Sonic the Hedgehog, SEGA mascot and one-time rival of Mario, will be celebrating his 15th birthday today. Whether or not you love the little blue blaze, you have to admire Sonic’s contribution to the gaming world in terms of encouraging fast graphics processing and simple, intuitive play mechanics. To milk

celebrate the event, SEGA will be releasing 4 new Sonic-based games this year, including Sonic for the PS3 and Xbox 360 as well as Sonic Wildfire for the Wii, Sonic Rivals for the PSP, and a “special edition” of Sonic the Hedgehog for the GBA.

Sonic’s career has certainly gone a bit downhill in recent years - from the heyday of Sonic the Hedgehog for the Genesis and Sonic Adventure for the Dreamcast to the less-favorably-received current-gen Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic Riders. Perhaps someday soon we can look forward to a New Super Mario Bros.-esque 3-D/2-D hybrid that will return the little fur ball to his former glory.