I’ll give a bit of a rundown tomorow on some of the feedback people gave across Facebook tomorrow at some point…

Thanks to all those who took part across Facebook & Twitter and here’s to the rest of 2009!

June 23rd 2009 – Sonic The Hedgehog is 18 years old today!

Not bad for someone who’s actually 15 in “reality”, congratulations to Sonic who has been the fastest thing alive since 1991 (sorry Usain).

If you were paying attention yesterday you’ll know today we’re giving away a raft of prizes worldwide (except for one pack which is Europe/PAL region only)  – thats worldwide, even Quebec on the @sonicgames twitter account and on the Sonic Facebook page.

Unfortunately @sonicgames received so many followers in such a short space of time that Twitter threw a wobbler when we tried to follow all of you and that mechanic has frozen up for 24hrs.  The limit was news to all of us, believe me! Anyway as a result of that we’re going to have to change the @sonicgames give away so when we put up the key phrase PLEASE DON’T DIRECT MESSAGE @sonicgames! Just on this occasion you can use reply to us in the normal fashion, i.e. starting your tweet @sonicgames

So to reiterate in about an hours time from this post @sonicgames will tweet a specific keyphrase, “Happy Birthday #SonicTheHedgehog!” or something like that you will then send the message back to @sonicgames (@sonicgames Happy Birthday #SonicTheHedgehog!) and the Nth person (1st, 2nd, 15th) will win.

Its only me doing the whole shebang across everything (/cry) so if there are delays apologies in advance.

Tomorrow is June 23rd – Sonic’s birthday, now you might think SEGA might have something very special planned? Well you’ve got AAUK in the SEGA house so heck yeah! I have just picked out a basket load of Sonic merchandise that we’re going to be giving away in a similar style to SEGA’s Free Stuff Friday giveaways on Twitter, AND I’m going to be giving stuff away on the Sonic Facebook page too!

So how much stuff are we talking here? Well….

SWEET MERCIFUL TIKAL! That’s a lot of Sonic swag!

How To Enter

TWITTER

We will announce which swag pack we are giving away and a special code phrase – e.g “Knuckles The Echidna Rocks!”, you’ll then have to REPLY (Not DM on this occasion) to us with the code phrase – so basically you’d tweet @sonicgames Knuckles The Echidna Rocks!

In order to help those who don’t have lightning fast connections well often specify that a specific response (the 5th, 8th, 15th, etc) will win the prize. We then repeat the process until all the swag packs are taken.

All items are worldwide unless specified.

FACEBOOK

To be in with a chance of winning on Facebook  you need to become a fan of Sonic the Hedgehog on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/sonic.   From about 11am UK time, June 23rd we will announce which swag pack we are giving away and then ask for wall posts/comments on a topic of our choosing.  The best comment in our opinion after approximately 30 mins will win the prize.

So don’t blink, don’t think, just go go go go gogogogogo go!

We’ll continue until we run out of prizes.

PRIZE LIST SPLIT

Twitter

NiGHTS Cameo Pack – NiGHTS Journey Of Dreams Soundtrack Sampler & SEGA Circular Keyring
Summer Of Sonic T-Shirt (L) – Its the last one I have from the 2008 Sonic Convention.
Sonic 3 360 Marketplace Redemption Code
Sonic Chronicles Pack: Archie’s Sonic The Hedgehog Comic – #191 and Sonic Chronicles DS Tin (UK version)
Sonic Christmas Chaos Pack – Sonic Chocolate Advent Calender (chocs are still good before you ask!) and SEGA Circular Keyring
Sonic X Kids Pack – Cream Mini-Plush Toy, MatchBox Convoy Rig and Sonic X Kid’s Toothbrush
Mario & Sonic Prize Pack 1 – M&S Summer A3 Poster and Enamel Pin Badge
Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity Pack – SR:ZG T-shirt (L) and Sticker Set
The Old & The New Pack – Sonic Unleashed (PS2) & SEGA Mega Drive Ultimate Collection (360) – EUROPE/PAL ONLY

Facebook

SEGA Stationary Pack – SEGA Writing Block, Post-It Block & SEGA Circular Keyring
Sonic 06 Pack – Sonic 06 Mug & Sonic Kids T-Shirt (M) – Kind of peculiar one this one as it has the Sonic 06 logo and the SatSR artworks – but with the ring whited out!
Super PS3 Unleashed DLC Pack – Redeemable PS3 DLC Codes for Apotos, Holoska, Chun-Nan & Spagonia
Sonic Rush Adventure Pack – Sonic Rush Adventure, Skull & Crossbones T-Shirt (M) and Compass Keyring
Mario & Sonic Prize Pack 2 – M&S Summer A3 Poster, Enamel Pin Badge & Red M&S Tracksuit (S)
Sonic & The Secret Rings Pack – SatSR T-Shirt Signed By Sonic Team Members and SatSR Sountrack Sampler

Sorry there was no mystery post this month, but my RSS didn’t update for Sonic Channel until after they’d posted it unfortunately. Not that there’d been much by way of guessing for this one, as the wallpaper for July is…

Yes indeed, Shadow The Hedgehog. Remember it might be Sonic’s birthday 18th birthday coming soon but (technically) its also Shadow’s 8th.

And Rouge’s come to think of it. Though one dreads to think if the Biolizard had a birthday, presumably it’d want a pink gumball dispenser or something.

You can grab the following sizes of the above Sonic Channel wallpaper.

1280 x 1024 | 1280 x 800 | 1024 x 768

18 years is a long time, and in that time Sonic has run through green hills, industrial factories, lava fields, bright cityscapes been to outer space more times than anyone currently at NASA and raced all over the world – quite literally! He’s also braved tyrants, guardians, robots, thieves, dinosaurs, pirates and even “pesky plumbers” – but through it all there are some levels that just stay with you on every game.

So, as part of Sonic’s birthday celebrations we’re asking you to vote for your favourite levels on a selection of Sonic titles from the original 1991 Sonic all the way through to Sonic & The Black Knight! (We’ve not included the mobile games, or spin-offs like Knuckles Chaotix, Shadow and the racing titles on this occasion). Simply select your favourite level from the list of games provided. Now we’re aware that you may not have played ALL the Sonic games listed so if you come across a game you’ve not played just select the bottom option of “No Preference”.

Is your play of Sonic 2 defined by Sky Chase Zone? Is Seaside Hill the definitive Sonic Heroes level? Will nothing beat the joys of Wild Canyon for you on SA2?

Head to the Boxes tab on Sonic’s Facebook page now and help us find the best of the best!

Check this out, I was just sent it on the @SEGA Twitter: this Dodge Charger skin was done by Avenger41 in 3D Studio Max to celebrate 15 years of Sonic & Knuckles – crikey, has it been that long? Naturally there is a Knuckles and Sonic specific skin for the two teammates – all in all its a pretty slick effort.

I left my Bentley Jones story, some time ago, with me leaning on a countertop desperately trying to keep my eyes focused in one direction after listening through TRANS//LATION as an exclusive before release deal.

I’d also gone around to Lee’s house to discuss his work on Sonic and specifically on Sonic & The Black Knight which he’d just added to his list of worked on games. I asked about his “Fairytales In Trance” remix of Seven Rings in Hand which appears on the Face To Faith vocal tracks album. Lee had teased me earlier in the year by playing a bit of the track over the phone but the connection was so bad I couldn’t tell what it was.

“The Arabian influence combined with the sitars was very fun to do.” Lee said after a moment fiddling with his iPod. ” I wanted to do something far away from TRANS//LATION… It makes it into a somewhat otherworldly track.”

Indeed the track is a very different take on the main theme of the previous Storybook Series title and very different from both the Steve Conte and Crush 40 versions. I wondered as to how much guidance he was given on producing the track.

“Nope, there was no brief – I was given a lot of freedom in the track.” He confirmed, “I played around with some vocal effects, the lyrics are… so abstract. There’s still a distinct LB/BJ sound to it.”

That sound of course seems to be everywhere at the moment as the man known as Lee Brotherton juggles multiple musical careers and multiple projects. How on earth can one man produce so much? He was about to go off to Japan at this time if you recall (”My friends hate me(!)”)

We entered Studio 3 which is Lee’s home studio, now I hate to ruin the illusion that Lee has a vast array of equipment that he calls upon and sits at a massive bank of monitors and switches. Studio 3 is basically the space under the stairs. But a space under the stairs which is a studio environment with lighting, sound system, computer, TV and 360. The 360 I was told was the most important item there.

“I’ve practicing my Unleashed.” Lee grinned, eagerly booting up Chun-Nan and a level I struggle with before proceeded to show off by A-ranking it. I had a go myself and proceeded to die twice before getting a D. A quick hand back to Lee resulted in an S-rank and an even bigger grin.

“Oh I’m not having this…” Sorry, I’ve never claimed to be the best Sonic game player, but the man had already beaten me to completing both Sonic 06 and Unleashed and sheer pride refused to let me quit without some sort of victory. So in pure spite I loaded Windmill Hill and absolutely dismantled Lee’s best time. Don’t mess with the AAUK. Nyah

After the brief gaming session I mentioned the other projects he’d been involved with, specifically that this was this would be the fourth Sonic game, for those that don’t know the list is.

Shadow The Hedgehog: E.G.G.M.A.N. Doc. Robeatnix Mix / Blue Falcon (REMIX Factory)

Sonic 06: “Dreams Of An Absolution” and production on “His World”

Sonic Rivals: With Remix Factory

Sonic & The Black Knight

“And the demos for Sonic Adventure 2.”

“And the demos for…huh?” I sort of did a double take there, its true Lee with REMIX Factory did some demos for Sonic Adventure, but Adventure 2?? To my knowledge no one has ever heard them; I excitedly asked if he still had them. Alas he couldn’t find them, but he’s looking for them and I’ll let you know if we are able to get them up somewhere for you to listen to.

So Lee has done a variety of Sonic tracks, but is there anything specific he’d like to remix? (I spend a few minutes at this point trying to convince him that a Team Chaotix remix is begging to be made but alas ultimately fail.)

“Well I did Open Your Heart which was quite significant to me.” Ah, yes Open Your Heart from the True Blue Album; not the first C40/LB crossover as there was the Dreams Of An Absolution (LB Vs JS) track with the versus being Jun Senoue. A track that irks Lee just a little bit but not for the reasons you might think. “Everyone thinks Jun remixed it!” He chuckled, “his involvement was just the new guitars & solos. Can you make sure everyone know that it WAS actually me who remixed that?” he added with a wink.

If only I had some sort of public forum where I could announce such. Hmmm…

“I would love to do an actual Sonic theme. It’d be great to rework one of the classic themes in some form.” Lee looked out the window for a second before a big grin enveloped his face. “Escape From the City – I’d hoped to possibly do that at some stage. Its an awesome track… I’d do it in a heartbeat!”

And we left the interview there hitting town and doing really cool guy things, like buying Mothers Day cards and decongestants and then hitting a bar for a quiet drink and private chat on important topics like girls, schooling and why balsamic vinegar is really tasty. But you don’t want to know about that..

Thanks to Lee for letting me visit and answering my questions and I’ll bring you any more news on those demos as I get it.

Warning – contains #200 spoilers.

You still here?

Good.

Right I’m back from my mini-break which left Martin in charge of the Blognik, I rather think he was afraid I’d beat him up or something for posting on here in my absense. Anyway, hello again. Archie have put up their next preview which is of #201, Dr. Eggman has been “defeated” although Sonic’s not too pleased about the way it went down and its celebration time – in the broadest possible terms. The last page of the preview belongs solely to Epsio – therefore its clearly the best page of the lot. Spirits Unite!

Hi everyone, AAUK is off at the moment so it has been left to me to update the blog. I’m rather scared to be honest LOL..

Anyway, just a little post to show off the new Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games trailer from this year’s E3. You can view it in lovely HD too.

Enjoy!