Sonic's legacy
Sonic The Hedgehog has been around for a very long time. As one of the first universally recognised video game icons, he has managed to weather a lot of changes not the least of which was the commercial failure of his native games console manufacturers, Sega. But as an icon, Sonic transcended his origins, and started cropping up everywhere: and not just in games on every other console, but as a cartoon character and a toy, a design and an attitude, cast as the unpredictable and slightly ambivalent hero, opposite the sweet and jovial plumber, Mario.
Recently, sonic games have been coming thick and fast, and not just as commercial releases on games consoles. Free online gaming is the latest locus within which Sonic is shining, lending his unique and spiky blue form to almost every genre as a furry pinball, a chess piece or a racing car. It's a shrewd move from an ever shred and impish character online gaming is the best way of reaching the most people in the fastest time. The main attractant being that the games are free to play, they star a commercially recognisable icon, and their highly addictive, owing to the fact that they are cleverly derivative of favourite video games from the past.
At playsega.com you can join what amounts to a sort of community of games players. Whether its puzzle games or arcade games you favour, there's sure to be something here that'll have you stuck to the keyboard into the wee small hours including a host of sonic games. It's free to join (though there is the option of paying a small fee for VIP membership) and instantly playable for any skill level of games player. It's a great introduction for those casual gamers who've always been put off by the investment gaming necessitates, and a fine way for those who have an already cultivated addiction to work out some of those knots in the comfort of your lunch break.
Whether spinning deliriously in a platformer over 15 years ago, or becoming the effective face of the new modes of games playing, Sonic the Hedgehog has held his own, and will surely introduce us to the next wave of gaming revolution.