There are stories emanating from the mysterious coalition known simply as "Europe" that Sega -- responsible for some of your dearest childhood memories and, maybe, your first heartbreak -- is busy "delisting" less-than-stellar Sonic the Hedgehog titles from European retailers. Jurgen Post, Sega SVP of EMEA (that's Europe, the Middle East and Africa), told MCV, "Any Sonic game with an average Metacritic has been de-listed," continuing, "We have to do this and increase the value of the brand. This will be very important when more big Sonic releases arrive in the future."

While that certainly sounds ominous, we asked Alan Pritchard - newly instated veep of sales and marketing for Sega US and the man who held Mr. Post's spot until just a couple month's ago - to clarify what it means for Europe, for Sonic and (jingoism be damned!) for North America.

"I think perhaps Jurgen's comments have somewhat been taken out of context," Pritchard told Joystiq. "It's not quite as drastic as what Disney do for example. They bring out Lion King and all of a sudden there's a cut-off date, and you can't buy Lion King for another six months. It's not quite as drastic as turning the tap off completely. We want consumers and retailers to defocus from the back catalog, the older titles and focus more on the new-release titles."