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Sega Cancels Merger With Sammy
After many complicated and confusing rumors, Bloomberg Japan seems to have confirmed that Sega Corp has abandoned plans to merge with Sammy. Apparently, Sega couldn't agree financial terms with Sammy, who specialize in pachinko machines, and also have some home and arcade-based videogame development. The front-runner for a Sega merger/sale is now Namco, but Microsoft and Electronic Arts have also been mentioned as possible suitors. The saga continues..
yes, a saga indeed. One that I've totally lost all iinterest in. I don't care where sonic goes.
btw, this color scheme sucks.
Really, I'm not sure I'd like to know what would happen if Sega were to be bought by a pachinko company. The results probably wouldn't be too pleasent. Then again, they probably DO need the money...
Gah. I dunno.
... but a merger with capcom would be pretty cool
Which reminds me of an awesome idea. Maybe they should create a console based pachinko game!
Yay!! Imagine the fun!!
---
Mike
I'm going to kick the next person that I see with their karma rating in their sig.
Preferrably Namco would be the one to get Sega.
Microsoft getting them will just kill the fun for everyone else, as you'd never see a Sega game for anything but XBox.
And we all love the XBox, now don't we?
EA isn't much of a choice either, their focus seems to be too much on the sports games, and I fear Sega's other divisions would be pared down in favor of the soccer/baseball/etc. divisions.
Just gotta wait and see.
You gotta root for Namco to take 'em over EA or Microsoft. Sega should be able to determine the future of it's franchises to some extent and that won't be the case with either of the megas.
Not knowing who the hell "Sammy" was, the first thing that popped into my mind was a technician I used to work with. I was thinking "either he's really come up in life, or Sega is REALLY getting desparate!"
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
If you want to know what would likely happen to Sega if EA bought them/"merged" with them(ha ha), take a look at anyone other company that got absorbed by the EA behemoth. OSI/Origin comes to mind in particular, though Bullfrog suffered a horrible fate as well.
I estimate that Sega would add their sports expertise to the dev team in EA sports and the rest of the company would either fold or become a factory for Sonic games(and even then, not for very long).
So . . . maybe we should be sad that Sammy didn't merge with Sega or buy Sega.
When they launched their first console, Sega had some horrible commercials with people singing a horrible song about their hedgehog. I could never think about sega without those commercials bringing up bad associations so I never bought any of their systems. Since Soul Edge was one of my favourite arcade games, I would have bought a DC just for Soul Calibur if it weren't for that.
Jason
ProfQuotes
Microsoft getting them will just kill the fun for everyone else, as you'd never see a Sega game for anything but XBox.
Because Microsoft does not make a handheld system for under $180 MSRP, Microsoft has published a few games on Nintendo's Game Boy platform, such as this one. Sega's Sonic Advance 3 can't come out on the Xboy if there's no Xboy, that is, unless Microsoft wants to re-brand the Game Park GP32 as the Xboy.
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Sega should be able to determine the future of it's franchises
And watch the Virtua Fighter franchise be mutilated into Virtua Tekken. (We just had a big discussion about this in EmuChina boards.)
Will I retire or break 10K?
Pachinko is a load of balls......
(ugh!)
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
A Sega-Namco would consolidate into Japan's largest arcade operater and hold 30% of the arcade market. Their consolidated software sales would command 10% of the market (Sega is 9th, Namco is 8th) but they would have some of the most coveted longterm licences on the planet like Soul Calibor, Virtua Fighter, Sonic & Tekken between them. An older news.com article points out. The real hope for gamers is Sega independence from Microsoft and EA so gamers could truly get more platform independent games. It would suck to see another Bungie/Halo exclusive to happen. Here's for Namco's success and gamers being lucky enough to see a Virtua Fighter-Tekken Crossover
I don't know about everyone, but for me, I have switched from being a EA NBA Live fan to NBA 2k fan. From my opinion, I think EA Sports really tear their NBA series apart; given, they really don't have lots of other competitors on other sports games. NBA Live series has turned into "hip" action pact nonsense, while Sega's NBA 2k series are realistic and well designed in many aspect.
It would be interesting to combine these talents and see what the will come up with next. I am not a savvy sega fan, but it would be interesting to see if Sega can bring better games (especially in the RPG section) through EA.
Although as some posters mentioned before, that is if EA doesn't eat Sega for breakfast, just like they did with some previous companies
I figured their gaming console department would be on the back burner, finacially, after the XBox fiasco.
I worked in one of SEGA's advanced R&D divisions for over 12 years before moving to Nintendo, and I felt very priveleged to work with some of the brightest minds in the gaming industry. While SEGA is not the bright star it used to be, I do think that they have potential, and they need to approach the issue of acquisition carefully based on their core competencies.
First and foremost, SEGA is for all intents and purposes, two different companies, hardware and software, and should be treated as such.
As far as hardware is concerned, even with the demise of Dreamcast, SEGA has a formidable portfolio of technical IP, mostly in the arcade arena. It'd be a boon for any company to acquire the incredibly talented AM divisions, and continue their pioneering work in arcade machines -- Konami would probably be a good suitor, in my opinion. They are one of the strongest players in the arcade space these days, both technically and gameplay-wise, thanks to Bemani and the mocap games, the AM guys working for them, they'll find quite a good home and a mutually beneficial relationship as they continue to pioneer new ways of arcade gaming. Sadly, our past leadership diverted too much funding towards fighting a war of attrition with Sony and Nintendo in the home space, when our competencies were really arcade machines. So SEGA should put up their hardware group to an appropriate suitor.
But I do think that SEGA's software side is capable of standing quite independtly by itself. With Sonic Team, etc., and greats such as Yu Suzuki and Yuji Naka, they are a formidable software publisher in its own right, and I would hate to seem them become a Xbox exclusive publisher if they were under the Microsoft aegis. SEGA has long had a repuation for avant-garde games that fit outside the cookie-cutter mold, such as Sonic, Shenmue, etc. and they would do well to continue to exist on their own, and not become assimilated into Microsoft, EA or the like.
In any case, I hope SEGA lives on in some way, shape or form. They are really a pioneer of the industry in so many ways that just happened to be outshone at the right time.
-- Samir Gupta, Ph. D. Head, New Technology Research Group, Nintendo Co. Ltd., Kyoto, Japan.
Sega should really survive as they have produced some great sucesses over the years (Sonic the Hedgehog) and some not so great things (32X + MegaCD). But they never gave up and I have very fond memories of Sonic as a kid even if it was a bit easy :)
Rus
Cheap UK and US VPS
- how big are Sammy?
all I get are images of rows upon rows of those little gambling one-arm bandits all over Asia,
are they involved with PC Baangs or something else similerly non-west perhaps?
- do Sega actually do a lot more than you might think now? I know they've shrunk since Megadrive etc and tried Arcades as sideline but have they pushed in a few markets I don't know perhaps?
A blog I run for the wealth
So Sega has cancelled their merger with Sammy. The other options now are Namco, Microsoft and Electonic Arts. I hope Namco wins, or maybe even Microsoft. Microsoft, to be frank, would not be a bad choice at all. Microsoft and EA are kind of polar opposites; they are the two largest entertainment PC software publishers, I do believe, but while EA buys a company and siphons all its talent into what a boardroom wants to see published -- works for earning money, but kills the spirit and originality of the companies like Bullfrog and Westwood -- Microsoft has a tradition of "do as thou wilt" when it comes to its attendant developers. MS gives them money, they give MS good games.
There is, however, one possible problem with Namco merging with Sega -- there would be no more competition left in arcades except between divisions of the same company, and while internal competition can be fierce, it's no replacement for honest to god competition. Witness the WWE. When it bought WCW, it changed its structure to be the Monday show vs the Thursday show. But its quality and ratings have faltered since it lost its real competition.
Dance Dance Revolution was the last great major revolution in arcade gaming. It did what arcades used to do, but haven't done for some time - Provided a gaming experience you cannot get at home. Note the past tense, since I know home pads are now available, but I do believe DDR revitalized a lot of arcades. The atmosphere around a DDR machine is something you simply can't get at home. If I'm not mistaken, DDR had the first new control scheme (used in more than a couple of games) since the light gun.
Arcade competition tended to be between Namco, Williams and Sega. Capcom had its own private war with SNK as well. Then Williams completely folded its arcade division, which leaves Namco and Sega, with Konami running DDR machines. So instead of incrementally improving fighters, racers and light gun games (Tekken vs VF, Time Crisis vs House of the Dead, etc) maybe this would give them a chance to truly compete with the home market and provide games that can only be provided in an arcade setting.
How do you compete with the home market? Present games that the home market cannot handle. Again, I give you DDR. Focus on games that are completely impossible, at the present time, to do at home. DDR did that. A huge eight player fighting game would do that. Daytona's multi-racer network did that. Light gun games do that, for the most part, since the atmosphere is different, which is why arcade light gun games are still being made I suppose.
Instead of trying to increment the quality of competing fighters and racers, how about making them more of an arcade experience? Instead of competing with each other, compete directly with the home market. Gyroscoping shooting games. Masive light gun games. Massive fighting games, with huge screens. Networked arcade games, particularly shooting and driving. And, of course, DDR started this trend, so improve upon that some more.
Make arcades a place to go to to play games you can't play at home. Apart from DDR, arcades haven't been like that for a very, very long time.
(sorry if this rambles a bit, it was originally brainstormed on IRC and reformatted for this post)
"In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us, 'Make us your slaves, but feed us.'" -Dostoevsky
whatever happened to your SMELL-O-VISION [google.ca] research?
One game released by Sega or Nintendo came with a book with scratch-and-sniff patches. It might have been Nintendo's Earthbound.
But that in and of itself doesn't mean Dr. Gupta isn't a fraud.
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Oh great I can see it now - Sonic the Hedgehog replacing the frickin' Paperclip in MS Office.
While I dont like the Merger idea, I think Sega is better of just learning how to run a business. The best company for Sega to merge with would definately be Namco.
Imagine Sega/Namco coming out with a system and games like Virtua Fighter, Tekken, and all that, just dont let the system come out under Segas name, let it be the Namco Dreamcast2 and it might have a chance.
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I dont know where but I've either met you or heard of you from some websitesa while back.
Sadly, our past leadership diverted too much funding towards fighting a war of attrition with Sony and Nintendo in the home space, when our competencies were really arcade machines
I dont think Sega is doing bad because they released Dreamcast, Sega's problem was they released the system knowing they didnt have enough money to go through with the launch. The system sold well, but Sega released way too many games, spent way too much money on games, and released too many new games which while its good for the industry, isnt smart for business, they should have released sonic, nights, virtua fighter 4, panzer dragoon and all this stuff instead of jet set radio and new games. Overall Sega spent more money making games that didnt sell than Dreamcast was worth, other than that Dreamcast was a good system, it sold well, almost 10 million systems in around 2 years is selling well by anyones standards.
Sega needs to stop being so much of a pioneer and focus on making money like other businesses. Sega may have the best developers, the newest technologies and the best franchises, in the end if Sega goes out of business its because Sega didnt properly run their business.
They could have made a fortune on Dreamcast and Seganet if they would have pulled a Nintendo and focused on their big games, N64 survived and didnt sell as well as DC did.
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They made one of my favorite games for the NES: Vice Project Doom. Damn, that was a great game! The cinematics made me wet my pants; they were almost up to Ninja Gaiden standards.
The atmosphere around a DDR machine is something you simply can't get at home.
Perhaps not in a single-family residence, but at the school I went to, there was a weekly meeting of the DDR club, complete with region-modded PS1 systems, and that was full of atmosphere.
DDR had the first new control scheme (used in more than a couple of games) since the light gun.
Sorry, but Nintendo beat Konami to it: Power Pad. (This cartridge is fake.)
Will I retire or break 10K?
But what really makes Sega what Sega is, is it's arcade machine business. If you go to a real arcade, not like what you find in a mall. But a real arcade like Gameworks, you will be blown away by the sheer number of great and innovative games, nearly all of which will have the Sega logo. If Sega was to just be eaten up and digested by a rival company, the world would have lost one of the most creative companies in the business.
I do not understand why any ./er would buy a PSX2, or PSX anything, and still be capable of living with themselves. If you ask me, Sony is a much larger monopoly and more consumer damaging company than M$ could ever hope to be. They make money off of alot of the movies we watch, the movie houses we go to, the tv shows we watch, and the tv shows we watch them on. Every monitor that was attached to the macs we used in highschool were Trinitrons. Nearly every one's VCR, home stereo, personal CD player, personal cassette player, headphones, DVD player, and Surround Sound decoder sports the Sony logo. How can people who do everything they can to keep Microsoft out of their computers, and are disgusted when they see MSNBC logos be so willing to accept with open arms and embrace products and content from Sony?
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Hippie Logger Jock
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Microsoft sure would do a good move for themselves if they bought Sega, and launched X-Box2 as Sega in Japan.
That plus all the games. If Microsoft do buy them, I don't think they would close them down, but rather make use of them.
But I am sure someone will stop it before it happens. Best chance for the Sega legacy to live on though.
Sega and Namco already have a long term relationship in a joint venture the two of them went together with Nintendo when they created the Triforce, which is an Arcade Board based on the Gamecube architecture.
This joint venture is not likely to break in the near future, because Nintendo is practically giving them access to a revenue stream using not only the hardware, but also with high-profile franchises such as F-Zero and Star Fox, in exchange of their development expertise. I think this is going to work great and could help to define how things are going to be in the future. (e.g. show executives how things are done right)
It's widely known that merging with Sammy, EA or M$ would actually bring Sega to the black sooner than merging with Namco, because even Namco is not on a very strong financial situation by itself. But Sega developers like Namco the better, because it would be the only way they could stay at the company doing things the way they like.
Meanwhile, Sammy, EA and M$ have the same problem: They don't actually need Sega's developers. They'd basically buy it for the trademarks, branding and IP because they have very different methods on game design, development and marketing.
Mostly every Sega team would be in danger of being disbanded. There are people with different skills, different approaches to gaming and trained in different pieces of hardware. A merger with any of these three companies can only result in the loss of this core philosophy. EA likes very short development cycles with very poor execution, M$ likes exclusivity and Sammy likes amusement machines.
Imagine if Rez, Panzer Dragoon, Shenmue and many other great games could never exist were Sega under any of these three companies' wings. A situation like this can really be an issue for any potential buyer, because it can also affect the buying price, and that's where Sega and Sammy disagreed.
I truly felt something was wrong with this merger when I first heard about it. I remembered another merger Sega planned with Bandai some years ago, which failed miserably, possibly because of the same reasons.
- Otaku no naka no otaku, otaking da!!!
Trolls are the reason why I keep reading /.
Only a newbie would call for the eradication of trolls.
... or does this really read the SEGA continues...??
Actually, that isn't too bad of an idea. I really think Microsoft could do well for themselves by using Sega-named hardware, esp. in markets where the Dreamcast did sell well (asia). Not only that, but perhaps they would see fit to disregard the Microsoft name in the console world as it brings a lot of negative conotations. I would bet slashdotters would not have had second thoughts of supporting the giant if it had "Sega Dreamcast 2" on it instead.
This is my digital signature. 10011011001
For a while Sega joined the few who were putting out arcade machines. Many people thought that arcade games were dieing out. But their coming back hard. I could see many new systems showing up, like the Merit Megatouch systems. Only with Microsofts name on them.
Now games on the Xbox, fine I can deal with that. But it would be strange to see Microsoft throwing their arcade machines around.
I deleted my sig years ago.
Come on, Bill - make us proud. Buy the living fsck out of Sega.
If Sega somehow manages to merge with Namco, you can bet that Namco will take the same dive. Sega has no clue when it comes to how the market works. They haven't had a clue since the Genesis.
(Yeah. The Saturn, the DC - they were great pieces of hardware. Clue stick time - good hardware means shit.)
I can see a merger, I can see Microsoft bribing their old pals from Sega, and I can see the rest of the Xenosaga series becoming an X-Box exclusive.
'course, one would hope that Monolith would have the sense to give Namco a big giant finger if the above happened. They had the brains to leave Square and develop their own company, after all.
(Yeah, Square Fanboys - brains. The Squaresoft execs were the ones whining to not release Xenogears because it was 'anti religious!!!!!' Feh.)
Right, anyhow, the Gods help any company that merges with Sega, for they too will be struck with catastrophe.
Screwing
Every
Gamer
Again!
Hardware, heh, the arcade is all Sega has left. And that isn't worth much inside the US these days. Arcades are dying breeds over here. Now..
"greats such as Yu Suzuki"
True enough.
"and Yuji Naka"
You mean the guy who destroyed the Phantasy Star series? The man who produced a game which, from the start, contained flaws that any freshman CS major would have been able to spot a mile away?
The guy who whined about cheating so much, but thought local saving was a good idea? The man who's team failed to stop destruction of characters with 100+ hours at the whims of 12 year olds?
Great? He's a has-been.
Laughter at that aside, Sega has but one chance to survive. Independence - not necessarily from other companies, but platform independence.
Though they've released more stinkers than quality games in recent years, the few games of quality that they release usually do outscore anything else in their respective genres.
However, due to their shortsightedness and unfamiliarity with how the gaming markets work, they've pissed off damned near all of their hardcore fanbase. Few people will buy a console just to be able to play a release from Sega. If they insist on getting in bed with someone who will force them to become platform specific, they're dead.
It will definitely be Microsoft, Billy boy would want to miss this chance. Besides, MS is the only company that's willing to lose money for creative games.
Buy the metal balls, put them in the machine, watch them shoot along gaining points you can exchange later more metal balls.
Or, take the metal balls to your friendly ganster outfit round the corner and exchange them for dodgy Chinese cameras and Hello Kittys. Great!
Why on eather could Sega see the marketability of this game?
"It's not your information. It's information about you" - John Ford, Vice President, Equifax
Nintendo and Sega over the last 2 decades have built up the video games business and have got a lot of IP. Rather than Namco, EA and Microsoft get their hands on Sega brand, characters and classics game titles only to release sequels, it would be fitting if Nintendo would move in for the IP atleast. Combining characters and concepts between Nintendo and Sega titles would allow Nintendo to possess a full set of genre titles. Plus it always opens the possibilities of Mario - Sonic adventures etc. The above is highly unlikely... but would be nice to see.
Jet Set Radio Future, Crazy Taxi 3, and Shenmue II are pretty much the reasons I hopped on the XBandwagon in the first place. C'mon, Suzuki, I made the $400^H^H^H^H$299^H^H^H^H$199 commitment. It's, like, H.B.O., man. Help a Brother Out.
"There are some people who, if they don't know, you can't tell 'em." - Louie Armstrong
My friend desperately wanted Shenmue II but waited to get a japanese dreamcast and the Japanese release to avoid having to do so.
Apparently Yu Suzuki was disappointed by the XBox release's performance of Shenmue II, and the next release will be on a more prevalent platform.
I still say EA is the best company for Sega to merge with. EA does good games. EA has the capital. EA has the inovation. Namco hasn't done anything last few years. The keep rehashing the same titles.
You say things that offend me and I can deal with it. Can you?
Apparently, I was disappointed by Shenmue's performance, and I am waiting for the next release to actually be fun.
I'm really not trying to troll, I swear. But I have to say that this discussion so far has been pretty painful to see.
Merging isn't like putting together a videogame! If Sega merged with Capcom, as one person suggested, it wouldn't result in all kinds of "Capcom Vs. Sonic" games! In fact, whichever company becomes the parent in any videogame company merger has very little effect on what kind of games get produced, except in the most basic risk-adjustment way.
See, the only synergies achieved in videogame company mergers that can't be achieved through regular partnerships (the ones that produce those "Capcom Vs. Marvel" type games) are publishing or high-level coding synergies. The companies almost always remain very independant, largely because all the intellectual property they all control is up for bid to the highest paying or most promising seller anyway.
So if you want to see Sega produce the coolest stuff possible, you'd better hope that it gets bought by someone like Microsoft, who's willing to throw tremendous amounts of money into somewhat risky ventures because they want complete and utter dominance, and NOT by some random other company that you happen to like!
Read jack phelps dot net
Just look here. Atari, inc. is alive again (formerly Infogrames).
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=atar&d=t
At least there's a good chance the Sega name won't die.
Sega is a great company - Sonic, Streets of Rage, and then some Model 1 and Model 2 games like Virtua Racing, Daytona, Sega Rally - just fantastic.
DAYTONAAAAAAA! LET'S GO AWAY!
I wouldn't mind seeing a SeXbox
they should have continued making hardware. I think it gave them a lot of market power. The hardware isn't where you make your money, it is just a vehical for games. Currently the other systems have crap on them, and sega has always made kick ass games.
They should have made something like a dreamcast 2 which was backwards compatable. You need a box that consumers think is new. The problem is that the two new hardware competetors released hardware, and sega didn't follow. No one is going to buy games for a "dead system" and all of there stuff went into the bargin bin.
To me it seems like sega just didn't have the balls to go up agains microsoft and sony, and they thought the big boys would let sega make money developing software on there xbox and pstation. So how many sega games have you seen come out recently? Do you think the major companies are going to let sega take revenue using their systems?
In essence they should have just said fuk it and fought the power. They should have produced dc2's at a lower cost and fight tooth and nail to maintain market share. They may lose and their company may go bankrupt, but is better then crawling on you hands and knees to a pinball company. And if they won, there stocks would rise as the only company that could take on the likes of sony and M$!
First of all, Sega and Nintendo could never merge. As cool as it would be, Nintendo is on as bad or worse financial trouble than Sega is. That leaves Namco, Microsoft, and EA. EA would do to Sega what they did to Origin, Westwood, etc (destroy it). Microsoft would (almost) hand them a black check and say, go do your thing, but make it XBox only (Sega Xbox?). Namco is where I think most of Sega wants to go. It's the only Japanese company in the hunt, and there is far less risk of things being ruined by them. However they are the least financially able of the three to do it. Is Peter Moore (ex President of Sega of America) going to Microsoft a sign of things to come?
How can people who do everything they can to keep Microsoft out of their computers, and are disgusted when they see MSNBC logos be so willing to accept with open arms and embrace products and content from Sony?
Well, first off, Sony supports Linux on the PS2, they even distribute their own kit for it. That right there probably swayed a lot of people reading that to Sony.
Second, Slashdot does not mean anti-corporate. Most of us realize that our livelyhoods as computer geeks, and the things we use every day wouldn't exist as inexpensively as they do without big corporations.
Third, Sony isn't trying it's hardest to lock down the planet. Sure, they're a huge corporation, and they don't care. Only a fool thinks otherwise. However, they generally play by the rules. They have huge corporate muscle, but as yet they haven't wielded it particularly irresponsibly, or illegally. They aren't the best, but they are by FAR not the worst. Microsoft is doing it's damndest to make it so no one is able to run anything but their system. From "trusted computing" to WMA, to illegal threats. Sony isn't anywhere near a monopoly in any of the areas you mentioned. They're certainly major players, but if you want to avoid them it's trivial. The only Sony product I own is my PS2, not because I avoid them, but because there are tons of different options, many at lower prices.
Please, people. Just look at his previous posts on slashdot. This guy hasn't worked for Sega.
buy Sega, but I know I still miss the Dreamcast.
It could boot regular CD media without any mods. It also still provides a very nice game experience today.
I get the feeling if the timing on the Dreamcast had been just a bit different, Sega would be in a better position today.
Blogging because I can...
So then enter dreamcast. Sega performs a classic overcorrection on the platform support tip by getting in bed with Microsoft. How stupid can you be? They thought they were THE ONE. (Everyone who tried failed? No. They tried and died.) Everyone who gets into bed with Microsoft in any big way (putting your components in their product does not count unless you only sell to them) suffers for it. Sega should have known this. Instead, they used Microsoft for WinCE for Dreamcast (which must have been an easy port; SuperH was already supported, right?) and Microsoft took what they learned from their flirtation with consoles and... built their own. DC died long before Xbox came out but who can doubt that the announcement that Microsoft was bringing out an uberconsole (It is quite good) had something to do with that?
You're right that Sony is pure concentrated evil, but they have one major leg up on Microsoft; Their products actually work. I'm not sure I'd buy one of their PCs, because of poor driver support, though their laptops are SEXAY. I do in fact have a cordless phone, a VCR, two TVs, and a 5.1 receiver made by sony, know why? Because it's all great hardware and it was all cheap! Sure there's stuff out there that looks and/or sounds better but Sony has a good price/performance ratio (And I didn't pay full price for any of it but the phone.) Oh yeah, I have a PSX too. If you want to play Tekken 3, you need one.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Sega dumped by Namco
Namco and Sega have already colaberated on a number of projects, most notably those shooter games like Ninja Assault and Vampire Nights - I've owned them both but I can't remember if those are the titles :/
Anyhoo, the games are smokin, even if the replay value is limited. However, the one problem I see with a Namco/Sega merger is the competition between the Vitua Fighter series and the Tekken/Soul Blade series. This rivaly brought out the deepest, visually stunning video games in the entire industry (Squaresoft being an exception). That competition and one-upmanship will likely be gone, and everyone will suffer.
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What was the moral again?
Your comments about the saturn vs PSX are exactly also apply to DC vs PS2, except the roles were reversed. The dreamcast had less hardware power, but it was much easier for developers to take advantage of that power. The PS2 may have superior hardware, but its taken developers until now to figure out how to use all that power.
What killed the dreamcast was not inferior hardware or software, but marketing. With the Sony marketing team announcing the PS2 a year in advance, claiming compatibility with PSX games AND ability to play DVD's AND claiming to be much more powerful than the DC, most users decided to stay away from Sega. When the PS2 was actually released, it fell far short of the promises, but Sony had already succeded in stopping dreamcast sales.
Sony and good price performance ratio? i never thought i'd ever hear them in the same sentence. Sure sony may be high quality and be stylish, but they certainly are not good value. You are paying at least a 20% premium (100% premium for audio equipment) for anything with the Sony name on it, which means if you go to another brand you can either get the same performance for much less money, or spend the same amount of money and get a far better product.
Nintendo is not in bad shape financially. Where did you get that bs from? They have over $5 billion in the bank. I wish I had that 'financial' trouble. You gave me a good laugh. Thank you!
Got the scoop at http://dot.kde.org
Basically, Microsoft has and continues to push out crappy product with nothing but market share behind it.
Windows pretty much sucks.
WinCE pretty much sucks.
Office is an unnecessary hog.
Ditto IE.
Is there any question that these products, if put on an equal playing ground, would have significantly less market penetration?
Now let's look at the Sony items you've listed.
Movies: Well, there are lots of movie studios and they all put out both good stuff and crap. Sony is no exception. Same goes for TV shows (as a matter of fact, Sony is very strongly behind one of the best science fiction shows of recent memory and pushing hard to find it a new home since it was dumped by Showtime (Odyssey 5). So I applaud them for that.
Monitors/TVs. Trinitron rocks. There is plenty of competition out there, but for picture quality and color fidelity Trinitron blows the others away. You may pay a premium for it, but isn't that what premiums are all about? SHOULDN'T you pay a premium for a premium item?!?!?
VCRs. Sony's one misstep in the consumer electronics arena IMHO. There are/were much better VCRs on the market than Sony. And, come to think of it, I can't think of more than one friend of mine that has a Sony VCR. VCRs have really become disposable anyway. Not a prestige item. You buy a cheap one and throw it away when it breaks. No biggie.
Home stereo. While I personally prefer other brands of home stereo to Sony, you have to admit, as long as you steer clear of the ES line, you get an amazing bargain for you money with Sony's home stereo equipment. One could possibly make an argument that there is a Sony tax on this stuff, but look at the prices of the equipment objectively and you'll see there really isn't. Now Yamaha throws a brand tax on their equipment - no question.
Personal CD Player/Cassette player. Yet another market that has become throw away. Still, Sony created this market and still makes a good product in it.
Headphones. Sony does not make the best headphones on the market. People serious about headphones generally don't buy Sony. Most will go with Sennheiser or AKG or the like. Sony doesn't hold nearly a monopoly in the headphone market.
DVD players. Again, there are many brands to choose from, but Sony still makes a damned good product in this arena.
Now, the fundamental difference between Sony and Microsoft is that, contrary to your statement, Sony doesn't hold monopoly power in ANY market you've mentioned. There is a thriving open market in every single area. There's Matsushita, Toshiba, RCA, and a ton of other options for the buying public. That Sony has been able to make their name synonomous with quality is remarkable given the amount of competition. If Microsoft had achieved it's position in the same manner, I doubt there would be nearly as much of a stink about them.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=1 209&e=5&u=/afp/20030508/tc_afp/japan_game_sega_com pany&sid=96001015
This is getting disturbing, to say the least.
If they can't get Sammy, maybe they should go with David Lee Roth or maybe Gary Cherone!
Namco withdrew it's merger offer, which leaves Sega out in the cold with no current offers. There's always the rumors about EA or Microsoft buying them out though, which would be a real disaster in my opinion. Namco or Sammy would have been good, but failing that, maybe Nintendo will decide to play white knight since i'd far prefer them to EA or Microsoft.
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Personally for me, I think namco is the best pick for a merger because of namco's great gun games, and sega's past gun games coming back with namco would be great. Of course all the other great games both companies put out would be wonderful too. EA doesn't seem too logical since it seems Sega and EA are the top competitors in nearly every sports game. If they mergered, it would be sad for sports games since only one of them could be released and that would lessen competition. And Microsoft would be sad too, since all exclusives would go to x-box, but then again, if the x-box price drop happens, I don't think I'd mind so much.