It only loses it's cool past twelve because by then, you actually realise just how terrible the games are.
Further proof that Sega don't know what the hell they are doing concerning the franchise.
This article also confirms that Sega hopefuls can kiss the idea of Sega coming back to the hardware business goodbye.
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Sega limped along until 2004, when it was acquired by Sammy Corp., a Japanese creator of games and slot machines. When Simon Jeffery became president of Sega of America early the following year, the company had begun pursuing an aggressive global expansion strategy. "It really was a paradigm shift at the top at Sega Sammy," Jeffery says. Although the Japanese old guard wanted to reenter the hardware business, he says, "There really had to be an absolute flushing out of that old way of thinking."
Wow, I didn't think SEGA was that ignorant.
What depresses me more is that they made the T-Rated Shadow the Hedgehog with this mentality.
^Shadow was rated E10(at least in the US), but I assume that statement meant that Shadow was Sega's shallow way of trying to make Sonic cool with teens and adults, correct?
My childhood just felt a crushing, devastating blow.
*rocks back and forth* Sony have infiltrated The Sega using the cel shaded-QTE technology. Yes that's right. I am the milkman and my milk tastes delicious.
Wow.
Well done Sega. Way to screw with a loyal fanbase.
Shadow the Hedgehog was rated 12+ in Europe.
Sega has no idea what they are doing anymore, Sega of America especially.
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It only loses it's cool past twelve because by then, you actually realise just how terrible the games are.
Hahaha! Man...Sega...i'm losing faith in you guys. Really. Ninty rises yet again. Hell...Capcom and Namco are steadily climbing the favorites.Sega...is on a thin wire.
That is most uncool.
Silly Sega.
It's not uncool because of my age.
That's just... well, stupid, really. No other way around it.
I was apathetic about all this until I clicked the link.... Lord, how times have changed....
**crawls back into hole with S3&K** At least we still have the old stuff. At the very least.
~Shadowed Spirit Sage
They need to fire their P.R. rep.
~Tobe
they're certainly not good at making their fans happy, oo;
is there a link to the full sega artical anywhere?
Toby U.
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They need to fire their P.R. rep.
Er, he's the president of Sega of America.
ChibiBecca:
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is there a link to the full sega artical anywhere?
Here you go:
http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/aug2007/id20070813_964132.htm
Here the link with the full article.
I find it really amusing and sad how Simon Jeffery is depending on license games to help make SEGA more popular when everyone knows license games suck(see Superman Returns, Spider man 3 and FF: Rise of the Silver Surfer as proof).
Sega is nearly as bad as Sony *shot* Seriously, Sega stopped caring what they put out after Sonic Adventure 2, so should this surprise anyone?
I can't see how Sega is even comparable to Sony seeing that Sony studios actually releases quality games.
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I find it really amusing and sad how Simon Jeffery is depending on license games to help make SEGA more popular when everyone knows license games suck(see Superman Returns, Spider man 3 and FF: Rise of the Silver Surfer as proof).
Well, it worked for EA and Activision.
Of course, we're only getting the public side of this strategy. I'm sure behind closed doors the actual strategy is something like "Until we can make a Sonic game that the discerning fan-base will care about, why not move into a market where games of this quality are readily acceptable."
Hence, the shift to movie-licensed titles.
The President writes his own press releases? Wow.
~Tobe
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The President writes his own press releases?
That's SEGA budget cuts for ya.
XD
Oh, I'll remember to tell my cousin he can no longer like Sonic after this year too.
~Tobe
Wow.
I guess that means that I've thought Sonic was uncool for the past eight years.
Idiots.
well, since sega itself is telling me that i'm too old to consider their products cool, i guess i no longer have to worry about buying them
movie license games? jesus christ, they are scraping the bottom of the barrel
First, its Scott Steinberg who puts his foot in his mouth by dismissing the Wii as a fad. And now...its Simon Jeffrey, the man (SoA's man anyway) himself, dismissing Sonic as kiddie fodder, and just a recruiting tool for returning customers. Fandom to Simon, hello: Even the GC owning kiddies who thought SA2 was God's gift have grown into teens and stayed with the franchise. I would say nearly 40-50% of the fandom is over 12...and I'm betting that few moved on to other Sega IPs like Simon implies that they do. Sigh...I knew I disliked the man, the moment I watched him spout off to Adam Sessler that StH 2006 was going to cure all that ails the franchise. If there are any other employees over there who share in Simon's misguided belief, then Sonic truely is dead. I wish they'd bring back Bernie Stolar as SoA's chief...now there was a guy who actually seemed to give a whit about the welfare of Sega's biggest IP...even if he did have a habit of promising things he couldn't actually deliver.
I want to know what they're viewing Sonic as a recruitment too for. Outside of the hedgehog, what stable game franchises do they actually have that would interest people on a more than casual basis, apart from movie-tie ins?
I don't think Sega has many stable franchises outside Sonic, except maybe the Shining RPG's or.. uhm... Puyo Puyo? Phantasy Star, I'm not really counting.
Honestly, I think Sega's reached the point where they absolutely have to cater to the lowest common denominator. Hence the licensed games. >_>
What really ticks me off about Simon's comments, though, is that its almost like he's saying directly to me: "Hey, fellow, sorry to tell you this, but, the past ten years of your life have basically all been a waste of time, money, energy and affection. Time to move beyond Sonic, to the bevy all our other quality franchises, like Full Auto and Shining force, and our upcoming movie games".
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I wish they'd bring back Bernie Stolar as SoA's chief...now there was a guy who actually seemed to give a whit about the welfare of Sega's biggest IP...even if he did have a habit of promising things he couldn't actually deliver.
F***, Bernie Stolar! He's the reason why the Saturn had a drought of good games in the U.S. compared to the Japanese, and ultimately killed it!
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I don't think Sega has many stable franchises outside Sonic, except maybe the Shining RPG's or.. uhm... Puyo Puyo? Phantasy Star, I'm not really counting.
Virtua Fighter? Monkey Ball? And if we are counting games popular in Japan-only: Mushiking, Love&Berry, and Ryu ga Gotoku.
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Virtua Fighter? Monkey Ball? And if we are counting games popular in Japan-only: Mushiking, Love&Berry, and Ryu ga Gotoku.
Ah, thanks. I forgot about VF & Monkey Ball. I also meant to add "random Japan-only franchises" but, yeah. XD
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Sorry my meaning was taken out of context fans like yourself are important to us
Riiiiight.
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This is illuminating.
Press distortion, or backpedalling?
My cynical sense tells me it is the latter, but at least he admits that the current games sucks so much that only children can appreciate them.
I have yet to see any upcoming Sonic title that will perk my interest(Sonic RPG doesn't count as we have seen any media on it yet.)
Hmm... well... backpedalling or press distortion, he had the decency to reply to a fan and more or less apologise.
Therefore I shall be nice enough to forgive for now.
And for now, I mean until Rush Adventure.
F***, Bernie Stolar! He's the reason why the Saturn had a drought of good games in the U.S. compared to the Japanese, and ultimately killed it!
There were many reasons why the Saturn failed so miserably, and Stolar may have been a reason (like I said, he had a habit of making promises he couldn't live up to), but he's not the direct cause of its demise. Even if all those Japanese gems had made their way here, they wouldn't have prolonged the system's life by much. Go ahead and blame Stolar for the system's demise if you wish, that is your prerrogative. As for me, I thank the man for knowing the Saturn wasn't the company's future and turning SoA's resources to the Dreamcast, and giving the system its big launch day, the most memorable moment of my gaming life (even though he was fired right before launch). And like I also said before, at least he seemed to care about the quality of their software.
If Simon was indeed backpedalling...he shouldn't have done it by sending an e-mail to an angry fan. He should've sent out a press release saying that "My comment was taken out of context. The article was written to show that Sega intends to survive and thrive on more than just Sonic, and they inserted bits of what I said to reinforce that philosophy. We here at Sega clearly recognize that Sonic, while targeted primarily at the younger crowd, is a character whose level of fan affinity transcends generations. Fans tend to stick with him through adolescance and into adulthood. We do not intend to leave that large audience out in the cold. Our resources are currently into other projects, but nonetheless, we are working hard to ensure that the series next major release is able gain mass acclaim and appeal." I would have at least partially accepted that.
But at least he admits that the current crop of Sonic games are not up to snuff.
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As for me, I thank the man for knowing the Saturn wasn't the company's future and turning SoA's resources to the Dreamcast,
Tell this to the people who spent $400 2 years prior on said Saturn and whatever amount on the Sega CD and 32X. Probably the last straw for many Sega fans even despite the DC U.S. launch.
Best thing Stolar done was leave Sony in the first year of the Playstation as we probably wouldn't have seen as many JRPGs for the system in the U.S. as we do now.
Oh, c'mon...you're being a little hard on the guy. Personally, I think the Dreamcast during its tragically short life made up for nearly all their prior mishaps. And Stolar at least knew the right things to say, and the right things not to say, which is more than I can say for Jeffrey right now. And he is better than Jeffrey.
Sorry Ashide, but LOL @ spending 400 on a Saturn >> That was an utterly ridiculous price tag for that system anyway...can't believe so many people bouht it that high.
But I do agree, getting that + the 32x (which I got on launch cause I swore it would rock...yeah only one game for it -.-) was a hell of a hit-then OMG 99DC?!?!? THE MONEYZ!!
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Sorry Ashide, but LOL @ spending 400 on a Saturn >> That was an utterly ridiculous price tag for that system anyway...can't believe so many people bouht it that high.
Hey, it was the true successor of a successful console(in the West, at least).
And it really did have some nice games in Japan and it brought us the awesomeness of Segata Sanshiro
Y'know...I think the Dreamcast would have been more successful if Sega had carried over Sanshiro from the Saturn, and made him their international marketing mascot. Heck, they should've made a game outta the guy.
Ummm...
Yeah, I've seen Segata's last ad. It wasn't really a Dreamcast commercial, it was really more a "Buy Saturn while you still can" commercial. And it wasn't international, and Sega never made a game outta the guy.
So did you pay ANY attention to the links I posted? That's an advert for Segata's own game.
Criminy.
Oh, the first link was to an actual game? I didn't really take the time to notice. I only clicked the second link. I guess I just have the attention span of a small blue rodent. Sorry about that. That still doesn't change that Sega still failed to take the guy international with the commercials.
I don't know. Would Segata really appeal to the Western Market? Enough to save the Dreamcast?
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Would Segata really appeal to the Western Market? Enough to save the Dreamcast?
He's a crazy martial artist who goes around and beats up people who aren't playing video games. There's more than enough violence there for Western markets. Segata would just need to get with the lovely young Japanese girl in that one commercial to complete the Western advertising checklist.
Segata wouldn't have worked for the Dreamcast, that's why he had to sacrifice himself when Sony tried to destroy the Dreamcast.
Segata Sanshiro! Segata Sanshiro! SEGA SATURN SHIRO! (YOU MUST PLAY SEGA SATURN!)
His entire hook only worked with Saturn.
It's ok. One day, like Optimus Prime and Jesus, he'll come back to the world that loved him so well in order to punch Kaz Hirai in the crotch and save the world from Sony.
"It was discovered during a press event at the latest Tokyo Game Show in Japan, that Sega had plans underway to return to the hardware market with their newest console: Sega Saturn 2. And with it, the revival of their greatest and most beloved advertising mascot. Together they will lead the video game industry onto a new plateau of gaming, reviving all of their classic IPs with new installments and rehiring many of the people who made Sega great over the years, and rededicating their push to bring back glorious 2D and make it mainstream again.
When asked of their thoughts on this latest startling development, Sony representatives were heard to mutter to themselves incoherently."
