News

According to Sega Web, it was all one big communication problem.

Another crazy rumor has been killed. Yesterday there were, once again, mis-translated reports out of Japan that Sega and Nintendo were involved in some grand new gaming venture along with music producer Tetsuya Komuro. The deal was supposed to involve Sega's ongoing network gaming plans.

The real story is that Satoshi Kayama, director at Marigul Management, has been invited to act as an advisor to Sega to oversee their network initiatives. Mr. Kayama has worked with Tetsuya Komuro and Nintendo in the past, and this is the extent of Sega's relationship to these two entities. Sega sort of knows this guy Kayama, who once worked with Nintendo and Komuro in the past. Sheesh! Talk about needing a better translator.

It's not all bad news though, Nintendo's resident genius Shigeru Miyamoto said this about the company: "Marigul helps talented programmers that don't have enough money in terms of funds to make the games they want to make." A small development team called Saru Brunei is a part of the company and is headed by former Nintendo game designer Gento Matsumoto, who served as Miyamoto's right hand man for more than a decade.

Source: Sega Web

A new attempt at collecting SatAM lovers has risen. FUS - Fans United for SatAM is a place where they will be free to express themselves without the possible torment of Anti-SatAM'ers. I, Sonique, created a site devoted comepletely to SatAM with no SegaSonic, no Sonic Underground a little to no Archie. I know a lot of SatAMers are out there who are afraid to express their opinions because of the amount of SegaSonicers, but FUS is a place where they can all come to hang out. FUS will also be trying hard to revive the SatAM in one way or another, but we need members first. Please fill out the form on the page is interested and be sure to including your email address so I can contact you.

Please check out the page too as it has over 300 SatAM/Archie Fanfics, many o' downloads, and a page dedicated one of, if not the best, Sonic fanmade game ever, Sonic Epoch.

Thanks for listening and I hope to hear from you all soon. :)

Just a reminding note that Sonic The Hedgehog #90 will be released today. You can find it in your local bookstore and/or comic book shop. Subscribers should have already recieved it. :)

That is all. ^__^

Loops are thrown aplenty in this preview. As if Double Cross' news post wasn't foreboding enough....now we get something that FURTHER adds to the mystery that is the road to the coveted anniversary issue: Sonic The Hedgehog #100...

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"New Order 2"
Written by Karl Bollers
Art by James Fry
Inks by Andrew Pepoy.

As beautiful as the new Knothole Village is, Sonic just can't adjust to it knowing that Robotnik's presence - and that of the Overlanders - persists in Robotropolis. For his part, Elias has chosen the path of peace, electing to focus on turning Knothole into a permanent habitat rather than trying to reclaim Robotropolis. By issue's end, however, dark alliances shall be made and peril shall befall the Freedom Fighters - in the form of both natural disasters and wicked enemies...

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OK - Several things in this preview caught my eye. Namely:

1. Check out that cover and one thing will immediately catch your eye - namely the centerpoint of Spaz's piece: Knothole High School! @__@ And not only that but we see Sonic walking with Tails and Mina (sans Rotor trailing behind them) in a congested courtyard nonetheless. Bunnie and Antione are walking in the opposite direction, but Sally is nowhere to be seen....It looks like after Sonic 93, Mina, Rote and Tails will be getting bigger roles after all. I specifically remember WAAAAAY back before Sonic #50, Ken Penders said he had wanted to try something like this (the high school thing) but I didn't think they'd actually play it out. THIS could be interesting...and its CERTAINLY something new that hasnt been done before in the book. Makes you wonder what on earth they have planned for after 100.

2. NEW Knothole Village? Robotropolis is now populated with Overlanders _AND_ Doc R? And Elias wants to "move on" on reclaiming Knothole? And then there are the titles of "New Order" and "Darkness Falls" revealed below. It should be neat to see how this all will turn out in the end. After tomorrow - 9 issues to go till the big Double Zero...

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.

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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