SEGA

As for the whole Sega situation…

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Hum. I’m really not sure what to think. Perhaps I’ve just been numbed by all of these neverending rumors, but up to a point this does seem like the best way to go. As long as the DC stays, that is. As long as it gets games first, and as long as it gets games that no one else gets.

Space Channel 5, though? The only reason I can see that Sega would choose this as its first title as a third-party publisher would be to attempt to get it the attention that it so deserves. If they can push Ulala to a wider audience, I know she’d catch on — and so perhaps this is what they’re doing. It’d be great advertising for New Space Channel 5, certainly.

What I anticipated was arcade ports, rather than ports of home games. As long as Sega keeps Shenmue and Phantasy Star and Arcadia and Sonic (the GBA doesn’t figure here), the less-iconic fare can go where it needs to fund what really matters.

Hum. It’s better that Sega do this, and do it strongly, than to go bankrupt and fade away quietly. This doesn’t necessarily have to be defeat, as long as it’s done with pride. I shudder to think of Sega’s market dominance if they do this well…

But why do I keep having disturbingly analogic thoughts of SNK?

Addendum

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Just because I feel like it, here are my top ten most anticipated games at the moment:

  • Shenmue II
  • New Space Channel 5
  • Sonic Adventure 2
  • Eternal Arcadia 2
  • toejam & earl 3
  • Soul Reaver 2
  • Sakura Wars 3
  • gun valkyrie
  • Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare
  • Bangai-O

I’m curious about Agartha and Headhunter and Hundred Swords and Farnation, and I eagerly await announcement of a DC port of Planet Harriers or word of the new Chakan game (which seems to have fallen off the face of the planet). SEGAGAGA sounds fascinating in its own strange way, but I doubt I have to worry much about it being released here. So…

Anyway. There’s that.

Rolling Over

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By next weekend, PSO and the two broadband adapters should be waiting for me. Also… just because it wasn’t very much and I needed a keyboard anyway in order to get as much out of PSO as I can, I ordered Typing of the Dead and its particular key peripheral. This will be the last DC game I can get for a long while, I think. Phew…

I still have to deal with these RPGs I grabbed up last month. Hrm.

here’s my advice: Never get a bunch of role-playing games all at once. If you get Shenmue, get Jet Set Radio as your next game. If you get Arcadia, pick up Typing of the Dead or MSR or something next. It just creates an impenetrable clog to have four or five RPGs sitting around, demanding one’s life.

Ah, well. I’m satiated for a while at least. Good thing it’ll be a few months before the flood starts up again.

Oh, as a note — Illustrator is keen. If I can figure out the proper way to combine this with Photoshop, I believe I might create some rather fascinating effects.

Welcome to the Fantasy Zone

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Hey — I got the highest Shenmue Space Harrier score in the state of Maine!

What an achievement, I know. But — well. I suppose it’s something, at least.

Spinball

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Huh — Sally, Bunnie, and Rotor make cameo appearances in Sonic Spinball, in two of the three bonus stages. This is odd, as I was under the assumption that these characters didn’t exist in Sega’s personal view of the Sonic universe. Of course, looking at the credits, Spinball appears to have been an american production — probably why it’s as crummy as it is. The game was also produced at about the time Dic’s Sonic cartoon (the decent one) was running on ABC.

I guess, in light of these factors, the cameos make a bit more sense. Still, it was more than a bit unexpected.

One might note that Sally appears much closer to her early comic incarnation, actually, from before the ABC show was even aired; black hair and light maroonish (or as close as the round’s palette will allow) fur — this is in contrast with her later red-headed, brown-furred look. I’m not quite sure what this means, but there it is.

Kind of miss the cartoon; it was quite well-written, acted, and animated. The comic, from the dozen or so issues at which I’ve glanced over the past few years, is written by and for five-year-olds. A pity.