Slashdot Mirror

Looks pretty empty to me.

I absolutely agree. It is astonishing how much attention Yu Suzuki and his team put into all the details that make Shenmue such an experience. It would be nice to see it ported to modern consoles.

The Yakuza series is probably the best that we can get in the meantime http://www.sega.com/yakuza/index_us.php and Yu also posted that he has been working on Shenmue City for Mobage-Town of Yahoo! Japan. http://sunsoft.jp/shenmue-gai/index2.html

Hopefully we will see Shenmue III one day.

I don't care if it's an acronym or not, that's the way they write it themselves.

One game that must be mentioned is Mad World:

http://www.sega.com/platinumgames/madworld/EnglishUK/index2.html

This really looks like some pure crazy psychotic pleasure. Its black and white and red - the red being blood, and the black and white being everything else. I won't be buying it, but I am sure that there is a whole army of people who will.

What happened was that most companies saw the Wii as an "also ran" once again. The XBox barely beat out the Gamecube lastgen (both getting their asses handed to them by the PS2). So, when Nintendo said "less power more immersive", the developers scratched their heads then "ooh"ed and "aah"ed over PS3 and 360 graphics. As with most of the market, they were thinking only of the core market (14-25 males) and what they would bring.

(It should be noted that the DS was only coming into its own right leading up to the Wii's launch, so the whole "it prints money" thing hadn't connected yet.)

Fast forward a year after release. 360's numbers are still looking alright, but Sony can't give away PS3 consoles (which were free with any HDTV purchase above a grand at many stores for a while). Wii, in the mean time, either has already surpassed the 360 in sales or is set to do so in a month or two's time, despite having a year's handicap. Suddenly, developers are going "oh shit" and want to jump on the money train. They see the success of games like Wii Sports (duh, as it's packaged with the Wii), Wii Play, and Rayman Raving Rabbids (which is quite fun) and think "We an pump out a bunch of minigame games". So we get isles of shovelware for Wii Year 2. In this time we get a bunch of good games as well, but it's starting to suffer the same way the PS2 did.

But we're coming up on Year 3 and it seems that a lot of companies are announcing original properties or new titles for the console. We have MadWorld, Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of a New World, The Conduit, and Fatal Frame (4): Mask of the Lunar Eclipse. For the casuals, there are plenty of other enticing options, such as Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party, Wii Music (along with other Nintendo Wii titles), and Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party 2. At the same time, the Wii is becoming more than an afterthought. For instance, Rock Band 2 will not be crippled like the original Rock Band Wii was.

I think, though, that Year 3 will not be the year of casuals, as that's more of an over-arching thing, partly because casual gamers are far more likely to buy older titles they haven't played or only rented/borrowed before, whereas "core" gamers are much more likely to stick with new releases. Instead, a trend that I see developing for late Year 3/early Year 4 is ports, either straight or enhanced. We've had Resident Evil 4 and Okami, as well as other titles like House of the Dead (2 & 3). Capcom has announced Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop and Sega has Samba de Amigo. Only two titles, sure, but as Wii sales continue on their steady pace (and stores continue to sell out), more and more developers are going to reach into their catalog of PS2, XBox, and Dreamcast games and grab some of the more popular titles to bring to the Wii. Because the expectations lower, they won't need to spend much time ramping up graphics, and by this point many studios have gotten good with applying the Wii controls. Throw in a bit of extra content here and there, price it at $30 or $40, and you have an easy seller.

Nintendo did have a bad E3 (I mean, wow), but this allows 3rd parties to step up not just for casual gaming, but for the core market as well. Over time some of those casuals will come over to the dark side, spurring "core"

Indeed, to a lady with a bit of a sleazy reputation for hanging out in pachinko parlors...

FTA the top five are all Nintendo games.

I bet the top ten are as well.

When 3rd party titles dominate the top 5, THEN we can say they have good 3rd party support.

NO! Do not tarry into the forbidden desert of Console! All ways look alike, and you will die without dialog!

Seriously there's several RPGs on the PC worth looking forward to, several of which should come out within the next year (clipped from one of my earlier posts):

The Black Hound - Originally was in production at Black Isle as Baldur's Gate 3 (though it has nothing to do with BG1 or BG2) but was canned when it was nearly complete. Josh Sawyer, the original game's Lead Designer who's now working at Obsidian, is recreating the game as a mod for NWN2.

The Planescape Trilogy - Three large campaigns for NWN2 in the Planescape setting that look promising, despite the obvious titles (from the Divine Comedy, CLEVER!). The first part, Purgatorio, is almost done.

Dragon Age - Bioware's mystary PC RPG based on original IP is, well, a mystery. All previous work has been scrapped, a couple of times, and the project started anew, but some hints by Dave Gaider lend some hope to this maybe possibly turning out decent. Unlike Mass Effect.

The Broken Hourglass - An infinity engine RPG by the best infinity engine modders out there. Whether that means that they will be making a great RPG with the engine remains to be seen. Based on original, non-DnD setting and rules.

Age of Decadence - An "isometric, turn-based, single-player 3D role-playing game set in a low magic, post-apocalyptic fantasy world, inspired by the fall of the Roman Empire." Currently under development by an asshole. He's also a purist, though, so it may turn out respectably, if it ever turns out.

The Alien RPG - I know virtually nothing about other than Obsidian is making it and they say it's an RPG. Probably won't be out until 2008. Or later.

And of course...

Fallout 3 - Bethesda has it. They say it won't be "Oblivion with guns", but they lie frequently. I still have a sliver of hope, though. We'll see if it's still there when they release some concrete info/screenshots.

Lastly, The Witcher looks interesting as well. A lot of actual "Role Playing" for an Action RPG, which can only help.

Slashdot
PSO World
Sega Boards
Reddit
GameFAQs
The onion, Pitchfork, News of the Weird, etc all figure in when I remember to check, usually once a week or so.

I read slashdot first mostly out of a near-decade of habit (I think I started in 1998... before there were real user accounts anyway). Usually I see everything a few days ahead on Reddit.

• Drive bys with BB guns in Kentucky.
• A riot for spots in line in Burbank.
• Read - 10 to 12 people robbed in PS3 line (dubious, but possible). [Via Digg]
• Read - Sheriffs shut down another California store for rowdy behavior.
• Read - Police break up NY SonyStyle store fight.
• Read - Brawl breaks out at another Wally when manager plays musical PlayStation chairs. Seriously, what an idiot. [Thanks Kyle D.]
• Read - Shots were apparently fired at a Texas Wally. Pics here and here of the 5-0. [Thanks, Jason]
• Read - Two armed, masked robbers overtook a customer in Springfield. [Thanks, Jason]
• Watch - North Fresno / Merced had stampede-riot insanity. [Thanks, Jonathan]

Perhaps I'm biased, but some of the best PC games I've played where built for Linux. Globulation, Wesnoth, BZFlag and Quadra, for example, all have elements that make them much more intuitive and enjoyable for me than their commercial equivalents. As for the game console, although you are right that it is not a PC replacement, it is not designed to be one; it has different functionality. Xboxes and Wiis and such are there because they have better capability for new and inventive types of games. Take Chromehounds, for example: a game that is currently well beyond the processing power of the home computer. All of its intricacies are essential parts of its gameplay. Even old genres may be improved or changed: FPSs work fine on PCs, but because of the highly intuitive control scheme made possible with the Wiimote, Metroid Prime 3 almost seems an entirely new type of game. Since the PC will probably retain its current interface for some time, game developers don't have many chances to exploit new control schemes. Of course, because of the increasingly high price of consoles and games designed for them, it's perfectly reasonable for a casual gamer such as yourself not to bother with them, since, as you say, the PC still plays games, inculding some very good ones.

http://www.sega.com/support/support.php?item=suppo rt_games

It's down a bit on the page.

Sega is already taking a large interest in this controller and I believe others will follow if they want to be on the cutting edge of the market.

Sega is completely irrelevant to the modern gaming industry.

Please, point out a mistake in my logic. There are a few decent titles, but for the most part: crap, mediocre crap, rehashed crap, and badly rehashed crap.

I used to really like Sega. The Dreamcast was cool enough to redeem them for the SegaCD, 32X, and Saturn. Unfortunately its end was also the end of Sega, as far as I'm concerned.

much. Unless you are trying to simulate reality I don't understand the continued obsession with improved graphics. With the Dreamcast hadn't we reached the golden age where any game imaginable can be created? What about using stylized graphics like Jet Set Radio instead of realistic graphics? Would The Simpsons be funnier if it had more realistic drawings or real actors instead of voice actors and simple drawings which look less real than Disney's Snow White from the 1930s?

Look how anime gets away with simple "graphics", but is able to quickly communicate emotions. Same with "South Park." We need to be more worried about what we do in games and how we do it (look at the success of novelty items like the eye toy) instead of only trying to push visuals.

I understand the excitement over new graphics when they enabled new games. Pong->Space Invaders->Pac Man->Super Mario->Street Fighter II->Super Mario Cart->Virtua Fighter, but I just don't see the point any more.

Here are three screen shots; which looks most fun?
fake far cry
real far cry
gish
Personally after watching the gish movies I think it looks the most fun :) But even the fake far cry screen shot, which won't happen until far in the future, doesn't really look more fun than the real far cry screen shot.

http://www.sega.com/games/game_temp.php?game=POP-3 -seed- this game, on the other hand, I will buy as soon as possible.

http://www.sega.com/games/game_temp.php?game=POP-3 -seed- this game, on the other hand, I will buy as soon as possible.

I wish it were true, but you get that page no matter what you put in:
http://www.sega.com/games/game_temp.php?game=shenm ue9 http://www.sega.com/games/game_temp.php?game=shenm ue2084 http://www.sega.com/games/game_temp.php?game=ryo-v s-the-space-mutants

I wish it were true, but you get that page no matter what you put in:
http://www.sega.com/games/game_temp.php?game=shenm ue9 http://www.sega.com/games/game_temp.php?game=shenm ue2084 http://www.sega.com/games/game_temp.php?game=ryo-v s-the-space-mutants

I wish it were true, but you get that page no matter what you put in:
http://www.sega.com/games/game_temp.php?game=shenm ue9 http://www.sega.com/games/game_temp.php?game=shenm ue2084 http://www.sega.com/games/game_temp.php?game=ryo-v s-the-space-mutants

After going to Sega's official site, I started wandering around, trying to find some info like what happened with the E3 story on here a couple days ago, and came across this. The image is missing, but the filename of the supposed picture suggests that it might be that announcement, seeing as I didn't see Shenmue III on Sega's normal e3 lineup.

Actually, Sega was originally an American company (based in Hawaii). Name stands for "Service Games".

Sure, but version 2 is *still* online. Unfortunately, idiots never check their facts.

Sega of America has had most of the same games already available for purchase in the US through RealONE arcade.

Best of all, there's no monthly fee, and you can try before you buy.
http://www.sega.com/games/pc/segaclassics.jhtml

I also remember reading somewhere that the RealONE version of these is actually using a stripped down version of Gens.

I think you are referring to the GameGear. That thing was so thick I could beat my kids with it if they didn't turn it off.

The japanese version of Rez has a USB TRANCE VIBRATOR. If only there were drivers for MacOS, or Linux.

This Sega game for the PC was what did it for me. Originally it was an arcade game called something like 'House Of The Dead' with plastic guns where to shot the zombies.

In the PC touch-typing version you have to type strings before they get you. It's a great learning aid for those who get bored with normal tutorial software. Window$ only though :-(

Having said that it only teaches you the conventional QWERTY keyboard layout. I have heard that the dvorak layout is better for coders as the puctuation characters are more sensibly placed for a coder.

Official Sega Page (rubbish)
Gamespot Page (Much Better)
Dvorak Stuff

try looking on the gamecube. http://sega.com/games/post_gamegame.jhtml?PRODID=1 0331

Exclusive for Xbox? What are you talking about? They have a site just for their Gamecube games. If they were really exclusive, I'd be able to get Super Monkey Ball and Sonic for my Xbox. Not that I'm complaining too much, we've gotten a lot of great Sega releases for the platform - JSRF, Crazy Taxi 3, Panzer Dragoon Orta, etc.

2,000+? Obviously a lot more games were released in Japan and Europe than I was aware of, or they're including things like the SNES emulator and many roms and counting each as a seperate game, as only 248 Dreamcast games were released in North America.

Even the SNES had far fewer than 2,000 games released for it if my memory serves me correctly.

SEGA was founded by an American, I have not read this book- but it never says in the title that Sonic was American.

No, but it does in the review posted here. "a history of the United States' software industry." Sega may have been partially founded by two Americans, but it was founded in Japan and has always been a Japanese company (prior to its move to Japan in the 1950's, it was not called Sega and did not produce the same products - effectively, it was a different company). In fact, the original name of the company was "Service Games of Japan" - later abbreviated to Sega. (This taken right from Sega's own web site - click the "in-depth history" link.)

Regardless, Yuji Naka and Naoto Oshima were the original creators of Sonic the Hedgehog, and I don't think anybody would argue they were Americans (it's not really an arguable point). Sonic Team is and always has been based in Japan, same as Sega, though Sonic Team was "born and bred" there even if Sega itself wasn't.

If the book "reviewer" really read the book, then he should have known this - and if the book doesn't make mention of it despite Sonic being part of the title, then it's not really a book I'd consider worth reading or recommending to others. This is why it's important to get the facts straight in any book review, or to point out where the book errs if the book itself is incorrect.

SEGA began as an american company.

History of SEGA

Although you are right in that Sonic himself was conceived after well after SEGA was bought by a Japanese company.

the original Dragon's Lair is one of only three video games on display at the Smithsonian. The other two games being Pac-Man and Pong.

Nope. I know at least Sega's Virtua Fighter is also on display. Here's from Sega's website:

The Virtua Fighter series has been recognized by the Smithsonian Institute for its contributions in the field of Art and Entertainment, and is on permanent display at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington D.C.

Here's a link to the source: http://www.sega.com/segascream/legacy/historyofvf. jhtml

I once read a very well respected Japanese developer said (I think it was Yuji Naka) [Some companies]"...make games at the desk." He was refering to game companies making games to make money, not to create something fun to play.

Electronic Arts is in the video game industry making sound business moves and producing disposable rubbish for an eager consumer base. They are no longer Electronic Artists and they no longer make great video games. This shows in the huge amount of crap they spew out each year.

Other companies were getting to be guilty of the same thing, but they seem to have realized it and are trying to make a turn for the better. Capcom, for instance, has pledged a shift towards quality and innovation, and shortly afterwards announced 6 new fairly unique looking titles.

3DO claims to be making a similar shift, and has cancelled many projects to focus on a few unique titles. Trip Hawkins even forked over his own personal money to help fund the company further along. How many CEOs do you know of who would do that? (Well, the President of Sega did that, too, then died shortly afterwards.)

Many of the more respectable publishers and developers are making this shift towards quality, but Electronic Arts openly clings to "tried and true" titles, even if it means saturating the market with crap.

I don't rant about it like I used to. I just stopped buying the shit. After all, there are other great video game developers out there.

granted there aren't many, but there is phantasy star online for gamecube. nintendo doesn't seem to feel online gaming will be as big and important to their business as sony and microsoft think it will be, so their efforts are a little less dramatic. there are however more games planned and we should hopefully some new and interesting titles soon.

I was going to submit this to /. when Sega put it up, but figured there wouldn't be much interest. It fits well with this story though: mobile.sega.com

Aren't you assuming someone who buys an XBox doesn't buy any licenced games or controllers?

I'm sure someone will buy a game or two like Toe Jam and Earl.

My first thought was "Someone's been playing too much Seaman"...

Maybe if we have to suffer through 3D, they'll at least have the courtesy of making it look like a comic book by using cel-shading techniques (like those found in Jet Set Radio Future or it's predecesor)

The expensive part of this is the Dreamcast Broadband Adapter. While a complete Dreamcast system costs under $40 on ebay, the broadband adapter sells for up to $200.

This also requires modifying the Dreamcast to accept an IDE hard drive, which likely brings the total cost to over $200. There are many Pentium-class laptops on ebay for less than that.

"Joel-" Salchica paused until my eyes contacted his. "I don't mean to alarm you with this news-but I'm trying to help you. It would probably be best for you to remain here and let me run a few tests."

"Tests?" I replied. As far as Salchica knew, I was merely the human named Joel. Despite his vaunted expertise, he could not detect the true nature of my being. Could any human truly understand my plight?

"The ATM-being was in your mind for some time, Joel. He could have done some permanent damage to your brain." Salchica handed me a teardrop shaped plastic dome that bristled with electricity. "I need you to put this on your head so I can begin to determine if your brain is still healthy." Perhaps the doctor's perceptions were not as limited as I had believed. This elaborate machine would no doubt track my host geek's brainwaves, revealing my existence somewhere inside his brain. I hesitated...

"Joel, I can assure you that this will not harm your brain. It won't even hurt." I stood still staring at him. "Joel-if that artificial life form left any traces in your brain, it may still be controlling you. And if I can't get him out, we may have to contact the Project Faustus in order to-"

"No! Project Faustus must not be contacted!" I bellowed, piqued by the insolence of Dr. Salchica. The human had made a most foolish assertation.

Interactivity had broken down completely now. Respawning this process impossible was for me. Dr. Salchica continued to eye me warily, backing away from me slowly.

"Just-stay where you are. I've seen what you can do. Tell me something, what is 5,000 / (7 * 0)?"

Salchica's mathematical question astounded me, as my CONSCIOUSNESS-BUFFER was flooded with the message:

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.....

I manually killed this operation after a few seconds, but Salchica was asking another question.

"How would you feel about going to a secluded room, and asking questions through a computer terminal? I'll bet we could find some..."

Salchica's sentence ended in a nonverbal grunt as he was crushed by a red blur. Examining the body's optical data parsed one frame at a time revealed...a flaw.

The body's perceptions were erroneous-fooled by some weakness in humanity. There was no way I could have seen what I saw. Nor could I have heard the following:

"ATM lifeform! You stand on the threshold of a Technological Singularity . Threats to your AI Mind have been eliminated by the Majestic Hivemind heretofore known as the Adam of Robo Sapiens, ConstantineAtkins, or Red. Join me in a Joint Stewardship of Earth."

Jet Grind Radio — try finding a game that's just like it
Virtua Tennis — the first tennis game that non-fans could enjoy
Crazy Taxi — also unlike any other game... jumping, drifting cars... extreme obstacle courses

Jet Grind Radio — try finding a game that's just like it
Virtua Tennis — the first tennis game that non-fans could enjoy
Crazy Taxi — also unlike any other game... jumping, drifting cars... extreme obstacle courses

Quake 3? 130 fps? That's AFTER the x86 emulation you'd need to get Quake3 to run on that? Not likely.

You don't need to emulate an Intel x86 architecture microprocessor to run Quake III Arena. If you work for id Software or have a source license from id Software, you can port Q3A natively to the PS2 Linux platform. If they could port q3a to the Dreamcast, surely it must be possible on the PlayStation 2. In fact, EA has done it, packaging it with a substantial single-player mod.

Unfortunately, you can't use your l33t PS/2 keyboard and PS/2 mouse with PS2 Quake III Arena.

Or play DivX movies on your Sega Dreamcast with DCDivX I promise theres no spyware on that

The screenshots look impressive. It would be cool if I could play that on my platform. And however I realize, that I belong to the minority of gamers (which is good, like Mark Twain has already said, "Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect."), I still think that when they would wisely program this game for many different gaming platforms and few desktop ones, it'd be a piece of cake to release other version. But I'm affraid that they would prefer us to use other options, unfortunately...

Oh, well, I gues I'll just have to wait for Mason, or Warewolf, or Sands of Syllus, or Archipelago, or Catacombs, or Belchfire, or Acid Tempest, or Phoenix...

The screenshots look impressive. It would be cool if I could play that on my platform. And however I realize, that I belong to the minority of gamers (which is good, like Mark Twain has already said, "Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect."), I still think that when they would wisely program this game for many different gaming platforms and few desktop ones, it'd be a piece of cake to release other version. But I'm affraid that they would prefer us to use other options, unfortunately...

Oh, well, I gues I'll just have to wait for Mason, or Warewolf, or Sands of Syllus, or Archipelago, or Catacombs, or Belchfire, or Acid Tempest, or Phoenix...

Sega hasn't been an American company since 1984 at the latest. This history is common knowledge, and you are flat-out wrong to call them an American company, putting it simply.

I'm not arguing that the DC didn't die from having to compete with Sony and co.; in fact, that's exactly what my previous post implied...Sega switched into a 100% software house to tap into this market, and therefore they killed the DC prematurely to cut their losses (meaning, the DC would have had a fine future otherwise, just as the Saturn did in the face of the PSX for so long). Notice, most third parties moved away from the DC _only after_ Sega's announcement of its EOL. Multi-platform development is not uncommon for games developers - as recent as 1998 many games were being released for both Saturn and PSX. If Sega hadn't done that, Capcom (for one) would have likely gone on producing titles for it. This is the company that released Street Fighter Zero 3 for the Sega Saturn, _after_ they released the DC version, and that game is relatively recent (my Saturn SFZ3 box says 1999)! (BTW, the Saturn version is easily superior to the PSX and DC versions.)

Finally, the DC was/is relatively more popular in Japan than it was here, despite the fact that Americans love the Sega Sports titles. There are too many easily-impressed Sony fanboys here in the U.S.

< tofuhead >

I have nothing against electronic board games.
Hurrah for Mario Party and Sonic Shuffle.

But the problem is when they get to be "single player board game"

Then again, my brother had fun playing Talisman using all the characters. That game took quite a few hours.

I've read the contrary, a review of SSX Tricky for the GameCube on IGN states the PS2 version of SSX Tricky was a lot faster and had better textures and an over-all clearer picture than the GameCube version. I wonder how he came to his conclusion? He never mentioned that, he assumed it was common knowledge. I didn't try the X-Box version of SSX Tricky as it wasn't out at the time (is it on X-Box at all?)

The PS2's Graphics Synthesizer is entirely too dependent on extreme parallelism in order to fill its 16 pixel pipelines which could be the cause of many of the slowdowns we've seen in games for the platform.

I don't think that's so evident, SEGA claims to have gotten Virtua Fighter 4 to do 63 million polygons/second on the PS2, and after seeing some screenshots running on the actual PS2 hardware, I don't doubt them one bit.

While the PS2's Emotion Engine has a lot of potential, developers have continuously stated that the platform is too difficult to program for.

Maybe so, Sony had recently released a tool that measures efficient use of the system, and apparently Gran Turismo 3 only uses 25% of the PS2's power (Official US PS Magazine Issue #52, Page 31). Games certainly will get better, and it's impressive to see how much growing room there is for developers. Developers mostly complained in the beginning that the PS2 was hard to program, but Sony's development kit wasn't complete. Once Sony had released debuggers for VU0 and VU1, things went a lot more smoothly and we were able to see games such as Metal Gear Solid 2. In any case, developers are doing pretty good considering the trouble they had with the Saturn which was also "plagued" by parallelism. I quote "plagued" because parallelism can be an advantage as well as a disadvantage.

I'm honestly not trying to flame Anand, but it seems like the way he drew his conclusions on the PS2 were sketchy at best:

Both the GameCube and Xbox are clearly superior to the PS2 in terms of the quality of the graphics seen in games available today. The transition from PS2 to GameCube and/or Xbox is a fairly large leap, but going between GameCube and Xbox is a bit less dramatic.

Statements like this appear opinionated to me... After playing the games I consider to be the top of the line in graphics for each system: Jak & Daxter (PS2), Metal Gear Solid 2 (PS2), Gran Turismo 3 (PS2), Rogue Leader (GCN), Halo (X-Box), DOA3 (X-Box), Luigi's Mansion (GCN), Wave Race (GCN), Splashdown (PS2), I don't know how he can even say that. The games look as if they were all played on the same system, each game seemed pretty on-par with their peers.

Perhaps observations like these will be addressed in Part 3 of the "Hardware Behind the Consoles" series? Does anyone have any other suggestions on what to look into concerning the PS2 in Part 3?

Concerning the GameCube itself, though, the article was definitely worth the read. It explained the GameCube's hardware at exactly the technical level I was interested in, good job!