As well as receiving your bag of goodies at the door, there will also be a while load range of merchandise available for purchase at the Summer of Sonic; enough to appease the appetite of even the most avid merch-hog out there!

Feast your eyes on one of the very first Official Crush 40 T-Shirts, that will be for sale during the event (including this EXCLUSIVE Summer of Sonic design!) As well as a selection of T-Shirts available, there will also be other Crush 40 goods available including badges and guitar picks. All items will be available for purchase at the Crush 40 store during the event!

Not only that, there will be a whole host of other Sonic the hedgehog related merchandise including plush toys and comics up for grabs – stocks will be strictly limited though, so if you want to snag yourself some bits and pieces, better do it early on the day!

Youd better bring your pennies with you!

EDIT: There will also be a selection of CDs available at the shop on the day too!

Because we all know that your day at the Summer of Sonic Convention will be exhausting enough, what with having to pack in an All-Stars Racing Tournament, a stage program including a performance from Crush 40 and a plethora of not-yet-released titles amongst other activities, you’ll probably want to take some time to just chill out.

So, we invite you to come and spend some time with us after lunch for a bit of “Afternoon Tea†with one of our most esteemed guests, Jun Senoue, who will be treating Summer of Sonic attendees to a session of instrumental songs from the Sonic the Hedgehog series, old and new.

So if you really can’t wait for the Crush 40 performance in the evening, then fear not; this should tide you over until then! Check back for even more news on events at Summer of Sonic soon!

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.

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!

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!

For those of you who will be travelling great distances to come to this year’s Summer of Sonic convention, you’ll need to find yourself accommodation; not an easy task in London, especially if you’re travelling on a budget! But have no fear! We are here to help you with some good ideas and some great places to stay for SoS!

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