Would you give up…

[SuperFamiTom]

Would you give up one or more of the current big three console manufacturers (Nintendo / Sony / Microsoft) if it resulted in a resurgence and new console from either Sega, NEC or SNK in their prime? 
 

I’m pretty sure that I’d be happy to give up Sony in a heartbeat if it resulted in a new Sega console. Maybe it’s just nostalgia but the gaming world just felt richer and more exciting when there was a current Sega console about with their brand of arcade titles to play on it. 
 

Don’t get me wrong. I’d love to keep Sony too and their machines have hosted many many amazing games over the years but I do feel like they as a company add less value to the gaming landscape than than the others. 

[SMD]

Their primes are completely irrelevant to today, a modern version of Sega or SNK in their prime wouldn't exist cos they'd have to adapt to the times. At that point, what are you gaining for what you've given up?

 

If Sega, SNK or NEC could adapt to be at the same level now, they wouldn't have gone through the troubles they did. Sega especially, arcade games are functionally dead. 

 

I do think that Sega could have bridged the gap between Sony and Nintendo but they never had the management for that. I'm not sure what SNK would be now other than an extremely niche developer. 

[MattyP]

Think it's more nostalgia than anything.

 

Todays gaming landscape has moved on so much since Sega left the console hardware business. In terms of hardware costs and software dev costs. Arcade gaming is practically dead.

 

Question for me what would Sega (or anyone else) add these days? They already publish software and if they created a machine it would more than likely be based on PC hardware so the games wouldn't feel any different to the one's they publish now on other platforms.

 

For me the era from say 90 to mid 2000s was amongst the most exciting period in gaming hardware was getting much better at 3D Sega, Sony and MS were bringing all sorts of new things to the table. So I can see where you are coming from. However it was as less risky then in that everything was less expensive to make. 

 

Now we have the power game that has been taken to the extreme with AAA content costing so much to produce it will be a time of consolidation not expansion in terms of platforms and hardware which is why I guess the whole gaming landscape can feel a bit stagnant and flat if you focus on the mainstream.

 

I think Sony add perhaps more value to gaming than we think - the dual sense controller for example, VR etc They are pushing console gaming into new areas. Nintendo are quirky and release interesting consoles and hardware (Labo, Ring Fit etc).  MS creating a platform agnostic gaming service. We have Meta Quest too and the PC.

 

In the end I think there has never been a time when we have had so much choice. The hardware it runs on largely irrelevant these days just different pads and OSes. However so many games and I think that is why the gaming landscape feels less exciting because there is simply too much to comprehend. All you need to do if seek out and focus on things that make it exciting and fun for you. It has never been richer than it is now IMHO.

 

TDLR I'd not give up anything or change anything. Gaming has never been so broad and we need to make the effort to focus on what we find exciting and enriches our gaming experience! 

[Phantoon]

I'm all about the new games, and at the moment neither Sony nor Microsoft are producing much of them (and much of the ones being produced are increasingly not what I'm interested in either). If we could get Sega back in the imperial phase like with the Mega Drive, where they were producing classics on an almost monthly basis, then I'd give up today's Sony or Microsoft. Probably Microsoft, because Astro Bot is so good it deserves a stay of execution.

 

The problem being that Sega was big on technology like Sony and Microsoft, and if they also went purely after the AAA they wouldn't be producing much either. .

[Qazimod]

I haven't bought a Nintendo console since the original DS - or maybe the SNES Mini - so I don't think it would be that hard!

 

I think you hit upon an issue I have with the retrospective love for the DC, in that I don't know if it would have half of the reverence it does if it didn't have the Sega badge. If some Chinese knock-off manufacturer managed to develop the same chips and boards and put them in their own box today, nobody would care. Its our attachment to these organisations that makes us appreciate their consoles. Also, Sega still produce games today, and so all you would get is a box that played Sonic Forces, or a borked version of PSO 2, or Crazy Taxi Fare Wars.

 

The only way it would deliver on the nostalgia is if the games went through some kind of approval procedure - like, a certain Metascore - before being greenlit for this new console.  

[carlospie]

I'd give up sony and nintendo in a heart beat for sega!

[Harsin]

Out of interest what do you all actually think Sega would be doing differently now if they had a console? It’s not like they’re not an active company that’s still making games.

 

This just seems like nebulous arrested development MAH CHILDHOOD stuff.

[Fry Crayola]

This reminds me of when people want to bring back the UEFA Cup and Cup Winner's Cup. They were fun tournaments, yes, but you'll also need to bring back the football landscape of the 90s, when great players weren't just migrating to the biggest leagues in their teens, to make them work. 

 

So it is here. A new Sega console is nothing to write home about without also having everything else back the way it was.

[SMD]

tbf if you put the european cup, uefa cup and cup winners cup back how they were, you'd go some way to reducing the number of top players concentrated across a few teams

[Fry Crayola]

I think you'd also need to do a hell of a lot of rearranging of the political landscape and the accumulation of wealth, which aren't the result of UEFA tournaments which pay relative peanuts in comparison.

 

The horse has bolted, and no amount of refurbishment of the stable can change that. We gotta hunt and kill the horse.

 

But for another thread in another folder!

[Lying Cat]

I'm struggling to see what difference the console saying Sega on the front rather than Sony would actually make. Everything these days is just a PC in a different case running a cut down operating system. The people behind the old boxes are welcome to keep making games on the new boxes, and I'll (probably) buy them if they're any good.

[partious]

I've already pretty much decided not to buy any more Sony and Microsoft consoles going forward, so sure.

 

I think the problem with a question like this on this forum is that a lot of the people who are still enthusiastically posting on game forums of the non-retro variety and telling us how we've never had it as good etc weren't really big fans of arcade games, Sega games etc etc. 

I can see the clear progression from 80s home computers, 90s PC games, Tomb Raiders, Resident Evils, Syphon Filters, Gran Tourismos etc etc to making that claim, but I can't see a logical link from Crazy Taxi, Sega Rally, Daytona, Ridge Racer and all the rest of the great arcade games we were constantly getting until the early 2000s to thinking we're currently in a golden age.

 

I'd trade any of the modern game publishers output for a legal way to play all the modern arcade games people pirate and run on the "emulator" (not actually an emulator) teknoparrot.

[Mr. Gerbik]

Sega has never been better, the quality of the Yakuza series is unprecedented in videogames. I'd rather they keep focusing on putting out great games rather than get distracted by needless hardware - which all kinda samey nowadays anyway apart from handhelds. Xbox Series, PlayStation 5, gaming PC... you get the same experiences and features across these very similar platforms, what would it matter if one had the Sega logo on it.

[Thor]

I just realised something. I'd be more inclined to get an Xbox and buy into that ecosystem if it was Sega branded. 

[Lying Cat]

1 minute ago, partious said:

I can't see a logical link from Crazy Taxi, Sega Rally, Daytona, Ridge Racer and all the rest of the great arcade games we were constantly getting until the early 2000s to thinking we're currently in a golden age.

 

Maybe I want more than "drive the car" for my golden age?

[partious]

15 minutes ago, Lying Cat said:

 

Maybe I want more than "drive the car" for my golden age?

 

My bias showing There were arcade style games that weren't about driving cars too I'm sure, but you'll just have to take my word for it.

[dataDave]

I've been exclusively Nintendo and PC since the PS2 and X360.

 

Sega could give it a good attempt with the Yakuza games and their arcade offerings (I spent 90% of my time at Arcade Club on Daytona 3), while also capturing some other IPs such as Bayonetta. They have a huge catalogue of existing IP that they could fund and outsource to the right people - that'd be just the exclusives, which I think we can all agree where Microsoft (and to a much lesser extent Sony) are drastically lacking. The new line of Xbox consoles are practically Third Party/Indie machines.

 

I'd buy into a new Sega machine, irrespective of the specs.

[Lorfarius]

Not with Gamepass no. It's brought me back into modern gaming in a frightening way, I'm playing games all the time because they are free 🤣 I've also soft modded the console to play emulators and lost many an hour to ROMs. Never had it so good with a modern console plus it plays everything. I'm on the virge of buying an S so I can take it on trips in a campervan when I go travelling. Can readily swap the USB stick and SDD card into it, bringing my full games set with me on trips.

[Lying Cat]

Just now, partious said:

 

My bias showing There were arcade style games that weren't about driving cars too, but you'll just have to take my word for it.

 

Oh, I know. I'm, like, 41 and spent a disproportionate number of weekends down the Trocadero. I have no longing for that era - been there, done that, got shaped, loved the experience. Outside of dreary Ubisoft Collect-a-thons I'd prefer to play new games if I'm honest.

[MattyP]

21 minutes ago, Thor said:

I just realised something. I'd be more inclined to get an Xbox and buy into that ecosystem if it was Sega branded. 

Think this is what actually got me onto the Xbox brand after Sega collapsed. Similar pad to DC (better IMHO) and MS ported a few Sega games over..  JetSet Radio, Shenmue 2 etc. They even funded updates to some - Jet Set Radio Future and Panzer Dragoon Orta IIRC. Think it never really gave them the traction they were hoping for. There were rumours that MS were going to buy Sega at one point or another but perhaps the brand name didn't work for them? (They were also trying to buy Nintendo mind).

 

[Mr. Gerbik]

The OG Xbox really did feel like the Dreamcast 2. 

[Benny]

Given I get Game Pass on PC I'd drop Xboxes like a hot rock.

 

Cheating ftw.

[Mr. Gerbik]

7 minutes ago, Benny said:

Given I get Game Pass on PC I'd drop Xboxes like a hot rock.

 

Cheating ftw.

The thing is, the current Xbox division is really good at delivering on all this game pass and Xcloud stuff. Even small details like turning a blind eye to people soft modding their consoles for retro emulation and providing detailed instructions on how to get Xcloud running on the Linux based Deck via workaround. Sega as a hardware manufactur wouldn't be anywhere near as good at handling all this stuff I suspect, so you can kiss your PC game pass goodbye if there's no Xbox division.

[partious]

23 minutes ago, Lying Cat said:

 

Oh, I know. I'm, like, 41 and spent a disproportionate number of weekends down the Trocadero. I have no longing for that era - been there, done that, got shaped, loved the experience. Outside of dreary Ubisoft Collect-a-thons I'd prefer to play new games if I'm honest.

 

Might be partly an issue of attention span on my part (although not really something I suffer from outside of my gaming preferences) but I find almost all big modern games equally dreary after the initial couple of hours, not just the Ubisoft ones. 

 

The Yakuza games were mentioned above. Well made, highly polished games but really all I want is the Spikeout/Slashout style action stages, the rest just feels like drudgery to me. I'd be much happier if those games were a bunch of linear action stages that took a few hours to complete.

 

I used to think I'd gone off gaming over the years but eventually I realized my tastes always heavily leaned towards fast paced games with exciting moment to moment gameplay and not slower story heavy stuff.

 

The Dreamcast was the last console where the majority of games seemed to be made for people who mainly wanted the instantly gratifying, exciting moment to moment gameplay style of gaming.  

[Giddas]

Bye Xbox, can get it all & more on PC anyway.

 

BUT without MS competition for Sony & vice versa might end up with £800 consoles 😄

[MattyP]

11 minutes ago, partious said:

 

Might be partly an issue of attention span on my part (although not really something I suffer from outside of my gaming preferences) but I find almost all big modern games equally dreary after the initial couple of hours, not just the Ubisoft ones. 

 

The Yakuza games were mentioned above. Well made, highly polished games but really all I want is the Spikeout/Slashout style action stages, the rest just feels like drudgery to me. I'd be much happier if those games were a bunch of linear action stages that took 8 hours to complete.

 

I used to think I'd gone off gaming over the years but eventually I realized my tastes always heavily leaned towards fast paced games with exciting moment to moment gameplay and not slower story heavy stuff.

 

The Dreamcast was the last console where the majority of games seemed to be made for people who mainly wanted the instantly gratifying, exciting moment to moment gameplay style of gaming.  

Get where you are coming from. To a degree that whole generation was a bit like that. PS2 had lots of moment to moment games too. Granted mostly third party games but they were there just not perhaps the focus. 

 

In the end I guess many of us grew up with arcade style games quick exhilarating fast paced games with uber tech to drive them. Which is what the DC ultimately followed and perhaps the lack of diversity was its downfall in the end? I mean they did things like Shenmue but it was expensive and don't think they ever made a profit from it? This coupled with Segas mis-management.  Lots of reasons.

 

You can still get the games you speak of.. indie titles and some larger developers are pushing out games. R-Type Final 2 for example amongst others. However not sure the market is there for games like these? Well not in the volume needed to make them profitable. Not sure how many gamers today would pay £35 for an R-Type game?

 

If you look through the stores on the consoles you'll find plenty of moment to moment games.. 

[MattyP]

2 minutes ago, Giddas said:

Bye Xbox, can get it all & more on PC anyway.

Yes you can... but Xbox is a low barrier of entry into gaming. PCs aren't really. 

[Lying Cat]

4 minutes ago, partious said:

 

Might be partly an issue of attention span on my part (although not really something I suffer from outside of my gaming preferences) but I find almost all big modern games equally dreary after the initial couple of hours, not just the Ubisoft ones. 

 

Sure, but there's a literal ocean of amazing indie titles which you can boot up for a quick blast if you're not in the mood to collect 3422 Viking Codpieces or whatever.

[thesnwmn]

13 minutes ago, partious said:

 

Might be partly an issue of attention span on my part (although not really something I suffer from outside of my gaming preferences) but I find almost all big modern games equally dreary after the initial couple of hours, not just the Ubisoft ones. 

 

The Yakuza games were mentioned above. Well made, highly polished games but really all I want is the Spikeout/Slashout style action stages, the rest just feels like drudgery to me. I'd be much happier if those games were a bunch of linear action stages that took a few hours to complete.

 

I used to think I'd gone off gaming over the years but eventually I realized my tastes always heavily leaned towards fast paced games with exciting moment to moment gameplay and not slower story heavy stuff.

 

The Dreamcast was the last console where the majority of games seemed to be made for people who mainly wanted the instantly gratifying, exciting moment to moment gameplay style of gaming.  

 

Simply step away from the big games. Drop the big turgid shit.

 

Gaming is huge these days. There are experiences of all shapes and sizes.

[partious]

57 minutes ago, Lying Cat said:

 

Sure, but there's a literal ocean of amazing indie titles which you can boot up for a quick blast if you're not in the mood to collect 3422 Viking Codpieces or whatever.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying there are no good games nowadays. Indie stuff is one of the main reasons I decided to go with a PC over PlayStation or Xbox this gen. 

 

I think it might depend on how you take the question in the OP. Do I want a new Sega console where current day Sega release Yakuza sequels, Sonic Frontiers, Football Manager, the 100th release of the same 30 MegaDrive games. No!

Would I like to see console in a world where later arcade games like Outrun 2, Afterburner Climax, etc etc were commercial hits, and see what games that might have led to. Yes I would.