With the game out in America today there’s one last trailer to show – the launch trailer!  Check it out below citizens for we no longer must we live in a world without racing banana cars against forklifts!

You’ve seen the 360, you’ve seen the Wii, you’ve even seen the PS3… but now check out All-Stars Racing on the Nintendo DS!

I can’t speak for the US at the moment, but I can confirm that the EU version of the Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing demo is now available on Playstation Network.

Its 827MB in size and unlike the 360 version, PS3 owners get to enjoy a different experience – namely Rampart Road a track from Billy Hatcher & The Giant Egg. A level that has you quite literally racing all over the castle itself as you avoid rolling eggs, heavy snow drifts and devious crows – they may look like cats but they are indeed crows!

Your characters are Sonic and Dr. Eggman – a surprise for me as as far as I was aware it was going to be Amy Rose! As an FYI, you can alter the difficulty settings, the demo should be set to “Advanced” from the get go but you can reduce this to Basic if you find the action a little too intense. Same situation as the 360 demo basically.

Master drifting around corners and pull off aerial tricks to get a speed boost. Use the range of weapons available to batter, confuse and generally slow your rivals and take that chequered flag. There’s even a sneaky shortcut at one point, see if you can spot it and make it work to your advantage!

Ladies and Gentlemen – start your engines!

Official Olympic Winter Games Video Game Hits 6 Million Units Worldwide!

SAN FRANCISCO & LONDON (February 19th, 2010) – SEGA of America, Inc. and SEGA Europe Ltd. are thrilled to announce that the Nintendo platform-exclusive game – Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games™ – has sold over 6 million units worldwide since its launch in October 2009 and is available for the Wii™ system and the Nintendo DS™ handheld system.

With the Olympic Winter Games Opening Ceremony on February 12^th marking the start of the Games themselves, there are big plans to support the title across the globe with increased marketing activity.  New television campaigns for the game are planned for North America (running from February 12 to 28^th) and other major European territories including France, Benelux, Austria and the Nordic countries.  As Olympic Winter Games fever hits, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games will also feature in events celebrating the Games around the world in cities such as London, Washington DC and San Francisco.

“The original Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games™ was a huge success for SEGA” commented Mike Hayes, CEO for SEGA America and SEGA Europe.  “Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games is one of the leading third party games for Wii and DS and we were confident the title would have longevity within retail.  The start of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games is a perfect time to ensure Mario & Sonic is at the forefront of the consumer’s mind when it comes to recreating that Olympic Winter Games feeling in living rooms everywhere.”

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games is available on Wii™ and Nintendo DS™ systems exclusively.

For more information on any of the Olympic video games, please visit the official site at http://www.olympicvideogames.com/.

About SEGA Corporation:

SEGA®Corporation is a worldwide leader in interactive entertainment both inside and outside the home, encompassing consumer business, amusement machine sales and amusement center operations.  The company develops, publishes and distributes interactive entertainment software products for a variety of hardware platforms including PC, wireless devices, and those manufactured by Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.  SEGA® Corporation’s Web site is located at http://sega.jp.

 About Nintendo:

 The worldwide pioneer in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wii^™, Nintendo DS^™ and Nintendo DSi^™ systems. Since 1983, when it launched the Nintendo Entertainment System^™, Nintendo has sold more than 3.3 billion video games and more than 558 million hardware units globally, including the current-generation Wii, Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi, as well as the Game Boy^™, Game Boy Advance, Super NES^™, Nintendo 64^™ and Nintendo GameCube^™ systems. It has also created industry icons that have become well-known, household names such as Mario^™, Donkey Kong^™, Metroid^™, Zelda^™ and Pokémon^™. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo’s operations in the Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo, visit the company’s Web site at www.Nintendo.com.

 About ISM:

 ISM is active in managing and developing entertainment software applications.  In addition to the exclusive rights ownership of the Olympic Games, ISM is one of the world’s leading providers of sports fantasy games, particularly specializing in the football/soccer sector.  Visit the company’s website at www.ismltd.com

 TM IOC/VANOC/USOC 36USC220506. Copyright © 2009 International Olympic Committee (”IOC”). All rights reserved.  All rights reserved. SUPER MARIO characters (c) NINTENDO. Trademarks are properties of their respective owners. Wii and Nintendo DS are trademarks of Nintendo. SONIC THE HEDGEHOG characters (c) SEGA. SEGA, the SEGA logo and Sonic The Hedgehog are either registered trademarks or trademarks of SEGA Corporation.

Firstly yes, the Nintendo DS demo is out now in the US – it will be arriving in Europe soon.

Anyway, last night it further came to my attention that the SEGA Pass Americans amongst you had received an email about SEGA of America’s sweepstakes which confirmed the existance of a Ryo Hazuki figure.

What Ryo Hazuki figure? Why that’ll be this Ryo Hazuki figure:

Now SOA will today no doubt be regaling you with further details about the sweepstakestoday, (they were off yesterday for President’s Day) which are available for the USA and Canada only – minus Puerto Rico and Quebec (sorry Red Hedgehog)!

However for everyone else who is currently muttering unsavory things, they are very limited indeed. The run is only 1000 globally. Don’t believe me? Check the back of the box!

There we go. Now, to just confirm whilst we won’t be doing a sweepstake there willbe opportunities for you to win one of the 50 Ryo Hazuki figures that after much effort I’ve managed to secure for Community Team purposes in Europe. You’ll have to wait to see how you win them though.

Actually, let me correct myself – one of the 49 as I’m putting one aside for a certain website related to the character concerned. I’ll be getting in contact with them once the figures actually arrive here.

Is your race in trouble?  Maybe a few missiles here or there, or maybe a quick whack on the bumper from your friend will help get you back in the mix. I’m sure your rivals won’t mind lining up behind you for a dance… or getting smashed by your favourite hammer.

Of course you could always just go super…

That’s right the demo for Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing has hit the Marketplace!

The demo which allows you to play as Sonic or Banjo across a selection of tracks is available now, please be aware its a hefty chunk at 1GB but nevertheless its your first chance to grab a hold of the game and play it – unless you came to Summer of Sonic 2009 of course! It’ll definitely be your first time to see ’someone who isn’t forgotten’ in action.

Don’t worry there’ll be more opportunities to play test the game coming soon, we’ll let you know more about those when we can.

But that’s not all! There’s a brand new theme on the 360 as well for you to download at 240 points and because no one EVER seems to actually show what the DLC looks like when they say its out now I’ve arranged for these images so you can see exactly what the dashboard looks like. Handy huh?

Friends List

Spotlight

System Settings

Media Library

Game Library

Handy huh? So there we go, the demo and the theme go download them both now!

Now if only we had some other items we could preview in the same way down the line* – oh well…

* Lol, inadvertant Crazy Taxi references FTW!

As I mentioned earlier on the Blognik the  French, Italian, German and Spanish fans a territory specific trailer can be found on the Sonic 4 page on SEGA.com if you want to check it out. But the GameSpot exclusivity is over so I can post the English PEGI version of the trailer up – behold!

Here comes the science bit info we released earlier in a press release:

SEGA® Europe Ltd. and SEGA® of America, Inc. today announced the first game developed specifically for the download market from the world’s fastest hedgehog. Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode I will be available via download on Microsoft XBLA, Sony PSN and Nintendo WiiWare, bringing with it the addictive classic 2D side scrolling action that Sonic fans have been waiting for.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode I offers sublime 2D gameplay through beautifully rendered HD environments. Fans will be able to speed through each level with the classic Spin Dash move, and destroy enemies using the Homing Attack. Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode I sees the return of the much-loved special stages and takes players through a variety of different Zones, all inspired by the Mega Drive era.

Each level from Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode I is separately selectable from the main menu, making it easy for players to replay their favorite sections as they wish. Long time fans will not be disappointed as they rejoin the action and face all new intense boss battles against everyone’s favourite villain – the ever devious and evil – Dr. Eggman!

“Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode I is a return to the classic game style of the original Sonic games” commented Gary Knight, European Marketing Director SEGA Europe Ltd. “It’s great to be able to offer fans of the Sonic series the type of game they have been asking for in a high definition experience.”

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode I will be available in Summer 2010 for XBLA, PSN, and WiiWare.

So Sonic 4, with episodic – or should that be “epiSonic” content (™ Gavvie, 2010) on XBL, PSN AND WiiWare which really took people by surprise. See, you should take anything as certain until we confirm it!

It seems people are generally really excited about this – good, so am I! Though there are some concerns naturally, I’m sure Ruby over at SOA will be able to address some directly and I’ll do my best here, but as with all we do in the Community Team we’ll be feeding back to the Big Cheeses (presumably blue cheese in Sonic’s case) about what you guys are thinking.  Thats a big part of what we do.

In any case you’ve only seen the briefest of glimpses into the world of Sonic 4 and I’m sure once you see more, with Sonic in full flight a fair few of your concerns will be erased. In the meantime, c’mon – its freaking Sonic 4!

There’ll be more details  in the coming weeks.

I did promise this, so here it is… it looks rather like the previous pack but its in French – zut alors!

Seriously though this extra-special double ASR Wii wheel pack is ONLY available in France.

Head over there now for more behind the scenes doings with Steve “S0L” Lycett!