Next-gen Sonic this year

SEGA Europe CEO Mike Hayes has confirmed that our old friend Sonic the Hedgehog will get his first outing on next-gen consoles next year.

Speaking to Tech Digest, Hayes said: "SEGA will continue to evolve the franchise. A big part of this will be a new Sonic title, to be released on to next-gen platforms later this year."

But on which next-gen platforms, exactly? Well, back in September, SEGA said Sonic would be coming to PS3 and Xbox 360. Hayes said that SEGA is "looking forward" to developing games for the Nintendo Revolution, too, so here's hoping.

Hayes also had some bad news for beardy retro fans, stating: "There are no plans for Dreamcast to make a comeback. At the moment SEGA are concentrating solely on developing quality software for both current and next generation games consoles."

Ah well. It's Sonic's birthday 15th in June and SEGA has big celebrations planned, so you never know, he might appear on Xbox 360 around then. In the meantime, why not take a look at these lovely screenshots.