Kendrick Kerwin Chua
2015-12-24 23:05:19 UTC
It's a Sega Sorta Christmas. Because I say so. How Sega was your Christmas
this year?
It's a good time to be a gamer, as there's a lot of good product and many
interesting experiences to be had. Sadly, our favorite gaming company is
less and less of a presence in that world. As the Sega/Ssmmy conglomerate
continues to find ways to make money without actually selling anything,
over the last five years they've done something by accident that Konami
did on purpose in the space of five months: Sega has made their games
secondary, and alienated a lot of their most devoted fans. It's less Dylan
going electric than it is Watterson no longer drawing Calvin and Hobbes.
The things we love about Sega simply aren't present in the world any more.
This is another year gone by that Phantasy Star Online 2 didn't show up in
the west. Yakuza 5 was released with absolutely no fanfare or advertising
to a market that's almost completely gone. The Aliens: Colonial Marines
debacle continued over the last twelve months with more lawsuits,
finger-pointing and almost no resolution. The Sonic Boom media franchise
has made a little money but has otherwise had no impact on a children's
media culture that's now inundated with licensed multimedia properties
like Yokai Watch or anything from the Disney/Marvel/Lucas behemoth. At
risk of sounding petulant, Sega is one tiny fading and discordant voice in
an electronic world where they used to be a relevant and trend-setting
leader.
With that said, there's more than enough new and retro game content out
there to fill a hedgehog-shaped hat. This year my major purchase was a
pile of Game Gear games I didn't have before, all bought for under $5 each
at one of those big college-town chains that deals more in music and
movies. Pac Man, G-Loc, Land of Illusion, Mortal Kombat, and the Asterix
game were among the big gets there. Most of those titles I hadn't owned
before, largely because Game Gear games are so unusual (and sell so
rarely) that when I do find them they're priced absurdly, in the $20-$50
range for a cart with no box and no manual. There were a couple of other
gems along the way, most of which were only tertially related to Sega's
product. I picked up the Dreamcast-era CD soundtracks for Dead or Alive 2
and Maken X, as well as a few third-party Genesis games I hadn't owned
before.
I suppose my biggest purchase during the holiday season was the
Playstation 4, in preparation for next year's release of Shenmue 3. Yes, I
backed the Kickstarter, only my second crowdfunding contribution ever
because I don't trust anybody without a track record or a prior product to
demonstrate that they know how to finish a job. I went for the support
level that includes a disk, because real media is important in a world
where you can't count on the Internet to be up all the time. Speaking of
which, I have pointedly not bought Yakuza 5 yet. Partly I'm holding out
hope that an Asian-region version comes out on disk in the future with all
the English localization included, but mostly it's because I don't have
enough disk space left on the PS3. I don't want to have to do data backup
and maintenance tasks before going through the four or five attempts it
will take to download the game, when I can just pick up any other game I
own out of the case and get it going straight from the media.
So how Sega was your Christmas this year? I really hope to hear from
people who might disagree with my negative assessment of the company and
its products this year. I'm really hoping that next year they find their
way and properly start to change the world again, rather than having to
change to fit it instead. Merry Christmas, everybody.
-KKC, who has a couple of unopened Saturn purchase to test out.
this year?
It's a good time to be a gamer, as there's a lot of good product and many
interesting experiences to be had. Sadly, our favorite gaming company is
less and less of a presence in that world. As the Sega/Ssmmy conglomerate
continues to find ways to make money without actually selling anything,
over the last five years they've done something by accident that Konami
did on purpose in the space of five months: Sega has made their games
secondary, and alienated a lot of their most devoted fans. It's less Dylan
going electric than it is Watterson no longer drawing Calvin and Hobbes.
The things we love about Sega simply aren't present in the world any more.
This is another year gone by that Phantasy Star Online 2 didn't show up in
the west. Yakuza 5 was released with absolutely no fanfare or advertising
to a market that's almost completely gone. The Aliens: Colonial Marines
debacle continued over the last twelve months with more lawsuits,
finger-pointing and almost no resolution. The Sonic Boom media franchise
has made a little money but has otherwise had no impact on a children's
media culture that's now inundated with licensed multimedia properties
like Yokai Watch or anything from the Disney/Marvel/Lucas behemoth. At
risk of sounding petulant, Sega is one tiny fading and discordant voice in
an electronic world where they used to be a relevant and trend-setting
leader.
With that said, there's more than enough new and retro game content out
there to fill a hedgehog-shaped hat. This year my major purchase was a
pile of Game Gear games I didn't have before, all bought for under $5 each
at one of those big college-town chains that deals more in music and
movies. Pac Man, G-Loc, Land of Illusion, Mortal Kombat, and the Asterix
game were among the big gets there. Most of those titles I hadn't owned
before, largely because Game Gear games are so unusual (and sell so
rarely) that when I do find them they're priced absurdly, in the $20-$50
range for a cart with no box and no manual. There were a couple of other
gems along the way, most of which were only tertially related to Sega's
product. I picked up the Dreamcast-era CD soundtracks for Dead or Alive 2
and Maken X, as well as a few third-party Genesis games I hadn't owned
before.
I suppose my biggest purchase during the holiday season was the
Playstation 4, in preparation for next year's release of Shenmue 3. Yes, I
backed the Kickstarter, only my second crowdfunding contribution ever
because I don't trust anybody without a track record or a prior product to
demonstrate that they know how to finish a job. I went for the support
level that includes a disk, because real media is important in a world
where you can't count on the Internet to be up all the time. Speaking of
which, I have pointedly not bought Yakuza 5 yet. Partly I'm holding out
hope that an Asian-region version comes out on disk in the future with all
the English localization included, but mostly it's because I don't have
enough disk space left on the PS3. I don't want to have to do data backup
and maintenance tasks before going through the four or five attempts it
will take to download the game, when I can just pick up any other game I
own out of the case and get it going straight from the media.
So how Sega was your Christmas this year? I really hope to hear from
people who might disagree with my negative assessment of the company and
its products this year. I'm really hoping that next year they find their
way and properly start to change the world again, rather than having to
change to fit it instead. Merry Christmas, everybody.
-KKC, who has a couple of unopened Saturn purchase to test out.
--
-- "I can't afford a Twitter account. You have to hire a research | kendrick
assistant, a proofreader, a focus tester. And if your copy writer | @
is union then you owe payroll tax and benefits too. If you want | io-nyc
to look stupid on the Internet it's cheaper to run for office." | .com
-- "I can't afford a Twitter account. You have to hire a research | kendrick
assistant, a proofreader, a focus tester. And if your copy writer | @
is union then you owe payroll tax and benefits too. If you want | io-nyc
to look stupid on the Internet it's cheaper to run for office." | .com