Highway Trance -
January 04, 2001 - Chris Jones
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed
within this column are those of the participants and the
moderator, and do not necessarily reflect those of the
GIA. There is coarse language and potentially offensive
material afoot. Say, Thag... Wall of ice closer today?
Don't say we didn't warn you.
Drove a long, long way today, but now I get to stay put for a few
months. And my pipes didn't freeze while I was gone.
That's all I got for now.
Onward.
| Killing a gnat with an
elephant gun |
| Christopher-
I think that Nintendo's possible purchase of Sega would mainly be to eliminate
that "competition". I don't know much about corporate buy-outs, but wouldn't
they also acquire licenses and other of those types of things?
I don't think that the characters would cross systems as much as the games themselves
might cross systems. I remember buying a Sega CD mainly for Sonic CD (come on,
I was like eight, it was Christmas anyway), so maybe they can trick kids into
switching loyalties to some different systems. Don't forget, SegaNet might become NintendoNet too.
Why implement an online network when you can buy someone else's for your own upcoming system
if you want that option.
I say, hey, if the Big N's got the money, go for it. Cash is king!
Jackson, who's looking forward to buying my first Segtendo system, which will probably have WAY TOO MANY buttons |
First off, I should point out that I've been out of the loop on the
latest news for a while, so this topic may well be a moot point by
now. If that's the case, just chalk these letters up as thought
experiments, but otherwise, there's some good stuff here.
There are two problems I can see with this hypothesis, the main one
being that if Sega were any kind of serious competition, Nintendo would
never be able to even consider buying Sega. If Nintendo does nothing,
there's a chance that Sega might just curl up and die by itself, so
a buyout to eliminate the company would be pointless. Beyond that, the Game
Cube doesn't seem to have much in the way of online connectivity, so
acquiring Sega Net wouldn't do much for Nintendo.
| You complete me |
| Hey Chris,
Since the debut (and overall failure) the the Saturn, I've been saying that
Sega needed to be a third party company, and there seem to be a lot of
people that would agree with me. They make excellent games, but they don't
quite have the same success with their consoles. I would hope that they
would be an independent company, just so they could publish for multiple
platforms. A buy out by Nintendo would basically make them a second party
company, which would be a very good thing for Nintendo. Both companies
make excellent games, and they could really dominate a lot of genres. Both
make great platformers, Sega has had some good RPGs of late (with Shenmue
and Skies of Arcadia), plus Sega brings great sports games with it.
Nintendo could easily end up on top of Sony and Microsoft in this console
war if they had Sega as the ace up their sleeve.
Oh, and I totally forgot about visual style when I wrote in yesterday.
Most games of late have focused on detail (Madden '01, Shenmue to name a
few) lately, and titles like Jet Grind Radio (which I'm dying to play) have
been overlooked by many. Just from the screens and brief movies of JGR, I
would really like to see more titles done in that style.
-CTZanderman, who's proud to have the opening letter for the first column
of the year two years running |
With people like Rare backing Nintendo up, the one thing they're not
hurting for is a second party developer, but this is a great idea
nonetheless. You're absolutely right when you point out that Sega's
games would perfectly complement Nintendo's lineup: Nintendo's done
great at putting out general interest, fun-for-the-whole-family type
stuff, while Sega's got a serious cachet of cool with quirky titles
like CCR. Getting Team Andromeda (or whatever's left of it) to develop
independant RPGs for the system could make the GC a serious threat to
the PS2. I dunno if that's how Nintendo would look at the deal, but
from a gamer's point of view, this would be a truly great matchup.
| You can't always get
what you want |
| Well, Deus Ex ended up with nine points. I voted it number one, which means
that I am the only one who found it worth being the best game of the year.
Which means only about one in a hundred given people found it the best game
of the year. Well, if there was ever a reason to exterminate humanity, this
is it.
H-Box
Whose plan ended after an unfortunate choice to start with himself. |
You might want to keep in mind that this is a console RPG column -
as a rule, PC RPGs don't get discussed, and if I'd have bothered to
think ahead, I probably would have mentioned PC games wouldn't be
counted at all. As it is, if Monkey Island 4 or Deus Ex (which are
great games, they're just not covered by the site) had even beroken
into the top 10 I would have discarded them - they're just there to
give an idea of what other kinds of games you folks are looking at.
Besides, there's nothing wrong with not being blown away by an FPS.
What's truly disturbing is that Ion Storm managed to make a decent game
for once.
| Once you're pulled
inside, there is no escape |
|
I need to start with something from yesterday's column... This Aleksandrs guy
was talking about wanting more customization in games. While I think it's
simply rediculous to make a game where you can do anything you want (what's
the point..?), I do want to see more non-linear storylines. In fact, I think
a nice option would be to make a game where you can choose the main
character's personality. Something like that could affect the game entirely.
What if Squall was a bright, cheery kinda guy? What if Aeris was some biker
chick? Given that'd take a lot of memory to hold all the different options
that'd occur.. but you know.
Anyway... Nintendo and Sega... while I really don't like Nintendo at all
(lately, anyway), and while I really love Sega... I think that if Nintendo
DID buy out Sega, it'd work better for both sides, given some compromising
went on. First, I think this should be some sort of short-term deal - kind
of like a bad guy teaming up with a good guy to take down and even worse guy.
I still want to see tons of first-party Sega games. They haven't let me
down let. At the same time, since Nintendo is obviously more popular with
people, it'd give Sega more exposure. And if they planned well enough, in
another couple of years, Sega could decide to leave and be their own company
again. Hooray. Actually, the only reason I'd want Nintendo to buy out Sega
is to guarantee the completion of the Shenmue series. I know that Sega is
still completely devoted to the Dreamcast (in the latest issue of ODCM, they
tell a little about what Sega's planning to do, and it sounds fine with
me...), but I just don't think the DC will be around long enough for Yu
Suzuki to finish Shenmue... and with absolutely no knew Sega console on the
horizon... I don't know...
-(chris)-
Such a common name...
|
I actually don't have a problem with doing whatever you want in a
game... except by that point it'd be less like a game, and more like
your own private world. I suspect that's what Shenmue's going for, as
much as anything. But the problem is, you simply couldn't have
any decent kind of story in that setup. User choice destroys dramatic
tension, and without dramatic tension, you might as well be playing
Mad Libs with a generic swords-and-sorcery plot. Anybody remember
those Choose Your Own Adventure books from the '80's? They were
interesting to play around with to track down all the branches, but
otherwise, they were complete crap. I know I keep pounding this idea
into the ground, but I think it's pretty well bourne out by historical
evidence (anomolies like Tactics Ogre aside).
If Sega did merge with Nintendo, it's a safe bet to say that they'd
never again emerge as their won company. The only reason Nintendo would do
this kind of merger is to raid the company for their development and
techincal skills - within a year or two, I doubt there'd be anything even
remotely resembling the current Sega. This is a terminal process for the
company, if it goes through.
| But what would the PTA
say? |
|
Greetings, Chris Jones,
I know you're looking for commentary about the rumored Nintendo/Sega buyout,
but that's not why I'm writing. Sorry.
I wanted to comment on the letter from DarkLao, whose remarks, along with yours,
made me chuckle mightily. He is looking forward to ten years from now, when
RPGs will be so mainstream, that mothers will be playing them as if they were
curling up with a good book, and you tell him not to hold his breath, that the old
biddies who didn't grow up with gaming will never catch onto all the little buttons.
Why, you young whippersnapper!
In fact, I am a mom who has indeed caught onto all the little buttons, much
to my son's dismay, who is a young whippersnapper like you and is appalled by
the whole thing. I have found that RPGs are a happy blend of getting into a
good story *sometimes* and puzzle-solving, both of which are pastimes that I
love. Also, I get to stare at a TV screen the whole time, and how good can things get,
I ask you! Now, I have become an embarrassment to my child, and that's just too damned bad.
*Son comes home with friend. "No!" son says to friend, "don't go in there!
My mom's in there! I don't want you to see her like this!" "Oh, alcoholic?"
friend asks sympathetically. Son shakes head. "No, worse. She's in there
playing FF Anthology." Friend puts pitying hand on son's shoulder and shakes head sadly.*
Let me say that I enjoy your column very much, as much as a doddering old broad
can, anyway.
Just sign me,
~Mom |
Forgiveness, please. I never meant to imply that having kids meant
playing games was an imposibility. I'm pretty sure you're not the only
mother who plays RPGs, or even reads the column. More power to you -
the gaming community needs more demographic diversity, as far as I'm
concerned. (Not that nerdy adolecent and post-adolecent males aren't
cool too, but weird things happen when we reach critical mass.)
Still, I'm gonna argue that, rare exeptions like yourself aside, the
medium just doesn't have the appeal it needs to attract a wider
audience. (Like my family, for instance.)
For that to happen, we'd probably need games that were more like
"Friends", "ER", or "Touched by an Angel"... which probably means the cure
is worse than the disease.
| He shall be avenged, I
swear it! |
|
Chris,
I think Nintendo buying Sega would mean the destruction of Sonic the
Hedegehog. Originally Sonic would smash robots (and incidentally free some
cute little critters who immediately bounced offscreen and out of the game).
Sadly, Sonic has become more affectionate over time. The modern Sonic
doesn't 'merely' free creatures, he raises them, breeds them. A bad case of
Pokemon envy if I ever saw one. I understand Sega is taking the breeding
aspects of the next Dreamcast Sonic game even further. So I fully expect
that once Nintendo buys Sega and gives them permission to use the Pokemon
cast, that Sonic (my one-time hero) will wind up cradling Pikachu (the
epitome of everything that is wrong with Nintendo) in his arms. So, to
paraphrase Obi-Wan Kenobi, while Sonic may continue to exist, the Sonic I
knew and respected will be dead, having been betrayed and murdered
(sob).
- Mark |
I feel your pain, Mark. In the meantime, just remember: wherever
there's a large egg-shaped man is enslaving the local wildlife,
wherever there's a pipe bent in the shape of a loop-de-loop for no
particular reason, wherever great speed is needed, but no motorized
vehicles are allowed, or wherever a hero with "attitude" is demanded... he'll be there.
The Ghost of Sonic Joad.
Closing Comments:
Free topic day tomorrow. Enjoy. Later.
-Chris Jones, 800 miles from
where he started
|
