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."

Comments

Glad to see Sega still around.

[dave-fu]

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.

Who is making these decisions?

[w.p.richardson]

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.

Re:Who is making these decisions?

[prator]

First of all, arcades have been dying for years.

I always got the impression that arcades are still very popular in Japan and other parts of Asia. Sega would still need machines for over there.

-prator

Re:Who is making these decisions?

[CaseyB]

This is the environment Sega thinks that they can be successful in?

No, this is the environment that Sega knows they have been and ARE successful in.

This is only about introducing the Xbox as another arcade hardware platform for the company, not a change in their strategy. I imagine they'll use Xbox hardware for the "commodity" games, and they'll continue to use their custom hardware for the "A" games.

Re:Who is making these decisions?

[Anemophilous Coward]

I have to say that the life of the Arcade is precariously balanced right now. They are doing the right thing by changing the style of the games to make them different than the home console games. What is cutting off their oxygen supply however, is the ease with which to play with your buddies at home and networked play. This however, could be slowly changing...

I remember through the early Quake years a rash of upstart 'gaming' houses, where some guys put a bunch of crappy computers in their basement and charged others by the hour to play Quake and Duke Nukem at the time. But they pretty much died off as people got better computers at home with good modems etc. However Arcades might have the necessary financial backing to make this work again.

One place that seems pretty successful is the Metreon(sp?) out in San Francisco. It's a large mall like structure with movies, stores and large arcade. The games there are different variations on computer games, one is *sort* of like Tribes (I use that comparison lightly). What is nice is that all of the consoles for that game are networked together to form a big game world...nearby consoles might be on the same team, which fight against people on the group of consoles across the room (there's maybe 40 total consoles of this particular game). Now take that concept a step further - have several of these games at arcades across the city, nation or world(what with broadband speeds becoming fairly prevelant in big cities). Now you could have your group of friends play at one arcade against others in another city.

It's kind of the next evolution of the big LAN party tournaments. More people could join in certain competitions because it would be easier for them *not* to have to drag around their computer (I know, I know, most of the fun of LAN partys is the file trading and being at someones house till the wee hours...I don't see those private gatherings going away). The Arcade may not be open all night, but it could be open almost every night...much easier to have a consistantly open gathering place to game. Anyway, some things to think about.

-A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
- AC

Re:Sega never got out of the Arcade business...

[XPulga]

...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?

Sorry to be the paranoid one here, but this looks way too much like former video-game market leaders deciding that "being a Microsoft partner", under whichever contract conditions Microsoft put them in, is better business than building home consoles. Monopoly probability: high.

And it sounds like a bad move to focus on game development instead of hardware production (even though Sega is still on the arcade market). Many (I mean lots) game development companies have gone out of business very quick, while hardware provided more stable market for most of the companies that are in (Atari is the exception that confirms the rule).

The future of arcades...

[jason99si]

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?

What SEGA SHOULD be doing....

[squaretorus]

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!

Why people go to arcades

[Migelikor1]

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?