Is Sega fading away ?

I' ve just played SEGA Rally 2006 - what a fuckin CRAP !
I thought Shadow the Hedgehog was the worst they could get but hell no.

I love Outrun 2 - that' s the only good game released on a home console since the DC era.

Shenmue 2 for Xbox? - it' s a Dreamcast game so yeah it is amazing but nothing new , it doesn' t count.

Panzer Dragoon ORTA? great game until you get past first 3-5 levels.

VF4? Sure but check the Arcade Version and tell me why PS2 instead of Xbox since those games never sell good?

Jet Set Radio Future? Nice , but so much worse than the original.

I wish I could just play a great game from SEGA but it looks like I won' t be able to for quite some time.

Aren' t Condemned and Full Auto SEGA games? And Sonic Rush as well as Super Monkey Ball? Otogi and PSO:BB, maybe those are a little old I don' t know...
VF4 is probably exclusive for PS2 since VF and PS2 both have their biggest support in Japan.

i think sega is not the developer it used to be anymore, there is no killer app and there are some people who will not consider shenmue a killer app, sega is know for arcads titles, games you will enjoy playin with friends or just to have fun, nothing serious though... sega and specialy nowadays doesn' t match capcom, ubisoft, squarenix ... many of their titles are puuuur crap, sad thiing indeed, i hope they will come back

what i noticed recently is that japanese developers are not as good as they used to be, talking in general ...

I didn' t know Condemned was made by SEGA , OTOGI was only published by Sega. You can' t tell how good Full Auto will be.
Monkey Ball was a good game but for me it wasn' t the kind of SEGA experience I got used to when I had DC(shit I still have it :) ).

You still have DC? Then what are you whining about, just play the good old games. I mean, you' re not going to let something like aged graphics stop you right?

Full Auto sucks ass! Condemned on the other hand is fuck1n amazin!

The problem though is Sammy and the way they deal with the creative end of Sega. There' s too much regulation going on.

Sega' s game devision used to be laid out like so:

(note that the games listed are ' some' of the titles that studio has worked on and not all, ...obviously)

AM1 (Wow Enterainment) - House of the Dead series, Sega Bass Fishing series, Die Hard Arcade, Dynamite Cop.

AM2 (Sega-AM2) - Virtua Fighter series, Virtua Cop series, Daytona USA, Out Run series, Shenmue series, Space Harrier, After Burner, Ferrari F355 Challenge, Fighting Vipers.

AM3 (Hitmaker) - Crazy Taxi, Virtual On and Virtua Tennis series.

AM4 (Amusement Vision Ltd) - Super Monkey Ball series, Virtua Striker series, F-Zero GX/AX.

AM5 (Sega Rosso) - Initial D Arcade Stage series.

AM6 (Smilebit) - Jet Set Radio series, Panzer Dragoon Orta.

AM7 (Overworks) - Streets of Rage series, Shinobi series, Skies of Arcadia, Phantasy Star series.

AM8 (Sonic Team) - Sonic the Hedgehog, NiGHTS Into Dreams, Burning Rangers, Chu Chu Rocket, Phantasy Star Online, Puyo Pop, Billy Hatcher.

AM9 (United Game Artists) - Sega Rally Championship, Sega Rally 2, Space Channel 5 series, Rez.

The teams were seperate studios and were given tons of creative freedom, resulting in remarkable titles and leading Sega to be one of the biggest game development studios ever with some of the most successful IP' s.

But, in 2004 Sammy, in their infinate wisdom..merged the AM teams into 3 groups, and left only Sega-AM2 and Sonic Team unaffected.

So what you have is:

Global Entertainment Software (home consoles)

New Entertainment (new content & IP' s for arcade and console markets)

Amusement Software (arcade only)

And their only focus, under Sammy' s guidance is to make profit, even if the game sucks!

I much prefered it the other way!

It won' t be long before Sega no longer makes games and is instead just a publisher of crappy games like EA. Sega doesn' t make Condemed, Otogi, or Full Auto. Hell they don' t even make that crappy new Super Monkey Ball platformer that' s coming out soon. I agree that Sega Rally 2006 is crap. Even the music sucks and the soundtrack was created by 17 different Sega musicians. Sega doesn' t care about being the best any more. They barely even care if they are average. They' ve lost focus, which really is too bad.

The only way for Sega to become good again is to bring out their own console and get programmers like Yu Suzuki back. Suzuki is no longer with Sega, he went and formed some company that makes games for kids with Down Syndrome or something.

You still have DC? Then what are you whining about, just play the good old games. I mean, you' re not going to let something like aged graphics stop you right?

Sure I can play it - but I don' t really see your point - it' s not like I said " ginjirou is a fool and he' s worse than before" - I Said that SEGA is not what it was and should be.

And frankly , many people here have noticed that.

Most of those games you mention are only published by SEGA.

Check Sega Rally 2006 or Shadow the Hedgehog to see how low can they go.

" VF4 is probably exclusive for PS2 since VF and PS2 both have their biggest support in Japan. "

Wow do you even realise how poor VF4 sales are? It' s the ARCADE Game that is popular.

Is wanting new fantastic games something bad these days ?

Joe did you notice how EA is becoming much more than it was before?
It' s no longer that crappy massmarket publisher - it' s got Burnout , SSX , Black and shit.

I mean I hate those guys mostly but they are improving every day.

i think that EA had really improved specialy in this generation, it is no more a shity developer in my opinion , they release decent games, need for speed , fight night, lord of the ring (rpg), ssx, burnout .... hey it' s doing much better than sega today.

what i noticed in general is that Jap developers are starting to lose their knack, no more they impresse me as before and now western developers are taking the upper hand slowly, one can easily praise Ubisoft of their fabulous work, i think it' s the best developer today...

still when you think about resident evil 4, dragon quest 8, shadow of the colosseus, to name a few in this gen , hand down people hand down !!

Burnout and Black are only published by EA, they are developed by Criterion.

Namco' s gone fairly wayward too though. Look at the RR series or shit like Death by Degrees. Frame City Killer' s gonna go that way too by the looks of things.

As long as Nintendo keeps up the good work, the world is safe.

I think SEGA have some REALLY nice game on the way...

Phantasy Star Universe - This game I belive will make any RPG, Sega or just Phantasy Star fan cream in there pants :P

Sonic (Xb360, Ps3) - Looking good, looking good...

Sonic game for Nintendo Revolution - A sonic game exclusively for the revolution, I
hope we can do some crazy manouvers with the controller =D

Super Monkey Ball Adventure - Go bananas! :)

FPS Fifth Phantom Saga - Some crazy ass sci-fi shooter for the Ps3... interesting...

Outrun 2006: Coast 2 Coast - This will be good, without doubt.. Sumo Digital have my full confidence when it comes to managing Segas Outrun series.

?Shenmue? - Like, THE greatest storydriven game ever.. with alot of fighting :P

Sonic Riders - It' s hard to say how this game is going to turn out but the majority of previews are surprisingly positive. I think it can be a positive addition to the franchise.


They also have alot of deals with western developers like Petroglyph and Silicon Knights, also obviously Sumo Digital managing Sega Outrun series. I think Sega has alot of kick ass games in store, they just haven' t announced any in a while.

It' s a very strategic thing, you know.. to release a game for the most suitable plattform and Sega and many others wants to see in what direction the sales are going first before pledging alliances to some biss ass hardware company.

anyway that' s what I think..

Sega is actually kicking ass finacially, they discovered as did EA that making quantity pays better then making quality. As such with Sega being a buisness and all they really don' t give a fuck if they aren' t making top quality games as long as they are making truck loads of money.

...the world in which we live in, eh?....

...yeah, i agree that all the old-skool Japanese developers do seem to be losing their touch... ..or rather becoming more and more a part of western-global crap-worshipping society....

...i guess consumers are to blame though.... ..mass civilisation always goes for the quick, cheap-@$$ option....

....i wonder how long before the word ' quality' is, due to some sort of corporate lobbing of senators and concerned parents, removed from all global dictionaries?...

The sooner Ryu Ga Gotoku gets a US/UK release date I' ll be a hell of a lot happier with the state of Sega. To be fare they' ve had their good games and their bad games of this generation. At least they' ve established themselves firmly for the next gen showing off the new Sonic, Afterburner, House Of The Dead and Virtua Fighter.

It' s more the US and Europe arm' s of Sega who seem to be publishing games independently from the Japanese arm which seems to be making them.

It' s the way of the video game world. No one stays on top forever. There' s always someone gunning for the top spot, and as companies become more successful they lose flexibility. This makes it possible for smaller developers to come in under the radar and take the market with something fresh and new.

Really, it all boils down to market demand (which is all OUR fault). When we clamor for a sequel (Shenmue, Mario, Halo) we restrict the developers choices. No longer can they start a new franchise, otherwise they will be villified. They also CAN' T be very innovative in the gameplay department, as fans of the original will get all " purist" on them.

I, personally, wouldn' t mind if Bungie did something wholey original. F*ck Halo! Did I love the first? Yeah. Was number two one of the few games I finished in 2005? Yep, and I enjoyed every minute. I think that they need to stretch their minds AWAY from Halo, though. Trust me; it would make Halo 3 all the better!

Wow that was so right.
But I just can' t remember any market demand for a Shadow the Hedgehog
Sega is having a poll on their website about which character we' d like to see in their own game. Knuckles has the lead which I think is really good. Knuckles is so cool.

I think SEGA have some REALLY nice game on the way...

Phantasy Star Universe - This game I belive will make any RPG, Sega or just Phantasy Star fan cream in there pants :P

I don' t think so. It' s just another Phantasy Star Online more or less. It has nothing to do with the REAL Phantasy Star games. Hell, it has some kid in hip clothes and tennis shoes. Seems like it takes place in 2006 suburbia to me. FUCK Phantasy Star Universe! Fuck it in the ass!

Super Monkey Ball Adventure - Go bananas! :)

Not even programmed by Sega and not even a real Monkey Ball game!

Outrun 2006: Coast 2 Coast - This will be good, without doubt.. Sumo Digital have my full confidence when it comes to managing Segas Outrun series.

I agree with you there, it' s just a shame Sega isn' t capable of programming on of their most popular IPs. Lazy bastids! I remember in the Master System days when they programmed 99.9% of the games that appeared on that system themselves.

There was a bigger, more in depth poll a while back about which Sonic character you' d like to see in their own game... then going on to select names for such games and the style of play. There' s no Dr Eggman choice there so I guess it' ll have to be Tails. I like Knuckles but not what he' s become now.

My answer is in my new topic in here