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The Evolution of Sega
Gamasutra is running an interview with Simon Jeffrey, Sega of America's CEO, discussing the gradual change of the company from a hardware manufacturer to a game publisher. Among other things, he talks about how the transition was intended to help keep up with rival manufacturers at a time when Sega was clearly falling behind.
"We were on the cusp of the next generation, and on the cusp of Nintendo changing into a different company and opening up a new part of the market. So it felt like the time was right for Sega to reinvent itself. Really what I tried to do was ride that train and make the most of that point in time, bringing new people into the company and start building the kind of products that would get a leadership position in the next generation on the Wii and the DS, rather than just playing catch-up with everybody else, which is what we've traditionally done."
The Dreamcast was imo the best console ever made. Years ahead of its competitors, and could even frequently go head to head against consoles that came out years later.
It went downhill(in the US at least) with their release of the Sega CD and other crappy genesis add-ons as well as the ill-fated Saturn which were expensive with not much noticeable difference between the original Genesis games. The Dreamcast was good but Sega never quite recovered from the other crap they made, and they were eaten for lunch by Sony and Nintendo.
Considering that he's now portrayed as a "cute" character rather than "cool and edgy", this might have gone a long way toward changing the public's perception of Sega.
It's hard to been as a edgy talking hedgehog when you have to compete with GTA.
Have to respect corporations, especially the size of Sega, that can reinvent themselves to adapt to a changing market. Our Automobile industry would be in better shape if they had this same ability.
When was the last time you heard someone say, "Sega is way better than Nintendo!" or "Nu-uh, Sega beats the pants off Nintendo!"
I think it was when video game consoles stopped being kids toys
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All your blue hedgehogs are belong to us!
I've read far greater histories of Sega told by far greater men within the company then this guy. Instead of waxing poetically into the failure that is today's Sega maybe he outta be down with the workers ensuring the next Sonic game isn't a critical failure as has become the norm. Hey we may see a lot of Mario, but by and large he is kept to games of acceptable quality. But hey maybe I'm just a little bitter, considering the company had the best hardware they could of ever asked for with the Dreamcast and yet it was a non-starter. Too much 'change' was the problem, to many add ons for core hardware that shouldn't have been neglected with such piss poor hardware releases. And here we have an article about more change from Sega... 9th time is a charm eh?
On the Oregon Cost born and raised, On the beach is where I spent most of my days
I don't really think it was a choice; they made way too many Dreamcasts, wasted loads of money making Shenmue II (and then didn't even release it on the Dreamcast in the US). Plus the Saturn before that was a flop, and Sega were a big arcade games maker and that market also dried up rapidly. It was a major squeeze all around.
Don't get me wrong; I bought a Dreamcast and loved it, but I don't think they had the momentum or money for another release after that.
The sad thing is if they had as much money as Microsoft they could have bounced back easily in the next generation (the current generation), but being such a specialized company means excellent games but volatile profit margins.
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You only remember the good times. Genesis and Dreamcast were great, and ahead of their time. The stuff in between was horrible.
Sega was like that crazy friend that would convince you to go out and blow all your money on strippers and booze. You would wake up the next morning with nothing to show for it except a splitting headache.
Sega went to rehab. The world is a better place because of it.
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
I still think that the FASA produced Shadowrun for the Sega Genesis is one of the coolest games ever made. I still have my old Genesis console and every once and a while I pull it out just to play Shadowrun. I also was one of the enlightened ones, err, I mean suckers who bought the CD and 32X units. They actually were pretty cool for their time, it's just too bad that the support wasn't there and more games didn't come out for them.
"But this one goes to 11!"
Indeed, to a lady with a bit of a sleazy reputation for hanging out in pachinko parlors...
"MIT betrayed all of its basic principles."
I don't think the hedgehog has anything to do with it. The top factors in console wars, from what I can tell are:
1. Fanboyism. I swear some people should have been born dogs, the way they must dedicate their life to some Master.
2. Us-vs-them mentalities. If you can't have both consoles, you already have a criterion by which to divide the world into an "us" camp and a "they" camp. 'Nuff said.
3. Probably actually the root of both above: Cognitive dissonance. People tend to be the most rabid in either defending or attacking something, when that position is the least easy to defend or makes no sense. And again, a lot of people couldn't have both, either because mommy doesn't buy both, or because they can't justify to themselves buying both. But in the willy-waving contest that a status-based culture is, they don't want to admit something like "well, I'm kinda tempted by game X too, but I can't afford console Y too". That kind of admission is, essentially, an admission of failure. Not many people are going to admit _that_. So they rebuild the whole mental model into something that's actually a proclamation of being some kind of elite. E.g., "pfft, game X sucks, console Y sucks, heck everything that company does is pure shit, and only idiots fall for their hype."
It's just a function of the mammal brain to try to keep the model consistent. (See the recent experiment with monkeys.) Where Mother Nature failed though, was foreseeing that humans will base their whole status, self-esteem or "face" on some notions being a priori, unquestionably true. And if one notion is beyond questioning, something _else_ will have to give. If someone's model is based on "I'm t3h 31337" or "my decisions are right, dammit" (e.g., the decision to buy console A instead of console B), and some memory or situation challenges that, they'll rewrite some other piece of history or reality to make the model consistent again.
You can see all 3 at work, or various perversions thereof, in any other such situation. PC vs consoles, PC vs Mac, 3dfx fanboys vs nVidiots (as both sides fondly called each other back then), and a bunch of others. Not saying that _all_ such arguments are bunk, far from it, but I _am_ under the distinct impression that the most rabid fanboys are putting up that unmovable faith show more to keep themselves convinced than for the benefit of the readers.
So, anyway, to get back to Sega, they ceased to be the "enemy", the moment they weren't competition any more. In all 3 aspects, it made no sense to be against Sega any more.
Fanboyism: Sega wasn't one of the choices for a fanboy's Master any more. In fact, it became an orthogonal choice entirely. So there was no need any more to be against it if you chose Sony or Nintendo instead.
Us-vs-Them: Ditto. You could be one of Sony's or Nintendo's faithful, and still play a Sega game. It became a lot harder to draw a neat line where Sega falls in the "them" camp.
Cognitive Dissonance: well, there was no more need to justify why not buy a Sega console and play, say, PSO. You could just get PSO on the GameCube or XBox or whatever. There was no more need to plug a leaky mental model with a "Sega sucks" bandaid. And thus no need to defend that fragile bandaid at all cost, lest the whole edifice come crashing down around your ears.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
Sega has produced a few good games this generation, true that none of the Sonic games are among them but Sega is hardly failing. They might not garner the hype of a Halo or GTA but most of their current generation titles have solid sales with a decent following.
Game like Condemned, and The Club are good, I just wish they'd do MORE games like that, most of their releases in the last year have been movie tie ins which isn't all that great for the one noble Sega.
At least their modern versions of Sega Rally, Virtua Fighter, and Virtua Tennis have done those franchises proud.
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But at least the newer Mega Man games aren't bogged down by ridiculously convoluted plot lines, horrible gameplay and the constant addition of useless characters that distance the series from its roots (i.e. PLAYING AS SONIC).
Uhm... which Megaman games are you playing?
The Megaman X series - Zero, Axl, and now the three girl-versions from Megaman X8?
The Megaman Battle Network/Star Force - Pokemon-Alike Series?
The Megaman Zero/ZX series - where you constantly switch between staff/gun/sword/shield/yoyo/etc weapon styles or which character you're mimicking?
Of all the modern ones existing today, NONE feel even close to being Megaman,or have anything other than ridiculously convoluted plot lines.
Somehow I think that's overlooking a LOT of factors involved in the Dreamcast's demise. The imminent rise of the PS2, the announcing of the XBox and Gamecube, Sega taking a huge loss on every console sold, etc, etc.
Jesus is coming -- look busy!
The truth be told, the company was failing and he wanted to save is ass. The bottom line is still the influx of cash.
Which is commendable, and exactly what we want in an executive.