The Summer of Sonic team are pleased to announce that not only will the convention house a Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing tournament and a playable demo of Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 (E3 version),  we will also be giving you hands-on time with Sonic Colours on Nintendo Wii (E3 version). That’s right, thanks to the good folks at SEGA you’ll have access to another of Sonic’s upcoming titles before it’s released later this year.

The demo contains two levels for you to explore, Sweet Mountain and Tropical Resort where players will also be able to try out two of the Wisp powers including the Yellow Wisp (Drill) and the Cyan Wisp (Lazer).  The game will be available in our Games Zone on our Wii pod.

We look forward to seeing you in the Games Zone and if you haven’t done so already, you can register for your Summer of Sonic tickets here.

Hey guys Urtheart here. With the announcement of the Registration going up along with the Terms and conditions alot of questions have come up. So I’m here to answer as many as I can, this post will be updated regularly so check back to see if your question has been answered.

My Registration isn’t working, says I don’t have a vaild e-mail!

Should be fixed now, try re-registering. If problems still exist contact me at shadow_urtheart@hotmail.com

I registered 2 other members of my party, but because one is coming from America and the other most likely will not be able to attend, I gave my details for them as well. Is that allowed or should I re do them?

First off register anyone who might come in advance, if they don’t come, just get rid of your ticket. Best they have a ticket in case they come rather than get split from the group.

Secondly registering other people under your email and contacts is fine, but make sure you stay in a group, this is more for your safety than anything else. The person who is registering the tickets (the group leader shall we call them) is the one we need the contact number for.

Also, we’re not allowed ANY of our own food and drink in the venue?

This is to mostly cover our backs. We will not let you in if you have something akin to alcholic beverages let’s say. However we will allow people to bring general food and drink in, as long as you tell us when you enter you’ve got it.
This is espically important for anyone with dietry needs such as diabetic people, DO bring what you need, however if you can tell us on the day you’ve got it we would be grateful (we don’t need to see it, just tell us you’ve got it).

On a side note we would like to ask that you clear up after you, we don’t want injuries, and I don’t take to kindly to being asked to be a maid.

my mum is coming with my brother right but how do i register a 5 year old who don’t have an email address?

Register him on your email address, put his name so we know it is a ticket for a different person, but all the other details can be the same as yours.

So according to the T&C, recording videos is not allowed? Is taking photos allowed then?

The most important thing in this is that you aren’t allowed to photo or record the games that will be shown on the day, like Sonic 4. We don’t mind you recording or taking photos of you guys enjoying the convention and having a good time, in fact we want you to keep memories of it.
However the point of this rule is if you put up a video which shows off “Advance preview of Sonic 4 at SoS” and SEGA ask you to take it down, you have to take it down, no questions. Just use some common sense and you’ll be fine.

In short photos and films of stuff not yet released is bad, anything else is fine.

1. When I print my ticket, does folding the paper it prints on count as tampering? I wanted to put it in my pocket so that I wouldn’t have to carry around a sheet a paper, but if that’s not allowed, then I understand.

2. Am I allowed to print two copies? The second one would be a backup in case I lose the original somehow.

1) Nope what we mean by tampering is altering the code or the design, folding it up is fine.

2) Eeh offcially no, but we can’t really stop you, in that sense it would be fine, obviously printing out copies to give to friends is a no no. Your code is valid for one entry, so only one person will get in on that code.

Can we still laminate tickets?

Yeah you can do, just bare in mind not everyone has my strength at hold punching. You might even be able to use one of your free gifts with it after we hole punch it for entry!

Will there be access for pushchairs or wheel chairs?

Yes the Pavillion is fully accessable to both pushchair and Wheelchair users.

So say I bring with me a bottle of Coke. Would that be OK as long as we tell you about it? I’m asking as that also breaks the no Bottles/Cans/Glass rule.

Plastic bottles and aluminium cans are allowed, due to their nature however glass bottles will not be allowed and will be confiscated at the entrance if need be. If there is a medical reason as to why you need to inform us, but as a general rule no glass, plastic preferred.

Does this mean I won’t be able to display a painting I was planning to do for a table? Not for selling but as a display.

The condition that restricts you from bringing in promotional or marketing material (free or otherwise) to the venue mostly covers material which is not fan-created. In other words, you will not be allowed to take flyers for a local nightclub or other such material, but a poster or t-shirt detailing your artwork or fan creation should be fine.

Having said that, the condition is ambiguous for a reason, because we have to cover ourselves for any and every situation. While we are fine with visitors bringing in a few pieces of material to show their friends their creations, you should not abuse that privilege by carrying hundreds of leaflets or other homemade promotional items into the venue. That will be considered an excess by the Summer of Sonic staff, and you may have to leave the items with the doormen. We reserve the right to consider what is reasonable material and what is not on the day, but the general rule is ‘moderation’.

My registration was rejected because I didn’t put a valid Emergency contact, what’s that for?

The emergency contact field is there in case something happens to you we have someone we can contact to tell them what is going on. Even if you are coming from overseas we still need one. This person can be another member of your family or a close friend, preferably one who isn’t coming to the event, but you can not be your own emergency contact.

The hope is we won’t have to use this information at all, hence why it is for emergencies only.
If you still need help with this field contact shadow_urtheart@hotmail.com

I can’t find any SoS confirmation emails!

Check your junk/spam folder, espically if you are using hotmail. If you still can not find it re-register and make sure you use the correct email.

Keep your eyes out as we’ll update it as we get more.

By now you’ve probably got a good idea as to how absolutely awesome this year’s Summer of Sonic convention is going to be. 1000-person venue. Nigel Dobbyn. Crush 40. Sonic 4. Free goodies. That’s only the tip of the iceberg, ladies and gentlemen – we have a lot more to announce besides, that will make SoS10 an unforgettable event.

With such a great lineup, it’s only natural to expect a lot of people to come through those Pavilion doors on the 7th August. To help make your entry into the Summer of Sonic that much easier, I am proud to announce the launch of our registrations website, which will allow you to place an order for tickets in advance of the big day.

What are the benefits of registering early on the website, instead of just heading straight to the venue? It saves time for both you and the Summer of Sonic staff – on entry, you will be asked to provide the doormen with your name, address and other details so that if an incident happens during the day, we can contact you easily and efficiently. This process does impact the length of time you could be standing in line outside, waiting to get in.

Advance registration gives you the opportunity to send us all of the details that you would normally leave on the door via our website, thus speeding up your entry. The other clear benefit is that, for the first hour of the Summer of Sonic venue opening, we will only be accepting entry for those holding a valid, already-registered ticket.

So how do you get to do this? Simply visit our registration website at http://register.summerofsonic.com/ – fill in your details and follow the instructions. Once submitted, your details will go through a vetting process before being accepted. Accepted registered applicants will be sent details of their ticket, to print off and take to the venue to be hole-punched.

Please note that no tampering of your ticket is allowed, whatsoever. If you modify it in any way, you will be refused entry. And nobody wants to wait a whole hour when you could be so close to being one of the first people to see the sights!

Entry to the Summer of Sonic convention – including advance registration – is subject to our Terms and Conditions, which you must read and accept before being allowed access. Please take the time to understand these terms as soon as you can.

Now, get registering and breathe easy – you’re going to the Summer of Sonic!

I hear tell on the grapevine that despite my wonderous efforts and securing you very nice lanyards and Archie comics for free apparently there are apparently still fans out there STILL wanting more. Honestly, some people are never satisfied no matter what you give them. Who do you think you are, the Sonic fanba- oh… wait. That’d be right wouldn’t it.

Anyway when I said the lanyard was the last freebie item…. I LIEEEEEED.

We thought it’d be rather nice if you had something to carry around your SOS stuff in so let me present to you the SOS 10 drawstring bag, complete with Sonic and a special black cutout version of the SOS logo. It’s orange and hemmed in black, again, available to attendees whilst stocks last.

Please note as Sonic is lineart style this means Sonic’s eyes are also orange.

Yeah, go nuts with that one…

One of the big treats of the Summer of Sonic convention in past years has been that Sonic’s newest games have found their way into the hands of fans way before they’re released. That’s all thanks to our good friends at SEGA, and we’re very pleased to announce this year will be no different.  In addition to all the other pods on the floor, including the All-Stars Racing tournament, SOS will be graced with the presence of Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode I.

Sonic’s eagerly anticipated 2D platformer will be on the convention floor where attendees will be able to get hands-on time with the E3 build which contains all 3 Act’s of Splash Hill Zone and it’s boss battle with Dr. Eggman. The game will be available in the Games Zone on our Xbox 360 pods kindly donated by Microsoft who as we mentioned in our S&SASR Tournament announcement are part-sponsoring the games section of Summer of Sonic.

We hope you are as excited about this as we are and look forward to seeing you in the Games Zone!

It’s time to go crazy kids!

It is our utmost pleasure to announce that the Summer of Sonic will play host to the legendary rock group CRUSH 40 at this years’ convention!

Both Johnny Gioeli and Jun Senoue will be joining our already incredible roster for the day, and you, the fans will have the rare opportunity to come along and meet the band members!

Johnny Gioeli is no stranger to the world of rock, and has blown away audiences for nearly twenty years with his incredible vocals, fronting acts such as Hardline and Axel Rudi Pell. Teaming up with Jun Senoue to form Sons of Angels, they later became Crush 40. Gioeli’s powering voice has become synonymous, with a huge number of Sonic the Hedgehog title tracks including Open Your Heart (Sonic Adventure), Live & Learn (Sonic Adventure 2) and I Am…All Of Me (Shadow the Hedgehog).

Jun Senoue is one of the most influential composers in the Sonic the Hedgehog universe, having worked on Sonic titles as early as 1993. Sound directing some of the most prolific soundtracks to date including the Sonic Adventure series, Sonic Heroes and Sonic & the Black Knight to mention but a few, Senoue has become infamous for his musical direction as well as his musical prowess, with his trademark guitar work becoming the staple of countless Sonic the Hedgehog titles. Not only this, Senoue is the composer for the soon-to-be-released title Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1. The double threat of Gioeli and Senoue as Crush 40 has literally redefined the music to Sonic the Hedgehog games as we know it.

Jun and Johnny will also be answering any questions you might have in a Crush 40 Q&A event on stage. They will also be available for a quick chat in the afternoon in a meet and greet session, where you can bring along your Crush 40 memorabilia to have signed!

Not only this, but we are delighted that Crush 40 will be treating Summer of Sonic fans to a very special Summer of Sonic Crush 40 performance on stage at the end of the show, playing a selection of fan-favourites that will rock you to your core!

You’re not going to want to miss this year’s convention…it truly will be way past cool!

Isn’t life grand, you announce an awesome freebie for everyone, namely that they’re going to get some sort of free Archie comic* and then people start asking what else they’re getting. Tsk. Honestly. There’s no pleasing some people.

As a result we’ve all gone on strike. T-Bird is refusing to wear his hat, Urtheart’s refusing to be heartless, Flyboy Fox is presently chained to the railings outside Downing Street (well everybody needs a hobby I guess), Vger’s so annoyed he’s flown all the way to Japan to get away from you all, and Svend got so annoyed he cut off his long flowing danish locks in protest.

Shirt and neck not included

Okay, we’re kind of greatful for that one, but still its all your fault. I almost feel like not giving you this Summer of Sonic lanyard, which will be available whilst stocks last at the event.  This 20mm wide nylon double sided printed SOS lanyard is smooth as silk and available in SOS orange. Ideal for putting your (forthcoming!) ticket on – its almost as if I planned it somehow.

So there we go, something else we’re giving you.

That’s it, its all over, nothing more to see here.

….

Honest.

*I have been asked if the current nonsense over in the US – you know what I’m talking about – will affect the giveaway of the comics. The answer is absolutely not.

Sonic fans get your driving gloves on for it is time to take the pedal to the metal for Summer of Sonic’s Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing Tournament. That’s right, we at Summer of Sonic will be giving you the chance to compete for the honour and privilege of being the S&SASR World Champion – a nice little trophy to add to your Sonic collection and we may just have some other prizes in-store too so keep an eye out for a future announcement.

That’s all fine and dandy Shadzter but what format will the tournament be held in and just what version will you be using? Glad you asked! The tournament will be played on Xbox 360 pods kindly donated by Microsoft who are part-sponsoring the games section of Summer of Sonic. The qualifiers will be held in Time Trial mode where you will be challenged to earn the best time possible in a track we’ll be choosing at the event, the players with the best times (number of players to be determined) will be going through to the knockout finals later in the day where they will race for victory.

So if you’re up for some racing action then come and join me and the games staff at SoS’s Games Zone, we look forward to seeing you!

This year’s Summer of Sonic is already proving to be an interesting challenge for everyone – bigger and better is…better but has some growing pains along for the ride. In awesome news we’re already aware that an even bigger foreign quota of fans will be descending on London this year than ever before.  I know people are also asking about tickets – all I can say there is that we’re just waiting on some T&Cs and then we’ll be ready to rock and roll. We’ve also got a fair few things that will excite you tremendously and wonder just how on earth we’ve been able to do all this – the Archie announcement was just the tip of the iceberg.

Eat your greens or they'll sink the Titanic...

Possibly an iceberg lettuce, not quite sure at this point.

The thing that has surprised me the most though is we’ve actually started getting job applications for Summer of Sonic. It turns out there’s a fair few of you who’d like to work the event, either for work experience or just for the honour of being involved in it – which says a lot about how people view the event.

Now I’ve had CV’s and all sorts of requests sent to me and I’ve not had a chance to reply as yet. We at SOS are deeply touched by these requests however we must decline, as we’ve already got a large team who’ll be more than capable of carrying out all the duties alloted to them. They’re doing a lot more this year as everyone’s tired of me half-killing myself (Mrs AAUK especially) and there will be specific teams carrying out tasks as has already been talked about on the staff page.

In fact the sheer size of the event means that the community guys might even be contracted for the day, something we’re still confirming.

So thanks to all of you for your interest, but we’d rather you enjoyed the event yourselves – it should be quite something.

Hi everyone, I thought it was about time I myself actually added something on here about Summer of Sonic.  Its also been a little while since we’ve had an update on the Summer of Sonic website so listen up – this is a good one.

You’d be surprised at the generosity of people connected with Summer of Sonic, the staff who I cannot say enough good things about give up not only their own time but in many instances their own money in order to help. The guests give up their time freely often preparing special items for the show and already this year SEGA Europe actually conjured us up some extra budget from somewhere - God alone knows where –  in order to make things easier for everyone so we didn’t have to do the charge and incur the vast legal framework that comes with it. That frankly says a lot.

Now we’ve always wanted the Sonic licensees to get involved with Summer of Sonic, up until now that’s not really been possible. But now I’m pleased to announce our first tie-in with a licensee for Summer of Sonic 2010.

A couple of months back I first made enquiries with Archie Comics (Sonic The Hedgehog, Sonic Universe) about a possible involvement – and we’re delighted to announce that the wonderful folks there were as keen to get involved in this year’s Summer of Sonic shenanigans as we were with them! Although none of the team can make it over in person this year, they’re very up for having a presence at the event and we’re very excited to have them – did we make that clear yet?

In an incredibly kind gesture that comes from the very top all the way down, the Archie team have given us several boxes of various Free Comic Book Day Sonic comics, so everybody who comes to Summer of Sonic – whilst stocks last – will get a copy of either the 2008 or 2010 Free Comic Book Day issue of Sonic The Hedgehog.  You know, the ones that are next to impossible to get hold of in Europe on the actual day! It will be random which one you get, but you can always swap amongst other fans.

We’ll be calling on you at SOS for a little something in way of a thank you to Archie incidentally, more on that on the day itself.

We’re also pleased to announce the return of the popular Comics table where you’ll be able to browse through an array of Sonic The Hedgehog comics from various eras, Flyboy Fox will be back (both bagged and boarded) to monitor that and will also be your point of contact for another Archie related SOS announcement round the corner! What could it be? Stay tuned to the SOS website to find out!