Sega bought out...

[soundwave]

Whatever. Hopefully Sammy just divides the Sega properties among their own development studios and disassembles Sega altoghther. They do nothing but lose money, and I can't imagine Sammy not knowing this. It'll be for the best if Sega just goes away.

Dude, your ignorance is indicative of the majority of Sega bashing on this board. Sega has been turning a profit since September 2002 ever since they got out of the console hardware business. Heres' the proof:

http://www.planetgamecube.com/news.c...n=item&id=3711

http://gamiko.com/showthread.php?threadid=2183

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http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/02...s_6087507.html

TOKYO--Today, Sega revealed that its profits for the consolidated period from April to December 2003 nearly doubled from the previous year. The company's sales hit 7.66 billion yen ($72.65 million), a 92 percent increase from the 3.98 billion yen ($37.30 million) it made during the same period of 2002. Sega commented that the arcade sector contributed heavily to the company's overall 2003 profit, which is expected to top 9 billion yen ($85 million) for the full year. Together with sales of its arcade cabinets such as Outrun 2, Sega is also profiting from UFO-catcher machines, medal games, and other indoor amusement machines.

Believe it or not Sega is making money again. Their ESPN titles are face stiff competitiion from EA, as always, but thy are good/comparable sports titles. The arcade business is still strong in Japan and Asia. Sega is stronger fiinancially now than its ever been and you people ljust want to bitch and moan. Sega hate is nonsensical to me.

Sure, I admit Sega's recent line up isn't OMG AMAZING but give them time to redeem themselves. They are still recovering from restructuring and years of financial losses and retarded decisions. Plus I still see potential in PS Universe and Spikeout!

[SonofdonCD]

Whatever. Hopefully Sammy just divides the Sega properties among their own development studios and disassembles Sega altoghther. They do nothing but lose money, and I can't imagine Sammy not knowing this. It'll be for the best if Sega just goes away.

I am getting tired of comments like these.

I know it seems like I'm just rationalizing things out, but hear me out for a second. (BTW, let's forget the fact that Sega are actually MAKING MONEY, as opposed to losing right now; this only pertains to their games' and their quality)

Sega started letting go of the Dreamcast in early 2001. It is three years later. They have only had one generation of new games this gen (not counting the DC OR the numerous ports from when they first became first party), while many other third parties have had at least two generations of software or more. Switching ALL your game development from one system to another as Sega did cannot be an easy task as well.

Playing catch-up while trying to create must-own software from a company that as of late doesn't really cater to the mainstream gamer (and is also hemmoraging money) is a tall order indeed. One that I think a lot of companies would not be very successful at, at least short term.

Like some others have said, there HAS to be more games in the pipeline. Their E3 line-up consists mostly of games that we knew were coming, and there are plenty of other games that we know Sega are working on that weren't at E3. Considering how many of their dev teams seemed unaccounted for at the show (and how many games Sega were only publishing, not developing internally), I totally believe that.

So like Andy and a few others have said, I'd say they are either planning to give us one hell of a 2005, or they are hedging their bets for now and bringing out their big guns at the start of the next-gen. I knew that they wouldn't get their mojo back for some time (even though I was hoping it would be quicker rather than later) and that they only needed time to get themselves together. I, being the Sega fan that I am, am still willing to wait.

However if they aren't cool again by the first year of the next generation, then by all means, comments like these are more than appropriate. But for now, I think we're all forgetting how short of an amount of time it has been since DC. Sega are still not out from under its shadow. And I don't think they will return to their former glory until they do.

[gamevet]

I could'nt agree more Sonofdoncd!

[AaronChance]

Yep. Good thing you didn't say it was Shenmue II

I didn't say VF4 because he had almost nothing to do with it. The last game in the series he had any real involvement in was VF3. Besides, I'm pretter sure VF4 hit arcades before Shunmue 2 came out.

Whatever happened to that heavily JSR-esque arcade skateboarding game they were showing a few months back?

Arcade only with no plans to port to a home console.

OMFG is right, btw - Outrun 2 is receiving way more accolades than it deserves. The game's just not that good. If it were called Official Licensed Racefest 2004 or something instead pretty much everyone here would ignore it.

That sucks. Looked cool to me, but I really don't have the money to spend on a 30min game anymore.

As for Otogi 2, the first one was pretty much the shallowest beat 'em up I've played since 1992. The second one will haver to be a big step up before it can really be considered big news, imo.

I really liked Otogi, but since Sega is only publishing it in the US, their involvement with it is almost nothing.

But it has style! And that's way more important than silly things like "gameplay."

Works for the Final Fantasy series.

[DougDaBroadcasta]

I wish all the best from Sega, but they're sinking fast. I will always have fond memories of my Genesis and Japanese Dreamcast, but their quality is sinking a bit, their sports franchises are getting blown away by EA (just like everyone elses), and they need something other than a Sonic game to make both the hardcore and the casual happy.

I know I know! I know EXACTLY what they need! A REAL PHANTASY STAR V!!!! A Phantasy Star in the old PStar2 style, overworlds like FF, and a battle system like the old one had. That would drive Sega back to the masses...question is, do they even know it? Or do they just wanna make another online game? Methinks they just wanna make another online title.

[Videodrone]

...but their quality is sinking a bit, their sports franchises are getting blown away by EA (just like everyone elses).

I wouldn't say that their sports franchises are getting blown away. With the exception of Madden vs ESPN Football, the Sega title are just as good, if not better (ESPN is better than Live) than what EA has to offer.

I know I know! I know EXACTLY what they need! A REAL PHANTASY STAR V!!!! A Phantasy Star in the old PStar2 style, overworlds like FF, and a battle system like the old one had.

Sega has sworn for year that they would never release a sequel to the original PS series. Now does that mean they could create an alternate story arc in the PS universe, it's a possibility. I wouldn't count on it though.

[Bacon McShig]

...and they need something other than a Sonic game to make both the hardcore and the casual happy.

I know I know! I know EXACTLY what they need! A REAL PHANTASY STAR V!!!! A Phantasy Star in the old PStar2 style, overworlds like FF, and a battle system like the old one had. That would drive Sega back to the masses...question is, do they even know it?

Dude, nobody on earth but the hardcore have any recocognition of the Phantasy Star name- I don't disagree that a new one would be cool and probably win some people over, but PS is not gonna be a title that would bring in the casual gamers, unless it recieved a FF-esque budget (not likely) and had a new installment every year, with numerous sub-installments to keep the brand name out there (damn, now you have me wanting a Phantasy Star Tactics...). I would forecast that the PS name probably wouldn't even make a dent as far as recieving casual gamers' acknowledgement and interest until the hype machine started running on a second sequel, assuming that the first one was generally well-reviewed and liked.

A new, high-quality Sonic title would be the best game to put them in good stead with all gamers, because Sonic is Sega's most recognized character and casual and hardcore gamers alike have fond memories of the old games.

[Geen]

Dude, nobody on earth but the hardcore have any recocognition of the Phantasy Star name- I don't disagree that a new one would be cool and probably win some people over, but PS is not gonna be a title that would bring in the casual gamers, unless it recieved a FF-esque budget (not likely) and had a new installment every year, with numerous sub-installments to keep the brand name out there (damn, now you have me wanting a Phantasy Star Tactics...). I would forecast that the PS name probably wouldn't even make a dent as far as recieving casual gamers' acknowledgement and interest until the hype machine started running on a second sequel, assuming that the first one was generally well-reviewed and liked.

Sadly, I don't even think most of the mainstream have even played a Final Fantasy game, let alone know excatly what it is...

Customer: Aww, I hate this game! There's no action.
Me: What do you mean? There are fights in there.
Customer: It's all, like, picking something and then waiting, waiting and waiting. *Looks over* Max Payne. This here the shit. When the new one coming?
Me: *Shiver*

A new, high-quality Sonic title would be the best game to put them in good stead with all gamers, because Sonic is Sega's most recognized character and casual and hardcore gamers alike have fond memories of the old games.

Agreed. I'd buy three copies of a new high-quality Sonic (One to open, one to collect and one to stick in my pants). Sadily, I'm begining to lose hope that this will ever happen.

Far as I'm concern, the last good games that Sega made were Panzer Dragoon Orta, Billy Hatcher and the Gaint Egg, F-Zero GX and Puyo Pop. Everything else has failed to really grab my attention, although I do want to play Shenmue II sometime this life time.

Like it's been said before, Hopefully Sammy gives Sega the kick in the ass they need to get some of their classic magic back. The days of Dreamcast seem so long ago.

[mrt]

Good for Sega, they've made some classics this gen, and I look forward to seeing their stuff next gen.

word.

im glad there is intelligent life on this board. (that goes for all of the folks not just blindly bashing Sega because they dont like the current batch of games this gen.)

i dont particularly like Square/Enix games but im not going to jump into every thread about them and start in with the: Square SUCKS. they havent made a good game in a decade. they just need to GO AWAY and stop polluting our consoles!!!11

who cares who you hate? the shit is tiresome.

im thinking this is good news. Sammy is teh smart! hopefully they will do wonderfull things with the future of Sega.

but maybe im just talking from a fanboys persective.

[ChaoofNee]

- In addition, Sega announced that before the merger, all seven subsidiaries (Sega WOW, Sega-AM2, Hitmaker, Sonic Team, Smilebit, Amusement Vision and Digitalrex) will be integrated back into Sega in July 2004.

Now, what the hell does this mean? Were all of the dev studios technically not part of Sega this whole time? ...or are they being split up?