I've been doing a lot of looking back at decisions made in the games industry. I've read the "Console Wars", "History of Service Games", "Mega Drive/Genesis collective works", and also Retro Gamer magazine that's usually at the local Barnes and Noble. Also I still have a nice pile of Gamepro, EGM, Sega Visions, and Nintendo Powers dating back as far as 1989. The books I listed are great reads. Also "Console Wars" is hopefully going to be a movie eventually with help of Seth Rogen. I just can't help but wonder what it would have been like if a few deals would have went down differently.
When going back before Playstation, it was a special time in console gaming history. Nintendo was strictly a gaming company. Atari was a games company. Sega was a games company. There was no giant company like Sony or Microsoft with all different businesses involved. Nintendo and Sega weren't making TVs, VCRs, Computers, Walkmans, etc... There was just game companies trying make better games than the other game company and the competition was fierce. So tough in fact that Japanese games didn't even show the real artists and coders names in the credits. They feared that they would get better job offers at a competing game company.
The thing about that time was that Nintendo had the 3rd party restrictions so Sega and Atari were left out in the cold when it came to getting the next best games. Atari eventually threw in the towel but Sega did something unexpected.
Sega went a head and in housed their own games. From Sega Master System to Sega Genesis, Sega made more first party games than Microsoft or Sony could have thought of today. Nintendo had Konami, Tecmo, Capcom, Acclaim, and other heavy hitters all to themselves. Sega not only went toe to toe with Nintendo during the 8-bit and 16-bit era but they also were taking on these game companies greatest games. Sometimes Sega was able to reprogram and release games originally by third party like Ghouls and Ghosts, Strider, Mercs, and Forgotten Worlds but for the most part they were pretty much doing it all alone.
Sega had their own versions of Castlevania (Master of Darkness), Metroid (Zillion), Zelda (Golden Axe Warrior/Gollvellius), and eventually because Alex Kidd wasn't exactly taking the world by storm, Sonic the Hedgehog was born.
Electronic Arts, Namco, and other lesser known companies began to take chances on Sega hardware with some decent outings. EA would begin John Madden football on the Genesis. EA reversed engineered the Genesis to make their own games because they didn't want to have to pay Sega or Nintendo for that matter the high cost of the Cartridges. Sega and EA finally came to a deal (read the book it's a good story) and EA pumped out almost as many games as Sega was and expanded the library of games to the point where Nintendo had to realize Sega was for real.
Acclaim and Konami found loopholes in Nintendo's contracts. They were only allowed to publish 3 or 4 games a year for the NES. Konami went ahead and published more games a year under a different company name. Remember Ultra Games? Then Acclaim used a similar tactic to get their games on the Genesis. Under a different name Flying Edge, Acclaim was able to publish for the Sega consoles. Eventually Nintendo would lose their strict monopolizing policies in the States and Sega would eventually get games from Konami, Capcom, and Acclaim without hiding behind other publisher names.
By 1993-1994 Sega had 50% of the market. They were finally getting their own Castlevanias, Ninja Turtles, and Contra games. Then Sega of Japan happened. The Sega Saturn. Sega of America and Sega of Europe knew the Saturn hardware was underpowered. They knew the future was 3-D. Sega of America wanted to sign a deal with Sony to make the Playstation. Sega of Japan wouldn't sign the deal. Sega was shown new hardware that was later to be used for the Nintendo 64. Sega of Japan remained stubborn and wouldn't sign on for the hardware and stayed with the Saturn. If Sega would have said yes to either deal the landscape of gaming might be a whole lot different.
Sega Playstation 4? Sega Ultra 64? Dreamcast wouldn't have happened. Would Microsoft enter the gaming arena if it wasn't for the Windows powered Dreamcast and Sega Net? Which is basically now Xbox and Xbox Live. Or what if Nintendo wouldn't have stabbed Sony in the back at that famous E3? Would the Wii exist or the Gamecube for that matter. I see a few people hate on Microsoft because they're a big company but that's exactly the way gamers felt about Sony early on. At least Sega and Nintendo fans did. Now it's all big business. I still buy Nintendo stuff because it's the only company left that is just a game company. I think they'll eventually go 3rd party only. There are talks of them doing some mobile games. But then again, Nintendo of Japan might be as stubborn as Sega of Japan. So maybe they'll just stick to what they do forever.
In an alternate universe somewhere there are kids playing the Sega Playstation 4, with EA Sports MLB 2016, WWE No Mercy 2016, and Sega Sports NFL 2k16. It's just fun to speculate if a few decisions from the early 90s were made differently to wonder what the gaming landscape would be like today.
I highly recommend the books I listed above. If your a retro fan, sega fan, or just a Playstation or Xbox fan that loves a great history lesson these books rock.
Today, Astragon announced a new installment of the Bus Simulator franchise, simply titled Bus Simulator 27, coming for PC, PS5, and Xbox.
Limited Run Games, MARVEL and Konami have announced MARVEL MaXimum Collection for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.
would love it if xmen arcade offered two modes. the regular single screen 4 player mode and the ultra wide (simulated dual screen) 6 player mode.
How much you wanna bet that this collection will keep the games in their original aspect radios with no visual fidelity or options?
Was excited until I saw that Limited Run was attached. Their so-called collections thus far have been nothing but sloppily slapped together emulations.
A new Resident Evil Requiem graphics comparison examines Switch 2, PS5, and Xbox Series S, revealing performance gaps and visual trade offs.
interesting that the Switch 2 version renders at a higher internal resolution. I wonder if they dropped it down to the same as the Series S the game would hit the 60 mark more often than it does.
Solid port though, can't wait to play this tomorrow (or whenever my preorder gets to me lol)
Remember, when Nintendo started they weren't making video games. For 75 years they made cards, ran taxis, hotels, etc. So they weren't purely a video game company either. Though they are primarily that now, they still have other ventures and businesses.
So basically Nintendo and Sega had a baby called Playstation .
With the cost of producing video games and consoles becoming very expensive, it made sense that big companies like Sony and then Microsoft came into the video game industry.
The first console i owned was the "Coleco Telstar" back in 1977. I skipped the "Atari 2600" because i thought the Arcade cabinets was better . Plus my best friend had a 2600 . Then the NES came out and i was very impressed with the games and graphics of the NES . Then of course i bought the Sega Genesis basically to play "Altered Beast". But the game i played the most was EA NHL 93 , 94 and 95. I was going the buy a Sega Saturn but i did not think it would have a lot of third party support because of all the different console hardware Sega was putting out . It was too much and it really confused the customers.
So of course i bought a "Playstation" in 1995 . I think the reason was i had a feeling that the Playstation was going to get a lot of third party support. After playing the Playstation version of DOOM in December of 1995 , Duke Nukem 3D , Metal Gear Solid , Crash Bandicoot , Tomb Raider, Quake 2 , i was completely sold on the Playstation brand .
Good blog .
Nintendo only stabbed Sony in the back casing the creation of the Playstation, only because Sony had stabbed them in the front.
Never heard that Sega approached Sony for CD tech. Nor did that hear that much negative about Sony since they undermined Nintendo's overall hold on the industry. Allowed for the likes of MGS, FF7 and Resident Evil to be made in the forms that they're known in today.