Joystiq [Xbox]

[Update: It seems Sega magazine has removed the "press info" from its site. Be warned, the information contained within this post just shifted from official back to rumor]

Wow. Within less than 24 hours, we have rumors, a leak, a video, and now an Official Confirmation. It seems that Sega Europe noticed the internet exploding yesterday when all this happened, and decided to put an end to all the rumors by confirming the existence of the game and giving the news outlets a brief press release detailing the new entry in the franchise. And so far, with a single exception, things are looking good. The information released is as follows.

"Sonic the Hedgehog returns for a full-blown, action-packed adventure through the desolate and unpredictable World of Mubuz, a world dictated by an evil Dragon Lord, Immarius. Upon entering Muboz, Sonic fights an evil power which turns all the inhabitants into dangerous beasts.

• Become Wolf Sonic and fight enemies like never before using rapid combo maneuvers and Ring Energy
• Play as Sonic, Knuckles or Tails through 12 packed stages
• Extensive 2D gameplay brings the old Sonic back home"

Even with that limited amount of info at hand, we can say it is good to hear that there will be no extraneous characters. Now remember that the only reason we have this info is due to a leak, so it's likely we won't hear anything more about this until nearly E3. And while we would have liked to have a more "old-fashioned" Sonic story (Robotnik should be bad guy #1) and don't really care for Wolf Sonic, we're willing to give it a try as long as it is blissfully free of anything like this.