Sega has officially announced Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed which will be coming to the Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. Some of the characters announced for the game include Dr. Eggman and AiAi from the Super Monkey Ball games, Gilius Thunderhead from Golden Axe and Vyse from Skies of Arcadia. The “transformed” part of the title refers to the fact that the characters Karts can change into cars, planes and boats depending on the racing surface. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is coming sometime later in 2012.

Steve Lycett, better known as S0L from Sumo Digital has Tweeted that we should expect a surprise announcement sometime later today. Sumo Digital is the development studio behind Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing 2, which was confirmed by Sega at this years Toy Fair in New York. Hopefully we should either get a trailer or release date confirmation.

Tip: Roger B

Update: Just been confirmed as Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed

Sega is apparently busy rebooting the Sonic franchise after it was revealed earlier last week that the company has suffered huge financial losses. The rumour stems from TSSZ who state that the much-loved franchise could end up taking the Skylanders route with collectible figures providing a new form of interactive entertainment. Here’s what they have to say on the matter:

• Sonic Team and Sega are looking to better monetize Sonic
• Potentially “massive” and “total” reboot
• Sega and Sonic Team are “committed” to the reboo
• Speed, platforming, and surreal environments will remain
• Sonic and Dr. Eggman’s rivalry will continue
• Both characters may undergo a makeover
• Everything else is up in the air and may see radical changes, including Tails
• May birth a new universe and characters
• New gameplay methods and gimmicks
• Zones would be massively expanded and become their own world
• Zones feature individual levels masked as missions
• Idea likened to Burnout Paradise
• Includes a brand-new engine
• Photo-realism is of no concern
• May aggressively pursue a collection model as part of the reboot
• Targeting the young audience that enjoys physical collectibles
• May require physical emblems and collectibles to unlock special features
• SEGA inspired by Skylanders’ success
• Physical toys and collectibles may have an interactive component with a new cartoon series
• May offer classic characters in-game as DLC

Hirokazu Yasuhara, a games industry veteran and one of the game directors for the early Sonic titles has joined Nintendo. Nintendo and Yasuhara have both confirmed the move, but neither will reveal what his new position is within the Kyoto based company. Yasuhara has told press that he will be working at Nintendo of America in Redmond, Washington.

Yesterday I reported that Sega has decided to cancel a number of its projects and will instead focus on existing IP’s after the company posted an extraordinary loss of 7.1 billion yen. Sega has now issued a press statement regarding the critical situation which can be read below:

Due to the challenging economic climate and significant changes within the interactive gaming industry, SEGA has made the decision to consolidate its publishing business in order to focus on developing digital content and driving its existing IP such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Total War, Football Manager and the Aliens franchise. This realignment of the business around existing and digital IP is a necessity to ensure that SEGA continues to invest and enhance its digital business offering, whilst reducing its reliance on traditional packaged goods.
As a result of the SEGA Sammy Board decision to consolidate the business, many of our internal functions will be re-structured and this could result in a number of redundancies within the publishing business across the Western organisation. The company will be entering into a re-structure phase to reflect the unprecedented change in our industry and to move the company forward appropriately.
The changes will position SEGA as a content led organisation, maximising sales with a strong and balanced IP portfolio across both packaged and digital distribution. The management team are confident that the proposed restructure will benefit the company and make it fit for purpose within the changing nature of the industry over the coming years.

Sega Japan has announced that it plans to reorganise its Western operations due to the financial losses the company has acquired. Sega plans to cancel some of its games that are currently in development and concentrate their efforts of popular existing IP’s such as the Sonic series along with Football Manager, Aliens and others.

Last week I reported that Sega were planning to pull its range of Sonic games from the Wii Virtual Console in Japan. Thankfully Sega has clarified that this will only affect users in Japan, and not Wii owners in Europe or North America. Sega refused to reveal why it was taking Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic & Knuckles, plus Sonic the Hedgehog on the Master System off the Wii Virtual Console.

Japanese publication Inside Games is reporting that several Sonic titles are being pulled from the Japanese Wii Virtual Console. The games that are being withdrawn from the service include Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic & Knuckles as well as the Master System version of Sonic the Hedgehog. All these games will be removed from the Japanese Virtual Console this month. Clearly this is rather worrying.

Sega developer Takashi Iizuka has told Eurogamer that he believes Sonic “is the right fit” for Nintendo’s forthcoming Wii U console. While lizuka wouldn’t be drawn into revealing any details about what Sega has in store for Wii U, he did reveal that he’d like to return to the 3D Sonic style for the next generation consoles.

“But I’m also interested in the challenge of doing something completely new with the 3D Sonic’s forward view platform action, and bring something new to the table with that as well.”

“I don’t think Sonic will ever become photo-real. I think Sonic will always remain stylised and will have that bright, colourful world. What the high hardware spec will allow us to do is make that more convincing.”

“I feel Sonic is the right fit because it is that kind of family experience game. I do feel Wii U is applicable to Sonic. But how we will apply using the controller to Sonic is something we’re still thinking about at the moment.”

Sonic producer Takashi Lizuka has told online gaming publication Spong that the previously rumoured Wii U exclusive Sonic Dimensions isn’t real. Lizuka simply said that the game is a complete hoax, and that it isn’t something that the Sonic Team is working on.

Can you say whether the rumour of a game called Sonic Dimensions on the Wii U is true or false?

Sonic Dimensions? [Laughs] I think it’s a complete hoax. [Laughs]