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When the Microsoft Xbox made its European debut in March of 2002, its launch titles included games like Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, Project Gotham Racing and what would be the first entry in it's highest selling franchise: Halo: Combat Evolved. The sequel, imaginatively titled Halo 2, remains the biggest selling game of all time on the Xbox with 8 million copies sold. When you think of the Xbox, or its big sister the Xbox 360, chances are you'll associate it with the Master Chief from Halo. He's not quite their mascot, but certainly a defining character and the reason to buy an Xbox.

Skip forward to the release of Sony's Playstation 3 in March of 2007 and one of its many launch titles was a (very poor) reboot of Sonic the Hedgehog. Hold on a minute...doesn't Sonic belong to Sega? Well yes, he used to be. Once upon a time, when new consoles were put on the market they needed a definitive mascot to help sell them. The console would then have a brand name, an iconic face that went with the product - in Sega's case Sonic the Hedgehog - and a springboard for unlimited sequels to act as a secure income, should other games not sell as well as they hoped.

Alas poor Sonic. I knew him, Horatio. When his games were still good.

Sonic's first appearance came in November of 1990 with the arrival of the Sega Mega Drive. His popularity saw Sonic the Hedgehog 2 become the best selling game on that console. Sonic's rival and Nintendo's chosen mascot, Mario, began life as a minor character in Donkey Kong and was originally nicknamed 'Jumpman' in Japan, before later being named by the Nintendo staff after Mario Segale; their fiery warehouse landlord. The Super Mario Bros game cemented the character in the public consciousness and from 1985 onwards, he was Nintendo's bitch - or 'mascot', if you prefer.

Sega had Sonic, Nintendo had Mario, Microsoft had the Master Chief from Halo and all were highly profitable for their makers. So what mascot did Sony originally produce for the Playstation in November 1995? Well, they had titles including Tekken, Air Combat and Final Fantasy VII at their disposal but the highest selling game would turn out to be Gran Turismo, with nearly 11 million copies sold to date. A car isn't really a mascot, but the point is the PS1 didn't seem to need one.

The original Tekken. Could these guys be considered Playstation mascots?

Created by Capcom, Resident Evil was another of Sony's most profitable babies and there was a time when it was one of the most prominent selling points of the PS1, then through its sequels and spin-offs, the PS2 and PS3. But again, it wasn't an official mascot. Resident Evil 5 is potentially the PS3 game of 2009 - it's certainly being touted as such - yet it'll also be made available on the Xbox 360 and PC. So these days everyone wants a piece of the pie, regardless of who originally baked it.

Pimping of characters like this has been building for years. Sonic had cameos in Phantasy Star Universe and more recently joined up with old enemy Mario in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games in 2008. Suddenly consoles no longer kept their mascots on a tight leash. They'd found that more money was to be had by broadening their horizons and licensing Sonic, Mario and others across rival platforms - something unthinkable only ten years ago. Their consoles no longer had a single iconic character to tow the line, but with literally thousands of games on the market, did they really need one anymore?

The long awaited union, or a sad day for gamers worldwide?

Sonic may still remain an icon for Sega but we forget that they bowed out of the console race after both the Sega Saturn and the Dreamcast failed to perform as well as their rivals, the N64, PS2 and Xbox. Since 2002, Sega have focused their business more towards software manufacture but they're doing better these days thanks mainly to income brought in by various Sonic related games and merchandise. (Sometimes it pays to have a mascot, even though you've abandoned him).