Good question! I presume their specified time for the panel refers to their local time in Austin, Texas given the panel is being held at the Austin Convention Center. Austin, Texas time is CDT or rather GMT minus 5 hours meaning the panel should be starting at 3.30pm CDT which is 8.30pm GMT on March 16. Feel free to correct me everyone but I'm presuming "3.30pm" refers to Austin, Texas local time of CDT. So for those of us in the UK it'll be late evening and then for everyone else you'll have to convert CDT to your local time zone.
That's correct, Webber confirmed in a reply to the SXSW tweet that the Sonic Twitter posted. https://twitter.com/RubyEclipse/status/972183693740552192
Ah, awesome. So that's the exact time confirmed then. Thanks man. Only thing I'm wondering now is whether we'll be able to watch the panel, as in will there be a stream or will we have to check live blogs and so on? I checked SXSW's live schedule on their site and the Sonic event is not listed. What happened the last time Sonic was at SXSW? Was there a stream available to see on YouTube? Or was that uploaded later?
As you may or may not know by now, SegaNerds found trailers and screenshots on a yet-to-be unannounced compilation called Sega Genesis Collection in Sega's press vault, you can hear more about it at its appropriate thread. The main reason I'm bringing it up here in this thread however is due to this leak back in September last year. A European website (money is in Euros, and language is --according to Google Translate-- Slovakian) has posted had listings for a bunch of Sega games, most of which had yet to be announced. One of them was "Sega MegaDrive Collection"...and another was Sonic Mania (as a physical release). Assuming the recently leaked "Genesis Collection" is the same as this "MegaDrive Collection" from the website; this could mean that a physical release for Sonic Mania might be revealed at the SXSW panel Friday. It is worth noting that several store listings about a physical release for Mania have persisted for months following the game's reveal.
If they're waiting to make a big announcement out of this, then I'm hoping it's some kind of extended edition, directors cut, or something similar. If it's simply a physical version of the same game thats been out for months would be a bit of a letdown.
With the Project Plus development branch leak on Steam in conjunction with them using Mania art in their promo and also having a Mania team member on the panel - my money's on "Sonic Mania sold millions so here's Sonic Mania Plus" which will be an enhanced edition that will see a physical release. That's my last minute prediction. We'll know in just over 48 hours. SXSW rapidly approaches.
I don't think this is the big announcement, just one of the smaller reveals. The big announcement is probably the new game that's been reported (apparently a new Sonic kart racer, presumably by Sumo Digital), as well as news about the upcoming IDW comic and maybe the live-action/CG film (oh joy...). I'd also actually be fine with just a physical release as is, due to how long I and many others have been calling for one. I guess if additional content does come with it that would be cool, but that would personally be just be gravy on top of having an actual physical release. Sega being finally convinced into giving Mania physical distribution months after the game's original release would also suggest to me very good things about Mania's sales performance and the potential future of more classic Sonic games; but I don't want to get myself too excited over something not entirely guaranteed to happen. (Also updated my previous post about past listings of physical Mania releases.)
Something Mania-related will almost definitely be announced - it's just a question of what exactly. At a guess following the Mania sales talk a new version of the game/Project Plus will be unveiled. The event will serve as somewhat of a crystal ball as to the future direction of Sonic. So hoping everything Sonic Team said about monitoring Mania's reception will come to light here.
Ya know.. I wonder if the sudden announcement of the PS4/Xbox/PC Megadrive collection (again, minus Sonic 3/Knuckles) so close to this event has any connection. *thinking emoji* *thinking emoji* *thinking emoji*
My last-minute prediction is DLC for both Mania and Forces, along with a physical release for Mania containing said DLC for free.
Darn right! I'd love to own a physical edition. Although, I don't think it's too much to ask to expect the missing transitions/cutscenes to be included and for the remaining bugs (like the music glitches) to be ironed out. Was kinda hoping for the Sonic 1&2 remasters to be included, but I guess that's highly unlikely now with the announcement of the new Genesis collection, which I assume will just feature emulations of the original versions.
The primary thing I'm interested in is when Sonic Team stated that if Sonic Mania does well, which it did so substantially, then that'll determine the future of Sonic and forthcoming Sonic games over the near and distant future. So what they say here, in addition to what they announce, will shine light on whether that intention was honest and actionable. Mania lit the charts on fire and got rave reviews. I'd love to see obvious and clear intention that they intend to continue the Mania/Classic branch, either from them announcing Sonic Mania Plus or expressing intention to work with Taxman and Stealth again on a potential sequel. I'm more hyped for this event than even E3 as it's going to be very telling in terms of defining Sonic's future. Hoping for Sonic Mania Plus, talk of Sonic Mania 2 and we'll see if the Sonic racer looks like it'll be any good (probably will, as it's Sumo). Outside of that, the movie or what Sonic Team could be working on next? Or that could be too early. Either way hoping for some Sonic Mania talk and good announcements. We'll see very soon. SXSW is just over 36 hours away. Hopefully we'll get confirmation on whether there'll be a live stream soon. Otherwise it'll be everyone manically refreshing the news sites instead.
SXSW has been on all week but the Sonic panel we're all waiting on is scheduled for 3.30pm CDT on Friday (8.30pm GMT) or approximately ~39 hours from this post. I was a little off earlier when I said ~36 hours. Either way we're looking at about a day and a half until the Sonic event. So rapidly approaching then. Have to say I am hyped for this one.
