Sonic Unleashed Impressions

Coming this holiday, Sonic Unleashed is the first Sega title built on the Sonic-loving "Hedgehog Engine," a next-gen platform in development since 2005. Perhaps to show off the new engine's muscle, Sonic Unleashed will take place in real world settings on a fractured Earth and feature both 3D third-person and 2D side-scrolling action. I caught a glimpse of the first level set in Greece and the fourth set in an unnamed European city during Sega's recent Gamer's Day.

The multiplayer-free game has Sonic traveling through the fractured chunks of an Earth recently shattered by Dr. Eggman, collecting Chaos Emeralds in an attempt to return the planet to its former state. The game will include stylized humans, but likely no hot hedgehog-on-female action.

The developers said one version of Sonic Unleashed is being developed for the Xbox 360 and PS3 and another for the PS2 and Wii. The Wii version of the game will allow you to use the remote and nunchuk or the classic Gamecube controller.

The developers showing off the game to media said that, while the engine was designed to "work well with Sonic titles," it can be used for other games.

Sega's official video game of the 2008 Beijing Olympics is looking pretty damn realistic, if these screenshots are any indication, but as Olympic games of the past have taught us, it isn't about the looks so much as it is the motion. I am actually willing to take that a bit farther.
There will be no successful Olympics video game until they implement realistic hurdle-based testicle damage.
As someone who has felt the painful impact of a hurdle between my legs, I can safely say that making the runners simply stumble or slow down for hitting a hurdle does not accurately represent the rigors of the sport. It's the whole reason they implemented hurdles in the first place!

Here are some shots of Dinosaur King for the Nintendo DS from the Sega event attended by our ever busy Dr. Crecente. Dinosaur King is a game based off of an anime based off of a card game, if I've got the progression correct, which pretty much means that fans of the show and players of the card game will enjoy it. Being neither, I simply present you with the screens while smiling a warm, reassuring smile.

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood Hands-On

My first chance to play around with Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood left me more than a little impressed.

While we didn't get a walk through of the game's storyline, we were given a chance to mess around with a chunk of the game.

The DS title shows the action of the game on the bottom, touch screen, while the top screen is taken up by a large colorful map of the section of the world you are currently exploring.

The game has you playing a team of Sonic characters, selected among 11 playable in the game.