Ogilvie

Not if we consider the point of this was to be a cheap cash-in for the cartoon rather than a masterpiece. So, assuming sales are enough to at least break even, another installement isn't out of the question.

Beat Rise of Lyric! Story: Interesting enough, but there were elements that didn't need to be there. I think a prequel would be better than a sequel. Characterization: A lot better than we'll probably get from any mainstream Sonic game for a while. Gameplay: I breezed through it. Combat really isn't that tedious, especially if you use the Enerbeam to throw enemies into hazards. Graphics: They need to patch this department up. Not just the graphics themselves but how things load/render. Some textures looked flat and there's a lot of lag. Overall: Not a stellar Sonic game but it's not terrible. More in depth, spoiler thoughts:

As an addition... Words cannot describe how much more optimistic I am about Rise of Lyric after the new screenshots. These gimmicks will either be awesome or awful, and they've looked to have touched the graphics up a fair bit, such as actual grass textures and not flat patches of green.

Always liked the original's concept and execution even if I haven't played it. I don't think I'll play the second either. He REALLY upped the "Nope" factor with his profits, clearly.

http://sonicunited.org/2014/10/07/sonic-boom-2014-event-recap/ So I attended Sonic Boom 2014 in New York City a few days ago. It was pretty fun! All sorts of people to meet and all kinds of stuff to do. Hope to see everyone at next year's.

It's been a while since I've posted in this topic, so my thoughts as it stands: Rise of Lyric is looking to be for the most part fairly run of the mill in terms of gameplay, while also being very subpar in the graphics department. However, the characterization is top notch, and the humor and story show promise. I honestly do not blame the people who say they will avoid buying the game but will watch the cutscenes on Youtube; those are likely going to be the best part. I played the game back at E3, and will try to give it a go at Sonic Boom 2014 (expect a summary of that on the front page, of course) on Saturday. I'm interested to see if anything much has changed.

You read that right! The staff behind Summer of Sonic, the Sonic Stadium, and Sonic the Comic - Online! have joined forces to bring a new convention to the United Kingdom this year! City: York, England Venue: Merchant Adventurers' Hall Date: October 26th, 2014 Time: TBA (all day) Planned events: The convention has a Kickstarter that one can can donate to in order to guarantee entry. It has already raised its initial goal of £2000, and so is for certain happening. You can also donate to earn sweet rewards such as a con-exclusive T-Shirt, even if you can't go! Sonic the Comic Con has announced its first stretch goal of £2500. If it reaches it, anyone who has donated £12 or more will receive a physical, full color copy of a Sonic the Comic - Online! issue that will be made as an exclusive for this event... whether you attend or not! You can follow them on Facebook for updates (more news is on the way soon). You may also mark yourself as going on their event page.

That's probably actually why they're doing this now. They probably hope to draw a lot of mainstream individuals into the fanbase with the film. SEGA Japan has to compete with SEGA America's massive Boom push somehow, no?

Van Robichaux, one of the screenwriters on the film, has not only been posting from time to time in the thread over at the Sonic Stadium, but has also opened his Twitter and Facebook Page up to fans who would like to poke him about the film.

Suppose I may as well update this... Due to not being sure if the funding's there just yet, and also not wanting to keep hopping between dates, this event has been cancelled for 2015. My apologies! All tickets purchased have been refunded... I still have plans for a Sonic con at some point in the future, but I want to be sure everything will be in place. I also am hoping that many fan games can get the attention they deserve on the floor of a fan event.

Suppose I may as well update this... Due to not being sure if the funding's there just yet, and also not wanting to keep hopping between dates, this event has been cancelled for 2015. My apologies! All tickets purchased have been refunded... I still have plans for a Sonic con at some point in the future, but I want to be sure everything will be in place.

We are confirmed for June 26th and 27th (a Friday and a Saturday) for next year. A lot of things affected the inconsistent date. Originally we wanted a Monday and Tuesday to be around the time of the LVL Up Expo, but then we decided to move to Summer. Then we tried Wednesday and Thursday... but then decided a weekend date would be well worth the extra expense to ensure more attendees could come. The exact venue will be announced as soon as we have a contract signed.

Even if one is unable to make it, I'm happy to announce that our fundraiser is up and running! You can donate here. Rewards range from having one's name placed in a paper Sonic emblem collage to fundraiser-exclusive T-Shirts to one's name being printed on a wall scroll hung at the event to VIP status. Even those who are attending are more than welcome to contribute!

It appears general discussion of fangames as much as showcasing is also allowed here; please correct me if I am wrong. Here it goes! Just a few days ago, I announced that a two day Sonic convention is planned to take place in Las Vegas, Nevada next Summer. How is this relevant to fangames? Well, I have a proposal for all the enterprising ladies and gentlemen who work on all the various fangames around the world. Quite simply... there would be quite a few tables and booths in the venue. I am thus proposing the creation of a fangame area. Now, how it would be executed... I'm not exactly sure. Perhaps several fangames could be put on a disc and played from one computer? Perhaps there would be multiple computers, each with their own fangame. The exact details would naturally be worked out closer to the date. With regards to attendance... if you could find someone to represent the fan game community on the floor, I'd highly suggest they oversee said table. That's if you can't attend personally, of course! All fangames would naturally be subject to review, but I welcome the idea of a fan game area. It would allow exposure for the games as well as add another great activity to the convention. I'm probably getting ahead of myself but... with the right amount of planning and content... perhaps it could be a physical SAGE Expo, even?

No problem, the more the merrier! You may also want to consider looking into Sonic Nevada.

Dates: June 26th and June 27th, 2015 Location: To be announced You can buy tickets to attend here! You can donate to the fundraiser and receive rewards here! This event is not affiliated with SEGA and is run on a non-profit basis. Sonic Revolution 2014 is not even upon us yet, and already there’s another Sonic the Hedgehog convention in the works! Casino Nights Zone is a TWO-day convention for fans of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, though gamers of all ages and interests, as well as their families, are more than welcome to attend. The event is to be held in Las Vegas on June 26th and 27th, 2015. Casino Nights is being organized with the same ideas as Sonic Boom, Summer of Sonic, Sonic Revolution and Weston Super Sonic: a place where all Sonic fans can gather and have hours (or days, in our case) of fun about their favorite blue hedgehog! Event Details The event is being formally sponsored by Dreamerch, a small video game merchandise retailer, but the event itself is run on a not-for-profit basis; any proceeds from the event will be going towards increasing the amount of activities available to attendees. The event is divided into two Acts, each representing a day and dedicated to heroes or villains. Contests and activities shall be held on both days and will be tailored to these themes: for example, the costume contest for one day would be themed around villains and the other day around heroes. A 20-hour event is going to require lots of funding to ensure that there's lots for attendees to do; every ticket purchased from us will make this possible. Money raised from tickets will go towards paying for the event space as well as all the activities we have planned. Activities available at the venue will include: • Contests (Trivia, Costume, Art and more); • Musical performances by various talented musicians; • Panels with various special guests (such as Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog writer Ian Flynn or Sonic comic artists Matt Herms and Evan Stanley) who have contributed to the Sonic franchise in one form or another, such as voice work, artwork, animation, game design, writing, or more; • Raffles for various prizes • Gaming tournaments, ranging from Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed to Super Smash Bros. Brawl; • A fangame area where the most promising fangames will be available to view and play; • Tables to have your merchandise signed by various creative talents who have worked on Sonic the Hedgehog; • Fanmade animations and videos related to Sonic the Hedgehog will be showcased throughout the day; • Vendor booths and artist alley tables where all sorts of merchandise will be for sale; • A fanmade Sonic mascot costume as well as other options for photo opportunities; • All this will be to the tune of Sonic music playing in the background all day long; And more! Special guests will be announced as they are confirmed to be attending. Several talented individuals who have contributed to Sonic media over the years have voiced interest (none of these guests are confirmed, just as a note; guests will be confirmed as we make arrangements later on)! Of course, these are only the guests who have announced interest publicly... To help pay for the costs (which will come to around 16,000 dollars) of this event, a small ticket fee is charged; a one-day pass costs 20 dollars, and a two-day pass costs 35 dollars. Las Vegas and EventBee charge some fees as well, and these are levied on top of the ticket price; after service fees and taxes, a one day pass is 24 dollars, and the two day pass is 40.50. We hope you will join us in Las Vegas for the world's first formal two-day Sonic convention! This event is not sponsored by or affiliated with SEGA or any of its subsidiaries and is an independent undertaking. Every person who buys a ticket or otherwise contributes makes this event possible, and we encourage all contributors and attendees to take pride in this fact. Myself and all the other Casino Nights staff hope you will join us at Casino Nights next year in fabulous Las Vegas!

So I'm doing some information gathering for event organizers everywhere. Your wallet allowing, how much would you be willing to pay for an eight-hour Sonic event? Assume for the sake of argument it has a fair deal of bells and whistles (contests, etc.) and isn't just a large meetup. Please cast a vote here! It's hoped that this poll can reach countless fans so that any organizers can gauge the right ticket costs in the future. As a disclaimer, Sonic Revolution has no plans on charging this year or ever.

Sonic Revolution 2014 is less than three months away, and more news has come in! We’re proud to announce that composer Tommy Tallarico of Video Games Live fame will be a special guest at our event. Mr. Tallarico will be talking about his work with Sonic music (he was one of the contributors to Sonic and the Black Knight’s soundtrack) as well as video game music in general. The audience will be more than welcome to ask him questions! We’ve also taken a note from Summer of Sonic and have created a webpage made just for this year’s event! Give it a look sometime!

As mentioned on the front page: http://sonicunited.org/2014/03/06/sonic-revolution-2014-more-tickets-to-be-released-march-8th/ Missed the EventBrite sale? No worries! We're having a second one of 50 tickets, once again, with all tickets being free! Tickets go on sale at 10 AM PST on March 8th. You've heard about the hotel discount code for the Holiday Inn Buena Park the weekend of Sonic Revolution. It's "SGR" without the quotes! If you don't have a ticket yet, we're offering guaranteed tickets to anyone who sends a copy of their Holiday Inn reservation confirmation (don't forget the hotel code) to [email protected] ! We only have fifteen tickets that can be acquired in this fashion, so book soon!

Sonic Revolution 2014 has three new pieces of news related to the event to reveal to all prospective attendees the world over! First off, tickets are now on sale via Eventbrite! They are free, so don’t hesitate to grab one; just please grab one (or several!) only if you can actually attend. Here is the link where you can grab tickets. There’s a limit of ten tickets per attendee if you wanted to bring friends or family. Secondly, we finally have our hotel code for the Holiday Inn, good for Saturday and Sunday night. The code for Revolution attendees is: SGR. When booking a room at the Holiday Inn Buena Park’s website, simply enter the code under “Group Code” on the side to earn yourself a discount. Third and finally, we have another special guest announcement! We’re proud to report Evan Stanley, writer and illustrator of the Ghosts of the Future Sonic webcomic, and a contributing artist to Archie’s Sonic the Hedgehog comic series, will be at the event. She will be having an artist table for attendees to view her work, find out any information about her work, as well as receive autographs. She will also be a judge at the event’s art contest! Please stop by her table at some point during the event!

Pretty much everyone who has heard some of their work has fallen in love with it! It's an honor on the part of the Boom team to have them perform; they need more exposure!

The event now has a Facebook event page for attendees who want to put themselves down as Going or Maybe, as well as to discuss with other attendees about the event.

(Not in the usual meetup thread because I think this is big enough to warrant its own thread, being a con rather than a local meetup) Greetings Sonic fans the world over! Remember how I said Sonic Revolution 2014 was being worked on? You might not since I’ve said it for a few months, but for those who were waiting patiently, your wait is over. We are now finally ready to unveil our event’s finer details! Date: Sunday, June 15, 2014 Time: 10 AM to 6 PM Location: The Marquis Room at the Holiday Inn Buena Park Address: 7000 Beach Blvd, Buena Park, California 90620 Please wait on booking your rooms at the Holiday Inn! We will have a code for the event shortly that you can use to get a discounted rate on the hotel, good for both Saturday the 14th and Sunday the 15th. Tickets will be put up for grabs on March 1st. Tickets will be FREE and obtained via EventBrite; an update will be posted once they are ready to be taken by attendees. For those planning to stay for more than just the event, some amenities at the location are: a bar inside the main lobby of the hotel; a restaurant inside the hotel as well as a Fuddruckers next door outside; a gas station down the block for any small purchases; and shuttles to Knott’s Berry Farm and Disneyland. Sonic Revolution announced that an exclusive clip of the upcoming Sonic Prologue film would be shown at the event back on Hedgehog Day. In line with that, we are announcing our first special guest for this year’s event: Christopher Wilcots, the animator on the film! His companion, director and writer Doryan Nelson, was sadly unable to make it, but Mr. Wilcots will be present and most likely be part of a QnA panel. We also have another two special guests: Cody James Scarlett and Jerry Alexander of the band Serenity Seven! Serenity Seven will be performing several classic Sonic hits as well as some of their own original music. Skeptical of Serenity Seven? Just give some of their published works a listen! They’ve uploaded covers of Escape from the City from Sonic Adventure 2, Reach for the Stars from Sonic Colors, Endless Possibilities from Sonic Unleashed, and What I’m Made Of from Sonic Heroes! They have done several covers that are not yet released but have been played on Sonic Radio. The whole Revolution team hopes you will join us in seeing them perform live this Summer! There will also be a gaming tournament in a section of the convention, "Gaming Through the AGES." This area features several Sonic games played on their original SEGA consoles. More details will be revealed about Gaming through the AGES in the future. We will also be offering FREE artist alley spots to those who would be interested in showcasing and/or selling their work at the venue! If you plan on attending and would like a spot in Sonic Revolution’s Artist Alley, please e-mail [email protected] with the subject “Artist Alley Registration.” More details about the event, such as its schedule, hotel discount code, and tickets, will be released in the next few weeks. Please mark your calendars and join us at the first fan-run convention in the United States devoted to Sonic the Hedgehog! This thread will be a source of updates, as will our Facebook, Twitter, and website. Feel free to ask any questions about the event below!

Earlier this morning it broke that several SEGA staff, from community team members such as Aaron Webber to game producers, had all made a flight into New York City based on their social media. The exact reasons they were there resulted in speculation abound, but it looks like we have finally found out. In a recent video by Machinima (which has since been taken down, likely due to being a leak), a copy of a flyer was displayed that indicates there will be a special event for the press in New York City on February 8th from 12 PM to 3 PM discussing Sonic’s future. SEGA hails 2014 as the “Year of Sonic” and promises it will be a “Renaissance” for the franchise. What’s notable is the poster says all information and photos are under embargo until after the event; that is, they can’t be shown until it is over. The good news is this means we can very likely look forward to some sort of news tomorrow, thanks to this event being leaked by one of the individuals who were invited. Here is a screencap of the flyer from the original video. There’s no telling what will be at this event, but we can presume that it must be something big if SEGA is bold enough to talk of a “renaissance” and was even trying to keep it a secret. Sonic Boom 2014? More cartoon details? The Sonic film? The 2014 game? Legend of Zelda DLC? What do you think the Year of Sonic will entail?