Animated feature or cheap marketing ploy? Mix the fantastic CGI in this trailer and the solid track record of Sonic animation (my 3 year old turned me onto Sonic X — it rocks) with the need for Sega win back the hearts and minds of gamers, and I’m going to say it falls somewhere in between. Either way, this looks awesome.

Night of the Werehog is a short animated film set to debut sometime this month at nightofthewerehog.com, probably around the November 18th release date for Sonic Unleashed. No word on the specific details yet — will it serve as a precursor the game? Is made up of cut scenes? Does it smell like fresh baked cookies?

After going hands on with Sonic Unleashed at X08 earlier this year, I’m pretty psyched to get my hands on anything related to the came. Here’s to hoping Night of the Werehog debuts soon!