http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega (12/10/09)
http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/history/Ro-Sh/SEGA-Corporation.html (12/10/09)
http://uk.gamespot.com/news/2680518.html (12/10/09)
http://www.sega.co.uk (12/10/09)
http://www.youtube.com (13th-25th/10/09 all videos retrieved during this time)
http://archive.gamespy.com/articles/july03/25smartest/index17.shtml (13/10/09)
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/1998/May98/Segagmpr.mspx (15/10/09)
http://www.spacebooger.com/index.php/2009/05/21/dreamcast-resurrection-and-remix/ (15/10/09)
http://blogs.sega.com/europe/ (15/10/09)
http://sega-memories.blogspot.com/ (15/10/09)
http://segablog.wordpress.com/ (15/10/09)
http://segams.blogspot.com/ (17/10/09)
http://classicgaming.gamespy.com/View.php?view=ConsoleMuseum.Detail&id=28&game=10 (17/10/09)
http://romhustler.net/roms/genesis/s (25/10/09)
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20060804/boutros_05.shtml (25/10/09)
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/worldbiz/archives/2003/03/13/197881 (25/10/09)
http://www.gamesfirst.com/articles/shawn/sega_announcement/sega_strategy.htm (25/10/09)
http://gamerlimit.com/2009/03/untold-stories-pt-1-the-decline-of-sega-the-mega-mistakes/ (26/10/09)
http://www.playsega.co.uk/ (alot :))
http://web.archive.org/web/20080213224518/http://www.vidgame.net/SEGA/DC.html (1/11/09)
http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/3/27/931714/Sega.PNG (2/11/09)
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/04/business/microsoft-explores-a-new-territory-fun.html?pagewanted=2 (2/11/09)
http://uk.dreamcast.ign.com/articles/090/090442p1.html (5/11/09)
http://www.ce2.coos-bay.k12.or.us/Studentwebs/Danny/90s.htm (10/11/09)
http://edition.cnn.com/2001/BUSINESS/asia/03/18/tokyo.okawalegacy/index.html (15/11/09)
Tuesday 12 January 2010
Critical Evaluation
Studying Sega for this project seemed to me like the logical choice from the off-set. They are a company that have lasted throughout the turbulent times of the digital games industry, and a plethora of information is readily available from reliable sources all over the internet and within literature. My interest in Sega stems from when i was a child. My first home console was the Sega Master System, and it was 'Alex Kidd in Miracle Land' that sparked a passion for the field. By choosing to study Sega i would not only be able to find out many things about the company, but keep interest in the project overall, something that is incredibly important to a unit of this length.
I found it easiest to report on my findings from an unbiased standpoint nearer the start of the project (it's hard to be bias when typing out a company history), though i believe over the course of the study it is something that i have developed well. I figured the best place to start would be with the overall history of the company itself, as this gives the rest of the blog posts more context and a reference point if need be. Most of my research was internet based, checking a variety of sources referencing the major points in order to clarify, compile and strengthen my research. I understand that the internet, as is it's nature, can be inaccurate. My main research came from news reports, blogs, reviews, and market research. I did find it hard to find some of the information i was after, particularly from an academic standpoint. Historical data was easy to find, it just had to be checked for accuracy, but the more in depth subjects yielded little reliable data. It took a long while of researching, and then clarifying my research to arrive at anything that i could use on some topics.
One of the main factors that i wished to address and work towards was Sega's pinnacle decision to become a dedicated 3rd party developer, and this is why i chose to narrow down my study, focusing only on the years up until that point. I planned to make that decision the topic of my last blog post from the beginning as it was always a question that i have considered personally, and i believed that it would provide a suitable conclusive post for the study. I found out many interesting things about this matter, many of which i did not know. The fan reaction to the 'Mega-CD' and the '32-x', and the internal disputes between branches being perfect examples of this. I believe that i covered this area suitably, linking the reported factors to Sega's decline well, but there is still more to be reported. I would have also liked to have gained a more personal attitude towards this topic by maybe including video responses recorded by fans of Sega, and indeed digital games as a whole, reporting their feelings towards the decision.
One area that i would work on if i were to be given more time would be the cultural impacts of Sega as i believe that i have barely scraped the barrel, and the post that i made included very little information on the companies social impacts either. I missed perfectly good examples, and had little time left at the end to write a new blog. Facts such as Sonic the Hedgehog is the only non-Disney character at Disney World are a perfect example of Sega's cultural saturation and show the once mighty power of the gaming giant. One of the major factors that i missed until recently was the almost single handed introduction to successful online gaming that has almost changed the way that modern games are designed, marketed and played. If that is not a major influence upon gaming culture then i don't know what is.
This is the first blog that i have ever had the pleasure of writing, and i have come to like the process itself, finding it very accessible, though not necessarily my choice of host website. I have suffered with many problems trying to save, format fonts and upload videos since i began. Were i to redo this blog under the same conditions i would research prior to each individual topic, and then go back and amend when needed. I did all of the research for this study in one lump over a long period of time, taking a while to make my first post. I then tried to space the posts out evenly but have ended up making a few posts within days of each other. I would plan my time more effectively.
I have gained an entirely new outlook on Sega via working on this case study. The company seems to me very unlucky in some respects, almost always being taken on the back foot by it's competitors, despite the vast effect it has had on the industry. I have a better insight into the company's mistakes and success', and understand much more about the events that have shaped Sega into the company they are today. My image of Sega is no longer one of an elevated gaming icon, but is much more understanding and realistic, though still with a sentimental fondness. There are few consoles or companies that have developed such a strong cult following over the years, despite the decision to cease console development carrying with it an inherent aura of defeat.
Overall i believe that the study has gone well, and i personally feel i have succeeded in what i set out to do with my original hypothesis as my knowledge on the subject has grown, and i feel that my attitudes and feelings have changed to reflect this. My main aim was to address the end of Sega's hardware days, and i feel that this is one of the areas i have succeeded in most. There are areas that i would still like to address as i believe that i have merely touched the tip of the iceberg, and for this reason i plan to continue with this blog after submission. One topic i am very interested in is the Sega Mega Drive, and there is a gargantuan amount of information available on that, so that is definitely a future post. I feel that i have used the information i found selectively an appropriately.
I am extremely happy with the outcome of this case study and i hope that it has made an interesting read. I thank you for your time and hope you will return in the future.
I found it easiest to report on my findings from an unbiased standpoint nearer the start of the project (it's hard to be bias when typing out a company history), though i believe over the course of the study it is something that i have developed well. I figured the best place to start would be with the overall history of the company itself, as this gives the rest of the blog posts more context and a reference point if need be. Most of my research was internet based, checking a variety of sources referencing the major points in order to clarify, compile and strengthen my research. I understand that the internet, as is it's nature, can be inaccurate. My main research came from news reports, blogs, reviews, and market research. I did find it hard to find some of the information i was after, particularly from an academic standpoint. Historical data was easy to find, it just had to be checked for accuracy, but the more in depth subjects yielded little reliable data. It took a long while of researching, and then clarifying my research to arrive at anything that i could use on some topics.
One of the main factors that i wished to address and work towards was Sega's pinnacle decision to become a dedicated 3rd party developer, and this is why i chose to narrow down my study, focusing only on the years up until that point. I planned to make that decision the topic of my last blog post from the beginning as it was always a question that i have considered personally, and i believed that it would provide a suitable conclusive post for the study. I found out many interesting things about this matter, many of which i did not know. The fan reaction to the 'Mega-CD' and the '32-x', and the internal disputes between branches being perfect examples of this. I believe that i covered this area suitably, linking the reported factors to Sega's decline well, but there is still more to be reported. I would have also liked to have gained a more personal attitude towards this topic by maybe including video responses recorded by fans of Sega, and indeed digital games as a whole, reporting their feelings towards the decision.
One area that i would work on if i were to be given more time would be the cultural impacts of Sega as i believe that i have barely scraped the barrel, and the post that i made included very little information on the companies social impacts either. I missed perfectly good examples, and had little time left at the end to write a new blog. Facts such as Sonic the Hedgehog is the only non-Disney character at Disney World are a perfect example of Sega's cultural saturation and show the once mighty power of the gaming giant. One of the major factors that i missed until recently was the almost single handed introduction to successful online gaming that has almost changed the way that modern games are designed, marketed and played. If that is not a major influence upon gaming culture then i don't know what is.
This is the first blog that i have ever had the pleasure of writing, and i have come to like the process itself, finding it very accessible, though not necessarily my choice of host website. I have suffered with many problems trying to save, format fonts and upload videos since i began. Were i to redo this blog under the same conditions i would research prior to each individual topic, and then go back and amend when needed. I did all of the research for this study in one lump over a long period of time, taking a while to make my first post. I then tried to space the posts out evenly but have ended up making a few posts within days of each other. I would plan my time more effectively.
I have gained an entirely new outlook on Sega via working on this case study. The company seems to me very unlucky in some respects, almost always being taken on the back foot by it's competitors, despite the vast effect it has had on the industry. I have a better insight into the company's mistakes and success', and understand much more about the events that have shaped Sega into the company they are today. My image of Sega is no longer one of an elevated gaming icon, but is much more understanding and realistic, though still with a sentimental fondness. There are few consoles or companies that have developed such a strong cult following over the years, despite the decision to cease console development carrying with it an inherent aura of defeat.
Overall i believe that the study has gone well, and i personally feel i have succeeded in what i set out to do with my original hypothesis as my knowledge on the subject has grown, and i feel that my attitudes and feelings have changed to reflect this. My main aim was to address the end of Sega's hardware days, and i feel that this is one of the areas i have succeeded in most. There are areas that i would still like to address as i believe that i have merely touched the tip of the iceberg, and for this reason i plan to continue with this blog after submission. One topic i am very interested in is the Sega Mega Drive, and there is a gargantuan amount of information available on that, so that is definitely a future post. I feel that i have used the information i found selectively an appropriately.
I am extremely happy with the outcome of this case study and i hope that it has made an interesting read. I thank you for your time and hope you will return in the future.
Monday 11 January 2010
Sega's Decline...
Despite originally disputing the rumours stating that Sega were to cease hardware production and retire from hardware development, on January 31st 2001, Sega of America released a statement confirming that they would become a solely 3rd party software developer. This news came with the admittance that they would cease Dreamcast production, though support would continue for the console, and came just over a week after Sega of Japan released the news stating that under a 'New Management Policy' the company were in talks to begin producing software for the 'Playstation 2' and 'GameBoy Advance'. The strategy proposed to help re-establish Sega as a gaming giant contained 3 main points, all designed to maximize profit and help re-build the company's foundations. This three-pronged approach was as follows: _1993-2004.svg.png)
The above graph shows the financial troubles that would have lead to justify Sega's big decision. With 5 consecutive years below the profit margin, it wasn't until the company had made the decision to stop developing hardware that they began to rebuild. The company was even given a massive $730 million cash 'gift' from CSK chairman, and once Sega President, Isao Okawa, just a week after the decision to leave console manufacturing, in order to help the company return to profitability. The hardware market itself is a treacherous road to tread.
'The decision to get out of the hardware market is mainly due to the shortening hardware cycle and the loss that hardware manufacturers absorb in order to keep prices reasonable. According to Moore, companies lose between $50-250 per hardware unit sold, and Sega could not continue to accept such losses.' http://www.gamesfirst.com/articles/shawn/sega_announcement/sega_strategy.htm
Many claim that it was the Dreamcast that eventually lead to Sega's ruin. While this is true in some respects, it was not the main factor behind Sega's financial worries. The Dreamcast actually did exceptionally well at first, breaking sales records during it's opening term. It was later crushed by the hype juggernaut, the 'Playstation 2'. And even if the Dreamcast was not as commercially successful as Sega needed to remain afloat, it was considered a massive success by console gamers themselves, creating a huge fan-base, and essentially pioneered online gaming. The damaged Sega foundation had been laid years prior to the Dreamcast.
Since the days of the 'Mega Drive', Sega began to lose money and popularity with each move made to try and regain it. Missing the mark in the major regions of N. America and Japan to competitor Nintendo put the company on the back foot, leaving them constantly struggling to gain the upper hand. Every move made seemed almost like an act of desperation right up until the days of the Dreamcast. The development of the 'Mega-CD', while selling okay in Japan, eventually proved a loss. The 'Mega-CD' was a Mega Drive add-on intended to prolong the lifespan of the console, pushing it into the world of the newly emerged compact disk. It was considered a flop in the U.S.
This was followed a few years later by SOA's production of the '32x' unit, another Genesis add-on intended to further challenge the SNES' superiority, and to bring 'next-gen' gaming to those unable to afford a new console. The 32x made 32-bit gaming possible on the the Mega Drive, which at the time was important. Atari had released it's 32-bit 'Jaguar' and there were rumours that Nintendo planned to develop a 32-bit CD based console with electronics company Phillips. The 32x unit itself was riddled with design flaws. Due to the release of different versions of the Mega Drive, the box containing the unit was also filled with adapting spacers and cables for compatibility. This unit sold even less than the Mega-CD.
Both of these products, based on the price of retail (the Mega-CD retailed at about $299, the 32-x at about $159), were significant investments made by Sega in order to climb back to the top of the gaming ladder. This price range also meant that upon failing they could not really be dismissed as mere peripheral. The company failed to renew the funds that they had spent on these projects. The main failure of these two add-ons though is not in their commercial staleness.
The Mega-CD and the 32-x were released within 2 years of each other. A year after the 32-x, the superior Sega 'Saturn' was released. The Saturn was essentially a combination of both of the above add-ons, was advertised with all of Sega's weight, and it's release so soon after the 32-x served to annoy Sega's customers. All of those that bought the 32-x felt cheated and betrayed, spending a significant amount of money on a product that became basically redundant after a year as it was obvious which hardware would still be catered for in 2 years time. Decisions such as these served to alienate fans rather than attract customers. The failure of the expensive add-ons became renowned amongst gamers of the time, American TV show 'Saturday Night Live' even did a sketch based upon the failure of the 32-x. This distrust damaged the consoles already unstable fan-base in the U.S and eventually metaphorically seeped into the Sega name itself. Many see it as the beginning of the end.
There are also talks of internal disputes within the company itself that could have had a detrimental effect upon it's efficiency. A lack of communication and understanding between Sega of America and Sega of Japan grew to such a level that SOJ wouldn't even inform it's American branch of product development. Both branches had the power to develop and market hardware and software for their respective territories, but with SOJ essentially being the 'boss', SOA found themselves lacking the responsibilities it believed it deserved, and an unspoken resentment developed.
'The rivalry, distrust and lack of respect between SOJ and SOA contributed to multiple issues regarding how the products were marketed, supplied, manufactured and launched.' http://gamerlimit.com/2009/03/untold-stories-pt-1-the-decline-of-sega-the-mega-mistakes/
Undoubtedly this is counter-productive, and fits hand-in-hand with the Easts reported contempt for Western influence. Stories such as these contrast to those reported featuring the Nintendo team. Their strong team spirit and communication between their international branches being quite the opposite of Sega.
The move to dedicated software developer was at the time however considered an exciting new prospect. Shares actually went up a considerable amount, and fans were curious and filled with anticipation. After the move Sega began talks with companies such as Microsoft and Nintendo to begin considering the possibility of merger. Eventually the shares from CSK Holdings were purchased by Japanese company Sammy Corporation, a company that specializes in Pachinko and Pachislot machines, extremely popular in Japan. Sega are still major developers to this day and work strongly with once rivals Nintendo, with many of their most successful modern games being developed for the Wii. Once bitter competition, who would have thought it would have ended up like this...
- Sega became a 'platform-agnostic', 3rd party game developer and publisher.
- Sega decided to license and sell the Dreamcast chipset.
- Sega would continue to focus on network strengths such as SegaNet.
_1993-2004.svg.png)
The above graph shows the financial troubles that would have lead to justify Sega's big decision. With 5 consecutive years below the profit margin, it wasn't until the company had made the decision to stop developing hardware that they began to rebuild. The company was even given a massive $730 million cash 'gift' from CSK chairman, and once Sega President, Isao Okawa, just a week after the decision to leave console manufacturing, in order to help the company return to profitability. The hardware market itself is a treacherous road to tread.'The decision to get out of the hardware market is mainly due to the shortening hardware cycle and the loss that hardware manufacturers absorb in order to keep prices reasonable. According to Moore, companies lose between $50-250 per hardware unit sold, and Sega could not continue to accept such losses.' http://www.gamesfirst.com/articles/shawn/sega_announcement/sega_strategy.htm
Many claim that it was the Dreamcast that eventually lead to Sega's ruin. While this is true in some respects, it was not the main factor behind Sega's financial worries. The Dreamcast actually did exceptionally well at first, breaking sales records during it's opening term. It was later crushed by the hype juggernaut, the 'Playstation 2'. And even if the Dreamcast was not as commercially successful as Sega needed to remain afloat, it was considered a massive success by console gamers themselves, creating a huge fan-base, and essentially pioneered online gaming. The damaged Sega foundation had been laid years prior to the Dreamcast.
Since the days of the 'Mega Drive', Sega began to lose money and popularity with each move made to try and regain it. Missing the mark in the major regions of N. America and Japan to competitor Nintendo put the company on the back foot, leaving them constantly struggling to gain the upper hand. Every move made seemed almost like an act of desperation right up until the days of the Dreamcast. The development of the 'Mega-CD', while selling okay in Japan, eventually proved a loss. The 'Mega-CD' was a Mega Drive add-on intended to prolong the lifespan of the console, pushing it into the world of the newly emerged compact disk. It was considered a flop in the U.S.
This was followed a few years later by SOA's production of the '32x' unit, another Genesis add-on intended to further challenge the SNES' superiority, and to bring 'next-gen' gaming to those unable to afford a new console. The 32x made 32-bit gaming possible on the the Mega Drive, which at the time was important. Atari had released it's 32-bit 'Jaguar' and there were rumours that Nintendo planned to develop a 32-bit CD based console with electronics company Phillips. The 32x unit itself was riddled with design flaws. Due to the release of different versions of the Mega Drive, the box containing the unit was also filled with adapting spacers and cables for compatibility. This unit sold even less than the Mega-CD.
Both of these products, based on the price of retail (the Mega-CD retailed at about $299, the 32-x at about $159), were significant investments made by Sega in order to climb back to the top of the gaming ladder. This price range also meant that upon failing they could not really be dismissed as mere peripheral. The company failed to renew the funds that they had spent on these projects. The main failure of these two add-ons though is not in their commercial staleness.The Mega-CD and the 32-x were released within 2 years of each other. A year after the 32-x, the superior Sega 'Saturn' was released. The Saturn was essentially a combination of both of the above add-ons, was advertised with all of Sega's weight, and it's release so soon after the 32-x served to annoy Sega's customers. All of those that bought the 32-x felt cheated and betrayed, spending a significant amount of money on a product that became basically redundant after a year as it was obvious which hardware would still be catered for in 2 years time. Decisions such as these served to alienate fans rather than attract customers. The failure of the expensive add-ons became renowned amongst gamers of the time, American TV show 'Saturday Night Live' even did a sketch based upon the failure of the 32-x. This distrust damaged the consoles already unstable fan-base in the U.S and eventually metaphorically seeped into the Sega name itself. Many see it as the beginning of the end.
There are also talks of internal disputes within the company itself that could have had a detrimental effect upon it's efficiency. A lack of communication and understanding between Sega of America and Sega of Japan grew to such a level that SOJ wouldn't even inform it's American branch of product development. Both branches had the power to develop and market hardware and software for their respective territories, but with SOJ essentially being the 'boss', SOA found themselves lacking the responsibilities it believed it deserved, and an unspoken resentment developed.
'The rivalry, distrust and lack of respect between SOJ and SOA contributed to multiple issues regarding how the products were marketed, supplied, manufactured and launched.' http://gamerlimit.com/2009/03/untold-stories-pt-1-the-decline-of-sega-the-mega-mistakes/
Undoubtedly this is counter-productive, and fits hand-in-hand with the Easts reported contempt for Western influence. Stories such as these contrast to those reported featuring the Nintendo team. Their strong team spirit and communication between their international branches being quite the opposite of Sega.
The move to dedicated software developer was at the time however considered an exciting new prospect. Shares actually went up a considerable amount, and fans were curious and filled with anticipation. After the move Sega began talks with companies such as Microsoft and Nintendo to begin considering the possibility of merger. Eventually the shares from CSK Holdings were purchased by Japanese company Sammy Corporation, a company that specializes in Pachinko and Pachislot machines, extremely popular in Japan. Sega are still major developers to this day and work strongly with once rivals Nintendo, with many of their most successful modern games being developed for the Wii. Once bitter competition, who would have thought it would have ended up like this...
Sega Hardware- Dreamcast
The next Sega Hardware post I had planned to do was focused around the Sega 'Mega Drive' or 'Genesis' depending on your region. I would like to go fairly in-depth on that particular console however and with submission looming, I will return to that topic at a later date within my leisure. One post I feel I must include before judgement day, however, looks at the decline of the company through the late 90's. This console inevitably plays a part in that post also, so this particular post will be kept nice and short, a mere summary of the hardware, designed to accompany the next post.Dreamcast
Specifications:
- The system's processor is a 200 MHz SH-4 with an on-die 128-bit vector graphics engine, 360 MIPS and 1.4 GFLOPS (single precision), using the vector graphics engine.
- The graphics hardware is a PowerVR2 CLX2 chipset, capable of 7.0 million polygons/second peak performance and trilinear filtering. Graphics hardware effects include gouraud shading, z-buffering, anti-aliasing, per-pixel translucency sorting and bump mapping.
- The system supports approximately 16.78 million colors (24-bit) color output and displays interlaced or progressive scan video at 640x480 video resolution.
- For sound, the system features a Yamaha AICA Sound Processor with a 22.5 MHz 32-Bit ARM7 RISC CPU operating at 45 MHz,[20], 64 channel PCM/ADPCM sampler (4:1 compression), XG MIDI support and 128 step DSP.
- The Dreamcast has 16 MB 64 Bit 100 MHz of main RAM, 8 MB 4x16-bit 100 MHz video RAM and 2 MB 16-bit 66 MHz sound RAM.[21] The hardware supports VQ Texture Compression at either asymptotically 2bpp or even 1bpp [22]
- The system reads media using a 12x maximum speed (Constant Angular Velocity) YamahaGD-ROM Drive.
- The Dreamcast can also read data from a Visual Memory Unit ("VMU") removable storage device and 4x memory cards that hold four times as much data.
- Input devices such as game controllers are connected to four USB-like "Maple Bus" ports.
Breaking records in America, 300,000 units were pre-ordered and the console sold over 500,000 in just two weeks, with a record 225,132 units selling in the first 24 hours. With quick sales and hype, and a hardware shortage, Sega had big troubles meeting sales requirements. The console aimed to outdo the 'Saturn' in every aspect; looks, size, power, and more importantly, it was much easier to program software for. The console sold well in both Europe and Japan. Games available upon release included 'Sonic Adventure', 'Soul Calibre' and 'Powerstone', all of which became very popular and are still renowned to this day.
The development of the console itself proved controversial and attracted a $155 million lawsuit against Sega and collaborating companies NEC and Videologic. When the idea for the console was conceived two competing companies, 3Dfx and NEC, were hired to develop a chipset. The lawsuit came about due to Sega terminating the contract it had entered into with 3Dfx in favor for the technology designed by NEC. At the time Sega apparently gave no response to 3Dfx as to why they were terminating the contract. The lawsuit was to find reparations for breach of contract, interference of contract, threatened misappropriation of trade secrets and unfair competition. NEC were involved as the defending company claimed that they deliberately usurped the contract and force a breach. Eventually all of the disputes were cleared up and Sega were never charged.
The Dreamcast was ahead of it's time in many respects and the first steps towards the current generation of hardware. It's operating system was co-developed with company Microsoft and was essentially a modified version of 'Windows CE' with Direct X compatibility. The inclusion of the operating system allowed for more of a multimedia experience. It had a built in modem which allowed for internet access and online gaming, and a removal visual memory device that included interactive features. The modem itself was almost not included, causing an internal debate within Sega, but it came to Isao Okawa, the late Sega president, to see the choice through:
"I forced [Sega] to put in modem functions. At that time, I had a lot of opposition that said it was ridiculous to stick in a modem that cost several thousand yen. But, I managed to get it my way. The Dreamcast is still alive because it has the modem. If it didn't have one, we would have shut the doors on the system." Isao Okawa, Sega President until March 2001
http://archive.gamespy.com/articles/july03/25smartest/index17.shtml
The inclusion of the modem is still considered today as the precursor to modern console gaming, and the main reason why the Dreamcast had so much support. 'The Dreamcast -- and Okawa's vision -- paved the way for online console gaming in a monumental way. We're just starting to live up to the promise that was born at Sega almost five years ago.' (http://archive.gamespy.com/articles/july03/25smartest/index17.shtml) It is hard to find a console not in production today that holds such a strong cult following as Sega's Dreamcast.
Thursday 7 January 2010
Sega Hardware- SG-1000
Sega released a wide range of consoles over the 18 years since the release of the SG-1000, all of them meeting with mixed reviews. By individual research into a selection of those consoles i wish to learn more about not only their power and capability but see further into their success' and failures. The decline of a company can easily be attributed to the quality of it's product, though that may not always be the case.
SG-1000
Specifications:
The technology at the time was similar from console to console, with specifications changing slightly. Some of the consoles already present at the SG-1000's release include the Atari '2600' (originally released in 1977 as the 'VCS') and '5200'(1982), Coleco Industries 'ColecoVision' (1982, also played Atari and SG-1000 games), and the Magnavox 'Odyssey 2' (1978). Game manufacturer Tsukuda Original also released a clone version of Sega's console called the 'Othello Multivision'.
The SG-1000 was sold in Japan, Northern America, New Zealand mainly, up until 1985. An updated version called the SG-1000 Mark II was it's successor, released in 1984, along with a home computer version the SC-3000. The main notable upgrade to the console version being a new, more compact casing, and more accessible input slots. The Mark II could play all of the SC-3000's games, exception lying with the music and 'Basic' programs.
Screenshot from 'Hang-On 2'
Screenshot from the popular 'Zaxxon'
SG-1000
Specifications:
- CPU: NEC 780C (clone of Zilog Z80)
- 3.579545 MHz for NTSC, 3.546893 MHz for PAL
- Main RAM: 16 kbit (2 kB)
- Video RAM: 128 kbit (16 kB)
- Video processor: Texas Instruments TMS9928A
- 256x192 resolution
- 32 sprites
- 16 colors
- Sound: Texas Instruments SN76489
- 4-channel mono sound
- 3 sound generators, 4 octaves each, 1 white noise generator
The technology at the time was similar from console to console, with specifications changing slightly. Some of the consoles already present at the SG-1000's release include the Atari '2600' (originally released in 1977 as the 'VCS') and '5200'(1982), Coleco Industries 'ColecoVision' (1982, also played Atari and SG-1000 games), and the Magnavox 'Odyssey 2' (1978). Game manufacturer Tsukuda Original also released a clone version of Sega's console called the 'Othello Multivision'.
The SG-1000 was sold in Japan, Northern America, New Zealand mainly, up until 1985. An updated version called the SG-1000 Mark II was it's successor, released in 1984, along with a home computer version the SC-3000. The main notable upgrade to the console version being a new, more compact casing, and more accessible input slots. The Mark II could play all of the SC-3000's games, exception lying with the music and 'Basic' programs.
Screenshot from 'Hang-On 2'
Screenshot from the popular 'Zaxxon' While the SG-1000 and the Mark II sold steadily in Asia and Australasia up until 1985, it ultimately suffered due to the depletion in market, the turbulent times being the major factor in the consoles mediocre success and resulting in the changing hands of the company.
The Sg-1000 Mark III was a similar build to the Mark II, but with cosmetic differences and improved hardware. It was fully backwards compatible and included the card reader add-on for the Mark II built in. The Mark III was later repackaged and marketed as the Sega 'Master System' in the U.S, Brazil and Europe. In 1990, Sega also made further cosmetic changes and marketed the 'Master System II'. This lacked the card reader of the previous version, but included 'Alex Kidd in Miracle World' built in to the system. This was an attempt to counter Nintendo's popular 'Super Mario Bros.'.
The same thing cannot be said for both Europe, and more notably, Brazil, which turned out to be Sega's most profitable markets at this point. Advertising was better received in many countries throughout Europe, as well as in some countries that Nintendo did not advertise in, and Sega managed to keep up with their market rivals. 3rd party developer support was strong in this continent and even attracted developers from America that hadn't chosen to market for the consoles North American division. Their European success provoked the formation of Sega Europe. Brazil was the Master Systems most profitable market, and so 5 different versions of the Master System were eventually released. This includes the Master System Compact, a wireless version of the Master System sold from 1994 to 1997.
It was undoubtedly the success developed in the continents of Europe and South America that enabled Sega to continue to develop and market their next attempt on the video game market. Both a huge industry crash and a fierce rivalry hindered the progression of the SG-1000 and all of it's successors, with mediocre marketing failing to provoke enough interest to gain momentum in North America.
Many fans still maintain that the Master System had a better quality of games than it's rival the NES. The Master Systems 3 channel sound provided game soundtracks with further depth, and game-play seems more fluid and fast-paced. The NES was capable of vibrant colours, but the objects in game held less detail and also tended to suffer from 'break-up' when too many objects were on the screen at once, meaning that character limbs or objects on the scenery would flicker occasionally when affected, though this was a minor annoyance.
Such a strong opinionated public shows that it was not necessarily the quality of the games on the console that hindered it's success.
Watch for further Sega Hardware posts in the future.
(Specifications courtesy of Wikipedia)
The Sg-1000 Mark III was a similar build to the Mark II, but with cosmetic differences and improved hardware. It was fully backwards compatible and included the card reader add-on for the Mark II built in. The Mark III was later repackaged and marketed as the Sega 'Master System' in the U.S, Brazil and Europe. In 1990, Sega also made further cosmetic changes and marketed the 'Master System II'. This lacked the card reader of the previous version, but included 'Alex Kidd in Miracle World' built in to the system. This was an attempt to counter Nintendo's popular 'Super Mario Bros.'.
- CPU: 8-bit Zilog Z80A
- Graphics: VDP (Video Display Processor) derived from Texas Instruments TMS9918
- Up to 32 simultaneous colors available (one 16-color palette for sprites or background, an additional 16-color palette for background only) from a palette of 64 (can also show 64 simultaneous colors using programming tricks)
- Screen resolutions 256×192 and 256×224. PAL/SECAM also supports 256×240
- 8×8 pixel characters, max 463 (due to VRAM space limitation)
- 8×8 or 8×16 pixel sprites, max 64
- Horizontal, vertical, and partial screen scrolling
- Sound (PSG): Texas Instruments SN76489 (note that the Sega Master System, Game Gear, and Mega Drive / Genesis used a slightly altered clone of the newer SN76489A, while the older SG-series used the original SN76489)
- 4 channel mono sound (3 Square Waves, 1 White Noise)
- 3 tone generators, 10 octaves each, 1 white noise generator
- Sound (FM): Yamaha YM2413
- mono FM synthesis
- switchable between 9 tone channels or 6 tone channels + 5 percussion channels
- Included as built-in "accessory" with Japanese Master System (1987)
- supported by certain games only
- Boot ROM: 64 kbit (8 KB) to 2048 kbit (256 KB), depending on built-in game
- Main RAM: 64 kbit (8 KB), can be supplemented by game cartridges
- Video RAM: 128 kbit (16 KB)
- Game Card slot (not available in the Master System II)
- Game Cartridge slot (not included on newer Brazilian models, as these have built-in games)
- Japanese and South Korean consoles use vertical shaped 44-pin cartridges, the same shape as SG-1000 and Mark II
- All other consoles use 50-pin cartridges[9] with a horizontal shape
- The difference in cartridge style is a form of regional lockout
- Expansion slot
- Unused, pinout compatible with 50-pin cartridges (but opposite gender) in all regions
The same thing cannot be said for both Europe, and more notably, Brazil, which turned out to be Sega's most profitable markets at this point. Advertising was better received in many countries throughout Europe, as well as in some countries that Nintendo did not advertise in, and Sega managed to keep up with their market rivals. 3rd party developer support was strong in this continent and even attracted developers from America that hadn't chosen to market for the consoles North American division. Their European success provoked the formation of Sega Europe. Brazil was the Master Systems most profitable market, and so 5 different versions of the Master System were eventually released. This includes the Master System Compact, a wireless version of the Master System sold from 1994 to 1997.
It was undoubtedly the success developed in the continents of Europe and South America that enabled Sega to continue to develop and market their next attempt on the video game market. Both a huge industry crash and a fierce rivalry hindered the progression of the SG-1000 and all of it's successors, with mediocre marketing failing to provoke enough interest to gain momentum in North America.
Many fans still maintain that the Master System had a better quality of games than it's rival the NES. The Master Systems 3 channel sound provided game soundtracks with further depth, and game-play seems more fluid and fast-paced. The NES was capable of vibrant colours, but the objects in game held less detail and also tended to suffer from 'break-up' when too many objects were on the screen at once, meaning that character limbs or objects on the scenery would flicker occasionally when affected, though this was a minor annoyance.
Such a strong opinionated public shows that it was not necessarily the quality of the games on the console that hindered it's success.
Watch for further Sega Hardware posts in the future.
(Specifications courtesy of Wikipedia)
Tuesday 5 January 2010
Sega's Social and Cultural Influence...
The stepping-stones built by the early generations of consoles and games have paved the way for the huge steel bridges formed by the mainstream, high-tech hardware present today. The humble beginnings of the industry are however, still as alive today as they ever were, and have been sustained even through the tremendous technological progression to follow.
One of the most obvious impacts that the early days of gaming has had culturally is it's adaption into and influence upon the contemporary art world. With digital art slowly gaining more recognition within the art-world (and about time), 'retro' gaming influences in institutions seems almost like a tribute to the areas early days, like a salmon returning to the place of it's birth to lay it's eggs.
Both of the above images were produced by Beige, a four-person computer programming art collective. The images come from a line of works that were created by hacking old NES cartridges, tinkering with the code to create abstract shapes that bob and weave to a soundtrack, converting the platform itself into a blank canvas. Now, before you stop me, i realize that this particular work is based mainly around Nintendo cartridges, but i feel it an adequate example of the influence the earlier generations of gaming has had on modern culture. Biege is also based in America where Nintendo have become more dominant than Sega culturally, due to their success in this region over the decades.
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The above image, done by Brandon Bird, is titled 'Nobody Wants To Play Sega With Harrison Ford', and was originally an oil painting done for the annual art exhibition 'I Am 8-bit'. The painting depicts the forgotten classic console, conquered by the NES in America, in the arms of the forgotten, classic American actor. Showing the dominance that Nintendo had in the American market, it is also a testament to the impact both of the consoles, and even the contest itself had on modern culture. A larger example of this lies with the 'I Am 8-bit' exhibition itself. The event hosts over 100 artists that reinterpret video-game legends through mediums both digital and traditional, and has being growing with success since it's launch.
Tokyo convention 'Famicase' celebrated another kind of contemporary, gaming-based art; the cartridges. The convention invited a selection of artists to create cartridge art for imaginary games.
Artifacts such as these are playing on ingrained elements of childhood, which then become ingrained in culture over time. Video games as a whole have grown in popularity at an alarming rate and are now a firm part of popular culture. Characters such as 'Sonic' become extremely popular figureheads and major selling points for companies, crossing mediums into literature and film.
Another funny example of how Sega has had an impact upon culture, predominantly youth culture. MC's Nick and Steve, the boys singing recorded this after winning a competition to create a rap detailing why they love Sega.
Numerous fan-sites and dedicated blogs litter the web, paying homage to a digital age before the internet. Despite the variety of sites available, it is also quite obvious that the age-old competition between Sega and Nintendo has lasted until the present day, and shows no threat of dying out any time soon. The reason being that the moment these two gaming giants released the hardware in question, the names of their companies transgressed and became identities. These identities are adopted with the purchase of each console, as well as a developed loyalty that seems to serve to 'protect' that identity. This advocacy seems more than just brand loyalty, especially considering Sega's modern day position regarding hardware, but a defense of something essentially deeper. The defense of ones memories and a day long gone.
One of the most obvious impacts that the early days of gaming has had culturally is it's adaption into and influence upon the contemporary art world. With digital art slowly gaining more recognition within the art-world (and about time), 'retro' gaming influences in institutions seems almost like a tribute to the areas early days, like a salmon returning to the place of it's birth to lay it's eggs.
Both of the above images were produced by Beige, a four-person computer programming art collective. The images come from a line of works that were created by hacking old NES cartridges, tinkering with the code to create abstract shapes that bob and weave to a soundtrack, converting the platform itself into a blank canvas. Now, before you stop me, i realize that this particular work is based mainly around Nintendo cartridges, but i feel it an adequate example of the influence the earlier generations of gaming has had on modern culture. Biege is also based in America where Nintendo have become more dominant than Sega culturally, due to their success in this region over the decades.
.png)
The above image, done by Brandon Bird, is titled 'Nobody Wants To Play Sega With Harrison Ford', and was originally an oil painting done for the annual art exhibition 'I Am 8-bit'. The painting depicts the forgotten classic console, conquered by the NES in America, in the arms of the forgotten, classic American actor. Showing the dominance that Nintendo had in the American market, it is also a testament to the impact both of the consoles, and even the contest itself had on modern culture. A larger example of this lies with the 'I Am 8-bit' exhibition itself. The event hosts over 100 artists that reinterpret video-game legends through mediums both digital and traditional, and has being growing with success since it's launch.Tokyo convention 'Famicase' celebrated another kind of contemporary, gaming-based art; the cartridges. The convention invited a selection of artists to create cartridge art for imaginary games.
Artifacts such as these are playing on ingrained elements of childhood, which then become ingrained in culture over time. Video games as a whole have grown in popularity at an alarming rate and are now a firm part of popular culture. Characters such as 'Sonic' become extremely popular figureheads and major selling points for companies, crossing mediums into literature and film.Another funny example of how Sega has had an impact upon culture, predominantly youth culture. MC's Nick and Steve, the boys singing recorded this after winning a competition to create a rap detailing why they love Sega.
Numerous fan-sites and dedicated blogs litter the web, paying homage to a digital age before the internet. Despite the variety of sites available, it is also quite obvious that the age-old competition between Sega and Nintendo has lasted until the present day, and shows no threat of dying out any time soon. The reason being that the moment these two gaming giants released the hardware in question, the names of their companies transgressed and became identities. These identities are adopted with the purchase of each console, as well as a developed loyalty that seems to serve to 'protect' that identity. This advocacy seems more than just brand loyalty, especially considering Sega's modern day position regarding hardware, but a defense of something essentially deeper. The defense of ones memories and a day long gone.
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