Sonic HQ News - 01/2000

Chu Chu Rocket Available Soon! - Joey McKlay 6:38 am 01-30-00

The latest American release date for Chu Chu Rocket, Sonic Team's latest game, is now March 2, 2000! This means online gaming may be as early as Chu Chu Rocket comes out! Cross your fingers!

Sonic the Comic 173 -- "GAME OVER" - Ed 8:35 am 01-29-00

Nobody has reported it, so I may as well make use of the submission section here to tell everyone that the fantastic 173rd issue of Egmont Fleetway's Sonic the Comic is currently lurking on the shelves of newsagents around the country!

It's easily recognisable for the fantastic cover with Sonic trapped by the Plax. It contains the following stories:

GAME OVER (Part One)
(Script: Lew Stringer - Art: Richard Elson - Lettering: Ellie De'Ville)
Continues from STC 171 and 172, where Robotnik and his alien allies, the Plax, unleashed an anti-life virus to destroy Mobius. And I think this instalment might just be the best yet...

KNUCKLES: Carnival Night Conspiracy (Part 2)
(Script: Nigel Kitching - Art: Richard Elson - Lettering: Elitta Fell)

TAILS: The Land Beyond (Part 3)
(Script: Nigel Kitching - Art: Dave Windett & John M Burns - Lettering: Steve Potter)

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG: Badnik's Bridge (Part 2)
(Script: Nigel Kitching - Art: Casanovas & John M Burns - Lettering: Ellie De'Ville)

Also, there's the return of "Speedlines" with two pages of letters, and a new subscription offer page.

-- Ed

Probs with On-Line petitions... - Jarak 2:33 am 01-28-00

There is a problem with On-Line petitions. I am saying this in responce from all the current petitions for SatAM. Recently, several On-Line petitions were sent to LucasFilm LTD to persuade the company to release Star Wars: Episode I on DVD. Unfortunetly, the company threw the letter and petition right in the trash.

Why? On line you can just put in an address for anybody. One person can go through and sign it 100 times or even more. The pest way to get the job done is to mail people directly.

If your itchin' for the return of SatAM even in re-runs, then the best way is to wip out the old printer and stamps and send them a nice letter sating your purpose and what you would like to see done.

Hope I helped.

A Super Sonic Destiny In Need Of Help - Sonique the Great Hedgehog :) 10:00 am 01-27-00

How often have you wanted your art talent to be recognized? Ever dreamed of being in a movie? Now's your chance. A group of people who are wonderful at animation and fan made anime have come together to bring us a Sonic-Related movie A Super Sonic Destiny!
I have seen this movie in action and it is truely a wonder! You would not even believe it is a fan made project at first. If you don't believe me, go to The ASSD Homepage and check out the awesome screen grabs and the two minute preview!
As you can see, it's an awesome movie in the making but they need your help. The need new animators, background artists and other staff members or the project will be shut down. Go to their home page here and email Razor and join the staff! Don't let it pass you by! A Super Sonic Destiny is coming at ya!!

Rebuttal From Sonique - Sonique 2:29 am 01-26-00

Shows have come back and been known to have new episodes before. Rugrats had no new episodes for 5 or 6 years then made a comeback and even got a movie. Ghostbusters were on for a while, went off then came back with the "New" Gostbusters. Doug on Nickelodeon is another example. He had no new episodes forever then Nick sold him to Disney and look at him now! Even his own movie!
What about Alvin and the Chipmunks! They at first had not so good drawings and animation and years later, MANY YEARS later, the show returned with better quality and better look. Smurfs, Scooby Doo, Inspector Gadget, even Rocky and Bullwinkle for a while! What do you think of that WB? Shows what you knows about cartoons and TV!

If we are going to get this show back, the time to try is now. We must inform DiC, Sega and anyone else we can think of that we still want this show. One way to say how much you want to is to sign the petition at Sonic Stuff. The owner (SoNiN) will personally email or mail DiC, Sega, USA and whoever else the results. Over 700 maybe even 800 have signed so far so get signing. DiC's mail address is:

303 North Glenoaks Blvd
Burbank CA 91502

Do not be rude to them be very polite and be sure to highlight the points you want to make because I'm sure they do not have time to read every letter that comes to them. Remember be nice or it'll just make them ignore you. That's all I have to say. It's up to us to bring this show back!

Sign the petition!!!
View the Petition!!!

Sonic RPG - Vector 1:50 am 01-22-00

I've started programming for a new Sonic RPG. Zifei Wu of SonicNEXT will be the graphics artist. This game will definitely feature Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Vector, Espio, and Mighty as playable characters. Probable playable characters will include Ray, Amy, and Nack. This will be a SegaSonic RPG and you can expect appearances by nearly every character to appear in a Sonic game, as well as quite a few of the zones.

Dan Drazen's Best/Worst List - Vector 1:40 am 01-22-00

Dan Drazen has uploaded his Best/Worst List of 1999 for the Archie Sonic Comics. Click here to read it.

STC:STEM officially opens! - DocZac 7:52 am 01-21-00

While you wait for Sonic HQ's Fleetway comics section, a site completely dedicated to Fleetway's Sonic The Comic is already here, brought to you by ex-staff member Doctor Zachary and forum lurker Ed Reynolds:

STC:STEM!

It features such things as the STC mailing list, an STC online magazine, and more! Go there! :)

SatAM W/out USA Cuts - Sonique 3:45 am 01-20-00

I have encoded some of my SatAM videos that I have. These are without USA cuts so that makes Perfect Chaos the first site to have SatAM vids without USA cuts!

Originally, I was going for quality as suggested by the poll with each file being about 33MB but I didn't for a few reasons:

1. I didn't think anyone would actually vote for that and mean it.
2. They would neither download or upload properly. they may have on a higher modem like a cable modem but not a whole lot of people have them yet.
3. I know a lot of people in other countries who have to pay for local phone calls and internet and it wouldn't seem fair to make them sit there for 4-5 hours and run up a huge phone bill.
4. IceCapZone (who BTW, was the one to provide me with the webspace for this) is going to get them in better quality so keep your pants on.

I went to the next best quality which is 12MB. So, go to Perfect Chaos to get these eps. More to come soon including: Hooked on Sonics, Super Sonic, Sonic Racer, The Doomsday Project and others!

Knuckles Comics Update - True Red 0:35 am 01-20-00

If you signed the petition and gave me your email address, this message
has been sent to you. For everyone else:

From: "Mike Silberkleit"
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 19:31:51 +0000
Subject: Re: Knuckles the Echidna comics

Dear Katrice,

Thanks for the e-mail and petition. It is very difficult for us to
disappoint fans, especially those as loyal as you and the other readers
who signed the Save Knuckles petition. However, as a businessman, I have
a responsibility to the shareholders of my Company to see that the Company
remains profitable. Unfortunately, the sales of Knuckles were no longer
profitable and we had no choice but to discontinue the title. I guess
that part of the reason was distribution and rest assured that we
discussed this with our distributor. We kept the title going as long as
we could, but losing thousands of dollars an issue is not good business
sense. Remember, we have to pay the writers and artists, the seperators
and the printer, as well as the shipping charges. The revenue on the
sales was constantly below these charges and we had to stop the losses.
I hope you understand our position.
Michael Silberkleit

What this response is saying that the only chance we have of getting
Knuckles back is to make the issues that they have already published
sell. Check out SOK's section on where to get Knuckles comics,
especially for those who live outside the US and Canada, if you're missing
issues. After you checked the section, if none of those options work for
you, email me because I might be able to help out. If you have the full
series, you can still help out. If anyone knows of sources of Knuckles
comics that I don't have listed, please tell me so that I can add them.
Whether or not you have all the issues, we can all do this: Get anyone
you can hooked on Knuckles and get them to buy the back issues.

For anyone who thinks this is hopeless, don't think that. That's when
Knuckles is gone for good. I'll keep trying to get Knuckles back as long
as people keep supporting the petition. I've based this site and what I'm
doing off of Save Our Sailors and it took them a year and a half to work
and they're still going. It's only been three months so far and I plan to
see this through no matter how long it takes, but I need the support of
the fans. So, like the last time I got a response, I'm still collecting names.

True Red

Yamaha XG Interviews Richard Jacques - Sierra Ranay 12:06 pm 01-17-00

Yamaha XG has interviewed Richard Jacques, the man behind the music of Sonic R and Sonic 3D Blast for Saturn, along with a variety of other music. Click here for the interview!

Sonic SatAM Acquisition - Follow Up Report - WB 6:46 am 01-13-00

In lieu of the recent report of the Sonic SatAM rights being released by USA, I felt I should expand on it a bit more as things were still left a bit hazy and I still kept getting queries on it.

First of all - what this means is simply this: SatAM is NOT back on the air nor will it be airing on Cartoon Network UNLESS it, or another company buys the rights. And theres certainly no guarantee of that happening. Sonic SatAM only contains 26 episodes - which isnt exactly considered "syndication gold" in the business. It only means that someone else acquiring the liscense is one of MANY MANY possibilities.

Secondly, to answer some more questions that were directed - no this does not mean new episodes. The show's been dead in the water for 6 years, so to those cartoonophobes still screaming SatAM's coming back - deal with it: it's dead. If DiC and Sega decided to go on with Sonic Underground then theres no way in heck they may revive SatAM by now. Its been FAR TOO long unless they just revamp the show entirely. Stuff like that just don't happen in the animation biz. ^_^

The third and final contingency factor is that of Toon Disney, and Buena Vista Studios: current owners of the liscense to the "Adventures Of Sonic The Hedgehog" series, with Scratch, Grounder, Coconuts, etc. Now - the past has proven that if one Sonic show is in syndication, other series most likely will follow that other show. Remember, USA also owned both SatAM and AoSTH together. Deciding to not run cartoons ANYMORE, USA lost the liscenses to ALL thier major cartoons with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on Janurary 1, 2000. SatAM _WAS_ included in these cartoon losses. However - both it, AoSTH, and Sonic Underground are produced by DiC. DiC is a subsidiary and is partly owned by Disney.

If and only if SatAM was to appear again - nine times out of ten: Toon Disney would get it and NOT Cartoon Network, since Cartoon Network is owned by Time Warner and AOL. So writing letters to Cartoon Network will most likely do NO GOOD, since its Disney that owns the biggest liscence of them all AoSTH with its 66 episodes and parts of SU with its ownership of DiC. The larger the amount of eps - the better chance for syndication depending on popularity and demographics. And both SU, SatAM, and AoSTH really aren't all that popular on both ends of the stick. If SatAM is to ever appear again in reruns, the best bet is to write letters to Toon Disney and NOT Cartoon Network, as CN has other plans for its scheduling lineup. Hope that clarified a LOT of questions guys. Later. ^_^

SEGA Gains Ground in the Video Game Market - Brian Sapinski 9:30 am 01-13-00

According to a report in today's issue of the Wall Street Journal, SEGA has made a strong gain in the video game markets, pulling away some of the market share from Sony and Nintendo.

Here are the numbers for market share in 4th Quarter 1999 (4th Quarter 1998 numbers follow in parentheses):

HARDWARE:
Sony - 52.9% (About 63%)
Nintendo - 31.8% (About 37%)
Sega - 15.3% (0.1%)

SOFTWARE:
Sony - 64.3% (About 64%)
Nintendo - 28.6% (About 35%)
Sega - 7.1% (0.6%)

So as you can see, SEGA's put a dent in the numbers, primarily Nintendo. The question now: Can SEGA keep this rise up when Nintendo and Sony launch their new systems later down the road?

For more details, I have placed a transcript of the full article here.

DC Sales Reach 1.5 Million in US! - Tristan 9:40 am 01-11-00

We now have the sales figures in, and as of December 31st, the Dreamcast has officially sold 1,550,000 units! This has indeed exceeded all previous expectations. Remember that the original expectation was for the DC to get to 1.5 million by March 31st.

In a related story, in Europe, Sega Europe has announced that 650,000 units have been sold as of today, the 11th. This is very good, considering how small of a video game market Europe is.

This means so far, in America and Europe, the DC has broken sales records. And with Shenmue already out in Japan with a huge positive impact over there, expect the same to happen domestically once we get that title along with the likes of Chu Chu Rocket, Dead or Alive 2, Crazy Taxi and more.

Cartoon Network and TMNT - Vector 12:56 pm 01-10-00

Cartoon Network has bought the rights to air Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. What does this have to do with Sonic? Well, USA has had the contract for TMNT, but they're dropping the rights to most of their cartoons. Presumably, this would include SatAM. If this is the case, then another network could buy the rights to show SatAM, and it could return to the air, without the USA cuts!

Sonic Team Announcement Forthcoming? - Mobius TetherBlood 2:24 am 01-08-00

I received my newsetler from IGN yesterday by email. Take a look at this article about what does Sonic Team has in store for the near future:

It seems that Sonic Team has a few secrets they'd like to reveal within the coming weeks.

When Sonic Team announced that they had four new Dreamcast games in the works, we were shocked to hear that a sequel to Nights was not on the cards. Instead, Japanese gamers got an updated version of Sonic Adventure, a wacky puzzle game known as Chu Chu Rocket and a quirky arcade offering in the form of Samba De Amigo.

Also announced was Phantasy Star Online, but with that title being far from completion, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the Yuji Naka's company had its hands full. However, that may not be the case. Apparently, Sonic Team is set to announce something that will make Sega fans worldwide extremely happy. Unfortunately, we have yet to hear what team leader Yuji Naka has in mind.

There are a few likely possibilities, though. We all know that a sequel to Sonic on the Dreamcast has been confirmed, but we've yet to hear any information whatsoever on the title. It may be the case that Sonic Team is behind the latest installment, and with a release date for late this year, the first pieces of information are bound to be released very soon. Also possible, though, is the confirmation of a release date for Phantasy Star Online. When will the title hit Japan? Gamers worldwide would certainly be pleased to be on the recieving end of some solid details.

Finally, the aforementioned Nights 2 comes into the fray, and to be honest, this is the one for which we've all got our fingers crossed.

So, which one will it be? We're hoping for the latter, but more details on the two confirmed projects would be very nice indeed. Let's hope the wait isn't too long. -- Matthew Langan, IGNDC

Source: IGNDC

SHQ and the Sonic Emmy Awards! - Vector 11:44 am 01-03-00

The Super Sonic Zone, Tristan's site, has named the winners of the Sonic Emmy Award! Visitors to the site voted on which sites they considered the best in each category. I won't tell you who won each award here, but I will say that SHQ did win at least one, as did tSF, The Sonic Stuff Research Group, and numerous others. We'd like to thank our visitors for this great honor. ^_^

Source: The Super Sonic Zone

SonicNEXT Officially Opens - Tristan 8:50 am 01-03-00

Zifei Wu, former hed of Sonic HQ, and several other HQ members have opened a new Sonic source, SonicNEXT. If features everything essential to the Sonic fan: News, Game Information, Comic and Cartoon Info, a section devoted to Fan Material, and more. To check it out, click here.