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Sega To Form Joint Company With Nintendo?
JayBonci writes: "Sega has had a lot of competition lately, and while the Dreamcast is very cool, it has had some hard times lately. IGN brings up this piece of news from out of the blue that Sega is mysteriously teaming up with Nintendo. Why would such long time rivals team up all of a sudden? The IGN article does not give much in the way of details, except to mention that Sega is going to fall short of its earnings. How would this change the gaming industry with two major players working together?"
Can anyone see the day when we have one company to entertain us?
We've already been there - in the dark ages, the only entertainment people had was church. We saw how well THAT worked.
This is more about Sega's admitting that it is much better at creating gaming software than it is at developing and properly support hardware... Expect to see more Sega games on future Nintendo systems, and perhaps on X-Box too.
Sonic the Hedgehog actually has a surprisingly strong fan following in the US. Archie Comics produces a Sonic the Hedgehog comicbook (which I liked a good deal but let my subscription run out) and some years ago DiC produced a Saturday morning cartoon (which was some of THE BEST animation and scripting I have EVER seen, even better than a lot of Disney flicks I've seen.)
In a different light, fans of Sonic comics wish he would be a more developed character with more insight, weaknesses, and strengths, but Sega apparently wants to keep him cool and vague, and kill off the other characters.
Fools. You cannot restrict art.
On a completely off topic strange twisted note, I do indeed wonder what this will do to the Sega reps who tell Archie comics what they can and cannot do with their hero.
I bet Nintendo's just as tough about character portrayal.
Angry IT woman in big clompy boots. And talking lint!.
If you look at the article, you'll see Sega, Nintendo AND famed Japanese music producer Tetsuya Komuro making up the JOINT company.
Sega DOES have a new console in development. While the Dreamcast has not been performing well in the Japan market neither has Sony. Sony has a terrible software ratio(1:1.8) which makes the $188 hit on each PS2 more difficult.And as you know, the $$$ come from software sales.
Why is Sony losing on the PS2? Easy, the PS2 happens to be one of the cheap(est) DVD player on the market.
The DC in North America (and Europe to an extent)is doing pretty good. There are no PS2 for sale making the DC the only console available for sales. And let me tell you, the managers of Electronic Boutiques and other retailers need to meet sale projections. They can't rely on Sony with no PS2s so the push goes to Sega. Just check your local retailer and see what's being pushed.
Same thing occured when the "Big Thing" was the N64. It was sold out and retailers pushed the little known Playstation( which was at that point doing pretty good.)
Anyway, it'll be tough to stop the DC when it has a strong established userbase, a superb software lineup, and a price point lower of the competitors.
A final thing, if you visit a retailer, see the difference between the DC and a PS2. It's not that great. You may find the DC has better graphics for most titles and Dead or Alive 2, which is on both platforms, looks much better on the DC.
These days Nintendo is strong among younger kids with the Mario/Pokemon type stuff, whereas Sega commands a (somewhat) older audience because it has a more 'extreme', less family safe image (going all the way back to those "sega!" attitude commercials). Also, Sega has a lot of experience in simulator rides and location-based entertaiment, which is stuff that Nintendo is not strong in. So the companies seem to complement one another very nicely, actually, if you factor out the console war.
Submitted this story days ago. Was denied (no biggie, but there is some better, more accurate information here).
- I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.
I'm not suprised. SEGA is losing money and their stock is crashing. But they have some well-liked products. That makes them a good candidate for an acquisition.
Since Dreamcast was based on WinCE
The Sega Dreamcast console has several available operating systems. Wince is mostly used for PC ports; other games use a Sega OS.
Will I retire or break 10K?
Sonic Team seems to be pretty cool. They released Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, and Chu Chu Rocket. Phantasy Star will be an online multiplayer RPG game for the Dreamcast (awesome), coming out the begining of next year.
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Historically, there have really only been two console systems at a time. Nintendo and Sega had it for a while, then Sony entered the market, and Sega started getting rocked. They have no new system in development, and the upcoming systems from Nintendo, MS, and Sony are going to nail the coffin in the Dreamcast, which wasn't all that popular to begin with.
When MS entered in, that made it even more unlikely that Sega was going to be able to stay floating. Nintendo pretty much got whupped by Sony in the last round because of cheaper, better games, and its looking like MS is buying enough to ensure that they aren't going to lose.
Teaming up with Sega will give both companies an edge theat they are going to need to stand against MS.
I've heard numerous things about this, from Sega going out of buisness (most likely an exageration from Sega's loss) to Sega becoming an "Internet company" (actually true, the head of Sega of Japan is an idiot). What's most likely to happen? Sega will become a third party developer.
The actual Sega compay is losing money from the Dreamcast, but with every software division being split into a seperate company, it's much easier to see if Sega is actually worthwhile as a hardware company.
I personally think that if Sega can survive the Dreamcast, they will be worthwhile again as a hardware company; Sega's name will be cleared of the SegaCD/32x/Saturn era. However, if they can't survive, Smile Bit, Sonic Team, Hit Maker, and all the other renamed and now independant AM divisions will keep on making "Sega" titles as third party developers.
Oh, and on a side note, I think X-Box is most likely to succeed next in the US.
I am a bad speler. Please ignore speling meestakes in me poast.
This makes some sense, but it will be years before it will actually take place (if it ever does).
Sega is known for quickly releasing new consoles that don't take advantage oft he latest and greatest in graphics/sound hardware, and making a ton of games. Nintendo is known for putting out good hardware, taking as much time as they want (eons), and releasing a few dozen games (each at near the price of the console itself).
If the hardware engineers get together, maybe something great can happen and a happy medium is found in power/release date for the hardware. They'd probably keep the Sega game division intact since they make some good games. I'm just guessing, but Nintendo must have 1 game dev team for all the Mario stuff. Flame me if I'm wrong. Nintendo is also notorious for not signing enough 3rd party developers, due to technical hurdles for the hardware, or license restrictions.
Anyways, these two companies are not going to grow. All their eggs are in one basket. Sony already has their hand in several other markets and they aren't going to go away if the Playstation fails (which it doesn't look like it will right now).
Specialized consoles WILL go away. Thats it. Anybody remember the days of the original Pong home game. Nothing but a console with two knobs and a power button. Got replaced by cartridge systems. New technology replaces old. New technology often makes things easier to do, and brings in new competition when a company sees that it won't be as hard to re-use existing technology, that have to develop everything from scratch. Nobody needs $10000 3D graphics cards developed anymore, just run down to local computer store and pick up the top-of-the-line for $300. It's getting easier to put consoles together, and the specialized hardware, that Nintendo and Sega develop just isn't needed, as shown by the X-Box.
Despite Microsoft's continued insistence, it's a Windows PC in console packaging and as such is very easy to develop for, since so many people know DirectX.
No, it's a console which runs an embedded-NT kernel and Direct X. It doesn't have a motherboard in the traditional PC sense, but rather a mainboard like a console, with both the CPU and GPU sharing the 6.4 GB/s bus to RAM in a UMA architecture. Yes, the CPU and GPU share the same basic internal core as a PIII and NV20, but they are custom chips, not off-the-shelf. Alright, it's closer to a PC than any other console, but it's not just a Windows PC with different form factor.
And it's not just easier than PS2 for those who know Direct X already: to program the PS2 you need to essentially write balanced assembly code for 2 vector processors all while streaming textures into the tiny 4MB VRAM fast enough to keep up with the action. The libraries that ought to be around to help developers do basic tasks are apparently rather scarce. Meanwhile, Direct X, whatever one may think of it, is certainly a far superior solution, even for someone who has never used it before. That's why in addition to PC developers making the cross-over, there's a whole lot of console-only developers on that list.
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Does anyone actually have a Java program designed to control air traffic, or for the operation of a nuclear facility?
To compete with the big bad giant, perhaps creating your own giant is a good pre-emptive move. After hearing how much $ M$ will be putting into XBox, I imagine these two would have a lot to gain (such as survival).
Actually, lots of developers have signed up to develop for XBox. Despite Microsoft's continued insistence, it's a Windows PC in console packaging and as such is very easy to develop for, since so many people know DirectX.
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All generalizations are false.
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I like to watch.
When I was in Japan a year ago, I must say Sega was the absolute King and Queen of the arcades. They have their own Arcade chain called Sega World, and they are more common than McDonalds here in the States. In their version of a mall, they sometimes have three or four different arcades in different parts of the mall, and they are always packed. Games like Crazy Taxi had massive lines formed behind them. (I loved the game so much, I purchased a Dreamcast when I got home just so I could play it.) If you have been to any major arcades in the States, like Gameworks, Sega is still the obvious victor. Sega is almost exclusively multiplayer gaming, and those games are what kicks arse. Those are the games you see lines forming to play, not watch. Konami's Dance Dance Revolution games' crowds are formed by viewers, not players. The crowd is their to see someone, usually Asian, bust a move, not to embarass themselves. Like the Sega employee's post above mentioned, Nintendo's in house games are the best. Look at their 1 million+ copies sold list. Very few people can say they didn't love Mario 64 and spent hours trying to find the nonexistant Luigi, or smiled when they found Yoshi at the top of the Castle. Who didn't rush to the store to buy The Ocarina of Time? Or what about getting all nostalgic while racing on the LONG Rainbow Road course in Mario Kart 64 from viewing the neon character signs in the distance, or from hearing the stock "Good Luck" voice sample in StarFox 64? Though these companies were rivals in the eighties, both have *evolved* in very different areas, to the point where a merger would be excellent for the consumer. My God, the games these two companies could produce together as a team, along with the musical talent of Tetsuya Komuro, would be worthy of drool that would otherwise go towards Natalie Portman. Now, a little off topic, I do not understand why any ./er would buy a PSX2, or PSX anything, and still be capable of living with themselves. If you ask me, Sony is a much larger monopoly and more consumer damaging company than M$ could ever hope to be. They make money off of alot of the movies we watch, the movie houses we go to, the tv shows we watch, and the tv shows we watch them on. Every monitor that was attached to the macs we used in highschool were Trinitrons. Nearly every one's VCR, home stereo, personal CD player, personal cassette player, headphones, DVD player, and Surround Sound decoder sports the Sony logo. How can people who do everything they can to keep Microsoft out of their computers, and are disgusted when they see MSNBC logos be so willing to accept with open arms and embrace products and content from Sony?
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Hippie Logger Jock
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Hippie Logger Jock
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I just want to know what the appeal is in backwards compatibility in a CONSOLE. Quite honestly, it means shit. The PS1 will not be developed for in 12 months, and then who will even want the old software anymore? Only people that have a PS1 already.
The Genesis/Mega Drive and the GameGear both had an add-on to make them backwards compatible with the Master System - it was hardly a huge selling point for them.
The ability to play obsolete games on a home console just isn't a selling point. People that have games for the old console should just use it to play them, and people without games for the old console OR the old console should buy games for the new one - simple.
And don't even get me started about the PS2's incompatibilites with some PS2 games.... poor programming of games on Sony and their 3rd parties behalf have made things a nightmare for Sony.
The only company that has done cosole backwards compatibility right was Nintendo, with the Game Boy to Game Boy Color (the GB Pocket was hardly new hardware), and soon to be the step from the Game Boy Color to the Game Boy Advance. Why has it worked for them? Because the GBC is pretty much a beefed up version of the original Game Boy chipset, and the Game Boy Advance includes the majority of the GBC's chipset on it alongside its new stuff.
Backwards compatibility is not important on a home console. In PCs yes, in handhelds maybe, but the home should buy new games for new generations. Home consoles don't need Windows/MacOS like problems trying to keep compatible with 15 years worth of crap.
I don't think turning consoles into mini-PCs is what most console gamers want. The whole beauty of the console is a fixed hardware setup. This lets you buy a game, pop in it the tray, and be ready to play in appromixately 3 seconds.
For my PC, it's great I can expand it as new hardware becomes available. It's good that I can install any kind of software I want. But for my PS2/XBox/DC/NGC I don't want to mess with that. I love my console because it functions like a toy, or even a DVD player -- it always works for any title.
The last thing I want to invade my console is patches *cough* Diablo II *cough*, illegal operations, or not enough RAM on my video card.
I disagree. Actually, I think the GameCube has great potential. If it came out now, it would greatly outsell ps2. The specs are better, and the internal makeup of the NGC is much neater (so I hear) than that of PS2, making it much easier to develop for. Not to mention the online gaming capabilities. Dreamcast didn't get off to a good start, which ruined sales despite the fact that it is a good system. It would be a good merger if Sega and Nintendo joined up. The quality of the games would be better than PS2. The only advantages that I think the PS2 has are the release date and the backwards compatibility with PSX (NGC could possibly have backwards compatible controllers, but not games).
Now the X-box is a different story. That should be a great system too, the only doubt in my mind about that is whether developers will test out a new gaming company or stick with proven ones. Of course, Bill Gates' money could help things, but the consumers would face the same problem. I guess we'll just have to see how things shake out.
This is simply not true. Nothing official of this sort was confirmed, though there were rumors that the Sonic team may develop for the Gamecube (some truth to that I'm sure).
I have to say that as a sega employee this really wouldnt surprise me, just the frintic pace of everything around here lately. Half of us aren't sure what our jobs are, and they seem to not want to tell us til whatever is going on is over with. all in all a joint venture with Nintendo seems a damn good idea. their 1st aprty games and our network and we'll beat every other company out there, especially considering that we already have narrowband net gaming down, not everyone will have broad band even by the time xbox and NGC come out, so it is definitly a huge advantage.
Not the launch date, but the success of the system out of the starting gates.
If Sega comes on board with Nintendo as a 3rd party developer, it could give a larger release library of games, some of them being ports of some of Sega's well known and popular arcade games.
Notice how one of the biggest complaints about the PS2 so far has been the lack of games? Sure, it's got all of the PSX games, but most people who rushed out to buy a PS2 already have a PSX.
Dark Nexus
Dark Nexus
"Sanity is calming, but madness is more interesting."
Sega and Nintendo may also be amenable to changing their stances to something that's somewhat more free, although I wouldn't hold my breath.