Nintendo Buying Sega? Or Not? 58
jeffsenter writes "According to this NYTimes article (free reg. req.) Nintendo is actually in talks to buy Sega for about $2B. As you know Sega has been losing money for years and is beaten by the competition from Sony. Rumors of the end of Sega are nothing new. Sega is making money from its arcade business so maybe they will sell to Nintendo and focus on software."
But according to a CNNfn story, it isn't happening
For the record... (Score:1)
Nintendo is NOT buying Sega. How long as this rumor gone along? And how many times has ./ posted about it? It's simply not going to happen and it's poor judgement on the part of both the NYT and ./ to post idiotic stories like these. Sega won't be bought by any Japanese vg company. The most likely scenarios are a partnership with Microsoft or a most likely is that Sega will stop selling hardware and devolop for one or all of the next-gen consoles.
Nintendo didn't loose devolopers because of content control. They lost them because Nintendo controls the storage media that games are manufactured on and charges large sums (like $30 a cart) for devolopers to buy the carts. With cheap CDs, for most companies, unless they had a sure fire hit, tying up large sums of money in cars made no sense.
Nintendo has become fairly liberal in censorhip in recent years, though that can't seem to get away from the stigma of half ignorant fan boys remembering the Mortal Kombat debacle. Nintendo has bowed to market demand, though no one's seemed to noticed. Take Conker's Bad Fur Day or Perfect Dark as examples.
If ./ is going to report on games and anime, they should at least get someone who knows half a whit about what they're talking about. Otherwise it brings down the quality of the entire site.
I don't object to ./ covering them - but they should do it like they do their other tech coverage - well.
DreamCast Network Computer? (Score:1)
As the Ethernet adapter is about to be released (1/3/2001 according to EB) I had the thought that the DreamCast could make for a very low-cost NC.
Think about it, someone has ported Linux to it - just get that and X11 running on it, and you've got the NC that Oracle is trying to foist on people. Either that, or use WinCE - the WebTV browser (3.0 is due out with the Ethernet adapter) is OK for basic stuff. You could almost start to sell this thing into the same space as the Audrey from 3Com.
I could never understand..,.. (Score:2)
Comment removed (Score:3)
Logic and Numeric Issues (Score:3)
Some comments don't quite make sense:
Despite Dreamcast's advanced technology and record-setting introduction in September 1999 -- it sold 500,000 units in that month alone -- Sony's PlayStation 2 this year broke that record and all but obliterated Dreamcast's lead.
Eh? Sony sold 500,000 PS2s in one day, but haven't sold very many since then. In fact, there has been at least one article I read on how Dreamcast sales have increases dramatically due to PS2 shortages. Following Thanksgiving weekend, Dreamcast sales were up 82% [cnet.com], putting it in second place in the market share game, right behind PlayStation 1. Now all this may change when PS2 production starts to meet demand, but that's no excuse for misleading the public.
PC Data's market share numbers [cnet.com] for the week ending Nov 25:
As of Nov. 18, Sega's share of the North American market for game consoles had fallen to 17.5 percent
A fine date to choose. Right before Thanksgiving weekend, when sales just exploded. This article was published today, why are they using data that is 40 days old?
It is not clear how much the companies make selling hardware
They usually take a loss. That's pretty common knowledge, I thought.
Overall, Dreamcast is doing very well right now, at least in the US. So it's hard to see how a Nintendo acquisition would make sense. So either there is some sort of weird bias on the part of the authors (which seems unlikely), or they do not realize that they are drastically misrepresenting the situation. I'm no Dreamcast loyalist or anything like that (these things only cost $150, most people can afford one), but I hate to see people get away with causing confusion via inaccurate journalism.
And why would Nintendo want Sega right now? They are already developing Game Cube, and have a very successful business thanks to Pokemon, GameBoy and the occasional epic title like Zelda. It would be a shame if Dreamcast got buried in purely political issues, since it's home to so many fascinatingly original game design ideas (Crazy Taxi, Seaman, Shenmue, Jet Grind Radio, etc).
- Scott
------
Scott Stevenson
slightly offtopic, please excuse me ^^;; (Score:1)
Quest (maker of the game, published by Atlus) is the type of not-so-big-name third party developer that Nintendo should be spending more time funding.
Pokémon Crystal came out in Japan recently, I don't think the series will die anytime soon. People underestimate it because I don't think anyone's seen anything quite like it. And after a mindnumbing day at the office, what better than a simple game of catching monsters and training them to fight other monsters?
Which leads into: Sony & Microsoft (er, there are rumors, but nothing confirmed yet about a WinCE DX-based MS handheld) have nothing on Nintendo's dominance of the handheld market. If Nintendo doesn't buy Sega, Sega could easily pocket some cash by developing for a Nintendo handheld. NGPC not doing too well =(
--
Peace,
Lord Omlette
ICQ# 77863057
Re:Cartridge-based games (Score:1)
Mainly. However, as I understand it, the new design also cannot be "chipped" like the old to be able to play import/pirtated games. Also, will software that's hardcoded to need a double speed drive work on the ps2 (which is backwards compatible)? What about using bleem! on a pc or bleemcast for dreamcast? If so, it seems that sony could have come up with a way to make psOne load faster.
Care about freedom?
Re:For the record... (Score:1)
Slashdot provides a great service to us by gathering together the stories. However, someone needs to be able to what's obviously a bogus story. Sega being bought by Nintendo is the same type of story that "Mircrosoft releases a Linux distrobution" would be. However, the former gets posted whilst the latter is a joke.
Re:Logic and Numeric Issues (Score:2)
However, it is a matter of record that Sega is doing very poorly financially right now, and that they are and have been entertaining takeover proposals. An invigorated US Dreamcast market will help buy them time and leverage, but they've already said they don't see themselves coming out with another hardware platform after the technical fumble of Saturn and marketing failure of Dreamcast. I think Sega would rather be a "second-party" developer ala Rare than a straight third-party software house, and thus I can see them agreeing to a Nintendo or MS buyout that will keep their franchise titles well managed and well promoted.
From Nintendo's point of view I think this makes a ton of sense. They are suddenly outgunned in the coming generation, by two consoles which suddenly have the full weight of their corporate giants behind them. The thing is, while Nintendo has the under-12 market pretty sown up, console gaming appears finally poised to become a much more mainstream phenomenon. (Indeed, it's been going in this direction since the Genesis, and the PS1 helped a great deal.) Nintendo is holding the same size piece as always, but the pie is suddenly much larger.
And the thing is, the console business is all based on economies of scale; unless GameCube has a large enough audience to match PS2 and XBox, the good developers won't make games for it...and unless the good developers are making games for it, its audience will be too small. One of the best ways to solve this catch-22 is to buy a few developers so that you are guaranteed a wide range of enticing titles. Nintendo has a few, but they will only attract a narrow demographic; Nintendo's sports games in particular are very weak. Furthermore, by buying a Sega, Nintendo has a good chance of hanging on to today's Mario and Zelda fans when they become the NFL2K1 and Jet Grind Radio etc. fans of tomorrow. They'll stay with Nintendo if Nintendo can supply them with games that keep up with them as they grow up. Otherwise, they'll go to Sony and MS.
Re:*shudder* Hasn't nintendo died? (Score:1)
BlastCorps is a great game, and Perfect Dark crushes Golden Eye.
If you're gunna bash Nintendo at least try to sound like you know what you're typing about.
Umm......dont mean to spam, but... (Score:1)
Who cares?
Re:Waaaaaah (Score:1)
Ehrm... (Score:1)
Not in the foreseeable future..... (Score:2)
If they were to die, though, it would be a sad day. Between the BSD development [slashdot.org], the SNES emulator available [mc.pp.se], which is really, REALLY cool but is a tad slow right now, and other possible goodies down the road (Zip drive, oh please Zip drive), I don't think they are available for such a buyout.
All that said, get back to me in a year. It will be the trial of its life time for Sega this year and we will see if Sega can survive. I certainly hope so, but to play devil's advicate, think about Sega becoming a software only shop. Think of the things we could see of X-Box, Gamecube, or PS2. It would be pretty impressive. I would hate to see the Dreamcast die, or future Sega consoles for that matter, but the alternative is not that bad as some people think.
Bryan R.
Re: (Score:2)
Censor?!? you need to watch the video for Conker (Score:1)
Vermifax
Sega + Nintendo? (Score:1)
Re:Although it's not true.... (Score:3)
Re:Nothing to buy! (Score:2)
Re:Nothing to buy! (Score:1)
It's even worse, looks like we've got a whole new type of hedgehog [s3.com] around...
Re:Waaaaaah (Score:2)
Nintendo quashes report of plan to buy Sega! (Score:2)
Might happen eventually (Score:3)
Nintendo needs some meat to their lineup. The N64 sold well, and there were some great games for it, but some new blood is definitely needed. The problem with consoles is that you have a limited time window that you have to get your games into: if you run too late, the cosole is history. Pokemon is probably due to flame out soon. The Zelda line has 2 great N64 games, but there's only so many of those you can put out in a systems lifetime (seems to be about 2). Mario and Donkey Kong will of course have a plethora of "scrollers", racing games, party games, etc...which will make up the core of the title line-up. Rare with the GoldenEye/Perfect Dark types games is a heavy-hitter; but again, there's only so many games they can put out.
Think back to the glory days of NES/SNES. Sure, we all got and played the Marios and the Zeldas, but look at all the other great games from 3rd party developers that kept you playing the deck. Final Fantasies, Chrono Trigger, Tecmo Super Bowl, Street Fighter series, EA sports titles. Slowly but surely, these developers, who were once Nintendo exclusive, have migrated to other consoles. Some still develop for the N64, some don't.
Maybe the hardware mistakes made by the N64 had the most to do with it's "lack of previous success" (you can't really call it a failure). It looks like the Cube is going to have some kick-ass specs, which would cure that problem. Still, Nintendo has lost some big third party developers (EA and Square topping the list), and a purchase of Sega would help them gain back some much needed titles. It will be interesting to see where this goes.
Cartridge-based games (Score:1)
That re-design was on a purely optical basis. It was simply impossible to make signifcant changes to the hardware without abandoning compatibility. The PSX libraries are hard-wired to single speed and double speed, there is no way to change the drive speed to anything else, and since the programmer is given pretty much low-level access to the CD drive, you're stuck. I wrote some audio code for example which relied on the drive to be running with double speed.
Yes, the loading times of CD-based games suck, but cramming data onto those cartridges is one hell of a job. You have to compress the heck out of your data, it is NO fun, believe me. Especially when your producer is too greedy to come up with large cartridges. And just compare that embarrassing kindergarten music of a cartridge-based N64 title to real streaming CD sound. The sound issue alone would put me off a N64.
Besides, many PSX games would have had much shorter loading times if the programmers hadn't been so sloppy about that issue.
False Report (Score:1)
http://www.sega.co.jp/20001227.html [sega.co.jp]
Nintendo (Japanese)
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n10/news/001227.html [nintendo.co.jp]
*shudder* Hasn't nintendo died? (Score:2)
Re:Must be true. Two losers combining against Sony (Score:1)
Care about freedom?
Re:Nothing to buy! (Score:1)
Re:Heh (Score:1)
Many people would never have bought a DC if it was not possible to play pirated games. (And a larger user base means more games sold).
A great part of the people pirating games would never have bought an original or don;t have the money anyway.
And in each discussion about piracy you find hundreds of other arguments from both anti and pro piracy types.
Note that this post does say NOTHING about the morale of pirating.
An article from ZDNET (Score:2)
Re:DreamCast Network Computer? (Score:1)
Would it be possilbe to make a good a NC with that, when a lot of today's web pages uses video, flash etc ?
"a Japanese word" (Score:1)
If I know my Japanese, that word is "burushitu."
Arcade hardware (Score:1)
Are they? Are they making a bundle in the arcades or facing dimishing returns?
Also, Sega's console technology is based on its arcade hardware. Buy one, buy the other.
Re:I loved my old Sega (Score:1)
Now I'm just waiting for someone to buy me a Dreamcast.
The only good game N ever, EVER had (IMO) was GoldenEye, purely because you could shoot the guards in the head from a fair old distance, and knock their hat off.
Anyone remember the article weeks ago on
Alphabet soup is not, repeat NOT a message from beyind the grave!
Re:I loved my old Sega (Score:1)
Re:I loved my old Sega (Score:1)
I just happened to be cleaning out the closet in my guest bedroom, and I found a BIG box of the master system and genesis games, as well as my genesis. Hmm, I wonder if there is a market for them on Ebay.
Re:Although it's not true.... (Score:1)
Been there and done it. Change is not always welcome, and your personal comfort is not the primary concern of your employer.
Management has a responsibity to see to adequate staffing. If you're #2 you have to be prepared to be #1 in the event of an emergency. Hesistency to assume the task is an indication to Management of a problem. Management cannot take the risk that if their lead is away, the second in command will not take on the duties, or will do the minimum.
Now, if the permanent promotion does NOT include all the perks (more pay, etc.), then management is not playing fair, but what can I say, life sucks.
Re:Cartridge-based games (Score:2)
News (Score:2)
Anchor: "Is Nintendo Buying Sega? Or not?"
Anchor: "The answer is no."
Anchor: "Or is it...?"
Although it's not true.... (Score:2)
Heh (Score:1)
What does Sega have to sell? (Score:1)
But really, since consoles are much more generational than PC hardware, you can't get that much of a benefit from bought technology. NVIDIA benefited from the 3dfx purchase by getting GigaPixel tech and they also managed to settle the lawsuits against them in that fashion. But how would Nintendo benefit from purchasing Sega?
Waaaaaah (Score:1)
Shenmu.
Jet SET Radio.
They have bars, guns,beer,coffee,cuss words and love stories.
Please stop this before Nintendo censors and sanitizes the innovative games Sega has been putting out for years.
Re:Although it's not true.... (Score:1)
What's the news exactly? (Score:1)
Powerhouse (Score:1)
Re:Nothing to buy! (Score:2)
I think this [s3.com] was the intended link.
Sonic lives again. :) Is it just me, or has S3 started to remind you of one of those patchwork quilts you sew out of bits of clothing which have worn too thin and useless for anything else?
I'm half-expecting S3 to make the big Atari/Home and Commodore acquisition announcements. I'm eagerly awaiting my new Amiga hardware running TOS 3.5 with ViRGE DirectX 5 3D deceleration and maybe AdLib audio beside, all beautifully orchestrated to support the wonderfully exciting Snork Adventure launch title.* And the scary thing is - it'll work. Like those people with three and four diseases, all holding each other in check, and where if just one thing becomes slightly less horrible they'll topple - it's going to work.
* Sold exclusively at Radio Shack.
Re:What does Sega have to sell? (Score:1)
Nothing to buy! (Score:2)
Buying Sega simply wouldn't make any sense.
Sega have let their most valuable franchises die for lack of new titles (Sonic, NiGHTS, etc). A new title in any of their old main lines wouldn't have the brand appeal it did two years ago.
Sega's biggest strength in recent years has been their arcade work. And while leveraging Sega's arcade division to further Nintendo's placement might have made sense a few years ago, the arcade market is on a decline with redemption machines (the games you get tickets/tokens for playing) fast replacing game machines.
Sega also has a foothold in redemption machines, but that's two steps removed from Nintendo's meat and potatos, and that market too is starting to plateau; probably not a direction the big N wants to grow in.
Re:Nothing to buy! (Score:2)
Sony is a large and strange company. When you get to the size Sony is, the $2B is not even that much money. It will be very difficult to predict their actions. However, although you are right about arcade machines being Sega's strong place in the market, nowadays these machines are just extensions of the console game market. There aren't any titles in the arcade that aren't marketed on consoles. I know there is sometimes a delay before they go on sale, but it is cerrtainly not a speciality market in the sense that I am sure those enclosures just hold essentially Dreamquests. Part of the problem (and this came up quite a bit with PS2 discussions) is that console systems are hard to code for, and there are no standards. That makes porting games very difficult I imagine (and it certainly seems to not work out too well). It is really impractical for Sega to compete independently when it can't hope to match sales of Play Station games. They were already planning to market some of their titles for the PS2, so maybe it would just be better for them to become part of Sony. In any events, I imagine Sega will become a pure software company before too long. Another thing is that it is probably weird for people here to realize how huge Nintendo really is. My little brothers and all their friends love it. Right now they dominate the kids market. And those kids are growing up. If they can lock these kids into platforms and titles, they have them for years. They already completely dominate the portable game market (Gameboys), and if they can integrate them with cellphones, they will have the future of speciality gaming machines locke up I imagine.
I just can't wait until Crazy Taxi Driver comes out for the Playstation 2 though! :o)
Sega Needs Steve Jobs (Score:1)
For god knows how long, Sega has been the Apple of the video game console market. Always "on the verge of bankruptcy" or "going to be bought by company X"...
Funny how they always whip out a new product -- the Genesis and the Dreamcast, for example -- to keep them afloat awhile longer. Kind of like Macs.
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Yo soy El Fontosaurus Grande!
Nintendo = Bad management (Score:2)
I find it interesting (Score:1)
"
He also used several descriptive adjectives and some nouns as well...
*shrug*
E.
Re:Although it's not true.... (Score:2)
Re:An article from ZDNET (Score:1)
Apparently Sega has a lot of debt that would dissuade possible suitors.
ymmv,
E.
I loved my old Sega (Score:1)
The style of games for the Sega have always been "cooler" in my opinion. Not that Nintendo didn't make great hardware, it just seams like they don't like to put out anything thats not suitable for someone under 7. There was only 1 game I ever did enjoy on Nintendo (No, not Super Mario Brothers!). If Sega does get bought out, I hope that the game base that they put out doesn't get revamped to fit Nintendo's normal style.
It's a misunderstanding (Score:1)
Advice for Nintendo: everyone regrets buying sega (Score:1)
It may be a good company, maybe better than the available options. Their ROI may seem very attractive. But lack of support and poor marketing will make you regret buying them. I just know it.
I'll keep playing those dozen or so extant Dreamcast titles (the ones in English) until they burn a hole in my TV.
www.ridiculopathy.com [ridiculopathy.com]