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[sblack]

I have been a big Sega fan for as long as I can remember owning both Megadrive and Sega Saturn (still my favourite console - Panzer Dragoon Saga, Virtua Fighter, Shining Force, Sonic, Daytona, Sega Rally etc too many to list). After the Sega Saturn I kind of went off gaming and even though I had a PS2 the games I owned could be counted on one hand

I have been thinking lately would it not be fantastic if Sega made a return to hardware Now I know this might seem out of the realms of possibility.... but bear with me. If we look at the current market it is dominated by Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft, with their marketshare eroded by Apple increasingly with each passing year.

So how and why would it be feasible for Sega to return and why now? Digital Distribution. We are moving away from physical products to a digital future in the entertainment industry, where everything will be bought/sold online:

Microsoft has XBox Live
Sony has SEN
Nintendo has Nintendo Network
Apple has iStore

As well as these you have other companies with their own digital services eg Valve has Steam, EA have Origin and then there's the digital service OnLive.

So whats stopping Sega have their own digital service 'Sega World' where all you need to buy is a set top box and pad (Saturn Pad ) and making their games including all the back catalogue exclusive to their service  


Love to hear your thoughts

[meppi]

Oh, I certainly would love to see a high-end system being made by them that might resemble a Neo Geo approach, albeit with no physical media.
But the biggest problem would be the number of people willing to buy the system.
Just look at the Dreamcast. Such an incredible system that had one of the most consistent streams of AAA games released in it's lifetime, yet not enough people bought it to make Sega enough money to stay in the race.

On top of this, that have been hit quite hard due to the demoralization of the people working for them after the DC went bust, and lost a lot of talented people over the past decade.

On the positive side, it seems like they have been getting back on their feet as of late and have gotten some big successes, both critically and commercially.

Still, for them to remain in business for a long time to come it's probably a smart idea to have others take the risk on the hardware side and create content for a variety of systems.

All this said, if they ever do release a new high-end system, I'll be there day-1. 

[KiwiArcader]

I don't know why they just don't respin the Dreamcast. The graphics were way better than the crappy PS2 and games like Soul Calibur still holds up remarkably well even by todays standards. Being WinCE it's easy to write for and if they did it right they have an existing group of coders ready to jump onboard who have been releasing Dreamcast games way, way after it stopped production. Just get rid of that pesky GD-R format for something better

The thing would be to NOT try and target the all-singing all-dancing market as a BD player alternative to the PS3 so keeping costs down. It'll never happen of course as to get the best out of it they'd have to look at ceasing the sale of their game IP on the other consoles to increase the saleability of their device.

Still, if ever there was a time for someone like Sega to release a Dreamcast type device that also incorporated officiall Genesis compatibility etc ... well ... look how the retro market has taken off in the last few years?  Be pretty cool imho.

[sblack]

Both interesting points,  and I agree that building a new machine would costs mega-bucks and probably would not be cost effective   But the gaming landscape has changed, where digital downloads are having a massive impact on the way we consume media.

In the past I have had no interest in PC gaming... but with recent advances in technology where one can 'hook-up' a PC to the tv my interest in this side of gaming is increasing, especially with services such as Steam, to the point where I may start playing my games this way

I feel if Sega is to be relevant in the future then they need a service similar to Steam, where all their games are exclusive to it as well as having other 3rd parties games on there. As much as I love consoles, eventually they will dissappear be replaced by purely digital services accessed through PC or IPTVs. Here services like Steam, iStore will prosper with there already expanding userbase and catalogue of games. As I mentioned earlier all you would need is an updated Saturn Pad

Sega can still get into the party, as one of the unique selling points it has, is its back catalogue, which is only rivalled by Nintendo. You only have to look at the responses of gamers to the re-releases of its Dreamcast era games onto current gen machines

As mentioned many of the people that made Sega so great have left and formed their on companies and then others like Yu Suzuki ...... However if a digital Sega service 'SegaWorld' is implemented I am sure many of these former Sega employees would still work on such a service even as a 2nd/3rd party. As well as this mobile gaming has taken off in recent years, so what is stopping Sega from letting people access their content from mobile devices eg Android

This really is a wonderful opportunity for Sega to make their comeback.... So why are Sega being so blind to what is on the horizon

[TerrierChad]

So long as Sega release Shenmue III one day I don't care what else they do... RELEASE IT DEAR GOD RELEASE IT! *cries*

[sblack]

Just giving this a quick bump. In light of recent digital releases, Sega really needs to offer their own Digital service - one thats accessible from the tv. They have the games, the history, the talent and many millions of fans thoughout the world.
So why I they being so defeatist and pessimistic by not offering such a service

I do not usually buy digital releases. But if Sega would offer such a service I would ditch the current big three yesterday.

Wherefore art thou Sega

[meppi]

Well at least they are doing this soon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=EnLUHKE6gyI