Sega Nerds

[Updated] Summer of Sonic: Highlights video & images

Posted by Graham. Filed under Europe, G, News, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, Retro, Sonic, Video. Tagged with Events, Genesis, MegaDrive, Sonic and the Secret Rings, Sonic Chronicles, Summer of Sonic.

[UPDATE: I have finally managed to upoload the video to MegaVideo - which allows you to watch it in full (without needing to download anything). So everyone can watch it easily now! However, if you wish to download this video, you can do so by visiting the original upload, here]

Perhaps later than I had wanted, but here it finally is!  The Summer of Sonic Highlights video and photographs.  This is for everyone who wanted to come, but couldn’t make it to the event.

As well as some truly great performances from Richard Jacques, TJ Davis and Lee Brotherton, the Summer of Sonic event had a lot of great highlights.

Now, the above video is pretty damn long (about 45mins) but a lot of it is filled with stuff I just didn’t have the heart to cut out - like the Sonic Quiz.  So, in order to preserve the sanity of most of you, what I have done is broken down a time scale of the video.  So if you want to skip forward to an event, you can do so (by sliding the time bar). 

The time scale, plus more details and loads of pictures taken from the event are all after the break.

Mario & Sonic still kicking ass in UK, Hulk not so much

Posted by Chris. Filed under Chris, Multi-platform. Tagged with Hulk, Iron Man, Mario and Sonic, Sales Chart, Sega Superstars Tennis, Sonic and the Secret Rings.

The juggernaut that is Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games continues to roll on in last week’s UK software charts ending on June 21, as the Wii title captured the sixth spot. On the other end of the spectrum, Sega and Marvel’s The Incredible Hulk disappointingly fell to the 36th spot in its second week of release.

Other Sega titles to place in the top 40 are:

21. Iron Man
25. Sega Superstars Tennis
29. Football Manager 2008
37. Sonic and the Secret Rings

It’s pretty amazing that Mario & Sonic is still selling so well in the United Kingdom, better even than any other Nintendo-developed game other than Wii Play. With the way the game is selling, it could very well go down as Sega’s best-selling game of all time. Now wouldn’t that be somethin’?

Sonic Birthday Presents!

Posted by Hudson. Filed under News, Sonic. Tagged with Game Music, Giveaways, Guide, Sonic and the Secret Rings.

Sega of Japan is celebrating Sonic’s sweet sixteen by giving loyal Sonic fans throughout Japan (all twelve of them) the chance to win a choice selection of Sonic swag. Included in the packages up for grabs are:

• One of eight Sonic shirts of varying stylishness
• A Sonic Adventure 2 package with 10 birthday packs (?), a promotional CD, and sticker
• A Sonic Heroes package with a Prima strategy guide, T-shirt, and game soundtrack
• A Shadow the Hedgehog package with a game soundtrack, signature Shadow beanie hat, and wicked-awesome Gamecube Shadow skins
• A Sonic Rivals package with, well, a copy of Sonic Rivals
• A Sonic and the Secret Rings package with what appears to be three signed copies of the game soundtrack

The contest will run until July 31 and is open only to residents of Japan, so if you happen to have a friend on the other side of the Pacific, hit them up for a chance at some sweet (and not so sweet) Sonic goods. And tell them I want the Secret Rings package- three soundtrack CDs means three times the rockin’ badditude of the theme song.

[Source: Sonic Birthday Commemoration Present Campaign via the Sonic Channel Staff Column]

Happy 16th birthday Sonic!!

Posted by Graham. Filed under G, Microsoft Xbox 360, News, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, Sonic, Sony PlayStation 3, Video. Tagged with Fan Stuff, Sonic and the Secret Rings, Sonic Rush.

Cue the fanfares, strike up the drum-roll, for today it is Sonic the Hedgehog’s sweet 16th birthday. What will the adolescent receive for his birthday this year? Well I don’t know, that would be up to his parents, (creators) Yuji Naka and Naoto Oshima, to decide- let’s hope he gets that pony he has always wanted!

If you want to help celebrate Sonic’s 16th birthday, don’t forget to check out the action on Phantasy Star Universe, where you can receive your free Sonic statue to help commemorate this grand day.

We here, at Sega Nerds, are hoping to give you a whole weeks worth of Sonic content. Giving you articles focusing on all aspects of Sonics life over the last 16 years, and a glimpse of his future work. But first we shall have a brief overview, to help remind us all of what Sonic has achieved so far. I can tell you, at 16, I hadn’t done half of what this character had.

Virtua Tennis 3 moves up UK sales chart

Posted by Chris. Filed under Chris, News. Tagged with Sales Chart, Sonic and the Secret Rings, Virtua Tennis.

While Sonic and the Secret Rings and Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz are kicking butt in Australia, UK gamers have chosen Virtua Tennis 3 on the PS3 as their favorite Sega game of late as it made the ninth spot in last week’s UK sales chart.

Virtua Tennis 3 was released March 23 in the UK and actually moved up one spot from last week, so it seems it’s holding its own for the time being.

1. Spider-Man
2. Wii Play
3. God of War
4. SingStar Pop Hits!
5. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
6. Buzz! The Mega Quiz
7. FIFA 07
8. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07
9. Virtua Tennis 3
10. Pokemon Ranger

Additionally, Sonic and the Secret Rings is at the 22 spot, right behind Diddy Kong Racing.

[Chart information Copyright ELSPA]

Sonic beats Zelda last week in Australia

Posted by Chris. Filed under Chris, Nintendo Wii. Tagged with Sales Chart, Sonic and the Secret Rings, Super Monkey Ball.

If there’s one thing that really gets the Nintendo fanboys riled up, it’s when one of their favorite games is unseated from the top of the sales charts. Well, I’m more than happy to say Sega’s Sonic and the Secret Rings did just that by beating down The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and claiming the top spot in last week’s top 10 Wii games in Australia.

Sonic also took the third spot in the overall top 10 list.

It feels great to see Sega and Nintendo battling it out again, even though Sega made a deal with the devil.

In other news, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz also made the list by claiming the ninth spot. Not too shabby, Sega.

[Via IGN]

Secret Rings, VF5 sell more than 50K in February

Posted by Chris. Filed under Chris, News. Tagged with Sales Chart, Sonic and the Secret Rings, Virtua Fighter 5.

 

The February NPD sales numbers are in for North America, and while Sega’s two big sellers for the month didn’t crack the top 10, they did have pretty solid rookie outings.

Sonic and the Secret Rings sold 63,000 copies, while Virtua Fighter 5 sold 53,000. Although it may not look very impressive at first glance, you should remember both games were released Feb. 20, which means they were only available for eight days for this month’s sales numbers.

If the games can keep their momentum, there may be a decent chance we’ll see them break the top 10 next month.

Click the jump to read the top-10 list and the hardware sales numbers.

Sega competitions galore!

Posted by Graham. Filed under G, News, Nintendo Wii. Tagged with Fan Sites, Fan Stuff, Giveaways, Nerdaway, Sonic and the Secret Rings.

Not only are we giving away a whole bundle of fine SegaPC titles, in conjunction with our second Nerdcast.

But it seems that Sonic City have also got their game on, and are holding their own competition.  Now normally it would seem rather odd for one site to be showing off another sites giveaway- especially when the first site has their own competition on- but the prize that Sonic City are giving away is just too good for me not to tell all our fellow SegaNerds!!

By answering a simple question you could bag yourself these fine prizes;

• A limited-edition SONICTEAM Wii with a German(!) copy of the game
• A Japanese Sonic poster signed by SONICTEAM.
• A production picture signed by SONICTEAM.
• And 20 Sonic figurines for runners up…

I have to warn that the competition is for European gamers only (hey not our site- not our rules!).  Check out their competition here.

And for those that haven’t already, don’t forget to check out our competition (you still have time to enter!).  Simply download the quiz and Email or PM, at our forums, me (G) or Chris with your answers.

Good luck to all you SegaNerds.  And should any of you win the Sonic Wii - do contact us!

EGM reviews Sega’s Games of March - not good

Posted by Chris. Filed under Chris. Tagged with After Burner, Armored Core 4, Crazy Taxi, Sonic and the Secret Rings, Virtua Tennis.

In our first Sega Nerdcast, Graham and I talked extensively about the importance of Sega’s new games releasing this month. And according to EGM’s April issue, it doesn’t look like we should get too excited for what Sega has in store for us.

Here’s how Sega’s games stacked up.

• After Burner: Black Falcon (PSP) – 6.5, 2, 5.5 
• Armored Core 4 (Xbox 360, PS3) – 4, 6.5, 4
• Shining Force EXA (PS2) – 6, 7, 4
• Sonic and the Secret Rings (Wii) – 7.5, 6, 6
• Virtua Tennis 3 (PS3) – 6.5, 7.5, 8

While EGM’s scores are definitely not the death nail in Sega’s proverbial coffin, they are definitely concerning. We’ll make sure to keep an eye out for the rest of the reviews as they come around.

Review- 2nd Opinion: Sonic and the Secret Rings (Wii)

Posted by Graham. Filed under G, Nintendo Wii, Review. Tagged with Sonic and the Secret Rings.

 

Recently Nathan posted up his review of Sonic and the Secret Rings for the Wii.  To help get a better impression of a game, it is always good to have a second opinion. So here is mine.  Enjoy.

Note: As this is a 2nd opinion I will not go into as much detail as a normal review - and you should read Nathan’s original post for full details on the game.  I will also be referring to Nathans review alot.

No doubt many of you will be dubious about Sega’s latest attempt to bring Sonic’s good name and grace back onto our screens since his debacle on the 360 and PS3.   And you would be right to be cautious, what with recent Sonic titles being of poor quality and many reviews of Sonic and the Secret Rings being confusing- many stating that it is the “best 3D Sonic title” out there- yet giving it lower scores than previous Sonics.

As a pretty big fan of Sonic, and a fan of the Nintendo Wii, I was very excited about this game.  All the previews seemed good, the videos and screenshots excellent.  But the final reviews scared me a tad.  The MetaCritic score (overall average from various sites) is around the 7/10 mark - a good score to be sure, but certainly not great.  But being a stubborn son of a gun, I took the plunge and bought the game on the day of release- the reason it has taken me a while to get this up, is because the game was only released yesterday (2nd March) here in the UK, its not me being slow- it’s Sega.

As I said, I was very excited about this game.  And perhaps that is the reason why I found this game so disappointing….