Sonic Boom: Has Sega Lost its Sonic Touch?

From Gamedaily.com: "This week, NYC is hosting Digital Life, a mini CES/E3 that showcases upcoming products. It's mostly tech, cameras and what not, but there is a smattering of colorful events, the most notable being Sonic the Hedgehog's 15th birthday celebration, hosted by Party of Five and Mean Girls alum Lacey Chabert. There will be cake, the birthday song, and most likely some guy (or gal) dressed in a life size Sonic costume. It's just unfortunate that it's one of the most unexciting sounding birthdays that I have ever been invited to. If only Sega gave me a reason to celebrate.

Have you ever wondered what's been going on with the Sonic franchise? Back in the day, and I'm talking the early to mid nineties, a new Sonic game was always associated with quality. Press clamored for the latest releases, and most of these gems (Sonic, Sonic 2, and Sonic CD especially) met with rave reviews. Meanwhile, Sega was on a tear. It had used the blue hedgehog to apply a monster nerve hold on Nintendo, thus causing it to relinquish its stranglehold on the videogame industry. And Sonic creator Yuji Naka was likened to Mario's proud papa Shigeru Miyamoto. With these weapons, Sega was poised to capture the hearts of millions for years to come.

Then the company lost its market share and everything went to hell...."