Sega and Sammy Corp Merge

Asher · February 13, 2003, 14:30

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/13/bu...3CND-SEGA.html

Quote:

Game's Over: Troubled Sega Agrees to Merge With Sammy
By KEN BELSON

OKYO, Feb. 13 — The Sega Corporation, the embattled video game maker, said today that it would merge with the Sammy Corporation, a leading manufacturer of pachinko gaming machines.

The deal, which is expected to be completed on Oct. 1, ends years of speculation about one of the oldest names in the game software industry. Sega, which also slashed its profit forecast by 90 percent, has struggled to compete with Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft, which all make high-powered video game consoles.

Microsoft has been looking for partners to make software for its X-Box console and was thought to be interested in forming an alliance with Sega.

By combining forces with Sammy, though, Sega hopes to concentrate on its software for game arcades. Most pachinko machines are now driven by computer chips that determine the game's winnings. Sammy will also be able to expand beyond the pachinko industry, where sales have declined 10 percent since 1995, and bolster its own operations making software for home video games.

The companies hope to "make full use of our synergies developing technology in the amusement and consumer arenas and combining Sammy's rapid growth with Sega's brand name," Sammy's president, Hajime Satomi, said in a statement.

The new company will have combined sales of 371 billion yen ($3.1 billion) and employ 1,750 workers.

Sega, though, will take a back seat to Sammy. Mr. Satomi will lead the new company, even though Sammy's stock market value is about 20 percent smaller than Sega's. Sammy's sales have more than tripled in the last three years while Sega's plunged 40 percent.

Sega, which has lost money for the last five years, also slashed its profit forecast for the fiscal year that ends on March 31. The company now expects to make just 500 million yen ($4.2 million), 90 percent below its earlier estimate. It trimmed its sales forecast 2.5 percent as well.

Sega, an early pioneer in the home video industry, headed for trouble in the mid-1990's after Sony introduced its PlayStation console. The game was an instant hit and Sony has sold 50 million units of its follow up version, PlayStation 2. Nintendo, too, has cashed in on its GameCube console and portable GameBoys.

Trying to keep up, Sega spent more to develop new games and also expanded its amusement operations. But saddled with growing debts of nearly $3 billion, the company started ditching operations. In 2001, Sega ended production of its DreamCast game console to concentrate more on software.

Debts were cut, but sales plunged. Worse, consumers who bought the DreamCast were left without a new supply of games. While Sega still produces popular games like Mortal Kombat and Sonic the Hedgehog, it must now compete head on with stronger players like the Konami Corporation and the Square Company.

"Once they abandoned their game platform, they became a video game producer like everyone else," said Ortwin Gierhake, a software analyst at West LB Securities in Tokyo. "They are getting killed by Sony and Nintendo."

Also today, shareholders at Square, which is 19 percent owned by Sony, accepted a takeover bid by the rival Enix Corporation.

I've never even heard of Sammy Corp before this, and they're going to concentrate on the *arcade* market (does that market even exist at any reasonable level these days?) and "Sammy Corp" is going to dominate the new company?

Oh well...

FrustratedPoet · February 13, 2003, 14:33

Arcade is as dead as .... well .... as dead as the Dreamcast.

MattHiggs · February 13, 2003, 15:35

I've not been to an arcade for about ten years. This is relatively mundane news. Arcades are still big in Japan though, I hear.

Nubclear · February 13, 2003, 15:48

The US arcade market is gone. The Japanese one is still alive.

Zylka · February 13, 2003, 15:51

G TAssY = 1!!!

DinoDoc · February 13, 2003, 15:52

I'm somewhat shocked that Nintendo or MS didn't make a try for them.

Drake Tungsten · February 13, 2003, 16:00

This is what happens when you jack up your shift to third-party by throwing most of your weight behind the Xbox. Why the hell didn't Sega make all their games available for the PS2? They might actually make a profit that way...

DinoDoc · February 13, 2003, 16:04

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Also today, shareholders at Square, which is 19 percent owned by Sony, accepted a takeover bid by the rival Enix Corporation

Incidentally, does this mean that we might see Square games appear on the GC and X Box?

Drake Tungsten · February 13, 2003, 16:20

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Incidentally, does this mean that we might see Square games appear on the GC and X Box?

Some Square games are already being made for the GC, but I don't think this move will increase the number for GC or lead to games on the Xbox. Enix is about as firmly in Sony's camp as Square was.

Asher · February 13, 2003, 20:28

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Originally posted by DinoDoc
I'm somewhat shocked that Nintendo or MS didn't make a try for them.

MS did make a try for them.

DinoDoc · February 13, 2003, 21:35

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Originally posted by Asher
MS did make a try for them.

What soured the deal then? I assume that Bill offered them something better than being a second class subsidiary to a no name company? Hell even Nintendo could offer them a better fate than that.

Asher · February 13, 2003, 21:39

Quote:

Originally posted by DinoDoc
What soured the deal then? I assume that Bill offered them something better than being a second class subsidiary to a no name company? Hell even Nintendo could offer them a better fate than that.

The deal was MS would buy Sega who would use the money to buy Square.

Square refused to do it, which soured the whole deal.

The reason why MS didn't buy Sega themselves is because J. Allard is gung-ho on buying small development houses or creating their own rather than buying publishers which come with huge overhead.

DinoDoc · February 13, 2003, 21:44

Quote:

Originally posted by Asher
The deal was MS would buy Sega who would use the money to buy Square.

Why not just go to Square and plop down obscene amounts of money on thier doorstep if that was to have been the final objective all along?

Asher · February 13, 2003, 21:53

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Originally posted by DinoDoc
Why not just go to Square and plop down obscene amounts of money on thier doorstep if that was to have been the final objective all along?

I believe it was tried already.

Drake Tungsten · February 14, 2003, 05:18

Speaking of the Xbox, it seems that I was right about lag and the problems it would pose for Xbox live fighting games...

Asher · February 14, 2003, 11:38

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Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
Speaking of the Xbox, it seems that I was right about lag and the problems it would pose for Xbox live fighting games...

All of the reviews of it seem to disagree...

The comic exists to make jokes, Drake, not to serve as the "official word of truth" when everyone else says otherwise.

To quote Gamespot on the game (review posted yesterday):

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The Xbox version of Capcom vs. SNK 2 EO represents what's possibly the most important achievement in fighting games since Street Fighter II was successfully ported to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System about 10 years ago. While the core game is identical to the three other versions of Capcom vs. SNK 2 released over the last year and a half for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Dreamcast, the Xbox version boasts one new feature that neither the previous home versions nor the arcade original had to offer: online play. Good online play. Capcom vs. SNK 2 EO technically isn't the first online-capable fighting game that's ever been made, but it's the first one to get online play right.

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Gameplay is relatively lag-free, and that's all that really matters. An occasional hiccup in the flow of the action does crop up, but these moments tend to be few and far between, and they generally won't interrupt your timing anyway.

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Between its release in arcades and its releases for the PS2, GameCube, and Dreamcast, Capcom vs. SNK 2 has already proven to be a successful sequel with fans of the original, as well as with many fans of both companies' previous efforts. So it's ironic that, despite the game itself being exactly the same for the Xbox as for all other platforms, the Xbox version stands out as such a remarkable achievement. What could have been yet another multiplatform hand-me-down has become nothing short of a revolutionary achievement in fighting games thanks to the successful implementation of online play. Fans of the genre yearning for some real competition absolutely need to own this game.

and IGN...

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I'd like to proudly state that the game plays flawlessly. And in a game where a fraction of a second of lag can turn the tides of battle, this is truly a monumental achievement. Well, maybe not, but whatever. It's still the first time we get to play a fighting game against an opponent in Japan as if they were sitting in our laps with the second player controller. That alone makes this game, and an Xbox Live account worth purchasing.

Drake Tungsten · February 14, 2003, 11:42

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The comic exists to make jokes, Drake, not to serve as the "official word of truth" when everyone else says otherwise.

No kidding. The comic is hyperbole, but there is truth to it. Gabe commented on the lag on the site.

As for the IGN and Gamespot's reviews, don't you think that they might have better internet connections than the rest of us? I'm concerned about real world performance and one of the most watched sites in gaming just complained about it.

Asher · February 14, 2003, 11:47

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Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
No kidding. The comic is hyperbole, but there is truth to it. Gabe commented on the lag on the site.

As for the IGN and Gamespot's reviews, don't you think that they might have better internet connections than the rest of us? I'm concerned about real world performance and one of the most watched sites in gaming just complained about it.

Actually I'm pretty sure I've got a connnection as good if not better than whatever they're using.

If you've got a bad connection, of course it's going to be a problem, but that problem isn't "xbox live fighting games", it's "RoadRunner" or "AOL Broadband" and I feel sorry for the people who live where that's the only option.

Where did they talk about it, by the way, all I see is a rant on MOO3 and a little comment about how he's going to pick Capcom vs SNK 2 up...

What date was that comic from?

Drake Tungsten · February 14, 2003, 11:51

Gabe made two posts on it, which are at the bottom of the page right now. I can't seem to copy and paste the text for some reason, so you'll have to check it out yourself.

Asher · February 14, 2003, 11:53

Quote:

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
Gabe made two posts on it, which are at the bottom of the page right now. I can't seem to copy and paste the text for some reason, so you'll have to check it out yourself.

That's really odd, perhaps he should look into his internet connection if he's getting lag problems.

The response on the IGN boards has been fantastic about how little lag there is and how great it is, and same with all of the real reviews I've read.

Asher · February 14, 2003, 15:49

I think Gabe just needs a new ISP.

Here's my XBL network statistics as of about 10 minutes ago (and I live way the hell up in Canada and am using US servers):

The first ping number is the avg, the second ping number is the maximum. P: 8/8 means 8 out of 8 packets were returned successfully, UL is upload speed in Kbits/sec, DL is download speed in Kbits/sec.

Drake Tungsten · February 14, 2003, 20:31

Wow, Gabe was right about the Xbox Live menu screens looking like **** as well...

BTW, does the "L" represent lag? 24ms might be enough to mess up a fighting game.

Asher · February 14, 2003, 21:05

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Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
Wow, Gabe was right about the Xbox Live menu screens looking like **** as well...

That's not what he was talking about. The screen you're looking at is from the Xbox Dashboard, which is full of very moving futuristic-green HUD type things, which doesn't look very good in a digicam capture.

Quote:

BTW, does the "L" represent lag? 24ms might be enough to mess up a fighting game.

L is latency, or lag, yes.

24ms is certainly not enough to mess up a fighting game, considering that the average human response time is something like 77ms and in competitive FPS games you aim for ~70ms ping or lower.

24ms is insanely low latency.

Drake Tungsten · February 14, 2003, 21:06

Gabe responds to the bashing of his ISP...

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Yes I know that lots of other websites say they get no lag in CVS 2. Some of you are suggesting it might be a problem on my end, that maybe I have a shitty connection… That hurts. That is like a guy telling you his marriage is going down hill and you say “well did you ever think that maybe your **** is too small?”

I never once experienced lag in MechAssault so I can’t imagine how it could be a problem on my end all of a sudden. Maybe Bob internet over at Verizon just doesn’t want me playing CVS 2 and every time he sees me load it up through his magical telescope he flips a giant switch labeled “**** Gabe” and my connection goes from DSL to 56 k in the space of a second.

It honestly isn’t that bad anymore. I would say that about 80% of the games I play are silky smooth. The other 20% though are lagfests that I end up having to just quit out of.

-Gabe out

Asher · February 14, 2003, 21:11

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It honestly isn’t that bad anymore. I would say that about 80% of the games I play are silky smooth. The other 20% though are lagfests that I end up having to just quit out of.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume Gabe doesn't know much about the internet?

Did it occur to him that, perhaps, his ISP took some of his gateways/nodes down for maintenance, increasing the usage of his node, during the time he played his first set of games?

The fact that it "isn't that bad anymore" and the fact that all the other websites and people on forums don't have a problem with point it to a problem on his end, either with his ISP or with his own configuration.

Whether he had no lag in mechassault is not relevant, since the internet is anything but consistent, especially on the consumer ISP end.

Then there's also his assertion that 80% of the games are "silky smooth" and 20% are "lagfests" and there's nothing inbetween obviously tells me something is being horribly inconsistent on his end...like perhaps an ISP having some kind of technical difficulties and doing loadbalancing.

Drake Tungsten · February 14, 2003, 21:16

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I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume Gabe doesn't know much about the internet?

That would be going out on a limb. I don't see how either of us could know anything about Gabe's knowledge of the internet...

Asher · February 14, 2003, 21:19

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Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
That would be going out on a limb. I don't see how either of us could know anything about Gabe's knowledge of the internet...

No, but we can connect the dots when he displays a lack of knowledge.

This sentence in particular should set off red flags to people who know about the internet:

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I never once experienced lag in MechAssault so I can’t imagine how it could be a problem on my end all of a sudden.

Yes, Gabe, that's right -- because you didn't have problems with MechAssault last week means that any problems you experience this week in Capcom vs SNK 2 is due to the game, even if it's much better now.

It's simply impossible for your ISP to have technical difficulties, right Gabe...

Silly Gabe. I suppose this is why he draws comics for a living.

Drake Tungsten · February 14, 2003, 21:26

Send an email off to Gabe, Asher. If you're really nasty, you might get into a comic!

Asher · February 14, 2003, 21:30

Quote:

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
Send an email off to Gabe, Asher. If you're really nasty, you might get into a comic!

Something tells me Gabe doesn't care for rational logic, since his comic thrives off irrational, silly things...

Drake Tungsten · February 14, 2003, 21:39

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Something tells me Gabe doesn't care for rational logic, since his comic thrives off irrational, silly things...

Like giant Xbox couches?