UPDATE: Apparently, the deal went over rather well since both the PS2 and 360 versions sold out at around 9 p.m. EST. The offer was called off as orders from the game after Amazon’s stock was sold out were being handled by Target, who were not honoring the deal. A good sign to see the game is selling, anyway.

So, you’ve held off buying Sonic Unleashed because of money. Yes, after the chaos this year has wracked on consumers, both in the items being released or because the global economy is in the toilet, saving money is a very big deal.

Amazon understands this and, for today, Nov. 29, only as part of their on-going Black “Friday” sales, Sonic Unleashed on PS2 and 360 (the PS3 version is not included, due to not being released, nor is the Wii version.) are being offered at a $24 discount on the 360 and $14 on the PS2. Of course, this is limited strictly to the U.S. Amazon site.

It doesn’t quite end there. If you use the bonus code, “UNLEASH5″ (no quotation marks), the price will be discounted a further $5. In total, the game can now be gotten for $21 on the 360 and $10 on PS2.

If financial troubles were keeping you away from this game or you’re just cheap and love to save money, today is the day to jump. Again, the deal is only for today.

Amazon.com: Sonic Unleashed

16 years ago, the sequel to one of the most iconic faces in video game history, Sonic the Hedgehog, hit the retail gaming market. This game introduced a new character to the series, Miles “Tails”  Prower, who to this day has remained a prominent face in the Sonic franchise. With Sonic and his new sidekick tearing through brand new zones at breakneck speeds, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 set the bar not only for the Sonic franchise, but for platforming games as a whole at its time. Not used to the speedy platforming that the games delivered, players were blown away by the pace of each level. When asked how they were able to make the game go so much faster than other games at the time, SEGA would explain it using the classic term, “Blast Processing.” Indeed, there was something special about this game!

Celebrate Sonic 2’s 16th birthday with something special! Dust off the ol’ Genesis and give the game a whirl. Get an friend to blast through Emerald Hill Zone in the game’s two player mode! Set yourself some new challenges–for example, I’ve never personally tried getting all of the emeralds because I hate the special stages. Who knows, though–maybe this time I’ll get lucky.

Recall your memories about the game in this forum thread! Share what you decided to do for Sonic’s special day today. Engross yourself in what made this game great. It’s the least you can do, after all!

Heeeeere’s Tweaker with the low down…

I’m happy to announce we have taken on a new community project—Project: Sonic Retro! Formerly known as the Sonic 4 project, this is a new, collaborative Sonic game led by Phoebius, Qjimbo, and BJCharles intended to go back to Sonic’s roots in a very literal sense and create a brand new Sonic game, comparable to the original 16-bit games.

Some may know we have had a shaky history with this project in the past, but all these things are now resolved, and we’re hoping that as many people as possible try to contribute towards the project in whatever way they can. Pixel Artists, musicians, et al are welcome to submit any contributions they have per the relevant contribution guidelines for the project.

Being Sonic Retro, we felt it was appropriate to have a project of our own name that really tried to symbolize what we thought classic Sonic was about. Like Sonic 2 HD, we plan to take the future of Sonic into our own hands in whatever way possible. Sonic Retro—a Sonic Retro community project—will prove to be one of our most prestigious projects yet.

More community funtime at the Sonic Retro funtime forums.

BE JEALOUS.

As some of you may have heard, Sega announced Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection today with a whopping 40 games on a 9GB DVD disc! Moreover, there are a grand total of 4 games that are not already on Gametap!

Intrepid Sonic Retro members were so excited over this upcoming game that they hacked into Sega’s servers and used the same pixie dust magic to get their own games into Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection! Behold!

Click on the image for full HIGH-DEFINITION GOODNESS!!!

Not to be outdone, Retro members have rallied to make their own project, Sonic 2 HD, able to compete with this glorious advancement in technology with the new Sonic 2 HD HD (working title). We were able to get a sneak preview of this amazing update, as seen below in this screen shot–thanks to nineko for leaking this~

I’m totally amped for this exciting new title! A big thank you to Sega for taking the immense amount of time and effort required for such a compilation!

An interesting nugget from the pages of the New York Times appeared today to remind us that everything can kill us; it seems terrorist organization al-Qaeda has been looking into making Sega cartridges into detonators. No word as to why they specified Sega only. As pulled from the New York Times:

One detainee is said to have been schooled in making detonators out of SEGA game cartridges.

The story’s origin seem to come from the case of Hassan Bin Attash - a seventeen year old (at time of capture) detainee that several human rights organizations claim was tortured in Jordan before being held in Guantanamo Bay.

Be careful with the prototypes out there, prototype hunters. You may very well wind up with the one Sonic 2 prototype packing Genocide City Zone.

Next President Will Face Test on Detainees [New York Times]

SEGA’s most successful console turned 20 this past week, so I figured that I should take some time out to honor SEGA’s greatest contribution to video games and its impact on my life.  When I was a child, the Genesis practically dominated my free time and it was deserving of such.  I have some great memories of beating all the Sonic titles for the first time and creating characters in Evander Holyfield’s Real Deal Boxing called “Coconut Poo”.  Give me a break - I was, like, 6.

This maverick of the 16-bit era makes McCain and Palin blush with envy.  Sonic burst on the scene and immediately gave the Genesis an attitude unmatched to this day.  The badassery didn’t end with Sonic, as Mortal Kombat gave us the blood that we were craving for after witnessing the “sweat” on the Super Nintendo.  SEGA became so successful that they decided to run its console into the ground.  In an attempt to hold-on to that success for dear life, SEGA made many Genesis remakes, add-ons, and gimmicks to pathetically end its envious ten-year run.  A fail-tastic trend seen to this day on their many other projects.

Since I’m in a reminiscent mode, what are your memories of the Genesis?  Sound off in the comments, fools.

Over at the Sonic World Adventure (aka Sonic Unleashed) official Japanese site, there have been some new updates to the character information, with new art and info on the ice cream-loving Chip (first seen in the Sonic Unleashed manga) and Dr. Eggman. These new images will probably hit the English press (and removed from the site’s flash) in a day or two, but for now, enjoy. Pics under the cut.

Read the rest of this entry »

Today I report on the current state of Sonic Unleashed. A new video was released about a level… Adabat. It’s a pretty shiny looking island area. And, as one astute forumer commented, the flute line on the night song for it appears to reference Rusty Ruins… from Sonic 3D Blast. Unlike the very fast levels we first saw, this one also features a little more platforming action, and it seems to have some new night level enemies.

It’s clear that, if nothing else, the game looks pretty, and the framerate seems fine in this level. It’s just up to Sonic Team to make sure it keeps up the progress so far… until then, we have plenty of nice videos to watch, at least. That, and…

Discuss on the forums!

Let’s face it–since the 16-bit era, video game publishers haven’t had prominent mascots for their systems. Nintendo has Mario. Sega has Sonic. NEC had… Bonk, I guess. All of these characters’ games were solid platformers which represented the advantages of each system. Lately, though, this trend has more or less been discontinued. I mean, what could be considered Microsoft’s mascot? Master Chief? It’s just not quite the same.

Sony is looking to reverse this, however, with its first formal endorsement of a mascot in Sackboy from the upcoming PS3 game LittleBigPlanet. The anticipated game and new mascot is receiving a big push from Sony, and more importantly, with its simple run and jump play, may signal a return to platformer-style games as a major genre on home consoles.

Can Sonic take on Sackboy? Will the unique additions LittleBigPlanet brings, such as custom levels, influence future Sonic games?