is a very good chance we will miss your question if it is sent as a DM.

How to Send Direct Messages on Twitter

Due to a change in our account status with Twitter, you should be able to send us direct messages without us following you. However, third-party applications may not allow you to.

There are a few ways to send us a Direct Message on Twitter. The easiest way is:

1. Log in to your Twitter account.
2. Click on the person icon and select Direct messages from the drop down menu.
3. You’ll see a pop up showing your Direct message history. Click the New message button, highlighted below.
4. In the address box, type the name or username (SEGA) of the person you wish to send a message to.
5. Enter your message and click Send message.

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. If you still have questions on sending direct messages, please visit Twitter’s Help Section.

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. Please make sure your message says “test” somewhere.

We’re delighted to announce a very special worldwide sale on Football Manager 2012 Handheld on iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

Today (Thursday) and tomorrow (Friday) you’ll be able to get the game at less than half-price meaning leading your favourite team to glory on the move has never been so affordable! So what are you waiting for?! To take advantage of this great offer visit the iTunes Appstore

Sale Price
$4.99 (Original Price $9.99)
€3.99 (Original Price €7.99)
£2.99 (Original Price £6.99)
AUS$5.49 (Original Price $10.49)

Football Manager 2012 Handheld gives you the chance to manage in 12 different nations, England Italy, Australia, France, Portugal, Belgium, Germany, Scotland, Brazil, Holland Wales and Spain. You decide who plays and who sits on the bench, you’re in total control of tactics and substitutions as you follow the match live.

Along with the traditional way of playing the game, Football Manager Handheld on iOS gives you the option of ‘Challenge Mode’. This game mode offers you 4 short term scenarios to complete. For example, taking control of a team who are in the relegation zone at Christmas and guiding them to safety.