Lots of good stuff today so we might run over our allotted 60 seconds. Bear with me.- Sega is bringing back Sonic the Hedgehog as a brand icon as it preps the launch of the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. Sonic has fallen out of favor recently with no hit title of his own and Sega's crashing and burning in the console department so this is kind of a big deal if you're a fan of the blue character.
- One of the dominant themes of the ad:tech conference going on in New York is the power of online communities. Even small ones that have just started up can wield tremendous influence so companies need to pay attention.
- In case you were in the market for a 3-D Earth mapping application to rival Google Earth (and who isn't) you now have Microsoft's Visual Earth to play around with.
- Microsoft is also looking to create the go-to device for entertainment in the house by announcing movie and TV downloads via the Xbox 360. The download service launches Nov. 22nd, which is both the one-year anniversary of the 360 and, just coincidentally, the day before Thanksgiving.
- The corporate entities behind The Transformers did a good bit of reaching out to the online fan community, listening to their conversations and such for the 20th anniversary DVD release of the first Transformers movie. This was an important release since the studios are hoping the DVD will spark interest in next year's new big-screen T'Formers flick.
