For the second straight year, Pokémon Go Fest is worldwide, meaning anyone can purchase a digital ticket and participate from the comfort of their homes and neighborhoods. Last year's tickets cost $14.99, but this year's will be just $5, and it gives you access to two full days of Pokémon catching on July 17 and 18.

This year's festival is themed around music. Most Pokémon Go players don't have the sound on when they're out in the wild, tracking down rare critters to add to their collections, but you'll want to turn it on this year, as longtime Pokémon music producer Junichi Masuda put together new tracks just for this event. In a blog posting, Niantic details two of the songs. One is a "rock-and-rolling track for Pikachu Rock Star fans," and the other is a "high-energy electro-pop song for Pikachu Pop Star stans." At the fest, you'll have the chance to catch newly outfitted Pikachus that represent the rock and pop star forms.

Similar to last year's event, the day of catching unfolds across rotating habitats. Every hour a different habitat comes online with different spawns. For instance, for the jungle habitat, you can catch a Aipom, Froakie, Scyther, and other critters that fit the theme. For the Cave, Roggenrola, Deino, and the Galarian Stunfisk will spawn. You'll need to play all day (from 10 to 6) to catch everything that the fest has to offer.

Day two shifts the focus to raids, but all of Pokémon from day one will still be around to catch. We don't know which Pokémon will be in the raids, but there's a good chance we'll see a new one given the secrecy. We'll also likely add a new Pokémon to our Pokédex by completing the festival's mission, which has typically been of the Mythical variety.

New shiny variations of Pokémon will also be a part of the mix. This year, shiny Unown F, Throh, Sawk, Whismur, Chimecho, Audino, and Tympole are making their debuts. I can't wait to see what other surprises unfold over these summer days of catching.

At SXSX 2019, head of Sonic Team Takashi Iizuka announced that the the next mainline Sonic the Hedgehog game from the flagship Sonic studio was underway. Since then, we've heard nothing about the project, and after today's Sonic Central stream, we know little more than the project is still in development. During today's video, Iizuka confirmed that the team behind Sonic Generations and Sonic Forces is still working on the next mainline Sonic game and gave us a tiny teaser video with a release window of 2022.

While Sonic Team has worked on several Puyo Puyo titles in recent years, as you might expect, the vast majority of games the studio has developed since its inception have been Sonic the Hedgehog titles. Its most recent game for the Blue Blur was Sonic Forces, which came out in 2017. While the game made various improvements and played heavily into the fandom with a create-a-character feature, the title received lukewarm reception from critics and fans. Prior to that, Sonic Team released the poorly received Sonic Lost World on Wii U and PC. However, before that, the studio seemed to regain its footing from the disastrous Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), releasing fan-favorite games like Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Colors, and Sonic Generations over a three-year stretch. Sonic Colors is so well liked that Sega is releasing an Ultimate version of it later this year.

This confirmation accompanies a flurry of other Sonic-centric announcements, including an in-game event for Two Point Hospital where you can swap out the staff members' outfits to celebrate Sonic's 30th anniversary, mobile game events for titles like Sonic Forces: Speed Battle and Sonic Racing, and already-released games like Sonic Mania, Sonic Forces, and Team Sonic Racing coming to PlayStation Now. You can also learn more about the newly announced Sonic Origins collection here.

We don't have any additional information about the next mainline game from Sonic Team, but hopefully we'll learn more soon. The new Sonic Team game launches in 2022. If you're looking for a deep dive into the rise and fall of the Sonic series, head here. If you want to learn more about how the Sonic brand made the lead to Nintendo consoles following Sega's transition to third-party developer, head here. 

It's no secret that the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise had a particularly rough period in the late '00s and early '10s, but one of the most well-liked entries in the 3D series also came out during that time. Sonic Colors delivered fast-paced action, fun level design, and unique power-ups when it launched in 2010, becoming one of the better-received Sonic games of that era. Unfortunately, the title has been stranded on Wii since its launch, with no re-releases or availability through backwards compatibility. Thankfully, Sega and developer Blind Squirrel Entertainment have changed that by announcing Sonic Colors: Ultimate.

This remaster of the 2010 Wii game delivers the same thrills as the original did 11 years ago, but as with all remasters, you can expect some enhancements. The visuals have been upscaled, the controls and core gameplay have been refined, and players can even tackle an all-new mode. In the brand new Rival Rush mode, Sonic goes head-to-head with Metal Sonic. If you can outrun your robotic rival, you earn rewards.

For those who never experienced Sonic Colors, Dr. Eggman has built a giant, interstellar amusement park that he is powering with captured members of an alien race called Wisps. Sonic learns of this and decides to bust them out of their captivity, but the aid is hardly one-way traffic; the Wisps are able to give Sonic new powers. With the help of the Wisps, Sonic speeds through six unique worlds on his way to stopping Eggman and freeing the colorful aliens. 

If Sonic Colors: Ultimate sounds like exactly what you've been waiting for, Sega has a few options for you to choose from. The Standard Retail Physical Pre-Order ($40) includes an exclusive Baby Sonic keychain. The Digital Standard edition ($40) includes the Sonic Movie Boost, giving players an electric boost and aura as seen in the 2020 Sonic the Hedgehog movie, plus exclusive player icons. Finally, the Digital Deluxe version ($45) allows you to jump in a few days early on September 3 at 6 p.m. Pacific / 9 p.m. Eastern, plus exclusive player icons, the Sonic Movie Boost mentioned before, special gold and silver gloves and shoes, and the Ultimate Music Pack featuring three original game remixes.

Sonic Colors: Ultimate launches on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC on September 7. The PC version is digital-only and exclusive to the Epic Games Store.

This year marks the 30th anniversary for the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise and as with any major anniversary milestone for a long-running franchise, fans want something to celebrate the glory days of the series. While 2017's Sonic Mania paid stellar tribute to the 2D days of Sega's spiny speedster, fans still love and play the games that gave Nintendo's popular plumber a run for his money back in the '90s. During today's Sonic Central presentation, Sega announced Sonic Origins to help players relive the early days of the Sonic the Hedgehog series.

As the name implies, Sonic Origins gathers the several of the series' earlier entries into one collection. While we don't have too many details at this time, Sega describes it as a "new compiled series." As you might imagine, Sonic Origins features the mainline Genesis games (Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and Sonic 3 & Knuckles) as well as Sonic CD, which originally appeared on Sega CD. According to Sega, Sonic Origins will deliver a nostalgic experience with non-stop Sonic action and "fresh content." Outside of that, Sega teases fans that more information will be coming soon.

The classic Genesis games are perhaps some of the most ported titles in the gaming, with appearances across all kinds of platforms ranging from PC to mobile to even Apple TV. All of the games mentioned in the Sonic Origins collection were released on Xbox Live Arcade and are still playable today through backwards compatibility on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and Xbox One. While Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 have continued receiving the re-release and port treatments over the years, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles have been largely absent from the sweeping re-releases. Sega has never released an official statement on the reason for that, but many speculate the reason is due to the music rights since popstar Michael Jackson has long been linked to the soundtrack. It will be interesting to see if the inclusion of Sonic 3 & Knuckles in Sonic Origins means those rights have been ironed out, or if Sega has found a workaround solution.

Another thing to watch is how much care goes into updating these experiences. Will the games that have seen re-release after re-release, like Sonic 1 and Sonic 2, receive additional features and content as the tease indicates? When these two games were released on Switch under the Sega Ages banner, they added new features like the spin dash to Sonic 1, the ability to play as Knuckles (without the Sonic & Knuckles cartridge) to Sonic 2, and the Sonic Mania drop dash to both titles. Will the "fresh content" be along those lines, or is Sega teasing something bigger? Only time will tell as we get closer to the launch of the Sonic Origins release.

We do not currently have a release date or platform list for Sonic Origins. For more on the Sonic franchise, head here to learn about why Sonic 2 was so important for Sega's rise to prominence, or head here to learn how Sonic 3 split into two games.