No more entries! We were deluged with them… sort of.  But the winner is Urtheart as he was the first to send me a pic where I could actually read my name without squinting.  Ironically, the winners for the clearest shot were UK:Resistance who probably didn’t even realise the contest was going on.

http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/pics5/sega-superstars-tennis-grab-apocalypse-89.jpg

I’d send them a goodie bag too but, y’know, we don’t have their address…

It’s always nice when you get a surprise isn’t it? Well with SEGA Superstars Tennis I got just that, because we don’t just write blogs you know (no, really) we actually do a lot of promotional work and lots of other things that naturally enough go from the intensely frustrating to the most incredibly rewarding.

The surprise in question was that I at last appeared in the credits of a game!  Yup, I’m listed down as “Community Manager” in the SEGA Europe section of the credits.

Anyway, as you can only see the credits if you complete a tournament and they disappear quickish I’d quite like some proof I’m there for bragging rights.  So the first person to send - to blogs@sega-europe.com - me a really good quality screengrab of the credits showing my name clearly (I’m not down as ArchangelUK, obviously) will receive a nice little SEGA goodybag from me.

Deal?

Hey everybody, welcome back to the Blognik here in 2008, but what an end to 2007 we had: Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Games destroyed all comers in the All Format chart and rode high at number one for a fortnight – amazing when you consider it was only available on the Wii. It sold more in a week than any other Wii game and would have captured the Christmas No.1 too but we simply ran out of copies!

I’ll be bringing you details soon of a little M&S internal competition we’re going to be having at SEGAAUK HQ in the near future, as well as something you can get involved in. More on this soon.

Sonic & The Secret Rings also dominated the Wii charts back in March snagging number one spot, whilst Sonic Rush Adventure got a whopping 92% from Official Nintendo Magazine and even snared a rare 10/10 from top fansite Sonic Stadium. PSP owners weren’t out of Sonic action either with Sonic Rivals 2 which is steadfastly refusing to budge despite massive pressure from the PSP Top 5.

Of course in 2008 we’ve so much to look forward to as well from Sonic: Mario & Sonic return this time to the DS on February 8th with new DS exclusive events such as Boxing and Dream Shoot (Coconuts makes a cameo ^_^) I’ll be telling you all about that soon enough no doubt.

Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity is coming your way and is currently slated for release on February 22nd for both PS2 and Nintendo Wii. I for one am really looking forward to this particular title – again expect information on this SRZG to come thick and fast in the run up to launch.

SEGA Superstars Tennis of course is another game featuring Sonic – expect blogs on the subject to move over to the main SEGA blog in the future incidentally. That’s currently down for March 28th and features Sonic, Amy and Dr.Eggman as well as other SEGA favourites such as Samba, Ulala and NiGHTS.

Speaking of our favourite androgynous jester his first game in 11 years finally hits European shores on January 18th in the UK and 25th everywhere else – conquer your nightmares once again, this time on Nintendo Wii.

Then of course there’s Sonic RPG – Bioware’s offering for the DS which we’ll find out more in time no doubt, including its confirmed title. I’m sure we’ll be hearing lots about that title in the near future.

And that’s all to come, of course there’s one more appearance Sonic is making this year: the Smash Bros. Brawl Dojo decided it was about time they gave us some more Sonic details but waited until Christmas Day to do it; firstly they confirmed a Jun Senoue remixed version of Angel Island from (like you need telling) Sonic 3, will feature as one of the tracks on the music player.

We also got more details about Sonic’s Super Smash move where our spiky mascot goes Super in order to dish out some S-Ranked punishment. The screenshots show a much clearer Sonic than the clip seen previously in the Brawl introductory video and from a personal, if somewhat nerdy point of view they have thankfully gotten rid of the “8 zillion emeralds” transformation and now just the seven emeralds in their recognised colours appear.

Here’s to accuracy!

That remixed track of Angel Island from Brawl by the way is apparently going to appear on new Sonic music collection CD “True Blue” which covers 15 years worth of Sonic music. It’s also rumoured to possibly contain the Remix Factory/Lee Brotherton remix of Open Your Heart which has been conspicuously absent since its announcement in 2006.

Now it being the season of giving, I was of course delighted to find that SEGAAUK HQ was bombarded with a series of gifts for me from terrifyingly obsessed community members and friends of the Blognik.

T-Bird was very generous in his presentation of not only the QI annual - presumably he’s hoping the next series (F) will feature Fang (Nack). I received a package from Australia from Sonic well known Sonic fan artist Elson “Darkspeeds” Wong who sent me a copy of his comic.

Yes, you read that right, he’s gotten a comic published - “The Grand ASHWORTH Fortune” which even managed to impress my mum, which is rather like Superman praising the healing powers of Kryptonite. So, if anthropomorphic animals are your thing feel free to check out http://ashworth.darkspeeds.com/ as I’ll certainly be investing in the further ASHWORTH adventures. Lastly in a true example of shameless plugging Discoponies sent me a t-shirt emblazoned with the new Sonic Show logo plus TWO BAGS badges that presumably he wants me to distribute to high-ups in a sneaky way.

Sneak. Sneak. Sneak.
He also sent me a card with a very rude message in it. So nuts to that.

Thank you to all of you who sent in goodwill messages and such during the holidays as well as those of you who sent in cards and other items. We were pleased you enjoyed our little exclusive for Christmas, I’d best get on with trying to get you more stuff!

…and all through the office, not a creature was stirring - except AAUK.

Yes, I’m here in SEGAAUK HQ on my own. *Sniff* Everyone else has gone home for Christmas except me, who is still here because I’ve organised something verrrry nice for you.  If you go to Sonic City (as in now) you will find two Christmas presents from SEGA and myself.

First off, Sonic FM has gained three new tracks, two of which are from Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity, including the main theme ”Un-gravitify” by Cashell.

The second surprise is that Richard Jacques himself has written something for you, the first in a series of Composer Blogs for us on his work with SEGA Superstars Tennis - specifically the main theme of said game, and oh btw - WORLD EXCLUSIVE: YOU CAN NOW HEAR IT ON SONIC FM TOO!

Sorry for shouting, but WORLD EXCLUSIVE!  Yes, this doesn’t appear anywhere else on the web to my knowledge, so a proper Sonic City first. I told you to keep an eye on us didn’t I?

Now, this is the last blog of 2007 from me at least, so please put all comments relating to the tracks, Richard Jacques article and anything else you want in here and I’ll approve them when I can.

We’ve also got our new Facebook group you might want to join as well as the SEGA Christmas Newsletter competition you might have noticed if you received it.  If not, for the chance to win a Sonic X goody pack and a limited edition Sonic statuette answer the following question  - “What is the name of Santa’s reindeer in chief?”

Send in your answer to blogs@sega-europe.com (the usual Terms & Conditions apply), and we’ll announce the winner when we get back in the New Year as well as the winners of the Blognik “Interference” code contest for the Sonic Rivals 2 t-shirts.

Well that’s it guys, I’m off - Merry Christmas to you all from all of us here at SEGA, see you in 2008.

ArchangelUK