What the hell is SEGA planning with their movie initiative?

[Trippled]

OK, the Sonic movie and show make total sense, so do their various anime.


But what the hell is suddenly now with making movies out of IP's like Altered Beast, Shinobi, Crazy Taxi, Rise of Nightmares (??), Golden Axe?
Outside of maybe a Crazy Taxi app, all these franchises are at best relicts for retro gamers.


So there is really no cross-promotion benefit as there is with Yakuza, Valkyria, Shining etc.
Them doing this really means more trying to raise of awareness of nostalgic IP's, I would guess. After all, they do work together with an high end ad firm (something they should have done sooner I think). It's just strange tough. Sega has shown to completly not care about these old IP's, and be at best be nostalgic fodder. I mean really most people just want a small downloadable game for a nostalgic ride with these franchises.


I would have preferred Nagoshi make a new movie franchise with game tie-ins.

[MadeManG74]

I would rather they, you know, made fucking VIDEO GAMES from these VIDEO GAME franchises.


Jesus, Sega, get it together.




This is going to be licensing the I.P.s to Uwe Boll to make straight to VHS movies with a budget of $12 plus food expenses.

[Trippled]

Hopefully this is all falls apart similarly to these anime hollywood movies. It's fucking dumb!

[Aki-at]

EDIT: Reread the post again, some are going to be for TV whilst others for film, need to know if that means Japanese films or not.

Yakuza has had a live action series recently.

The Shining series already has 2 animes. Valkyria Chronicles as well.

Just seems to be them trying to explore as much of their library as possible and doing what they've already done.

I would rather they, you know, made fucking VIDEO GAMES from these VIDEO GAME franchises.


Jesus, Sega, get it together.




This is going to be licensing the I.P.s to Uwe Boll to make straight to VHS movies with a budget of $12 plus food expenses.

Why surprised? SEGA has multiple animation studios. I don't think this is stopping any games being made, they've just finally started doing what they should have done a long time ago considering they own Marza and TMS.

[Sharky]

Don't see the problem, it's no different from Marvel doing it. Who even gave a shit about Guardians of the Galaxy three years ago? Marvel have really become something much bigger than just a comic developer over the past decade... If SEGA can find the same success why not?

A really good Streets of Rage, Shinobi and Golden Axe could be awesome. It's all a matter of getting it right.

[Aki-at]

A really good Streets of Rage, Shinobi and Golden Axe could be awesome. It's all a matter of getting it right.

I've always wanted an animation based off of those series though I thought Streets of Rage would probably make a great over the top action movie.

[MadeManG74]

Don't see the problem, it's no different from Marvel doing it. Who even gave a shit about Guardians of the Galaxy three years ago?

Strangely enough, Comic Book fans. Marvel actually, you know, published comic books about these comic book characters.

Call me crazy, but I don't think Sega is going to spend $140 Million to make a block-buster Streets of Rage movie like Marvel spent on Iron Man.

[Aki-at]

Strangely enough, Comic Book fans. Marvel actually, you know, published comic books about these comic book characters.

Call me crazy, but I don't think Sega is going to spend $140 Million to make a block-buster Streets of Rage movie like Marvel spent on Iron Man.

Well did you expect SEGA Sammy to spend over $1 billion developing a resort complex? I don't think money is a concern for them just yet, but keep in mind this could be for a television series or made for Japanese theatres (like the Yakuza film was.) If they are serious about this then them pumping serious cash into the project isn't farfetched.

[Nameless 24]

A NiGHTS anime would be so cool.

There doesn't really need to be a plot, just shenanigans between Nightmarians, NiGHTS and Reala.

[Trippled]

Well did you expect SEGA Sammy to spend over $1 billion developing a resort complex?

Because Amusement centers were always within Sega's business.

Really, Movies and TV shows are fine, but the IP choice is strange.

[Sharky]

Strangely enough, Comic Book fans. Marvel actually, you know, published comic books about these comic book characters.

Oh so no different to videogame fans then?
While I can't stand comic books, I know plenty of people who love them... And I hardly heard anything about Guardians of the Galaxy. It wasn't very popular or well known... Not like Spiderman, Batman, Hulk, Avengers etc. So in a way its similar to Sega's classics...

[MadeManG74]

Oh so no different to videogame fans then?
While I can't stand comic books, I know plenty of people who love them... And I hardly heard anything about Guardians of the Galaxy. It wasn't very popular or well known... Not like Spiderman, Batman, Hulk, Avengers etc. So in a way its similar to Sega's classics...

Except Sega hasn't published a Streets of Rage game since 1972. Of course GotG weren't as popular as literally the most popular Superheroes of all time, but they were still making content with them. I heard about GotG by talking with Comic Book fans, in particular some major arcs they were involved in big crossovers.

I don't want to say I don't think this is kind of cool, I'm just not expecting very good things from this. I'm expecting a cheap Anime OVA at best and a horrible Golden Axe movie starring Channing Tatum and Megan Fox at the worst.

Also the IP's they've chosen are fucking weird. Crazy Taxi? Why not make a movie about Tetris, they have the same amount of plot.

[Sharky]

Streets of Rage 3D remastered version came out not long ago, as well as a brand new Shinobi game on the 3DS so it's not as if they haven't touched the IPs in a decade...

And so what anyway... It's not about what's current, it's about what would make good movies. I like Streets of Rage, Shinobi, Golden Axe could be awesome... Even Crazy Taxi as a light hearted comedy with over the top car stunts and punky music... Loads of people still love Crazy Taxi.

They ARE going back into movie history and finding good series to reboot, some good some bad. Mad Max for example looks brilliant, so does Jurassic World. Lord of the Rings had been LONG out of the pubic eye before they made the Peter Jackson films and now look at it.

[MadeManG74]

Streets of Rage 3D remastered version came out not long ago, as well as a brand new Shinobi game on the 3DS so it's not as if they haven't touched the IPs in a decade...

And so what anyway... It's not about what's current, it's about what would make good movies. I like Streets of Rage, Shinobi, Golden Axe could be awesome... Even Crazy Taxi as a light hearted comedy with over the top car stunts and punky music... Loads of people still love Crazy Taxi.

They ARE going back into movie history and finding good series to reboot, some good some bad. Mad Max for example looks brilliant, so does Jurassic World. Lord of the Rings had been LONG out of the pubic eye before they made the Peter Jackson films and now look at it.

No, you're right, they have done some stuff more recent than I realised. I just haven't played any of them. I do think most people have forgotten about a lot of these franchises though, apart from hXc Sega fans. I think I'm just baffled they don't seem to want to do much in the way of games for these franchises but want to make movies and TV series now?

As for these being good choices, I have to disagree. What's going to seperate Streets of Rage from any generic action flick? I don't know what you could even do with Crazy Taxi as a movie, it literally has no plot, and making one up would be weird.

Shinobi could potentially work. Altered Beast could be a cool fantasy movie, maybe. I just really, really don't trust someone to make something true to the source, and it'll end up like The King of Fighters movie or something.

If it were up to me, first thing I would do is a Skies of Arcadia TV series or Movie. The chracters and world and basic story would work so well for a fun adventure movie.

[Randroid]

A Streets of Rage movie would KICK ASS! Just adapt SOR2 scene by scene. Just cops kicking ass and Boss fights. If they're true to Martial Arts (as in they get actual Martial Artists for the fight scenes) then it will work.

Ever see District B13? It's pretty much a "true to the game" version of Double Dragon and it's awesome. SOR movie could be fantastic.

This news is pretty much my childhood dream come true.

Oh and could you imagine if they eventually decide to make Phantasy Star into a live action movie?

Please do this right Sega! Please do this right! If they do, this really could put them right back into the mainstream.