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SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #129, ships 10/15. 32-page, full color comic, $2.19 US.

"Space Gamble": Move over, Nascar pros - Sonic is putting the pedal to the metal by entering a racing competition! Not the best thing to do with a damaged ship, but he can always use the prize money to fix it. Winning won't be that easy of course-he's only up against fastest beings of the universe! Will Sonic's ship hold together long enough for him to cross the finish line? SCRIPT: Romy Chacon. Art: Dawn Best (pencils) & Jim Amash (inks).

"Welcome to Wheelworld": The new world Sonic finds himself in offers the best opportunity for to get back home to his family and friends. Too bad he's landed there right in the middle of the trial of the Bem scientist last seen in #118. Why is this trial so important and what does it have to do with Mobius? This must must-read tale features several surprises, including of Tails' parents! SCRIPT: Benny Lee. ART: Art Mawhinney (pencils) and Michael Higgins (inks).

Sources: Previews & Westfield Comics

In the latest issue of Sonic(#126),it's revealed by Ken Penders in the letters page that Mobius:Twenty Five Years Later(originally Knuckles:Twenty Years Later)will start in Sonic#131. The arc will start it's focus on Knuckles and then gradually move on to the other characters in the Sonic universe. More tidbits:

-Sonic returns to Mobius in Sonic#129 and will be explained over the course of this issue and #130.
-Knuckles returns in #130 and begins to get more involved in the affairs of the Kingdom of Acorn.

Note: Unless you are a subscriber, Sonic #126 is not out yet, so don't go rushing to find it.

Details on studio mergers and name changes have been released.

Sega has revealed the structure and names of its development studios after its planned reorganization. Under Sega's new studio structure, there will be seven development studios--Hitmaker, Sonic Team, Amusement Vision, Smilebit, Sega-AM2, Wow Works and a new studio named Cinematic Online Games.

Sega Rosso (Sega Rally, NASCAR arcade) will be merged and absorbed into Hitmaker (Virtual On, Crazy Taxi) , and United Game Artists (Rez, Space Channel 5) will be merged and absorbed into Sonic Team (Sonic the Hedgehog, Phantasy Star Online). Smilebit (Jet Set Radio) and Amusement Vision (F-Zero AX, Super Monkey Ball) will not be merging as previously reported, but a part of Smilebit's operations will be transferred to Amusement Vision. Sega-AM2 (Virtua Fighter series, Shenmue series) will stay intact without any changes. Overworks (Shinobi, Sakura Wars) will merge into Wow Entertainment (House of the Dead, Vampire Night) and Wow entertainment will change its studio name to Wow Works. A new company tentatively named Cinematic Online Games will be established. Cinematic Online Games's president will be Yu Suzuki, and 50 employees are scheduled to be present at the studio launch planned for October 1.

Paperwork for the merger will be signed on August 18 and given approval in the stockholders meeting on August 19. The mergers are scheduled to take place later on October 1. Sega does not plan to lay off any employees in the reorganization, meaning that 191 employees will be switching studios in the merger (Sega Rosso: 45 employees, United Game Artists: 40 employees, Overworks: 96 employees). Sega will release more specific details on the studios at a later date.

By Hirohiko Niizumi

Source: Gamespot

From cube-europe.com

While Sega's official website can only project a first quarter 2004 release for the multi-platform Sonic Heroes, Gamespot has revealed an estimated time of arrival (ETA) of January 15th, 2004.

Source: Gamespot

Today on the 26th, the 2nd match in the West Division 1st rounds polls begins. #8 seed Knuckles the Echidna squares off against #9 seed Yuna of Final Fantasy X fame. Support the Great Red now!

Source:GameFAQs

PlanetGamecube broke the story on Sega's upcoming reorganization. Several of their developement studios are being merged together to create new studios, while others are being axed completely. Sega is doing this in an attempt to slim down.

As a part of this reorganization, Sonic Team is being merged with the studio "United Game Artists", makers of such games as Space Channel 5, and Rez. No details yet on what the new studio will be named, or when this merger will take place.

For fulltext of article, click link below.

#9 seed Shadow the Hedgehog faces #8 seed Wario in the Great GameFAQs Character Battle II today. Also, #2 seed Sonic the Hedgehog defeated #15 seed Ken Masters a few days ago in voting.

Edit: Shadow won

Source: *GameFAQs*

The STC Online staff proudly presents:


SONIC THE COMIC Issue 225
http://www.stconline.co.uk/

Archie's Sonic The Hedgehog: The Beginning trade paperback is on sale in comic shops starting today. It's a re-print of the original Sonic mini-series, Sonic #0-3, with a forward by Michael Gallagher. I don't have the original mini-series but it seems unlike Sonic Firsts, which changed the coloring of the characters to their "modern" forms, this is completely faithful to the original stories. Since this has been asked a few times on the message board, if you are a subscriber, you will not get this issue unless you buy it separately from a store (or when--going by their usual history--Archie offers it in the Sonic comic itself). It is not part of a subscription.

Source: Diamond Comics