Articles By Bumper

For those of you who can do Softimage, Sega of Japan has an opportunity for you.

If there's a dream of every SEGA fanatic, it's working for within the school of Sonic. We've all dreamed of being Yuji Naka's "gopher", or Yu Suzuki's "coffee guy"... okay, maybe not. But if you're serious about joining up with SEGA and have some skills in - oh let's see here - Softimage, two new job openings are available at SEGA of Japan for animator and designer in SEGA's new R&D center for TV, movies, and multimedia. Of course, this requires you to also (1)read and speak Japanese and (2) move to Japan, but think of the bright side: you could always drop by and go karoaking with Anoop.

OK, so you'll have to go pretty far...

Source: DCIGN

Well, good news for you Sega Stock savvy folks...

Bloomberg news has posted a brief interview with Stephen Auth, global portfolio manager at Federated Investors Inc. in which he discusses the state of the Japanese economy and the opportunities it presents to investors. Noting that the Japanese stock market is at an all-time low, he warns that it may be difficult to single out individual companies to invest in; he does strongly recommend mutual funds as an alternative.

When pressed for exceptions, he specified Sega as one of only three companies he could name as being in a strong position. "In addition to software games, they are also going into a major restructuring, exiting the hardware business, going from a loss-making situation to a profit one," he said. Sega's stock is valued at a respectable $4.05 despite four years of large losses.

If the company turns a profit this year as they plan, it could move upward rapidly. Auth also mentions Nintendo as a strong buy, no doubt buoyed by the successful launch of their Game Boy Advance system and strong buzz on the upcoming GameCube. Notably going unmentioned was Sony, whose stock has dropped 50% in the past year, including a $5 drop today on poor earnings news.

Source: SegaWeb

Big info from FGN Online regarding the DC price cuts in Europe:

Sega's next-gen console looks set for a further two price drops before the launch of Xbox and Gamecube later this year ? but only in the U.S. it seems. The system currently retails for $99.99, but in an attempt to clear out inventory, two price cuts are now expected before the holidays.

We received word from an anonymous source that Sega will cut the price on August 12 to $79.99, the new All Stars Sports Pack will sell for $99.99 featuring NFL 2K1 and NBA 2K1. The price is then expected to plummet one last to $49.99 around the turn of the year ? that's almost the price of a game!

Sega U.S. has yet to officially announce the deal, and is refusing to be drawn on the subject in the U.S. Thankfully though, bigwigs at major retails firms can?t keep quiet about it. Speaking to the Hollywood reporter, Doreen McKenzie, director of merchandising and videogames at Babbage's, revealed, "After the initial price drop to $79.99, Sega has told us that it will further reduce the price to $49.99 either around Christmas or early next year, depending on how much inventory it has left over."

It's a different story in Europe however. Dick Francis, Managing Director for the firm that now handles all things Dreamcast, told FGN Online, "Planet Distribution has no intention of lowering the price of Dreamcast from ?99.99. We have been very happy with our hardware sales figures and on software, especially from the game Sonic Adventure 2."

He continued, "We have strong support from retailers and excellent sales into the consumer. Planet Distribution has exciting marketing plans in place for Christmas. Dreamcast has shown exceptional performance to date and we categorically have no intention of lowering the price from ?99.99."

Well, if things hold as the firm says, European Sega fans may not be too happy come X-mas...

Source: FGN Online

Very important news for users of the Dreamcast's on-line capabilities. Hopefully, good news...

Sega.com announced today that they have partnered with EarthLink, and will now provide all of the content previously available exclusively through SegaNet to gamers outside the network. EarthLink effectively becomes SegaNet's "preferred ISP", similar to how AT&T was before SegaNet launched.

Current SegaNet accounts will be converted to EarthLink accounts seamlessly, with a new monthly price of $19.99. How this affects customers who purchased a Dreamcast with the SegaNet rebate was not addressed. "EarthLink can provide the speed, reliability and customer service that gamers want to be competitive online," said Marc Connor, who holds the interesting title of Director of Strategic Partnerships & Alliances, Sega.com.

This is a distinct change from Sega's original plans for their gaming ISP. Early last year Sega of America president Peter Moore told gamers.com, "What SegaNet will provide is a direct hub network for SegaNet subscribers... rather than being routed all around the Internet as I might be on, let's say, EarthLink or MSN."

The alliance sounds as if SegaNet is being brought into the EarthLink fold, most likely driven by lower numbers of paying subscribers than Sega had anticipated; the merging of ISPs has become common as of late, such as NetZero's recent purchase of Juno. The new partnership will bring much higher exposure to SegaNet while providing over a quarter million new monthly customers to EarthLink.

Also stated in the release is the first official comment that SegaNet will expand to other systems sooner rather than later. The statement specifies that "as new consoles come online later this year, Sega.com plans to open its high-speed network to a wider audience of online gamers." Since the PlayStation 2 is the only console set to go online this year (pending a shock announcement from Nintendo), we can take as a given that Sega and Sony's recently announced network partnership will extend beyond Japan.

There you have it, everyone.

Source: SegaWeb

An impressive launch for SA2 seems successful, as it catches a position on the top selling US games, despite the fact it was only there for a few days last month. The list follows:

1) Super Mario Advance (GBA, Nintendo)
2) Twisted Metal: Black (PS2, SCEA)
3) Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (GBA, Activision)
4) NBA Street (PS2, EA Sports)
5) The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (GBC, Nintendo)
6) The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (GBC, Nintendo)
7) Sonic Adventure 2 (DC, Sega)
8) Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (GBA, Konami)
9) F-Zero Maximum Velocity (GBA, Nintendo)
10) Mario Party 3 (N64, Nintendo)

Note the impressive showing from Nintendo, as well.

Source: SegaWeb

Could all the bull finally come to an end?

Eight game publishers have asked a federal judge in Denver to dismiss a lawsuit brought against them by relatives of several victims in the Columbine High School shooting, the AP reported.

Lawyers for the companies said the suit should be dropped because it doesn't allege that any particular game led Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold to go on the shooting spree that killed 12 students and a teacher. The companies also argue that video games are protected as free speech and that they cannot be held liable for someone's reaction to the games.

Companies named in the suit are Acclaim Entertainment, Activision, Capcom Entertainment, Eidos Interactive, Infogrames, Interplay Entertainment, Nintendo of America and Sony Computer Entertainment America.

More as it happens...

Source: Gamers.com

Well, looks like Sega will be doing some stuff at Tokyo...

This fall's Tokyo Game Show will have a welcome surprise going for it- a great showing by Sega.

The company announced today that they would be showcasing new wares for the Dreamcast and other consoles at this fall's Tokyo Game Show, taking place on October 12th-14th. What games will be shown is not yet known, but you can get a look at Sonic Team's flyer for the event at the link below.

Thanks to Swirlvision for the scoop!

Source: SegaDojo

Archie has released the plot for Sonic 103, and it goes something like this, courtesy of Comics Continuum:

Written by Mike Gallagher, art by Jim Valentino, Dave Manak and Harvo.

"Freedom Fights of the Galaxy Part One." A tribute to the Guardians of the Galaxy brought to readers by the team that created them, writer Mike Gallagher and artist Jim Valentino. In an alternate future, Sonic comes back to Mobius after being in space for a thousand years to find the planet in worse shape than when he left it. Teaming up with the descendants of the original Freedom Fighters, the heroes combat an evil so great, they with the original Robotnik was back. Plus: The Return of Downunda Freedom Fighters, squaring off against the Bunyip in a tale recalling the early days of the Sonic comic series.

32 pages, $1.99, ships on Oct. 19.

No cover to accompany it, unfortunely. Story sounds intriguing, though. One always had to wonder what would happen with decendants of the originals.

But first, we wait for 100...

Source: Comics Continuum

Gamespot has put up some new screenshots of Sonic Advance, and they're looking pretty nice. You can view them by clicking here.

While this isn't news in the strictest sense, I thought this might be of interest to fans.

Clicking here, you can check out a history of Sonic the Hedgehog preapred by Gamespot. It may be of interest to fans, so check it out.