The Sonic Chronciles website is now open! You can get a bit of an idea of how the navigation in the game works with this site and there’s some hidden bits as well for you to find.

Its available in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Dutch - go to www.sonic-chronicles.com now!

Sonic is 17 today - huzzah! As such much will be going on across the interwebs, which I will put up here as and when I get it.

First thing I want to advertise is the Summer of Sonic - the very first full fledged Sonic convention (or SoniCon) which is something I have a rather distinct hand in being as it is a sort of joint organising venture between The Sonic Stadium, Sonic Wrecks and SEGA. If you are a big Sonic fan and want to meet other such fans the event is in London on AUGUST 9TH.

We’ve got people coming from as far away as Australia and America already and a vast array of fans all ready to decent on the hall in question. There’s going to be interactive displays, games contests, prizes and much much more. Special Sonicy guests are rumoured to be possibly making an appearance including Sonic and who knows if you turn up you MIGHT just get the chance to play a certain game that’s won’t be released for nearly two months after SoS! That and the odd World Exclusive, y’know, just saying…

The full program is still to be finalised, but if you are interested you will need to check out http://www.summerofsonic.com/ for full details and to register your intention of coming - if you do not you may not be let in by security!

Phastasy Star Universe time now, you may recall that the other year PSU had a Sonic event on his birthday with complimentary massive statue and Sonic and Tails mooching around the lobby for you to interact with. A similar event is happening today so check out http://www.phantasystaruniverse.com/community_events.php?item=20080619a

You may have missed the most recent Sonic Unleashed trailer, which also revealed the final logo. You can check this out below:

SEGASonic Radio bring three days of special birthday celebratory livecasts to an end tonight at 8PM BST.

The Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhoodwebsite is scheduled to launch very soon - keep an eye - beady stylee - out for it.

I’m sure you’ve heard the rumour, that we’re changing Sonic Unleashed’s name. Sorry folks. No we’re not.

The mix-up is understandable most certainly, so I’ll explain the base details.  The rumour started when a guide appeared on an online store for the game “Sonic World Adventure”,  keen-eyed Sonic fans spotted this and reported it and so the snowball began.  Sadly this is neither a new name nor a new game but infact an old name. You’ve got it the wrong way round fellas!

Unleashed was indeed, at an early developmental stage, going to be called Sonic World Adventure, it even had a WIP logo of sorts that featured on a verrrrry early cut of a promo video for the title.  Who knows maybe in some dim and distant future said video will appear, but no - Unleashed Sonic is so Sonic Unleashed it shall be.

So there we have it, the name simply hadn’t been updated yet which is how the mix up all occurred.

If you ask us to comment on a rumour we generally won’t - because 9.5 times out of ten its rubbish. Always take such things with a pinch of salt until we confirm or announce it officially, else you’ll only end up confused and/or disappointed when said rumour doesn’t happen: e.g “NiGHTS 3 is going to exclusively be announced at SEGA Gamers Day” anyone?

So in the words of a notorious band who had dealings with Sonic way back when, the irrepressable Right Said Fred - “There’s no truth, in the rumour - that’s all I wanna say.”

AAUK

PS: Contrary to several sources the word “World” is not the sole gaming property of Mr. Plumber for Tikal’s sake…

AAUK’s Much Later Edit: Yes, I know it came to pass that it was going to be Sonic World Adventure in Japan… but at the time that was what we were told.

The next in our series comes from someone from SOE, one Stefan McGarry. - AAUK

My job is to generate some buzz around this game. You’d think it would be a challenge to sustain interest in a license that’s been around for nearly 17 years, especially when the road to review hasn’t always been a smooth one to run on. To be honest, though, the prospect of working on a new Sonic PR campaign has lost none of its appeal, and thankfully the franchise still has countless fans in the press. Still, you never know what’s around the corner, and when we announce any new game, all the press usually have to go on is a developer name and a couple of screenshots to write about, so it’s a waiting game to see what they write. Giving them a call to prepare them just before we announce can sometimes help:

Journalist: “Alright Stef. What’s occurring?”
Stefan: “Hello mate, I’ve got a new game we’re about to announce that I wanted to talk to you about.”
Journalist: “Nice one, what’s that then?
Stefan: “It’s a new Sonic game on DS…”
Journalist: “Great! Is Mario in it?
Stefan: “No, but….”
Journalist: “Ok, is it a new 2D Sonic Rush game?”
Stefan: “…well, no, it’s an RPG…”
Journalist: “Riiiiight. I’ll call you back.”

Next day…

Stefan: “It’s Stefan again. You didn’t call me back yesterday. I didn’t get a chance to mention that Bioware are developing it”.
Journalist: “Ooh! You should have said! Those guys are legends!

Ok, so we got there in the end. Let’s look at the other facts. Sonic appearing on a Nintendo format is certainly no longer a controversial topic. In fact, recent games like Sonic and the Secret Rings and Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games went down well, so this coupled with the fact that Bioware are one of the best RPG developers in the world, should make Sonic Chronicles one to watch.

The more I play it, the more I’ve found that it’s different to any Sonic game that’s gone before. For a start, the artistic design of Sonic Chronicles, with its hand-drawn, comic-book visuals, is quite simply, lush. Next up, the game is controlled solely using the DS stylus. Whilst the speed of the game might not cause your eyeballs to unwind from their sockets, pop out, and roll down your leg like a Sonic Rush would, the speed skill can be upgraded, so you can zip around the map at quite the gallop.

Also, the game allows you to play as any one of several familiar characters from all over the Sonic universe in a party of four. The thing I’m most excited about though, is that a lot of blanks between these characters’ storylines are being filled in by Bioware, essentially making this game a compendium of Sonic history. Oh, and did I mention that the game kicks off in Green Hill Zone? I found that the music also sounds eerily familiar and very reminiscent of the 2D Mega Drive games. Everything feels authentic, down to ring collecting sound effects and the wonderfully scripted dialogue between the characters. Bioware have really done their homework here. As PRs we’re always looking for reasons to get excited about a game, and having seen this in full effect, I can safely say that fans of the series are going to love this.

The combat is turn-based, and you can arm each of your party with a number of attacks and special moves. Each of these are unique to the character and are fun to upgrade. There’s quite a lot of skill involved in pulling off some of the special moves, with Ouendan-style patterns to mimic for increased accuracy. Over time, you’ll be able to either assign experience points to skills and moves for finetuning, or you can auto-assign them, which should bring a level of accessibility to younger players and depth for RPG fans if they want to tinker.

I’ve been lucky enough to have been given access to several early versions of the game to show to press, and with each new update of the game’s code, I’m content to keep going back and replaying each of the early levels to take a look at what’s next, what’s improved and which new characters pop up. When I’m this happy about how a game’s shaping up, I certainly don’t mind being paid to tell the world about it.