Sonic & All-Stars Racing is due for imminent release

"Sonic & All-Stars Racing" will be released worldwide on all the major consoles during the course of the next 10 days.

It is the first Sonic racing game to be released on the latest generation of consoles, and hopes are very high that this will be a great game. It is also the third installment in the "Sega Superstars" series and the seventh racing game in the "Sonic the Hedgehog" series ever.

Project Needlemouse is Sonic the Hedgehog 4!

Sega yesterday announced that the forthcoming Sonic game previously given the codename Project Needlemouse (see my previous post about new game releases for this year) is in fact going to be Sonic the Hedgehog 4:

(Quote from an article in Yahoo! yeaterday)

Sega has announced that the game formerly known by the codename ‘Project Needlemouse’ is actually Sonic the Hedgehog 4.

Sonic 4, we’re pleased to report, heralds a return to his two-dimensional roots. In other words it’s a side-scrolling, high-speed, gold ring-collecting action/platform game, just like the good days of the Genesis/Mega Drive. That’s certainly no bad thing in our book – especially given the travesties of recent outings. Furthermore, being a bit, y’know, old school the new game doesn’t require the large storage capacities offered by DVDs or Blu-Ray discs. Instead it’s bound for download via Xbox LIVE Arcade, WiiWare and the PlayStation Network this summer.

The other significant component of Sega’s announcement is the new name – ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1’. Sega doesn’t illuminate on the implications of this, but it certainly looks like there will be other episodes in the pipeline. Let’s just hope that this is more than a means to pick our pockets several times over.

And that’s pretty much all there is to know at the moment, save to inform you that Sega has just launched an Official Sonic 4 website that boasts a number of countdown clocks, each ticking away towards the unveiling of new gameplay information, concept art and so on. In short there are plenty of reasons to be checking the site over the next few days and weeks.

(End quote)

Personally, I think it's fantastic that at long, long, long, long, long, long last (it's been 16 years in fact since Sonic 3!) Sega are producing a brand new proper style Sonic the Hedgehog game. It's about time! Hoorah!!

You can watch two trailer videos for the new game in my main YouTube channel here:

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 - First Teaser Trailer

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 - Second Teaser Trailer

While we're all eagerly wating for this milestone game to be released, here are five great proper style Sonic the Hedgehog online games to play for free:

  Ultimate Flash Sonic the Hedgehog

  Sonic on Angel Island

  Sonic Mega Collection Mini

  Sonic Xtreme 2

  Sonic Sky Chase Zone

And if Mario is also "your thing", here are two proper style Super Mario online games too:

  New Super Mario Bros. Flash

  Ultimate Super Mario World

You can find all the above games, plus 150 more great free Sonic and Mario games, in the Dan-Dare.info and MarioSonicGames.com sites.

A free Super Mario game download for the Nokia N97, 5730 XpressMusic and 2700 Classic (and others)

If, like me, you love having great games on your Nokia mobile phone, then here's a lovely treat for you - a FREE with NO ADVERTS download of a really fun Super Mario Bros. Java game called "Super Mario Planet" for the Nokia N97, the Nokia 5730 XpressMusic, the Nokia 2700 Classic and other Nokia models (I have installed and tested the game on all three of the above-named models and it works fine, so presumably it will work okay on other modern Nokia models too):

Super Mario Planet .jad and .jar files - installation and executable game files

Download the .zip file above and unzip it, and then transfer the .jad installation file and the .jar executable game file to your Nokia phone, preferably to your phone's mass storage or memory card if you have either of them, in a new folder named "Web Games". Then check the new folder via your phone's File Manager to see if you can directly run the "Super Mario Planet" .jar game file - if your phone doesn't have File Manager, you should see the .jar file in your phone's gallery in the new "Web Games" folder.....

If you can directly run the "Super Mario Planet" game (as happens on the Nokia 2700 Classic for example), you should see the game start and you can play it from then on whenever you wish (and you can delete the .jad file as it isn't needed);

If you can't run it directly (as with the N97 and 5730 XpressMusic for example), select the .jad installation file to install the game on your phone's mass storage or memory card, then delete the .jad and .jar files, and then you should find the "Super Mario Planet" game in a folder named "Games" in either your phone's Main Menu or the Applications Menu. You can play it from there whenever you wish.

The game works perfectly on both the N97 and the 5730 XpressMusic, and it is also fine on the 2700 Classic except that the sound doesn't work on that particular phone. It is great fun to play, and has really good graphics as you can see from the screenshots at the top of this post. The first time you play it you will have to watch a short tutorial level, but after that you can play the proper game every time you start it. Very usefully, the game remembers your progress each time you play it for when you go back to it in the future.

As an extra special treat for you, here are two more great free Nokia Java game downloads, both of which also work fine on the N97, the 5730 XpressMusic and the 2700 Classic (and presumably other Nokia models too):

Space Cowboy .jad and .jar files - installation and executable game files

Yet Another Tetris .jad and .jar files - installation and executable game files

Install both games in the same way as the Mario Planet game above. Have fun! :-)