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Be here on Wednesday, November 8, 8:00 PM for an online chat where we'll either be celebrating a Gore victory or commiserating over a Gore loss. (I will acknowledge a GOP victory, but that doesn't have to mean i like it or believe it's good for the country. At least we get to vote for Hillary in this state.) I'll also be talking about SONIC, THE LOST ONES and all my other latest projects, including THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE 6-page story I just completed pencilling for Disney Adventures. As far as SONIC #100 is concerned, right now, the working title is "DARKNESS FALLS", and you can take that to mean anything you want, 'cause the world of Sonic and his friends just won't be the same after. (That includes Knuckles and company, as the whole issue is one complete story.) Now I'm going to grab some sleep before getting back to the drawing board and hopefully finding some time to update this blasted site. I have so much stuff to upload it isn't funny. Until next time, take care. Doesn't this make you feel all warm inside?  Source: Ken Penders' Message Board  Sonic the Hedgehog #93 Writer(s): Karl Bollers Penciler(s): James Fry Inker(s): Andrew Pepoy Sonic returns to Knothole and finds himself in hot water because of the missing Sword of Acorns! Angered by the frosty reception, he hastily leaves with Tails, Rotor and Mina. Sonic blames himself and can't stop thinking about the sword. And Robotnik is also angry over the lost Sword of Acorns, terrified it will get in rebel hands and actually restore free will to those he's imprisoned. The facts don't stop Robotnik, however: he pretends to have the Sword in a nefarious plot to hoodwink the newly arrived Overlanders... There ya have it. Source: Worlds of Westfield
Other-M, one of the finest (and perhaps the most successful) Sonic fan-comics on the net will be releasing its fifth issue on Halloween. Get a treat without having to dress up!
Other-M #5 - Oct. 31st
I should stay away from this news poster thing. o.o As usual, I don't know if this has been posted or not, but here goes:
I was in Walmart a few days ago, and I noticed, while there were no PS2's to be sold (or even on display), Sega is now selling slick Black Dreamcasts. These Dreamcasts come with two games, Virtua Tennis and NFL2k1 I believe. They've been dubbed the "Sega Sports" Dreamcasts, with the Sega Sports Logo branded on them and everything. The Units themselves are ALL black, including the controller. If my memory serves me correct, the controllers are see-through. The units retail for $169.99 I believe, which is mighty cheap. This is obviously to combat the PS2. Unless of course, I am wrong, and somebody's reported this before me and I'm just blowing hot air. :P  As if Sega news hasn't been monstrously odd this past week, from the "coming out of left feild department" we get this: Remember that weirdo Sonic/Mario hybrid RPG newsrumor that flopped out of nowhere and was dismissed by many as silly talk? Well this came in from the grapevine this weekend courtesy of IGN DC: According to the Online version of Japan's Asahi newspaper, Sega and Nintendo are teaming up to form a joint company. The story at Asahi first describes Sega's recently announced losses, stating that Sega revealed to investors in September that its results for the half-year ending September 30th would be less than expected. And that's what happened (see news article clarification below - WB), with the company announcing a loss of 29.2 billion yen today, down from an expected profit of 600 million yen. Poor Dreamcast performance was stated as the cause for the loss. Now, for the full year period ending March 2001, the company expects a loss of 22.1 billion yen, down from an expected profit of 1.5 billion yen. This will be the fourth yearly loss in a row for the company. This is where the story becomes a bit odd. Sega has stated that it's not basing its future exclusively on Dreamcast - go figure. As expected, it's looking to reinforce the network gaming side of its business. In order to achieve this latter goal, Asahi states that Sega will be forming joint companies with, respectively, Nintendo and...famed Japanese music producer Tetsuya Komuro. If you're not familiar with Komuro's work, then you probably aren't familiar with modern day Japanese music at all. Komuro has helped to develop such names as Namie Amuro, Ami Suzuki, and mega-group Globe. (Don't look at me - I have no sense of Japanese music - WB ^___^) We're not sure what to make of this peculiar announcement. Unfortunately, the Japanese source gives no further details on what these joint ventures will amount to, and how Komuro plays a role in things. Sega of America could not be reached to confirm the information. The Tetsuyo Komuro thing is real cool if you're into that sorta stuff, I have no idea who he is personally - but perhaps of more relevance to game fans is being able to see Sega and Nintendo mentioned in the same sentence alongside the words "Jointly owned company." If this is ever confirmed, and after this fiasco weekend, maybe there's truth to the rumors after all? Source: IGN DC
Dreamcast Direct, Sega of Japan's Online sales service, has added four titles to its growing list of special offers today. Sonic Shuffle, Daytona USA, Tanteishinshi Dash! and Card Captor Sakura are now available for preorder, with some of these titles including special freebies when purchased online.
Sonic Shuffle does not have any special goodies planned, but it still can be preordered online. The title is set for Japanese release on Dec. 21 for 5,220 yen ($48). Source: IGN DC
Follow ups and Clarifications all around! ^__^
First things first, the Reuters article that was printed on a lot of major news sites (most noteably Reuters and Gaming Age). According to Gaming Age, the recent Reuters article they reported on, which basically confirmed that Sega would develop for multiple game consoles: After the news story broke, GA went straight to Sega of America for a quote as well as some clarification. The original article appears to be either a mistranslation on Reuters part, or some very wishful thinking on the part of the author. A Sega PR rep provided them with a copy of the release which was the source for the original Reuters article, and made the comment that "As far as we know, that's (Sega developing for rival game consoles) not the case". When reading through the complete release, it makes much more sense as to where the confusion may have originated. The thing is a _LONG_ one, so instead I'm just gonna link it. It can be found here. The next bit of clarification is concerning SEGA's actual reported loss. This is from IGN DC: Cross platform development, hardware licensing, network gaming… there's wild speculation everywhere regarding Sega's steps in these areas. There's no speculation what so ever, though, on one thing: Sega is losing money and is not living up to previous expectations. Today, the company (which is described by Bloomberg as "a money-losing video-game console maker") announced its expectations for the year ending March 2001. And they're not good. The company is forecasting a group net loss of 22.1 billion yen ($204 million), in contrast to the expected profits of 1.5 billion yen. These estimates will mean that Sega is losing money for the fourth straight year in a row. Half year results ending September are also lower than the initial forecast. Sega will post a group net loss of 29.2 billion yen, down from the 600 million profit that was initially expected. Analysts are suggesting that the price cut for the Dreamcast in Europe and America, in addition to slow Dreamcast sales in Japan, are contributing to the poor performance. Comments Nomura Securities analyst Yuta Sakuai, "The loss has been expected since the console price cuts, because the company had been making a 1,000 yen loss per machine even before the price reduction." Sega is still expecting to reach a worldwide 10 million mark for Dreamcast in time for March of 2001, matching Sony's forecast for PS2. As of September 30th, 5,870,000 DC units had been sold worldwide, with 1.06 million of those checking in between April and September. For the six months between October and March, Sega is forecasting sales of 3.77 million Dreamcasts worldwide, with 2.1 million systems going to North America, 770,000 units in Europe and 730,000 in Japan (maybe the rest will go to Antarctica?). So will the slaughter end anytime soon? Hideki Sato, who will assume the role of Representative Director and Vice President of Sega starting November 1st, stated "I think we are predestined -- the real battle starts now." Nomura's Sakuai commented "the fourth straight annual net loss is a blow to Sega, but it now has a better chance of returning to profit next year." And the FINAL bit of claricication comes from Sega's stance on producing games for OTHER platforms and what they have to say. This is also from IGN DC: There's an online buzz going around about the SEGA Dreamcast. Specifically, sources on the Internet claim that SEGA will soon announce a new business strategy that will include plans to provide game software to rival maker's consoles. To which we say... yeah, right. SEGA held an earnings report where they had announced their new strategy to focus on network gaming. It seems many have likened to make speculation into news, since on the press release there is absolutely no mention of plans to have SEGA software on competitors' consoles. The closest statement is: "Further, SEGA will take other strategic measures such as utilizing its vast software library of more than 1,000 titles to develop content for other consumer entertainment and mobile devices, making full use of the SEGA's renowned brand and characters to expand its game software business" It seems everyone wants to get a shot at SEGA, whether fact-based or not. While SEGA is projecting a pretty big loss for the end of the fiscal year, there is, I repeat again, no mention of software development for rival consoles. And THAT is THAT. :)
Hey everyone! Recent news: Sonic Adventure 2 Import is available at Express.com! The Pre-Order, that is.
Well now if this don't get the goat NOTHING will. First - before I print this interview I made a LOOOOOOOOONG rant about this, the PS2 launch and Sega at the Mobius Forum. I urge everyone to read it because I'm not sure (after reading Tristan's news reply) if I understand the full impact of this myself as its pretty danged big. So I _REALLY_ want people to read and reply and sorta get me straight if I'm wrong on some facts, as well as getting input from others on this.... The post is located here and opens in a new window.
Note: Please excuse the "cute" theme on the Mofo right now. ^_^ We're sort of in the middle of a sanity lapse. Now for the story that I'm sure you ALL want to read - Sega goes Multi Platform verbatim from Reuters... TOKYO (Reuters) - Struggling Japanese game console maker Sega Enterprises Ltd forecast on Friday a fourth straight net loss, and unveiled ambitious plans to shift into software provision to move back into the black. The projection of a consolidated net loss of 22.1 billion yen ($204.2 million) for the business year to the end of next March was revised from an earlier estimate of a 1.5 billion yen net profit. Sega attributed the loss largely to an 18.5 billion yen loss from its recent decision to cut the overseas sales price of its mainstay Dreamcast (news - web sites) game console to combat a competitive threat from rival Sony Corp, which launched its snazzy PlayStation 2 console in the U.S. on Thursday. "We might have had good demand without the price cut but we wanted to achieve cumulative total sales of 10 million units by March," Hideki Sato, who will become chief operating officer (COO) on November 1, told a news conference. Analysts expect even fiercer competition next year when Nintendo (news - web sites) Co Ltd and Microsoft Corp launch new consoles. Sega tried to calm concerns by announcing a far-reaching new business strategy, including a future plan to provide its game software to rival makers' consoles. We are already in talks with a few foreign firms", Sato said when asked about licensees. He declined to give details. That transformation into a software provider from a hardware maker marked a drastic, and welcome, policy shift, analysts said. Sega declined to specify for which rival game consoles it plans to make software, and emphasized it would not withdraw from the Dreamcast hardware business. "We applaud the company's decision to shift its focus to providing content and away from the loss-making home game hardware business even though it isn't pulling completely out of hardware,' said Nomura Securities analyst Yuta Sakuai. "The fourth straight annual net loss is a blow to Sega, but it now has a better chance of returning to profit next year". Hefty Loss Sega, the world's third-largest maker of home video game players, said it sees group sales of 320 billion yen for this business year against an initial estimate of 336 billion yen. It slashed the price of Dreamcast to $149 from $199 in the United States on August 31, before the PlayStation 2 debut, followed by a reduction in Europe in September to 149 pounds from 199 pounds to solidify its footing before Sony's launch. "The loss has been expected since the console price cuts, because the company had been making a 1,000 yen loss per machine even before the price reduction," Nomura's Sakurai said. The news came just before the Tokyo stock market closed and Sega shares ended down 31 yen or 3.68 percent at 811 yen. In the business year ended last March 31, Sega posted a net loss of 42.88 billion yen. Its president resigned to take responsibility. For April-September, Sega sold 1.06 million Dreamcast consoles, boosting cumulative sales to 5.87 million. It aims to sell 2.1 million Dreamcast consoles in North America in the six months to next March, 770,000 units in Europe and 730,000 in Japan to try to achieve its post-launch target of 10 million by next March. CSK Corp, which holds a 17.2 percent stake in Sega, also revised down its estimate, forecasting a group net loss of 11 billion yen, against its previous forecast of a net profit of 300 million yen. Drastic Move Sega's new business strategy includes a plan to seek to license the Dreamcast design technology to manufacturers of personal computers, audio-visual equipment and cellular phones to increase compatible PCs and other devices. "The company is heading in the right direction by trying to boost loyalty income through its attractive software library," Deutsche Securities analyst Takashi Oya said. But I am not convinced the company can make a decent profit from licensing the Dreamcast technology.'' Nomura's Sakurai said Sega's partial move away from making game boxes would help rival game makers Sony and Nintendo Co Ltd as well as U.S. Software giant Microsoft Corp, which plans to enter the market next year with its Xbox machine. "Sega's decision will be positive for rivals, meaning less competition in the hardware business and offering a possible new strong partner to provide games." If this means what I think it means - then Sega may not be making any new hardware, but then again - I'm not sure if I read the article right. O_O I urge and ask everyone to GO HERE, read my rant, and then please post on it. I'd like to get the facts straight on just what this means and whether its as good or bad (a double edged sword) as I think it is. Claricication and input please.
Not exactly Sonic news per se, but a heartfelt congratulations to a VERY deserving Sonic fan. :)
Posted yesterday on the Sonic Powerzone Mailing List, well known and respected Sonic fanfiction author and reviewer Dan Drazen made this announcement: I've mentioned in the past that I've been doing some non-Sonic-related writing, specifically a novel about the boyhood of the prophet Samuel. Well, last April, a couple of book editors from the Review and Herald Publishing Association (the flagship publisher for the Seventh-day Adventist church) were here on campus interviewing people with manuscripts or works-in-progress. I made an appointment to meet with them about my book, which I was still in the process of whipping into shape. They were interested and wanted me to commit to sending them a rough draft by the end of August with a final draft before the end of the year. I readily agreed. Long story short: the Book Committee met yesterday and Approved it! Too bad Archie isn't looking for new writers, as the fact that I'm going to be published (though not as a comic book writer) may finally give me the "standing" to even have my work considered by them for the comic. Though you never know, what with Mike Gallagher's having jumped ship. But OTOH it means that I can start applying myself to Sonic fanfic again. I'll keep the lists informed. BTW, the book itself probably won't be PHYSICALLY published until the Fall of 2001. Dan Drazen A hearty congratulations to Mr. Drazen on his endeavor! ^__^ And for those of you asking - YES I do have the Dan Drazen interview, its sitting on my hard drive right now and I swear I've reread it twice, but I've either been too lazy or too swamped with social and school-related things to pull it up. You can slap me with a trout and call me mean names later. ^^ I'll try my DARNDEST to sit still and get it up this weekend. PROMISE. :) The link to it's already on the Sonic Adventure homepage, unfortunately it doesn't work yet. Check out under "Community", "Chao Gardens", then the third option, "Chao Fun Room". There's a new banner over "Evaluate Your Chao", for the Black Market, "Trade Emblems for Special Chao". ^_^ Unfortunately, it doesn't work quite correctly yet. Unlike what it currently says, you DO need to use Game Save Data, not Chao Data (Go to the Game Select screen after you select your VMU, hold "Y" and press "A", it should take five seconds (if it happens really quickly, you need to clear space on that VMU, but the upload file isn't too large, 11 blocks max), and then make a Ring Sound.) Then go to the place mentioned above, select that VMU, and it'll let you in... sort of. See, it's still in debugging, and doesn't quite work right (it kicks you to the same selection screen the Emblem Attack does, and with almost any selection it complains the page didn't set the "World Ranking" cookie to your DC webbrowser, a shame.) But obviously, this is a pretty big clue it's coming soon. Too bad with the Sonic Adventure hacking projects, the hardcore audience has seen most of the "Special" Chao, but this'll allow them to be more mainstream and easier to access, I suppose. ^_^ Attn Kulock: The post has been edited and corrected :) Thank you. - WB
I know it's probably not my place to post here, but since we're all Sonic fans, and don't exactly take kindly to the PS2 too much, I've decided to plea for help here. If any of the editors deem this fit to delete, they are welcome too.
I am developing an Anti-PS2 site. This site, while having a biased name, will not say biased words. It will only speak the truth of what plauges the PS2. The site is being created to inform the people of how Sony is trying to con their way in using the PS2. But, such a site is without proper hosting. Or proper staff. I hope to have the site up and running by Thursday, to counter-act the PS2 launch party. If I cannot find a host, I will seek hosting at good ol' GO Network. I ask of you all, does anyone reading this have a fast, reliable server, with either PHP or CGI (both?) support, willing to add an Anti-PS2 site? Wether it's Emulation Zone, SegaSonic.net, SegaZone, Gamefan, whatever, does anyone have any space to offer? Also, as I mentioned, I need a staff. While I don't want to start taking applications yet, I'm going to anyways. And, while I do know a small bit of CGI and PHP, it'd be real nice to have someone who knew that. If you think you're qualified to either write articles, moderate a forum, or code me some CGI/PHP programs (news updater script most likely, but that would be about it I guess, except for something that automatically posted articles, too), give me an email at Blazehgehg@aol.com. All article writers must have excellent grammar and spelling, and must be good at writing long, factual based articles. Thank you for your time.
With respect to Mr. Maldon, I thnik I can explain this. I had tried to report this before, but the information I was given was well, wrong. I got a lot of beef for it and was finally told the truth. To put it short, Sega is working on merging with other companies, Microsoft included. This is a good move for them, for it can make them a more formidable competitor against some overhyped, extremely pricy game systems (havefunwatchingDVDscausethegamesSUCK). In addition, some of the groups that Sega used to own, Sonic Team being the most prominent, have become independant studios, producing software for other platforms and no longer limited to Sega alone. Sonic could not only appear on the Xbox, but possibly the Gamecube as well. In short, this is not bad news, rather, it is GOOD news. Sega is no longer a minor company taking up table scraps (Let's not forget the Sega CD and 32X), but a tough cookie. And while Sony rubs it's miserly withered old hand thinking of ways to destroy that which is Sega, We have new allies in microsoft (Owned by a man who unfortunately I think is equally evil) and possibly Nintendo. I HOPE I got my facts right this time.
Could Sega's 10-year mascot make an apperance on the new X-Box or perhaps in the next version of Windows?
Hi. I know Ive already shamelessly plugged the Amy Rose Fan Club but then it was taken down. Now it is back up. If you are an Amy fan, pop over to the Amy Rose Fan Club and join! Theres even a mailing list there.
Amy Rose Fan Club
The mysterious Sega movie has been confirmed, and it ain't Sonic. Rather, it will be on Sega's "House of the Dead" series. Here's some facts from Dark Horizons.
House of the Dead: Mindfire Entertainment, the company behind "Free Enterprise" and "The Specials" has just inked a deal with Sega to do a feature based on its "The House of the Dead" arcade and video game. You may recall a while ago that Jesse Dylan was attached to possibly direct the project but then it had sinced fizzled with no word for almost a year on what had happened to it. Now with the very similar "Resident Evil" project finally moving out of development hell, so has this zombie computer game-turned-movie project. The film's producer Daniel Kletzky says "Unlike previous attempts to adapt video games, we intend for 'The House of the Dead' to be a very hip, cutting edge film with state-of-the-art special effects and a great, contemporary soundtrack that will satisfy fans of the game as well as all moviegoers who love supernatural thrillers". There's also a big Internet presence planned with footage from the set, streaming prequel sequence videos, and "other interactive features". Shooting is expected to begin in February with an aim to release it around Fall 2001. Thanks to 'Agent M' Source: Dark Horizons
Japan gets all the cool stuff. ^__^
Sega of Japan’s 4X Memory Unit will be packed in with a "special edition" of Phantasy Star Online. Today we bring you news of Sonic Team including even more with the global online title. At Sega of Japan's retail conference in Tokyo today, Sonic Team's Yuji Naka revealed that Phantasy Star Online will come packed with a demo version of Sonic Adventure 2! O_O This extra will be in both the special edition and regular version of PSO, and will feature opening moments from the game as well as some movie files. Currently, Sega of America is unsure if the demo will be released stateside. According to all the latest charts, Phantasy Star Online will be hitting the Japanese market on Dec. 21.
Seems like the predicted draught of SA2 news hasn't actually happened. Computer & Video Games has several cool hi-res Sonic Adventure 2 shots, including some new ones. I recommend you take a peek.
Thanks a lot to Evil Blackfox on the forum for showing this...
Sega announces worldwide agreement with NexGen Software Sega Dreamcast Game Consoles powered by NexGenIP TCP/IP suite, allows thousands of players to play together around the world Sega Europe is pleased to announce the newly acquired license for NexGenIP, a complete embedded TCP/IP stack developed by French based company NexGen Software. This license will allow Dreamcast developers to access a Complete Networking Suite to design better online Games. “Our objective was to offer our developers one of the most complete embedded TCP-IP stack which is perfectly tuned to exploit our optimised architecture”, said Serge Plagnol, Associate Director for Developers Technical Support at SEGA Europe. “We worked closely with NexGen Software, to deliver arguably the best Internet based game software solution for a console available today” concluded Plagnol. “The relationship established with SEGA gave us a deep understanding about the technical issues and we enjoyed working closely with them. While our TCP/IP stack is very carefully layered, we met the challenge to optimise some of our code in order to exploit the advanced Dreamcast architecture. The resulting port is probably the best one we have done, improving both the portability and performance” said Jean-Paul Medina, President at NexGen Software. NexGenIP Open Embedded TCP/IP Suite is carefully designed to solve the most demanding requirements in terms of size, performances and portability. All dependencies are well isolated in the NexGenOS Interface Layer to support most of the popular Polling or Real Time Operating Systems.
Good evening friends, today, I have a PS2 Retailer Squeeze Play, One Million DCs sold in one year in Europe, and Indianpolis gets to enforce its law.
Sorry Don't E-mail me. AIM me, my name RATM182 Fitch. My e-mail does'nt work.
Hello I am AKA, some of you might remember me.. But most of you don't know me. But anyways I bet most of you are asking why is he posting on the news page and I bet this is gonna be taken down but I discovered something while cleaning my room. i found some nice Sonic Comics. And if you are willing to buy them please e-mail me at aka@gamersgateway.com. Here they are:
Issue 6, January Issue 17, December Issue 3, October Issue 7, Febuary Issue 4, November (missing cover) Thank you! Please buy them! I need cash!
IGN Dreamcast has several brand spanking new pieces of Sonic Shuffle media, including a few (cool-as-hell) movies. Take a look.
For those who don't have a nearby Dennys or just don't want to GO there, can bid on Sonic and Knuckles here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=466783786 SONIC http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=466804163 KNUCKLES
(Can SOMEONE please erase the last article? I can't get in to edit the darn thing)
Okay, I have YET to see this myself, because I was still asleep when my Mom and best friend found out that Denny's was advertising for Sonic and Knux plushies, and they were from Sonic Underground. I'll go more into detail as I investigate this news story.
 Sonic The Hedgehog #93 The road to Sonic #100 is lookig pretty decent. ^_^ Glad to see Mina, Rote, and Tails following Sonic. This means Sally, Elias, Bunnie, and Ant are back in Knothole and that could prove interesting considering the other previews. Speaking of which: Now keep in mind - Thanks to Sega stepping in at a SERIOUS last minute, previews were changed and it was announced here that Sonic 92 is being forcibly made into the Sonic Shuffle preview. That issue was supposed to have the lead being the "The Wrath Of Khan" and a Knuckles backup. Whether that main story has been pushed out (which tied into this issue) or whether the Knuckles backup has been pushed out (which would make more sense considering the timeframe it was given to Archie by SEGA), we don't know yet. We'll try to let you know if we do. Peace out! :)
Well, I decided to check up on the status of the Model-2 Emulator Virtua, to see if there was any support for Sonic Championship... while there, I poked around the site, and found a link to a site where a guy, calling himself ShinobiZ, posted what I find as the most comprehensive information on just about every Sega Arcade board out there. Upon going into see listings of every System 32 game, I found two more Sonic Arcade Screenshots.
The first screenshot is nothing new, it's the 2nd one that catches my eye. Though you all may say, "Must be from the opening scene." ... it's not. You can clearly see Sonic's lifebar. It's a level. Also, according to this site, there is a System 32 emulator in the works. While obviously known from such sites as Geoshock, it might prove that it is still in the works...who knows? Source: http://www.system16.com/
Good evening, and happy Columbus Day, Yom Kippur, and/or Thanksgiving (in Canada, that is.) Today, I have a couple things to pass along to you, including Malaysia banning arcade games, Samba maracas at EBWorld, and Daytona getting a date...man, some have all the luck...
Reports out of Japan indicate that Sonic Team is keen on the whole worldwide launch thing. Apparently, Sonic Adventure 2 is now set for a worldwide simultaneous release, meaning gamers in America, Japan and Europe (but probably not Australia - as usual :( ) will take to the speedy blue hedgehog's latest exploits at around the same time.
So no waiting this time for an indefinite period in America - and gamers in Japan won't have to shell out cash at some later date for an improved version of the game. In theory at least - Phantasy Star Online was originally scheduled for simultaneous worldwide release, but the US version is coming out one month later. Hey - one month is close enough! :) Source: IGN DC
I had been wondering why I couldn't get into Gamefan to find news (let alone even loading it) and now I know why. I can't think of any Sonic websites that are hosted there but if you know any of them it may be wise to tell them to move before tomorrow or find a temporary spot.
Following a turbulent merger with Express.com, GameFan appears to have pulled the plug on all of its hosted websites. The main GameFan website is down (supposedly for an almost permanent period) while popular sites such as VoodooExtreme are unreachable. Apparently Express.com found hosting sites to be "no longer supported under our business model." A full version of the email sent out to hosted sites appears below. RE: Courtesy Hosting Services Dear GameFan Network Associate: We regret to inform you that Express.com will no longer be offering the courtesy of hosting services to its GameFan Network Associates. We have found that this service can no longer be supported under our business model, and we will do whatever we can within reason to facilitate any transitional requirements. The timing for this is as soon as possible, and is to occur no later than Monday, October 2, 2000. To be clear, any GameFan Network Associate site that has not been moved off Genuity s servers by 11:59 PM October 2nd will effectively be shut down, so it is critical that you take independent action to retrieve and independently procure hosting provider for your site(s). A pretty rotten thing to do on such extremely short notice. :( Good luck to those hosted with them.  You heard it here first. Sonic Underground has its own video game! Manufatured by Tiger Electronics, the SU game is a hand-held LCD (Liquid Crystal Display).6 stages of Sonic Spin Dash action! Nothing can stop you when you're riding [Manic's] hover board! "Sonic Underground" features SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, his brother MANIC, and his sister SONIA. They fight to free their enslaved planet, MOBIUS from DR. ROBOTNIK, his evil cohorts, SLEET and DINGO, and the merciless SWATBOTS. With the help of [Manic's] hover board, your gutair, and your famous Sonic Spin Dash, help Sonic make the world a more creative, musical place! These games can be found at Big K-Mart, and are priced at about 12.99.
An addendum to True Red's post, here is EVERYTHING that I could culminate from the chat. VERY BIG THANKS to Brian Sapinski and True Red for filling in gaps and posting since I could not attend.
I was there for the majority of the chat and here is some info first about upcoming stuff and then direct quotes made by Ken during the chat.
1) Julie-Su returns along with Simon and Floren-Ca (her step-parents) in Sonic #98 2) Dimitri becomes Enerjak in Sonic #100 3) Charmy is back in Sonic #93 because Sonic #92 is going to be the Sonic Shuffle adaptation 4) Ken's not sure if Tikal will return 5) Nic and Nack aren't going to be the only ones hunting Knuckles in Sonic #91 6) Tails and Knuckles will be working together during "The Chosen One" storyline (Sonic #95-97). Here are some direct quotes from Ken Penders that I managed to copy and paste (mostly from the Q&A part): Sega is going to exert more control in rgards to using the series as much as possible as a promotional vehicle Sega will have us adapt any SONIC game they put out. That's called marketing, and we can't refuse to There won't be any Chaotix stories, Blue Raven, but the characters will be making appearances I just can't say when they will do so other than Charmy [on Knuckles series] That's why the book is no longer published, because even Archie had a difficult time getting the books into the stores It'll be sometime after #100 before we can address Remington and his secret I highly doubt Knuckles will be on speaking terms with many people, let alone Sally after SONIC #100 Just to give you some idea of the insanity in producing the latest issues we've been barely getting the books out before deadline due to a lot of miscommunication and other snafus Geoffrey will become more involved with Sally, for instance Sally will re-examine her feelings towards Geoffrey Keep your eyes on Mina, everyone, as her role is going to increase as well SONIC #100 will involve a crossover with SONIC and KNUCKLES Xenin could return, Mariah, but I'm not sure when, because I'm more concerned with Enerjak and the events leading up to SONIC #100. Manny is no longer associated with the books in any way. He's too busy working for Nickelodeon [on Lara-Su] I haven't worked out her color scheme yet, although I know I'll have to real soon as she will be appearing sometime between SONIC #100 and #112 Something does happen to one of Sonic's parents by #100 We will be addressing whatever happened to the Overlanders You will meet the Ultimate Villain in SONIC #100 I don't think we'll see much of Remington or Komi-ko beyond a token appearance, unless... If you missed the chat, there's most of the relevant Sonic/Knuckles info.
A solid blue VMU will be released in Japan December 21st, the same date as Phantasy Star Online. It will carry the Sonic Team logo and Sonic characters, but pretty much remain the same as a regular VMU. Still, if you want one, check the import retailers in late December, possibly even January 2001.
Source:The Super Sonic Zone
You guys, this isn't a message board. This is a NEWS board. Comments like "Thank you Sonic!" and "This doesn't work" aren't welcome here. We're supposed to post only hard core news.
Sega sonic.net is down a lot, so that's not even close to news. And ZZN works fine so just shut up and only post hard core news.
Good evening friends, sorry for being a bit late on my news, but it happens. Today, we find Sega potentially committing cybersquatting, nominations for the Sonic Emmy Awards announced, and the number of PS2s available come the 26th of this month have been cut in half.
Yes people,I'm afraid there over. :( This stiinks! >:(
Yes you heard it right folks, Sonic Team has released a newer version of the SA2 movie with more action! See Sonic interact with Chao, Dr Eggman in battle, Sonic skyboarding and more!
You heard it hear first folks, at Sonic HQ! Check it out here! http://www.bcast.co.jp/webevents/sega/sonic_l.asx |
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Samba De Amigo is now in stores! And both DC.IGN.COM and the newly brought back Gamefan.com have reviewed the game, and both have given the game a high 9.5/10 rating! check them out.
Sonic and Knuckles are at Denny's! They are 3.99 a piece, and are from SONIC UNDERGROUND. Sonic is wearing his medallion at that. They were discovered when Denny's played their TV ad.
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