Tag Archives: Sega

SEGA Embraces Modernity: Looking Forward to the Future

Posted on by
Reply

F
For over a decade, from the late ’80s to the early 21st century, Sega was one of the coolest video game companies on the planet. The company’s arcade games, from Golden Ax to Virtua Fighter, were huge hits. The Mega Drive brought a punk rock attitude to the console scene, challenging Nintendo’s family-friendly approach with eye-popping TV commercials and censorship-aiming games like Mortal Kombat and Night Trap.

But perhaps it wasn’t until the Dreamcast era that Sega studios produced some of their most innovative and extravagant work. Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Space Channel 5, and more were colorful celebrations of Tokyo pop culture. Now, Shuji Utsumi, who at the time managed developers at Sega Japan, is CEO of Sega America & Europe and plans to return the company to creative heights.




Hyper colorful…Crazy taxi. Photo: Sega

Mr. Utsumi has had a long and varied career in gaming, joining Sony with the launch of the PlayStation in 1993, before moving on to Sega, Q Entertainment, Warner Music, and Disney Interactive. He returned to Sega in 2019 and eventually became co-chief operating officer during a difficult period for Sega Europe. “European studios have some really great IP, but they also have their challenges,” he says. “We had to work on rebuilding the group.” This process meant the cancellation of Creative Assembly’s multi-million dollar online shooter Hyenas, the first of many live service game closures across the industry. It became the property of

Since taking over as CEO of Sega America and Europe in April of this year, Utsumi’s approach has been to further strengthen Sega’s heritage. Last December, the company announced new titles in its classic franchise treasure trove of Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Golden Ax, and Shinobi. At the Game Awards in Los Angeles last week, Sega also announced the return of Virtua Fighter. “We have some great pillars like Sonic, Persona, and Yakuza. But at the same time, we also have other properties that really show the style, attitude, and background of Sega. If we do this right, gamers will love it. There are high expectations, and if we can meet them, we will be able to return to Sega.”




Attracting attention to the Japanese RPG scene… Metaphor: ReFantazio. Photo: Associated Press

in
recent interviews
Speaking to Eurogamer, Utsumi said he wants Sega to be the rock’n’roll of Nintendo’s pop music again. But while little has been revealed about the nature of these returning series (will they be reboots of the original or all-new adventures?), he says they won’t be nostalgia exercises for nostalgia’s sake. Make a firm statement. “Gamers loved Sega because we showed gamers a new style, attitude and lifestyle,” he says. “We want to bring back that feeling. But we need to be innovative, not just a nostalgic company. We need to appeal to modern gamers as well. We respect our old IP, but we don’t want to We also ask them to think about innovation in each project.

“Our studio is really capable, very technologically advanced, and we have the drive to make it happen. The time has come when we have to challenge ourselves as much as we have in the past. We want to come back with a ‘n’ roll mindset. We can’t just be rock ‘n’ roll right now. Maybe we need hip-hop too!”

This sounds more like Dreamcast-era Sega attitude than Mega Drive-era teen brat iconography. Utsumi not only ushered in the birth of music-obsessed Jet Set Radio and Space Channel 5, but also co-founded Q Entertainment with Tetsuya Mizuguchi, a studio that put dance music at the heart of its design philosophy through titles like Rez and Lumines. Co-founded. How was this kind of creativity fostered in Tokyo in the late 1990s and early 2000s, especially in game development at Sega?

“SEGA was a challenger at the time,” says Utsumi. “The PlayStation was so successful that when the Dreamcast was released, the PlayStation 2 was the target. It was such a cool machine that young developers had to get creative. I think the product was very impressive, but you know, the PlayStation 2 beat us, so I can’t really say much about its success.”




Great success…like a dragon: infinite wealth. Photo: Sega

The past five years have seen a resurgence of interest in a very Japan-centric game design concept at Sega and other companies. The worldwide success of role-playing adventures such as Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Final Fantasy VII Remake, and most recently Metaphor: ReFantazio has led to the long-standing success of Western series such as Assassin’s Creed and Call of Duty. After its dominance, Japan’s RPG scene has regained mainstream attention. Duty and Grand Theft Auto. Why did that happen? “Everyone else was doing first-person shooters. We’re not very good at that, let’s be honest,” he jokes. . “But we can offer something else that we believe in. Of course we will listen to Western audiences, but we have a great opportunity to be unique in a Japanese way.” I think a lot of people became interested in Japanese anime and Korean dramas and music during the coronavirus pandemic…I think that audience is still there. , that’s really lucky.”

Skip past newsletter promotions

Another change since COVID-19 is the increased presence of video game properties in other media. The third Sonic the Hedgehog movie is currently in theaters, and the crime TV series Like a Dragon: Yakuza began streaming on Amazon earlier this year. It’s not just about the commercial potential of extending Sega’s brand. Utsumi believes there are also important creative reasons. “Nowadays, you might be watching a movie on your phone, playing a game seconds later, and then on TikTok…Users are used to that behavior, and in response, creators are We have to think in a new way about that audience. To capture these trends, we need to combine our creative talents by working with animation and film talent. , we can be inspired.”




Blue Movie: Jim Carrey as Ivo Robotnik and Sonic (Ben Schwartz) in Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Photo: Paramount Pictures and Sega of America, Inc.

Sega in 2025 and beyond will be reinvesting in classic titles, introducing Golden Axe, Virtua Fighter, and Jet Set Radio to new audiences rather than simply excavating them as museum pieces. When asked about the possibility of a new mini-console based on the Saturn or Dreamcast, he was dismissive. “I’m not going in the Mini direction. That’s not me. I want to embrace the modern gamer.” Sega later clarified that it had no plans to make more Minis.


This is a theme he repeats over and over again. Sega’s legacy exists, but it must be brought forward. “We are not a retro company,” Utsumi concluded. “We really appreciate our heritage and cherish it, but at the same time we want to deliver something new. Otherwise we will become history. . That’s not what we’re aiming for.

Source: www.theguardian.com

30 years later, the Sega Saturn remains a groundbreaking console ready to be rediscovered in retro gaming enthusiasts.

Posted on by
Reply

IIt’s one of the biggest injustices in video game history that the Sega Saturn is widely considered to be a failure. The console was released in Japan on November 22, 1994, almost two weeks earlier than the PlayStation, but has always been compared disparagingly to its rival. We hear that while Sony built high-end machine lasers intended to produce high-speed 3D graphics, Sega engineers had to add extra graphics chips to the Saturn at the last minute. I read that Sony’s Ken Kutaragi has provided creators with an even easier to use development system. We know that Sony used its power as a consumer electronics giant to take a financial hit and drive down the prices of Sega’s machines. That’s all true, but what’s always left unmentioned is the huge success of Japan’s Saturn launch and the extraordinary legacy left by Sega’s 32-bit machines.

What I remember is this. The Edge magazine reported from Akihabara, Tokyo, that its Japanese correspondent joined a line outside a major Laox computer game center to pick up one of the thousands of machines that fans had not yet reserved. I was trying to get it. Two and a half hours later, the author showed up with my purchase. Among them was a copy of Virtua Fighter, the best arcade fighting game of the year. It was a lucky purchase. Shelves around town were quickly emptying. Sega shipped an unprecedented 200,000 units that day.




The Saturn brought the feel of arcade titles like Daytona USA into your home. Photo: Justin Layton/Alamy

The following September, I joined Edge as a writer and stayed there for two years, coinciding with the creative peak of Saturn’s short life. What was clear to me at the time, and what still rings true today, is that Sega’s first-party output on this machine was one of the best of the decade. Arcade megahits “Sega Rally” and “Daytona USA” set the challenge for a new era of stylish 3D racers, while “Virtua Fighter 2,” “Fighting Vipers,” and “The Last Bronx” challenge the 1-on-1 brings complexity and depth to fighting games. Sega’s platform-exclusive titles were similarly vibrant and groundbreaking. Panzer Dragoon, Night Into Dreams, and Burning Ranger reinvented stalwart genres for a new generation with imaginative and rich visuals. But I also loved wacky experiments. There’s the toy-like platformer Clockwork Knight, the weird and frenetic puzzler Bakubaku Animal, and the self-consciously stupid Virtua Fighter Kids.

It’s often said that what Saturn lacked was support from third-party developers, but that wasn’t the case in Japan. Veteran shooter creator Treasure developed two of their best titles for this machine, Radiant Silvergun and Guardian Heroes. If you still want to play classic 2D shooter games, the Saturn is the way to go. Batsugan, Battle Garegga, and Darius Gaiden are all considered staples of the genre.




X-Men vs Street Fighter: Sega Saturn was the beginning of Capcom and Marvel’s relationship. Photo: ArcadeImages/Alamy

Atlus adapted the arcade hit Donpachi and created the underrated role-playing adventures Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner and Princess Crown. For horror fans, there’s Warp’s survival thriller Enemy Zero, and Capcom created a Saturn port of Resident Evil that included exclusive mini-games and new enemies and costumes. Capcom also produced many of the best fighting games of the time, including X-Men: Children of the Atom (originally a home exclusive), X-Men vs. Street Fighter, and Darkstalkers 3. I put it into Saturn.

Sega also had decent developer support in Europe, with programmers who grew up on home computers having experience programming in the assembly language supported by the Saturn (the PlayStation had a much rarer development environment based on C). Core Design originally targeted Tomb Raider for machines (and also made the unfairly forgotten action-adventure Swagman for consoles). WipeOut brought Psygnosis. Gremlins loaded top-down brawler for both consoles. And Knutsford-based Traveler’s Tales, who would go on to create the Lego series, co-created the underrated racer Sonic R with Sonic Team. This was a great technology showcase for Saturn, with smooth frame rates and gorgeous transparency effects.

Skip past newsletter promotions

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/ewtuOzSbZAU?wmode=opaque&feature=oembed" title="Sonic R 3D Trailer 1997" height="480" width="640" allowfullscreen="

The Saturn was innovative in other ways as well. Saturn Bomberman remains arguably the best title in Hudson’s explosive series, especially considering its support for chaotic 10-player matches with two multi-taps. The Saturn was the first major console to offer online gaming via a Net Link modem, and in 1997 it allowed players to participate in direct sessions of Sega Rally Championship and Virtual-On over the Internet. A party title that supported this technology was Shadows of the Tusk, a deck-building strategy role-playing game (years before the genre became mainstream) that came with its own physical card pack. Additionally, Sega’s 3D Control Pad, an analog controller designed specifically for Nights Into Dreams, outperformed the Nintendo 64’s pad by several weeks by market launch.

There was a period, perhaps for a year or two, when Saturn’s disappearance was inevitable. It held its own and rivaled everything that Sony and its lead development partner Namco could offer. Daytona vs. Ridge Racer, Virtua Fighter vs. Tekken, Virtua Cop vs. Time Crisis. And this rivalry has been an absolute boon for gamers, driving 3D game design and creating the technical expertise needed for the next generation of open-world 3D console titles. There’s a reason why refurbished and modified Saturns are still being sold on eBay and retro gaming sites 30 years after its release. They are often region-free and come with a switch to toggle between European 50Hz or NTSC 60Hz TV options. And that’s because the games I’ve mentioned here are still worth playing in their original form, their original home. Although the Saturn never really caught on as a mass market device, it was successful in many ways. When we think about the history of video games, we need to talk more about it.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Top 15 Sega Arcade Games You Need to Play

Posted on by
Reply

ABy the end of 2023, Sega has announced plans to reimagine some of its greatest arcade games for current home consoles, including Crazy Taxi and Golden Ax. This is a welcome move, as modern gamers who grew up with Sonic the Hedgehog may miss out on the company’s great heritage. We’ve been led to believe that Sega is a timeless company that was also active in the console wars, but Sega has dominated the arcade scene for years, with some of its biggest hits coming from the Sega Saturn era. It occurred on. So, let us gently remind you of the best coin-op game in the manufacturer’s long history.

15. Afterburner (1987)

A stunning masterpiece of designer Yu Suzuki’s taikan (“bodily sensation”) series of hydraulic coin-operated cabinets, After Burner is a flight combat experience of unparalleled intensity that puts you in the cockpit of an F-14 Tomcat. , you can dive into the world. Sky. Vast undulating pixel explosions, barrel rolls, and scorching vistas below, this was the perfect Top Gun fantasy his machine.

14. Saxon (1982)




A revolutionary isometric scroll. …Saxon. Photo: ArcadeImages/Alamy

Up until this point, most space shooters moved either horizontally or vertically, but Sega chose a different path: isometric scrolling. The result is an immersive shooter that’s unique for its era due to the fact that you control altitude with the up and down sticks, rather than moving back and forth across the screen. The vast space fortress you fly over still has a strong, timeless aesthetic, with a crisp, almost mathematical design that resembles a giant circuit board.

13. Virtua Racing (1992)

I had a hard time choosing between this and Super Hang-On, but in the end I chose the first game in Sega’s Virtua series, a real-time rendering 3D arcade title. This is a pure F1 racer with three circuits and flat he shaded polygons giving it the authentic look of a military or aerospace simulator. Running on experimental Model 1 arcade technology, it was smooth and fluid, with a wide widescreen display for even greater immersion. This was the beginning of 3D driving games as we know them today.

Source: www.theguardian.com