After publishing with Archie Comics since 1992, the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book line is finally set to relaunch next month under a new licensee, IDW. However, will this move prove to be a lucrative one for SEGA, or did the Sonic franchise just jump on board a sinking ship?

The comic book industry as a whole is suffering from an industry-wide downturn for the last several years. DC Comics has shown some sparks of life following their soft relaunch event titled “Rebirth” in 2016, a move that Marvel Comics appears eager to duplicate with their “Fresh Start” event later this year. However, IDW’s financial future looks to be particularly bleak when compared to its competitors.

While it’s true that IDW is indeed a smaller publisher than both DC and Marvel, IDW still does not currently have a single comic book title showing in the top 100 comics sold to stores. Their best-selling book, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ongoing series, sold barely over ten thousand print copies in February. Factor in IDW’s most recent reports for the last fiscal year in which the publisher lost 400% of operational income year-to-year, and there may be legitimate reason to worry.

IDW doesn’t show many signs of stability on the corporate side either. PR manager Steven Scott left the company in early March following a series of public relations missteps. The same week, IDW chief creative officer and editor-in-chief Chris Ryall announced that he is leaving the company after 14 years. It stands to reason that this is due to the above loss of revenue. However, there is some speculation that Ryall’s exit is also due to IDW’s mismanagement of the G.I. Joe brand, the circumstances of which may very well have cost IDW a renewal deal for all of Hasbro’s licensed properties when their licensing agreement expires at the end of 2018. This would mean IDW risks losing some of its longest-running licenses including Transformers and My Little Pony, as Hasbro licenses all of its properties out as a single package.

IDW still retains the licenses for other successful brands such as SpongeBob Squarepants and Ninja Turtles, they could certainly look to investors to help buoy their struggling brand, and their new agreement with SEGA certainly won’t hurt, either. But if IDW is not able to demonstrate marked improvements in profitability and they start losing some of their longest-running license agreements, soliciting new investors is going to be a hard sell.

Certainly SEGA seems confident that IDW was the best home for their new Sonic comic line or they never would have inked the licensing deal. However, one may wonder if there is still some institutional memory at SEGA from the Dreamcast era for recognizing a lost cause. If things continue to go poorly at IDW, will SEGA bail out, or will Sonic go down with the ship?

IDW’s new Sonic the Hedgehog series launches in April.

Richard C. Meyer did nothing wrong.

Thanks to Censored Gaming (which is an incredible resource), we now have some details of how Shadow the Hedgehog was changed to achieve the newly-created E10+ ESRB rating prior to its release on PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube.

Source: Censored Gaming (Seriously, go subscribe to this channel)

Richard C. Meyer did nothing wrong.

Weegee has responded to the controversy in video form, addressing much of the criticisms that have been levied against him. Rather than summarize his many points, I highly encourage you to watch his video response in its entirety, as it demonstrates the dangers of jumping to conclusions, and especially the hazards of trusting Polygon for – well – for pretty much anything.

Source: Weegee the God

This one… This one hurts.

On Friday, SEGA fans all over the world mourned the loss of a time-honored SEGA icon, Danica Patrick.* Patrick had long, storied career with SEGA, making appearance in both Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing Transformed and the Sonic Universe comic tie-in for Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing Transformed.

Danica Patrick will also be remembered for her contributions to the marketing world, revolutionizing commercials in sexy fashion for Internet hosting company, Go Daddy. She would also be remembered by SEGA fans for her knocking Toejam & Earl out of the roster for Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing Transformed, but she was roundly forgiven on account of her being smoking hot.

You may notice some diehard SEGA fans having a rough time dealing with this, so please be kind to those in the broader SEGA community who are coping with such a shocking, devastating loss. It’s never easy to say goodbye. Sometimes it’s even very, very hard. Like rock hard…

*UPDATE: Upon further research, it was actually announced Friday that Danica Patrick was, in fact, only retiring from NASCAR, not that she had died. At least now I can feel less like a necrophiliac when I pay tribute to all my screencaptured Go Daddy commercials. To the printer!

Source: The Washington Post

Despite these concerns, IGN gave a huge “fuck you” to ethical journalistic practices this past Friday by announcing their acquisition of Humble Bundle, the digital gaming storefront known for selling games bundles and allowing consumers to donate part of the sale to charitable causes.

IGN is keeping the details of the acquisition secret, though representatives at IGN maintain that their company does not intend to interfere with the way Humble Bundle is conducting business at this time, and will instead merely inject resources into Humble Bundle to keep its rate of growth positive.

While certainly not illegal, this deal begs the question of whether it is ethical for a video game website, especially one that reviews games, to sell and produce video games (Humble Bundle publishes games in addition to being a digital storefront).

While giving positive coverage to games associated with Humble Bundle would be the most obvious breach of journalistic integrity, there are less obvious yet still questionable practices that could come from this partnership. Are we soon to see links to the Humble Bundle store alongside coverage of the games being covered? Will IGN use future bundles to pump up the membership numbers of IGN Prime, the website’s premium ad-free subscription service?

The ink on the deal is still wet and so far there is no indication that IGN or Humble Bundle have overtly crossed any ethical lines. However, both companies have left themselves cavernously open to ethical pitfalls, and given the watchdog nature of the gaming community, we’ll soon find out if they do.

So you may be asking yourself, “What does this have to do with SEGA?” To which I would answer that SEGA frequently includes its games on the Humble Store, with Vanquish, Bayonetta and Alien: Isolation appearing on the store in just the past few months.

Now you may ask, “No, really this is just an opportunity for you to bitch about IGN, isn’t?” To which I answer, so what if it is? It’s not like I called them “cunt-broth-gurgling, Bay-Area moralists.” Oh wait- yes I did. And I fucking meant it.

If you would like to hear my live reaction to reading the news of the acquisition, take a gander at the video below. (NSFW – Use headphones or turn the volume down a bit)

Source: Tech Raptor

Completely ignoring the irony that Sonic’s primary gameplay mechanic is turning himself into a blue ball, SEGA has taken their love of the ladies to a new level this weekend at the Tokyo Game Show by announcing a partnership with the Hooters restaurant chain to promote the upcoming release of Sonic Forces. But don’t get your chili dogs warmed up just yet- this partnership, at least so far, appears to be limited to Japan.

While the full details of the partnership have yet to be announced, the Hooters locations where the promotions will take place preliminarily appear to be Akasaka, Ginza, and Shibuya West.

There’s also no word as to whether Sonic Forces will have any extra Hooters-related content added to it, but I’m sure that Sonic fans everywhere are dreaming of the possibilities. Hooters girl DLC? Hooters meets Howard Johnson? Costume options for Rouge the bat? Hooters & Knuckles?

Personally, you’ll never get me to step foot in a Hooters location  ever again. No matter how many times I go and pay good money for those tasty, spicy chicken wings, when I ask my waitress if she wants to come back to my place and try my own special sauce – for FREE, I might add – I get kicked out. Bitches.

Not able to high-tail it to Japan? Don’t let blue balls get you down. Sonic Forces releases on November 7th.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to do some extensive research into this exciting development. You know, for journalism. Boob journalism. (Heads to Deviant Art)

Source: NeoGAF

Now, eighteen years later, the Dreamcast is finally all grown up.

Happy birthday, sweetie.

Bergstresser is no stranger to the gaming industry or to SEGA. He previously worked for SEGA in 1991 and has since worked for other gaming companies including Konami and Atari.

From Sega’s European HQ in London, Bergstresser will oversee SEGA’s five Western studios: Creative Assembly, Sports Interactive, Hardlight, Relic and Amplitud.

Source: GameIndustry.biz

The video finally dropped this week, and it’s a doozy.

So free up eleven minutes of your life, take it all in good fun, and remember, this is not safe for work. Not at all.

Is he a Kekistani hero? A villainous troll?

Perhaps most famous for his involvement in the #GamerGate controversy, Mr. Metokur has since developed a reputation for deliciously biting humor directed at the more bizarre corners of the Internet. One of his YouTube series is entitled Deviant’s, which rips on a variety of subjects found on the Deviant Art website, which are typically sexual in nature.

Earlier this week, Mr. Metokur announced that he would be taking on fandoms for the next few episodes of Deviant’s. First on the list? You bet. The Sonic the Hedgehog fandom.

Below is the announcement video which is not safe for work. Not at all safe for work.

I’m sure many Sonic fans will not appreciate Mr. Metokur’s taking the piss out of the Sonic fan art community, but if you approach it more as a good-natured roasting, you’ll probably give in with a self-deprecating laugh or two. Besides, we SEGA fans are used to taking it on the chin from time to time, am I right?

We’ll keep you updated and let you know when the Sonic fandom episode of Deviant’s goes live.