Originally Posted by IGN

Australia, September 9, 2009 - On the cusp of the 10th anniversary of the ill-fated Dreamcast console, SEGA has just teased a brand new Sonic game. According to the original interview, the game is set to return to the 2D roots of the series - revamped with HD graphics.

'Project Needlemouse', as the game is currently dubbed, is set to debut in 2010 on unspecified consoles.

Sega associate brand manager, Ken Balough, also added "Many liked the daytime stages in Unleashed, but wanted to see a game that plays purely similar to the early games of the Genesis. Project Needlemouse is that critical first step that brings Sonic back to his 2D roots."

According to the teaser trailer, however, "Speed returns in an all new 2D adventure built from the ground up", so expect something akin to the 2D portions of Sonic Unleashed, if Balough's comments are indicative. A werehog has not been sighted as yet and IGN remains cautiously optimistic that it will not appear.

UPDATE: A teaser site has appeared, displaying first glimpses of traditional Sonic platforms from Green Hill Zone.

Originally Posted by TSSZ

Misleading Dot-Com had Avant-Garde Green Hill Imagery

Several people had written in to our News Tips system telling us of the existence of Needlemouse.com.

The website contained some pretty trippy photos of what appeared to be from a Green Hill Zone like environment. The renders were trippy enough to convince a large portion of the Sonic community that they were a part of the next Sonic, announced yesterday as Project Needlemouse.

TSSZ News has since confirmed first with a representative from Sega of America that Needlemouse.com has no relation whatsoever to the upcoming Sonic project. Several outlets, including a few major ones, have pointed to the cryptic dot-com as a teaser.

“That site is not connected to our Project Needlemouse,” Kellie Parker of the Sega of America community blog told TSSZ News, responding to our request for comment.

Some in Sonic fandom were hot on the trail before the confirmation came down. A search of the WHOIS entry for Needlemouse.com revealed somewhat convenient timing–the domain was registered on August 21st–but its registrar was not Sega, but rather Dreamhost.com.

So, who placed the artwork online? Some detective work by other fans have indicate a trace to Jono M. Forbes, an Albany, New York based 3D graphic designer. Inquiries are in to him as to his role in all of this. Hope can still be had that Mr. Forbes contributed concept art in some form to Project Needlemouse, but at this point, that appears remote. It’s unclear whether action will be taken by Sega on this matter, either on Mr. Forbes or on someone else. We’ll update you on that component as details become available.

In the end, we are back where we started with Project Needlemouse–with not much, outside of a trailer. TSSZ News will bring you the latest on the project as new details become available. We also appreciate all the readers who wrote in with the web address, which prompted this query.

Originally Posted by Outsider (Post 2713409)

Originally Posted by SEGA

Hey there SEGA fans!

Today is the day you’ve been waiting for. In the months since we announced a special little game code named Project Needlemouse, you guys have bombarded us with great interest and questions about what the game might be, who that figure in the silhouette really is, and when we were going to start releasing more info about the game.

Well, read closely and rejoice – because today, we’re finally ready to start talking to you guys more about what Project Needlemouse is all about!

This week, we’re going to reveal a full list of playable characters in Project Needlemouse - if you guys can live up to our oldschool Sonic challenge, that is! Here’s how it works:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2695/...c7ba867eea.jpg

1: The Details: Each name on the picture above is a potential playable character in Project Needlemouse. However, not all of them are going to make the cut – and each day this week until Friday, we’re going to update this picture with a rejected stamp over those who will not actually be showing up!

2: The Challenge: Answer our trivia questions about oldschool Sonic games! (Genesis era) We’ll post trivia questions each day on a specific part of our SEGA/Sonic sites, and you all have to work together to figure out the right answers and post them there! Each day we’ll challenge you guys to get a certain number of people to post the correct answers – and if you meet that challenge, we’ll remove more names from the picture in a new blog the following day!

*About Bonus Points: If you go above and beyond the expected results, the community will earn a bonus point for that day. Earn at least three bonus points and we’ll give you all something special this Friday!

3: The Schedule:
•Monday: SEGA Blogs
•Tuesday: SEGA/Sonic Facebook
•Wednesday: Official Sonic Forum
•Thursday: SEGA Twitter

Originally Posted by SEGA

Happy Friday everyone!

The big day is finally here. After a week of blog comments, facebook posts, forum threads, and twitter updates, we have arrived at the end of the Needlemouse Character Countdown – and we think many of you are going to be pleased with the results.

First off, some well deserved kudos to all of you out there in the Sonic community! Together, you broke the records for most/fastest comments on any SEGA Blog entry, ever. On Tuesday, you did the same for Facebook statuses. On Wednesday, you guys set a new record for the most amount of users ever logged into our forums. And yesterday, on Twitter, all of us – with some help from Segata Sanshiro – created the biggest push to get SEGA on the trending topics list in history.

What you all have accomplished in these last five days is something you should be proud of. It speaks to the passion that drives many of us who still have so much hope for Sonic, and for the games he stars in.

Today, we are about to break the trend that has continued on for many years. To the thousands of you out there asking for a game where Sonic is the only playable character – rejoice. As of today, your wish has been granted

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4052/...5c435ef1_o.jpg

In Project Needlemouse, there will be no new characters – playable or otherwise. The focus will remain solely on one blue hedgehog. If you’re now the most overjoyed person in the world, or even if you’re still curious about more, let us know in the comments below!

In addition, we’re pleased to also present the first piece of Project Needlemouse Concept Art as a bonus – a special thank you to everyone who took the goals we’d set and then raised the bar even higher!

This art reveals an enemy from the game – but at the same time, it also reveals much more about the spirit, and direction, that Project Needlemouse is taking. For all of you older fans who were stoked by the news above, this should be the icing on the cake. Take a look, and click to see the full-sized image.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2713/...82bfe71a84.jpg

There’s much more in store for Project Needlemouse – including lots more info on the game that is soon to come!

And so, after five days of awesome interaction and thousands upon thousands of correct trivia responses, you all can now take a well deserved break – even if your anticipation levels for this game may have just increased tenfold! We hope you guys are as excited for this game as we are.

From all of us here at SEGA – well done!

Originally Posted by TSSZ

UPDATE: Though we have not yet received any cease and desist orders from Sega itself, we have been asked by the original source to remove our story–as they now have–and that request is being considered. At the same time, TSSZ News has learned of information that would confirm some, if not all of the below information–information we are trying to independently verify, and for that reason cannot yet disclose. Be assured we aren’t sitting by idly–we are working hard to bring you the latest details.

Our original story follows below.

Let’s get right to it: The Dutch website SegaOnline is citing an anonymous source that is claiming to know a lot more about Project Needlemouse than anyone right now. We’d like to share that information with you.

Their report states that Needlemouse will be called Sonic 4. That had been referred to as an internal name by 1UP.com yesterday.

SegaOnline’s source claims that the game will only be for XBOX Live and the Playstation Network. That is something that has been hinted at previously by Sega employees. It looks increasingly likely that Wii users will be shutout of the next proper Sonic.

But here’s something no one saw coming–the game will be the first in a series.

Their source claims a name of Sonic 4: Episode 1. While that indicates piecemeal content, the downloads will be a full game, according to the information SegaOnline sent into us via News Tips:

Yes, those are zone names. Splash Hill Zone and E.G.G. Station Zone appear to be in, according to the source. We don’t know how many other zones are to be expected, but 7 with some special stages in the mix may be a good bet right now.

Their information claims the classic structure of acts and zones will be returning, but it’s not clear whether that means a 3 act or 2 act structure.

They, like us, are treating the information as rumor because of the nature of the source, and Sega has yet to comment on the report. However, in recent days, SegaOnline has been a very reliable source on Sonic information; they were first in the world to reveal Sonic Adventure’s re-release to XBOX Live before it was C&Ded, and proper screenshots were released. That’s why we’re taking the information seriously, and that’s why you should too.

We will wait for word from Sega on this story, a developing story. TSSZ News will follow up with anything more that we hear. We give great thanks to SegaOnline for tipping us off via our News Tips system.

Originally Posted by Hasney (Post 2898059)

Originally Posted by SEGA

The Challenge: Submit over 100 (total) pieces of Concept Art of your favorite oldschool Badniks to SEGA! Show us which enemies you want to see in Project Needlemouse!


The Reward: If the challenge is met, next week we’ll reveal:

•Project Needlemouse’s Actual Name
•Concept Art from the first Zone
•A very cool extra bonus…

What to use: Alright! Now that we have your attention, on to the specifics. You can create the concept art in Photoshop, on paper, in Microsoft Paint, via crayon, or using pretty much any worthwhile medium that gets the point across. (Create it from something notably awesome – like, say, Oreos – and you will get a bonus spotlight!) The limit is one piece of concept art per person.

Submitting your concept art: Next, send it our way! You’ve got a few options here, so just pick the one that’s easiest for you.

1. Post it here in a comment! Host it on an external site like Photobucket.com, and then comment here on the Blog with a link to your art.

2. E-mail us! If you’re a little shy about showing off your work to the world, you can also send it to us via e-mail: communityteam@sega.com !

3. PM us! If you’ve got a Forum or SEGA Pass account, you can send a private message to RubyEclipse on the SEGA forums with your art. If you already have a forum account, you’re all set!

If you guys can send in a cumulative total of over 100 pieces of concept art by Monday morning at 10:00 AM, you’re in for a very special treat in the days following. This will be our final community challenge for Project Needlemouse - and it will also be one of the last times we refer to the game by its code name. If you thought the first concept art was cool, then trust us – things are about to get a whole lot more interesting. We will also be updating throughout the week and weekend to let you know how close you are!

Originally Posted by SEGA

The fact that you're actually looking in the comments section of this image speaks volumes - and that's a good thing. So here's an extra crumb for you to follow: February is going to be a very good month.

Originally Posted by Xero (Post 2925646)

Looks like Mega Man 9 did what I was hoping, creating a surge of 8- and 16-bit-style games.

I am pumped.