SEGA to Publish Beijing Olympics Video Game

[fitbabits]

Next Generation (http://www.next-gen.biz) is reporting (http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1791&Itemid=2) that SEGA has secured the exclusive rights to publish the official video game of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

"Sega's broad publishing capabilities and rich heritage in video games ensure that consumers worldwide will share a more immersive Olympic experience," said Raymond Goldsmith, chairman and CEO of ISM.
If only Visual Concepts were still part of the SEGA family...

[MaiXu]

Do people play these games? I remember annual Olympic games on some of the older systems, but some some reason don't remember there being many games for the 2004 or 2000 games.

[copasetic]

Do people still care that much about sega? With some exceptions (i.e. Monkey Balls), they are a pretty mediocre house these days. Kind of sad really.

[fitbabits]

Do people still care that much about sega? With some exceptions (i.e. Monkey Balls), they are a pretty mediocre house these days. Kind of sad really.
Condemned: Criminal Origins. (http://www.gametab.com/xbox360/condemned.criminal.origins/4156/)
Worldwide Soccer Manager 2006 (http://www.gametab.com/pc/worldwide.soccer.manager.2006/4895/)
SEGA Signs With Bizarre Creations for Next Generation Game (http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=60912)

[copasetic]

Condemned: Criminal Origins. (http://www.gametab.com/xbox360/condemned.criminal.origins/4156/)
Worldwide Soccer Manager 2006 (http://www.gametab.com/pc/worldwide.soccer.manager.2006/4895/)
SEGA Signs With Bizarre Creations for Next Generation Game (http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=60912)

Those may be some good games (albeit one of the three isnt out), do you really think they put out more good/great than average/poor games? Their last stronghold in that regard was the 2k series, but that's long gone. Some of their better reviewed games, Gunstar Heroes, they didnt develop.
Sure I'm a big fan of virtua fighter and mokey ball, but they just seem second-tier these days.

edit: Pretty big loss for Sega (japan anyways) (http://www.gamespot.com/news/6140708.html)

[fitbabits]

Those may be some good games (albeit one of the three isnt out), do you really think they put out more good/great than average/poor games? Their last stronghold in that regard was the 2k series, but that's long gone. Some of their better reviewed games, Gunstar Heroes, they didnt develop.
Sure I'm a big fan of virtua fighter and mokey ball, but they just seem second-tier these days.
I forgot to mention that The Creative Assembly, famous for the Total War (http://www.totalwar.com/) series of games, are now part of the SEGA family.

They've been hit and miss since dropping out of the hardware business, but they look to be in the ascendancy now.

[Magnanimous Gnome]

Sega seems to have been largely miss in the last few years. I still don't get why they put so many titles on the Xbox, despite nearly all of them flopping. Silly decisions like this put them where they are today - ie nowhere near a "top publisher" as they said they were going to be back in 2001.

[MaiXu]

Sega seems to have been largely miss in the last few years. I still don't get why they put so many titles on the Xbox, despite nearly all of them flopping. Silly decisions like this put them where they are today - ie nowhere near a "top publisher" as they said they were going to be back in 2001.

I disagree. I loved getting games like Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio Future, and Panzer Dragoon Orta on Xbox. I wish they brought VF4 to Xbox as well. They earned a lot of cred as a publisher by releasing a lot of these experimental games, even after earlier ones didn't sell so well. It would have made more sense to publish them on PS2 as well, but that's another story. I still would take Sega's desire to make great games in a publisher over EA's desire to throw shitty games out the door with big recognizable franchises attached.

[Twinkie]

Do people play these games? I remember annual Olympic games on some of the older systems, but some some reason don't remember there being many games for the 2004 or 2000 games.
Me and a friend played the hell out of the Nagano Olympics game for the N64, but I doubt I'd enjoy it nearly as much today as I did then. Personally, this news gets a big 'Meh'.

[amusedtoe]

Hard to think this is anything but another marker in SEGA's decline into mediocrity and increasing obscurity. I mean comeon, this is the biggest thing we've heard about SEGA in a while now and it's about an Olympics game. It's really sad considering how strong they started out after they got out of hardware.

[Magnanimous Gnome]

I disagree. I loved getting games like Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio Future, and Panzer Dragoon Orta on Xbox. I wish they brought VF4 to Xbox as well. They earned a lot of cred as a publisher by releasing a lot of these experimental games, even after earlier ones didn't sell so well. It would have made more sense to publish them on PS2 as well, but that's another story. I still would take Sega's desire to make great games in a publisher over EA's desire to throw shitty games out the door with big recognizable franchises attached.


??? The only SEGA games that did well on Xbox were the sports titles. All the others, with maybe one or two exceptions (I honestly cannot think of any exceptions) did very poorly. SEGA isn't in the position to release many, many titles that don't sell any copies. They should have instead put these titles on the PS2, where they would have almost certainly sold better, or on the Cube, where nearly every SEGA title sold exceptionally well, or just not developed some of them at all - Toe Jam & Earl 3 anyone?

[KamaItachi]

Balls to this official crap. They need to make a follow up to Decathelete. Most fun button-mashing sports game ever.

[MaiXu]

??? The only SEGA games that did well on Xbox were the sports titles. All the others, with maybe one or two exceptions (I honestly cannot think of any exceptions) did very poorly. SEGA isn't in the position to release many, many titles that don't sell any copies. They should have instead put these titles on the PS2, where they would have almost certainly sold better, or on the Cube, where nearly every SEGA title sold exceptionally well, or just not developed some of them at all - Toe Jam & Earl 3 anyone?

Did you read my post at all?! No shit they didn't sell well on Xbox. I said they should have put them out on PS2. But as a gamer, I appreciated the enjoyable games and the risks Sega took. I want them to stick around for a while, and not fade into obscurity. Which is why I bought their Xbox games. But I knew it wasn't a smart business move to begin with.

[Magnanimous Gnome]

Did you read my post at all?! No shit they didn't sell well on Xbox. I said they should have put them out on PS2. But as a gamer, I appreciated the enjoyable games and the risks Sega took. I want them to stick around for a while, and not fade into obscurity. Which is why I bought their Xbox games. But I knew it wasn't a smart business move to begin with.

Yeah, I did read your post. I'm glad you enjoyed their titles on the Xbox - I bought and enjoyed a few of them as well. I was just saying that SEGA is in a place where they need to focus on making big sellers - I just never understood why they supported the Xbox so much when it didn't do jack for them. I'm not trying to create an argument here. :p

[amusedtoe]

Maybe because despite their size SEGA came from the same school as Nintendo where they valued creativity, originality, and unique ideas as much as they did profits. Becoming a hollow corporation trying to appeal to the widest possible audience is why we're having this discussion under a thread about the announcement of an Olympics game.

[MaiXu]

Yeah, I did read your post. I'm glad you enjoyed their titles on the Xbox - I bought and enjoyed a few of them as well. I was just saying that SEGA is in a place where they need to focus on making big sellers - I just never understood why they supported the Xbox so much when it didn't do jack for them. I'm not trying to create an argument here. :p

Ok, then we agree. Sega should focus on sales, or better yet, market those experimental games on a popular system. There's always next gen ...

[MaiXu]

Maybe because despite their size SEGA came from the same school as Nintendo where they valued creativity, originality, and unique ideas as much as they did profits. Becoming a hollow corporation trying to appeal to the widest possible audience is why we're having this discussion under a thread about the announcement of an Olympics game.

That's not necessarily true. Sega always made quick cash with good sports games. If this sells well, they can use that cash to make another Seaman or JSR game. Its when Sega releases only games like this that they've really hit the bottom.

Can't say Shadow the Hedgehog is a step in the right direction, though ...