Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed rolls out later this year

If you’re a gamer that has been around for any respectable length of time, you’ll certainly recognize Sonic the Hedgehog.

This fast little blue guy has been in a number of classic titles spanning years of gaming and even starred in his own cartoon show. And now Sega has announced that a new Sonic video game property is coming to the market in late 2012.

The title will be offered on just about every platform there is, including Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo 3DS, and PC.

As the name of the game suggests, Sonic, along with a bunch of characters from various Sega videogame properties will be featured, including Dr. Eggman, Gilius Thunderhead of Golden Axe, and Vyse of Skies of Arcadia. There will be other characters as well, along with environments and tracks lifted from some of Sega’s popular games.

And, best of all, the racing vehicle will be capable of transforming on demand from a car, to a boat, to an aircraft and back again.

“Given the fantastic feedback we received from critics and consumers alike for the first game we really wanted to push the boundaries on our follow up game, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed,” explained Sega exec David Corles.

“The transforming vehicles allow us to do this – as well as drifting your car around the corners of a track, you get to fly your plane and pilot your boat against others all within one race. Add to this a grid full of star characters, retro IP, fun, fast race modes and cool tracks and racing fans of all ages are sure to love this one!”