Kintor

Sure, whatever. Anyone manage to isolate the music on the 'avatar stage' version of Green Hill? It sounded like we might have another vocal track.

Well, he posts here on SSMB even though he hates most Sonic games. No reason why he can't hate read the Archie comics while he's here. It might even give him some new material.

It's never too late to start collecting. The comic did fortunately come to a halt after the completion of a major story arc, based on Sonic Unleashed no less, so there aren't a lot of loose ends to worry about.

Let me rephrase that then - you should read Sonic Universe. This spin-off comic is typically broken up into 4 issue story arcs that can focus on other Sonic characters, besides Sonic and the SatAM Freedom Fighters. Although, one of the standout arcs is actually 'Eggman's Dozen' which develops the characters of Eggman's anti-Freedom Fighter anthro/cyborgs as they fight Naugus (SatAM) and an obscure villian from one of Tail's Game Gear games.

You should take the time to read the Archie comics, especialy once Ian Flynn took over. The comic is better in keeping with the tone of the Sonic franchise then many recent Sonic games.

That's a shame, SatAM is one of my favourite things to ever come from the Sonic franchise. The Restiance in Sonic Forces may not be officially Freedom Fighters but they might as well be. The whole SatAM supporitng cast would be right at home in Sonic Forces.

An army? It's almost as if the Resistance is some ragtag group of animals fighting for freedom... Now where I have seen that before in Sonic media...

How is this offensive? A few nameless resistance fighters will help to give Sonic Forces a more epic scale.

Well I think that the UI is something that Sonic Team can keep tweaking until Sonic Forces goes gold. Even if what we see in this demo is only temporary Sonic Team can still take E3 feedback on board and steamline things for the retail build.

You should at least note that the Sonic Forces image doesn't even name the levels in question, meaning that this demo version is deliberately obscuring information. It makes me think that even the planet itself is being obscured by a cloudbank in this demo version, so as not to accidentally reveal any extra stages.

Well, looks like the E3 mayhem it starting early. I wonder what that YouTube spot tommorrow is going to be like? Complete playthroughs of the three demo stages, plus some Sonic Mania? Either way, it sounds like the demo kiosks will allow people to play all three different characters in Sonic Forces. So we should be getting some good shaky-cam footage over the next couple of days.

If I've got the time zones right, it looks like this YouTube stream will take place after Microsoft's conference. Which doesn't exclude the possibility that our first look at any Sonic games this E3 will still come from Microsoft's conference. Like having a new trailer or two during the Microsoft conference and then making the YouTube session more of a hands on playthrough of each Sonic game. But that still remains to be seen. Personally though, I won't be able to watch the Microsoft conference live. So I'll leave it up to someone else to let everyone know if Sonic makes an appearance then.

Well, I've yet to see a sequel to Sonic Labyrinth or Sonic Shuffle. So I'd say that Sega is pretty focused one the most popular styles. Of course, just talking about it, now I really want to play a new version of Sonic Shuffle...

So, any word yet on who is preforming the vocals for Park Avenue (Custom Character)? I can only assume that at this point everyone involved with the OST is under some sort of NDA until closer to release. Still, this does bode well; vocal tracks are something that has been sorely missing from recent Sonic games. Anyway, I can’t wait to hear the full version of this song.

Nah, for that to be true Sega would need to starting making a further 50 or so different kinds of Sonic games: Sonic Freestyle - every Sonic fan gets their own distinct flavour of Sonic game.

At this point it's probably worth considering the idea that the Archie run Sonic comics are effectively done at this point. Even if no official cancelation announcement has been made the damage has already been done. Months of unexplained hiatus, in the always shaky comic book industry, is just going to burn long time readers and scare anybody else anyway. So that even if publication were to resume tomorrow it's highly likely that sales would crater dramatically into cancelation levels and never recover. The best chance for Sonic comics is for Sega to give the licence to somebody else. In the past I had recommended IDW but recently they've been getting a lot of flak over their mishandling of the Transformer comics. Still, there's got to be some other Indy publisher will and able to competently publish a new generation of Sonic comics.

What's a Pepsi Fire? *does a google search* Cinnamon flavoured Pepsi!? Bleurgh... No contest that Sega made the better marketing deal here. A rancid version of Pepsi doesn't stand a chance against Classic Coke.

Interesting times indeed if someone is making another play with the Atari brand. Personally, I think it's probably going to be another retro console pre-loaded with a ton of Atari games. Basically a smartphone processor in a box programmed to emulate Atari games - only this time with extra woodgrain.

The purpose of the Custom Hero trailer wasn't to show off the full extent of the character creator but rather to simply annouce that Sonic OCs are now officially endorsed by Sega. This is why we got to see an everyman OC and only a hint at some of the customisation options. Further elaboaration can wait for another trailer, the idea itself was enough for the reveal.

By design the OC chosen for that trailer was something of an everyman, incorporating some common design themes that virtually all fans of OC characters can generally agree on. The remainder of the trailer then hinted at some of the more unique character options available, like that suit of armour. The idea is to encourage not to intimidate, this way anybody watching the trailer can feel they have a shot at creating a cool looking OC even if they've never drawn anything before.

All it shows is that Sonic Team understands the popular aesthetic styles among people who like to create Sonic OCs and indeed any kind of anthropomorphic fan character. Which incidentally, the Sonic franchise has been influencing for years, thanks to the sheer size of the Sonic fanbase and the prominent place of Sonic games in popular culture. Things are just going full circle with Sonic Forces, as Sonic Team is now able to tap into that creative energy which has always existed around OCs.

I agree with your resoning here. The leaked image is far too different from anything else to merely be a retooled level. That cathedral is probably something new.

Infamous for you I suppose? Looks pretty harmless to me. Nevertheless, your success in copying Sonic Forces design does show that the character creator Sonic Forces will resonate strongly with anyone who enjoyed using that earlier character creator, since both share many common aesthetic options.

Eh, I say the 2D picture is more cat and less wolf/dog(?). Makes me wonder if the guy from the Custom Hero trailer is going to be the default OC when players boot up the character creator for the first time. Alternatively, I suppose that it could display a randomly generating OC upon start up.

Not bad; you should see if you can actually replicate that design in Sonic Forces. Shouldn’t be too difficult to do so, nothing seems particularly bespoke about any of the clothes or items.