Slash
07-29-2006, 12:29 PM
http://wii.advancedmn.com/article.php?artid=7197
SEGA Criticizes Third Parties July 21, 2006
by: Phillip Levin
The company says other companies are unimaginative when dealing with Wii.
When talking to Next-Gen.biz this week, SEGA vice president Scott Steinberg criticized third-party developers and publishers for not taking full advantage of Wii and failing to be imaginative.
Steinberg says that SEGA has been "on the Wii bandwagon from day one.? The company plans to release Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz alongside Wii?s launch and Sonic Wild Fire early in 2007. Meanwhile, other companies were slow to hop on the Wii bandwagon.
"The pundits are missing the point when it comes to the Wii's strategy - not every third party is late to the launch,? he says.
"It's true that a lot of third parties have been flat footed when it comes to having games ready for the launch window, but Sega is certainly not one of them."
Even developers onboard with Wii, though, Steinberg says are unimaginative. "Some third parties have shown a lack of imagination when dealing with this new platform. The way the Wii is being built you have to design for it. Ports and upgrades are no good. That thinking takes a little bit of creativity and not every publisher has the necessary creative people available."
While some third parties would say that it?s because of Nintendo?s back track record for dealing with third parties, Steinberg disagrees. "I can say without any hesitation that we have a great relationship with Nintendo. The American companies don't do a good enough job of wooing Nintendo.
"Sega has become a lot closer to Nintendo, which is ironic given the history of the two companies, but that proximity has given us a great view of how they wanted to get out of the polygon race and stop battling the technology companies and instead find a very comfortable position in family-friendly fun games like Super Monkey Ball."
SEGA had playable versions of both Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz and Sonic Wild Fire at E3. ?We had a Wii room for journalists and analysts and it was the best way to try playable Wii games without getting in the colossal Nintendo line,? Steinberg says. ?Those games are built purposely for Wii, That's what makes the Sega story unique - we have family-friendly games with a great Nintendo pedigree - we are one of the few companies that can say we had a great run with GameCube."
Steinberg continues: "We are all heavily influenced by the propaganda machines of the hardware companies and you could argue that Nintendo didn't kick into gear until E3 2006, when they seemed to go from zero to 60 in one day. They were being beaten up by pundits one day and lauded the next. The industry realized they had been ignoring Nintendo which was a massive error."
He thinks that some companies were too quick to compare Wii to GameCube and current-gen consoles. "If you were applying a GameCube to Xbox to PS2 ratio to Wii, then you might have ignored Wii," he says. "But Nintendo's core competency is creating games and they have a platform here that allows publishers and developers to get creative in ways that are different from the other platforms. It's a real sea change."
Steinberg believes that Nintendo could ?really close the gap in a big way? on Sony in the next-gen consoles wars. "There is a feature creep going on in the platform wars so it's refreshing to see someone do something different. It's refreshing to see someone take themselves out and operate in a different paradigm."
source: Next-Gen.b
SEGA Criticizes Third Parties July 21, 2006
by: Phillip Levin
The company says other companies are unimaginative when dealing with Wii.
When talking to Next-Gen.biz this week, SEGA vice president Scott Steinberg criticized third-party developers and publishers for not taking full advantage of Wii and failing to be imaginative.
Steinberg says that SEGA has been "on the Wii bandwagon from day one.? The company plans to release Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz alongside Wii?s launch and Sonic Wild Fire early in 2007. Meanwhile, other companies were slow to hop on the Wii bandwagon.
"The pundits are missing the point when it comes to the Wii's strategy - not every third party is late to the launch,? he says.
"It's true that a lot of third parties have been flat footed when it comes to having games ready for the launch window, but Sega is certainly not one of them."
Even developers onboard with Wii, though, Steinberg says are unimaginative. "Some third parties have shown a lack of imagination when dealing with this new platform. The way the Wii is being built you have to design for it. Ports and upgrades are no good. That thinking takes a little bit of creativity and not every publisher has the necessary creative people available."
While some third parties would say that it?s because of Nintendo?s back track record for dealing with third parties, Steinberg disagrees. "I can say without any hesitation that we have a great relationship with Nintendo. The American companies don't do a good enough job of wooing Nintendo.
"Sega has become a lot closer to Nintendo, which is ironic given the history of the two companies, but that proximity has given us a great view of how they wanted to get out of the polygon race and stop battling the technology companies and instead find a very comfortable position in family-friendly fun games like Super Monkey Ball."
SEGA had playable versions of both Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz and Sonic Wild Fire at E3. ?We had a Wii room for journalists and analysts and it was the best way to try playable Wii games without getting in the colossal Nintendo line,? Steinberg says. ?Those games are built purposely for Wii, That's what makes the Sega story unique - we have family-friendly games with a great Nintendo pedigree - we are one of the few companies that can say we had a great run with GameCube."
Steinberg continues: "We are all heavily influenced by the propaganda machines of the hardware companies and you could argue that Nintendo didn't kick into gear until E3 2006, when they seemed to go from zero to 60 in one day. They were being beaten up by pundits one day and lauded the next. The industry realized they had been ignoring Nintendo which was a massive error."
He thinks that some companies were too quick to compare Wii to GameCube and current-gen consoles. "If you were applying a GameCube to Xbox to PS2 ratio to Wii, then you might have ignored Wii," he says. "But Nintendo's core competency is creating games and they have a platform here that allows publishers and developers to get creative in ways that are different from the other platforms. It's a real sea change."
Steinberg believes that Nintendo could ?really close the gap in a big way? on Sony in the next-gen consoles wars. "There is a feature creep going on in the platform wars so it's refreshing to see someone do something different. It's refreshing to see someone take themselves out and operate in a different paradigm."
source: Next-Gen.b