I think Sega and Nintendo are becoming incredibly close.

To say that 15 years ago would have been madness, but now, it's far too true. Sega was pushed out, Nintendo was believed to be next. Now, three years after the gamecube, Nintendo is on top of the console market. Sega is supporting them wholeheartedly.

It may have been unintentional on some fronts; they didn't plan Sonic The Hedgehog (360, PS3) to be worse than Sonic and the Secret Rings (Wii). They didn't plan on the Wii version of Sonic Unleashed to be the best in critical reception on some sites. However, they are already making another Sonic game for Wii to continue the Secret Rings series. Sonic games are turning out better on the Wii for some reason.

Other reasons are very intentional; I'm looking at House of the Dead: Overkill on this one. After releasing two arcade light gun ports to test the waters, they are releasing the next game in the House of the Dead series on Wii. It's going to be great, and we all know it. Obviously it fits that the game be made for Wii, but they could have chosen not to make the game, and to ignore the seemingly nonexistent "hardcore" fanbase of the Wii. They decided not to, and a great game will result. We also get Let's Tap! out of this. Bizarre? Hell yeah it is, but what isn't bizarre about a blue hedgehog collecting coins to fight a man with eyebrow problems? Both of these show that they are going for the Wii with their titles. Maybe not all of them (although I'd LOVE to see Condemned 3 with MotionPlus), but with a great deal.

Then, you have their massive publishing support. Madworld and The Conduit are both Sega. The two games that people are arguing over which will be better for Wii in 2009, both Sega. That isn't happening on the other consoles. On them, Sega is a licensed game manufacturer. In fact, the only games that people may be talking about in 09 that aren't Sega are FIRST PARTY NINTENDO, like Punch Out!! and Sin and Punishment 2. It isn't often that first party games are being overshadowed by third party, especially on a Nintendo system.

Why would they do this? Well, there's two reasons I see. The first is that they are trying to fulfill the "hardcore" need on Wii before Nintendo can get to it first. Hell, the HotD trailers all say "The hardcore you've been waiting for!". The second is that they see some kind of hope in them. I don't know how Sega feels now, but they were pissed when Sony entered the race. An electronics dealer would make a game company making consoles obselete. They did with Sega. They failed with Nintendo, because Nintendo has Wii. Maybe they support Wii because they hope to someday drive the electronic juggernauts out of their pockets? End the traditions of buying exclusives and slapping your name on it? Make the grounds fair and equal for all?

Maybe. That, or they wanna make some money. I dunno, I'm tired.

It is wierd to put Sega and Nintendo in a light as working together. For reasons such as this:

There was an interesting article I scanned over in GamesTM magazine when I was in WH Smiths yesterday basically arguing the case that the Wii is spiritually SEGA's Dreamcast 2.

SEGA were classically looking for motion support to reinvent the NiGHTS franchise and have given Nintendo huge amount of support by bringing back the likes of said franchise and also the Mario/Sonic collaboration.

I think, personally, SEGA have become a MUCH better publisher than they have developer. Which kinda makes me sad they're not developing great games anymore but at least they are supporting studios like Platinum Games who are putting out AMAZING games.

YOUR DEAD TO ME SEGA.


I DASH MY MASTER SYSTEM INTO THE FIREPLACE.

They will never heed our wise words. They will never stop making promising but ultimately dissapointing sonic games.

Eh, Sega's dead, so unfortunately the vast majority don't care anymore.

-- God Bless.

"Eh, Sega's dead, so unfortunately the vast majority don't care anymore.

-- God Bless."

"JonathanMoore said:

"Eh, Sega's dead, so unfortunately the vast majority don't care anymore.

-- God Bless."

Sega is not dead...they aren't anywhere near being dead either."

As long as they keep coming out with Condemned games I'll be happy.

"As long as they keep coming out with Condemned games I'll be happy."

"tekmojo said:

"As long as they keep coming out with Condemned games I'll be happy."

As long as they keep coming out with Total War games I'll be happy."

P.S. if you pre-order on Steam now you get Total War: Rome for free. Good for those new to the franchise.

You replaced your moon man?! You cold hearted person! Who is that new moon person?

On topic: I hope Sega nankrupts and VANISHES! The only thing I thank them this year is Valkyria Chronicles! And I hope that Nintendo picks up the Sonic franchise, amybe then soem good Sonic games would again be released!

Why would they do this? Well, there's two reasons I see. The first is that they are trying to fulfill the "hardcore" need on Wii before Nintendo can get to it first. Hell, the HotD trailers all say "The hardcore you've been waiting for!". The second is that they see some kind of hope in them. I don't know how Sega feels now, but they were pissed when Sony entered the race. An electronics dealer would make a game company making consoles obsolete. They did with Sega. They failed with Nintendo, because Nintendo has Wii. Maybe they support Wii because they hope to someday drive the electronic juggernauts out of their pockets? End the traditions of buying exclusives and slapping your name on it? Make the grounds fair and equal for all?

Maybe. That, or they wanna make some money. I dunno, I'm tired."

Sega needs to shut the hell up, continue to publish great games, spend more time in developing new games, and let Nintendo do the next Sonic game.

"The company in charge of Phantasy Star Portable cannot die."

"Jayge said:

"The company in charge of Phantasy Star Portable cannot die."

The company who has bought PlatinumGames cannot die!"

Sega is dead now, 

"They don't own PlatinumGames, they're just publishing their debut trio of games (Bayonetta, Infinite Space, MadWorld.) They're still an independent developer."

For me the greater surprise isn't seeing Sega doing good on a nintendo system. What surprises me is that when I turn on a game with the logo "SEGA" I don't imediately think "this will suck!". I think that, I don't know, maybe five years ago that would've been impossible to me.

But they should just bury Sonic... it's not sega's fault, there's no dept to the character. It's not possible to make a good game out of something that just runs fast. Sonic game's will always be horrible.

SEGA SHOULD DIE! they have good franchises and great ideas but they completely ruin in by making crappy games! Let someone that actually knows what they're doing pick up the franchises and make the games! SONIC IS DEAD FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! That would have been unthinkable 10 years ago! Sonic Unleashed was Sonic's last hope, and to pick him up it had to be superb, and it is only good. They should not bury Sonic, they should kill Sonic Team and give out the franchise to Nintendo, or Sony.

"SEGA SHOULD DIE! they have good franchises and great ideas but they completely ruin in by making crappy games! Let someone that actually knows what they're doing pick up the franchises and make the games! SONIC IS DEAD FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! That would have been unthinkable 10 years ago! Sonic Unleashed was Sonic's last hope, and to pick him up it had to be superb, and it is only good. They should not bury Sonic, they should kill Sonic Team and give out the franchise to Nintendo, or Sony."

"Snail said:

"SEGA SHOULD DIE! they have good franchises and great ideas but they completely ruin in by making crappy games! Let someone that actually knows what they're doing pick up the franchises and make the games! SONIC IS DEAD FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! That would have been unthinkable 10 years ago! Sonic Unleashed was Sonic's last hope, and to pick him up it had to be superb, and it is only good. They should not bury Sonic, they should kill Sonic Team and give out the franchise to Nintendo, or Sony."

They make plenty of good games. Nobody cares about Sonic anymore. Sega is still damn important for other IPs. SEGA and Capcom are the only two viable Japanese publishers at the moment besides maaaybe Sony."

"Great games such as... even if you get examples it will be like 10% of the games released the whole year. And I still find unbelievable out how they ruined Sonic..."

"Snail said:

"Great games such as... even if you get examples it will be like 10% of the games released the whole year. And I still find unbelievable out how they ruined Sonic..."

Valkyria Chronicles, Space Siege, Bleach: Dark Souls, Samba de Amigo, Yakuza 2, Phantasy Star Portable, Rez HD, Condemned 2, to name some."

"Jayge said:

"Snail said:

"Great games such as... even if you get examples it will be like 10% of the games released the whole year. And I still find unbelievable out how they ruined Sonic..."

Valkyria Chronicles, Space Siege, Bleach: Dark Souls, Samba de Amigo, Yakuza 2, Phantasy Star Portable, Rez HD, Condemned 2, to name some."

That's rather depressing."

Sega doesn't fucking MAKE games. Creative Assembly and Monolith do. And then SEGA does a piss poor job of promoting them.

Last gen when we saw Sonic Adventure 2 Battle on the Gamecube, it was a shock to many... the Nintendo/Sega rivalry was fierce in the 90s.  Now we've got Mario & Sonic doing games together, NiGHTS, Samba de Amigo, and House of the Dead are all on the Wii.

I've got this weird feeling that Nintendo could eventually merge with Sega sometime in the future... sounds far-fetched, but they're very similar companies in many ways.

"Last gen when we saw Sonic Adventure 2 Battle on the Gamecube, it was a shock to many... the Nintendo/Sega rivalry was fierce in the 90s.  Now we've got Mario & Sonic doing games together, NiGHTS, Samba de Amigo, and House of the Dead are all on the Wii.

I've got this weird feeling that Nintendo could eventually merge with Sega sometime in the future... sounds far-fetched, but they're very similar companies in many ways."