E3 - Electronic Entertainment Exposistion

E3 Expo is the world's premiere trade show for computer and video games and related products. The show is owned by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the U.S. association dedicated to serving the business and public affairs needs of the companies, publishing interactive games for video game consoles, handheld devices, personal computers, and the Internet.

In 2011, leading computer and video game companies, business partners, media and industry analysts from over 80 countries will converge on the Los Angeles Convention Center.

E3 Expo 2011 will welcome software developers, buyers and retailers, programmers, distributors, entertainment industry representatives, financiers and venture capitalists, importers and exporters, manufacturers, resellers, researchers, educators, financial and industry analysts and worldwide electronic and print media.

Sonic 10th anniversary game pack

Limited edition Sonic Zippo lighter

Limited Edition Sonic Wine Glass

Gold foil blocked logo on the front of the 10th anniversary game pack for the Sega Dreamcast

contents in the 10th anniversary game pack including limited edition birthday coin, the history of sonic booklet and original Sonic the Hedgehog soundtrack.

10th Anniversary of Sonic birthday pack cover

These items have all been created in celebration of sonic's 10th anniversary. The items range from game packs for the dreamcast (Sega's latest console at the time) all the way up to wine glasses and expensive Zippo lighters.

I was quite surprised at the amount of care and attention to detail the items had placed upon them considering that Sonic is just a fictional game character.

This made me realise just how much Sonic was loved by his fans and how important he was in the gaming industry.

As I am going to be creating products for the 20th anniversary of Sonic, the products must have the same amount of quality and thought put into them. If this project is to be successful then this is a must.

Sega Consoles

The Dreamcast is a video game console which was released by Sega in late 1998 and was the successor to the Sega Saturn. It was the first entry in the sixth generation of video game consoles, releasing before its contemporaries — Sony's PlayStation 2, Microsoft's Xbox and the Nintendo GameCube.
Sega discontinued the Dreamcast in North America in March 2001 and withdrew entirely from the console hardware business, making it the company's final console. However, support of the system continued in Europe and Oceania until the end of 2002, as well as in Japan, where consoles were still sold until 2006 and new licensed games continued to be released. According to Bernie Stolar, former President and CEO of Sega of America, the Dreamcast was discontinued because the new chairman of Sega wanted the company to focus on software.

The Sega Saturn is a 32-bit video game console that was first released on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America, and July 8, 1995 in Europe. The system was discontinued in North America, Europe, and Australia in 1998, and in 2000 in Japan.

While it was popular in Japan, the Saturn failed to gain a similar market share in North America and Europe against Sony's PlayStation and the Nintendo 64, its main competitors.
According to a July 2007 GamePro article, the Saturn sold 9.5 million units worldwide.

The Mega Drive is a fourth-generation video game console released by Sega in Japan in 1988 and Europe, Australia and other PAL regions in 1990. The console was released in North America in 1989 under the name Sega Genesis, as Sega was unable to secure legal rights to the Mega Drive name in that region. The Mega Drive was Sega's third home console and the successor to the Sega Master System, with which it is electronically compatible.

The Game Gear was a portable version of the Master System with a lower resolution screen, but allowed for a larger color palette. In addition, it could also produce stereo sound (through headphones) as opposed to the Master System's monaural output, though very few games made use of the stereo capabilities. Unlike the original Game Boy, in which the screen was positioned above the buttons, the system was held in a landscape position, with the controls at the sides, making it less cramped to hold.

The Master System (abbreviated to SMS) is a third-generation 8-bit cartridge-based video game console that was manufactured and released by Sega in 1986 in North America, seven months after the original NES, and in 1987 in Europe. Its original Japanese incarnation was the Sega Mark III, which was first released in 1985.

Sonic Team

Sonic Team is a Japanese computer and video game developer established in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan in 1990, originally known as Sega AM8. The Japan-based division is also known as G.E. Department Global Entertainment. The studio has collaborated with several in-house Japanese studios as well as other American-based studios such as STI and Visual Concepts. Sonic Team are best known for the Sonic the Hedgehog series.

In 1990, Sega asked one of their departments to create a game with a character that was popular enough to rival Nintendo's Mario. What the group came up with was a speedy platformer with a new, fresh character called Sonic the Hedgehog. In 1991 AM8 took its name from its phenomenally successful Sonic the Hedgehog series and became Sonic Team. Sonic Team was headed by the famed video game designer and producer Yuji Naka. Under his leadership, Sonic Team has become a creative powerhouse in the video game industry.

Sonic the Hedgehog sales - Worldwide

Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic's appearance varies greatly depending on the medium and the style in which he is drawn. In the video games, Sonic's original design by Oshima was short and round, with short quills, a round body, and no visible irises. Artwork featuring this design and drawn by Akira Watanabe was displayed on the package artwork for Sonic the Hedgehog, and most subsequent Sonic video games featured similar designs.

The original concepts gave Sonic fangs put him in a band with a human girlfriend named Madonna. However, a team from Sega of America, led by Madeline Schroeder, who calls herself "Sonic's mother", "softened" the character up for an American audience by removing those elements. This sparked a heated issue with Sonic Team. Naka later admitted that it was probably for the best.

Sonic was created without the ability to swim because of a mistaken assumption by Yuji Naka that all hedgehogs could not do so. A group of fifteen people started working on the first Sonic the Hedgehog game, and renamed themselves Sonic Team. The game's soundtrack was composed by Masato Nakamura of the band Dreams Come True. Sega sponsored the group's "Wonder 3" tour, painting Sonic on the tour bus, distributing pamphlets advertising the game, and having footage of the game broadcast above stage prior to its release.

Eventually, Naoto Ōshima's spiky teal hedgehog, initially codenamed "Mr. Needlemouse,"was chosen as the new mascot. Sonic's blue pigmentation was chosen to match Sega's cobalt blue logo, and his shoes were a concept evolved from a design inspired by Michael Jackson's boots with the addition of the color red, which was inspired by both Santa Claus and the contrast of those colours on Jackson's Bad; his personality was based on Bill Clinton's "Get it done" attitude.

Sega wanted a game capable of competing with Nintendo's Mario and a character to replace Alex Kidd as the company's mascot. Several character designs were submitted by its AM8 research and development department, including an armadillo (who later developed into Mighty the Armadillo), a dog, a Theodore Roosevelt look-alike in pajamas (who would later be the basis of Dr. Robotnik/Eggman's design), and a rabbit (who would use its extendible ears to collect objects, an aspect later incorporated in Ristar).

Sega

Sega Corporation, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software, a hardware development company, and a home computer and console manufacturer, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan. The company had success with both arcades and home consoles, but restructured itself, and left the consumer console business to concentrate on software development for multiple third-party platforms on January 31, 2001.

Sega was founded in 1940 as Standard Games (later Service Games) in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, by Marty Bromely, Irving Bromberg, and James Humpert, to provide coin-operated amusements for American servicemen on military bases. Bromely suggested that the company move to Tokyo, Japan in 1951, and in May 1952 "SErvice GAmes of Japan" was registered.