10 Inches of Pure Metal

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to Toys R Us...
Metal Sonic RETURNS!

Checking up on the Toys R Us website for Metal Sonic has become a weekly routine for me. As usual, I entered the site this morning expecting nothing. But I was struck by THIS:


He's not for pre-order either, he's for sale right now! No Sonic fan should pass this figure up for the low, low price of $16.99. Heck, it gets even better! The Exclusive San Diego Comic-Con 2009 Metal Sonic the Hedgehog has been discounted to the odd price of $10.48, about $5 off the original price.

The 10 inch Metal Sonic is available both in stores and online. As I live minutes away from a Toys R Us, I'm holding off until the store opens to call them and (hopefully) reserve a figure. If all goes well, I could have a review this very evening. If not, then I'll have this shiny little faker in my clutches as early as next week.

I found this package shot on ebay. The figure looks much nicer in a 3/4 view.


Update: Metal appears to be very popular, as he is sold out at five of the closest stores. Thankfully he is on his way from ToysRUs.com. Holy crap! He weighs 2 pounds??

Mega Drive Musical Madness

Put this together over the last couple of days. The mega Drive in the right hands pumped out some brilliant music, and this video is a sample of some of my personal favorites. I might make another one of these at some point if I get time, or maybe videos of the music from certain games like Decap Attack and Battle Mania 2.

The Sega-Vision... in 1977!?

Educated Sega fans know what the image to left is of. It's the Sega Vision, the portable media player from Sega which began as a rumored return to consumer gaming hardware but ended up being a so-so MP3 player with photo and video capabilities. What educated Sega fans may not know is that the Sega Vision isn't the first Sega product to bear that name.

From Sega's early days in the 1940's (as Standard Games) up to the 1970's, Sega mainly produced coin-operated amusements including photo booths, UFO Catchers, slot and pinball machines. In 1977 Sega introduced a big screen TV called the Sega-Vision. What made the Sega-Vision different from other Sega products at the time was that it was intended for home use. This possibly makes the Sega-Vision the first Sega home video system! While it couldn't play games, it did bear the Sega name and provided visual entertainment.

Patent drawings of what the Sega-Vision may have looked like

The Sega-Vision's technology was invented by a man known as Madman Muntz. I'm not kidding! Earl "Madman" Muntz was an American businessman and engineer known for his television commercials in which he played an oddball "Madman" who generated publicity with his wacky costumes, stunts, and outrageous claims. Muntz has many claims to fame including coining the phrase "TV" and inventing the earliest functional widescreen projection television. Muntz was not a Sega employee, but rather licensed his invention to Sega for use in manufacturing. The projection television patent listing mentions not only the Sega-Vision, but also a Sony Projection Television, both are listed as being sold in the spring of 1977. Could this have been the first Sega/Sony war?

Madman Muntz could join the ranks of Yukawa and Segata!

While little information of the Sega-Vision exists outside of the United States Patent listing, it's an interesting moment in Sega history and a unique entry into the Sega home entertainment family. I wonder if one could hook a Master System up to the Sega-Vision?

If Gagaman gets his hands on a Sega-Vision TV, I'll eat a shoe.

Sonic and Tails Racers on mysterious UFOs on wheels

Remember this early concept art found on Impact Innovations website ages ago? Well it turns out two more projects from that lot have been released as I found them in Debenhams, who had a 25% off sale on them. They also had some of those classic Sonic carrying bags that you may of seen on GAME. I picked them up figuring they were even cheaper at the moment and if they're anything like that track set they'll all be gone by Christmas. The remote controlled 'racers' look far better than in those old prototypes, thankfully.

Making SEGA Memories - The Dreamroom

If you encounter anybody with bloodshot sleep-deprived eyes today, chances are they're a Dreamcast fan coming off of last nights festivities. Yesterday was a wonderful mix of Dreamcast tribute videos, top games lists, historical articles and memories. As we here at SEGA memories are all about remembering the good old days, I thought I'd share a few memories found at SEGA Nerds as well as share a report on my own 10th anniversary festivities.

I downloaded all of the commercials for the console I could find (on dial-up, no less), and watched them all at least a million times. When I would find kiosks of the console I would go to the store on a weekend and literally play it all day, believe it or not the stores would allow this!
-SEGA Uranus

Prior to the system’s release I was heavily involved on Sega.com and their message boards. I actually won a contest in which I won a Dreamcast shirt and other cool memorabilia.
-Segamon

That legendary QTE in Shenmue II at a barber shop. I was mesmerized when I figured it out. Also, I ditched a girl to play the game. I may have mentioned this here before. haha
-ORTA

My 9-9-09 began with a post at my own SEGA blog announcing The Dreamroom, a ten hour Dreamcast marathon which included streaming video and a gathering of friends. I read and watched every Dreamcast tribute that I could find, including Gagaman's excellent top 100 and IHaveADreamcast's video feed, and then headed home to set up for my own event.

The party room consisted of two Dreamcasts running on an HDTV and good old tube TV. I had my library of 80+ games and controllers at the ready and kicked off the feed with some Sonic Adventure.

The main stage. The PS2 was rightfully stuck in the back room to make space for the Dreamcast games.

Project Needlemouse

This trailer just recently appeared on the internet and seems to be touting a new 2D / HD Sonic game. Now, considering how brief and uninformative the trailer is, it'd be ridiculous to make any predictions about how this release could turn out. However, that sillohuette at the end does look an awful lot like...

Only time will tell what Sega has in store, eh?

Summer of Sonic '09: Video of Introduction

Well a lot of the video footage I took was pretty pants but here's a bit of it showing what I filmed just as I entered the building, having a quick look about, and then it cuts to the introduction up on the stage, which continues into the second video. I just missed the very start of that animation in which a windows blue screen popped up (getting huge laughs as everyone presumed the computers set up to the telly's crashed) but then that tails Doll from Sonic R popped up all evil like. Otherwise very little is cut out.

Sega Nerds already has a great video of the Sumo Digital Q&A session as well as a interview they did with them, so I probably won't be uploading my filming of that, but I do also have the Q&A session with the S.T.C artists which i will be uploading soon.