We've had a few updates regarding Sumo Digital's Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing as of late, but it seems a couple more details managed to fall through the cracks. But worry not, we plan to follow this one all the way to the finish line.

First up, a new cam video of Knuckles racing through Seaside Hill and showing off his All-Star move as a member of the development team explains how the game works:



I love the shock with which he says "...he punched a Chao!" I'll bet that's going to wind up happening a lot.

The above comes courtesy of UK website TFMX via tssz|news, who explains how such a clear video was able to be captured, and why there aren't more out there.

Next comes some news regarding the roster, of which 12 characters have been revealed: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Amy, Big, and Eggman from the Sonic series; Billy Hatcher and Alex Kidd from their self-titled adventures; AiAi from Super Monkey Ball; Beat from Jet Set Radio; and Amigo from Samba de Amigo.

Previously, the game was reported to contain "more than 15" different characters, and while still technically true, word is that the number has now changed to something a bit more definitive: 24.

Via Wiiloveit.com, Bolt7 from The Sonic Stadium had attended the Summer of Sonic convention and relayed the following word from Sumo Digital:

I said it'd be a cool idea to include Xbox Avatars and Nintendo Mii's in their respected versions and he nodded saying 'Yes, that would be awesome' with a look on his face as if to say they've already considered it. He did the same when I mentioned adding Axel from Crazy Taxi in it, though I know he couldn't tell me even if they had already done that. He said half the characters have been announced so far and there's four out of the twelve still to be revealed that'll really excite SEGA fans apparently. Wonder who they can be!

Personally, I am quite down with Axel from Crazy Taxi being in this. It just wouldn't make sense if he weren't in it. And Miis/Avatars would be a nice touch... that is, provided you don't have to jump through the hoops Mario Kart Wii has to play as them.

I still would not mind the Hornet from Daytona USA and one of the cars from OutRun being included, though I could easily imagine licensing issues being a prohibitive factor there, at least in OutRun's case. Hornet is iffy, given its appearance in Fighters Megamix; I imagine the SEGA of 1996 would have been much more easily able to eat any such licensing fee that came their way, though.

Finally, if you'd like to help figure out who the next character to be revealed is, here is your chance. Via their Twitter, SEGA has begun revealing clues to the next racer's identity in a sort of Wheel of Fortune or Hangman style. Non-Twits can also keep up via SEGA's blog and Facebook pages.

"Here's how it works. I've got a phrase that will give you a hint as to who the next character is. Every day (Monday - Friday), we'll re-post the phrase with 2 of the letter blanks filled in. Figure out the phrase, then figure out what it means!"

Here is Monday's setup:

O______ __ ____ ____ ______ ______ ___ ______ C_____ __ _______

And here is today's:

O______ __ R___ ____ D_____ ______ ___ ______ C_____ __ _______

Any ideas? No? Then maybe this will help, as one commenter on the blog attempted to make it more easily readable (with the new clues filled in):

O _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _
R _ _ _
_ _ _ _
D _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
C _ _ _ _ _
_ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _

Can you crack the code? Give it your best shot in the comments! And if it looks like someone has a good theory going, we'll run the story on the front page.