The Evolution of Sega 145
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."
What's weird... (Score:5, Interesting)
...is how all the animosity has gone out of the relationship between Sega and Nintendo. Not just in the corporate world (where most of it was blustering, anyway) but in the minds of consumers as well. When was the last time you heard someone say, "Sega is way better than Nintendo!" or "Nu-uh, Sega beats the pants off Nintendo!" Even when the Dreamcast came out, it was well received on both sides of the fence.
Of course, the wussifying of Sonic the Hedgehog might have something to do with this. 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.
Takes unusual vision and courage (Score:5, Interesting)
Most companies would keep plodding along, doing exactly what they've been doing because that's what they do. Sega would have fallen farther and farther behind and eventually evaporated to the sound of nobody caring.
This is why executives get the big bucks (not that all of them are worth it). You need somebody able to step back and evaluate where the company really stands.
Hell hath no fury like a woman's scorn for Sega (Score:4, Interesting)
But Sega makes horrible games these days (Score:5, Interesting)
Seriously. With the exception of the various 2D Gameboy Advance and DS versions of "Sonic the Hedgehog" (which are fun, but nothing very new), their games are horrible. The 3D versions of Sonic for the big consoles have been mostly terrible, and never better than mediocre. They even managed to screw up the Nights sequel.
I guess there is the Virtua Fighter series, which is still well-done. But who plays that anymore?
Basically, Sega churns out junk based on their (formerly) popular franchises.
I miss Sega (Score:5, Interesting)
Specifically, the Sega that brought you Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, and Shenmue. Looking at the consoles I've had over the years, the Dreamcast was by far the one with the weirdest, and ultimately most enjoyable libraries out there. Yeah, Soul Calibur 4 looks sweet on the PS3, in high-def and all, but the magic of playing the original, arcade version, on the Dreamcast with no performance or graphics penalty was just amazing.
Sega was that crazy friend of yours who was funny as hell and had so many good times with, and is now happily filling out TPS reports and saying he can't go out because he's got to work Sunday too.
Re:But Sega makes horrible games these days (Score:4, Interesting)
Basically, Sega churns out junk based on their (formerly) popular franchises.
While I can't claim to be a huge fan of the Sonic stuff, Sega published some great games at least during the previous console generation (post-Dreamcast). Another poster mentioned Jet Set Radio [wikipedia.org], and I'll mention Panzer Dragoon Orta [wikipedia.org] and the Otogi [wikipedia.org] games. For a while, they were the house publishing some of the unique and innovative stuff, rather than JustAnotherShooter and JustAnotherPlatformer.
Goodbye Sonic. (Score:2, Interesting)
What he really means is... (Score:4, Interesting)
"Really what I tried to do was ride that train and make the most of that point in time...rather than just playing catch-up with everybody else, which is what we've traditionally done."
We were tired of being third to Nintendo and Sony all the time, so we just gave up and now produce rehashed versions of our old games on the new systems to make a living.
Too bad no one but /. was really interested in the dreamcast.
Re:What's weird... (Score:3, Interesting)
Sonic's asshole 'tude was an American marketing invention. In "reality," the character has changed very little, other than the design reboot in Adventure.
He has not been marketed as a "cute" character even in post-Adventure times in Japan, to any greater degree than any other game company mascot. Relatively speaking, Sonic hasn't been marketed at all; the interviewee in TFA acknowledges as much. Rather, SoA have simply stopped being advertising jerks, because they no longer have any reason (competing product) to do so. The American public's perception of Sega during the Genesis years is the real anomaly when you look at Sega's American marketing prior and since.
Back to TFA, I think he's nuts when he says this:
Nintendo has Mario, but they probably don't like the fact that people always associate them with Mario when they've got all these other games and brands and characters.
I think he's projecting SoA's experience onto Nintendo. Unlike SoA, Nintendo has repeatedly been able to capitalize on Mario's recognition in Japan. Even here, being associated with Mario has never hurt NoA's image both because people recognize the quality of Mario games, and also because he has never been marketed in such a way that now seems passe' or distatsteful (unlike Sonic). I bet SoA really just laments the fact that Sonic games since the original trilogy have tended to suck more often than not, and that he now seems like an anachronism. They never protected Sonic's image, and now Sonic is a poor image of what Sega wants to be.
Re:What's weird... (Score:3, Interesting)
I think that pretty much stopped when Sony entered the scene.
Funny little related anecdote though... way back in the mid-90s when said animosity was going very strong with the Megadrive and the SNES fighting on the front lines, a French game magazine (I think it was Player One, but not sure) ran an April Fool's joke that was basically a 2 page article on how Sega and Nintendo were ending their rivalry and would henceforth be cooperating. The article came complete with (fake, obviously) screenshots of a new game featuring both Sonic and Mario (they basically pasted Mario into screenshots from Sonic and Sonic into screenshots from Super Mario World). Made us laugh a lot.
Fast forward a decade and a bit though, and that joke has become reality. Who'd have thought at the time.
Re:What's weird... (Score:4, Interesting)
What's left to antagonize? Sega lost - and not just lost, but lost spectacularly, and then cheerfully admitted they lost.
If you aren't in competition, antagonism tends to die. See the M$/$ony flamewars for today's animosity.
As for the wussifying of Sonic... actually, if Sega would ever make a good, playable Sonic game again, they might generate a little bit of "competition". The last enjoyable Sonic game I played was Sonic & Knuckles on the old Genesis. The newer 3D-style "Sonic" games are anything but fun.
You might also be interested in the trend away from mascots in general. I mean, check out this list [wikipedia.org]; how many do you still REALLY identify with a particular platform? For that matter, has $ony ever managed to make a real mascot? Crash Bandicoot never caught on, and their biggest "properties" have forever and always been third-party games. Even old iconics like Megaman can't get much more than a slow death as they get to be the focus of mindless, boring "pokemon-alike" portable platform titles these days. In fact, I'd say that Nintendo is the only company that even invests much in the brand identity of its chosen mascots these days, and even they subject us to a shovelware title like F-Zero GX or Starfox Adventures for every Metroid Prime or Zelda:Twilight Princess they still deliver.
Of course, the death of mascots has also accelerated with the lack of a pack-in game for most consoles and the lengthening of the development cycle. Part of what made Mario and Sonic so iconic was that their adventures were packed in with the consoles during the height of their formative years, and gamers could rely on at least one new, solid game a year. Now, we wait years between games, and some of the best titles are actually the "off-cycle" ones (look at the Paper Mario/Super Paper Mario series, which delivered a lot more fun with a lot less nuisance/annoyance time than the last two Mario64-alikes).
Finally, the changing "strageties" kill it too - Master Chief *might* qualify as a mascot for the original Xbox, but not quite as much for the 360 (which has really sold best due to Xbox Live Arcade and the ease of getting downloadable content for games like Rock Band).
Re:What killed Sega? (Score:3, Interesting)
Sega no more (Score:3, Interesting)
Sega's console games division pretty much died with the Dreamcast. Their once flagship Sonic games have been reduced to a cash cow, just like Capcom's Mega Man games. 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). It says volumes when the long anticipated sequel to "NiGHTS" had a muted reception. The best that long time Sega fans can hope for is that they don't screw up their old franchises too badly.
The Sega of today is Sega only in name, similar to that corporate mess they now call Atari. After the deal with Sammy, Sega's chief purpose is to lend whatever cache the name has left to a wide array of games like "Yakuza" and various licensed games (mostly developed by third parties) like "Iron Man" and "The Incredible Hulk". Gone are the days when you could closely identify a game as being distinctly Sega - games like Panzer Dragoon, Space Harrier and the Shinobi series among others.
The good news is that Sega does release a lot of quality of arcade games - if you can find an arcade to play them in. The House of the Dead and Virtua Fighter series are still going strong, Sega has continued porting both series to home consoles. Just ignore the Sammy titles rebranded as Sega ones - like those darn deer hunting games.
Re:I miss Sega (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:What really hurt Sega's Console status. (Score:2, Interesting)
Copper sega was the bomb (Score:3, Interesting)
http://flickr.com/photos/gilgongo/752902874/ [flickr.com]
3 bars, any position, paid 12 pence. Magic.