New Sonic To Launch Ray Tracing Sega Console.

[CruSega]

Naka had nothing but contempt and loathing for Bernie Stolar. He despised him from the very beginning because he felt that hiring someone from a rival company as the CEO of the American division was poor judgement. Yuji Naka didn't want Sonic Xtreme to use the Nights engine because he wasn't about to let a game starring his flagship character being produced under Stolar get developed with Naka's seal of approval. Basically, he was wiping his hands clean of involvment.

As for Sonic Jam, Sonic Team hurridly developed it shortly after the cancellation of Xtreme. They decided that it would be a while before they could release a stronger Sonic title so they quickly threw together a complation title using a new engine, adding lots of interactive extras and features, the idea was to give Saturn owners something to do if they got bored with the Genesis titles, while hoping Sonic fans hold out while Sonic Team was developing a stronger Sonic game codenamed "Sonic RPG". In July 1997, a month after the Japanese release of Sonic Jam & 10 weeks into Sonic RPG's development, SEGA started development of Dreamcast, all resources were moved to the new platform. In February 1998, 9 months into development, Sonic RPG was changed to Sonic Adventure.

I doubt any of us who have followed Sega admire Stolar, but Sega is a multi-national corporation and they needed to work together. It is this disdain and lack of communication between SOJ and SOA that led to the Saturn disaster. Sega hiring Stolar as CEO was one of the worst decisions in company history, when all was said and done.

[stu]

I doubt any of us who have followed Sega admire Stolar, but Sega is a multi-national corporation and they needed to work together. It is this disdain and lack of communication between SOJ and SOA that led to the Saturn disaster. Sega hiring Stolar as CEO was one of the worst decisions in company history, when all was said and done.

Quite true, the way SOJ tried to sabotage and dismantle SOA and to a lesser extent SOE was really unforgivable and is a perfect example of Sega shooting themselves in the foot. I thought I'd post a link to a feature from Sega16.com called Tom Kalinske : American Samurai, it details a lot of the interference from SOJ and also claims that it was SOJ that killed Sonic Xtreme.

Here's an interesting quote:

" The sheer arrogance and stupidity demonstrated by Sega of Japan here are almost too much to measure, but let’s try to put them in simple terms, shall we?

■1995: Sega of Japan decides to discontinue the Genesis in the U.S. and Europe, ignoring the installed user base of almost 30 million units the console has worldwide.

■Sega of Japan then ignores everything that Kalinske has done for the company and strips him of all control, reducing him to a mere figurehead.

■Sega of Japan rushes the Saturn’s launch, leaving it without software for months and pissing off retailers and 3rd party licensees in the process. Most of them flock to Sony.

■1996: Tom Kalinske resigns (taking a lot of the staff with him, including the company’s founder – David Rosen) Bernie Stolar is hired to succeed him.

■Sometime in Late 1996: Sega of Japan cancels the one big name title that could have helped the Saturn – Sonic X-treme.

■1997: Bernie Stolar infuriates the few 3rd party companies left (most notably Working Designs) and reveals that July that the Saturn was no longer Sega’s future and had been “stillborn.” Moreover, his five-star policy tightens the noose around the Saturn’s neck and leaves most of the great software in Japan.

In less than two years, Sega of Japan had almost killed Sega. Most place all the blame on Nakayama. In his defense though, both the cutbacks and focus on solely the Saturn were the way to go in Japan and helped achieve that console’s success there. The Mega Drive was a distant third in that country, lagging way behind the Super Famicom and PC-Engine. By concentrating on the Saturn, Nakayama was able to reclaim the second spot over Nintendo’s floundering N64.

http://www.sega-16.com/2005/02/tom-kali ... n-samurai/

A very telling and depressing tale of SOJ's arrogance and foolishness with regard to their US and European subsidaries.

[RiilihShimo]

All of this console hype is getting really annoying.
There could be a console out there or not. The world will never know!

Hmm at least there is proof of this "KIDS PAD" However, I think its an iPad application.

Go to Burger King and have it your way! xD

[MrSega]

@CruSega. Hiring Bernie Stolar was the worst business move SEGA could ever had done during the 1990s, instead of properly vet a businessman, they made a very ill advised marketing move hiring a Sony flunkee.

You have to also understand that during the 90s, SEGA was a very divided company. Each divsion did thier own thing and made thier own business decisions. Hayao Nakayama wasn't a saint. He was actually a very difficult man to work with. He was a tyrant. It was either his way or the highway. Ironically when Saturn begin development in early 1993, Mega Drive had finally caught up to PC Engine as NEC's console market begin to fade away, Nakayama's hiearchy pay enginees more than developers policy had caused Yuji Naka to run off to Sega of America. Nakayama was also xenophobic & prejudice. He insisted that project "Aurora" be kept top secret and only SEGA of Japan would have info on it leaving Sega of America completely in the dark during the first year of Saturn's development.

Despite Nakayama's sorehead uppity business attitude, I agree with his business moves. Nakayama always had the right idea and intentions, the main serious flaw that sunk SEGA in the 90s was the constant miscommunications between him and Sega of America which led to internal civil war.

I think SOA should have consulted with Nakayama & asked him for advice. They failed to understand that he always had the right idea.

[MrSega]

All of this console hype is getting really annoying.
There could be a console out there or not. The world will never know!

Hmm at least there is proof of this "KIDS PAD" However, I think its an iPad application.

Go to Burger King and have it your way! xD

Well, iPad does play downloadable software. So KIDS PAD will definetly still be able to play games. I'll buy one.

[CruSega]

I doubt any of us who have followed Sega admire Stolar, but Sega is a multi-national corporation and they needed to work together. It is this disdain and lack of communication between SOJ and SOA that led to the Saturn disaster. Sega hiring Stolar as CEO was one of the worst decisions in company history, when all was said and done.

Quite true, the way SOJ tried to sabotage and dismantle SOA and to a lesser extent SOE was really unforgivable and is a perfect example of Sega shooting themselves in the foot. I thought I'd post a link to a feature from Sega16.com called Tom Kalinske : American Samurai, it details a lot of the interference from SOJ and also claims that it was SOJ that killed Sonic Xtreme.

Here's an interesting quote:

" The sheer arrogance and stupidity demonstrated by Sega of Japan here are almost too much to measure, but let’s try to put them in simple terms, shall we?

■1995: Sega of Japan decides to discontinue the Genesis in the U.S. and Europe, ignoring the installed user base of almost 30 million units the console has worldwide.

■Sega of Japan then ignores everything that Kalinske has done for the company and strips him of all control, reducing him to a mere figurehead.

■Sega of Japan rushes the Saturn’s launch, leaving it without software for months and pissing off retailers and 3rd party licensees in the process. Most of them flock to Sony.

■1996: Tom Kalinske resigns (taking a lot of the staff with him, including the company’s founder – David Rosen) Bernie Stolar is hired to succeed him.

■Sometime in Late 1996: Sega of Japan cancels the one big name title that could have helped the Saturn – Sonic X-treme.

■1997: Bernie Stolar infuriates the few 3rd party companies left (most notably Working Designs) and reveals that July that the Saturn was no longer Sega’s future and had been “stillborn.” Moreover, his five-star policy tightens the noose around the Saturn’s neck and leaves most of the great software in Japan.

In less than two years, Sega of Japan had almost killed Sega. Most place all the blame on Nakayama. In his defense though, both the cutbacks and focus on solely the Saturn were the way to go in Japan and helped achieve that console’s success there. The Mega Drive was a distant third in that country, lagging way behind the Super Famicom and PC-Engine. By concentrating on the Saturn, Nakayama was able to reclaim the second spot over Nintendo’s floundering N64.

http://www.sega-16.com/2005/02/tom-kali ... n-samurai/

A very telling and depressing tale of SOJ's arrogance and foolishness with regard to their US and European subsidaries.

Yep. Couldn't agree more. SOJ destroyed the US and Europe fanbase to make the Saturn a smash in Japan. Than, when DC was released, the Japanese gamers jumped off the bandwagon. I wish VF was never a huge craze over there cause than Sega would have concentrated on their usual markets. Similar to MS, the Japanese have proven to show no fondness for most Sega systems and even Sonic was not popular among them.

Still, Bernie Stolar is as hatable as anyone in SOJ. They should have stuck with Kalinske. Stolar sucks, and that's why Sony dropped him shortly after PSOne launch. He has no people, business, marketing or any other skills.

[CruSega]

@CruSega. Hiring Bernie Stolar was the worst business move SEGA could ever had done during the 1990s, instead of properly vet a businessman, they made a very ill advised marketing move hiring a Sony flunkee.

You have to also understand that during the 90s, SEGA was a very divided company. Each divsion did thier own thing and made thier own business decisions. Hayao Nakayama wasn't a saint. He was actually a very difficult man to work with. He was a tyrant. It was either his way or the highway. Ironically when Saturn begin development in early 1993, Mega Drive had finally caught up to PC Engine as NEC's console market begin to fade away, Nakayama's hiearchy pay enginees more than developers policy had caused Yuji Naka to run off to Sega of America. Nakayama was also xenophobic & prejudice. He insisted that project "Aurora" be kept top secret and only SEGA of Japan would have info on it leaving Sega of America completely in the dark during the first year of Saturn's development.

Despite Nakayama's sorehead uppity business attitude, I agree with his business moves. Nakayama always had the right idea and intentions, the main serious flaw that sunk SEGA in the 90s was the constant miscommunications between him and Sega of America which led to internal civil war.

I think SOA should have consulted with Nakayama & asked him for advice. They failed to understand that he always had the right idea.

But it was Nakayama who called for the discontinuation of all Sega Systems except Saturn in the mid 90s. Majesco was still making money taking over the Genesis distribution. That was a dumb move, me thinks.

[MrSega]

@CruSega. Nakayama was the one who told SOA to market SEGA CD as a Genesis expansion pack not a multimedia console. He was the one that WARNED SOA about the 32X, and had hoped Jupiter could help American consumers stay preoccupied while Saturn was being preped for launch in the fall of '95. Nakayama also told Yuji Naka in 1991 that he believed that Sonic was vital to the future of the company.


As for the Genesis, it lasted in America until 1997. On July 1,1997 both SEGA of America and Nintendo of America both annouced that Genesis & Super NES had ceased production. Mega Drive was supported in overseas markets until 1998. Newly appointed SEGA/CSK CEO Soichiro Iwajiri had told board members in September 1997 that his New Years Resolution was to discontinue ALL SEGA home consumer products except Saturn globally & hopes that Stolar would listen and accept $100 million to keep Saturn going in America one more year. On January 1,1998 SEGA abandoned all 6 of its home
consumer products except Saturn. Bernie Stolar confirmed on April 30,1998
that all Saturn products were being liqiudated by Sega of America. I pesonally am looking foward to SEGA making another hardware run. They are a more unified, hamonized company now.












Personally, I'm excited at the idea of SEGA making

[stu]

[Yep. Couldn't agree more. SOJ destroyed the US and Europe fanbase to make the Saturn a smash in Japan. Than, when DC was released, the Japanese gamers jumped off the bandwagon. I wish VF was never a huge craze over there cause than Sega would have concentrated on their usual markets. Similar to MS, the Japanese have proven to show no fondness for most Sega systems and even Sonic was not popular among them.
Still, Bernie Stolar is as hatable as anyone in SOJ. They should have stuck with Kalinske. Stolar sucks, and that's why Sony dropped him shortly after PSOne launch. He has no people, business, marketing or any other skills.

I agree with that, especially the part about keeping Kalinske, it was Kalinske that built up Sega of America in to an extremely successful company, even beating Nintendo in the US market, I think if the Japanese parent company had left things alone and allowed Kalinske to run his operation they way he was doing that Sega's fortunes would not have ended up so dire.

In the first place SOJ should not have dumped the Mars project on the US operation and forced the creation of the dreadful 32X, the Genesis DID NOT need another expansion and they could of gotten away with utilizing the SVP chip used in Virtua Racing more, imagine a version of Virtua Fighter running on the Genesis using the SVP! Of course it would of been downgraded from the arcade version, but it would given the Genesis a shot in the arm for sure.

SOJ then should of stuck with the original plan to launch the Saturn in September 1995 and kept the Genesis going beyond 1995 as a budget system. As Nintendo proved, the 16 bit market from 1994 through 1997 was still VERY viable and Sega could of eked a few more good years out of the Genesis, look how successful the Genesis version of Sonic 3D sold for evidence.

In the end I think the most bitter irony in the whole screwjob done to Kalinske and SOA was that the very man that personally asked Kalinske to head up Sega of America was the same man that screwed him over.

His name? Hayao Nakayama.

@ MrSega - Nintendo of America actually killed off the SNES is 1999, however the Super Famicom stayed in production in Japan until May 2003, when NCL finally ceased manufacturing them. As I've already pointed out the Genesis/Megadrive was killed off in the Japanese and US markets through 1995/96 by SOJ/SOA, Sega Europe kept the European version of the MegaDrive going until 1997.

I think you might be getting confused as Sega licenced a US company called Majesco to re-release the Genesis 2 in 1998 and sell off about 150,000 unsold systems and millions of unsold games, Majesco then released their own version of the Genesis called the Genesis 3, a price war then ensued with Nintendo and Majesco sold between 1 and 2 million Genesis 3 systems and about 10 million game cartridges during the 1998 fiscal year, which was still pretty good considering that the 16 bit market only accounted for about 10% of the market by then. The last game release for the Genesis was a version of Frogger, this was also released in 1998.

[CruSega]

[Yep. Couldn't agree more. SOJ destroyed the US and Europe fanbase to make the Saturn a smash in Japan. Than, when DC was released, the Japanese gamers jumped off the bandwagon. I wish VF was never a huge craze over there cause than Sega would have concentrated on their usual markets. Similar to MS, the Japanese have proven to show no fondness for most Sega systems and even Sonic was not popular among them.
Still, Bernie Stolar is as hatable as anyone in SOJ. They should have stuck with Kalinske. Stolar sucks, and that's why Sony dropped him shortly after PSOne launch. He has no people, business, marketing or any other skills.

I agree with that, especially the part about keeping Kalinske, it was Kalinske that built up Sega of America in to an extremely successful company, even beating Nintendo in the US market, I think if the Japanese parent company had left things alone and allowed Kalinske to run his operation they way he was doing that Sega's fortunes would not have ended up so dire.

In the first place SOJ should not have dumped the Mars project on the US operation and forced the creation of the dreadful 32X, the Genesis DID NOT need another expansion and they could of gotten away with utilizing the SVP chip used in Virtua Racing more, imagine a version of Virtua Fighter running on the Genesis using the SVP! Of course it would of been downgraded from the arcade version, but it would given the Genesis a shot in the arm for sure.

SOJ then should of stuck with the original plan to launch the Saturn in September 1995 and kept the Genesis going beyond 1995 as a budget system. As Nintendo proved, the 16 bit market from 1994 through 1997 was still VERY viable and Sega could of eked a few more good years out of the Genesis, look how successful the Genesis version of Sonic 3D sold for evidence.

In the end I think the most bitter irony in the whole screwjob done to Kalinske and SOA was that the very man that personally asked Kalinske to head up Sega of America was the same man that screwed him over.

His name? Hayao Nakayama.

@ MrSega - Nintendo of America actually killed off the SNES is 1999, however the Super Famicom stayed in production in Japan until May 2003, when NCL finally ceased manufacturing them. As I've already pointed out the Genesis/Megadrive was killed off in the Japanese and US markets through 1995/96 by SOJ/SOA, Sega Europe kept the European version of the MegaDrive going until 1997.

I think you might be getting confused as Sega licenced a US company called Majesco to re-release the Genesis 2 in 1998 and sell off about 150,000 unsold systems and millions of unsold games, Majesco then released their own version of the Genesis called the Genesis 3, a price war then ensued with Nintendo and Majesco sold between 1 and 2 million Genesis 3 systems and about 10 million game cartridges during the 1998 fiscal year, which was still pretty good considering that the 16 bit market only accounted for about 10% of the market by then. The last game release for the Genesis was a version of Frogger, this was also released in 1998.

Seemed like Sega was experiencing an identity crisis by 1993-1994--like were they a Japanese company founded by an American or were they an American company running and employing Japanese? David Rosen, the founder of Sega, walked away along with Kalinske so its obvious that there was a lot of tension between SOA and SOJ.

The tensions were coming at the worst possible time too as Sony was gobbling up market share. The EB Games I was employed at was selling PSOnes at a 7:1 ratio to the Saturn-this in the crucial 1995 holiday season. When VF2 and Sega Rally were released, there was renewed hope but AM2 and AM3 foolishly refused to hand over the development tools and graphics libraries to third parties who ended up utilizing only 1 of the SH2 processors which lead to quite a few PSOne games hastily being ported over to Saturn as an afterthought.