Silly Rabbit, Sega Is A Japanese Company!

You know what, I'm suffering from severe writer's block right now but this I must say.

I think that many of us (myself included) occasionally forget that Sega is a Japanese company and thus Sega will cater to Japan first and foremost.

Let's face it--Sega has no respect in the West anymore outside of a few nostalgia diehards like you and I.  With the exception of Sonic, none of their games really get any leverage outside of Japan.  You heard that Binary Domain You Guys, a game that has aspects specifically meant to appeal to the West, only sold 20K copies in North America in the first month?  Compared to Mass Effect 3's 1.3 mil copies in the same region/time frame?  Blame Sega of America marketing or the poor gamer response, that's absolute crap.

That's just one reason why Sega never develops games for the West anymore.  Sega of America plays Publisher which seems to be perfectly okay as they make a buck publishing titles like Aliens or Total War--games that are "okay" by default gaming standards but don't really fit the zany Sega mold that you and I grew up with.  Well, with the decline of the Dreamcast and US arcades, no kidding that Sega of America/Europe took a massive tumble.

Then there's Sega of Japan.  Take the time to read SegaShiro every once in a while.  Oh man, do you know what things Sega Corporation are up to in Japan?  Oh man, Sega's games are so much more successful over there.  Sonic, Binary Domain, Yakuza, Virtua Fighter, ARCADES ARE STILL KICKING!  Sega also makes toys, amusement parks, pachinko machines (by Satomi-San's orders), urinal games, SUPERMODELS AND HOSTESSES!!!

Oh, Lord help us.

BUT I WANT IT!!!

And obviously, on the heels of Sega's absolute failures in the West, they pull back.  No surprise, huh.  No Dreamcast, arcades are a foregone conclusion, we're obsessed with Halo and Mass Effect, so why should Sega go all-out trying to appeal to us Westeners?  Sometimes, people get mad and decry Sega when they spend all this effort on a Rhythm Thief or Hatsune Miku game.  "What is Sega thinking???" we say.  "私はとても幸せ!! このゲームは素晴らしいです!!", they say.  So unfortunately, English-speaking brethren, we're not Sega's main target anymore.  Time we get used to it.

So I don't think Sega is going to "die" any time soon but they have lost a ton of ground in the West--consoles and arcades (such as Gameworks) included.  They're this Japanese behemoth (like Godzilla) that encompasses way more than making a few lousy racing games which is a bit overwhelming from a itty bitty little game programmer like myself.  I just wish Sega was still around here in the US cause frankly, I'm getting tired of these downward trends in US games...this move towards gritty M-rated titles, drinking the Red Bulls while screaming at little kids on Xbox Live, watching big companies like EA, Microsoft, and Activision pick-pocket us with cheap DLC and other garbage, what a joke.  Even Japanese companies like Sony and Capcom are joining in on this as well.

Compared to here, it's the Super Terrific Happy Hour all the time over there at Sega!!!  Maybe not but come on man, you can't get any lower than publisher-happy Sega of America with Mike "18-24 Dreamcast ports" Hayes.

I should mention although I'm a patriotic American, I'm going to check out Japan someday--they have a different "attitude" towards game design, it seems.  In the West, when you make a game, the immediate thought process is "How much money can I make out of this?"  In the East...their games are much more unorthodox, more "fun," the grass looks greener so I gotta see what's going on over there (EDIT: Only exceptions are now Scumbag Sony and Crapcom).  Dammit, if only ONE Western racing dev could go over there, get a test sample of what's going on, and bring it back.  Why do we have to settle either for racing sims (Forza, iRacing) or total crap (Burnout, Split/Second)???

TLDR: When I talk of "saving Sega," I suppose it's more oriented towards the West (obviously).  But we have to go East to help the West.  私は日本語を学ぶ必要がある!!!

FYI, America brings baseball to Japan and Sega gives America the best NASCAR game ever.  Fair deal.

Binary Domain & Yakuza Zombies Stuff

Hello kids.  About time I came back.  Was too busy completing my programming homework held together with duct tape.  It's great.

Now we all know that Nagoshi-San's two shooters are going up against some stiff competition.  Here we have Binary Domain You Guys which came out the same week as Mass Effect 3 (stupid!) and Yakuza: Dead Souls which feels like a slightly-tweaked Dead Rising/Resident Evil clone.  But that's okay, cause these are Sega games and Sega > everything else so....yeah.

Giant Bomb was so kind to do a Quick Look of both games (30+ minutes long..."quick" look my ass) although they haven't posted an official review of either.  Don't expect one from them since it's way past the time to do so.



Gameplay-wise, it's kind of cool shooting up robots.  Good for a third-person shooter.  The main problem that jumps out at me with the campaign is that your character plays the role of the "subservient idiot."  You know how in Call of Duty, Captain Price or whoever runs through the level telling you what to do so you keep following him?  It's kind of the same deal here.  In later levels, you get bigger teams and thus get more control over what to do and

Even though the levels look a bit color (some light blue/green hues), level design looks rather linear.  Then again, just about every damn shooter these days fits the bill so you can't blame Binary Domain You Guys all that much.

There's a few times in which Big Bo repeats himself in succession, like at 33:30.  Big Bo doesn't even shoot the enemies--he takes cover behind a computer and blind-fires at enemies across the room, ignoring airborne enemies.  So that seems a bit sloppy.

BIG BO!!!

You can use voice commands to order or reply to your companions.  Surprisingly, this is probably the first game ever that actually encourages you to say "f***" and "s***."  No really, speed up to 9:45 and 10:55.  Voice commands don't work as well as they should.  Think Hey You, Pikachu! on the N64 but only marginally better.

My favorite parts are 7:20 (Big BO!!!) and 33:00 (control pay-nel).  The game does some thing well in that you can earn cash to buy better guns for your teammates and stuff.  I imagine this game is already blown over so really...what's the point of bringing this game up anymore.  Buy Binary Domain You Guys to make Nagoshi happy and he will make Daytona 3 (we can only hope).

A reminder: Binary Domain You Guys fared a 7.5 average on GameRankings which is okay but not the best. Must be because of all the Mass Effect hype which kept this game down.



So this is Yakuza: Dead Souls.  Unlike Binary Domain You Guys which is on Xbox, PS3, and (in the near future) PC, Yakuza is a PS3 exclusive.  Apparently the Japanese don't like the Xbox...I don't blame 'em, those XBL avatars are hideous and no one should go near 'em.  Sega has no desire to port the game to the 360 since I can't see the West making a big deal out of this...

So the biggest problem with the game is that the controls are just weird.  You run around in a third-person view shooting pistols with infinite ammo at zombies.  Now that ain't bad--Dead Rising 1/2 had very few guns so Yakuza capitalizes there.  But to shoot, you usually face in the general direction of the zombie and just pull the trigger and you auto-aim towards the guy.  Like Army Men Sarge's Heroes.

Now I'm not familiar with previous Yakuza games but overall, the controls are a bit painful to watch.  Had this game used a crosshair at all times (like Gears of War) it may be much better but here, you're just flinging the camera around in hopes you actually hit something.  You usually hit the target dead on or miss by a yard/meter.  Come on, Sega.

Another thing a bit distressful is that some of the special zombies look ripped out of other games.  There's the giant rock zombies...oh, a Tank from Left for Dead?  And that crawler zombie...a Licker from Resident Evil (the guys bring that up).

Then again, they talk about Nagoshi a bit and how he possibly had less involvement in this game due to Binary Domain You Guys.  Which explains why Binary Domain You Guys looks like the better of the two.

It's just strange since the only thing carrying this game is the zany cast of Yakuza characters.  And the fact it's Japanese as opposed to Western.  Probably explains why this game is so popular in Japan since the Japanese like to stick to their own games (it seems) while in the West, we tend to do the exact opposite (hmm, Mass Effect, Skyrim, Battlefield, you name it).  So no wonder Yakuza seems out of place.  Eyepatch Guy at 30:20 is a real badass.  When the Japanese do actual bad-ass stuff, you gotta love 'em.

Review-wise, GameSpot gave it a 5.5 and GameRankings has an average of 6.4.  But that's okay because Sega doesn't line their pockets with cash like EA, Activision, etc.  Even if it's not cash, I wouldn't doubt that game publishers give certain media types promos/advanced copies/other cool stuff in exchange for better reviews.  Look at GameSpot and every other media site up until Mass Effect 3's release--TONS OF MEDIA about just about damn everything.  That kind of stuff generates big hits.  Yet you saw very little of Binary Domain You Guys other than on the Sega blogs.  Also throw Sega of America's inept marketing into the picture, ESPECIALLY pertaining to Binary Domain You Guys which is supposed to contain more favorable elements for Western audiences.  I'm just throwing this out there.

That's about it...buy both games if you have pity on Sega.  The end.

Nagoshi Now Subject Of A Crappy Meme, You Guys

Geez, I wish you investigative reporters out there would tell me this stuff ahead of time!  So on Feb. 13, 2012, a bizarre post ends up on NeoGAF titled Just got a bizarre email from Nagoshi! Instigated from some guy named quinntendopower. This is his avatar.  It is "viral marketing" for Binary Domain (so everyone says).  And this is how the thread goes down (just his posts):

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Not sure what to think of this. I got an email from Nagoshi... I think he is asking me to buy the 2012 GOTY Binary Domain, but it has the bru skies and hornet so I think he might want me to re-buy his entire collection.

"Hi You Guys,

Binary Domain you guys

I require you to buy Binary Domain You Guys be purchase. not up for Nagoshiation

Sincerely,

Nagoshi Nagoshster

PS: F-Zero GX all missions clear - very hard accomplish"

I already have Binary reserved, but after this I might double dip on both versions.

I now include my F-zero mastery card.

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I assume it's him detecting my memory card from F-zero GX.

I'm pretty sure if you get all missions clear on Very Hard, and beat all cups on the hardest class you are automatically entered into his database.

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I do strain gaging, and build custom transducers. I do a lot of work for professional motorsports (nascar, indycar, AM2 daytona championships)

I'll let you guys know if he sends another email. I love Nagoshi, even after all of his transformations.

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Nagoshi!

the enemies are sooooo much fun to destroy. very impressed with the A/I

FUCKING NAGOSHI i love you buddy. he gets me every time. this is just god like stuff right here, and i can't even understand anything.

if this is a taste of what the next yakuza game, fine by me. BRU BRU SKYYYYYY, BRU BRU MOTHERFUCKIN SKAAAAAAAAASSS I SEEEEE

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It was VERY HARD difficulty, pay attention.

I found Rex on the beach, and taught him a few tricks. Haruka was pleased.

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Bah, horrible fake! Someone didn't beat very hard yet... Good luck, you'll need it!

Getting on the Nagoshi database isn't supposed to be easy.

and yes, Rex was a Shiba Joe! Shiba Inu's are great pups.

If people really think my post is a viral campaign, LOL. This is serious Email business.

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I don't think people realize just how cool Nagoshi is.

I'm pretty sure Yuteralds gif is a requirement for the "minigame master" trophy in Yakuza 3.

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.

NAGOSHI IS PLEASED WITH YOUR SACRIFICE

.

.

.

.

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How the hell am I supposed to make my awesome Ultimate Ghosts and Goblins Ultimate mode playthrough/review/megathread now?

And to think, Binary was supposed to be out TODAY!

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that only puts you into nagoshi's database

only real gamers can get the bru bru bry skies

you must prove real gamer to nagoshi after selected into database

beat all nagoshi games on hardest difficulty and in certain time span, real gamers will know nagoshis desires

each completed game will give you a piece of a special important very code

binary domain was project nagoshi was planning all his life for only real gamers and sea crabs

input prize into binary domain

NAGOSHI WILL REWARD

ALL PARTNERS ARE HORNET IN BRU SKIES

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He just sent something else:

"Hi You Guys Quinntendopower Guys,

I want thanks for accomplish all platinum trophies in yakuza 3 and 4! You have now been moved into Level 1 Defcon Database. You are now in Nagoshi Nation. Thanks for your dedicated Youtube channel for Yakuza 3 and Four.

Many excitements for you guys!

I require you to buy Binary Domain You Guys be purchase. not up for Nagoshiation."

that was the email, he's so awesome.

Included was my database card for the F-zero Very Hard!

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Robots, and PERSONALITY!

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I honestly also think "not up for Nagoshiation" is the best video game related pun we can ever have as a collective group.

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has duckroll beaten ultimate ghosts and goblins on ultimate mode and gotten all the rings??? i donnnnn't think so

10 days. 10 days until Nagoshi Nation you guys.

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I wonder what Nagoshi is doing RIGHT NOW.

he's either eating toast or tanning prolly.

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I have a few threads already in the works, if i ever get my license back.

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I helped in the technical production of F355 challenge, and Suzuki introduced us when he showed up to try it.

I do strain gaging for a lot of motorsports, and I did some telemetry work for their physics system.

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3 Days Remain...

ERROR DETECTED IN NAGOSHI DATABASE...UNABLE TO SUPPLY FUNNIES...

ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR

ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR

ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR

ERROR REDIRECTING FLOW OF FUNNIES ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR

ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR

ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR

ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR

ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR

ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR

ERROR ONE WAY TRAIN TO NAGOSHI NATION [ALL ABOARD] ERROR

ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR

ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR

ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR

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REALLY ME THIS TIME: Rest of the thread has a few more pics and is crap that dissipates into air but I'll leave you with this:

A typical NeoGAF thread.  We're being trolled, you guys.  If Nagoshi sends out e-mails PLEASE SEND ME MESSAGES!!!!  But if Nagoshi created this thread himself, I'm kicking his ass.  Precious time working on Daytona 3 WASTED.

Binary Domain Vs. Mass Effect

Well as a few of you know, a little game called Mass Effect 3 came out recently and every single person at school is talking about it.  Can't get enough of it.  Game already sold 3.5 million copies and may break 5 mil someday.  That's pretty cool, I guess.

And then there's Binary Domain.

Oh sh--it's a guy from Mass Effe--no, it's just some Binary Domain dude.

This is the part of the post where I become very cynical and bash anything popular so I'll get it out of the way now: MASS EFFECT 3 SUCKS, BINARY DOMAIN IS BETTER.  DON'T GIVE YOUR MONEY TO EA, GIVE IT TO SEGA.  As usual, I'm going to paint this as a "Sega vs. the World" scenario with the World winning 51810 to 2 (those 2 points when OutRun and Daytona USA were released, respectively).  And then I'll say even more snarky things that'll make me less popular among my peers.

EDIT: No really, Mass Effect is a good game and I don't gnash my teeth every night in seething rage against EA.  So don't plot against me behind my back.

Now, as you may have seen, Mass Effect has much greater reviews than Binary Domain--a 93% average vs. a 78% average.  I cannot debate the quality of both games.  But I'll tell you what I think of Binary Domain anyway while I make pithy remarks about Mass Effect.  Come on, Mass Effect is the bee's knees, if I can't laugh at it, then that's garbage.

I know that I got on Binary Domain's case in the past because it's not a racing game.  Well, it's Nagoshi's baby so we got to support it anyway.  We need a Sega surge and we need it now.  Love or hate Sega, we have to get their backs.  Let everyone else know about Binary Domain.  At least download the demo and try it.

So anyway, the first thing that really bugs me about this is that it's released one day from Mass Effect 3, a 3+ million seller that is awfully similar in nature--a sci-fi tactical third-person shooter with a middle-aged white protagonist.  The Golden Rule of Game Publishing: DO NOT RELEASE YOUR MINUSCULE GAME NEAR THE RELEASE OF A LARGE BLOCKBUSTER, ESPECIALLY ONE SIMILAR IN NATURE/GAMEPLAY.  WHAT WAS SEGA THINKING HERE!?!?!?  It's as if they wanted to brush the game under the rug as soon as possible.

GameFAQs boards in terms of topic pages--
Mass Effect 3: 1134 (360), 110 (PS3), 146 (PC)
vs.
Binary Domain: 9 (360), 13 (PS3)

The Sega Hype Train IS ROLLIN' ALONG!!!

Also doesn't help I saw little to no advertising for this game at all.  All I saw were a few barely viral YouTube videos and some Sega blog posts announcing "hay gaiz, go buy binary domane nao!!!"  Meanwhile the EA advertising machine was in full effect, completely drowning out any Binary Domain stuff.  It's as if Sega knew the game had no chance of cracking 100K units in the West so they focused entirely on Japan.  What a damn shame.  Sega has no clout anymore in the US.

It really is a shame because if you look at Binary Domain, there's a lot of good things going for it.  Mainly, a lot of people are really talking up the single-player campaign.  A sleeper hit, they say.  It's only about 9 hours long but it's just good fun shooting the crap out of robots.  The only glaring weakness is that Binary Domain's multiplayer isn't that good--there's co-op and deathmatch stuff which reminds of Metal Gear Solid online but it's clunky/generic, they say.  Losers.



But the thing that bugs me the most about the game is that it's clearly not an American game.  It's Japanese.  Just being an Eastern game gives it the stigma that it needs to be completely novel and/or part of some well-grounded franchise like Nintendo or Capcom.  Binary Domain tries something new even though Nagoshi/Sega knew damn well that it would look like Gears of War, Halo, Mass Effect, what have you.  And for that (plus poor advertising), the game will most likely resign to the bargain bins within a month.  On the other hand, Western games usually iterate on the same crap over and over again and are lauded for it.

Really, it's a DAMN SHAME since I admit the whole robot/human concept is kind of cool.  You don't see much of that in games.  As humanity must come to grips with a foe that looks just like them and learn to overcome their horrible mistakes.  Yeah, robots are really hokey but the story has a mature tone to it that I think older, "robo-fanatics" would get.

On the other hand, in Mass Effect, you decide with alien race you want to sleep with.  Seriously, I'm not a homophobe but what's with all the gay romance scenes I'm hearing?  We talkin just kisses or full blown romance?  Does Bioware need to keep up with the times that badly?  And who the hell turns on these kind of games for the sake of watching these things?  Hell, I'm not even in the mood for watching the straight makeout scenes either (I'm not one of those porno guys, trust me...).  I play games to have fun, not to get my kicks, if you know what I mean.

EDIT: Never mind guys, that was uncalled for.  There's much more to the game than just romance.  The storyline was insightful across the trilogy with themes like sacrifice, free will, unity, and so forth.  I even heard the ending was super-good too.  Bioware deserves props for that ending.



Mass Effect???  More like ASS EFFECT!!!  Hell, if you want to pay EA an extra ten bucks so they can chance ONE line of code for you, then be my guest.  Also, people petitioning to change the lousy ending are basically begging for more DLC/add-ons...see what Good Guy Jeff Gerstmann said.  Hey, it ain't my game EA, so if you want to ruin it and still sell the 1 billion units, then go ahead...

For the record, I think Binary Domain actually has an ending.  If I get the chance to play the demo then I'll let you know about it.  Not as good as a racing game but...I'll give it a shot.  Emphasis on the word "eventually."

If you don't play my game, I will cry!!!

Binary Domain Is Now NULL AND VOID

Binary Domain

Binary Domain is officially useless.  What for?  Because we no longer need generic action heroes with big 'effin guns.  All we need are...dancing hamsters.



CRISIS AVERTED!!!

I don't know what's more annoying though.  That hamster commercial or coming up with witty responses to Nagoshi's brilliant PR moves.

Tokyo Game Show, Oh-Ho It Sucked

This weekend I had no work whatsoever which is strange because I thought game school was going to knock me out.  Remember, "no one leaves before 8 pm?"  Well I left before 8 every single day so far.  Really, come ask me how my first game went.  I was quite comfortable!  No late-night grinding/knashing of the teeth!  :D

"Don't push your luck little man...we'll drop the hammer on you soon enough."

Anyway, they just had this Toyko Game Show (taking place at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan) and there's not a lot that I really cared about.  First, Sega & Electronic Arts had to share the same booth--I'm not s***ting you (read third paragraph).  And as I'm looking at the official Sega blog posts (one and two)--OH GOD it's everyone's favorite delinquent at it again!!  Pimping out Yakuza and Binary Domain.  Like he has Tourette's...."YAKUZAYAKUZABINARYDOMAINBINARYDOMAINYAKUZAYAKUZA" etc.

Way to go, Nagoshi-san!  You got all these girls in the same room, but you can't even make a new Daytona game.  What a shallow man.

Hey babe, where's the Daytona games???

SegaShiro also took a few more pics...here's the EA part of the Sega booth.  So Sega's basically promoting Battlefield 3.  That's great.

And then the pictures gets weird..

For some reason, the Sega official blog can't stop taking pictures of food.  Well, you know what I had for dinner?  Dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets.  I'm not making this up.

Look, it's the Sega Headquarters!!!  If Solid Snake and Sam Fisher could break in, we can too!!!  We're gamers, just put your minds to it.  Gamers always think they're macho like that--that's why we play intense action/adventure/RPG games...so we can be "cool."

Oh, and as usual, Sega is upstaged again by Capcom.  Crapcom had the best booth.  And then here's Keiji Inafune crying that he had wished he saved Megaman Legends 3 from cancellation.  Capcom flat out refused to let Inafune help them.  Even though Inafune "quit" (the trendy thing for ailing game designers to do, see Yuji Naka & Yu Suzuki), he was still able to do so under contract (I think).  EDIT: FYI, Inafune was THAT GUY who created Mega Man, just like Miyamoto created Mario & Zelda and Yuji Naka created Sonic.  So they killed Inafune's dreams...of a great Megaman game!  The bastards!!!

NOOOO!!!  THEY KILLED MY BABY!!!!!

So game developers, hang on closely to your old IP's, like Nagoshi with Daytona USA--aw hell, he doesn't even care anymore.

BTW, Nintendo doesn't even go to the Tokyo Game Show.  Instead, they sit back with their dopey 3DS joystick add-on and act all big and bad as usual.

Don't want to go to TGS?  What's the matter, Nintendo? CHICKEN???

NINTENDO!!!  I saw what you did there...  Because the 3DS sucks so bad and the Vita's gonna kick your ass, YOU ARE TERMINATED!!!

I know it doesn't make sense for Nintendo to be "fired" but this is just another lame attempt at a joke.

No one wins at TGS.  Just wait for the Daytona port to surface, ha.

Binary Domain Vs. Porn, The Choice Is Yours

Look at this--well, no; don't read the crap Kotaku article--read this instead, it's 100000x times better.  Slipped through my fingers.

Toshihiro Nagoshi, born in 1965, left his home at 15 (1980) due to family problems.  He wanted to make movies more than anything in the whole world!  So he got a film degree.  But the jobs in Toyko sucked--it was either be a lackey assistant director or porno director.  So THANKFULLY Nagoshi chose neither, preferring to mope around the house playing the Famicom (aka NES) give to him by his girlfriend during his college days.  So then he magically got a job at Sega, made Virtua Racing at 27 then Daytona USA at 29, got a tan, and the rest was history.

The fact that he wanted to be a film director first and foremost is tale-telling...maybe the man doesn't like simple arcade games...he wants to make "movie games" like Yakuza and Binary Domain.  Oh $#!*...put the pieces together.  Nagoshi's gone for good.  But how does someone go from film to game design like that?  This Wiki entry sucks and tells me nothing.  Supervisor over Shenmue...AW HELL NAW...

Would've been great if he had harped on Daytona USA more, but of course not...it was a brief piece that mostly talked about Yakuza & the Japanese quake.  Okay, but 17 years after Daytona USA's release, I highly doubt he was going to write a memoir on it.  I've already verbally beaten the crap out of him over his ignorance of his Daytona legacy so that's not new.  But Daytona USA over bukkake, ok that's a wise choice... (woah, look out kids)

"I know you still hate me, Eric."

OH, but there's more!  We know the background story for Binary Domain (pics included!!!), Nagoshi's new sparkling masterpiece now that's he forsaken racing games for good.  They even gave you a new trailer which I'm don't want to embed but I'm gonna anyway!!!

TURRIBLE STORY.  Here goes:

In 21st Century Tokyo, global warming (F*$% SHOULD'VE RODE OUR BIKES INSTEAD) has caused oceans to rise and new, futuristic cities were built on top of the dilapidated, old cities.  The rich live in the new cities and the poor live in the old cities.

Hot damn, it's that level from Sonic Riders!!!

In the ghetto...TRYIN TA STAY ALIVE...

The Amada Company was jerking off by ignoring Geneva conventions which banned robots.  Now you have robots running around like people but it's okay because people were too busy partying at rave clubs to even care.  Then in 2080, they somehow got really pissed off, ripped off their human-like faces (Ethan Hunt-style no doubt) and started killing everyone for no reason.

WARNING: Loud video

G**-DAMN ROBOTS!!!

Then you have these action heroes which will purge the world of robots and then we will quit pissing around on Facebook and Twitter and go outside, dancing and prancing through green pastures...

I am so preeetty!!

OH WAIT, now for the clincher--due to deep philosophical crap, all human beings turn into robots instead of the other way around.  DUN-DUN-DUN!  The end.  Give him an Oscar for this "interactive" film!

The story could be worse.  Instead of robots, it could be a massive supercomputer that kills everyone on earth except for five people that are incessantly teased and tortured, turning those who try to commit suicide into slugs...oh wait, there is a game like that already.

I know the Sega faithful will be stoked over it...kind of like their enthusiasm for Captain America and Total War which came out of nowhere other than that it had the Sega logo on it.  Me?  I'll be a bitter scrooge, you know it.  Gimme Shenmue 3 already, sheesus...

There's a silver lining in all this...if Nagoshi won't make another Daytona game, then it means that I WILL and it'll be better than Nagoshi could do himself...Sega Victoly again.  Farewell, Nagoshi, off to the bars to grab a Bud Light....

Sonic's Making A Comeback...Shenmue, Not So Much

SEGAbits is a good website that I should read more often.  Anyway, this is worth mentioning.  Sega held an event called "Sonic Boom" at a club right up the road from E3.  Sonic fans gathered to wear funny hats, play Sonic Generations demos, drink Sonic-related beverages and cupcakes, meet Yuji Naka and Takashi Iizuka, and check out the Crush 40 concert.  This is some guy's account from SEGAbits.  Also, here's some screenshots from the Sega America blog.

To tell you the truth, as stupid as this event seemed, it sounded like a good time...  I'm starting to feel good for Sonic fans again.  Go get 'em, guys.  EDIT: Might wanna read part 2 of Sonic Boom here.

Also, Sonic on the cover of Nintendo Power.  SEGAbits, mind if I steal your bandwidth?  Thanks!

There's something weird about seeing old-school Sonic on the (rather plain) cover of Nintendo Power...but it just means that SONIC'S MAKING A COMEBACK, BABY!!!  Move over Mario, move over Link, move over Samus, move over Pikachu...

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Alllllrriiiggghhhtttt...enough with that, here's more SEGAbits for you.  This is an article.  Mike Hayes, the President and CEO of Sega West (Europe & America), was talking about Shenmue at a CVG interview (nice of the man to spend time with the people...). 

“Trust me,” he continued, “We hear loud and clear about Shenmue, and we’re not going to close our ears to it."



“To be fair to us we’ve done Sonic 4, Afterburner, Golden Axe and Shinobi on 3DS. We do listen. It’s not like we’ve got our fingers in our ears, we take that very seriously and value the small but vocal people. Sonic 4 was the perfect example that we’re listening to those guys. Generations is too – and that will show when people get to see it for themselves.”

Me and a lot of other people always cheer on Sega in hopes that it'll influence them.  And it is GOOD that we have a CEO who will point out Game X, Game Y, Game Z and say, "Look, we're trying."  Good!  Talk is cheap, but better to have talk than to be blissfully ignorant to the fans!

EDIT: Just realized this is the same Mike Hayes that said we'd get 18-24 Dreamcast ports by 2012.  So that's not good although that was a long time ago so MAYBE we'll overlook this.

Then this is what the article writer goes on to say:

But rebooting a series is only half the battle Mike, it’s all well and good to say ‘hey look we gave you Golden Axe and Sonic 4’ but the simple fact is that if you are going to reboot a series it has, I repeat has to be done with care… If you’re going to just hand out your classics to unproven, bulls*** American developers that usually work on license titles (like the Shinobi reboot) then I’m not sure any Sega fan will be thanking you for that!

Well, not very flattering of (some) American devs, but he's right.  You only get ONE chance (maybe two, like OutRun 2 or Sega Rally) at a remake/port.  For instance, a developer can't come out with, say, a new Jet Set Radio game which sucks (or at least has moderate yet inexcusable flaws) and then say, "Oops, we screwed up, let's remake the game from scratch again."  You might be able to release patches or DLC to salvage it but devs just can't mull over the same idea for too long without losing everyone's interest (and thus profits).

I’m more than happy to see Shenmue continue like most old Sega IPs. In fact I would be extremely excited, it is my favourite series of all time! But if it was farmed out to some developer I’ve never heard of, heck if it came from ANY developer besides AM2 then Mike, frankly I don’t want it…

Does anyone trust anything besides AM2?  Anyway, I highly doubt they'll trust Shenmue 3 with anyone other than Yu Suzuki and AM2.  I don't think Sega will go that low and give it to some chump studio...

But that's all well and good, it's common sense, etc.  Legendary game series deserve top-notch care...

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And going through these stories makes me feel good.  I'm going to say this and it may shock a few of you: I'm a little more optimistic about Sega these days thanks to both the company and the fans.  Well, they're not perfect (Binary Domain, Dreamcast ports, etc.)  , but they're not screwing around as much these days.  We're fortunate cause we have home ports of Crazy Taxi, Sega Rally 3, and OutRun 2.  We've also got Daytona 1 & 2 plus Scud Race on emulators.  We got Sega & Sonic All-Stars Racing.  Sonic games are getting better.  Massive amounts of new Daytona 2 media.  You know what I'm talking about.  WE CAN DO IT, SEGA!!!