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Sega Merges With Pachinko Company Sammy
conform writes "The New York Times reported today that Sega Corporation (the Japanese parent company) has merged with Sammy Corp, a vendor of pachinko machines. The Sammy side of things are expected to dominate post-merger operations, and will likely shift Sega operational focuses back to the arcade market. Also, the end of the article notes in passing that SquareSoft has been aquired by rival RPG manufacturer Enix."
I definitely do not agree that the arcade is dead. Are you familiar with how popular arcades and plinko arcades are in japan? Do you realize that there are countries other than the USA that are consumers of such machines? Maybe to slashdot the endnote about square merging with enix is bigger news, but arcades are far from dead.
Fnord.sig
Is this the merger that was reported before, or has Enix actually bought out Square lock, stock & barrel?
Either way, hopefully we'll get better RPGs out of it. I'm playing Final Fantasy X now, and my enthusiasm is dropping like a stone. Watch cut scene, walk, watch cut scene, walk, it's like they combined the linearness of a rail-type shooter with the annoying random encounters and levelling-up of an RPG. And the characters just don't emote. Pretty, but shallow, and ultimately boring.
I just finished Grandia, a Sega Saturn game that was ported to PS1. It was far more advanced than FFX.
Jon Acheson
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
Well, the arcade is the arcade. It's not like you can go over to your friends house and play a realtime, realboard, real water surfing simulator. There's a new generation of arcade games coming out and they all run between $40 and $70k for the machines. You won't see that on your Gameboy.
Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power.
Yeah, and you won't see those expensive machines in the arcades either...
At least around here, the only arcades that are left are:
* Dave & Busters - if you convert your credits back into $$$, you'll find you're paying $.50+ for most of their mis-maintained games.
* Nickel City - Cheap old arcade games! Yay. Overrun by rugrats! Boo.
* Putt Putt/go-kart places - A few newer machines, most $.50/game.
* Sony Metereon - $2 to play DDR. No. No thank you.
Arcades as I knew them from the 80s and 90s are dead. I used to pump $10, even $20 into machines, but why do that now? $20 will *buy* you some pretty good games, regardless of what machine you've got at home. And now with online play, there's even less reason to go to the arcades where you could play an online game for $3-7/session...
- 1:20hrs wait for a table.
- $16 for 3 beers (Sam Adams).
- $24 for 4 "arcade cards": each had $5 (21 credits) on them + $1 per card.
- drank beer, used up card in 3-4 games (damn!).
- dinner=$120+ for 5 people (ok we had dessert, but its soo good!).
I'm not saying we didn't have fun, but this isn't exactly affordable hehe. I'm all for blood and gore (read: Quake etc) but here are some games that stunned me a little (especially popular at that):- "commercial airplane pilot" I don't know the real name, but you fly a plane through cities and land it. Fun. PC? not really
;) I care? No.
- "sniper
..." I saw like 2-3 kinds of sniper games with mass gore. PC? not at all!
Not a biggie, but lastly something I realized is that "Dave and Busters" is a meat market, tons of dudes and chicks trying to get lucky, ridiculous prices, and KIDS RUNNING ALL OVER THE PLACE! The only reason I care if a game is "PC" is because of the kids swarming this place. Its like a casino with 12yr olds all over!I think I'm too old for this, or I haven't been out for a long long time.
Actually, Pachinko is MASSIVE in Japan. I was in Tokyo a while back, and there are galleries of Pachinko machines all over the place - packed with people. It looks like rows and rows of people playing slots in a casino (but packed together more tightly). I think you can win credits (maybe money?), but anyways for whatever reason the Japs are nuts over it!
Try Guilty Gear, Initial D, Art Truck Battle, etc. etc.
I don't know how a pseudo-responsible news agency like the NY Times can do mountains of research to find out what video games the Beltway Sniper was probably playing, and zero to find out stuff like this. It make it sound like Sega gets bought out by a non-player and that you'll see Sonic Pachinko games.
Netjak.com independent reviews of domestic & import video ga
At least it sounds like SEGA will be concentrating on arcade tech again. Since the megadrive/genesis they've not really been on the ball in the home market but in the arcade they've been a real force to be reckoned with for many many years.
ermmm... don't take any notice of me... I'm too old...
'DDR is most definitely feasable in a home setting -"
I didn't say it wasn't feasable, I said it wasn't practical. That was a little harsh, in retrospect.
Let me clarify my idea because I think some people misunderstood me. Typically, games that require a peripheral do not do well. Rob the Video Robot. The Power Glove. Super Scope 6. Mario Paint. Etc. Sometimes the problem is cost. Nintendo Power Pad. Sometimes the problem is how intrusive the hardware is in the home. (There's no way I could keep the DDR pad on my floor in my tiny apartment, I'd have to put it away.) Sometimes the problem is that peripherals break.
That's what I meant by practical. There's lots of conditions that exist in a situation like DDR that can work against its success. Can you imagine trying to have all the games/peripherals I just mentioned out at one time?