Al Nilsen

CBS All Access making a documentary limited series based on Blake J. Harris’ Console Wars book

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CBS All Access, a CBS owned streaming platform, will be doing a limited series of documentaries based around Blake J. Harris’ Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo and the Battle that Defined a Generation book and its source material. We were lucky enough to interview Blake J. Harris back when the book first released, there was already talk of companies wanting to do projects based on the book. It’s a great interview.

The featured documentary will be partnered with Legendary Television Studios and Oscar-winning documentation Doug Blush. The project will be directed by Blake J. Harris and Jonah Tulis and will be executive produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s company. One interesting bit is that Julian Rosenberg from Circle of Confusion will be producing, this is a company that was in talks to adapt SEGA IP properties to TV and film a few years back.

If you haven’t read Console Wars, you can check out our review here. Basically, pick it up, its good. Will you be tuning in to watch the show on CBS All Access?

[Source: Deadline]

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‘Console Wars’ movie project shifts to the small screen with limited series

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Back in early 2014 we shared the news that the Blake J. Harris book CONSOLE WARS: Sega, Nintendo and the Battle that Defined a Generation would be releasing as a documentary and then a movie, produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. Since then, the book released and we not only reviewed it, but we also had the honor of interviewing former SEGA of America president Tom Kalinske, former director of marketing Al Nilsen and the book’s author Blake J. Harris. We also covered the Console Wars Comic Con panel, providing exclusive video of the event. Suffice to say, we loved Console Wars.

Since then, however, Hollywood has been silent on the documentary and movie front… until now! Via Variety comes news that the book will no longer be adapted into a movie, but instead a limited series. Rogen and Goldberg will executive produce, and Jordan Vogt-Roberts (writer of Kong: Skull Island) will direct with Mike Rosolio set to write the pilot (the latter two will also serve as executive producers). We don’t know where the series will air yet, but recent Rogen and Goldberg projects premiered on Hulu and Amazon Prime.

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Watch the full ‘Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation’ San Diego Comic Con panel

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This past weekend, SEGAbits writers Ben, Shigs, and Nuckles hit San Diego Comic Con and SEGA’s game preview event located at the nearby Nerd HQ. While Comic Con isn’t as game centric as E3, there was quite a bit of SEGA goodness to be found. We were able to check out the latest preview builds of Alien: Isolation and Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, as well as interview Archie Comics on the upcoming Sonic Boom comic book series. But the main event had to have been Sunday’s Console Wars panel. The panel, which centered around the SEGA and Nintendo rivalry of the 90’s, featured special guests Tom Kalinske (Sega of America), Al Nilsen (Sega of America), Bill White (Nintendo of America), and Perrin Kaplan (Nintendo of America), as well as Console Wars author Blake J. Harris and Julian Rosenberg, producer of the upcoming Console Wars documentary.

Thanks to Blake, Nuckles and Shigs were given the VIP treatment and secured some awesome seats – allowing us to film the panel and Q&A session and meet the SEGA and Nintendo legends! Check out the full panel above, and make sure to pick up your copy of Console Wars if you haven’t already!

Want more Console Wars discussion? Check out our three part interview series with Tom Kalinske, Al Nilsen, and Blake J. Harris.

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Console Wars panel announced for San Diego Comic Con on Sunday, July 27th

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The official site for the Console Wars book has officially announced that a Console Wars panel will be taking place at San Diego Comic Con featuring SEGA and Nintendo all-stars Tom Kalinske (Sega of America), Al Nilsen (Sega of America), Bill White (Nintendo of America), and Perrin Kaplan (Nintendo of America), as well as Julian Rosenberg, producer of the upcoming Console Wars documentary alongside Console Wars author Blake J. Harris. The panel will be in Room 23ABC at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 27th and Blake will be signing copies of the book in the autographing area, table AA09, from 4 – 5 p.m.

And guess what? SEGAbits just might be attending, as we’ve obtained press passes for the convention! We’ll alert our readers on the social networks once we have our Comic Con plans finalized.

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Swingin’ Report Show #60: Console Wars with Al Nilsen, SEGA’s Director of Marketing (’89-’93)

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The SEGAbits Swingin’ Report Show is back, and boy do we have a special episode for you! Joining us for our 60th episode is Al Nilsen, SEGA of America’s Director of Marketing from 1989 through 1993. Al and his team were behind everything from the early days of the SEGA Genesis, including promoting the famous “Genesis Does What Nintendon’t” campaign, the creation of Sonic the Hedgehog, implementing the legendary “Sonic 2sday” worldwide launch of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in 1992, and rolling out the “Welcome to the Next Level” campaign. Suffice to say, Al is a legend, so the opportunity to sit down and talk about the good ol’ days for an hour and a half was a dream come true for us as SEGA fans.

Al’s appearance is in anticipation of the release of “Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation” by author Blake J. Harris, which you can pre-order today from Amazon.com. “Console Wars” tells the story of SEGA vs. Nintendo during the early 90’s, as told from the perspective of SEGA of America president Tom Kalinske. Based on over two hundred interviews with former SEGA and Nintendo employees, “Console Wars” is the underdog tale of how Kalinske miraculously turned an industry punchline into a market leader. It’s the story of how a humble family man, with an extraordinary imagination and a gift for turning problems into competitive advantages, inspired a team of underdogs to slay a giant and, as a result, birth a $60 billion dollar industry.

Expect more “Console Wars” content throughout May, including a podcast with the author Blake J. Harris next week, and a podcast with Tom Kalinske himself the week after that! We also have some surprises, but in the meantime enjoy Al’s interview!

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