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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."
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?
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.
It seems Sega will
port X-Box to the arcade.
Sony caught sleeping.
-- Support Ometz le-Serev.
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?
Ummm. Have you been to an arcade recently?
After far too many years of formulaic beat 'em up nonsense, there has been quite a resurgence recently in arcade games providing experiences you won't get at home. The best examples of these are games such as Dance Dance Revolution (which although looking like no-one in their right mind would play in public is hugely successful) but head to head racers (daytona is still the no.1 blueprint) and even FPS games (anyone seen SWAT 24/7? Cracking game) are light-years ahead of home consoles - mainly because designers have finally got rid of the up-down-left-right-fire mentality so beloved of the JAMMA era
Arcade designers are, it seems, finally realising that they can't really compete with home consoles on the graphics and sound front and are pretty much returning to root design principles. Make the _game_ different in the arcade; provide controls customised for the game; put players head-to-head; in short give the player something extra!
Or are you intending to buy different controllers for each game you get for the x-box? Your living room is going to be pretty cluttered...
Personally, I think this is great news. The easier arcade games are to produce the better.
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 wonder if it would be possible to build/hack a JAMMA adapter for Sega's new board...??
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.
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
I'm no Sega fanboy, but hoorah for Cutriss.
Except for two things, of course.
1) Defining these as 'immense successes' is dubious to a certain extent. Sure, most of them were great games, but very few were commercial successes. Jet Grind Radio sold remarkably few units, NiGHTs was likewise a sales disaster (despite huge critical acclaim). The biggest sellers you list there are Virtua Fighter (the arcade hardware for VF4 is Naomi-based, and the home console conversion is targetted at PS2) and Sakura Taisen, which is squarely aimed at the Japanese audience.
2) You forgot Burning Rangers.
A Shining Force sequel for XBox would, of course, cement my purchase of the system.
++ Say to Elrond "Hello.".
Elrond says "No.". Elrond gives you some lunch.
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.