hedgehog
Latest
Apple adds wizard, dinosaur and mermaid emoji in iOS 11.1
Hundreds more emoji are coming to your iPhone soon. Apple says it's adding "more emotive smiley faces" as well as gender-neutral icons, more food and (importantly) mythical creatures -- in time for Halloween, we hope. The series is coming to iPhone and iPad with iOS 11.1, which will launch next week, early, for developers and public beta testers. If the emoji additions sound familiar, that's because Apple had teased these back in July. It appears the company is going beyond the 56 Unicode consortium-approved emoji, but that's likely explained by skin color and hair variants -- we haven't glimpsed the entire set yet. But now that there's a gyoza emoji, all is well. Of course, for those waiting around for those animated emoji, you've still got some time on your hands: the iPhone X isn't out until November.
NASA's bouncing 'Hedgehog' robot is designed to explore comets
The last time humanity tried to explore a comet, things didn't go so well -- the ESA comet lander Philae bounced during touchdown and wound up under a cliff, unable to right itself. Eventually its batteries ran down we lost contact. A sad way to end the mission, but we can't say that we didn't learn anything: NASA engineers are now working on a low-gravity unmanned exploration vehicle designed to bounce, tumble and roll around asteroids and comets. It's called the Hedgehog.
Sonic eats poop because it's scientifically accurate
Now we know. [Images: Fox ADHD]
Sega attempts to save real hedgehogs in Sonic Colors promo
After proving its ability to keep its own spiny mascot alive with the well-received Sonic Colors, Sega has turned its efforts to preserving the non-flatness of real-life hedgehogs in the suburb of Twickenham, London. The publisher recently designated a temporary "hedgehog road crossing" in the town, allowing a handful of the woodland creatures to scamper about without fear of being struck by one of the region's tiny, steering-wheel-on-the-wrong-sided vehicles. Yes, it was very much a publicity stunt, but Sega representative Anna Downing told Eurogamer that she hopes it will "raise awareness" of the 50,000 hedgehogs who die every year while trying to cross British roads. That's a pretty good cause, we guess -- but you know what would raise even more driver awareness of hedgehogs? If you painted them all bright blue. Food for thought.
Hurry Up and watch this trailer!
Finally! A game about a cartoon hedgehog who runs fast! We've had that idea for years, and while we're a little upset that someone got to it before we did, we're just glad to see it happen. "Probably the cutest hedgehogs to be seen on the Nintendo DS" will be out on the 28th, according to the press release (which sounds kind of like it was written by Napoleon Dynamite).Yes, we know that Hurry Up Hedgehog! is based on the popular (?) board game Igel Ärgern. But putting it in the same medium as Sonic the Hedgehog still hits close to home. Just like European board game enthusiasts would laugh if a Sonic the Hedgehog board game were to come out -- which has probably already happened.%Gallery-16977%
The other lost Sonic game
We talk a lot about stuff we would like to see on the Virtual Console, but here's the stuff that would really make the service noteworthy: unreleased games. Recently, a NeoGAFfer named FortNinety posted some footage of a previously unknown Sonic game on YouTube, and it is weird. Weirder than the other known unreleased Sonic game, Sonic X-treme on the Saturn.The game, developed by the US-based Sega Technical Institute, uses the art style and characters from the Jaleel White-tastic Saturday morning cartoon. It features a Final Fight-style perspective, Metal Gear-style sneaking, and a very uncharacteristic ring-throwing attack. Does it look good? Not really. But unreleased and unfinished games are super interesting, and we'd love a chance to play even an unfinished version of this.
Rumor: Another stash of Wiis coming to Toys R Us
... and another Matthew Lesko picture to summarize our feelings. Tipster HexiJosh was spot on about the last TRU Wii hoard, so we have no reason to disbelieve him now when he tells us that Sunday, March 18 is the day to queue up. Still, we're marking this as a rumor just to be safe.He says that Toys R Us stores are getting even larger shipments this time than last time-- his store is getting a minimum of 12 systems-- and that TRU is planning to sell them bundled with Sonic and the Secret Rings. We hope these bundles don't cost full price-- bundling is only fun when there's a discount involved, and even then it's kind of annoying.But complaining about bundles misses the point, which is HEY THERE ARE PROBABLY GOING TO BE SOME WIIS FOR SALE. Plan your next weekend accordingly![Thanks, HexiJosh!]
Sonic and the Spoiled Ending
Well, that didn't take long. Two days after the US release date of Sonic and the Secret Rings, a Sonic fan has made it to the end of the rails and posted a video of the ending on YouTube. We're sure it totally makes sense in context, but we have yet to jump into Sega's latest mascot platformer.Great news for people who only play Sonic games for the stories: we just saved you $50. It's about time Sonic fans had some good news, right? Of course, this is terrible for weaker-willed fans trying to avoid the rushing tide of SPOILARRRS.We dare you to watch the video after the break.[Via Insert Credit]
Joystiq at Sonic's 15th birthday party
The blue dude with an attitude turned fifteen years old yesterday and he celebrated at NYC's DigitalLife show. Fans and confused onlookers watched as Sonic was presented a ridiculously large birthday cake by psuedo-celebrity Lacey Chabert. Hungry attendees of the show (myself included) scarfed down the cake, and laughed at the man inside the Sonic suit, knowing it was impossible for him to blow out the candles on his cake, let alone eat it. Sonic, the cake was delicious.When questioned about how it felt to be 15, Sonic responded, "It's strange. I'm growing hair in places I've never had hair before." He then sped away and, like in his upcoming Xbox 360 game, my camera was unable to follow him. Read on to see more pictures, and video from the celebration.
Sonic in the next Smash Bros. game?
According to the September issue of Tips & Tricks, one Shigeru Miyamoto and Masahiro Sakurai have gone on record stating that they would both like to see other third-parties step up and ask to include their characters in the Smash Bros. experience. In citing that Kojima asked to have Snake involved in Super Smash Bros. Melee, the magazine says that the request was made too close to deadline, so they were unable to include him. Shiggy and Sakurai have said that they are close to including one other outside character, and commented that the most requested character is none other than Sega's mascot, and Mario's old rival, Sonic the Hedgehog.Now, we've all heard about the April Fool's joke about Sonic being unlockable in SSBM, but with strong support of the new console from Sega with some launch title, one of which being an all-new Sonic adventure, we're inclined to say that this is likely to happen. Is the character they're in talks to include none other than the speedy, ring-obsessed Sonic?[Via QJ; Thanks vidGuy!]
Wii Virtual Console demonstration
For those of you unlucky enough to attend E3 and see it for yourself, a video of the Virtual Console navigation menu and gameplay from Sonic the Hedgehog have made its way onto the net. Also, behold the tiny size of the Virtual Console's gamepad.
