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Watch The Full Sonic 30th Anniversary Concert Right Here
Written by Brian Shea 
Today is the Sonic the Hedgehog's 30th birthday, and to celebrate, Sega unveiled a bunch of new games as part of its Sonic Central stream. During that stream, Sega also gave fans news that on Sonic's actual anniversary date, June 23, 2021, it would be holding a special Symphony livestream featuring music that spans all three decades of the franchise's existence.
The stream just ended, but you can view the archived version of the concert below. In the stream, you'll find everything from an orchestra performing Sonic's most classic and recognizable hits from the early days of the series all the way up to rock group Crush 40 performing big hits like the Sonic Heroes theme song and "Live and Learn" from Sonic Adventure 2. If you have any affection for the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise and its music, this is a terrific celebration of one of its most consistently excellent elements.
You can check out the archived stream from Sega and the official Sonic the Hedgehog YouTube channel below:
Click here to watch embedded mediaSonic the Hedgehog's 30th-anniversary celebration kicked off last year with the announcement of a 30th-anniversary logo and special merchandise. After that, the news went fairly dry up until last month's Sonic Central stream, which brought news of a Sonic Colors remaster, an upcoming retro collection called Sonic Origins, and a teaser trailer of the next Sonic Team game.
For more on the 30th anniversary of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, check out our interview with the head of Sonic Team Takashi Iizuka for his thoughts on the past, present, and future of the Blue Blur here. For more on the history of the franchise, head to our feature about the franchise's rise to prominence and subsequent fall from grace here, our feature about why Sonic 2 is so important to the franchise here, or how Sonic made the leap to not only launching on Nintendo platforms, but also appearing in games alongside his once-bitter rival, Mario here.
[Source: Sonic the Hedgehog on YouTube]
Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle Of The Realms Gets A Release Date, New Box Art
Written by Liana Ruppert 
Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms is the direct sequel to Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge. The sequel was revealed earlier this month from Warner Bros. Animation, Warner Bros. Interactive, and NetherRealm Studios, and now we've got a Battle of the Realms release date and our first look at the official box art.
Confirmed today, Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms is making its Digital and Blu-ray debut on August 31. There will also be a 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack available, as well, for those that may have missed the first film.
Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle for the Realms, releases
— Ed Boon (@noobde) June 23, 2021
digital and physical on August 31, 2021
Here is the box art... pic.twitter.com/2C1yZHv70L
Joel McHale will be returning to voice Johnny Cage alongside Jennifer Carpenter as Sonya Blade, Artt Butler as Shang Tsung, Jordan Rodrigues as Liu Kang, Patrick Seitz as Scorpion, Robin Atkin Downes as Shinnok, Ike Amadi as Jax, Grey Griffin as Kitana and Mileena, Fred Tatasciore as Shao Kahn, and Dave B. Mitchell as Raiden. Newcomers joining the fray are Debra Wilson as D'Vorah, Emily O'Brien as Jade, Paul Nakauchi as Lin Kuei Grandmaster, Matt Yang King as Kung Lao, Matthew Mercer as both Smoke and Stryker, and Bayardo De Murguia as Sub-Zero.
Following the events of Scorpion's Revenge, Battle of the Realms will task memorable characters to travel to Outworld in defense of Earthrealm. Scorpion must find the ancient Kamidogu before it is too late and is used to resurrect the One Being, which basically would mean the destruction of life as we know it – no big.
What are your thoughts on Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge and its sequel with Battle of the Realms? Have you been enjoying the recent resurfacing of Mortal Kombat in other mediums outside of the games? Join in on the conversation in the comment section below! You can also check out our own Brian Shea's review of the latest Mortal Kombat movie right here to bide that time before August 31.