Yo, what if Nintendo bought SEGA?

[Barry the Nomad]

I gotta side with Halo have excellent art direction. At least the first game. I was a huge FPS hater as a kid, and even Halo's aesthetics lead me to buying the game and playing it. To this day it is one of the few FPS that I've played extensively and own.

[Centrale]

Yeah, Halo has lovely, painterly art direction and some of their enemy designs, like the Hunters, remind me of Japanese character designs at times... or at least a good hybrid of Japanese and American design.

[Ben]

If you guys haven't played Halo 4 yet, it looks even better, seriously.

[mylifewithsega]

Not a fan of Halo. Never understood the appeal.

[Radrappy]

the art is pretty great for halo overall.  The only thing I would say is that master chief's design kind of sucks and It grinds my gears when he gets mentioned as a classic iconic character.  I mean, his proportions and helmet design are just so damn bland.  Always have been. 

[ungibbed]

When it comes to Halo, I loved the vehicle designs. They had a real world look to them as practical machines. The Warthog, drop ship (obvious influence from the Aliens film), and then the alien craft with an completely unreal but still practical design.

I still play the original on my Mac in crazy high resolution. It may not be as pretty as COD4 on my setup, but 2650x1440 makes sniping almost too easy in multiplayer.

[Barry the Nomad]

The environment of Halo, and the vehicle designs, are what really drew me to the series. Also, I think Master Chief has a very iconic look, and I do love the name.

[Radrappy]

Also, I think Master Chief has a very iconic look, and I do love the name.

What's iconic about it?  He's just space soldier #543.  At least samus has big ass shoulder pads that give her unique proportions. 

[Trippled]

What's iconic about it?  He's just space soldier #543.  At least samus has big ass shoulder pads that give her unique proportions.

He's inbrained in everyone as the Icon of Xbox. Like, that should be good enough already.

[Radrappy]

He's inbrained in everyone as the Icon of Xbox. Like, that should be good enough already.

totally, but that has nothing to do with his design and everything to do with the success of the franchise. 

[ROJM]

Does anyone think Platinum's games have more of a Capcom or SEGA feel to them or do Capcom and SEGA's styles blend in fairly well? Metal Gear Rising seems to feel like something Platinum would do despite things like the story and characters and the original ideas before Platinum's arrival being from Konami/Kojima Productions.

No. I think people are confusing what BD and Vanquish's aims were and how they relate in A Sega context. VANQUISH is a classic mentality of a japanese game. Take a western concept and do a japanese spin on it. This is something the old Capcom was great at doing. Sega does the same principal but they do something extra by putting a "sega" spin on the title. Which is why many of their titles stand out. BD idea was the merge the recent multiplayer co op FPS concept towards a TPS concept but introducing a storyline and to some degree a RPG co operation element into the gameplay. This is something that nobody probably would have thought of or if they did would even attempt to tyy. And predictably the world ignored it. but what happens and it will, 12 to 18 months down the line we see a game exactly like BD but tweaked and a slightly improved or better engine? Not only will it make a lot of moolah but it will be hearlded as the next stage of TPS gaming. How would sega feel then? How would you feel? especially if the people that ignored it start saying this game is the granddaddy of a sea change in TPS gaming?

In the context of Sega gaming, VANQUISH fits in the legacy of Sega second party gsaming of sega hiring a team of developers(probably from a rival company)to create titles similar to their rivals or third parties. This was because Sega couldn't gett he likes of Konami or Capcom back in the MS/early MD era and needed to imitate their games a bit. Sometimes the sega consumer teams did it themselves like STREETS OF RAGE being an answer to Capcom's final fight and in a rare occasion of an answer back, surpassing the title that inspired it , or reprogramming old titles like Forgotten worlds and strider. Others like when they got hold of Treasure, they got what they wanted. ALIEN SOLDIER is just a pure Contra game without the platforms bits and just the boss levels. Platinum is just another part of this legacy in sega second party gaming. Sega hired them not only because they were one of the best and they are a hot team but to their closeness to a style of capcom gaming that capcom use to make money out of. Which is why many consider BAYONETTA the true DMC sequel and why VANQUISH fits the criteria of a clasic 3d japanese game with western influences. the difference is that sega is giving us titles that imitate third parties they use to couldn't have on their systems, while they are a third party themselves.

[semmie]

No. I think people are confusing what BD and Vanquish's aims were and how they relate in A Sega context. VANQUISH is a classic mentality of a japanese game. Take a western concept and do a japanese spin on it. This is something the old Capcom was great at doing. Sega does the same principal but they do something extra by putting a "sega" spin on the title. Which is why many of their titles stand out. BD idea was the merge the recent multiplayer co op FPS concept towards a TPS concept but introducing a storyline and to some degree a RPG co operation element into the gameplay. This is something that nobody probably would have thought of or if they did would even attempt to tyy. And predictably the world ignored it. but what happens and it will, 12 to 18 months down the line we see a game exactly like BD but tweaked and a slightly improved or better engine? Not only will it make a lot of moolah but it will be hearlded as the next stage of TPS gaming. How would sega feel then? How would you feel? especially if the people that ignored it start saying this game is the granddaddy of a sea change in TPS gaming?

In the context of Sega gaming, VANQUISH fits in the legacy of Sega second party gsaming of sega hiring a team of developers(probably from a rival company)to create titles similar to their rivals or third parties. This was because Sega couldn't gett he likes of Konami or Capcom back in the MS/early MD era and needed to imitate their games a bit. Sometimes the sega consumer teams did it themselves like STREETS OF RAGE being an answer to Capcom's final fight and in a rare occasion of an answer back, surpassing the title that inspired it , or reprogramming old titles like Forgotten worlds and strider. Others like when they got hold of Treasure, they got what they wanted. ALIEN SOLDIER is just a pure Contra game without the platforms bits and just the boss levels. Platinum is just another part of this legacy in sega second party gaming. Sega hired them not only because they were one of the best and they are a hot team but to their closeness to a style of capcom gaming that capcom use to make money out of. Which is why many consider BAYONETTA the true DMC sequel and why VANQUISH fits the criteria of a clasic 3d japanese game with western influences. the difference is that sega is giving us titles that imitate third parties they use to couldn't have on their systems, while they are a third party themselves.

binary domain came later but in my opinion vanquish is better and bigger. while binary is hmm. more of the same. but in overall i agree with you.
just had to bring this up

[Nameless 24]

So Madworld is a SEGA version of No More Heroes? 

That would make sense...but Suda51 aren't exactly the best developers when it comes to sales....but I enjoy NMH moreso then Madworld (not that the latter is a bad game, I just think that NMH executes it's boss battles that little bit better).

I think SEGA takes influences from many developers...like Valkyria Chronicles being their version of Fire Emblem (but better), or how Yakuza is a take on Grand theft Auto, but with the twist that you ARE the Gangster who's not exactly the bad guy in the story, but does what he can to help people on both sides of the law.

[ROJM]

So Madworld is a SEGA version of No More Heroes? 

That would make sense...but Suda51 aren't exactly the best developers when it comes to sales....but I enjoy NMH moreso then Madworld (not that the latter is a bad game, I just think that NMH executes it's boss battles that little bit better).

I think SEGA takes influences from many developers...like Valkyria Chronicles being their version of Fire Emblem (but better), or how Yakuza is a take on Grand theft Auto, but with the twist that you ARE the Gangster who's not exactly the bad guy in the story, but does what he can to help people on both sides of the law.

I mean it like this, if there was a Sega system still around, the type of games like MADWORLD or RESONANCE OF FATE would have been made to pacify their userbase who may or wants to play titles like Suda51 or the square enix style of games but their games wouldn't be available on a Sega system for whatever reason.So they use the next best thing. The problem now of course is that Sega doesn't need to continue that mentality to a third party context because they are a third party themselves.
And in the context of MW, Platinum games were the starpower that Sega was investing in, so any game they would have made, Sega thought would make some money. But it didn't turn out like that.

[Barry the Nomad]

A lot of people give SEGA shit for releasing less games now than they did in the console era, but the thing is (like you're saying ROJM) they no longer need to fill in the missing pieces of a console library. I didn't quite get that until I saw your posts, but it makes total sense now. Why would they need the 2K sports games? They have no need to compete in that market.