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The Week Ending
September 6, 1999 |
 
Daily editorial
on trends in the gaming
industry and
hot topics.
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of game development? Sound, graphics, code, and design are all covered
in our game design section.
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SPECIAL DREAMCAST EDITION
Last week I had a chance to visit Sega's headquarters in San
Francisco for the Gamer's Day conference that served as a preview of what
we can expect from the Dreamcast, launching on September 9th.
Now, here's my opinion on the state of Sega and the Dreamcast. 
The Launch Games
You've probably heard
it before, but it's true: The Sega Dreamcast has the most impressive
software launch lineup for any console.
Sure, there are the requisite Japanese games converted over for the
American launch, but there's no denying that Sega has a number of stunning
titles in its arsenal for launch day, namely the powerful trio of Soul
Calibur, NFL 2K (see below), and Ready 2 Rumble.
These games rival – and in many cases greatly eclipse – any
other similar games on competing platforms.
With a dozen-odd games arriving on store shelves with the hardware
– at least two-thirds of which are at least worth a rental -- the days
of the Saturn launch with practically just arcade conversions of Virtua
Fighter and Daytona along with Panzer Dragoon are a distant memory.
The Dreamcast has original games coming out with the hardware, and
simply put, they are showstoppers. Console
launches used to be about getting the one "must have" pack-in
game (remember Golden Axe for the Sega Genesis?), but with the Dreamcast,
as far as I'm concerned there are three must have games for everyone, and
a good half-dozen others that cater to specific subsets of the gaming
public. Day one, Dreamcast hits a home run in terms of
software, which is no easy task to achieve.
No wonder 250,000 gamers have pre-ordered the console!
and 
The
Marketing
Regular readers of this column know that I've taken issue
with Sega's high-concept marketing campaign for the Dreamcast, which has
yet to unveil any gameplay footage. First
there were the "It's Thinking" teaser ads and recently Sega
unleashed "Apocalypse," a very artsy Michael Bay-ish mini-movie
that told the story of a female spy stealing a Dreamcast and the resulting
chaos. It's a
visually stunning little piece of movie-making, but with such an
incredible launch lineup, why not show the games?
Well, at Gamer's Day Sega Senior VP Peter Moore finally unveiled
the rest of Sega's television campaign.
Thankfully, it looks like Sega has finally figured out the
marketing with a series of launch sports called "Inside the
Box," featuring 3D-rendered characters such as Sonic and Toejam and
Earl lounging around in after hours situations such as a nightclub and a
Mexican restaurant. You
have to hand it to Sega for not going after the 26-seconds-of-live-action
followed by 2-seconds-of-gameplay model Sony has continually used for
PlayStation advertising. Instead,
by using 3D animation blended with gameplay footage the result is a much
more seamless feeling to the entire spot.
My favorite spot is entitled "Old Days," which has former
Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon comparing NFL 2K to the old Genesis
football games. It will
premiere on the MTV Video Music Awards September 9th.
The good news is that the new commercials are
going to kick Dreamcast fever into high gear.
However, I can't give Sega a full check for their marketing,
because I fail to really see the cohesion in this campaign.
Moore suggested this was a three-tiered campaign, but for the life
of me I can't figure out why these gameplay/animation commercials weren't airing weeks ago.
Besides the "It's Thinking" tagline, the three stages of
the campaign are as different as night and day and lack a strong common
thread between them. In
my opinion, if the advertising were up to spec from the get-go, we'd be
seeing ever more than 250,000 pre-orders at retail.
? - Games for 2000
I've already lauded the launch lineup of software, but where
does Sega go from here? Although
there was a buzz that Sega was going to show off NHL 2K and Nights 2 at
Gamer's Day, the event was remarkably void of any major announcement about
new products. Sega teased us
about a few surprises being shown on the second day, and then we were
definitely surprised when a tennis and soccer game were shown on videotape
to unceremoniously end the event. However,
a lot of post-launch software was shown, and it ranged from incredibly
impressive (D2 and Zombie Revenge) to questionable (Centipede) . Heading
into 2000 Sega has what I would classify as an impressive lineup of games,
but I still wonder if the 3rd party support is really there
long term, especially with PlayStation 2 on the horizon.
Regardless of 3rd party support for the new
millennium, Sega has two big games due for 2000. The first is a quirky Japanese game named Seaman, which lets
you raise a virtual pet (half-fish half-man) in his own tank using your
voice to guide his actions (a microphone is included).
It might not be graphically stunning, but it's a great concept.
The demo shown at Gamer's Day erred a little too much on the
scripted side of things, meaning I'm not too sure on just how
"interactive" the voice recognition is, but I still have high
hopes for the game. The
other product is Shenmue, the much-vaunted game that just makes your jaw
drop to the floor. The
graphics are, admittedly, simply amazing, and seeing them on the screen
makes me feel that character development and emotional impact are going to
really be the next big step in gaming.
However, the Shenmue demo shown leaves some lingering questions
about its gameplay – as it stands, action sequences are done in a
Dragon's Lair-esque "hit this button right NOW to continue"
motif. Still, if one game is
going to take on the Playstation 2, it will likely be Shenmue.
Keep
reading for my opinion on multiplayer gaming, Sega sports, and my overall
opinion of Dreamcast.
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