Nintendo Buying Sega? Or Not?

jeffsenter writes "According to this NYTimes article (free reg. req.) Nintendo is actually in talks to buy Sega for about $2B. As you know Sega has been losing money for years and is beaten by the competition from Sony. Rumors of the end of Sega are nothing new. Sega is making money from its arcade business so maybe they will sell to Nintendo and focus on software." But according to a CNNfn story, it isn't happening

Comments

For the record...

[dancingmad]

Let's get a few things straight.

Nintendo is NOT buying Sega. How long as this rumor gone along? And how many times has ./ posted about it? It's simply not going to happen and it's poor judgement on the part of both the NYT and ./ to post idiotic stories like these. Sega won't be bought by any Japanese vg company. The most likely scenarios are a partnership with Microsoft or a most likely is that Sega will stop selling hardware and devolop for one or all of the next-gen consoles.

Nintendo didn't loose devolopers because of content control. They lost them because Nintendo controls the storage media that games are manufactured on and charges large sums (like $30 a cart) for devolopers to buy the carts. With cheap CDs, for most companies, unless they had a sure fire hit, tying up large sums of money in cars made no sense.

Nintendo has become fairly liberal in censorhip in recent years, though that can't seem to get away from the stigma of half ignorant fan boys remembering the Mortal Kombat debacle. Nintendo has bowed to market demand, though no one's seemed to noticed. Take Conker's Bad Fur Day or Perfect Dark as examples.

If ./ is going to report on games and anime, they should at least get someone who knows half a whit about what they're talking about. Otherwise it brings down the quality of the entire site.

I don't object to ./ covering them - but they should do it like they do their other tech coverage - well.

Re:For the record...

[dancingmad]

I'm aware of the how Slashdot gets news stories, my point, typing mistakes besides, is that they should have a more discretion in choosing what stories to post.

Slashdot provides a great service to us by gathering together the stories. However, someone needs to be able to what's obviously a bogus story. Sega being bought by Nintendo is the same type of story that "Mircrosoft releases a Linux distrobution" would be. However, the former gets posted whilst the latter is a joke.

DreamCast Network Computer?

[Woodie]

Just a quick note -

As the Ethernet adapter is about to be released (1/3/2001 according to EB) I had the thought that the DreamCast could make for a very low-cost NC.

Think about it, someone has ported Linux to it - just get that and X11 running on it, and you've got the NC that Oracle is trying to foist on people. Either that, or use WinCE - the WebTV browser (3.0 is due out with the Ethernet adapter) is OK for basic stuff. You could almost start to sell this thing into the same space as the Audrey from 3Com.

Re:DreamCast Network Computer?

[roady]

AFAIR the DC only has 16Mb of RAM and it is already a limitation for developpers.

Would it be possilbe to make a good a NC with that, when a lot of today's web pages uses video, flash etc ?

I could never understand..,..

[Cplus]

..,..the game boys dominance of this market. I spent a ridiculous amount of money ordering a Game Gear (SEGA) from Japan when they first came out, thinking it was the next big thing, and it was great, quality games, far superior graphics to the Game Boy. The only bad thing about it was that it seemed like I was the only one to buy the damn thing. Only traded games with one friend..........where's the fun? Where's the head-to-head football?

Maybe NOT Shenmue2....

[DrEldarion]

From www.thegia.com:

Shenmue 2 drops from sight [10.05.00] With troubles plaguing developer AM2 and Sega's webpage mum, the future of Yu Suzuki's second gift looks grim.

When development of Sega's epic Shenmue proved to be too ambitious in scope, producer Yu Suzuki decided to split the project up into multiple chapters: Chapter 1 would come first as Shenmue, Chapters 2, 3, 4, and 5 would follow as Shenmue 2, and the remaining 15 would be developed and released at a later date. But following lackluster Japanese success of the first installment and new happenings within Sega, the future of Shenmue 2 is now in doubt.

For starters, head Shenmue director Keiji Okayasu quit AM2 last month, quickly following the departure of a close colleague. Sega has also failed to make any mention of the game on the release date section of its Japanese webpage, even within the "release date undecided" category. Additionally, all mentions of "Chapter 1" in the Japanese version have been nixed in the U.S., and the game was nowhere to be found at Sega's glitzy CyberClub gathering held earlier in Japan.

When asked to comment, gamers.com reports Shenmue developer AM2 asserted that the game is still in production and "will definitely be released... We will make a formal announcement once we decide the release date." While heartening, even firmer assurance was given in July to fans worried about the future of Mother 3/Earthbound 64. A month later, the game was cancelled.

-- Dr. Eldarion --

Re:Maybe NOT Shenmue2....

[DrEldarion]

Note1: I said 'maybe'. Note2: The game was still in development, but it just seemed to disappear from sight... with it's director gone, they're no doubt having many troubles. Even if it *IS* still going to come out, though, It will probably suffer massive delays like the first one did... ugh. -- Dr. Eldarion --

Logic and Numeric Issues

[TheInternet]

This article seems to be giving completely the wrong impression of Dreamcast sales in the US. Though they don't specify, I suspect at least some of their data is based on Japanese sales, which have been much worse than US sales.

Some comments don't quite make sense:

Despite Dreamcast's advanced technology and record-setting introduction in September 1999 -- it sold 500,000 units in that month alone -- Sony's PlayStation 2 this year broke that record and all but obliterated Dreamcast's lead.

Eh? Sony sold 500,000 PS2s in one day, but haven't sold very many since then. In fact, there has been at least one article I read on how Dreamcast sales have increases dramatically due to PS2 shortages. Following Thanksgiving weekend, Dreamcast sales were up 82%, putting it in second place in the market share game, right behind PlayStation 1. Now all this may change when PS2 production starts to meet demand, but that's no excuse for misleading the public.

PC Data's market share numbers for the week ending Nov 25:

• PSone: 42%
• Dreamcast: 27%
• N64: 26%
• PS2: 6%

As of Nov. 18, Sega's share of the North American market for game consoles had fallen to 17.5 percent

A fine date to choose. Right before Thanksgiving weekend, when sales just exploded. This article was published today, why are they using data that is 40 days old?

It is not clear how much the companies make selling hardware

They usually take a loss. That's pretty common knowledge, I thought.

Overall, Dreamcast is doing very well right now, at least in the US. So it's hard to see how a Nintendo acquisition would make sense. So either there is some sort of weird bias on the part of the authors (which seems unlikely), or they do not realize that they are drastically misrepresenting the situation. I'm no Dreamcast loyalist or anything like that (these things only cost $150, most people can afford one), but I hate to see people get away with causing confusion via inaccurate journalism.

And why would Nintendo want Sega right now? They are already developing Game Cube, and have a very successful business thanks to Pokemon, GameBoy and the occasional epic title like Zelda. It would be a shame if Dreamcast got buried in purely political issues, since it's home to so many fascinatingly original game design ideas (Crazy Taxi, Seaman, Shenmue, Jet Grind Radio, etc).

- Scott

------
Scott Stevenson

Re:Logic and Numeric Issues

[ToLu the Happy Furby]

I agree with a lot of your post; the DC is definitely in much better position than the article gave it credit for, especially compared to the PS2--which, while it has some damned powerful components, is IMO the most over-hyped, worst engineered, poorly planned console in...well, I dunno, but I think it's gonna be a large disappointment for Sony and has next to no chance of PS1-like success much less the monopoly many have predicted.

However, it is a matter of record that Sega is doing very poorly financially right now, and that they are and have been entertaining takeover proposals. An invigorated US Dreamcast market will help buy them time and leverage, but they've already said they don't see themselves coming out with another hardware platform after the technical fumble of Saturn and marketing failure of Dreamcast. I think Sega would rather be a "second-party" developer ala Rare than a straight third-party software house, and thus I can see them agreeing to a Nintendo or MS buyout that will keep their franchise titles well managed and well promoted.

From Nintendo's point of view I think this makes a ton of sense. They are suddenly outgunned in the coming generation, by two consoles which suddenly have the full weight of their corporate giants behind them. The thing is, while Nintendo has the under-12 market pretty sown up, console gaming appears finally poised to become a much more mainstream phenomenon. (Indeed, it's been going in this direction since the Genesis, and the PS1 helped a great deal.) Nintendo is holding the same size piece as always, but the pie is suddenly much larger.

And the thing is, the console business is all based on economies of scale; unless GameCube has a large enough audience to match PS2 and XBox, the good developers won't make games for it...and unless the good developers are making games for it, its audience will be too small. One of the best ways to solve this catch-22 is to buy a few developers so that you are guaranteed a wide range of enticing titles. Nintendo has a few, but they will only attract a narrow demographic; Nintendo's sports games in particular are very weak. Furthermore, by buying a Sega, Nintendo has a good chance of hanging on to today's Mario and Zelda fans when they become the NFL2K1 and Jet Grind Radio etc. fans of tomorrow. They'll stay with Nintendo if Nintendo can supply them with games that keep up with them as they grow up. Otherwise, they'll go to Sony and MS.

slightly offtopic, please excuse me ^^;;

[Lord Omlette]

Anyone bored with your N64, feel free to rent Ogre Battle 64 (strategy rpg)... At 70 hours to beat it the first time through, renting it will let you know whether you want to purchase it. There are at least three different endings that I've found so far, plus lots of variations. Less emphasis on graphics, lots and lots of gameplay.

Quest (maker of the game, published by Atlus) is the type of not-so-big-name third party developer that Nintendo should be spending more time funding.

Pokémon Crystal came out in Japan recently, I don't think the series will die anytime soon. People underestimate it because I don't think anyone's seen anything quite like it. And after a mindnumbing day at the office, what better than a simple game of catching monsters and training them to fight other monsters?

Which leads into: Sony & Microsoft (er, there are rumors, but nothing confirmed yet about a WinCE DX-based MS handheld) have nothing on Nintendo's dominance of the handheld market. If Nintendo doesn't buy Sega, Sega could easily pocket some cash by developing for a Nintendo handheld. NGPC not doing too well =(

...
--
Peace,
Lord Omlette
ICQ# 77863057

Re:Cartridge-based games

[Frizzle Fry]

That re-design was on a purely optical basis.

Mainly. However, as I understand it, the new design also cannot be "chipped" like the old to be able to play import/pirtated games. Also, will software that's hardcoded to need a double speed drive work on the ps2 (which is backwards compatible)? What about using bleem! on a pc or bleemcast for dreamcast? If so, it seems that sony could have come up with a way to make psOne load faster.

Care about freedom?

Re:*shudder* Hasn't nintendo died?

[Ziviyr]

Insightful my ass... Try troll.

BlastCorps is a great game, and Perfect Dark crushes Golden Eye.
If you're gunna bash Nintendo at least try to sound like you know what you're typing about.

Umm......dont mean to spam, but...

[aarcher]

Speaking for all those of us who dont have the money......
Who cares?

Re:Waaaaaah

[JabXVI]

Have you heard of Conker's Bad Fur Day for the N64? Here's IGN64's preview. Needless to say, if this buy out were to happen, I don't think Nintendo would have any problems with the content of Sega's games.

Ehrm...

[James Foster]

Ummm... If its not happening, why post about it? I mean... this wasn't even an update, same post. Its about as good as a "what if" when you know the "what if" won't happen. What if all /. "news" becomes like this?

Not in the foreseeable future.....

[BRock97]

Interesting, considering the recent talk by the higher ups at Sega.com about its future. For example, the impending release of Phantasy Star Online, which will be huge. Not to mention Crazy Taxi 2, Sonic 2, and the other holy grail, Shemnue 2. Plus, with the ethernet adapter coming out in a week, things are looking mighty rosy. All of this just from Sega. 3rd party folk are also getting ready for a great year. Me thinks all of this is just talk to drive up Sega's stock price in Japan, which could use it.

If they were to die, though, it would be a sad day. Between the BSD development, the SNES emulator available, which is really, REALLY cool but is a tad slow right now, and other possible goodies down the road (Zip drive, oh please Zip drive), I don't think they are available for such a buyout.

All that said, get back to me in a year. It will be the trial of its life time for Sega this year and we will see if Sega can survive. I certainly hope so, but to play devil's advicate, think about Sega becoming a software only shop. Think of the things we could see of X-Box, Gamecube, or PS2. It would be pretty impressive. I would hate to see the Dreamcast die, or future Sega consoles for that matter, but the alternative is not that bad as some people think.

Bryan R.

Censor?!? you need to watch the video for Conker

[Vermifax]

I mean there are penis jokes in it and a re-enactment of one of the saving private ryan battle scenes. Watch videos at. http://ign64.ign.com/previews/13960.html

Vermifax

Sega + Nintendo?

[Jedi Alec]

Let's see, that makes, well Sintendo(tm) I guess. Or maybe Ninga(ninja).

Re:Although it's not true....

[Fervent]

Miyamoto is in the "Special Thanks" section for Seaman. Apparently he and the Sega designer talked over the game before it was put into production, giving ideas.

Re:Nothing to buy!

[Fervent]

Funny, I've seen two Sonic games in the past year for Dreamcast (Sonic Adventure and Sonic Shuffle), rehashes of Sonic 1 and 2 for NeoGeo Pocket, and Sonic Adventure 2 coming in a few months. It doesn't sound like the franchise is "dying out" to me, especially considering Sonic Adventure is the number one selling game for the Dreamcast at this point.

Re:Nothing to buy!

[Jedi Alec]

Sega have let their most valuable franchises die for lack of new titles (Sonic, NiGHTS, etc)

It's even worse, looks like we've got a whole new type of hedgehog around...

Re:Waaaaaah

[Fervent]

One "raucous" game vs. more than a dozen on Sega's system. Hmm...

Nintendo quashes report of plan to buy Sega!

[antdude]

I think this CNET news story should answer the question. ;)

Might happen eventually

[jayhawk88]

I think your starting to see rumors like this mainly because Nintendo is nervous about the competition from Sony and Microsoft. Nintendo has been able to get by on the strengths of their titles/characters since the NES/SNES glory days. But Sony and Microsoft have developers lined up around the block (or in Microsofts case, stuffed in their wallet) to develop games for their consoles.

Nintendo needs some meat to their lineup. The N64 sold well, and there were some great games for it, but some new blood is definitely needed. The problem with consoles is that you have a limited time window that you have to get your games into: if you run too late, the cosole is history. Pokemon is probably due to flame out soon. The Zelda line has 2 great N64 games, but there's only so many of those you can put out in a systems lifetime (seems to be about 2). Mario and Donkey Kong will of course have a plethora of "scrollers", racing games, party games, etc...which will make up the core of the title line-up. Rare with the GoldenEye/Perfect Dark types games is a heavy-hitter; but again, there's only so many games they can put out.

Think back to the glory days of NES/SNES. Sure, we all got and played the Marios and the Zeldas, but look at all the other great games from 3rd party developers that kept you playing the deck. Final Fantasies, Chrono Trigger, Tecmo Super Bowl, Street Fighter series, EA sports titles. Slowly but surely, these developers, who were once Nintendo exclusive, have migrated to other consoles. Some still develop for the N64, some don't.

Maybe the hardware mistakes made by the N64 had the most to do with it's "lack of previous success" (you can't really call it a failure). It looks like the Cube is going to have some kick-ass specs, which would cure that problem. Still, Nintendo has lost some big third party developers (EA and Square topping the list), and a purchase of Sega would help them gain back some much needed titles. It will be interesting to see where this goes.

Cartridge-based games

[EboMike]

btw, sony just came out with "psOne", a redesigened playstation. Don't you think if you were coming out with a new playstation model you would give it something faster than a 2x cdrom?

That re-design was on a purely optical basis. It was simply impossible to make signifcant changes to the hardware without abandoning compatibility. The PSX libraries are hard-wired to single speed and double speed, there is no way to change the drive speed to anything else, and since the programmer is given pretty much low-level access to the CD drive, you're stuck. I wrote some audio code for example which relied on the drive to be running with double speed.

Yes, the loading times of CD-based games suck, but cramming data onto those cartridges is one hell of a job. You have to compress the heck out of your data, it is NO fun, believe me. Especially when your producer is too greedy to come up with large cartridges. And just compare that embarrassing kindergarten music of a cartridge-based N64 title to real streaming CD sound. The sound issue alone would put me off a N64.

Besides, many PSX games would have had much shorter loading times if the programmers hadn't been so sloppy about that issue.

Re:Cartridge-based games

[SuiteSisterMary]

Actually, every revision of the PS hardware since launch has had new parts; they're only engineered, however, to be smaller, cooler, and require less power. But if you can find a first gen PS, and a last gen PS, pop the covers off and look. The last gen is pretty much empty; that's why they just went ahead and chopped the case by 2/3rds.

False Report

[Hiro]

Sega (Japanese and English)
http://www.sega.co.jp/20001227.html

Nintendo (Japanese)
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n10/news/001227.html

*shudder* Hasn't nintendo died?

[SirStanley]

This is a complete shock to me. Someone who hasn't been paying attention to the console world in years. I thought Nintendo Died? I mean Ultra 64 is horrid. It wasn't fun when it first came out, and the only two decent games they have are zelda and GoldenEye. Sega has this groovin Dreamcast which is an awsome system with awsome game support. Is it me or is nintendo trying to drive everything into the ground? I guess they made alot more money off of Pokemon than I previously thought.

Re:Must be true. Two losers combining against Sony

[Frizzle Fry]

Some miscellaneous comments in response to your post:

1. There are many reasons for nintendo using cartridges on n64 besides fear of piracy. I would also name the fact that have been using carts forever and were afraid of change and a desire to reduce load times. Playstation had a lot of rpgs for which disc space was important, but for action games, playstation load time sucks. btw, sony just came out with "psOne", a redesigened playstation. Don't you think if you were coming out with a new playstation model you would give it something faster than a 2x cdrom?
2. Sega definitely had more than 5 systems. You forgot 32x and 32xCD, not to mention game gear (of course, you didn't mention game boy and virtual boy for nintendo). I bring this up because I think 32x is the epitomy of what you are discussing: bringing out too many systems to support. 32x was brought out when sega had already announced that saturn was coming out in less than a year as a system to "hold people over" until then. That's ridiculous! It was obvious to everyone that sega had no plans to support it once saturn came out and that there was no reason to buy it, so it bombed.
3. And you ask "who's talking about the DC?" Well, lots of people are! It has 200 games out and that library is growing very rapidly. The system has sold well and everyone I know who has one (including me) has been very happy with it. No doubt, in a few years when ps2 and gamecube and xbox and whatever else gain dominance it will of course fade, but for the time being, dreamcast is the system.
4. And lastly, as for a shakeout, I agree. It seems to be a natural thing that the market can't support two many systems. I thought two per generation was the max, but the idea of a "generation" of consoles seems to be breaking down as the releases of new consoles in the near future are highly staggered. e.g. is dreamcast competing directly with ps2 or is it an earlier system? Will xbox we head-to-head against ps2, or will it be the next thing to replace it? Unclear. But, for an example of too many systems competing, just look back to the previous generation where people thought that jaguar, 3DO, n64, ps and saturn were all going to be going head to head.It was down to two before that struggle even started! No doubt the same thing will happen again. ps2 will be one. The question is who will be its competitor.

Care about freedom?

Re:Nothing to buy!

[Jedi Alec]

The only interesting thing I've seen S3 do lately is selling their entire graphic chips department to a joint venture with VIA. BTW, that was the link I had in mind:-(

Re:Heh

[roady]

While your argument is probably true, it is over simplisitic.

Many people would never have bought a DC if it was not possible to play pirated games. (And a larger user base means more games sold).

A great part of the people pirating games would never have bought an original or don;t have the money anyway.

And in each discussion about piracy you find hundreds of other arguments from both anti and pro piracy types.

Note that this post does say NOTHING about the morale of pirating.

An article from ZDNET

[antdude]

Here.

Re:An article from ZDNET

[enrico_suave]

That ZDNET article has an interesting spin on it. Why *would* Nintendo want to own Sega? Besides their characters/tm's ,,,

Apparently Sega has a lot of debt that would dissuade possible suitors.

ymmv,

E.

"a Japanese word"

[Ghostface Postah]

A Sega spokesman, Munehiro Umemura, strongly denied a deal was in the works. He said the idea was "absolutely outrageous" and used a Japanese word that can mean unfounded rumor or outright falsehood.

If I know my Japanese, that word is "burushitu."

Arcade hardware

[nigelb0]

Sega is making money from its arcade business...

Are they? Are they making a bundle in the arcades or facing dimishing returns?

Also, Sega's console technology is based on its arcade hardware. Buy one, buy the other.

Re:I loved my old Sega

[Ashleigh]

Not only did I have a master system and a genesis, I still have them both, and a Saturn (Anyone remember those?) and a pile of games for each.
Now I'm just waiting for someone to buy me a Dreamcast.
The only good game N ever, EVER had (IMO) was GoldenEye, purely because you could shoot the guards in the head from a fair old distance, and knock their hat off.
Anyone remember the article weeks ago on /. about mario party causing scarring on a young girl?!

Alphabet soup is not, repeat NOT a message from beyind the grave!

Re:I loved my old Sega

[Servo]

Yeah, actually it was Metroid. hehe

Re:I loved my old Sega

[Servo]

I remember the Saturn... my girlfriend at the time had one.

I just happened to be cleaning out the closet in my guest bedroom, and I found a BIG box of the master system and genesis games, as well as my genesis. Hmm, I wonder if there is a market for them on Ebay. :)

Re:Although it's not true....

[mrisaacs]

Hate to say it, but I must agree with management.

Been there and done it. Change is not always welcome, and your personal comfort is not the primary concern of your employer.

Management has a responsibity to see to adequate staffing. If you're #2 you have to be prepared to be #1 in the event of an emergency. Hesistency to assume the task is an indication to Management of a problem. Management cannot take the risk that if their lead is away, the second in command will not take on the duties, or will do the minimum.

Now, if the permanent promotion does NOT include all the perks (more pay, etc.), then management is not playing fair, but what can I say, life sucks.

News

[Hard_Code]

Reminds me of Jimmy Fallon in Weekend Update, or that Simpsons episode:

Anchor: "Is Nintendo Buying Sega? Or not?"
Anchor: "The answer is no."
Anchor: "Or is it...?"

Although it's not true....

[SuiteSisterMary]

...it would be very sad indeed. Sega is constantly putting out games that are unorthodox, to say the least; Space Channel 5 and Jet Grind Radio are two examples off the top of my head, that Nintendo would never touch; it's all Mario these days for them.

Re:Although it's not true....

[stx23]

And Conker's BFD is a normal Nintendo product? Nintendo seem to be rethinking some of their strategies, and Miyamoto did say he though Samba De Amigo one of the best games he has ever played, perhaps there is more mutual respect there than previously thought?

Re:Although it's not true....

[SuiteSisterMary]

They're starting to rethink, mainly because they're getting pasted. Take a look at the entire history of Nintendo games; it's always been about control. The 'seal of approval,' Nintendo manufacturing carts themselves, etc etc. Nintendo generally reserves the rights to refuse publication of any game they don't like. Sure, they might be relaxing the whip a bit, but it's still there. But just for fun, lets take a look at a current roster of games. Zelda; yawn. Perfect Dark; Goldeneye with better textures. Mario Tennis? Please. Pokemon this, that and the other; wow. Hell, here's a perfect example: Dreamcast's "Seaman" versus Nintendo's "Come here, Pikachu!" Same genre (voice controlled games) but wildly different executions, styles, and design philosophies.

Heh

[Joshuah]

I guess if all those people didnt pirate all of those dreamcast games, then maybe sega would have a chance. I mean sega sells its hardware for cheap and they make alot of them. But they expect the end user to buy the software.

What does Sega have to sell?

[WarSpiteX]

I can imagine a few licenses to games like Sonic, Ecco, and so on. Nintendo's big on "big license" games that they make themselves...

But really, since consoles are much more generational than PC hardware, you can't get that much of a benefit from bought technology. NVIDIA benefited from the 3dfx purchase by getting GigaPixel tech and they also managed to settle the lawsuits against them in that fashion. But how would Nintendo benefit from purchasing Sega?

Re:What does Sega have to sell?

[Bojay Iverson]

But how would Nintendo benefit from purchasing Sega?

They would ensure some of the world's best development teams don't end up with MS, Sony or Indrema(heh)?

Waaaaaah

[perdida]

Space Channel 5.

Shenmu.

Jet SET Radio.

They have bars, guns,beer,coffee,cuss words and love stories.

Please stop this before Nintendo censors and sanitizes the innovative games Sega has been putting out for years.

What's the news exactly?

[moz25]

What is the news exactly? As far as I can tell, there is just a rumor.. maybe created to temporarily boost stock prices ;-) It would not surprise me if sega did get acquired at some point. Hey, doesn't MS have an interest?

Powerhouse

[giberti]

Not only would this combine the best cartoon style games with Sonic and Mario, it would then dominate that market all by itself, leaving Sony as the leader in real life gaming and Nintendo with "family friendly" gaming. This would be a good merger... to bad cnn doesn't think it will be.

Re:Nothing to buy!

[Snowfox]

Sega have let their most valuable franchises die for lack of new titles (Sonic, NiGHTS, etc)

It's even worse, looks like we've got a whole new type of hedgehog around...

I think this was the intended link.

Sonic lives again. :) Is it just me, or has S3 started to remind you of one of those patchwork quilts you sew out of bits of clothing which have worn too thin and useless for anything else?

I'm half-expecting S3 to make the big Atari/Home and Commodore acquisition announcements. I'm eagerly awaiting my new Amiga hardware running TOS 3.5 with ViRGE DirectX 5 3D deceleration and maybe AdLib audio beside, all beautifully orchestrated to support the wonderfully exciting Snork Adventure launch title.* And the scary thing is - it'll work. Like those people with three and four diseases, all holding each other in check, and where if just one thing becomes slightly less horrible they'll topple - it's going to work.

* Sold exclusively at Radio Shack.

Nothing to buy!

[Snowfox]

Buying Sega simply wouldn't make any sense.

Sega have let their most valuable franchises die for lack of new titles (Sonic, NiGHTS, etc). A new title in any of their old main lines wouldn't have the brand appeal it did two years ago.

Sega's biggest strength in recent years has been their arcade work. And while leveraging Sega's arcade division to further Nintendo's placement might have made sense a few years ago, the arcade market is on a decline with redemption machines (the games you get tickets/tokens for playing) fast replacing game machines.

Sega also has a foothold in redemption machines, but that's two steps removed from Nintendo's meat and potatos, and that market too is starting to plateau; probably not a direction the big N wants to grow in.

Re:Nothing to buy!

[HomeySmurf]

Sony is a large and strange company. When you get to the size Sony is, the $2B is not even that much money. It will be very difficult to predict their actions. However, although you are right about arcade machines being Sega's strong place in the market, nowadays these machines are just extensions of the console game market. There aren't any titles in the arcade that aren't marketed on consoles. I know there is sometimes a delay before they go on sale, but it is cerrtainly not a speciality market in the sense that I am sure those enclosures just hold essentially Dreamquests. Part of the problem (and this came up quite a bit with PS2 discussions) is that console systems are hard to code for, and there are no standards. That makes porting games very difficult I imagine (and it certainly seems to not work out too well). It is really impractical for Sega to compete independently when it can't hope to match sales of Play Station games. They were already planning to market some of their titles for the PS2, so maybe it would just be better for them to become part of Sony. In any events, I imagine Sega will become a pure software company before too long. Another thing is that it is probably weird for people here to realize how huge Nintendo really is. My little brothers and all their friends love it. Right now they dominate the kids market. And those kids are growing up. If they can lock these kids into platforms and titles, they have them for years. They already completely dominate the portable game market (Gameboys), and if they can integrate them with cellphones, they will have the future of speciality gaming machines locke up I imagine.

I just can't wait until Crazy Taxi Driver comes out for the Playstation 2 though! :o)

Sega Needs Steve Jobs

[superdan2k]

For god knows how long, Sega has been the Apple of the video game console market. Always "on the verge of bankruptcy" or "going to be bought by company X"...

Funny how they always whip out a new product -- the Genesis and the Dreamcast, for example -- to keep them afloat awhile longer. Kind of like Macs.

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Yo soy El Fontosaurus Grande!

Nintendo = Bad management

[Flarg!]

From what I remember, Nintendo lost a lot of good developers (square,etc.) because they had to have complete control over the content they produced, where as Sega were a lot more free in that regard. This is why Nintendo has so few games compared to Sega (counting the Genesis), and why Sega's games are so much more innovative. I see Sega's role in the future to be the company which comes out every few years to spank the competition and shake things up. It would be a lot less interesting without Sega to kick around.

I find it interesting

[enrico_suave]

That they won't even commit to a translation of the Sega rep's response..."used a Japanese word that can mean unfounded rumor or outright falsehood.
"

He also used several descriptive adjectives and some nouns as well...

*shrug*

E.

I loved my old Sega

[Servo]

I had the original Master System, and the Genesis too. I always liked the games for the Sega better than my cousin's (who lived with us) Nintendo.

The style of games for the Sega have always been "cooler" in my opinion. Not that Nintendo didn't make great hardware, it just seams like they don't like to put out anything thats not suitable for someone under 7. There was only 1 game I ever did enjoy on Nintendo (No, not Super Mario Brothers!). If Sega does get bought out, I hope that the game base that they put out doesn't get revamped to fit Nintendo's normal style.

It's a misunderstanding

[buttfucker2000]

Nintendo are buying _a_ Sega to get tips on good games. And they are supposedly buying a PS2 to reach the cookie jar on the top shelf.

Advice for Nintendo: everyone regrets buying sega

[tenzig_112]

Every time I buy a Sega I regret it in the end.

It may be a good company, maybe better than the available options. Their ROI may seem very attractive. But lack of support and poor marketing will make you regret buying them. I just know it.

I'll keep playing those dozen or so extant Dreamcast titles (the ones in English) until they burn a hole in my TV.

www.ridiculopathy.com