I love that, its one of the best things I've seen them do for the fanbase. :D Too bad nobody took a tally of who went and see if we could've got a general estimate instead of relying on these numbers. :\ I won't be surprised if come next year we see a SOS announcement but not a SB one.
I'd say it'd be better off as a satellite event to larger events... like SDCC, NYCC, Wizard World in Chicago, or one of the PAX's. Make several smaller events and host them across the nation. Done right, it satiates several sections of the fanbase across the country and it can give people more incentive to head out. Plus, it never hurts to give Sega more exposure. Now, mind you, all this assumes smart budgeting since we know booking these events and flying equipment and guests around can be costly, especially given how apparently cash starved SoA is. Mostly thinking outloud here, but in my head, this seems like the best solution. Smaller events, but with the same attempt at a spirit. Trying to book an SoS styled event in the U.S. in one location is super difficult and, as we've seen for three years now, not always the best approach.
Believe it or not, this has restored a lot of my confidence I regards to the series and this game in particular. Hell, it even makes up for the Sonic 4 episode 2 flub I raged about a few days ago. The only thing that sucks is that we shouldn't have to tell them these things time after time.
Neat title card aside, the level still looks poorly-designed with it's blocky, copy/pasted 2D sections.
