Genesis and Chill

There's been a strong surge in viewership lately... leaving me feeling a little guilty as I haven't posted here in over a week. So let's take care of that, shall we? I'll give you guys a reason to come back, whoever you happen to be.

So, we're seeing a lot of news from Sega over the last few days. The biggie is that there are two new Sonic games coming, which wouldn't be all that exciting if it weren't for the fact that the first is a throwback to the blue hedgehog's 16-bit days, designed by Christian Whitehead and Stealth. The former was responsible for porting Sonic CD to, well, practically every modern format imaginable, and the latter took it upon himself to make a proper port of Sonic the Hedgehog for the Game Boy Advance after Sega phoned in theirs. 

This new, yet somehow old Sonic game is called Sonic Mania, and it will be released early next year. There's also a 3D Sonic game planned for 2017, but... well... we all know how those go. Here's some footage of the game you really want, courtesy of Engadget:

Slightly less exciting is the current deal on Bundle Stars, which lets you add a fistful of Sega Genesis games to your Steam account for five dollars. I already had a few dozen of these games from past Humble Bundles, but this helps fill the gaps in my collection. Better yet, Steam Workshop lets you play "chill" versions of these games with infinite lives and energy, making nutbusters like Comix Zone and Alien Soldier slightly less impossible. You can also play games like Mega Turrican and Cool Spot that were never meant for distribution on Steam, but that's just between you and me, okay?

Last, and... er, last is the news that Sega will release another one of those heinous Sega Genesis clones to compete with Nintendo's upcoming NES Classic Mini. It will once again be manufactured by AtGames, and it once again won't be worth a damn due to off-key sound and a lack of save states. Thanks to US Gamer's Jeremy Parish for the warning... er, scoop.