Bonus Saturday: BBC/Sega Amusement park; Astro City Phone; Sonic facts

Newsfeed 1062-1064 via

The news has been a little weird lately – we get a few days of nothing and then all of the sudden several items all at once.

First bit of interesting news to chew on for the weekend – Sega and the BBC are teaming up to create a theme park based upon BBC Earth content, which I believe includes documentaries like Planet Earth (which is amazing in HD if you haven’t seen it). The first theme park will open in Japan sometime in 2013 and they already have long-term plans to bring the idea to North America at some point. I look forward to seeing what Sega will bring to the table with the park, as they already have years of experience when it comes to furnishing such facilities around the world. Via Amusement Journal

Finally, smartphone and arcade technology is intergrated together (well, sort of) with the Astro City Phone skin by Matt Schulz.  It’s not an item you can fit your phone with yet but I imagine that there is plenty of support out there for a commercial angle to this. Via GameSetWatch.

The other day, June 23rd, was Sonic The Hedgehog’s official birthday, marking the date Sega released their mascot game to their home consoles. Among some Sonic factoids that few people know, is that his first official appearance just so happened to be in an arcade game – Sega’s Rad Mobile which came out in January 1991(pictured). Speaking of Sonic arcade games, here’s a few Sonic arcade-exclusives worth looking at:  SegaSonic The Hedgehog (w/ trackball goodness and used the same hardware as Rad Mobile, Sega’s first 32-bit hardware) and Sonic the Fighters (showing off his versatility or something). And of course there is Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing Arcade out there now as well, although that’s not arcade exclusive. More Sonic facts here.