In an interview with Newsweek, SEGA president, Simon Jeffry has stated that, after the release of Mario And Sonic At The Olympics, there won't be another next-generation title featuring Sonic the Hedgehog for a fair while. In an answer that we imagine many would respect and choose not to disagree with, the SEGA boss explained that the company's mascot was being taken away to be re-invented.

We are actually undergoing a fairly considerable refresh of Sonic as an intellectual property, as a character," he told the website. "Sonic on the Wii is probably the first product that's come to market that reflects that."

He continued, "We're not going to be bringing another game out on the other platforms for quite some time, because we feel that it is time to reinvent Sonic, to make Sonic contemporary again. At the same time, even the recent 360 and PlayStation 3 games have sold extremely well.

"Sonic is still an extremely endearing character; there's still a lot of love for Sonic out there in consumerland."

It appears that the last Sony PS3 and Microsoft Xbox 360 owners will see of Sonic for a while is in the absymal Sonic The Hedgehog, while Nintendo Wii owners still have an Olympic-themed grudge match encounter to look forward to before the fastest thing on Earth speeds back to the drawing board.

Sonic has had a tough time for a number of years now. Placed in a 2D environment he's at the top of his game, but when it comes to 3D space he just seems lost. Ever since SEGA released the excellent Sonic Adventure for the SEGA Dreamcast back in 1999 (NA), one of videogaming’s most recognisable icons seems to have been on a slippery slope downwards in terms of the overall quality of his outings. In what appeared as acts of desperation, new characters (most notably the appalling Shadow the Hedgehog) were introduced to spice things up a little, but to no avail.

While the Wii's Sonic and the Secret Rings was commended by many critics as bringing the series back to life, it still wasn't enough to blast Sonic back into the realms of stardom he once enjoyed a place in. Let's hope his time away will do him some good.