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Sega To Take X-Box To Arcades
kikta writes "Well, after our previous speculation about what Sega would do after they got out of the hardware biz, it appears we have our answer. CNN is reporting that they will be producing motherboards to port the Xbox to the arcade. GamePro also weighed in on the announcement."
Great, now I can listen to anti-MS bitching when I hit the arcade too! YES!!!
end communication
Well, after our previous speculation about what Sega would do after they got out of the hardware biz, it appears we have our answer. CNN is reporting that they will be producing motherboards
Looks to me like that means they're still in the "hardware biz"
Doesn't this annoncement mean that they're not out of the hardware biz at all???
However do you mince words so well, oh Hemos?
I didn't think this was all that big of a deal. There have long been suggestions of Sega working with Microsoft on the XBox. Didn't we even hear that the XBox might play Dreamcast discs natively at some point? Rumor or not, this isn't really huge news.
Unless you look at the hardware, of Sega discussing building an arcade version of the XBox. Again, I really don't consider this news. Sega pulled out of the _home_ console market, they were always doing well in the arcade market, and never intended to pull out of that at all.
So put two and two togeather. Sega makes games for XBox, and Sega makes arcade games. Wouldn't it make sense that Sega would want an Arcade version of XBox in order to make the transition from Arcade to home easiest?
They may not have put out a good (read: profitable) game system since the Genesis, but innovative games like Jet Set Radio and the ridiculously addictive Samba de Amigo should show everyone that Sega's still got plenty to offer when it comes to the often-stale world of video games.
Easy does it!
This comment has been submitted already, 276865 hours , 59 minutes ago. No need to try again.
I think they still have a strong presence in the arcade market right now. It kidda make sense because Sega is making games for XBox and would be really easy for them to port games from XBox to the arcade, seems like a no brainer to me.
kawai
This is a poor decision on Sega's part. First of all, arcades have been dying for years. The arcade of today is stuffed with crappy driving and ski simulators that cost $1.50 per 20 seconds of play. This is the environment Sega thinks that they can be successful in?
Furthermore, who on earth is going to pay ($1.00 or more?) to play arcade ports of games that are available for a home system? Just go buy an Xbox and the games and you don't have to pay to play. If you want to try the game first, you could always rent it or borrow it from a friend.
Curb CO2 emissions: Kill yourself today!
"Ed Fries, vice president of games publishing at Microsoft, said he welcomed the news, although he said the company has no immediate plans to produce versions of any of its own Xbox games for the arcade platform."
If this is the case, why are they making X-Box compatible hardware if the games still have to be ported? Furthermore... ported to what?
Fighting for peace is like fucking for virginity
So now I can look forward to paying 50 cents to see the blue screen of death. I wonder if the arcade attendants will need to get MCSE certification...
What do you mean they cut the power? How can they cut the power, man? They're animals!
Good point, I realized after I submitted it that it sounded contradictory. However, I was referring to the previous ./ article where it was stated "Sega is getting out of hardware altogether." Sorry for the confusion.
See my comment above. Not necessarily wrong, just poorly worded.
I first played that puppy on the TG16 and I still can't get enough of it.
Ah, memories.
Easy does it!
This comment has been submitted already, 276865 hours , 59 minutes ago. No need to try again.
I would reluctantly guess that we can expect to see more of Sega's best stuff on XBox. I am of two minds about this, because it will tempt me to buy an XBox, and I already wanted a Gamecube.
-- Support Ometz le-Serev.
With Segas popular hardware and Microsofts stunning software, who can stop them. Better get Jeff `Cursed` Minter in to do a port of pong or galaxians or something!
It seems Sega will
port X-Box to the arcade.
Sony caught sleeping.
I don't believe the future of arcades is the Pac-man and Donky Kong (or even Mortal Kombat) of years past. If you want to compete against someone in a high quality, graphically appealing game it can be done at home.
However, the future of arcades does appear to be in PC networked games. In a remote corner of a mall near Hartford, CT this weekend I noticed what used to be a shop full of 20 networked PC's with kids playing Quake.
How much future is there for the stand up two player model?
I can see it now...
The new Mortal Kombat X.
With new character Cybergates, and his finishing move, The BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH!!!
It's a great idea, since it gives people a chance to sample the Xbox, and there's some money to be made, too.
Nintendo did thid back in the mid 1980's, remember the Play-Choice 10, anyone?
I hope it all works out for Sega. The games they put out are consistently the most fun and original on the market. This doesn't seem to be a good move though.
-Jeff
I like to play with Shiny Objects and Yarn.
In all seriousness, does a machine in an arcade really need all the features that the xbox contains..
I mean, from the xbox website, its features include:
Remembering that most of an arcade's revenue comes from people who drop in, play a game and leave - and even with hardcore gamers, are you really going to sit down and use the inbuilt DVD playing features?
I mean - the xbox was designed as a home console, windows based etc.. An arcade machine is a specialised device that has the raw features that are necessary in such an environment. Cost is important, as every increased dollar cuts into total revenue.
Of course there's the argument to be raised that some of the more advanced features such as this will be disabled, but then again - why not just use a machine/system that didn't have useless features in the first place
Anyways, I'll stop rambling on, but I'm sure you can see my point.
This may be seen as off topic, but...
SEGA has done two great things for the world. Hedgehogs and driving games. SEGA should do hedgehogs and driving games. Simple as that.
Do one or two things exceptionally well, bugger volume! I'd pay a premium to play SEGA hedgehog or driving games on ANY platform - Arcade(yes please!), PC, Xbox, PS2, gamecube, handheld... you name it, I'll play it.
Hedgehogs and driving games!
Sonic Team - the U2 of games!
...exactly how?
Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
Add a decent processor and cool the
chipset to better specs and you could make arcades with games that can't possibly run on a normal X-box.
Back in March, I posted this reply to a story about capcom calling it quits. Specifically, I said:
Today, the situation is quite difference. In fact, the X-Box seems to put the final nail in the coffin. Arcade game manufacturers may very well stop creating arcade games on custom hardware. Instead, they'll compile for an X-Box style platform. Why? For the ease of conversion to the home game. That's where the money is. The arcade game is just the 'advertisement' to create the buzz.
I don't pretend to have my finger on the pulse of the arcade industry, but it seemed like an obvious development. There isn't much need to create custom arcade hardware when you've got something like the X-Box that you can develop arcade games on and later port to the home PC (and X-Box game console).
Quite a good strategy, for Microsoft and Sega.
I recommend remaining with your choice of the gamecube. Go to the Nintendo GameCube website and check out the CubeClubs. Basically these are events in select cities where you can go play the GameCube with a lot of different games. I went to the one in Atlanta, GA a few weeks ago and I have to say that Star Wars is absolutely breathtaking. I felt like I was actually in the movie controlling the X-wing. You can do many different missions though, and use a lot of different vehicles. Another one I really liked was Madden 2002. I've been a fan of Madden ever since it was Madden 64. I have played Madden 2002 for PS2 at a friend's house and I thought the graphics were really great but the play was unresponsive. Well, for GameCube, as expected, that is fixed. The players respond immediately to what you press on the controller. Oh, and that reminds me, the controller for GameCube is really cool. I was skeptical at first sight on cube.ign.com but when I held it in my hand it just felt right. They've really outdone themselves with this system, trust me... or go to a Cube Club.
~ now you know
I wonder if it would be possible to build/hack a JAMMA adapter for Sega's new board...??
It seems to me that the Sega Dreamcast and the Microsoft xBox were such similar systems that this seems to be a fitting destiny for sony. Of course the will still be making games (Sonic the hedgehog for ps2), so it seems the essence of the dreamcast, which was a fantastic system, lives on. The Microsoft giant gains more steam as it seems certain to cripple Son'y current domination of the market.
Could Jesus microwave a burrito so hot that he himself cou
What exactly is an "arcade"?
This is a legitimate business move. One of the main reasons people go to arcades is to play other people. A good friend of mine bought a copy of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 for his Dreamcast and hardly plays it anymore. He's had it maybe three weeks. However, he still goes to arcades and spends hour after hour playing Marvel vs. Capcom 2. The Dreamcast version he can play at home on his big screen TV is arcade perfect (arguably better than the arcade version), but playing a computer-controlled opponent just can't compare to playing another person. Computer-controlled opponents have routines and tendencies that become familiar to players after a while. On the other hand, if console networking continues to improve that incantive decreases. There is a lure to having a physical opponent to scream insults at, but is it strong enough?
My Karma is so good, I'm the Dalai Lama...or something.
I can't believe how many people are rushing to post speculations without reading the articles. Posting without reading the articles is like a first post, useless to the discussion.
This is more than just a power play to be the arcade hardward source (despite the speculations of some people here, Sega has been doing pretty good in the arcades) this is also a good oportunity for Sega franchises to continue on a new platform. Think about the first time you saw Sonic? Everyone instantly fell in love with him. For those of you that play imports, Sakura Taisen probably holds a special place in your heart. Phantasy Star, admitadly a knock-off on Final Fantasy, is hugely popular. While some people are questioning this move, I think this is Sega playing to it's strenghts.
I got this from WinInfo:
I'm waiting to see how Microsoft spins this news into a positive:
This month, the company quietly downgraded the Xbox hard disk from the expected 10GB part to a smaller 8GB unit, apparently to save costs.
I've heard a lot of talk about this move, but my favorite line comes from a Gartner analyst, who said, "Maybe Fry's had a sale [on 8GBdrives]." Nice.
I hope that someday we will be able to put away our fears and prejudices and just laugh at people. - Jack Handey
Heck, there's a couple games at the laundry I often use and only once in over a year have I seen anyone play them.
Putting the xbox guts into these machines might be a cost effective solution, but I dunno. If the whole thing is supposed to sell for $499, even at cost I think they could do better. I wonder if there'll be any marketing through stenographic or subliminal messages...
Insert 1 coin for one player
Insert 2 coins for two players
Insert 5 coins for customer support
Insert 20 coins to recover from blue screen
Insert 100 coins if you don't want captured video of you getting your worst score ever published on the web
WINners DOn't use drugs!
WinnerS eXPerience the
GOOD LIfe! Never Underestimate
the power of the Xbox, Boys AnD
girls!
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Aren't arcades dying out? This probably was another bad move by Sega.
Note to self: Do the exact opposite of what Sega does.
I guess I'll just have to stay at home with my GameCube and big screen HDTV, accompanied by the good old dolby digital stereo system
Too bad the GamePurse doesn't support Dolby Digital. The Xbox does, and the PS2 does (to a limited extent).
Dude, you're wrong. Face it.
~ now you know
Phantasy Star does, indeed, hold a special place in my heart. It was the first console RPG that rivalled my beloved text-based adventure games for play value.
I take exception with the notion that Phantasy Star was a rip-off of Final Fantasy, however, as it was released in 1987. A full 3 years before Final Fantasy made its way onto the NES platform.
It was actually released slightly before Dragon Warrior, a far inferior RPG that received a great deal more attention.
And while Final Fantasy I and Phantasy Star are quite different (FFI being more traditionally RPG and PS incorporating futuristic themes), I would note that I was struck by how the later Final Fantasy themes would begin to rip off the original Phantasy Star (from 1987!!!), with the incorporation of a great deal of science fiction and the adopting of a standard scenario whereby the world was a combination of technical and magical components.
Sega has often set the bar by which other console games are judged, only to regretfully be forgotten about themselves. They just couldn't sell enough console units to generate buzz, and eventually their game quality decreased even as their engineering grew more apt.
Still, their existing Arcade games are head-and-shoulders above most, in my opinion. When I go to the Arcade (twice a year?), it's not to play Tekken Tag or any of the more mindless games, it's to play the queer looking machines that have strange controllers, odd viewpoints, fascinating takes.... by and large, these machines proudly sport the "Sega" insignia.
-l
This is a good move for them, even thought it would have been better if they selected the PS2 or the Gamecube in lieu of the Xbox. Sega has allways done a good job, IMHO, in the arcades and I hope the best for them because they did a pretty good job with their hardware in the past.
I would be pretty mad playing an arcade game, then getting the blue screen of death because I'm running a Micro$oft product.
"The only way to learn a new programming language is by writing programs in it." - Brian Kernighan
Who would want to play some crappy 4 years outdated arcade machine.
The NEW high end games have the NEW video cards before we do and don't you think they need a fast machine to handle that.
Who cares about Xbox.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_U.S._Election_c
A few things...
The Arcade machine won't have a DVD drive in it. Arcade machines need to be rugged, passing the standard hit or kick of a bastard child. Sega could make use, and most likey will, of the MPEG2 decoding.
A motherboard is a drop in the well compaired to the cost of the monitor and outside structure containing the innards.
XBox is a Microsoft based unit. It is no more a Windows machine than the Dreamcast was.
I would have never thought a PC would make it to the arcade
Everything I touch...turns to mush.
Sega is proving itself to be cutting-edge-and-then-abandon before technology can take a foothold. I'd hate to see this kill the XBox as Japanese will perceive it as the next Sega Machine.
At least this in line with the XBox Dreamcast compatibility rumor from earlier this year.
I was wondering if Microsoft would get away with putting a crappy OS in a consumer box.
Now, arcades are not exactly the place where you tolerate crashes or BSODs. The mobo has to be glitch-free, and the software shouldn't crash ever.
Point 1 (mobo never crashing) is hard enough with server PCs. Considering the speed of the XBox graphics subsystem and the corner-cutting (a.k.a. price-reduction engineering) required in a high-volume chipset, this will be no mean feat.
Obviously, Sega will develop specific motherboards for this application, but they'll need to use the same chip set, which already suffered from the usual bane of highly complex chips (bugs founds in production). Sega can't allow these chips to glitch their arcade machines. The arcade manager would pull the plug at the first crash and call service. How are they going to solve this problem? Sorting and cooling? Anyone knows?
Point 2 is interesting. If the XBox's OS and DirectX layer can really withstand the day-long, intensive use of a high-perf game machine without crashing, then Microsoft should be commended for a great QA job.
And if it cannot stand the intensive load, then a lot of gamers will see these "XBox Inside" Sega machines with the plug pulled and an out-of-use sign. This will not look too good for the sales of the XBox.
If MS can survive this, they'll have an impressive product on their hands. Hyperactive teens pounding on your mobo are no substitute for good design, but they are a good substitude for a high-speed test vector generator! :-)
--
Mad science! Robots! Underwear! Cute girls! Full comic online! http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/
The real reason Sega is doing this is that they are strapped for cash, and see a way to slash arcade machine costs. Its a desperation move. It has nothing to do with innovation.
We won't see any PC games in the arcade for the simple reason that it won't work. Incidentally, this is also why Xbox will fail as a console-- porting games works one way:
Arcade --> Console --> PC.
It DOES NOT and NEVER WILL work the other way:
PC --> Console --> Arcade. PC games are just too complex for a console, and require too much time to play for arcade operators to make any money.
The golden rule of an arcade game is reasonable excitement in 30 seconds to two minutes. PC games are made to be played for hours straight. The two don't mix.
Successful arcade games all make use of new and innovative input devices, which is where most of the production cost goes, anyway. There won't be any addtional saving on production, games are already made using PCs and have been for years.
So in the end, Sega gets to shave some dollars from machine cost, maybe, and the slow death of arcades is prolonged a bit longer.
I go to arcades all the time and all I see are DDR clones, bad fighting games, bad driving games, goofy games like Namco's horsie ride, and variations on Time Crisis. I see no renaissance of the arcade, not for gamers at least.
Here in Los Angeles, arcades are not doing well. The last arcade opened years ago. Speedzone out in City of Industry used to have maybe 100 games. Now they have 25 and a lot of prize machines.
Its a tragedy, but arcades are dead, and Microsoft can't save them.
If you like that, then you should try the Neo Geo version of the game. Now, THAT is fun. Pretty and large sprites, unique character designs and great sound effects make this one the best of the best. It has all of the classic action and new team super moves...
Available on a MAME box near you.
> The ease of programming on the XBOX means we'll see some really good games for it
...and lots of really bad ones by PC game shops trying to make the leap into consoles.
I predict a shed load of buggy games with enormous load times, and a huge swapfile (which is the main reason for the hard drive, as PC coders have NO MEMORY MANAGEMENT SKILLS;).
Want to know why video game development is so god-damn expensive these days? Why games are so short? Because it takes 10 times as many assets to make an hour of gameplay as it did 5 years ago. The size of coding teams has gone up by maybe 100%, the size of art teams is up by at least 400%.
Does anyone go to the arcades anymore? Everytime I go by one it seems that there are only a couple of people playing games at any time. Contrast that with my High School days in the early 80's when there were LINES for most of the good games. And as a whole the arcades were PACKED - even during the day. (not that I ever skipped school to play games, of course....)
(Who remembers people lining up their quarters on the consoles to hold their place in line?)
Anyway the point being -- is there significant money to be made in the Arcade game motherboard market?
load "windows7"
Naomi 2 is probably STILL more powerful than the X-Box.
when does the hacked by chinese game come out?
Ever flown a commercial flight simulator, like CAE produces? These things are the bomb - picture a 30 foot high room that can spin like a top. There are lots of companies working on much less expensive versions of exotic simulators - namely flight and automotive/racing - that make use of cheaper projection technology to immerse the player in an environment that you're just not going to get at home.
The conventional model is dead, yeah. Nobody is going to make money with games like Centipede or even Tekken anymore, and the arcades are dying quick. But - I could definately see people getting bored with playing GT4 on their TV and want to get into a mockup of an Acura NSX and try the same thing, though, especially if they're networked and competitive against other people. Or the same thing with flight sims. Set up national tournaments in immersive environments. Racing for example has a huge following, but most people will never race a indy car. Technology will advance to the point where you could do a life-like simualtion of the indy car circuit virtually, for example.
There's lots of companies working on this, and before you shirk it too much, I've flown a flight sim based on three projectors and a real cockpit, and it's definately real enough to amaze - even if you never actually move.
Something to think about, anyhow.
..don't panic
...even for Sega. Sega's cartridge-based NAOMI arcade system is the same hardware as the Dreamcast. (At least, when released, it was the same hardware, with an extensible architecture, meaning it could be extended to improve rendering speed above that over the DC, for future "arcade-improved" releases).
This is why their recent ports of the arcade games have been so quick (simultaneous arcade and home releases), and so "arcade-perfect". No time was spent porting the game engines, just on the interface changes.
I believe they also have a software porting layer for the ps2, now, so that they can do essentially simultaneous releases of Arcade, DC, and PS2 (see Capcom vs. SNK 2).
So they've done this before, and it seems to have had the desired effects for the most part. Why not do this, if it doesn't cost too much to adapt the hardware, when you can do the same home development and get an arcade version of the game "for free", to make whatever money you can off that. Now they're just doing it for someone else's system instead of their own, much like making their games for others' systems, instead of their own.
-Puk
as long as they license/buy the rights to remake Cyberball. Yeah, that's the ticket.
While WirelessGaming(tm) tiles will initally be more expensive than traditional cartridge games, we expect mass market economics to eventually drive their cost below that of cartriges. Our current list of WirelessGaming(tm) titles includes:
VollySphere
SphereCatch
Rolly-Polly-Sphere
DodgeSphere
BasketSphere
- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
I've done all those simulators too, but the flight sim crowd has been and always will be a fraction of the market. Its the same thing with racing.
The problem isn't the size of the screens, although that does make for a more immersive experience.
What is lacking is G-forces. Even the full-on 'tilt and whirl' sims aren't good enough.
*Maybe* if a Star Tours type of pod is developed inexpensively enough, this kind of experience will flourish, but I doubt it. Economies of scale being what they are, full on sims like that are going to cost big bucks, and that means high prices to play a short amount of time, and that means less people playing. Not to mention that mechanical stuff like this breaks down frequently.
Sega is dead.
The betrayed fan base will never forgive, never forget.
Four consoles. Four consoles thrust upon us and then taken from us without warning or reason.
Idiocy in the PR department; where are the Sega commercials admist prime time television, where you can't swing a dead hedgehog 'round without hitting a Playstation commercial?
The horrors of their online gaming, the rampant cheating, the lag.
Sega is dead. Long live Sony, last of the major powers.
(Nintendo? Only if you love Pokemon.)
As part of this deal Sega has a agreed NOT to sell some of their most popular games in the united states.
For example ShenmueII will not be released on the dreamcast in the united states.
The game is already developed and is/will be sold in Japan and Europe, BUT will be X-Box only in the united states.
You've missed out Naomi2 which is considerably more powerful than a Dreamcast. In terms of T&L it should also be able to outperform (except perhaps for trivial situations) many of today's systems as well.
Simon
The Gamecube will support 60fps through component video on HDTV systems, though. The PS2 requires $100 of hardware to step up to VGA, and it looks ugly as shit. The Dreamcast did a better job than that.
(-1, Raw and Uncut is the only way to read)