Sega have seemingly made it loud and clear that the Sonic Storybook Series, featuring Sonic and the Secret Rings and the upcoming Sonic and the Black Knight, will be an ongoing sub-series with the regular Sonic games. This is especially apparent given the new little addition to the U.S. Sonic and the Black Knight boxart. Picture after the jump.

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Sonic Unleashed, the newest upcoming multi-platform installment of the popular Sonic the Hedgehog series, may just reveal one of the most controversial marketing decisions yet when it comes to the distribution of the new game.

As mentioned in an earlier report, there will be two main versions of the new game–one for the Xbox 360 & PlayStation 3, and one for the Wii & PlayStation 2. The two versions were to differ in a few ways, the most significant being that it was to have completely different level design.

However, according to an exclusive Unleashed preview by Crispy Gamer, the PlayStation 2 & Wii versions of the game will only have 7 levels, compared to the 9 levels that will be intact in the 360 & PS3 versions.

What does this mean for people who don’t want to miss out on both versions of Unleashed? Will they be forced to buy both versions of the game in order to fully experience the game in its entirety? Or will they be forced to miss out on two whole levels if they decide to purchase the more interactive version of the game for the Wii? It’s strange to try and predict the reasoning behind this move, other than to try and get more sales despite the game being on multiple platforms. The game looks good, no doubt about it–but will it really be worth the extra money to get two extra levels?

In addition to this information, the preview appears to stress that the graphics in the Wii & PS2 version are far worse than those in the 360 & PS3 versions. It is confirmed that there will be other characters–Tails, Shadow, and Amy Rose, to name a few–but Sonic will be the only playable character. It also points out that there will, unfortunately, be no more beastiality scenes in the game this time around. What a pity!

Overall, this leaves many confused, and even more with mixed feelings. Hopefully as more information is revealed on Unleashed, some real concrete judgement can be made. Until then, at least we can hold solace in the fact that Sonic is the only playable character. That’s cool, right?