Podcast reactions to Sega's recent statement

[Aki-at]

I hate the USA market especially the Nintendo fans that rewrite history. You should see how many of them actually think that the N64 was a 'massive' success for Nintendo and how SEGA, like always failed with the Saturn.

The N64 had a decrease of 3 million from the SNES before it, it wasn't a massive success in America either and continued the slow decline of Nintendo's relevance in Western console market until the Wii.

[Tad]

To answer your question about if the UK press bash Nintendo. No. They only bash whoever they are when they deserve it from what I've seen. They bashed Nintendo mid Wii cycle for being an overpriced paper weight, and the Wii u for existing...that seems fair enough really.

[Randroid]

To answer your question about if the UK press bash Nintendo. No. They only bash whoever they are when they deserve it from what I've seen. They bashed Nintendo mid Wii cycle for being an overpriced paper weight, and the Wii u for existing...that seems fair enough really.

Thank you. Was genuinely curious about that. Since I'm on the wrong side of North American gaming press bias, I notice their lack of objectivity a lot.

[Randroid]

I guess success = whatever you liked playing as a kid.

Yup, this is the sentiment that drives opinion in North American gaming press.

[jonboy101]

To be fair, Sega's games often had very high marks from 1999 - 2003. And generally when a good game does come along, the reviews are good. VC was a critical darling wasn't it?



I will say that I thought Sega's output has improved dramatically in the last few years, though. It's a bit on the slow side, but I imagine they'll pick up speed as we move forward in the next gen.

[Tad]

SoJ is slow, but the rest aren't. Games do just take about 2/3 years to make.

On the gaming media, I've pretty much given up on them. They're a joke anyway and thinking about it more, I've stopped using them for quite some time now. If I see a game I'm interested in, I'll youtube clips, get opinions from others on forums etc and just take a gamble on it and form my own opinion.

[jonboy101]

Yeah, but SOJ is probably the reason most of us are here. Football Manager, Total War and so on are nice icing on the cake, but I doubt many people on the forum are here because of them.

[Aki-at]

Not sure how much major console productions will pick up speed, look at the length of time it's taken Konami to release Metal Gear Solid V, Square with Final Fantasy XV and Capcom with the likes of Deep Down. Western developers do have this issue too, The Witcher 3 and Batman: Arkham Knight took some 3 years to develop?

Think people take for granted how long it takes to make games now thanks to yearly releases (Which is only possible because they rotate between teams in that period so the games still get 2 - 3 years of development time.) I'd rather we get more mid-tier games at this point, there's a serious lack of software for consoles this generation. I expect this to continue with SoJ, major games like Sonic will probably get 3 years development time and they might even expand Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio to get a third team working on it if that series will continue it's yearly tradition.

[Trippled]

Yeah, but SOJ is probably the reason most of us are here. Football Manager, Total War and so on are nice icing on the cake, but I doubt many people on the forum are here because of them.

SOJ probably knows that they are the actual Sega brand, not Creative Assembly, Atlus etc.
Which is why they critized themselfs for the brand value in the west.

[Tad]

Yeah, but SOJ is probably the reason most of us are here. Football Manager, Total War and so on are nice icing on the cake, but I doubt many people on the forum are here because of them.

Which is odd, as the West output has been far better in recent times.

[jonboy101]

Not sure how much major console productions will pick up speed, look at the length of time it's taken Konami to release Metal Gear Solid V, Square with Final Fantasy XV and Capcom with the likes of Deep Down. Western developers do have this issue too, The Witcher 3 and Batman: Arkham Knight took some 3 years to develop?

Think people take for granted how long it takes to make games now thanks to yearly releases (Which is only possible because they rotate between teams in that period so the games still get 2 - 3 years of development time.) I'd rather we get more mid-tier games at this point, there's a serious lack of software for consoles this generation. I expect this to continue with SoJ, major games like Sonic will probably get 3 years development time and they might even expand Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio to get a third team working on it if that series will continue it's yearly tradition.

Very fair, but I think part of the problem is the big games are always the same from SOJ. They really shouldn't have two teams doing Sonic and two teams doing RGG and so on. They've hit a point of diminishing returns and I think the money they're making from mobile and PC should afford them the opportunity to take risks again - or at the very least to do something different.

[jonboy101]

Which is odd, as the West output has been far better in recent times.

yeah, but most people (on this forum anyway) have probably been Sega fans since the 90s or before. Not many people became Sega fans after about 2005, have they?

[Moody]

Not many people became Sega fans after about 2005, have they?

I only got into SEGA's stuff back in 2012, and it was all because they put out re-releases and started pushing for the platform I care most about, the PC. Before then, I barely gave a crap, and now I've got a Genesis and Saturn sitting proudly next to my TV. While I can't say for everyone, I might be the exception, not the rule, but I think SEGA is definitely capable of making new fans.

I know SOJ has more than a few teams, it's just that most of them don't output much that we care for. AM2 still makes arcade games, but most don't leave Japan, and they release those awesome 3D classics, what used to be Smilebit makes Mario and Sonic at the Olympics, and UGA are now part of Sonic Team, so they still make games.

[jonboy101]

I only got into SEGA's stuff back in 2012, and it was all because they put out re-releases and started pushing for the platform I care most about, the PC. Before then, I barely gave a crap, and now I've got a Genesis and Saturn sitting proudly next to my TV. While I can't say for everyone, I might be the exception, not the rule, but I think SEGA is definitely capable of making new fans.

I know SOJ has more than a few teams, it's just that most of them don't output much that we care for. AM2 still makes arcade games, but most don't leave Japan, and they release those awesome 3D classics, what used to be Smilebit makes Mario and Sonic at the Olympics, and UGA are now part of Sonic Team, so they still make games.

But those were the rereleases that made you a fan, not brand new output, right? More germane, you probably didn't start playing Virtua Fighter or whatever you will, because of Football Manager or the Western output Tad was referencing.

I probably should have phrased myself better.

That Smilebit makes the Mario and Sonic games is arguably more offensive than Camelot making Mario Golf or Tennis or whatever it is that they've been whoring themselves out to make for Nintendo. Mario and Sonic should be outsourced if anything should.   

[Moody]

But those were the rereleases that made you a fan, not brand new output, right? More germane, you probably didn't start playing Virtua Fighter or whatever you will, because of Football Manager or the Western output Tad was referencing.

Well if you wanna get technical, what truly got me into SEGA was Sonic Generations, which was still relatively new when I bought it (it was only a year old). That was the gateway, and the thing that solidified it was Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed, which was only a few months old when I bought it (I got the PC version, which came out in early 2013, after every other version). So technically speaking, I did get into SEGA through its newer output.