If you’ve been to any game store in the past 20 years, you’ve no doubt seen Sega titles like Sonic the Hedgehog and Bayonetta lining the shelves. However, Sega’s studios have also been pumping out unique products, gadgets and accessories alongside their games.  From wacky peripherals to tasty treats, Sega’s innovation stretches above and beyond the gaming field.[nextpage]

1. To coincide with the 90s hit show “Baywatch,” Sega made a number of T-shirts for the show, complete with the slogan “Never played a better game!”

2. Banpresto created Zippos shaped like the Mega Drive and Saturn for a two week period last year. The detailed lighters are now extremely rare, fetching over $150 on import sites.

3. The Menancer was created

No we haven't turned into one of thise weird 'furry' fetish sites.  This is news in relation to SEGA's announcement yesterday about the actors cast for the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog games.

If you haven't heard, SEGA has decided to put new voices (and faces) to the main characters in the Sonic series.  This announcement was built up over the past week, with a teaser from SEGA Europe's ArchAngel UK last weekend, saying that there would be some 'franchise changing' news.

Well this perhaps isn't quite the news some of us expected, but there was no word of a lie from ArchAngel - this will indeed change the Sonic series, but only really behind the scenes.  So far we only know three of the main actors and they will perform their roles in the upcoming Sonic Colours and Sonic

We don't do regular updates on SEGA's official Free Stuff Friday giveaways, unless they happen to have some particularly epic prizes.  And (as you might now be able to guess) this is one week with some prizes to get pretty pumped up about.

I don't want to spoil the surprise right now, so I'll invite you all to take a look at the above video; where the SEGA America blog staff show off this week's wares.

Or if you really can't be bothered to watch the video, the prizes are listed after the break. [nextpage]

Prizes (in the words of SoA):

1. Tournament of Legends (Wii)
To celebrate the launch of the game, we’re giving you a copy to kick off the legendary tournament! (Please note, North American winners or people with an NTSC compatible TV can win).

2. Iron Man

The times, they are a changin'.  Trends that were popular "good ol' days" need to change in order to appeal to new audiences.  Videogames are a fairly new medium, but even the most iconic of characters has gone under the knife once or twice...[nextpage]

Pac-Man

    BeforeAfter

In honor of the upcoming Pac-Man Party for the Wii, the yellow circle has been given blue irises and sneakers.  Sadly, the 3/4 of a pizza version had more soul.

Sonic the Hedgehog

Before

After

The blue blur slimmed down and put in some green contacts since his days on the Genesis.

Yuna (Final Fantasy X/X-2)

Before

After

Summoner Yuna lost her robes between X and X-2...and gained some hot pants.

Klonoa (Klonoa series)

Before

After

In celebration of Sega’s beloved mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog, 19^th birthday, Sega is going all out to please their loyal fans.  From dropping the prices of some of their downloadable games across various platforms, to shipping off some lucky fan to Japan for a contest they are holding.  But for some diehard fans, simply buying some of their games at a bargain price and entering a contest to go to Japan is not enough.  Some Sega fans will pull out all the stops to show their love for the long time company, including spending over $10,000 on a huge Sega collection. [nextpage]

One eBay seller by the name of Wheelee01 has put up his huge Sega collection for sale.  With over 1,000 games across all Sega consoles and tons of extras included, this has to be the best

In celebration of Sonic's birthday and the release of Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1, SEGA is giving you the opportunity to win a trip to Japan and be one of the first people ever to get their hands on the final copy of Sonic 4.

How do you win?  Well, first watch the video above and do as the gentleman says: Create your own video, showing off how much you love Sonic.  Upload it to Youtube and then post the link on the official Sonic 4 site.

SEGA representitives will then vote for their favourite 10 videos and should your video make the cut, then make sure you get people to vote on it - and you could be heading to Japan.  More details on the Sonic 4 website (link above).

[Source: SEGA PR] [nextpage]

[Edited By Moderator]

SEGA has announced its first title for the Xbox 360's "Kinect" (Project Natal) motion controller; 'Sonic Free Riders'.  This means that in the third installment of the Sonic Riders series, players will be able to literally control everything their character does, by mimicking the desired actions.

So if you need to steer left or right, you lean that way.  If you want to jump, you jump.  And if you need to throw down some revenge upon another player, you swing your arms or flick your wrists to launch any powerup or weapon you might have - and if you happen to be playing against another human, next to you, then swinging your arm might just do some real damage.

Sound good? Well find out more in the press release, after the break.[nextpage]

SEGA ANNOUNCES ITS FIRST TITLE

It's officially the week of E3! With Sega planning to show multiple hot titles, us Sega fans have much to be excited for. Still, it was with great surprise for us here covering the event that we got an earlier run in with Sega's most famous franchise the day before the expo even started, in ice cream form! [nextpage]

Yes that's right folks, literally on our way to park our car at the expo center, we ran into the owner and president of this very ice cream cart, who was more than willing to let us get an exclusive look and taste of this awesome Sonic ice cream bar (for $1).

Flavored with "Blue Raspberry Ice" sorbet and complete with bright green bubble gum eyeballs, we were blown away by our sneak peak. Frankly we couldn't help but love the irony stumbling upon such a Sega treat right