Sonic HQ25 Years & Counting!

From XenGamers:

Sega has signed a two and one-half year contract that will allow House of Brussels Chocolates to manufacture a special Sonic the Hedgehog candy bar. Brussels plans to launch the candy bar in early 2003 with initial distribution to retailers like convenience stores and video outlets.

"The development of a Sonic the Hedgehog candy bar marks an important new focus for House of Brussels Chocolates," said Grant Petersen, Chairman of House of Brussels' parent company Green Fusion. "While we will continue to produce the high quality, premium chocolates that has gained a high reputation in Canada and the United States, we now will be making a chocolate aimed at the untapped dynamic youth market. This market is significantly larger than our current adult focus and with a product that all the youth recognize, it is assured of becoming a major marketing success. All of the taste tests that we have conducted on our new Sonic the Hedgehog candy bar have been overwhelmingly positive."

Source: XenGamers

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #120

Written by Karl Bollers, Romy Chacon and Ken Penders, art by Steven Butler, Art Mawhinney, Jim Amash, Pam Eklund, Dawn Best and Penders.

"She's Gotta Have Him." How far will a woman go to get a man's attention? Sonic finds out when love struck Mina the Mongoose joins the Freedom Fighters. "The Royal Signet." Princess Sally remembers Julayla, her late mentor, in this heartwarming tale. "In the Beginning." Julie-Su and Mighty reflect upon the good old days with Knuckles, and how they met.

32 pages, $2.19, in stores on Feb. 5.

Source: Comics Continuum

As reported previously, the Sonic Mega Collection will be out on November 12 in the US.

Source: Gamespot

Posted by the venerable Ken Penders on his messageboard, which it would seem quite a few people missed:

I was approached by one of the producers who had been involved with a Dreamworks animated project about the possibility of an animated Knuckles film based on the comics series. Some initial discussions took place, but because there were was some question as to the availability of the rights, the project went nowhere.

Currently, Sega's contention is that if such a project were to be done, they would want both Sonic and Knuckles involved. This, in fact, is the approach they're taking with the latest animated series currently in production, as well as another animated project currently in development with my involvement.

The only thing I can say at this point is that if the second project does come to pass, besides Sonic, Knuckles, Tails and Doctor Robotnik - which is a given - there's a better than even chance that Sally, Bunnie, Antoine, Rotor, Julie-Su, Lara-Le, Locke, Snively, Crabmeat, Jules, Bernie, Rouge and Shadow will also be featured. And if they can't play a main part in the story, it's also possible Vector, Mighty, Espio, Geoffrey and Hershey will be featured in quick cameo appearances.

I'll release more details when the time is right. Stay tuned.

Those of us who follow SegaSonic know the first production to be the recently announced new Sonic anime project Sega let out of the bag a while back.

There's no guarantee anything will come of it, but it's nice to envision, yes?

Source: Ken's Comic Book Stories & Art

November 1st marks the opening of registration for any fan comic makers out there who want to join in on the first ever online comic convention for Sega's little blue mascot. Already, we have confirmations from some participating comics such as SVT's Sonic Shadows; Sapphire Luna's Shadow & Light; Rafael Valencia's Bright & Shiny Future, and more!

If you have a comic... that you want to show off at this event, go to www.svtcc.cjb.net and fill out the form with the required information. If you don't have a button/banner, that's okay. Mention it in an e-mail. If you don't have a working link, make up your link and send it in and BE SURE to use THAT link when you finally have your booth up and rolling.

If you just want to come... and be a spectator of this event, you're more than welcome to. Join us December 14th!

To learn more information about this convention, sign up for the newsletter at the 'Enter' link of the homepage. Many newsletters have already been sent, so you can catch up on old newsletters at the messageboard link.

This treat is no trick, folks. BumbleKing Productions, the label that produces Other-M, made a huge Halloween update. The update includes the landmark issue of Other-M #20, a hefty update in Ask the Three B's!, the launch of Other-M: International, as well as other updates!

Happy Halloween!

From IGNCube:

Sega has established a new supervisory body to oversee its game production and development strategies for both console software and arcade games, reports the latest issue of the Nikkei Weekly. This organization bureau will be composed of four people, led by Hisao Oguchi of the Hitmaker division.

The creation of this body is apparently also to be accompanied by a centralization of Sega's game development, which has for some time been carried out by a series of relatively disparate development teams -- Hitmaker, Smilebit, AM2, and so on. Though those teams will retain their autonomous identity, development will be more closely supervised from Sega's central headquarters from now on.

If Sega's internal shakeups lead to a direct influence on its present and future games, we'll be sure to bring you further news on the story as it arises.

Source: IGNCube