[Original Post] Sonic the Hedgehog 4 has been highly anticipated since its official announcement a few weeks ago. Sega’s official trailer for the title showed off roughly 1.793 seconds of actual gameplay footage; leaving Sonic fans with little to feed their growing hunger for the lighting fast blue bad-ass.

Today, those fans can get a more in depth look at the game’s first level, courtesy of some leaked footage via a wobbly handheld camera. Check out the Sonic 4 goodness right after the jump.

There is no way to rationalize this.  Nothing I can preface it with to help it make any more sense.  So, here we go.

“We’ve just had some shocking news from an inside source at Nintendo: Sonic will be a playable character in Mario Galaxy 2! Wha?”

Read it again.  Let it sink in.  Who would make such a bold claim, you ask?  Believe it or not, this little gem appeared, bright and early,  in the February 5th Twitter feed of UK Nintendo mag NGamer.  Is it true?  Who knows.  NGamer is published by Future, arguably the largest publisher of games mags in the world.  Their portfolio includes every official console specific magazine on the racks here in America.  They are not in the business of just making stuff up.  But Sonic in Super Mario Galaxy 2?  Broken in a tweet?  I just don’t know.

In an interview with Gamespot, Sega’s Ken Balough confirmed that “Project Needlemouse” was indeed a new Sonic the Hedgehog game. It will sport 3D visuals on a 2D plane, much like Bionic Commando: Rearmed or Shadow Complex. It was also revealed that the game will have multiple episodes, hence the title, Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1. All of your favorite gameplay elements will return, as well as a new “homing attack.”

Over the weekend, Sega announced the upcoming release of another classic collection derived from their Sonic the Hedgehog library. Sonic Classic Collection will be available on the Nintendo DS in Spring 2010 and will collect the first four Sonic games in one package.

The game will also have added value through the inclusion of a several videos about Sonic’s history in gaming. Of note is the addition of a “save anywhere” feature for quick saving at any point in the game. This is a great addition to the original games, and interestingly enough may have been designed as an incentive for gamers to purchase the collection rather than play them illegally via emulation software, which tends to have instant save features built in as well. Of course, collections have been in style for some time now, so regardless of the reasoning it’s nice to see some additions to the original titles.

Soul Calibur’s console exclusive characters are always cool, whether it is Link on the Gamecube, Yoda on the 360, or Kratos on the PSP – and it would seem that Sega agrees! Keep in mind this is all just a rumor at the moment, but it would seem as though Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing will have a console specific character for each system.

A leaked image from Sega Europe designer Chris Lewis’ website reveals the box art for the Xbox 360 version of Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing. The juicy part, because you asked, is on the back of the box showing off Rare’s famous duo Banjo and Kazooie!

LittleBigPlanet has gained a lot of attention over the past few days with the PSP version of the game still not being available for download on the PSN, but there is some good news as well! As Siliconera reports, LittleBigPlanet is about to get a little bit bluer with the introduction of Sonic the Hedgehog themed costumes.

The costumes are based off of Sonic’s latest game Sonic Unleashed, and include everyone’s favorite blue hedgehog Sonic, along with Miles “Tails” Prower, Knuckles, Dr.Eggman, and Sonic the Werehog.