Do you think Sega is "cool" anymore?
Where does Sega go on the Cool Wall?
Top Gear, telling you how it is since 2002.
Now. Some of you will say, "Well of course Sega is cool! They made some kickass games! Who cares what people think of Sega?" You're sorta right. Us Sega hipsters got this little circlejerk going on and screw what anyone else thinks! But it is IMPORTANT what other people think of Sega. Sega cannot survive alone cause of a couple of fanboys on the Internet, they need a portion of the Average Joe gamer demographic to run out and invest in their stuff too.
See, that's what I mean about being "cool." The term "cool" as in "genuinely interested in their products." Being cool is important--it's how crap pop music, TV, movies, and video games manage to be relevant despite lacking any original content or substance at all. Being "cool" is neither a good or bad thing--it's like handing off the baton or being "King of the Hill." You gotta reach out and grab it somehow. Sega was cool back in the 90's! Sonic the Hedgehog! Game consoles! Arcades! Kickass! People loved that stuff. But nowadays, everyone has written off Sega as a decayed corpse as they flock around the Western developers--FPS, RTS, adventure, MMO's with "realistic/grungy/shockingly depressing" hi-res graphics. In other words, the complete antithesis of Sega! :(
This whole "cool" topic came about reading this compelling article about Nintendo and violent games' places in the marketplace. Basically how the concept of "family entertainment" that Nintendo has relied on for so long has eroded over the last decade. Think about it....what are the most popular games these days? Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, Halo, Gears of War. Games with copious profanity, violence, and (some) sexual content. They sell Halo and GoW toys in kids/family stores though MS/Epic shrug at the thought of directly advertising violence to kids. Case in point, these games have claimed the "cool" mantle. Realistic, gritty games are in vogue, clean happy games are out.
How did this happen? You can name many reasons. Kids look up to teens/young adults for what is cool--adults play violent games, so do kids. The concept of a "family" has diminished--we spend less time face-to-face and have high numbers of single parent households therefore. We've conditioned ourselves to violence and the "Jackass generation" that we hardly flinch at the idea at our of kids disrespecting each other. I'm not a sociologist so I won't pursue the issue longer but look at this point mentioned in the article--55-60% of parents do not check nor do they even care about ESRB/PEGI ratings. This is ridiculous.
But don't get me wrong...I'm not blaming violent games for society's problems, nor am I saying you can't enjoy these games yourself. But these kind of games are adverse to Sega's M.O., plus don't you get tired of people realistically shooting, stabbing, blowing each other up? Why is it that whenever anyone unveils a non-violent, colorful game, it's a cringe-inducing kids title, a shameful freemium game, or both? Also would you let this kid play Call of Duty? There's thousands of kids like this every day. Boy, violence is good for them!
EDIT: This YouTube video makes another good point about game popularity--YouTube Let's Plays. Nintendo has been vigilant in the past about taking down any YouTube gameplay videos. Other companies, notsomuch. I'm not a Let's Play watcher but I can see what they're getting at here--YouTube clips are basically free advertising and Nintendo better accept that soon.
And what does Nintendo, Sega's last ally in the war against gray skies, do about it? SUCK AT EVERYTHING! The Wii was a success cause they advertised it to that core young-adult demographic and did a great job with the motion control stuff. Now the Wii U gives us some awkward gaming pad and is advertising itself to...little kids? I swear, I saw a Toys R Us commercial last Christmas with little kids harping on a Wii U sales deal. Is THIS the game console that the mainstream demographic (18-35 year olds) going to buy? Especially with its outdated graphics and same old games from last generation? I'm not a graphics junkie but at least Sega's new releases were top-notch technology (i.e. Scud Race/Daytona 2 being years ahead of the N64/Playstation). Seriously, the 3DS is the only thing keeping Nintendo alive. I still don't know how Pokemon remains relevant as ever these days, especially since all I hear from Pokemon nostalgists is bitching about how perfect Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow was (news flash--there were "bad" Pokemon in that game too) but shit, if it makes Nintendo money, then great.
Nintendo is a company I want...no, NEED to succeed in order to establish "balance" against Sony and Microsoft. Now they are throwing their arms up and open for acquisitions or mergers? RED FLAG!! The fact Sega has hooked its anchor to Nintendo's sinking ship (in the form of Sonic games exclusive for the Wii U) is suicidal.
You want a kids console? Buy a V-Tech.
Now, time for a pop quiz! Get out a sheet of paper and writing utensil. Write down up to five things that you think Sega has done that was "cool" at any time in its history. You have thirty seconds, now....GO!
...
Time's up! Compare your list to mine. If you're like me, you've probably written down a list of things like this:
1. Sonic the Hedgehog!
2. Expertise in home consoles!
3. Expertise in arcades!
4. A backlog of vibrant blue-sky games that made fun the primary focus!
5. A brash, edgy marketing campaign!
Now, let's run through this list and compare them to the Sega of today. Home consoles? Sorry, Sega put the kaibosh on that in 2001 so let's cross that out. Arcades? Those are dead in the West and the only stuff we see are mediocre and never live up to the 90's so cross that out too. Blue-sky games? HA, please spare me, Sega does the bare minimum to keep their legacy from eating dust by releasing sparse, straight ports of their games to cash in on nostalgia from the fanboys so let's cross that one out. Brash? Edgy? Name for me ONE bold thing that Sega has said or done. No "Sega does what Nintendon't" or Sega screams. Almost all of Sega's official advertising is done through their online blog site as they cut and run like a scared puppy. So cross that one out as well. So what does our list look like now?
1. Sonic the Hedgehog!
Yes, it's true, love it or hate it, Sonic IS Sega. Sonic is the only thing that Sega has going for it...the only thing Sega hasn't given up on in the last 22 years, even dragging the franchise through the horse shit that was the post-SA2 era. Seriously, just listen to the first forty seconds of this Giant Bomb video and you'll see what I mean. "Sonic" = "Sega" I'll probably talk about this in a Part 2 next time cause I'm tired and have gone on for too long, good night all.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW PART TWO.
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