Screenshots and a short trailer for a new Sonic game that is apparently called Sonic Unleashed have hit the Internet. It's only right to regard any new Sonic game with an enormous dose of skepticism, but the fact that it's played primarily on a 2D plane is enough to garner my (very minute, very cautious) interest.

Sega magazine briefly had an official announcement about the game, but it was quickly removed and is now back to being called a rumor. Unfortunately, said announcement made mention of becoming "Wolf Sonic", which takes my fleeting interest and pisses on it.

Meanwhile, apparently not the least bit hopeful about this new venture, Destructoid's Jim Sterling argues how to save Sonic the Hedgehog.

Industry and multi-console news

New media: King of Fighters XII screenshots

• The crazy person at Gibson who told them to sue Activision over Guitar Hero for patent infringement has gibbered some other incomprehensible raving, so now they're suing Harmonix and MTV over Rock Band too.
• Next Generation proves that they love lists by rolling out the 50 best games of the 1980s.
• CrispyGamer has an interview with Ken Levine, but he can't talk about BioShock 2 yet.
• Gamespot's new PressSpotting column has an interview with Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw, the guy behind Zero Punctuation.
• TheGameConsole.com is a simple site listing every major game console (and most of the minor) along with brief descriptions of each one. Not full historical analysis, but could still be handy as a reference guide.
• A supposedly leaked video of GTA4's intro is likely a fake.
• IGN has begun its own retro games podcast.
• ECA president Hal Halpin says that End User License Agreements are "out of control" and need to be standardized. "These contracts have become so unwieldy that they regularly infringe on consumer rights. Many would likely be unenforceable in a court of law. Others, consumers would be shocked to find out what all of that fine print actually meant."
• After the lengthy Manhunt 2 rating debacle, the British Board of Film Classification's credibility is in question.
• GamePolitics has parts four and five of their excerpts from the Bar trial against Jack Thompson.
• Arcade Renaissance takes a deeper look at what's going on with Tekken 6 and US arcades.

PC and mobile news

New content: Sins of a Solar Empire demo

• Valve and Nunchuck Games are bringing Ninja Reflex to Steam.
• 1up lists the top five botched PC game launches.
• Scientists have already studied World of Warcraft as a microcosm of how diseases spread, but now they're looking at it to understand terrorist tactics. "Warcraft has a history of in-game terrorist activity. Early on, players found a curse in a high-level dungeon that would turn them into living bombs. They would then teleport to major cities and detonate themselves, killing nearby players."

Nintendo news

New media: Sky Crawlers first screenshots, Mario Kart Wii Japanese intro video

• Activision is apologizing to the people who had to get disc replacements due to the mono sound issue in Guitar Hero III by sending them each a free faceplate.
• EGM claims that new Tecmo Bowl games are in the works, with a "classic" version coming to the DS and a modern remake going to the Wii.
• Just in case you see them elsewhere, know that the supposed WiiWare Wario's Woods screenshots floating around are fake.
• It looks like the downloadable puzzles for Professor Layton aren't downloaded at all, but are on the cartridge from the beginning. You're just unlocking them, as dumb as that is. There's a site with screenshots of all of them, but it's currently down.

Sony news

New media: Crisis Core trailer, Star Ocean: Second Evolution trailer

• The U.S. International Trade Commission is reportedly looking into patent infringement allegations regarding Blu-ray players.
• EGM's rumor column claims a downloadable Ratchet & Clank sequel is coming to the Playstation Network.
• PCWorld reports that the newest PS3 firmware update will add the Portable Copy feature that allows users to copy a standard-definition version of a Blu-ray movie to a PSP.
• A number of PS3 players are having problems with online play in Rainbow Six Vegas 2.
• Someone has made Master Chief and Gears of War Unreal Tournament III character mods that you can download and try out yourself. Spawn and Cloud are in there too, for some reason.
• Subaru created a sit-down Gran Turismo 5 Prologue controller for this year's New York Auto Show.

Microsoft news

• Bungie has announced that Halo 3's Heroic Map Pack will become free this Tuesday.
• Though Bungie already sent a care package of a sort to that guy who had his multiple-autographed 360 scrubbed clean, Microsoft has chipped in too with a new 360 covered in even more signatures, including a faceplate signed by Bill Gates. He writes cursive the way a third-grader does.
• I haven't actually been linking all of these, but the official Capcom blog is up to part eight of their series on rebalancing Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. This segment concentrates on Sagat.
• The German games rating board has revealed a Live Arcade version of the board game Ticket to Ride.