Well, obviously it was going to be awesome- it was SoS, after all. Ran into Bolt and... someone with him! (I'm terrible with names, really I am) at Aldgate East station and found the venue no problem. Chatted a lot in the queue (ironically more about One Piece and other anime than Sonic, at that point), then got in. I was wondering actually, of the three icons at the top of the tickets, what did we have to do to get the third one punched? I got the first for entering, the second for playing Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympics, and didn't get the third.

Incidentally, did anyone else try entering the SMS contests? I sent in texts at both the specified times, but didn't hear anything back.

It was nice to run into so many people from last year, and it was really refreshing to find myself actually remembering people who were almost like complete strangers, having only met once previously for a few hours at last years' SoS. Yet there I was remembering people from last year and going over to say hi again, and vice versa. Admittedly I'd not have recognised Helenbaby had she not pointed herself out, as she had a totally different hairstyle from last year and I'm terrible with things like that, but still. It was nice to see a lot of new faces, too.

Out of the upcoming games, I only bothered to play the DS version of Winter Olympics due to the fact that the queues for the other two were fairly long, and since filming wasn't allowed due to the developers for the games being there, I'd not come away from queueing with anything to show for it. Had they been actual new Sonic games rather than spinoffs starring him, I'd probably have been happy to queue even if filming wasn't allowed, but eh. I'm not exactly dying with anticipation for either of them.

Lee/ Bentley/ whatever the hell his real name actually is has certainly improved the quality of his live performances since last year, too. In all honesty I came away from last years' SoS with the impression that he was the sort who didn't sound very good outside of a recording studio, but he proved me wrong this year at least, which was nice. However, it did bug me a little how he was the only performer here this year, as opposed to the three last year, meaning that he stole all the spotlight for himself, especially since T.J. Davis expressed an interest in future SoS's last year, although I guess for whatever reason things didn't pan out this year. Lee having all the spotlight wouldn't have been a problem were it not for an overall lack of Sonic songs, which I found a tad disappointing. There were only perhaps 2-3 Sonic songs actually performed by him, and the rest of it seemed like he was just trying to plug his album, which was conveniently on sale at the event. I mean, that's fine by all means, but I was hoping for more actual Sonic music.

As for the bigger venue, I personally found that very much a double-edged sword. Whilst it was obviously better in almost every aspect due to allowing more people in and more space for them to move around, it did sort of mean that the atmosphere felt much more dispersed than last year. People were a lot more thinly-spread, and that did sadden me a little in that this year seemed to lack the close-knit atmosphere of 2008. Last year seemed a lot more bustling and social (not that this year didn't), because everyone was in such close proximity to one another that there wasn't much possibility for avoiding people. Again, I'm not suggesting a smaller venue in future, that would be stupid. I just felt that the atmosphere was somewhat compromised by the bigger venue, but it's an understandably necessary sacrifice. Am I the only one who felt this way, or does anyone else who was at both this and 08 agree?

So yes, I'm going to have to say that, for the reasons mentioned above, I felt that this year was marginally, fractionally less epic awesome than last years'. It was just a couple of little things really, I suppose added to the fact that last year got extra epic points for being the first of its' kind (and there was more free stuff at SoS '08 *shot*). The atmosphere just didn't seem quite as electric as last year, although again, it might just have been me. By all means it was still a brilliant day, I just felt that it didn't quite match the epicness of last years, if only by a hairs' breadth. I think the fact I had a guest with me this year might have had something to do with it as well, as I felt somewhat obliged to stick around with them rather than just wander into the thick of the crowd on my own and chat with whoever I happened to bump into.