We’ve just had a look at the five day forecast on the BBC News website and found that Saturday is not looking to be so pleasant. BBC predicts heavy showers in London throughout the day, with low visibility and a 10mph winds at 21°C.

Due to the unexpected popularity of the event and the possibility of people having to wait outside to get into the hall, we ask all attendees to the convention to keep an eye on the forecast (in case it changes or stays the same) and take appropriate measures for unpleasant weather. If the weather is bad there may not be a possiblity of Sonic the Hedgehog appearing outside to greet those in line - he’s not like most hedgehogs and tends to hate the rain.

You may already know that one of our special guests is none other than Nigel Kitching, a writer and artist for the classic Sonic the Comic books that made all of the kids of 1993 happy as could be. Another STC artist, Nigel Dobbyn, can’t attend the event unfortunately but has sent us a plethora of original art prints from various issues that he contributed to. He was mostly credited for contributing art for the Knuckles comic strips, but also drew panels for Tails strips, Captain Plunder and various stories involving the Chaotix Crew. You can see an example of his breathtaking work to the left there.

Nigel Dobbyn’s showcase will be displayed in one (or both) of two places; by the Comics Zone as fans approach the desk to learn about the Archie and Fleetway series of books, or alongside other rare collectables inside the Merchandise Cabinet. The Merchandise Cabinet will be situated right next to the Comics Zone.

Nigel sends his best wishes to all those attending the Summer of Sonic event, and we’re honoured to share his original work with you.

At the Summer of Sonic convention there will be a whole ton of prizes that you can try your hand at winning - art contests, game competitions, high score challenges… not to mention a goody bag for many of the attending public that come into the hall. We were recently sent a bunch of extra goodies by Sonic-mad couple Alison and John, who can’t make the convention as it clashes with their hen/stag do’s and wedding celebrations.

The contributions are greatly appreciated guys, and congratulations on the wedding! While Alison steps into a ride at Alton Towers for the day, bridal veil and all, Svend and Rory will be thinking of obtuse ways to give away all these lovely donations during the Sonic Hour segment. In asking Rory for suggestions, we recieved a ‘dunno’, so we may literally end up giving them out! Included is a copy of the Guinness World Records: Gamers Edition 2008, plushies, keychains and a t-shirt.

Hey guys, we’ve visited the Dragon Hall a few times now and it looks just great. But we figure you might enjoy looking at the blank canvas we will be using on Saturday to create as best a Sonic convention as we can. So here are some photographs we took of the inside of the hall in Covent Garden.

To the right you can see the entrance to the Dragon Hall - click the image to enlarge it. Hopefully you won’t be seeing too much of this front door if you end up queuing outside, we’ll try to get things moving as quickly as possible. Even if you’re stuck outside for a while, our special guests, co-ordinators and even Sonic the Hedgehog may make an appearance to make your wait a little less boring. We may even get Kevin (AAUK) to do a dance for you.

The road immediately outside the Dragon Hall is quite narrow - only a car’s width wide - so naturally queues will have to be lined up by the pavement. Bicycle not included.

Not exactly a perfect 360-degree perspective, but here’s an idea of what the inside of the hall looks like, minus all the Sonic decorations and special guests. Click each image to expand them, as these thumbnails are cropped. Those basketball hoops can’t be removed from the hall, so our team are going to be a bit creative in moving them out of the way of attendees - or even covering them up. The stage and projector will be finding a home in the first image, by the windows, and the Art Corner will be placed in the second image above. The Sonic Chronicles pod plus Merchandise cabinet, Comics tables and Games Zone will be in the area displayed in the third picture, and there’s a little window there so you can see Svend slave away over a hot stove. The crow’s nest will be decorated with an awesome banner that AAUK has had made.

Bear in mind that the placement of all these sections aren’t final - we may have a headache in the morning actually putting the plan to practice, as always - but that’s our ideas for use of the hall. Thought it’d be cool to let you in on the thought processes going on around here. Richard Jacques joined us to see if the piano was in good nick a few weeks ago, and ended up giving impromptu renditions of Shenmue and OutRun. It was quite difficult asking questions about the hall when we wanted to run towards the piano and make a request.

Hope you’re as geared up as we are about Saturday - as mentioned earlier, pre-registration is go! So er, go.

As the Summer of Sonic website is very popular, we have constructed a list of Terms and Conditions that everyone intending to attend the event must read. These Terms and Conditions determine your entry into the Summer of Sonic convention, so if you do not read or do not agree to them we cannot allow you inside on the day. Click the link below to read the Terms and Conditions of Entry — we recommend you print the page off so you can read it at a later date or on the day as well.

http://www.summerofsonic.com/terms/

We are also beginning our pre-registration process for the event, as there are only five days to go now. Pre-registration is not required, it’s just something to speed up your entry into the hall on the day. Please note that this is not a method of attending the Summer of Sonic event - there is no more room and the site is closed to new registrants.

If you would like to pre-register, you need to send our staff an email from the address you used to register on the Summer of Sonic website. On this email, we will need you to send your Summer of Sonic username, full name, address, contact number and an agreement to the Terms and Conditions linked above. Send emails to summerofsonic@googlemail.com. If you do not feel comfortable sending private information over the Internet you can do it on the doors on Saturday; again, this is an optional process.

A lot has happened and been confirmed for the Summer of Sonic convention since it’s initial announcement. To help you guys keep up to date and informed, ArchAngelUK (co-organiser of the Summer of Sonic with Svend Joscelyne) and Urtheart (Doorman and SoS Security chap) have taken some time out to create an audio show for attendees to listen to.

We recommend all attendees listen to this podcast, as it provides some information and details that you may have to keep in mind while arriving at the event. You can download the MP3 here.

We are proud to announce our third and fourth Special Guests to the Summer of Sonic convention - to some they may need no introduction. Richard Jacques, famed composer and the man behind many Sonic the Hedgehog and SEGA soundtracks, will be in attendance to meet and greet fellow fans. Singer TJ Davis, known best by fans for her wonderful performances in Sonic R, will also be at the event.

This announcement comes with a little bonus; Richard will be doing a very special performance in the afternoon, with a little help from some friends. TJ will be involved in singing some Sonic R classics, while Lee Brotherton will be performing an exclusive rendition of Dreams of an Absolution. There will be a few surprises in store too.

Along with Lee Brotherton and Nigel Kitching, Richard and TJ will also be included in the Q&A session taking place on the main stage after the performance. Again, if you have any questions but can’t attend the convention, drop your Q’s in the comments area and we’ll try and get them answered for you!

We thank everyone who has shown interest in attending the Summer of Sonic convention. It has truly ballooned into a large-scale event that we can all be proud of. It’s gotten so big, that although the Dragon Hall can only hold 200 people at the maximum, since this site’s launch we have had registrations that are almost double that.

To cater for an over-capacity hall will be a tremendous task, so to ensure we don’t have even more people to worry about potentially missing out, we have closed the “I’m There!” registration page. We apologise if you have just come across this website and have an interest in attending - this isn’t possible now. The Summer of Sonic website will update throughout the day with videos and photos of the day’s events, so even if you can’t attend you won’t be left out!

For those who have put their name down, there’s still a complication - as we have said before, because we have more people wanting to attend than we can fit in the hall, there is a possibility that you will have to wait outside the hall for a period of time before you are allowed inside. We are to decide on how best to work around this problem, and will keep this website updated on solutions that will make such an incident easier for those who may have to wait. This may include timing those who intend to stay all day so that everyone who wants to experience the hall can get a chance.

When something’s been confirmed and decided, we will let you know. Apologies for any future inconvenience this predicament might cause - we can certainly say that the first Sonic the Hedgehog convention is really one to keep an eye on.

This week’s special guest announcements bring a comic book flavour to them today, as we reveal that one of the most inspiring Sonic the Hedgehog story writers will be attending the Summer of Sonic convention. Nigel Kitching is a comic book writer, and is famous in the Sonic community for penning several major story arcs in Egmont Fleetway’s Sonic the Comic. His work with artist Richard Elson is perhaps the most memorable with young Sonic Boomers during the 1990s, but was also responsible for a large portion of Tails and Knuckles stories, along with dreaming up the zaniest plots from Mega Drive classic DeCap Attack.

Nigel will be at the event for most of the day, so feel free to run up to him and have a chat. He will be available to formally sign items for attendees for a given time in the afternoon, and will also be present at the Q&A with Lee Brotherton and our other special guests to answer any questions you may have - be it STC, his career or anything else.

In other news, another Sonic the Comic veteran, Nigel Dobbyn, is providing some original prints from the comic for display by the Comics Table. Unfortunately Dobbyn cannot make the Summer of Sonic too, but wishes everyone attending an awesome time! We should have some signed items by Dobbyn as well to give away, so stay tuned.

This event seems to be getting more and more exciting huh guys? If you have a question you want us to put to Nigel Kitching for the Q&A (this will pretty much guarantee your question being asked) feel free to post in the Comments section of this post. Have a good weekend!

To celebrate the fact we’ve got Sonic Chronicles available for people to play, what better way to provide information and give random facts to attendees than info cards in the style of a Chronicles conversation! Created by Sonic Wrecks to provide a bit of a fun spin on things, you will be seeing these cards all over the place, most likely in the Merchandise Cabinet we’ll have on display by the back wall.

Click the image to the right to see it in full size - Sonic Wrecks made a special example card for this announcement, which help reveal Sonic Chronicles’ presence at the convention and also shows Rouge’s sneaky bat-girl ways.

What do you think of it? Like the style? Let us know in the Comments panel.