Memorial

Creator of the GEMS sound driver for Genesis/Mega-Drive, Jon Miller, has passed away

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It is with a heavy heart that I inform you all of the news recently shared on Twitter by Ecco The Dolphin creator Ed Annunziata that his old colleague, Jon Miller, has sadly passed away on May 7th 2024. Unfortunately, his exact birthdate is unknown, so we don’t know of his age at the time of death.

Jon Miller (Not to be confused with Joe Miller, former Sega of America Vice President of Product Development from the Genesis/Mega-Drive and Saturn years who, himself, passed away in 2014) was a software programmer at a few companies that worked closely with Sega of America in the early 90’s. At those companies, Jon had worked on Genesis games like Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin (1991), Chakan The Forever Man (1992), Taz-Mania (1992), Taz in Escape From Mars (1994), and X-Men 2: Clone Wars (1995). He was also a co-creator of GEMS (Genesis Editor for Music and SFX), a sound driver and audio production software for PC made to ease the composition of music for Genesis games for musicians who were not well-versed in FM sound programming. GEMS has been used to make music and sound effects in many American-produced Genesis and 32X games, including every game that Jon himself worked on. His brother, Mark Miller (Composer for the Toejam & Earl series, as well as Sega Channel) was another co-creator for GEMS. After 1995, Jon would join Crystal Dynamics, where he would work on games such as Gex: Enter The Gecko (1998), Akuji The Heartless (1999), and Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (1999).

On behalf of Sega fans everywhere, we here at SegaBits thank Jon Miller for lending his talents to many classic games, both Sega and non-Sega, and for his service in assistance to many composers of Genesis games. May he rest in peace. Many condolences go out to his friends and family.

Join us beyond the break as we reminisce on some classic Genesis game soundtracks that made use of GEMS in memory of Jon Miller.

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Memorial service for fictional Like A Dragon characters, named “Like a Dragon: The Men Who Perished Exhibition”, being held in Japan

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Any fan of the Like A Dragon (Formally “Yakuza”) series will know that these games’ stories have never sugarcoated the mortality of its entire cast. Many characters, some loved and some loathed, have met grim fates in virtually every game ever released bearing the names Like A Dragon and Yakuza. Now, Sega, in collaboration with Parco shopping centers, is giving fans in Japan the chance to pay their respects to many of these characters with the Like a Dragon: The Men Who Perished Exhibition, a series of funeral events for every character in this series that has died up to this point.

At three separate events planned for Tokyo, Nagoya, and Sapporo in the next two months, you can attend traditional Japanese funeral services for these characters to offer flowers and prayers and to purchase exclusive merchandise. Some merch you can purchase fits right in with a funeral service, like incense sticks, mini-headstones, and handkerchiefs. Others are more fun, typical merch, like t-shirts, handbags, bookmarks, and acrylic standees. You can also use your smartphone to see images of the deceased characters with AR on site.

The first exhibition will be in the Parco center in Ikebukuro, Tokyo from December 30th, 2023 to January 13th, 2024. Next is the Nagoya Parco from January 20th to February 4th. Finally, there’s the Sapporo Parco from February 16th to February 25th. If you happen to be in Japan during January or February 2024, be sure to stop by one of these sites to pay your respects to your favorite Like A Dragon characters.

That’s the most important info out of the way. Now check in after the break for details that include spoilers for the Like A Dragon series. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.  

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Climax Entertainment illustrator Yoshitaka Tamaki passes away at 55 years old

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Man, what’s with all the bad news lately? I’m sorry today’s been such a downer, Sega fans. I’ve saved the saddest, most serious news for last though.

Beloved artist and character designer behind some of the Shining Force and Stalker games at Climax Entertainment, Yoshitaka Tamaki, unfortunately passed away from lung cancer on July 13th, 2023 at the still-too-young age of 55. He was just recently mourned in a private funeral service, according to a post from his own twitter that was translated by Gosokkyu.

Tamaki-san’s artwork was easily recognizable with its stylized merging of anime and Disney-esce visual styles. Sega fans will remember his art best from games like Shining in the Darkness, Shining Force, Landstalker, Time Stalkers, and Shining Soul I and II, each of the Sega games he worked on during his time at Climax Entertainment, the developers of all except for the two Shining Soul games. Before all that, he got his start in the video game industry working freelance at Enix until getting noticed by Climax and asked to design art for their first Genesis game, the aforementioned Shining in the Darkness. Besides those games, he would also illustrate for games like FEDA: The Emblem of Justice (both the Super Famicom original and its Sega Saturn remake), FEDA 2: White Surge, Alundra, and Assault Suits Vaiken. Unfortunately, photos of him are rare because he was rather camera shy in life.

We at Segabits humbly thank him for gracing us with his talent and wish the best for his friends and family. His stamp on Sega and video game history will remain long into his absence. 

Feel free to take in some of his amazing art from the Sega games he worked on as well as leave some best wishes and fond memories in the comments after the break.

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