A lot has happened and been confirmed for the Summer of Sonic convention since it’s initial announcement. To help you guys keep up to date and informed, ArchAngelUK (co-organiser of the Summer of Sonic with Svend Joscelyne) and Urtheart (Doorman and SoS Security chap) have taken some time out to create an audio show for attendees to listen to.

We recommend all attendees listen to this podcast, as it provides some information and details that you may have to keep in mind while arriving at the event. You can download the MP3 here.

We are proud to announce our third and fourth Special Guests to the Summer of Sonic convention - to some they may need no introduction. Richard Jacques, famed composer and the man behind many Sonic the Hedgehog and SEGA soundtracks, will be in attendance to meet and greet fellow fans. Singer TJ Davis, known best by fans for her wonderful performances in Sonic R, will also be at the event.

This announcement comes with a little bonus; Richard will be doing a very special performance in the afternoon, with a little help from some friends. TJ will be involved in singing some Sonic R classics, while Lee Brotherton will be performing an exclusive rendition of Dreams of an Absolution. There will be a few surprises in store too.

Along with Lee Brotherton and Nigel Kitching, Richard and TJ will also be included in the Q&A session taking place on the main stage after the performance. Again, if you have any questions but can’t attend the convention, drop your Q’s in the comments area and we’ll try and get them answered for you!

We thank everyone who has shown interest in attending the Summer of Sonic convention. It has truly ballooned into a large-scale event that we can all be proud of. It’s gotten so big, that although the Dragon Hall can only hold 200 people at the maximum, since this site’s launch we have had registrations that are almost double that.

To cater for an over-capacity hall will be a tremendous task, so to ensure we don’t have even more people to worry about potentially missing out, we have closed the “I’m There!” registration page. We apologise if you have just come across this website and have an interest in attending - this isn’t possible now. The Summer of Sonic website will update throughout the day with videos and photos of the day’s events, so even if you can’t attend you won’t be left out!

For those who have put their name down, there’s still a complication - as we have said before, because we have more people wanting to attend than we can fit in the hall, there is a possibility that you will have to wait outside the hall for a period of time before you are allowed inside. We are to decide on how best to work around this problem, and will keep this website updated on solutions that will make such an incident easier for those who may have to wait. This may include timing those who intend to stay all day so that everyone who wants to experience the hall can get a chance.

When something’s been confirmed and decided, we will let you know. Apologies for any future inconvenience this predicament might cause - we can certainly say that the first Sonic the Hedgehog convention is really one to keep an eye on.

This week’s special guest announcements bring a comic book flavour to them today, as we reveal that one of the most inspiring Sonic the Hedgehog story writers will be attending the Summer of Sonic convention. Nigel Kitching is a comic book writer, and is famous in the Sonic community for penning several major story arcs in Egmont Fleetway’s Sonic the Comic. His work with artist Richard Elson is perhaps the most memorable with young Sonic Boomers during the 1990s, but was also responsible for a large portion of Tails and Knuckles stories, along with dreaming up the zaniest plots from Mega Drive classic DeCap Attack.

Nigel will be at the event for most of the day, so feel free to run up to him and have a chat. He will be available to formally sign items for attendees for a given time in the afternoon, and will also be present at the Q&A with Lee Brotherton and our other special guests to answer any questions you may have - be it STC, his career or anything else.

In other news, another Sonic the Comic veteran, Nigel Dobbyn, is providing some original prints from the comic for display by the Comics Table. Unfortunately Dobbyn cannot make the Summer of Sonic too, but wishes everyone attending an awesome time! We should have some signed items by Dobbyn as well to give away, so stay tuned.

This event seems to be getting more and more exciting huh guys? If you have a question you want us to put to Nigel Kitching for the Q&A (this will pretty much guarantee your question being asked) feel free to post in the Comments section of this post. Have a good weekend!

To celebrate the fact we’ve got Sonic Chronicles available for people to play, what better way to provide information and give random facts to attendees than info cards in the style of a Chronicles conversation! Created by Sonic Wrecks to provide a bit of a fun spin on things, you will be seeing these cards all over the place, most likely in the Merchandise Cabinet we’ll have on display by the back wall.

Click the image to the right to see it in full size - Sonic Wrecks made a special example card for this announcement, which help reveal Sonic Chronicles’ presence at the convention and also shows Rouge’s sneaky bat-girl ways.

What do you think of it? Like the style? Let us know in the Comments panel.

That’s right, at the Summer of Sonic convention you will be among the first people in the world to play Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood on Nintendo DS, before its release in September. We’re quite excited about this, because Sonic Chronicles marks the first time the blue blur has been seen in an RPG format. Developed by the geniuses at BioWare, speed and platforming take a back seat to an engaging storyline and exciting battle moves.

You can read the first impressions of the game at The Sonic Stadium - those guys seemed to love the fact that it was a new respectable take on the series, and you will be one of the first to see for yourselves how to take on Shade and what the mysterious ‘Marauders’ are all about.

The Sonic Chronicles pod will be towards the back of the hall, near the Games Zone and the Art Corner. There will only be one pod, so gameplay time will be limited for each person, just to ensure everyone get to have a go. Feel free to bring your own Nintendo DS and PSPs along on the day too, so you can play wireless battles with new friends in the hall!

Today we’re announcing one of the special guests that will be making an appearance at the Summer of Sonic convention. Our first guest is none other than Lee Brotherton - also known as Bentley Jones.

• One Hand High
  Debut Album, TBC 2008
• Open Your Heart (Crush 40 vs Bentley Jones Remix)
  True Blue - The Best of Sonic the Hedgehog, 2008
• Dreams of an Absolution (LB vs JS Remix)
  SEVERAL WILLS Vocal Trax, 2007
• Sonic Rivals
  PlayStation Portable, 2006
• Dreams of an Absolution
  Sonic The Hedgehog, Xbox 360/PlayStation 3, 2006
• GUN: Heavy Dog; E.G.G.M.A.N. (Doc. Robeatnix Mix)
  Shadow the Hedgehog, PS2/Xbox/GCN, 2005

Silver the Hedgehog’s theme from Sonic The Hedgehog (2006) has been hailed by fans as the greatest track in the game, and Lee is no stranger to throwing his musical talent to the Sonic series. He has previously worked on Shadow the Hedgehog (providing remixes to “E.G.G.M.A.N.” and “GUN Mobile”) and before jumping into that was well-known for his Overclocked Remixes of Sonic tracks, under the nickname ‘LeeBro’.

Ask LB a Question

LB will be at the Summer of Sonic to meet fellow Sonic fans, and is also taking part in a Q&A session on the main stage during the afternoon with other special guests. Feel free to use the Comments Box to ask any burning questions you’d like answered in front of the convention audience. We will pick the best of the bunch and throw those in with our own set of questions.

Not every question can be asked on stage obviously, but if your query is that important LB will be enjoying the show for the whole day so don’t hesitate to have a chat!

You might have noticed we changed our look a little bit today. The header has some awesome artwork included alongside the logo. Who are the guys responsible for both of the new artistic arrivals? They are the works of Joanne ‘Jemnezmy’ Wheatley and Elson ‘Darkspeeds’ Wong, two awesome artists who lent a hand to the Summer of Sonic artistic process.

First, the logo - Joanne created the concept of the SoS Logo, in finding that the original Sonic Team head could be manipulated to include sunrays around the side of Sonic’s face. The spines on Sonic’s head would be treated like the sunrays around the back of Sonic, thus creating a sun figure from the Sonic Team logo. Smart, huh? Elson then took this concept then drew and coloured the final product, which is what you see in the header next to the Summer of Sonic text today.

As for the official montage of characters, Elson was approached by us to create some original artwork to help promote the Summer of Sonic event. He then got to work imagining a high-profile, sharp-suited party with Sonic and Tails wearing suits and tuxedos. Following this tongue-in-cheek premise, Elson then created a huge poster including as many Sonic heroes as possible in their best dresses. Not content with Sonic and co, Elson also created a ‘Dark Side’ to this ‘Blue Side’ which shows Dr. Eggman, Shadow, Scratch and Grounder in Chicago style outfits.

Elson Wong is a professional comic artist, currently promoting his original project The Grand Ashworth Fortune, and will be attending the Summer of Sonic event from Australia. He has a large affection for the Sonic community, particularly the creative side - being known previously for being a fan artist, he still finds time to do some drawings in his spare time. An interview with him will be posted during SEGASonic Radio’s The Sonic Hour podcast.

Joanne Wheatley is an aspiring manga artist who is gaining reputation in the community for her incredible character pieces. She was recently a runner-up in the MCM Expo’s Manga Competition and is entering the Rising Stars of Manga 2008 competition. A lot of her past work is on DeviantArt but she is currently working on new material to publish. Joanne is also working on other aspects of the Summer of Sonic event, including help with the floorplan, and providing birthday cakes for the day.

The Summer of Sonic has been mentioned on various gaming blogs and even large websites such as Eurogamer and Computer and Video Games. This is great news! But the ambiguity of some things at the event - along with some things reported that SEGA were actually behind the Summer of Sonic project - led us to set the record straight with a few things at the official SEGA Europe Blognik. SEGA Europe are supporting the Summer of Sonic, and as such have published a Q&A on their community blog.

Click here to read the Q&A, which helps those who haven’t yet found this website with some vital information. As AAUK mentions, a podcast may well be coming soon that will reveal and confirm some more details. To clarify though, the Summer of Sonic is an entirely fan-created event. SEGA Europe are helping with some funding and support when the organisers approached them about the convention idea.

Also; we are aware that SoS is also an acronym for ‘Save our Sonic’. That wasn’t unintentional. You win a Sherlock Holmes award.

With just over a month to go until the big day, we thought we would begin writing regular updates to the Summer of Sonic website. This is to give you an idea of exactly what to expect, as well as get you excited about things we have previously kept secret. We will be revealing a lot of stuff that we have kept schtum until now, as well as showcasing stuff people have made for the event.

The organisers have pretty much finalised everything that will happen in the hall, but if you want to be a part of the Summer of Sonic, you can also create something and have it published on this very website! This can be handy if you can’t attend and want to be at the party in spirit!

Stay tuned for our first updates later today!