Sega Rant

Written by Daniel Pelfrey on June 27, 2001

Sega Rant: I'll shut up when things are my way; it's my way or the highway.

Ok Ц So I'm all hyped up on Sonic Week, having researched and written an article on Sonic Team, and also I've been keeping up with all of the Sonic related news. I even rushed out to my local Funcoland to grab a copy of Sonic Adventure 2. I played it, my 9-year-old son played it, and amazingly, we both had different experiences. He didn't get to play much of it yet, but he thinks it is one of the best games ever. Personally, I don't think it's the quantum leap of gaming that it could be. I was a little disappointed in it. Don't get me wrong. I'm glad to have bought the game, it's just, well, I expected something more I guess. But that's me. My son has played a total of 4 Sonic games in his life, including Sonic Adventure 2 for the Dreamcast, and I still remember back when Sonic was a pack-in for the Genesis.

Sega is heading into pastures unknown. Originally, I was going to write an article clearing up some of the misconceptions about who is developing what for which platform. You can find most of the information in a recent article of mine located here. Frankly, I'm tired of this. Too much speculation, and too much finger pointing, resulting in the attitude of УMy system is better than your system because such and such development house is bringing ____ to my console of choiceФ, to which I sayЕwell, I can't say here. Suffice it to say that you can't speak it on South Park either.

Look, Sega is one of the (if not the) best software company's providing content for consoles today Ц regardless of platform. The great thing about the company is that they bring different games to diverse people. Gamers that grew up on Sonic will always find a soft spot in their hearts for the Blue Blur. New gamers (like my son) are coming to old franchises like Sonic with a fresh pair of eyes. I don't blame Sega for doing something new; they need to in order to stay alive. Something new just happens to be a little along the lines of Jet Grind Radio (a personal favorite). But in order to keep ties with the old traditionalists, you also have to provide something old as well. Skies of Arcadia provided one of the best Уold schoolФ RPG experiences I have ever had, while keeping it fresh. This is where the new direction of Sonic comes in. The fact that you have new playable characters is Sonic Team's way of trying something new. Does it always work? No. Should we lambaste the heck out of them for trying? No again. I liked Sonic Adventure 2 for my Dreamcast. Although, I wanted more levels with Sonic, but hey taken out of context (i.e. what if this were the very first Sonic game), it isn't so bad.

So, Sonic is supposedly headed to Nintendo's system. Man, hell must be pretty cold about now. I never thought I'd see the day. Nevertheless, in light of Sega's new platform agnostic third party direction, Sonic is a great fit for Nintendo's audience: younger gamers and those old stalwarts who are going to get the damn thing anyway. I'm getting a Gamecube for two reasons, 1) my son, and 2) it will have some games that appeal to me. Maybe not at launch (ok Ц Rogue Leader), but I know that Nintendo will definitely be bringing something out that I will want to play. Same with Xbox and it's the same with the PS2. There are some development houses of Sega's that have something in the works for each platform. I think Sega has a good idea of letting the development houses pick which platform to work with, it might actually help the videogame industry as a whole. If Sega has enough games on the other consoles, people might have to pick up one or more systems that they wouldn't otherwise, and in turn, get more games.

Then again, it might do exactly the opposite and we could be seeing the great crash of 1985 all over again. And that's not good for any of us.

I'm also tired of third parties dropping Dreamcast games at the last minute. Have some freakin' balls people! If you have already spent this much time and money on something, then you could at least finish it and get a small return on your investment. A little return is better than none. I guess people (or companies) are so focused on the future, that it is too hard to see the here and now. Everybody (including us here at Gaming Target) is so focused on November, that the summer is all but a wash. But why? Sony has the summer all to themselves. And that's a shame. There are a few games coming out for the Dreamcast over the next few months, but unfortunately that number continues to drop.

Then again, that's just my opinion. What do I know? I'm just a 33-year-old videogame enthusiast with 9 consoles in his house, and a 9-year-old son who thinks videogames are Уda bombФ.