August 20, 1999
Without any notice or stated reason, Bernie Stolar has abruptly left
Sega. Stolar had been Sega of America's president and chief operating
officer, and the person most important to the Dreamcast's launch. Sega
refuses to make any comment about Stolar's departure, but the common belief
is that he was fired by Sega of Japan's top management. I personally
contacted a Sega spokesperson hoping she would slip up and say something
about Stolar's departure, but all she would say was, "I cannot comment, nor
can anyone at the company comment on Bernie Stolar's departure." Rumor has
it that Stolar got a $5 million severance package to leave the company, but
these rumors are completely un-confirmed.
The week before his departure from Sega, an interview with Stolar was
published in the trade publication Games Business which was interesting at
the time and very newsworthy in hindsight. Stolar alluded to tension
between himself and Sega of Japan when he said, "The thing I fought hardest
for was getting the modem in the machine, at launch, and at that $199 price
point. A lot people in Japan hate me for that." Stolar might have also
upset Sega of Japan when he made reference to the Dreamcast's relatively
slow sales in Japan. "Dreamcast to date has been a failure in Japan,"
Stolar said. "I'm not going to lie about that. The price drop has helped;
now they need the software." Sega of Japan could have also been upset with
Stolar saying "I'm proud and glad that an American (himself) is saving the
company, and that's ironic because Sega was started by four Americans."
Another reason Sega of Japan could have been mad at Stolar because Sega
of America crashed a Sony executive golf tournament in California recently.
Specifically, a plane with a banner saying "Sega Dreamcast 9-9-99" was
flying around the golf course all day, golf balls featuring the Dreamcast
logo were slipped into the course's supply of normal golf balls, and Sega
had someone dressed as Sonic in attendance as well.
Stolar was also one of the biggest forces behind the PlayStation's launch
in 1995, and he left Sony a month before the system's release. This leads
many to believe that Stolar is in fact a magical console fairy who appears
to engineer a successful console launch and then magically disappears to
help someone else.
Working Designs' president Victor Ireland had previously stated that
Working Designs would not make any Dreamcast games as long as Stolar was
Sega of America's president (largely due to a disagreement between the two
sides at the 1997 E3 show). Now that Stolar has left Sega, Ireland has gone
on record saying that Working Designs will fully support the Dreamcast, but
he did not mention any specific games that will be brought to the system.
After nearly a year at the $129 price point, Sony and Nintendo have both
cut the prices of their current systems to $99. The official date that the
PlayStation and Nintendo 64 price cuts were supposed to go into effect was
August 23, but most retailers aren't waiting for the 23rd and selling the
systems for $99 now. The $99 N64 comes with two controllers, with one of
them being the Atomic Purple controller. In addition, the N64-Star Wars
bundle (consisting of an N64, one controller, and Star Wars Episode I:
Racer) now costs $120. Lastly, Sony has announced the six newest additions
to the $20-or-less Greatest Hits promotion: Gran Turismo, Crash Bandicoot:
Warped, Spyro the Dragon, Cool Boarders 3, Twisted Metal 3, and A Bug's
Life.
The Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA) has filed a huge
lawsuit against six people who allegedly pirated video games over the
Internet. The lawsuit targets six members of the Razor 1911, Class, and
Paradigm hacking organizations, who are allegedly leaders of an inter-
national piracy operation. Joining the IDSA in suing these people are
Acclaim, 3DO, Infogrames, Bethesda Softworks, LucasArts, and Interplay.
The IDSA collected incriminating evidence for months before filing the
lawsuit. The IDSA alleges that the pirates in question obtained pre-
production copies of games, or finished copies of recently-released games,
and uploaded them onto the Internet for anyone to download. The piracy
would then multiply as huge piracy organizations in Russia and throughout
Asia would download the games and then manufacture CDs of the games to be
sold worldwide. The six pirates are being charged with copyright
infringement, trademark infringement, unfair competition, counterfeiting,
interstate transportation of stolen property, mail fraud, and wire fraud.
If convicted, the pirates could face years in prison and millions of
dollars in fines.
The piracy group Paradigm is also being sued in a separate lawsuit by
Sony and Electronic Arts. A Paradigm member's house was recently raided by
the US Marshals, who arrested the member and confiscated all his computer
equipment and video games. Both criminal and civil actions are being taken
against the person whose house was raided, as well as other Paradigm
members. Like anyone who is caught illegally copying video games (a
federal offense), the pirates in question face years in prison and millions
of dollars in fines.
If you know of any piracy web sites, you can report them to IDSA
anonymously at http://www.idsa.com/piracy.html
This article may sound like a joke, but unfortunately, it's not. A
minister in Colorado recently destroyed supposedly "evil" Pokemon
merchandise in front of 85 children at his church recently. As the
congregation chanted things like "Burn it!" and "Chop it up!" minister Mark
Juvera sliced a Pokemon toy with a sword and burnt some Pokemon trading
cards while his nine-year-old son ripped off the head and limbs of another
Pokemon doll.
Mark Cowart, the pastor of the church, told the Denver Post that he first
became suspicious that Pokemon was evil when he heard the Pokemon talking
about "Abra and Cadabra" in the back seat of his car (his kids were playing
the game). Cowart also said, "It's got sugar coating on it, but underneath,
it's poison. The way you come down against the powers of darkness is with
the sword of the spirit. We don't do things just for the sake of being
sensational like the World Federation of Wrestling." Yes, he really did
say "the World Federation of Wrestling." How much can he possibly know
about the WWF if he thinks it's the "World Federation of Wrestling"?
It's one thing to blindly assume that violent video games are the causes
of all our country's problems, but it's another thing to say that the cute,
child-oriented Pokemon is evil. The acts of violence these morons
committed against Pokemon merchandise in their church far exceeds the
amount of violence displayed in the Pokemon game or cartoon series.
Sega is about to launch the Sega Dreamcast Mobile Assault Tour. A giant
46-foot tank will be on the road for about five months, carrying with it 12
Dreamcast systems for lucky gamers to try out. The bus tour kicks off on
Monday, August 23 in Los Angeles, and will go on to stop at over 200
locations. The cities it will be in the longest are LA, San Francisco, New
York (including a stop at the MTV Video Music Awards), Sacramento, Boston,
and Portland. A nationwide competition will be held to see who can get the
highest score in Sonic Adventure, with the top four finishers winning a
trip to Las Vegas in January. The four gamers will then compete with each
other at the huge Sega Gameworks arcade, and the winner will take home
$15,000.
Sega has also kicked off a promotion with MTV in which one lucky winner
will win a three-day trip to New York and will attend the MTV Video Music
Awards on September 9. In addition to the all-expense-paid trip and the
backstage pass, the lucky winner will receive a Dreamcast and three of its
launch titles. You can enter now at www.sega.com
In yet another Dreamcast promotion, Sega is encouraging gamers to dress
up as Sonic and show up at Sega's offices in San Francisco, California on
the morning of Monday, August 23. Depending on how convincing you make
yourself look, Sega could give you free Dreamcast merchandise and/or cold,
hard cash (up to $500). Sega will proclaim one lucky gamer to be the
biggest Sega fan on the planet, and that person will win a free lifetime
supply of Sega first-party games.
Sega's chairman and CEO Isao Okawa has announced that both a camera and a
microphone will be released for the Dreamcast before Christmas. The camera
and microphone will allow Dreamcast owners to create pictures and videos
and then send them to others as e-mail attachments using the system's 56K
modem and the free Dreamcast Network. In a related note, Sega and Digital
Intelligence will bring the Picture IQ technology to the Dreamcast,
allowing owners of the system to view, edit, enhance, send, store, and
organize their digital pictures.
In addition, Okawa stated that the Dreamcast Network runs through both
Dreamcast consoles and Naomi-based Sega arcade machines. This means that
the technology exists to allow someone who's playing the arcade version of
a certain game to go against someone who is playing the Dreamcast version
of the same game. No games have been announced that will take advantage of
these capabilities, but it is intriguing nonetheless. Sega is looking to
release 30 arcade games over the next year, many of which will be ported to
the Dreamcast.
Financial firm Merrill Lynch has issued a report in which they claim that
the PlayStation 2 will be released in Japan on January 23, 2000 and in the
US and Europe in September or October of 2000. Sony would not confirm the
January 23 Japanese release date, instead sticking with its previous line
of "before the end of March 2000." The Merrill Lynch report also claimed
that the system will launch at a price point equivalent to $390 in Japan
for the "game-only initial model." The phrase "game-only initial model"
implies that the PlayStation 2 will initially be able to play games and
nothing else, but may be able to serve other functions like playing DVD
movies at a later date.
Sony has announced that in addition to unveiling the PlayStation 2 in
front of the Japanese public at the Tokyo Game Show next month, the
unveiling will be presented live on the Internet on Sony of Japan's web
site (http://www.scei.co.jp/). Sony will reveal the system's design, its
Japanese price, and its Japanese release date. Go there on September 17
and see for yourself.
Graphics acceleration company Nvidia has announced a huge increase in
revenue and earnings in its latest financial quarter. Nvidia generated $78
million in revenue, up from the $12 it generated in the same quarter last
year. As a result of these increase revenues, the company's bottom line
has gone from a $10 million loss to a $7 million profit.
This week's sign that the apocalypse is upon us: Nintendo is set to
unveil Mario Party 2 at their upcoming Space World show in Japan. And yet
there's still no Metroid sequel in sight...
Another sign that the apocalypse is upon us: In a desperate attempt to
boost sales of the game, Electronic Arts has changed the name of V-Rally 2
to V-Rally 2 presented by Need for Speed. It's one thing to have stupid
game titles like Major League Baseball Presented by Ken Griffey, Jr., but
it's another thing entirely when one game franchise "presents" another game
franchise. "Need for Speed" is not a person, it's a game franchise. It
can't physically present anything.
Sonic Team leader Yuji Naka has confirmed rumors that Sega is working on
a Dreamcast sequel to the Saturn game Nights. However, Naka would not
disclose any release date targets, and wouldn't say whether or not he is
working on the game himself. No word yet on whether Sega plans to blatantly
lie to consumers about Nights 2 like they did with Nights 1 ("It's
completely 3D! Oh yeah, except you're on a set path and you have no
freedom of movement...")
The latest Fortune list of the nation's 100 fastest-growing companies
reveals that video game publisher THQ is the #3 fastest-growing company in
the United States. This is the first time a video game company has made
the Top 100 list, much less the Top 3. Some people had doubts about THQ's
future when they lost the WCW license to Electronic Arts last year, but it
turned out to be a blessing in disguise since WCW's business has gone down
in every major revenue category over the past year. THQ has since picked
up the WWF license just as the WWF's business is at an all-time high. The
WWF's annual profits went from $8.5 million two years ago to $56 million in
the latest fiscal year. THQ's profits might see a similar jump when their
first WWF wrestling game (Wrestlemania 2000 for the N64) is released this
November.
Sega has revealed that the World Series Baseball series will make its way
to the Dreamcast next year. In the past, World Series Baseball has had a
loyal following of Genesis and Saturn owners, but this is the first mention
of the game coming to the Dreamcast. Sega didn't formally announce a
Dreamcast version of the game, but an advertisement within Sega's upcoming
football game NFL 2K spills the beans and says that World Series Baseball
will make its return in the spring of 2000.
Electronic Arts has released the final list of wrestlers that will be in
its upcoming wrestling game WCW Mayhem. I would print the entire list, but
it's got about 50 wrestlers on it, and the amount of wrestling fans who
care about any of them is small and getting smaller every week. However,
I will tell you that Sid is not on the list, which I don't think is going
to cause anybody too much heart-ache. Also missing from the list is
agent/rapper/Hooty-Hooer Master P, who WCW got rid of because he sucked and
he was getting paid $200,000 per appearance despite the fact that he never
did anything on WCW television except yell "Hooty Hoo!" and get booed. WCW
Mayhem is due for release on the Nintendo 64 on September 21 and on the
PlayStation on September 24.
Sega has revealed the specific uses of the Virtual Memory Unit (VMU) in
several Dreamcast games. Much like the memory card that accompanied the
PlayStation's launch, the VMU will be required to save your game, it will
be sold separately from the system, and it will cost around $25. The
difference is that the VMU has an LCD screen, it can do a lot more than
just save your game, and it fits into the Dreamcast controller rather than
the console itself. Here are some uses of the VMU in specific games as
revealed by Sega:
-Sonic Adventure: a mini-game that lets you raise virtual pets and then pit
them against your friends' virtual pets in multi-player battles
-TrickStyle: a "TrickStyle Jr." mini-game
-NFL 2K: lets you select your plays on the VMU instead of the TV screen so
that other people can't see what you pick in multi-player games
-Power Stone: mini-games are unlocked when you beat the arcade mode, and
then you can unlock more hidden features in the game by beating the mini-
games
-Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: shows stats such as health, punches thrown, and
accuracy percantage on the VMU instead of the TV screen to avoid cluttering
the TV screen
Sega has revealed the contents of the demo disc that will be packaged
with the Dreamcast. The disc will feature short demos of Ready 2 Rumble
Boxing, Sonic Adventure, Sega Bass Fishing, Power Stone, House of the Dead
2, Monaco Grand Prix, and a racing game called Flag To Flag. The disc will
also feature videos (but not playable demos) of NFL 2K, NBA 2K, NFL Blitz
2000, and Hydro Thunder.
Nearly two years after the release of the PC version, Quake 2 is still
not out for the Sony PlayStation. Fortunately, the game is almost done now,
and all that remains after that is for it to be sent to Sony for approval
and manufacturing. Electronics Boutique's web site claims that the game
will be released on September 29.
Capcom has revealed that Resident Evil: The Movie is still in development,
but horror film legend George Romero is no longer working on the project.
After the disaster that was Street Fighter: The Movie, Capcom is being
extra cautious to make sure that the Resident Evil movie doesn't suffer the
same fate. As a result, Capcom says that the earliest you should expect to
see the Resident Evil movie is 2001 (the same year Final Fantasy: The Movie
will be released).
Ubi Soft has picked up the US publishing rights to the Dreamcast's first
RPG, Evolution: The World of Sacred Device. Originally developed in Japan
by Sting (the video game company, not the singer or the over-the-hill
wrestler), Evolution is now due for a US release this November.
Sega is telling a lot of retailers (most notably Babbage's and
Electronics Boutiques) not to take any more Dreamcast pre-orders. Sega
says there will be enough Dreamcasts to go around for everyone, but if that
were true, there would be no need to stop taking pre-orders, would there?
Sega says they want consumers to be able to just walk into a store on
September 9 and buy the system even if they haven't pre-ordered it, and the
system could be sold out before it's even released if pre-orders were to
continue at their current pace. Never mind the fact that someone who's in
the store weeks before the system's release willing to put money on the
counter probably deserves to get the system on September 9 a lot more than
some 'schmo who happens to wander into the store on September 9 and decides
he wants a Dreamcast...
Cash-deprived GT Interactive has announced its financial figures for the
most recent financial quarter. Revenues were up 4% to $121 million, with
Driver and Total Annihilation: Kingdoms accounting for a significant
portion of that revenue. However, GT still posted a $3.9 million loss,
which is worse than the $1.8 million loss it posted in the same quarter
last year. GT is hoping that its financial situation will turn around when
games like Duke Nukem: Zero Hour, Unreal Tournament, Deer Hunter 3, and the
PC version of Driver are released.
In addition to the previously announced Dreamcast, PlayStation, and
Nintendo 64 versions, Midway has announced that Ready 2 Rumble Boxing will
be brought to the Game Boy Color as well. No other details were released
except that the GBC version of the game will ship to retailers in November.
Midway has paid GT Interactive an un-disclosed amount of money to settle
a lawsuit between the two companies out of court. GT had previously shelled
out $35 million for the international distribution rights to Midway's games.
Then, earlier this year, GT filed a lawsuit against Midway claiming that
Midway was interfering with GT's attempts to distribute Midway's games
worldwide. Now Midway has paid GT a large sum of money (the amount was not
revealed) to settle the lawsuit.
One of the advantages of a company being as big as Electronic Arts is
that it can leverage its brands together to increase sales across the board.
EA is attempting to do just that by branding Bullfrog's Theme Park World
with Maxis' Sim City name. Theme Park World is the next game in the Theme
Park series, and it's now set to be called Sim Theme Park when it is
released for the PlayStation and PC on November 2. Bullfrog's general
manager Bruce McMillan said, "While Theme is one of the most recognized
gaming brands in the world, it is much stronger in Europe and Asia than it
is in North America. Branding Theme Park World as Sim Theme Park in North
America will tell customers exactly what kind of gaming experience the
title is." McMillan failed to add, "We're also hoping that some moron
somewhere will buy the game mistakenly thinking it's the newest Sim City
game..."
Tecmo is planning to make the upcoming Monster Rancher 2 a much more
high-profile game than the original. Monster Rancher 2 will be supported by
an action figure line and a nationally syndicated cartoon series when it is
released this fall. If you haven't played the original Monster Rancher yet,
you owe it to yourself to go check it out.
Don't assume that the home version of Tekken Tag Tournament will be for
the PlayStation. It could very well be for the Dreamcast, or it could even
be released for both systems. We won't know for sure until Namco makes an
announcement on the matter.
The creators of the three-million-selling Worms series at Team 17 have
announced that Worms Armageddon will brought to the Dreamcast by the end of
the year. The game was recently released for the PC and published by Hasbro
Interactive. Hasbro will also publish the Dreamcast version of the game.
Team 17 claims that Worms Armageddon will be the last game in the Worms
series.
Interplay's latest financial figures seem to suggest that it is a very
inefficient company with a lot of un-necessary expenses. As if the
company's revenue going from $41 million the previous year to $29 million
this year weren't bad enough, the company posted a $7 million loss (much
worse than the $700,000 profit it posted in the same quarter last year).
Controlling interest in Interplay was recently purchased by the France-
based Titus Software, makers of Superman and Virtual Chess 64 (insert your
own "Superman sucks" joke here).
In other Interplay-related news, former Interplay executive Paul Sackman
(no relation to Rob Sacoman) has been hired by Crave Entertainment as their
vice president of marketing. Crave's upcoming games include Tokyo Xtreme
Racing and Aerowings for the Dreamcast, as well as Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko
for the Nintendo 64.
Macintosh and PC game maker Bungie Software will be expanding into the
console market with the help of Take-Two Interactive. In addition to
purchasing 19.9% of Bungie, Take-Two has acquired the North American
distribution rights to the next four Bungie games, including the
graphically amazing Halo. These games will be brought to numerous console
systems (including the Dreamcast) under Take-Two's Rockstar Games label.
Konami has filed two lawsuits against Namco. Konami claims that Namco's
disc jockey game and Namco's guitar-playing game (both available only in
Japan) are too similar to Konami's games of the same kind and infringe upon
Konami's patents. Namco claims that Konami's patents are invalid, but that
is ultimately up to Japan's Patent Office to decide.
Capcom and Nintendo have announced plans to jointly developed three
Zelda games for the Game Boy Color. A report by the Bloomberg news service
claims that the first of these games will be released in Japan this
December, which would mean that none of the games will be released in the
US until next year.
Sony recently held a Fan Appreciation Day at its massive Metreon complex
in San Francisco. The first 99 people who showed up that day were given
free PlayStation-related merchandise. In addition, a PlayStation
competition took place and the winner received two tickets to go to New
York.
In the period from July 18 to July 24, the best-selling PlayStation
games were:
1. Driver
2. Final Fantasy 7
3. Tarzan
4. Triple Play 2000
5. The Need For Speed 3: Hot Pursuit
6. Syphon Filter
7. MLB 2000
8. WWF War Zone
9. Star Ocean: The Second Story
10. Namco Museum Volume 1
In the period from July 18 to July 24, the best-selling Nintendo 64
games were:
1. Super Smash Bros. (also the most rented game on any system)
2. Rugrats: Scavenger Hunt
3. Star Wars Episode I: Racer (the second-most rented game on any system)
4. Goldeneye 007
5. Mario Party
6. Command & Conquer
7. Super Mario 64
8. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
9. Mario Kart 64
10. Quake 2
In the period from July 18 to July 24, the best-selling PC games were:
1. Rainbow Six Gold Pack
2. RollerCoaster Tycoon
3. Cabela's Big Game Hunter 2
4. Riven: The Sequel To Myst (it's baaaaack!)
5. Civilization: Call to Power
6. The Need For Speed 3: Hot Pursuit
7. Tomb Raider (the original)
8. StarCraft: Brood War
9. Baldur's Gate
10. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
The following Japanese hardware sales figures are for the two-week period
between July 12 and July 25.
1. Sony PocketStation: 151,000 units sold
2. Sony PlayStation: 71,000 units sold
3. Game Boy Color: 57,000 units sold
4. Sega Dreamcast: 34,000 units sold
5. Nintendo 64: 32,000 units sold
6. Bandai Wonder Swan: 23,000 units sold
7. Game Boy Pocket: 6,000 units sold
8. Neo Geo Pocket Color: 3,000 units sold
Here are the percentages of Top 30 software sales for the two-week period
between July 12 and July 25 in Japan.
1. Sony PlayStation: 69%
2. Game Boy: 13%
3. Nintendo 64: 12%
4. Sega Dreamcast: 5%
5. Wonder Swan: 1%
all other systems: no games in the Top 30
Sources for news: Fastest Game News Online, GameSpot, GameFan, Blue's News,
GI News, Next Generation Online, Adrenaline Vault, The Magic Box, Happy
Puppy, PlanetQuake, IGNPSX, IGN 64, Nintendorks, The Sega Zone, Sega Otaku,
Gaming Age, Weekly Famistu, www.hamsterdance.com
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Master Gamer News- August 6, 1999
Master Gamer News- July 23, 1999
Master Gamer News- July 11, 1999
Master Gamer News- June 26, 1999
Master Gamer News- May 21, 1999
Master Gamer News- May 9, 1999
Master Gamer News- April 27, 1999
Master Gamer News- April 10, 1999
Master Gamer News- March 29, 1999
Master Gamer News- March 17, 1999
© 2001 ivan@mastergamer.com