SEGAbits Forums
Gaming => General Gaming Discussion => Topic started by: MadeManG74 on September 26, 2012, 05:16:40 am
-
It's a simple question that might not be easy to answer.
I figure this is good time to post it, because really I have to admit that I don't have as much love for Sega as I used to. I know I've never been as fanatical as some people on this forum (Barry for example has apparantly never bought a new game that wasn't Sega published until RDR, something I find unfathomable as a gamer, even if Sega was my favourite publisher. I think others said they would stop gaming is Sega went bust, again, something I couldn't imagine doing, to me SEGA was always just a part of something much bigger), but even so I find myself caring less and less about Sega with most pieces of news.
Obviously the big one in recent days has been Bayonetta 2 being picked up by Nintendo. I think just about everyone loved the original and we all (except fluffy) remembered why we loved Sega in the first place when playing it and couldn't wait for a sequel. The partnership with Platinum seemed to be a great move that worked well for everyone, and now it's clearly fallen to pieces.
What also has been making me become disinterested is Sega's focus on digital games. I know it makes sense on paper, and there are upsides to it (JSR on XBLA comes to mind), but for every good thing to come of it, there's an announcement of 'A new title!' that turns out to be some $2 iPhone game to play while you're on the toilet. Forgive me for not getting excited about Sega's surprises anymore.
Having said that, almost everything bad I can think of is cancelled out by games like Yakuza 5 and Rome 2 Total War, which are probably my most anticipated games at the moment. Not to mention AM2 still has that fire that makes me love them, Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown is a fantastic game and I cannot wait for their next efforts, especially if it's another fighting game.
I guess I'm just wondering if anyone else is starting to feel jaded with big blue, in fact I'd be surprised if anyone honestly ISN'T a little worried about them or starting to not care.
Also, yes I still think Sonic games are mediocre at best, and I don't expect them to get better, ever.
-
I'll write more later (good thread idea!) but your RDR fact about me is wrong. :'(
edit: Okay, got time to post!
To clarify: At the time RDR released, it was the first non-SEGA published title in a long while that I bought brand new, full price, on release week. I do buy a ton of non-SEGA titles, it's just that since I came into this gen so late (2009, I believe) I was playing catch up and buying titles that were either new at reduced prices or used. Up to 2009, PS2 was the only console I had that was deemed "active", so it's not like I had a lot of options for new titles. I've also bought a lot of non-SEGA games new on digital platforms and new at budget prices. But yeah, it is rare for me to spend $50+ on a brand new, non-SEGA title. I don't think that's a bad thing. It's not like I have a lot of time for home console games. Hell, I still need to beat RDR! lol Next $60 game I'll probably buy on release that is non-SEGA is Watch Dogs (assuming it releases soonish). I also want to check out Sleeping Dogs and Fable: The Journey.
--
Anyway, on topic: Yes, I still like SEGA.
Do I love SEGA as much now as I did in the Dreamcast days? No. But I've come to accept years ago that the SEGA of now is no longer the same as they were in that 1991-2001 era. Even so, the SEGA of now (and I'm talking right now in 2012) is an entity that I love far more than I did in the 2005-2008 era. Oh god, I am so very happy I took a break from video games for those four years, because looking back SEGA was doing a lot of shit that I would have hated. The Sonic franchise was shit, they had a ton of awful third party titles and even a lot of awful first party titles. Franchises that I love, like Golden Axe and
NiGHTS were given poor sequels. They had all those awful Marvel games. Yakuza is the only real bright spot of those years for me, and I only just recently got into the first two. But I know I would have loved them on release.
Really, I think SEGA has greatly improved since 2008. From 2009-2012 I was (and am) proud to be a fan of the company, and I genuinely enjoy their output in that four year span. I'll admit, I think they're scaling back this year has hurt me as a fan a little, because as you mentioned Mademan, it's hard to get excited for an announcement of 'A new title!' when most likely it'll be a small iOS release. Even so, SEGA's iOS output as of recent is great. But it's hardly something to get really excited for.
As is, SEGA is offering me (as a fan) a few big name titles a year, a number of digital rereleases that (finally!) have TLC applied to them (compare SEGA Heritage to the Dreamcast Collection, it's night and day) and iOS releases that are enjoyable. So I'm content as a fan. I'm no longer spoiled like I was in the console era, but I'm far happier now as a fan than I was in the mid-00's.
-
Here's the thing, really, I don't think it's me being upset about SEGA, it's more that I am upset at the video games industry in general.
I am kinda upset at SEGA, for being generally non-chalant about their games and failing to generate any type of buzz about 'em, but really I see virtually no difference in how everyone else is doing. 2012 has been a horrible year for the video games industry in general.
This has added a feeling of being jaded, not only towards SEGA's games but... screw it... everybody else too.
I don't care about Call of Duty, Halo, Gears of War, Battlefield, Assassin's Creed or any other of the major games, they don't appeal to me. Even worse, they are starting to become very homogenous.
And also take this into account, general interest in games has greatly declined all over the Internet. One common trend is the ever decreasing traffic in video game-related websites and message board participation... why? Simple, there really is nothing new that's worth getting excited about.
I've noticed that with some of my best buds, we'd chat about video games sometimes what felt like hours, as time went by, our converstations about video games last no more than a brief seconds, against, because it's getting difficult to tell someone that the new FIFA game is worth checking out.
Even with video games news in general, it feels like that the only games that sell are the ones video game journalists actually mention, other than that, they doesn't exist.
But getting back to the question itself, yes, it's starting to get very difficult to defend SEGA as a whole, because the general public perception for this company is that they are essentially this generation's Akklaim, no matter how many good games they release, no matter how much you shout that it's an unfair generalization and it's innacurate. You'd get the same results by talking to a wall.
-
I must say its a good topic MM.well done. :)
My intrest for Sega is a genuine love for the company and a personal one. When I was young my father had several stock options for various companies which the firm he worked for had invested in. One of them was Sega. This was when the company under new management tried to make their first inroad into the west. The system which turned out to be an S3000 barely worked because it was a south african system. but even after when the firm would later sell off most of the stock down the line my dad for some reason kept hold of the sega stock he had as well as a few others whose markets he didn't have any particular intrest in. My real intrest in Sega sparked four years later after playing some of their games in the arcades in an era when arcades were a dubious place(where you had to be 18 to enter in most of them and they were really fruit machine parlours that happened to have arcade games in them)but because of the caliber of some of these games mainly Sega's most of the town's game players maanged to find a way to get in, mainly because no one saw graphics like that before and the gameplay involved was addictive. And at least for me this passion for this company began to grow and grow, enough for me to get the master system (or my mum did) and once i was earning my own money as a teenager could get the other Sega systems that followed. While my intrest was with the arcades, Sega's home games were also starting to come into their own, and when the whole ninntendo vs sega thing came about it wasn't very hard to see a Sega fan hold his/her head up high because no matter what the competition threw at us, we knew as fans that we were enjoying and playing some of the great games ever to be released. Even during the saturn and the DC, you as a Sega fan could argue the point that while Sony may have had this or that, the saturn had NIGHTS, the Saturn had Megamix or the DC had this or that. Im not going to say i wasn't disilluisoned by some of Sega's choices with their consoles especially what happened with the saturn and the Dc which made me abandon console gaming for a while but as always it was because of the efforts of the sega's console staff that saw me return to that front. Now im an adult i inherited my late father's stock in this company and even brought some of my own as a way to be close to him, as well as being close to a passion he helped spark within me. During the years i've become a collector of all sort of sega games and merchandise even biting my tounge when sega became a third party and even when sega sold out to sammy i still thought it was still a good thing. But since the last time i was here regular things have changed. I'm not as passionate for Sega as i once was. While i'm accustomed to the ups and downs that has happened since i became a fan of this company things were different. back then Sega had the talent to pull themselves out of any slump they found themselves in. But now half that talent is gone while the other half are regulated to creating sequels to arcade games or third party games. I dont mind that as much but i dont feel the energy that once existed within the company, an energy that was bursting not just in japan but in the offices of the old Sega of America and europe HQ that also turned up their fair share of games. I dont see a balance in platform. While i doubt Sega will totally abandon making games for console systems, this whole reshuffling and jumping head first into a market that's voliatile at best just nailed it that not only my love affair of collecting the modern sega games may be at least over(i mean can one really collect a download and put it on your shelf?) but that Sega's just going over the easier road which for a company that never took the easy route is hard for a fan to really understand even though i understand the situation. I ended up selling off my dad stock and my own but not all of it. Not as a protest(which would be silly) but just that its time to move on. I still play their arcade titles when i have the time but even that's not as freash as it was a few years back and the passion for Sega isn't entirely dead but things have changed too much for me to just blindly go over the hill and take that bullet for em. The penny dropped when a realgreat line up (which they have managed to build several good release line ups for the last couple of years) was horribly mismanaged and to a degree is probably part of the reason why the returns have been so dire. When Platnium openly says "Sega didn't know how good are games were" how can i argue with that when Sega obviously didn't know how good some of their inhouse Sega games were for them to handle it like they did. Can one be excited over a bunch of IOS games? Can anyone really get excited that they will focus on five main titles, which only two have of them are actually original IP made by Sega while the others arent? Is this after all the great leagcy of games has essentially come to? While i understand the situation they are in as a fan i cant possible go into the direction, because what we are mainly talking here is a change of Sega's philosphy since they were founded. They going towards the quick and easy route. When they never took anything but even when their backs were against the wall. Creating games that wont really wow anyone letalone be much innovative. Maybe i'm wrong, hopefully i'm wrong. But its enough doubt for my fire to be burnt out and just watch from afar from time to time.
-
I more or less lost faith in Sega when they left the console biz. Ever since then their games have been less inspired, of lower quality, and tonally all over the place. I don't know what the Sega brand even means any more. I got into gaming because of my love for colorful quirky japanese games and similar to what max cady said, the current gaming trends hold no interest for me. I've tried to enjoy games that journalists have showered with 10/10 scores(like Mass Effect 2, Uncharted, halo, etc) but they just don't have a lot of personality. They feel like mediocre interactive hollywood movies at best. You're lucky Barry, that you skipped Sega during 2005-2008 because those were some terrible, terrible years. That era single handedly leveled their credibility as a developer and they have yet to recover(and at this rate they never will).
About Sega currently, nothing could be more worrisome than their silence. I feel like almost all of their development teams have clammed up. AM2 hasn't made anything new or original in a long, long time. Am3 has been completely silent for 6 years. Only Segawow/overworks has anything to show with the lovely Valkyria Chronicles series (arguably the best thing sega has done since they left consoles). But it's clear that Sega isn't interested in taking Valkyria anywhere other than cheap ios efforts. Platinum games has been abandoned and a recent restructuring has made it clear that Sega can no longer afford to be the risk taker they've always been.
It's ironic (given the 90's feud) that I find myself drifting more and more towards nintendo to enjoy what it was that got me into games in the first place. Their consistently high quality experiences, intriguing hardware innovations, and relative intact creative integrity doesn't hurt either. As far as I can tell they're the only console developer still in it for the games.
And as for the sonic franchise, I have mixed opinions. Over time I have grown to accept that the SA games were crap and that the last amazing Sonic title was S&K. I was surprisingly pleased with Sonic Colors as it had its heart in the right place. Sonic generations on the other hand, is junk. It could go either way at this point but I have a lot more faith in whoever developed Colors than whoever was in charge of Generations.
-
Another topic too interesting to pass up.
Sega still has my love and knows how to spark my gaming passion. If they were to close up shop entirely in the west (it's next to impossible that they'll stop operations in japan) then I would only buy their jp titles and start collecting retro sega seriously (something I'm dabbling with now).
The major Western franchises are starting to all look the same (do look forward to Watchdogs though).
Their JP titles and ideas are exactly what makes sega great, they're just so unappreciated here in the west when they get a release.
Titles like:
Yakuza series
7th Dragon series
Shining series
Hatsune Miku
Initial D
Border Break
Virtua Fighter series
Phantasy Star Online 2
all remind me that sega still has it and will stay strong where they are appreciated (Japan). Even the sonic series still has it (Colors and Generations were brilliant).
But as far as how they stand in the west, they are niche now just as they were niche back in the day (there was just less competition to make it apparent).
And as far as platinum goes, Bayo and Vanquish were brilliant, but I'm starting to think Sega was right not to release Anarchy Reigns. It's a fun title, but again I doubt it would have been appreciated in the west. It's just not an FPS or GTA clone.
-
Sure do, I wouldn't be around here if I didn't.
Yeah, they are not exactly living their golden age, but they are still my favorite publisher this generation... A lot of their both developed and published games were nothing short of brilliant... From the Shogun 2, Renegade Ops, Condemned, to Valkriya Chronicles, Yakuza 3, and Binary Domain.
My top 10 games of the generation list is filled with Sega games, and I especially enjoyed their digital output, games like After Burner Climax, Renegade Ops, Hell Yeah, VF5FS are one of the many reasons I am hopeful with SEGA's new digital strategy, if that means we will get fun, innovative, and brilliant arcade-ish games like the ones above, then I'm all for it!
-
I think the great thing about SEGA (and anything with a fandom for that matter) is that no matter what they do now or in the future, we still have 20+ years of output from them to enjoy. I mean, if SEGA went out of business tomorrow I'd be crushed. But I'd also still have hours and hours (or maybe even years) of games that I've never fully experienced.
Look at the poor Atari fans, they've had to rely on compilations for the past 20 years. At least with SEGA, when they left the console market they've still delivered on games. All of Yakuza is a post console franchise, as is the bulk of the good 3D Sonic games.
-
sega is libero since it doesnt have a console at the moment.
so therefor wherever the games come it is just what it is. i dont hate sega. i love it. and ill love it more with a console and a base
-
Sega's had their ups and downs since going 3rd party, that's for sure. At this point in time I'm not at all a fan of where they seem to be heading; their 'play it safe' approach is the exact opposite of what they've always stood for.
In the wake of failure you have little choice, of course, but the failures they've faced seem to be almost entirely their own doing....you can't do this effortlessly, Sega...if you release games, especially new IP, especially late in a cycle, you have to market them. A few mini-trailers to a Youtube page and a couple nice people as your Community Managers don't cut it...you need to do more.
Hell Yeah just came out, it caught me completely by surprise. No marketing, nothing.
Jet Set Radio's fun but it's also like the 10th time I'm playing it...I can clear it in basically 1 afternoon.
-
I got back into SEGA games in late 2009 from All Stars Racing and Valkyria Chronicles.
I've grew up on the Mega Drive and played Sonic and Streets of Rage for years...but before, my love for SEGA was very diluted (I loved SEGA's games, but not like I appreciate them today...and I can't say the same for Nintendo...although I think their output is a little better now then back then).
I think I love SEGA more then ever, but I tend to play a wide spectrum of games (Rayman Origins is fantastic, and when I went to play Sonic Colours on the Wii a few months back, the two games play very well to me, so I am glad of the direction of where the Rayman series is going).
I would say that their input now is on par or better then their Dreamcast years! (I never owned a Dreamcast by the way...and I have tried most of their catalogue then, but only a few interest me vs what they do now/what they did in the Mega Drive years) Valkyria Chronicles is a potential goldmine which SEGA sadly decided to not follow up on properly (and probably the best SRPG franchise of all time, including Fire Emblem), Yakuza has a very dedicated fanbase outside of the SEGA fandom (I know a few fans who could care less about SEGA, but love Yakuza), and Binary Domain...don't get me started on that game...pure quality as a shooter but sadly didn't sell very well.
Platinum's efforts have been great too (not a fan of Bayonetta sadly, but I did finish it and thought it was well created).
I can see why people are fed up of SEGA's idiotic decisions and their lack of faith in their franchises, but I haven't given up on the quality (most people debate this, as it does appear B-Tier to most gamers, but I say it's subjective....No More Heroes as a series is an example of style vs substance...the first game was bare ones but apparently better then the sequel with many different things going for it) of their games and franchises since it appeals to me, as it's unique to what SEGA does.
Would I quit gaming should SEGA cease to exist? Nope...as I don't game these days anyway due to not feeling motivated by anything (it's sad when the two things you love doing you can't be bothered to do? My two things are SEGA games and Ghibli Studio films), but it'd leave a hole in my gaming collection in the future.
If I ever lose my love in SEGA games, it'll be due to their lack of effort, which I don't see in them despite the mistakes they made.
-
Of course, Virtua Fighter and Yakuza are still part of them and either are almost always deadset to be my GOTYs when ever a new title drops, add to that Football Manager too whenever I feel my life needs to amount to nothing else but managing a virtual team. There is a lot less quantity yes, but the same is said about the industry in general. EA dropped from 72 retail titles in 2008 to 14 this current year and Konami only had one inhouse developed title this TGS (With everything else being digital)
Gaming is in the gutter and is in the middle of a crash for retail gaming whilst another crash soon to happen over iOS gaming (Namco/SEGA/Konami/Capcom/Square am cry) a truly sad situation we find gaming in but c'est la vie. I plan on moving onto PC for next generation in anycase, nothing from the big 3 seems particularly interesting, Xbox has never been my thing, Sony will go all art and no substance and Nintendo is not too special anymore either.
-
I'm surprised people are so excited about Watch Dogs like it's something different and new. It looked kinda bland to me when I saw it. :-\
In any event:
Barry -
Sorry about the misunderstanding about the RDR situation, I thought it was the first time you'd bought a non-sega game that was new or something. But yeah that makes sense, and i know what you mean abou time constraints. I don't get how people complain about no good games anymore, when I constantly find myself never having time to play the ones I want to.
On a more general note:
I have to disagree with being jaded with gaming overall, for the most part I still think there's a good number of games being released, just that Sega of late seems to be dissapointing me a lot. Sure you don't have to like COD, Gears, AC (although I actually like Gears and AC series a lot), but there's still a lot of other stuff doing the rounds. Way of the Samurai 4 comes out soon and that looks interesting, and I'm still playing the excellent Dark Souls for example. Having said that though, I fully expect titles like this to move towards download only, since retail is hurting something severe. The big games are getting a little bit bigger, but everything else is falling apart. It doesn't really bother me as much as other people, because there will always be a place for those niche games, even if it's not on the shelf. I hope that Sega does more downloadable games of substance (like The Cave is looking to turn out) rather than iOS games and the like only.
I want to say though, I mean do you like Sega and their outputs right now. I'm sure we all love Sega overall for their past efforts and their library over the decades, but as of right now, they're just kind of another publisher. They still have gold like Virtua Fighter and Yakuza as many have said, but even titles like Total War... well, would anybody notice if Activision was publishing that instead of Sega? I know that this is a slippery slope to go down, but really it's the kind of series that would exist with or without Sega, so i find myself not linking it to Sega as much as their home-grown titles, even though it's 100% Sega owned and made. I could go into the recent terrible DLC plans that Shogun 2 had, but I won't.
-
I want to say though, I mean do you like Sega and their outputs right now. I'm sure we all love Sega overall for their past efforts and their library over the decades, but as of right now, they're just kind of another publisher. They still have gold like Virtua Fighter and Yakuza as many have said, but even titles like Total War... well, would anybody notice if Activision was publishing that instead of Sega? I know that this is a slippery slope to go down, but really it's the kind of series that would exist with or without Sega, so i find myself not linking it to Sega as much as their home-grown titles, even though it's 100% Sega owned and made. I could go into the recent terrible DLC plans that Shogun 2 had, but I won't.
Im more concerned with the actions that satomi is doing. Most of the expansions into new markets that Sega has undertaken under Hajime Satomie has failed. The China market expansion, effectivly failed. The Sega west reorganisation has had mixed results but ultimatly that too has failed. The international arcade market expansion too ultimatly failed. And now the company's consumer buisness is in very dire straits and he's planning to put most of their eggs in one basket and jump into the digital field. If that doesn't pan out goodness knows what will happen. And can anyone really say that they are fine having little to no big Sega games for the next gen consoles? Is ALIEN from Creative Assembly and Sonic really going to pacify the majority next gen? While the majority of the output is going to be download ios games that wont even recquire cutting edge tech to show off the games like the old sega use to do, still do(to an extent) and are pratically known for? I really do think that Sega is in deeper trouble than we all think and judging from past actions and results this could really be the time when the fat lady sings for Sega.
-
I would like SEGA more if they focused on in-house development, rather than publishing. Yakuza, Valkyria, and Sonic games are all evolutionary of the SEGA I used to love, not so much Aliens and Total War. I miss all the arcade style games that I could pick up and play for 20 minute bursts, but not tire of until months later. Games that were pushing technology forward with incredible visuals and adrenaline pumping gameplay, but did present a few bugs to chuckle over.
I did enjoy Renegade Ops, and want more like it. If SEGA focused more on new PSN/XBLA games, then I'd be thrilled. Stop chasing the big players, cause they're just causing the industry to collapse.
-
There's also an issue that's always been on the back of my mind for quite some time and it's the only thing that to me makes any damn sense about the current hostilily towards SEGA and their games in general among game journalists and the like. And it ties to SEGA as a console manufacturer.
You see when SEGA had their own proprietary hardware, all their inhouse stuff was made especifically for them and in a sense you couldn't quite compare them to any other systems at the time. It was all mostly a matter of opinion.
What's the point of arguing about Killzone being better than Gears of War? Both games are great in their own right and they are tailored to their own specific crowds. I have a feeling that if somehow Gears of War was a 3rd party title and had been released on the PS3, it would've not been treated so kindly as a 1st party title would be.
Had games like Binary Domain, HOTD: Overkill, Condemned: Criminal Origins, Resonance of Fate and others had been released on a SEGA system they would most likely be treated with far more respect than what they have today. Because they would be first party titles and as such as entitled to get as much attention as possible.
Take Binary Domain, which is good by it's own merits, but as a third party title, it has to distinguish itself from the massive clutter of existing third person shooters, even worse it has to compared to every single one of them, whereras had it been a first party title in SEGA's hypothetical console, it wouldn't be compared directly to games such as Gears of Wars and the rest of the lot, because apart from other third party titles, it would be ranked as the best in that particular system.
You can also apply that to any of the classic Dreamcast titles, to which they only had a legendary status because of three main factors:
1- The Nintendo 64 and Playstation I were very much underpowered and were not much to look at when the Dreamcast was relased;
2- Sony's Playstation 2, Microsoft's Xbox and Nintendo's Gamecube were still far away to make a significant comparison, when the Dreamcast folded, in early 2002, the PS2 didn't have the impressive library of games it has today and the other consoles were still very much far away;
3- They were all first party titles and considering the DC's somewhat small library, by comparison they were the absolute best on the console;
Had those famous DC titles had been released on the PS2 and Gamecube, would have they been as well received on those systems as they did in their original format? Probably not.
Sonic Adventure 2 was the creme de lá creme on the Dreamcast, not so much on the Gamecube, where these type of platformers are a dime and dozen.
Headhunter was a great game on the Dreamcast, not so much when it was ported to the PS2, where titles like Metal Gear Solid 2 look so much better than this one, regardless of how good and enjoyable the former was.
Now imagine a lot of those DC titles released on XBLA and PSN, which is a far more crowded market, which is why Sonic 4: Episode II didn't meet the standards for some game journalists, because when there's stuff like Limbo, Dust: An Elysian Tail, Scoot Pligrim out there, it might look dated by comparison.
The same goes with the Yakuza series, which are good in their own right and they might dodge a wee bit more criticism because they are exclusive to one console, even though they are compared to many similar titles on that console.
It's the only thing that makes any sense as to why things are the way they are right now.
-
of course i love them and still believe in them...
as long as AM2, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, Sonic Team, and the RPG teams keep making awesome titles.
just recently we got Binary Domain, THoTD4, VF5FS, PSO2 (in Japan .... soon the rest of the world) and even a great port for Jet Set Radio!
in the very near future we can look forward to SaASRT, Yakuza 5 and Demon Tribe as well as NiGHTS port.
in the Arcade front there is Border Break which is still getting massive updates from time to time since 2009 ... and many people are still begging for a console port announcement (hopefully next year).
And can anyone really say that they are fine having little to no big Sega games for the next gen consoles? Is ALIEN from Creative Assembly and Sonic really going to pacify the majority next gen? While the majority of the output is going to be download ios games that wont even recquire cutting edge tech to show off the games like the old sega use to do, still do(to an extent) and are pratically known for? I really do think that Sega is in deeper trouble than we all think and judging from past actions and results this could really be the time when the fat lady sings for Sega.
who said SEGA will only focus on Aliens & Sonic games for Next-Gen Systems?
first of all, SEGASAMMY's plan to reduce retail titles was speaking specifically about the next two years (Q2 2012 - Q1 2014)
they can't stop creating new retail titles forever! (well at least for the next 10 years) even though we are still receiving other retail titles like Rhythm Thief , Yakuza 5 and SMB:BS so you can't take what they said literally.
secondly, i don't understand why you are against the downloadable titles? in the last couple of years we have received many great arcade titles like After Burner Climax, VF5FS and THoTD4 etc..... even PSO2 is totally download free title!
digital distribution is the future. after 10 years from now all the games might be offered only digitally.
so the move to digital distribution is essential.
you said most of their releases will be on iOS .... OK nothing wrong with that since the kind of games doesn't take any real resources to make anyway...but this doesn't mean that they will not release other big titles digitally like BORDER BREAK or potentially VF6 and other Next-Gen Arcade stuff.
the TGS performance was bad i know but not "only" because the market is moving to smartphones content. but also because we are in the middle of a transition to next-gen platforms.
-
Thats a very good point, Max.
Had all of SEGA's titles from the past few years been on a SEGA console, they'd be at the top of the pile and would probably be deemed AAA titles. But since they have to compete with all this shit, they really get buried.
-
of course i love them and still believe in them...
as long as AM2, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, Sonic Team, and the RPG teams keep making awesome titles.
just recently we got Binary Domain, THoTD4, VF5FS, PSO2 (in Japan .... soon the rest of the world) and even a great port for Jet Set Radio!
in the very near future we can look forward to SaASRT, Yakuza 5 and Demon Tribe as well as NiGHTS port.
in the Arcade front there is Border Break which is still getting massive updates from time to time since 2009 ... and many people are still begging for a console port announcement (hopefully next year).
who said SEGA will only focus on Aliens & Sonic games for Next-Gen Systems?
first of all, SEGASAMMY's plan to reduce retail titles was speaking specifically about the next two years (Q2 2012 - Q1 2014)
they can't stop creating new retail titles forever! (well at least for the next 10 years) even though we are still receiving other retail titles like Rhythm Thief , Yakuza 5 and SMB:BS so you can't take what they said literally.
secondly, i don't understand why you are against the downloadable titles? in the last couple of years we have received many great arcade titles like After Burner Climax, VF5FS and THoTD4 etc..... even PSO2 is totally download free title!
digital distribution is the future. after 10 years from now all the games might be offered only digitally.
so the move to digital distribution is essential.
you said most of their releases will be on iOS .... OK nothing wrong with that since the kind of games doesn't take any real resources to make anyway...but this doesn't mean that they will not release other big titles digitally like BORDER BREAK or potentially VF6 and other Next-Gen Arcade stuff.
the TGS performance was bad i know but not "only" because the market is moving to smartphones content. but also because we are in the middle of a transition to next-gen platforms.
Sega themselves said they will focus on four franchises everything else is going digital. Its been common knowledge around here for a while now.
Im not talking about the arcade side of things im mainly talking about the consumer division where all the changes are happening. The arcade division has seen many cutbacks and attempts to lessen costs on creating less cutting edge hardware Ring edge isn't as cutting edge as people think. What affects one will affect the other which has happened before.
Digital maybe the future but that doesn't mean Sega will suceed in it. I think its a huge mistake by throwing everything into the digital arena before its truly arrived. We have seen this happen with Sega before and many times they managed to get out of it but recently its ben a downward spiral with Sega's attempts to go into new markets.
The digital games you are talking about are mostly from the last fiscal year. Most of Sega's DLC efforts will be on the social gaming side. As I have said in other posts they wont abandon the high end side totally but they aren't focusing on that side of the market anymore and that's a bad thing. If you think playing a 20 year old game that most people played or a five year old game like VF5 Showdown is going to pacify many Sega gamers then you in for a suprise.
And AM2 just concentrates on arcades now, RYU GA GOTOKU studio produces a game that most people outside a handful of Sega fans are intrested in while their other game sadly flopped (unless they were brave enough to do the sequel as a download) But we also all know that Sega doesn't do the common sense thing and create those type of titles for xbl or playstation. If Sega doesn't buck their ideas up then we are looking at a real great fall. You can cite the games all you want it didn't do them anygood back in the DC era because of numourous circumstances and it isn't doing that much good at the moment because of incompetent management.
-
Do I still like SEGA? I most certainly do.
No other video game company has brought such fantastic characters and adventures as SEGA has. Ecco the Dolphin, Space Channel 5, Shining Force and of course, Sonic the Hedgehog are just a few franchises by SEGA that I adore. There is just something so unique about SEGA games and that is a big part of why I really enjoy them. I still feel hurt whenever someone hates on SEGA, because what they have brought to the world of video games means a lot to me. SEGA may have had a bit of a rough time over the past year, but I always hope the best for them and I truly can't wait to see what the future will bring. I'm a SEGA man, always have been and always will be.
-
There's also an issue that's always been on the back of my mind for quite some time and it's the only thing that to me makes any damn sense about the current hostilily towards SEGA and their games in general among game journalists and the like. And it ties to SEGA as a console manufacturer.
You see when SEGA had their own proprietary hardware, all their inhouse stuff was made especifically for them and in a sense you couldn't quite compare them to any other systems at the time. It was all mostly a matter of opinion.
What's the point of arguing about Killzone being better than Gears of War? Both games are great in their own right and they are tailored to their own specific crowds. I have a feeling that if somehow Gears of War was a 3rd party title and had been released on the PS3, it would've not been treated so kindly as a 1st party title would be.
Had games like Binary Domain, HOTD: Overkill, Condemned: Criminal Origins, Resonance of Fate and others had been released on a SEGA system they would most likely be treated with far more respect than what they have today. Because they would be first party titles and as such as entitled to get as much attention as possible.
Take Binary Domain, which is good by it's own merits, but as a third party title, it has to distinguish itself from the massive clutter of existing third person shooters, even worse it has to compared to every single one of them, whereras had it been a first party title in SEGA's hypothetical console, it wouldn't be compared directly to games such as Gears of Wars and the rest of the lot, because apart from other third party titles, it would be ranked as the best in that particular system.
You can also apply that to any of the classic Dreamcast titles, to which they only had a legendary status because of three main factors:
1- The Nintendo 64 and Playstation I were very much underpowered and were not much to look at when the Dreamcast was relased;
2- Sony's Playstation 2, Microsoft's Xbox and Nintendo's Gamecube were still far away to make a significant comparison, when the Dreamcast folded, in early 2002, the PS2 didn't have the impressive library of games it has today and the other consoles were still very much far away;
3- They were all first party titles and considering the DC's somewhat small library, by comparison they were the absolute best on the console;
Had those famous DC titles had been released on the PS2 and Gamecube, would have they been as well received on those systems as they did in their original format? Probably not.
Sonic Adventure 2 was the creme de lá creme on the Dreamcast, not so much on the Gamecube, where these type of platformers are a dime and dozen.
Headhunter was a great game on the Dreamcast, not so much when it was ported to the PS2, where titles like Metal Gear Solid 2 look so much better than this one, regardless of how good and enjoyable the former was.
Now imagine a lot of those DC titles released on XBLA and PSN, which is a far more crowded market, which is why Sonic 4: Episode II didn't meet the standards for some game journalists, because when there's stuff like Limbo, Dust: An Elysian Tail, Scoot Pligrim out there, it might look dated by comparison.
The same goes with the Yakuza series, which are good in their own right and they might dodge a wee bit more criticism because they are exclusive to one console, even though they are compared to many similar titles on that console.
It's the only thing that makes any sense as to why things are the way they are right now.
I totally agree. Your point about BINARY DOMAIN is absolutly spot on. Especially since this has happened all before. When Sega or be it Sega of America decided to cash in on the Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat craze during the mid nineties they ended up with a game called ETERNAL CHAMPIONS, which of course is often mocked and ignored by gamers now. But during the titme of its release according to Megadrive sale estimates it outsold both Street fighter 2 champion edition and Mortal Kombat 2 by reaching 2 million in sales. Why and how did it happen? Probably because of the same reason why Nintendo games on the Wii kept outselling the competition of their own third parties, that the main reason to own a console from Nintendo was because they wanted to play games from nintendo and they were more open to any(not all0 type of game Nintendo produces over the other game makers. The same at least during the genesis era was true for Sega. Sega had many RPGs but the ones that did better were Shining Force and Phantasy Star. Sega had EA sports for a third party yet Sega Sports managed to keep up with them in sales unlike the other third party sports games on the SNES where EA outsold by a large margin. Im not saying it worked for ever game that Sega produced. But when you have gamers who are already fans of the company(which were a lot back then) who were more likely to just get mostly Sega games added to the casuals who brought the system because sega was the big thing and from that people buying it for Sonic, you have a userbase that will more likely check out Sega games first before the try anything else, in whatever circumstance. It happen still happens with nintendo. If BINARY DOMAIN even the buggy ALPHA PROTOCOL were released on a sega system they would not have only sold well but one of them would at least been a big hit.
The other thing is Sega isn't working as a third party. They really dont know how to operate on this level. Sega wasn't just about great software but about great hardware and when the console side was gone the company hasn't been the same. We only see a few glimpses of genius of software from them now while being frustrated at seeing the management blunder from one mistake to the next. Its been over a decade of third party Sega and things are getting worse. Although im not naive to think that producing a console will solve their problems or they could even produce one now, its obvious that a sega game really does need a sega system and one without the other just seems out of place not at least to sega themselves.
-
Sega themselves said they will focus on four franchises everything else is going digital. Its been common knowledge around here for a while now.
yes but not from here onward
Given this circumstance, the companies determined that in order to actualize earnings recovery of
the Consumer Business in the following period and after and return to a growth path, it is essential
to streamline organizations in the field of home video game software in the U.S. and European
markets, while shifting to a structure that corresponds to change in environment, including
strengthening development in the field of digital content.
We conducted detailed reviews of earnings projections for titles targeted toward the U.S. and
European markets and decided to narrow down sales titles from the following period and after to
strong IPs, such as “Sonic the Hedgehog,”, “Football Manager”, “Total War” and “Aliens” which
are expected to continue posting solid earnings. In accordance with this, we are canceling the
development of some game software titles.
http://www.segasammy.co.jp/english/pdf/release/20120330sega_kaikaku_e_final.pdf
-
Take Binary Domain, which is good by it's own merits, but as a third party title, it has to distinguish itself from the massive clutter of existing third person shooters, even worse it has to compared to every single one of them, whereras had it been a first party title in SEGA's hypothetical console, it wouldn't be compared directly to games such as Gears of Wars and the rest of the lot, because apart from other third party titles, it would be ranked as the best in that particular system.
? Binary Domain is bloody awesome and is way better than Gears of War 3 and rest thanks to its storyline and great little touches (like the dismemberment system) Its also one of the best looking next gen games on any system - it was sadly letdown by SEGA inept PR dept .
Anyway I still 'parts' of SEGA and its nice to see some of the Teams rise up and starting to make some genuine AAA classics for the next gen . Just hope SEGA Japan is sorting out its pipe-lines for the next -gen and getting a good multi platform/purpose engine ready and that SEGA will also bring PS0 2 to the 360 and PS3 early next year
-
@ROJM
Shining Force II, Phantasy Star IV, Landstalker, Story of Thor... While the SNES had the Final Fantasy trilogy, Secret of Mana, Super Mario RPG and Chrono Trigger. In those days, the SNES probably had better roleplaying games in general, but since they were only on one system you would need to own both of 'em. Can't say I knew anyone who owned both a Super Nintendo and a SEGA Genesis those days, but you would be happy regardless of what you choosed.
But regardless, originally SEGA's plans to become a console agnostic company made sense, but the feeling I get with a lot of games, is that they should've learned from other developers and are often too late to join in. Want to properly make a new Shinobi game? Look at Ninja Gaiden, look at Ninja Blade, look at Bayonetta.
Part of what makes me upset with SEGA is that they focused way too much on the Nintendo Wii, when they should've paid more attention to the Xbox 360 and PS3 crowd. Apart from Mario & Sonic 'n' Sonic Colors, nothing that SEGA threw into that system sold or even made a dent.
Binary Domain is one of my favorite games, because it's exactly what I wanted, a huge tentpole game with great presentation, mature content (SEGA has a history of making excellent M-rated titles), cinematic. It's greatest flaw is that it's feels like it should've come out at least 2-3 years ago, when the majority of gamers were still very much into the Third Person Shooter craze, a genre which is now so predominant that it feels like walking into a supermarket and looking at 20 brands of barely discernable bag-in-box wines.
-
Part of what makes me upset with SEGA is that they focused way too much on the Nintendo Wii, when they should've paid more attention to the Xbox 360 and PS3 crowd. Apart from Mario & Sonic 'n' Sonic Colors, nothing that SEGA threw into that system sold or even made a dent.
Wait, how did they focus too much on the wii? What franchises were wasted other than Sonic? Nights? Let me tell you, that would have been received even worse on ps3/360. Was it let's tap that annoyed you?
Also when SA2 came out it was not in fact, treated as the creme de la creme. I seem to remember EGM, the biggest name in video game journalism at the time (and how times have changed) gave it a modest score of 8.0,8.0,7.5
I do agree though that going third party has displaced their sense of identity in a major way.
-
I think we honestly need to stop playin the victim and thinking that websites and the media overall hate Sega or have some kind of vendetta against them. I know sometimes it seems like they are stacked against Sega, but I think we really play it up too much and use it as an excuse for everything that goes wrong.
-
@Radrappy
No, none of the games on Wii annoyed me, at all. If anything SEGA was one of the major providers of something that was sorely lacking on the Wii: games that people like myself actually wanted to play.
It's just that none of those games sold well enough to justify SEGA's overall dedication to the Wii.
@MadeManG74
Trust me, if it's sounds like I'm making a martyr out of SEGA, I'm not. My overall point is that since the 3rd party market is so crowded and the standards have risen considerably, they as a company should step up their game.
-
@ROJM
Shining Force II, Phantasy Star IV, Landstalker, Story of Thor... While the SNES had the Final Fantasy trilogy, Secret of Mana, Super Mario RPG and Chrono Trigger. In those days, the SNES probably had better roleplaying games in general, but since they were only on one system you would need to own both of 'em. Can't say I knew anyone who owned both a Super Nintendo and a SEGA Genesis those days, but you would be happy regardless of what you choosed.
But regardless, originally SEGA's plans to become a console agnostic company made sense, but the feeling I get with a lot of games, is that they should've learned from other developers and are often too late to join in. Want to properly make a new Shinobi game? Look at Ninja Gaiden, look at Ninja Blade, look at Bayonetta.
Part of what makes me upset with SEGA is that they focused way too much on the Nintendo Wii, when they should've paid more attention to the Xbox 360 and PS3 crowd. Apart from Mario & Sonic 'n' Sonic Colors, nothing that SEGA threw into that system sold or even made a dent.
Binary Domain is one of my favorite games, because it's exactly what I wanted, a huge tentpole game with great presentation, mature content (SEGA has a history of making excellent M-rated titles), cinematic. It's greatest flaw is that it's feels like it should've come out at least 2-3 years ago, when the majority of gamers were still very much into the Third Person Shooter craze, a genre which is now so predominant that it feels like walking into a supermarket and looking at 20 brands of barely discernable bag-in-box wines.
It made sense but the games they were planing for the west didn't necessarly make it out during the 2002-2004 period. Sega just brought the games that western gamers liked on the DC()or really games that were critically appauled in the west but no real strong sales to back them up) and then released it on a system whose userbase was more PC style games orientated. The other half of titles all got canned and the only real sucess Sega was having in software terms was in japan as they were releasing titles that had a lot of appeal and were proven popular in that market and continue to do. And that was really the first part of the problem because Sega started to concentrate on the japanese market and dropped their eye on the west, especially after the failures.
-
I still like SEGA a bit, but stuff like Yakuza and Sonic are not my thing. Yakuza is a weird beast for me, I love Beat' em ups... but Yakuza has too much overworld... feels to much like River City Ransom, which i don't really care for either. Prefer Nagoshi's earlier work in Spikeout, creating chains of coop combo's. I did like Binary Domain, it was great and definately a neat suprised compared to the letdown that was Vanquish... It had a SEGA arcade anno 2003 feel.
I don't seem to be in tune with most SEGA fans though, for me SEGA has always been an Arcade powerhouse, the dreamcast stuff like Shenmue bore me to death. I still like all the new Shinobi titles :) Shinobi 3DS was brill, and so where the PS2 Shinobi and it's spin off Nightshade.
Loved the cooperation with Platinum Games except for Vanquish. MadWorld had neat Boss battles, Max Anarchy is simply brilliant and the game I fire up the most these days, Bayonetta was brill, Infinite Space was also neat somewhere for a space simulation strategy title.
I would love SEGA to port all those unported Arcade stuff (Virtua Cop 3 & co) to the PSN/XBLA whatever since the HOTD4, Afterburner Climax, Virtua Fighter 5 Final Tuned are some of the best releases in this generation... Because if it's another Sonic or Yakuza I ain't bovvered.
-
Do I still like SEGA? I most certainly do.
No other video game company has brought such fantastic characters and adventures as SEGA has. Ecco the Dolphin, Space Channel 5, Shining Force and of course, Sonic the Hedgehog are just a few franchises by SEGA that I adore. There is just something so unique about SEGA games and that is a big part of why I really enjoy them. I still feel hurt whenever someone hates on SEGA, because what they have brought to the world of video games means a lot to me. SEGA may have had a bit of a rough time over the past year, but I always hope the best for them and I truly can't wait to see what the future will bring. I'm a SEGA man, always have been and always will be.
plus 10000000000000
-
Depends. Sega to me was always the quirky Sega games coming out of Japan. When I hear Sega's publishing someone else's game, I couldn't care less. When I see something like Shining Force Cross or Hatsune Miku or Valkyria Chronicles I still get that bubbly Sega feeling inside. I want more of that.
-
Of course, Virtua Fighter and Yakuza are still part of them and either are almost always deadset to be my GOTYs when ever a new title drops, add to that Football Manager too whenever I feel my life needs to amount to nothing else but managing a virtual team. There is a lot less quantity yes, but the same is said about the industry in general. EA dropped from 72 retail titles in 2008 to 14 this current year and Konami only had one inhouse developed title this TGS (With everything else being digital)
Gaming is in the gutter and is in the middle of a crash for retail gaming whilst another crash soon to happen over iOS gaming (Namco/SEGA/Konami/Capcom/Square am cry) a truly sad situation we find gaming in but c'est la vie. I plan on moving onto PC for next generation in anycase, nothing from the big 3 seems particularly interesting, Xbox has never been my thing, Sony will go all art and no substance and Nintendo is not too special anymore either.
It's really sad to see some of these developers not doing too well recently...and I actually blame this on the huge sales of Call of Duty, Mario, Pokemon and probably Assassins Creed since everyone seems to want more of those rather then some of the lesser known but still polished games.
The Japanese industry in general has dropped the ball this gen I believe...SEGA, I would say have been dropping it less this gen when you see the likes of Capcom milking their franchises/killing Mega Man, Konami treating Silent Hill and Castlevania like crap whilst shoving MGS down our throats and Nintendo's recent dilemma of "Will they? Won't they?" online features for their 3DS/Wii U.
Let's not get into Sony's Vita/Sony Japan scenario either.
Have the west really killed the gaming industry for us? iOS gaming, the huge successes of CoD, AssCreed as well as Steam's service getting better and better every year (I don't agree with this, but it seems some Valve fanboys will love anything about Steam).
I wouldn't count SEGA's UK output into the category since those games seem to do well as retail PC games and have their own little fanbase to sustain itself, but yeah...I really hope that SEGA improves from here on out since I can't see SEGA America doing much to help them.
-
yes but not from here onward
http://www.segasammy.co.jp/english/pdf/release/20120330sega_kaikaku_e_final.pdf
A public report doesn't prove your point. The whole point of these type of reports is just to smooth things over and make a brave face to the media as well as investors current or potential future ones.Even though the curent investors would have a more better idea since they actually have the full report including breatdowns and performances which are omitted in the public reports. Sega's situation is actually worse than what's been described and they may not even make any real high end games for systems next gen apart from whats been described already. That's how bad it is. And that's why they are going digital. If you have actually read any of the stock reports from the last ten years especially under Hajime Satomi's reign they promise you this will happen and that will happen yet something goes wrong and it never does happen. I know a lot of investors got rid of their stock when Sega basically re organised it self again as well and that's not a ringing endorsement for a great and shining future. Things could turn round but dont expect it to happen as the stock report describes because believe me it wont.
-
So now Sega are releasing Crazy Taxi on iFail devices with the real music, while XBLA and PSN got shit-rock instead.
You know what, fuck Sega. They are shit-cunts now.
-
So now Sega are releasing Crazy Taxi on iFail devices with the real music, while XBLA and PSN got shit-rock instead.
You know what, fuck Sega. They are shit-cunts now.
IT'S BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T BUY BYENORY DOMEIN!!! (Have you bought the game yet?)
They are also re-releasing Virtua Fighter 2, Fighting Vipers and Sonic the Fighter for XBLA.
What say you now?!
-
I've been with SEGA through thick and thin although I've seen way too much thin since they gave up making their own consoles. While I've scratched my head at plenty of business decisions they've made over the years, the most notable being Bayonetta 2 on WiiU, Valkriya Chronicles 2 on PSP, focusing too much on making Sonic games, and not bringing Shining Force III ep 2 and 3 over to the West. Of course there are more botched ideas and poorly executed plans but that's all that I can pull off the top of my head.
It's nice to see they've turned over a new leaf ,so to speak, and have given us a good handful of re-releases like Afterburner Climax, Outrun Online Arcade, JSR, and Daytona USA along with a lot of newer published stuff from Platinum games. I think if SEGA can keep churning out solid update ports of their legacy franchises then we may see a revival of the SEGA brand. At least that's what I keep telling myself...
So while my opinion of SEGA can change I generally like them despite a lot of the questionable things they've done as a company. They still know how to release unique games that rock.
-
So while my opinion of SEGA can change I generally like them despite a lot of the questionable things they've done as a company. They still know how to release unique games that rock.
It's too bad that gamers when they see SEGA they laugh and state something stupid they have done in their history.
The only problem with SEGA is the few that run the operations, the developers are fine as they are, since they make none of the decisions that ultimately make their games appear like they have some controversy around them.
It seems only VERY recently, gamers are starting to take notice and are praising them for not being the Capcom of this generation...some would even argue that SEGA have done better then even Nintendo in terms of churning out both new and ports of old games in the right way!
-
First word I wrote was SEGA. That goes to show my involvement with Sega products not just as a fan, but as a human being as well.
It's safe to state that if Sega ever leaves, I'll stop gaming.
This being said, it is hard being a Sega fan ever since they dropped the consoles. After the Dreamcast juice dried up, Sega's name was thrown around cheaply and horrible games came out. That was no good.
But right now, Sega is focusing on what it does best: great arcade experiences and strong IPs.
These rereleases are not just a way of reliving the golden age, but also introducing a whole new generation to Sega's best games. The popular ones will get sequels eventually. I believe that is something to look forward to.
Unfortunately, the console market has shifted ever since the demise of the Dreamcast. Sega's traditional style has nothing in common with today's gaming. Sega's quality really shines through the XBLA releases though. Fast paced arcade experiences like we've come accustomed to love.
So yeah, I still love Sega. It has had it's ups and downs over the years, but there's always one or two titles to look forward to.
What's most important is to never lose their identity and honor Segata Sanshiro's sacrifice.
-
^See, I don't get how you can quit gaming just if Sega exited the market (which seems more and more likely to happen recently), especially as you said they've fallen from grace since the console days.
Do you really not like any games not made by Sega?
Aki-at, yes I did buy Binary Domain for $30, then Sega Australia went bust and it dropped to $10 about 3 weeks later. As for VF2, FV and Sonic on XBLA:
VF2: Who cares? VF5 FS is out and is the best fighting game on the market.
FV: This is actually really cool, assuming the port is good :)
Sonic the Fighters: Also very cool.
-
Yes, I do like other games. EA is my second favorite publisher. I enjoy it's sports titles, it's Mass Effects, the SimCitys..
But (to me) Sega is gaming's soul.
Imagine you eat your first burgers at this awesome burger joint everyone's talking about. You go there every week and see them becoming less burger joint and more family dinner. You eat other dishes too, but damn those burgers are awesome..
After 20 years, it's a full on restaurant with this one last burger meal on the menu. You eat other stuff more often, but sometimes you gotta have that burger, other restaurants may have better dishes, but this burger is great.
Imagine they take the burger away from the menu.
What's the point of going there?
This is gaming for me.
It used to be all arcade games and stuff. It's gaming's soul. Nowdays focus has shifted, but there's this one awesome Sega burger that keeps me coming back for just one more game.
If they take away Sega, I better have better fun somewhere else cause gaming lost it's soul. No point in coming back.
This may sound stupid, but it's the only way I can find to express my feelings on this right now.
-
No need for the burger analogy, because I'm similar to you. I grew up playing Afterburner with my dad in the arcade, staying up late on weekends to try and finish Sonic the Hedgehog with my dad, playing Virtua Fighter 2 until it came out of my ears, ringing the shop every week to ask "is Shenmue out on Dreamcast yet?"... Even a few years ago I purchased all three Shining Force games in Japanese and then installed Saturn emulators on my PC and plugged in a SF4 pad so I could finally play the trilogy in english! I think it's fair to say that Sega has played a big part in me getting into gaming and enjoying the medium and yet, if they were to exit the market I would happily continue playing. Gaming is, and always has been bigger than just Sega.
For all the negative things I say about Sega, and how I get disheartened with their decisions, Yakuza, Bayonetta and VF5:FS are some of, if not my favourite games this gen. Even so, The Witcher 1 and 2, King of Fighters XIII, Mafia 2, Max Payne 3 and more were also games that I absolutely adored. I guess I just can't understand it from my perspective, because why would I refuse to play The Witcher 3 just because Sega isn't making Yakuza 6? I wouldn't turn down King of Fighters XIV just because I can't play Virtua Fighter 6.
Not to mention, Sega's best titles and developers would likely be picked up by another Publisher anyway.
The fact is, your hamburger analogy is flawed. You aren't not eating at a certain restaurant because they don't make the burgers anymore, the equivalent would be saying that because they don't make a certain burger anymore, you will never eat any food ever again.
-
In my analogy, food is entertainment; restaurants are different forms of entertainment; and each dish is a dev/publisher.
But I get what you're saying. I understand that point of view.
Truth is I just can't imagine gaming without Sega. I'd be heartbroken that's for sure..
But no Sega would mean a games industry with no space at all for the kind of games I love.
A more proper analogy would maybe be that I wouldn't really care for football if my favorite team shut down.
But then you could call it fanboyism.
Then again, it's pretty obvious deeply I'm a Sega fanboy.
-
I have my perfered restaurant (as I love dining), but I check out all sorts of resaurants because I like my variety.
SEGA is my perfered restaurant at the moment (it wasn't always like this, I still liked playing SEGA games, but I played different things in my life to ever be dedicated to SEGA's games only). I would say that SEGA's reputation has grown these past few years by giving gamers what they want!
You can't say this for other developers...
For me...it's on a rotation every generation. I felt like Nintendo were the best the last gen, and before that Sony...to me it's flavour of the gen, but I guess I am seeing now why SEGA's really devoted to making unique games now, so I appreciate it!
If SEGA left the business, I wouldn't stop gaming, but my choices would be severely limited since other developers games don't interest me quite as much.
-
Look, i'm not into Sega as much as i use to be. I see stupid decisions and to many restructures to test my patience. I'd still buy their games though. But if they did stop making games as i fear could be a reality. I would definatly quit. Sega is the sole reason I went into gaming in the first place. I'm raised mainly on Sega systems, Sega games and the Sega philosphy on video games,arcades culture and hardware. Have i played other games from other makers? many of times but they don't pull me back or hold my intrest as a Sega game does. When I as a Sega gamer and once Sega console consumer look at the game systems from the current to past gen, i dont see look how cool Sony did this system, look how cool M$ did that or how Nintendo did this, all i see is how they have all somehow ripped off an idea Sega originated on their game systems and how they ran with it. We all can still see the legacy of the DC still influencing this gen and at least the next Nintendo system. This goes for games. I'm fed up of hearing how lauded and original GTA was when anyone with any sense can see that the 3D versions of the game is just SHENMUE open world meets CRAZY TAXI. If Sega didn't exist the reality is many of the stuff people are enjoying today including other people's games just wouldn't exist. So yes you can play your capcoms or your konamis or your EAs and etc, but they dont have the depth, the variety, the extraordinariness and the finess that over 20 years of Sega gaming i've come to enjoy from one special little company which sadly is being ran into the ground. Yes i'm not into them as much but i'd still stick by them to the bitter end till or if they fall. but dont expect me to stick around a games sphere whose motto is lets rip off Sega and then ignore their contributions of what is now called the gaming industy.
I understand why people may fall out of love for Sega, i dont get is why they would stick around after Sega would leave the industry.
-
Yes, I still like SEGA.
Do I like SEGA as much now as I did in the Megadrive days? Strangely enough, yes. But to tell the truth, the first time I fell in love with SEGA is not because of MegaDrive, it's because of the arcades. I grew up playing SEGA's arcades (Space Harrier, Altered Beast, Golden Axe, Outrun, and my all-of-time favorite, Michael Jackson's Moonwalker).
So what's making me still like SEGA? Mostly because of 3D Classic series on 3DS. I prefer 3DS over PS4, WiiU, Vita, or X1.
Mainly because the arcade feeling of the 3D classic series gave to me. I'm not into hardcore gamer, I'm more casual one.
-
I'm quite amazed this topic was posted in 2012, a year which I felt was SEGA's strongest as a third party. Could swear this topic was posted in 2013.
-
I feel that people look at this question in different ways. Like, I look at it as a compounded thing. I loved the Genesis years, the Saturn years were a mystery for me that I only got into in the late 90s/early 00s which made me have this sort of new appreciation for the era, I totally loved the Dreamcast years, and the early third party years. Right there is this huge amount of respect and fandom for SEGA. Anything they did from then on does not diminish those years for me. While the mid 00s were murky, 2010 was one of my favorite years and since then it has had its ups and downs but I am still a huge fan thanks to their past and the occasional great games.
I guess the question should be "Are you a fan of the current SEGA?". And my answer to that is, I wasn't so much, but with all these changes as of recent I am optimistic about the future and am very interested to see what the rest of 2015 brings.
-
I'm quite amazed this topic was posted in 2012, a year which I felt was SEGA's strongest as a third party. Could swear this topic was posted in 2013.
I did point out that I was still looking forward to games, but:
Having said that, almost everything bad I can think of is cancelled out by games like Yakuza 5 and Rome 2 Total War, which are probably my most anticipated games at the moment.
OUCH.
Still fucking waiting for Y5 (and it took Sony to translate it, not Sega) and Rome 2 was poo on a stick.
What else came out in 2012? This was probably just the beginning of Sega being Freemium App: The Publisher which caused me to create the thread.
Also Berto, not that I'm mad, but you probably could have made a new thread instead of bringing this one back from the dead. Might be a good idea actually since Sega making mobile games has been a hot topic recently.
-
u mad?
-
u mad?
I'm bad.
-
What else came out in 2012? This was probably just the beginning of Sega being Freemium App: The Publisher which caused me to create the thread.
In terms of ports we had:
Jet Set Radio, Sonic Adventure 2, NiGHTS, The House of the Dead 3 and 4 and of course, Virtual Fighter 5: Final Showdown. The Sonic CD and Sonic the Hedgehog remasters came out this year.
New games released we had Yakuza 5, Phantasy Star Online 2, Hell Yeah! Binary Domain and Sonic and All stars Racing Transformed off the top of my head.
Don't get me wrong that your assessment is fine but it seemed strange that it got posted towards the end of what was a relatively great year for games announced or released. I'd see more weight in 2013 or 2014 with a topic like this.
-
In terms of ports we had:
Jet Set Radio, Sonic Adventure 2, NiGHTS, The House of the Dead 3 and 4 and of course, Virtual Fighter 5: Final Showdown. The Sonic CD and Sonic the Hedgehog remasters came out this year.
New games released we had Yakuza 5, Phantasy Star Online 2, Hell Yeah! Binary Domain and Sonic and All stars Racing Transformed off the top of my head.
Don't get me wrong that your assessment is fine but it seemed strange that it got posted towards the end of what was a relatively great year for games announced or released. I'd see more weight in 2013 or 2014 with a topic like this.
Don't forget this is me posting. I thought Hell Yeah looked like garbage and SASASR was Blue Mario Kart. I also probably thought Yakuza 5 and PSO2 would never EVER get translated (this one has kind of come true if it weren't for Sony fishing for brownie points).
I also acknowledged JSR port as a highlight as well as other games on the list.
Also years later we can now look at ports of old games as 'HOLY SHIT BEST THING EVER BASED SEGA', but maybe that's because we are so used to FREEMIUM APP Sega that it seems much better now than it did three years ago when it was just 'Kinda cool, I guess'.
I think the main trigger point was always Sega dumping Bayonetta 2 and Nintendo saving it. It's happened again with Sony.
Nintendoes what Sega won't? :afroman: :afroman: :afroman: :afroman:
-
2015 will the best year for SEGA, as evident when trying to visit sega.com and seeing the words: "The connection has timed out. The server at www.sega.com (http://www.sega.com) is taking too long to respond."
I hope they relaunch the site with something nifty, instead of the usual degradation of SEGA's history. That's where they only acknowledge the most recent releases and force people to rely on wikipedia to remember what great franchises SEGA used to make for classic systems. I wouldn't be surprised if they omitted Wii, PS3, and X360 games from their own catalog.
Other than Tembo and Yakuza 5 (it took 3 years?), I'm completely in the dark about what else they're releasing this year or next. Sad face. :(
-
2015 will the best year for SEGA, as evident when trying to visit sega.com and seeing the words: "The connection has timed out. The server at www.sega.com (http://www.sega.com) is taking too long to respond."
I hope they relaunch the site with something nifty, instead of the usual degradation of SEGA's history. That's where they only acknowledge the most recent releases and force people to rely on wikipedia to remember what great franchises SEGA used to make for classic systems. I wouldn't be surprised if they omitted Wii, PS3, and X360 games from their own catalog.
Other than Tembo and Yakuza 5 (it took 3 years?), I'm completely in the dark about what else they're releasing this year or next. Sad face. :(
Sega's japanese site is fantastic
Their products page truly show the strengh of Sega on the arcade side, with tons of products. Then their strong distrubution network in Japan and their variety of titles.
And the archive page is great too, documenting all games and accesories on their hardware.
http://sega.jp/fb/segahard/
-
Don't forget this is me posting. I thought Hell Yeah looked like garbage and SASASR was Blue Mario Kart. I also probably thought Yakuza 5 and PSO2 would never EVER get translated (this one has kind of come true if it weren't for Sony fishing for brownie points).
I also acknowledged JSR port as a highlight as well as other games on the list.
Also years later we can now look at ports of old games as 'HOLY SHIT BEST THING EVER BASED SEGA', but maybe that's because we are so used to FREEMIUM APP Sega that it seems much better now than it did three years ago when it was just 'Kinda cool, I guess'.
I think the main trigger point was always Sega dumping Bayonetta 2 and Nintendo saving it. It's happened again with Sony.
Nintendoes what Sega won't? :afroman: :afroman: :afroman: :afroman:
Well for one we knew PSO2 was coming to the West in 2012 before SEGA decided that it'd be smart to invest PSO2 localisation budget on Gearbox's latest get rich scheme. Though I can see where you are coming from Hell Yeah (Although a capable platformer, it does miss the mark) it wasn't an extensive list. Here's a breakdown of all their titles;
New Games (Core)
- Rhythm Thief
- Binary Domain
- Total War: Shogun 2 - Fall of the Samurai
- Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2
- Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz
- Phantasy Star Online 2
- Anarchy Reigns
- Hell Yeah!
- Sonic & Allstars Racing Transformed
- Yakuza 5
New Games (Mobile)
- Total War: Battles
- Virtua Tennis: Challenge
- JACK LUMBER GAME OF THE YEAR EDITION IGN 10/10
- Zaxxon Escape
Ports
- Sonic the Hedgehog 1/CD
- Crazy Taxi (mobile)
- The House of the Dead 3 & 4
- Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown
- Monster World IV
- Jet Set Radio
- NiGHTS
- Sonic Adventure 2: Battle
To me, between Binary Domain, Yakuza 5 and Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown, it's hard not to say SEGA didn't have a good year. When you throw in the announcement of Phantasy Star Online 2 and the quality of Sonic & Allstars Racing Transformed, 2012 was a really great year for SEGA I felt, some poor titles but overall very good.
I disagree about the ports bits though. I was excited about The House of the Dead 3/4 getting a console release for PS3 and I was damned excited for Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown. This was the first Western release for Monster Land IV too, I don't look back at it and think how good 2012 was from *now* I was thinking in 2012 how awesome the year was for SEGA. (Also as someone that likes FREEIMUM APP SEGA I do not see how this would effect me :3 )
Like I said, the future assessment was mostly true but it'd be like striking at something that performed better than they ever did but had a slightly gloomy future. At the time Sonic was on an upswing, SEGA announced localisation of major Japanese titles and had a hotly anticipated sequel to Total War lined up, it all bellied up in the following year but 2012 was a great year. Only 2002 beats it in the third party era and 2003 is probably on par.
And now, Nintendo does what SEGA does, ignore any plans on making a Bayonetta 3 :3 :3 :3 :3
-
I forgot Jack Lumber came out that year. That explains everything.
-
wow time flies..
-
wow time flies..
Berto missed the followup topic:
http://segabits.com/forums/index.php?topic=2592.msg56596#msg56596
In which Barry says Sonic: Lost World is his most anticipated game in the franchise since SA2.
If Barry is reading this, did it live up to the hype? I heard next to nothing about that game, probably because it's Wii U Exclusive.
-
I didn't like it as much as Generations, but I still liked it. I will never ever join the bandwagon that lumps it with recent failures of the franchise. Lost World had its share of issues, but I still think its a good game.
I actually wrote the review for it, giving it a B+: http://segabits.com/blog/2013/11/15/review-sonic-lost-world-wii-u/ (http://segabits.com/blog/2013/11/15/review-sonic-lost-world-wii-u/)
I really liked the controls, oddly enough, however my one major complaint is that they had this parkour system in place that was a lot of fun when mastered... but they rarely used it. Its like if JSRF had never featured stages that required players to utilize the grinding feature to the full extent, or Just Cause 2 never really gave you a reason to use the grappling hook.
I liked that it didn't have as many filler stages as Colors did, and the later Nintendo and NiGHTS additions were fun fan service. The balloon pop bonus stage was kind of stupid.
-
As for old IPs, SEGA has a plan on bringing them back and I hope it goes well. Personally I think a lot can go wrong...
http://segabits.com/blog/2014/12/11/sega-planning-development-of-tv-and-film-adaptations-of-video-game-properties/
Basically don't see how Golden Axe can work as a TV show without 'kiddiefying' it with stylist violence and Sonic Boom type humor.
I feel it could work for Golden Axe. Personally think Altered Beast should just be left in the graveyard (IMO) unless they use characters in a Golden Axe cartoon. I thought All-Stars Racing did a good job with the Gilius model:
Gilius in Allstars:
http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/goldenaxe/images/6/64/Gilius-thunderhead.png/revision/latest?cb=20130118112638
vs
his concept artwork for Golden Axe :
http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--JFw-RutI--/181nzhclpq1tcjpg.jpg
-
Golden Axe should be a Vikings/Game of Thrones style drama... But set in that Conan the Barbarian style fantasy world.
-
Viking and Game of Thrones are totally different style shows from eachother. Viking is a dramatization of real events and a look at how religion and culture played parts in different wars and Game of Thrones is a highly political fantasy novel inspired by real events in history.
I think just doing a Conan the Barbarian type of show would be better but will there be an appeal in the mass market? Aim the franchise at adults? The games always felt like PG versions of Conan the Barbarian since it wasn't bloody or anything.
This?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SsHfWBLVr0
I think a over the top cartoon with humor like Axe Cop would do really well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vlx4RfZ9xK4
-
Golden Axe should be a Vikings/Game of Thrones style drama... But set in that Conan the Barbarian style fantasy world.
I would love an ongoing Conan the Barbarian style TV series. With Magic and sorcery and whatnot, a bit more lighthearted than the super grimdark GoT series.
-
I like my fond memories of SEGA more than its current state. I do enjoy the Yakuza games, though.