Sonic the Hedgehog is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created and owned by Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. In addition to video games, Sonic incorporates printed media, animations, a 2020 feature film, and merchandise. The first Sonic game, released for the Sega Genesis on June 23, 1991, was developed after Sega requested a mascot character to compete with Nintendo's mascot Mario. Sonic's success helped Sega become one of the leading video game companies during the fourth generation of video game consoles in the early 1990s. When Sega exited the console market and shifted to third- party development in 2001, it continued the series on Nintendo, Xbox, and PlayStation systems. Sonic the Hedgehog is Sega's flagship franchise and one of the bestselling video game franchises, having sold more than 140 million copies by 2016. Several Sonic games have been listed among the greatest of all time. Although later games, notably the 2006 series reboot, have been criticized for a perceived decline in quality, Sonic is influential in the video game industry and is frequently referenced in popular culture.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_the_Hedgehog

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1865:

Stand Watie became the last Confederate general of the American Civil War to surrender to Union forces. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand_Watie

1894:

Led by French historian Pierre de Coubertin, an international congress at the Sorbonne in Paris formed the International Olympic Committee to revive the ancient Olympic Games. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_de_Coubertin

1946:

Canada's largest recorded onshore earthquake struck Vancouver Island, British Columbia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1946_Vancouver_Island_earthquake

2013:

A group of militants stormed a high-altitude Pakistani mountaineering base camp near Nanga Parbat in Gilgit-Baltistan, killing ten climbers and one local guide. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Nanga_Parbat_massacre

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

ithyphallic: 1. (historical, Ancient Rome) Of or pertaining to the erect phallus that was carried in bacchic processions. 2. (specifically) Of a poem or song: having the metre of an ode sung in honour of the bacchic phallus. 3. Of or pertaining to an upward pointing, erect penis; (specifically) of an artistic depiction of a deity or other figure: possessing an erect penis. 4. (by extension) Lascivious, obscene. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ithyphallic

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Well my heart knows me better than I know myself So I'm gonna let it do all the talking.   --KT Tunstall https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/KT_Tunstall