How much did the Sonic brand make in 2008?
Posted by George. Filed under George, Multi-platform, News, Nintendo Wii, North America, Sonic. Tagged with $, Sonic, Sonic and Mario, Sonic Unleashed.
So how much did the Sonic brand make in 2008? According to Wedbush Morgan Securities’ industry report it made $163 million dollars. A even better fact, this only accounts for United States, not Europe, where Sonic is more popular.
Sonic came in at number 11 on their top 30 list of most profitable game brands. This means that it made more money than the Gears of War , The Sims and Tom Clancy brands.
The majority of sales came from Mario and Sonic, a game that has been charting since it was released in 2007 (Wii version) and the release of Sonic Unleashed in late 2008. I’m sure Sonic would have cracked the top ten if they released Sonic Unleashed around spring 2008, instead of in the fall. Another Sonic game that was released in 2008 was Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood.
Hit the jump to see the full list.
Just who are you following on Twitter?
Posted by Graham. Filed under Europe, G, News, Sonic. Tagged with Fan Stuff, Followers, Football Manager, Phantasy Star, Shenmue, Sports Interactive, Total War, twitter, Valkyria Chronicles, Virtua Tennis.
What with Twitter being a relatively new, trendy medium in which to hassle and obsess over your favourite stars (or indeed video game company), Sega has made it just that little bit easier for you to follow them by pointing out which of their Twitter accounts are actually real.
The official SEGA accounts are:
SEGA - Official SEGA community team for Europe and America
sonicgames - Official Sonic The Hedgehog
phantasystar - Phantasy Star
valkyriatribune - Valkyria Chronicles
totalwar - Total War series (Creative Assembly)
TheConduit - The Conduit
FootManLive - Football Manager Live
and si_games for Sports Interactive (Football Manager)
Those are the main accounts, but Sega also has a couple of other accounts they use, including a Shenmue account - which clearly needs a bigger following. Get on it people.
There are also accounts for Virtua Tennis (virtuatennis) and Shenmue (shenmue) but these are not as active, your main ports of call on Twitter for SEGA interaction are going to be @SEGA, @sonicgames and @phantasystar.
So if you are on the Twitter bandwagon, but haven’t been sure if the Sega-related account you’ve been following is real, then just check the above list.
And if you want to follow us, we are also on Twitter - @SegaNerds - because we are just as trendy as Sega.
[Source: SoE blog]
[Special Thanks: Fulvio, Via Email]
How Sega used to preview a Sonic game in 1991
Posted by George. Filed under George, North America, Retro, Sonic. Tagged with 1990's, back in the day, early days, Magazine scans, Sega Vision, Sonic the Hedgehog.
Sega Europe celebrating Sonic’s birthday with big giveaway
Posted by Graham. Filed under G, Multi-platform, News, Sonic. Tagged with Birthday, Contest, Giveaway, Sonic the Hedgehog.
In case you don’t know, like I didn’t until last week, it is Sonic the Hedgehog’s birthday tomorrow - June 23rd and Sega Europe will be giving away a hell of a lot of Sonic-related goodies.
But rather than being old-school and holding the contest on their site/blog, they will doing it via the trendier methods of Facebook and Twitter (what ever happened to all the MySpace love?). So for this they will be splitting up the prize bundles in twain:
Summer of Sonic location revealed
Posted by Graham. Filed under Europe, G, News, Retro, Sonic. Tagged with Fan Stuff, Lee Brotherton, Richard Jacques, SoS, Summer of Sonic, T.J Davis.
It’s been a while since we’ve heard any updates on this year’s Summer of Sonic exhibition, but that doesn’t mean the organisers haven’t been busy behind the scenes.
Previously only one thing had been confirmed, the date - August 29th. But now Svend Jocelyne, SoS organiser and main guy over at The Sonic Stadium, has confirmed the venue’s location.
“SOS 09 will take place in the colourful marketplace of Brick Lane, at Truman Brewery’s Boiler House. We have more details on the location, including a handy map, on our newly opened Where Is It page - do give it a nose.”
It’s Sega day on XBLA
Posted by Graham. Filed under Arcade, G, Microsoft Xbox 360, News, Retro, Sonic, Worldwide. Tagged with Altered Beast, Comix Zone, Downloads, Genesis, Gunstar Heroes, Mega Drive, Phantasy Star II, Retro, Sega Vintage Collection, Shinobi, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, XBLA.
Do you remember last month that Sega announced several titles that would be joining the Sega Vintage Collection on XBLA? Well they’re here!
As announced in the press release, the new titles now available on XBLA are:
- Altered Beast (Arcade version)
- Comix Zone (Mega Drive/Genesis)
- Gunstar Heroes (Mega Drive/Genesis)
- Phantasy Star II (Mega Drive/Genesis)
- Shinobi (Arcade version)
- Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Mega Drive/Genesis)
Each game costs 400 MS points and the games that feature multiplayer modes are online enabled - so you can happily play Altered Beast, Gunstar Heroes and Sonic 3 with a friend.
Of course if you want value for money, then it would be better getting your hands on the Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection, which features over 40 titles, including all these games with the exception of Gunstar Heroes.
Also don’t forget that Sega announced that Sonic & Knuckles would be joining the Vintage Collection, but that is not due till late this summer. Sonic & Knuckles will allow players to use the lock-on feature on both the Sonic 3 and Sonic 2 titles on XBLA - which should be fun.
Note: Gunstar Heroes should also be available for the PS3’s PSN service. However not owning a PS3 I cannot check to see if it has also been released today - so if someone can confirm that’d be great.
New Mario & Sonic screens look promising
Posted by George. Filed under George, News, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, Sonic, Worldwide. Tagged with E3 2009, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, Screenshots.
Mario & Sonic return in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, sequel to the huge selling Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, but are fans really that excited? I know a bunch of our readers had mix opinions on the first one, but I have to admit, this second one is looking a bit better.
The screens released show off some of the new events and the DS screens show off the story mode, a new addition in the sequel.
(Hit the jump to see the DS screenshots!)
Sonic Unleashed Apatos & Shamar Adventure Pack hits PSN
Posted by George. Filed under George, North America, Sonic, Sony PlayStation 3. Tagged with PSN, Sonic Unleashed, Trailers.
Giving you guys a heads up that you can now buy Apatos & Shamar Adventure Pack on PSN. The pack will cost you $2.99 for both adventure packs (Apatos & Shamar), just like we posted last time for the XBLA version.
While you are on PSN, make sure to download some of the Sega E3 trailers that are up, like the Sonic and SEGA All Stars Racing, Planet 51and Vancouver 2010 trailers. I’m actually hoping we get some high def trailers for Bayonetta and Alpha Protocol later (unless I missed them).
This is for North American PSN store, so if it isn’t on other stores don’t yell at me!
[Source PSblog]
Sonic Unleashed mobile screens might please old school Sonic fans
Posted by George. Filed under George, Sonic. Tagged with E3 2009, Mobile, Not iPhone, Sonic Unleashed.
If you remember awhile back we posted about Sonic Unleashed being brought to mobile phones, now we get five screens to look at. It seems that the game is made for more traditional mobile phones and not for iPhones.
Sega has been releasing some impressive mobile games lately, I had a chance to play a Shinobi game and was left rather impressed. The problem with playing mobile games is that I can’t control them very well, due to mobile phone control layouts. I would purchase this on XBLA/PSN in a heart beat.
[Source: IGN]
Sonic & Sega All-Star racing gameplay footage
Posted by George. Filed under George, Microsoft Xbox 360, Multi-platform, Sonic. Tagged with E3 2009, Sonic & Sega All-Star Racing, Video.
This is what it is like to play Sonic & Sega All-Star Racing when you aren’t very good at racing games, that or the game has bad controls. I guess we will find out when we get our hands on it sooner or later.
The game’s graphics look nice and it does have plenty of Sonic, but so far it is missing the Sega All-Stars. What is your opinion, I know bunch of you guys have been waiting for gameplay.
[Thanks: ShadiWulf]
