SEGADriven is a SEGA news and information source that focuses on SEGA's console history, retro games and new software hitting the shelves. We want to share a love of great, quirky, clever and down-right fun games - something that SEGA have always specialised in. See below for the latest news, reviews and features added to the website.
There’s been a lot of celebration around SEGA lately, what with their 60th Anniversary and all; but sadly, it’s not all been cause for partying. SEGA has published extraordinary losses from its amusements division (thanks to COVID-19), leading them to outright sell off the majority of their arcade business to Genda Inc (formerly Midas Entertainment). SEGA will still be producing arcade games, and their arcade centres will still be plastered with the SEGA logo, but those centres are Genda’s now.
That’s not all though, as it’s now emerged that SEGA have asked 650 employees to “voluntarily retire”. Supposedly those who accept the offer to retire by February 2021 will receive a “payment of extraordinary retirement allowances and reemployment support”. SEGA’s executives are also getting hit by the changes, though not nearly as severely as those losing their jobs; instead, the company’s Senior Executive Vice President and Senior Vice President will have 20% and 10% taken out of their monthly salaries respectively… which isn’t exactly much for the salaries they’re probably on. The Representative Director will see a slightly more substantial cut of 30%.
It’s been a rough year for businesses across the world this year, and given their presence in Japan’s arcade scene, it’s not surprising that SEGA got hit hard; but the layoffs are disappointing news all the same. It’s also very likely that SEGA’s mooted ‘Fog Gaming’ concept may not be going ahead anymore, but time will tell if Genda choose to adopt that instead.
Tags: arcade, japan, Layoffs Posted in News | Comments Off on SEGA Request 650 Employees To Retire “Voluntarily”, Cut Salaries of Executives By Up To 30%
Archipel Caravan, responsible for a slew of documentaries on Japanese video game creators, have published a new, 20 minute long interview with beloved SEGA composer and vocalist, Takenobu Mitsuyoshi.
The interview goes through how he got his start at SEGA, and what pushed him to join in the first place; as well as how the vocal aspect of Daytona USA came to be (we have Ridge Racer to thank, apparently!). It’s genuinely fascinating, and it feels surprisingly rare that we get to see a down-to-earth interview like this with Mitsuyoshi-san. Of course, once the music starts he’s just as excitable as ever, and in turn it’s a lot of fun to watch.
Archipel’s previous videos have included interviews with Saori Kobayashi of Panzer Dragoon, and Toshihiro Nagoshi of… well, a lot of things, including Yakuza, Daytona USA and Super Monkey Ball. Their stuff is well worth a watch, and this latest interview is no exception.
Just like Crazy Taxi a few weeks ago, SEGA has published another retrospective for its 60th Anniversary; this time covering the beloved (that might be an understatement) Dreamcast IP Jet Set Radio.
As always there’s some cool facts sprinkled throughout the video, such as how the Game Boy Advance version of JSR later had its engine repurposed for other games. There’s even a short section on De La Jet Set Radio, the second Japanese release that served as an ‘international’ edition, as was common at the time. And there is of course a section on Jet Set Radio Future, the Xbox sequel; as always, it leaves us hoping for a port down the road. Perhaps someday…
On the whole, it’s a great watch as usual; we can’t wait to see what series is up next on the retrospective block!
SEGA has launched two new combo packs for the Nintendo Switch in North America, both including a selection of Sonic games – or at the very least, games featuring Sonic.
One pack gives you the sublime Sonic Mania (seemingly without the Plus DLC, oddly) and Team Sonic Racing. There’s also a pack that pairs up Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD (which featured Classic Sonic as an unlockable character) and Sonic Forces.
The packs are available for $39.99 each. The PR we received doesn’t mention a European release (seeing as this comes straight from SEGA of America’s Sonic PR), but given previous packs have released on our shores we’d expect these will be showing up too.
The European SEGA Shop has kindly sent us some items from their Halloween Sonic the Hedgehog range and in our latest video we take a look at them. Check it out below:
The Sonic the Hedgehog Halloween merch line is available to order from the European SEGA Shop now. Click here to see the full line which includes a beanie hat, mug, enamel pin badges and the t-shirt and scented candle featured in our video.
If you enjoyed this video then why not subscribe to the SEGADriven YouTube channel for more visual SEGA fun!
Previously revealed for the deluxe version of Darius Cozmic Revelation, a new Extra Version of the previously Mega Drive Mini port of Darius will release on a Mega Drive cartridge thanks to the good people at Columbus Circle.
Columbus Circle have been responsible for a string of new Mega Drive releases that include 16 Bit Rhythm Land, Advanced Busterhawk Gley Lancer, Ultracore and Mad Stalker: Full Metal Forth.
Data Discs return with another Treasure shoot-em-up classic as they gear up to give a vinyl release to the Ikaruga soundtrack.
Originally released in arcades in 2001 and then the Dreamcast in 2002, Ikaruga is a legendary, vertically-scrolling shoot-em-up famed for its use of a colour-shifting gimmick. This allows the player to absorb enemy fire of the opposite colour to your ship, but enemy fire of the same colour can damage you. The game has subsequently released for GameCube, Xbox 360, PC, Switch and PS4.
The vinyl release of the game’s soundtrack comes on three colourways: a clear with black and white splatter special edition record, a white record and a black record. Also bundled with the release are 4 lithographic prints of artwork by Yasushi Suzuki. Pre-orders go live for the release via Data Discs’ website on Saturday 24th of October 2020. The records are expected to ship around the 20th of November.
This one doesn’t have any ground-breaking discoveries from SEGA’s archives, but it does serve as a pretty great way to familiarise yourself with the mainline entries in SEGA’s beloved cab-em-up series. It also provides a good excuse to listen to “All I Want”, though to be fair we never need an ‘excuse’ to listen to that song.
SEGA Forever’s also promised there’s more Retrospectives on the way as part of a series, so we’ll let you know when more go up.
According to lead animator Tim Dawson, the upcoming release of Golden Axed is a complete surprise to him and the team responsible for it.
Originally coded in 2012, the project was created off the back of the team’s Castle of Illusion prototype which successfully kept the company afloat. Development then proceeded under the concept that it would be a “darker, bloodier Golden Axe” and the team went ahead with combining those ideas with the concept of the original game.
What followed was 2 weeks of 14 hour days and several disputes with management, who wanted the game to be something else. Tim recounts, “much less luckily we also had the lead designer who thought he was designing it, and sometimes Sanatana Mishra would have to physically block him from reaching my workstation or he’d start explaining insights he’d received playing the mobile port on the train on the way to work.”
The most harrowing story Tim recounts is showing the latest build to management:
“but the biggest gut punch came a week and a half in – combat was working, it was all on track! I was called for a meeting in the big room, so I put the latest build on the network and went to see what was up. All of management was sitting around the big table
I showed the game. grave faces
There was a pause
“where’s the wow factor” someone asked
The lead designer once again complained it wasn’t a God of War-like 3D brawler like he wanted
Someone said maybe it’d have been better to have made a prerendered video where the barbarian fought a monster.”
The full thread of Tim’s experiences making the prototype can be read on Twitter. It’s not a particularly pleasant read but it highlights some important truths about game development that cannot be ignored and it’s unfair of SEGA to promote this title as a “janky”, “buggy artifact of its time” [UPDATE: These terms have fortunately now been removed from games Steam’s description]
Starting today (October 14th 2020) and lasting for 60 days, SEGA are celebrating their 60th anniversary with a huge swathe of discounts, competitions and interviews.Go ahead and check out what https://www.headphonage.com/ has for you to become a professional gamer.
An official SEGA 60th website has launched and it details what the various SEGA teams are sharing each week, and the most interesting exclusive that is coming from these celebrations is a selection of brand new PC mini games.
4 have been teased already and they are as follows (Steam pages for each game are linked as well):
– Streets of Kamurocho (a Yakuza-themed Streets of Rage-style beat em up, releasing 17/10/2020)
– Armor of Heroes (inspired by Company of Heroes, releasing 15/10/2020)
– Endless Zone (inspired by Endless Space, releasing 16/10/2020)
– Golden Axed (a prototype of an unreleased Golden Axe game, releasing 18/10/2020)
The mini games will launch one-a-day starting October 15th and will be available via Steam for a limited time only. You can also register on the SEGA 60th website to redeem a free copy of NiGHTS into dreams… Click here to be taken to the registration page.
You can also watch the reveal trailer for the SEGA 60th celebrations below:
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