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Service Games: The Rise and Fall of SEGA: Enhanced Edition
New Edition! More content, images, and corrected text and facts. Starting with its humble beginnings in the 1950's and ending with its swan-song, the Dreamcast, in the early 2000’s, this is the complete history of Sega as a console maker. Before home computers and video game consoles, before the internet and social networking, and before motion controls and smartphones, there was Sega. Destined to fade into obscurity over time, Sega would help revolutionize and change video games, computers and how we interact with them, and the internet as we know it. Riding the cutting edge of technology at every step, only to rise too close to the sun and plummet, Sega would eventually change the face of entertainment, but it’s the story of how it got there that’s all the fun. So take a ride, experience history, and enjoy learning about one of the greatest and most influential companies of all time. Complete with system specifications, feature and marketing descriptions, unusual factoids, almost 300 images, and now enhanced Europe specific details, exclusive interviews, and more make this the definitive history of Sega available. Read and learn about the company that holds a special place in every gamer’s heart.
482 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 12, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
September 2, 2014
Quite a bit of a disappointment. I was a Kickstarter backer for this book but I'd lie if I said that my anxious waiting was rewarded much, since this book is quite amateurish with lots of flaws.
Sure, it's not as disastrous as the garbage that was called "Atari Inc.: Business is Fun" but it continues a trend of self-published computer history books that don't quite fit the bill.
And it shows from the moment you open the book: put together in Microsoft Word with a totally wrong serif font (apologies the name eludes me) (and with captions in a totally different one), narrow borders and on rather cheap paper. The author has also used some strange quirks like underlining game titles when in italics or using...ellipses...when...listing...multiple...game...names. Weird stuff. Or, lists that are not lists but rather headlined paragraphs (though not throughout, sign of lack of editing).
Doesn't get much better from there as the text is extremely drawn out with lots and lots of boring flourishing, silly questions to the reader that supposedly advance the story, facts (heck, even quotes!) that are repeated, sometimes within the span of a couple of pages and lots of contradictions (for instance: on one page, the American buying public is the victim of an economic slump and therefore demands more for less; two pages on, the same public has money coming out their noses. Sales are good, but then are bad. The market is out of stock, on one page, but on the next units are sitting on the shelves). In most of the cases you get an idea of what the author is trying to say if you already have an idea of what's happening, but that's bad writing.
While lots of stuff is described to death, other details are mentioned en passant and you're left scratching your head as if you were supposed to know what the author is referring to.
Bibliography doesn't exist and sources are laughable. Only "The First Quarter : A 25-year History of Video Games" (a great book btw) is mentioned (again and again, rather suspiciously), but apart from that we're left with a few websites, online FAQs ("easily found on the internet" - seriously?) and quotes from random dudes from online communities and sites. When the author feels the need to quote himself then you know it's probably hopeless (and, hint: referring to yourself in the first person in a history book is always reserved for introductions and such).
The structure of the book is also awkward since, instead of taking things based on the chronology of Sega the author splits the book in machine-based chapters. This *could* have worked, but didn't since he's forced to repeat stuff again and again when pertaining to more than one machines, and gets awkward when he's got to fit in stuff that doesn't apply to a specific machine (for instance, the US videogames violence debacle).
Speaking of structure, Kaoru in his review points out correctly that the book is very US-centric to the point of ignoring Europe altogether throughout the book and just tacking in an extra chapter at the end to describe that market, inevitably leading to even more repetition. If that's not lazy, I don't know what is.
Ok, so what about the essence of the book - knowledge? I don't consider myself to be a Sega expert. I've got a SMD in my living room because my wife had one as a teenager and I love my DC to bits, but as far as SEGA-specific knowledge goes I only know what I've read in Retro Gamer, other general retro-gaming books or in random online articles. However, I don't feel I learned that much from the book after all, at least nothing significant. And what I missed most is the absence of the story of hardware development (but of course this would require real research).
All in all, it seems to me like the author just went online, read whatever he could find and then assembled the book. This, however, as anyone who has done online research knows, is not an easy task. Turning hundreds or thousands of tidbits/clippings into something coherent and distilling the essence of the quagmire is quite hard and in this the book fails.
The book should have been much tighter (and at least 100 pages shorter), much tidier, much deeper, and supervised by a professional editor. I'd like my money back, please...
PS "The word 'genesis' in Hebrew also means 'in the beginning' "... SERIOUSLY?
Sure, it's not as disastrous as the garbage that was called "Atari Inc.: Business is Fun" but it continues a trend of self-published computer history books that don't quite fit the bill.
And it shows from the moment you open the book: put together in Microsoft Word with a totally wrong serif font (apologies the name eludes me) (and with captions in a totally different one), narrow borders and on rather cheap paper. The author has also used some strange quirks like underlining game titles when in italics or using...ellipses...when...listing...multiple...game...names. Weird stuff. Or, lists that are not lists but rather headlined paragraphs (though not throughout, sign of lack of editing).
Doesn't get much better from there as the text is extremely drawn out with lots and lots of boring flourishing, silly questions to the reader that supposedly advance the story, facts (heck, even quotes!) that are repeated, sometimes within the span of a couple of pages and lots of contradictions (for instance: on one page, the American buying public is the victim of an economic slump and therefore demands more for less; two pages on, the same public has money coming out their noses. Sales are good, but then are bad. The market is out of stock, on one page, but on the next units are sitting on the shelves). In most of the cases you get an idea of what the author is trying to say if you already have an idea of what's happening, but that's bad writing.
While lots of stuff is described to death, other details are mentioned en passant and you're left scratching your head as if you were supposed to know what the author is referring to.
Bibliography doesn't exist and sources are laughable. Only "The First Quarter : A 25-year History of Video Games" (a great book btw) is mentioned (again and again, rather suspiciously), but apart from that we're left with a few websites, online FAQs ("easily found on the internet" - seriously?) and quotes from random dudes from online communities and sites. When the author feels the need to quote himself then you know it's probably hopeless (and, hint: referring to yourself in the first person in a history book is always reserved for introductions and such).
The structure of the book is also awkward since, instead of taking things based on the chronology of Sega the author splits the book in machine-based chapters. This *could* have worked, but didn't since he's forced to repeat stuff again and again when pertaining to more than one machines, and gets awkward when he's got to fit in stuff that doesn't apply to a specific machine (for instance, the US videogames violence debacle).
Speaking of structure, Kaoru in his review points out correctly that the book is very US-centric to the point of ignoring Europe altogether throughout the book and just tacking in an extra chapter at the end to describe that market, inevitably leading to even more repetition. If that's not lazy, I don't know what is.
Ok, so what about the essence of the book - knowledge? I don't consider myself to be a Sega expert. I've got a SMD in my living room because my wife had one as a teenager and I love my DC to bits, but as far as SEGA-specific knowledge goes I only know what I've read in Retro Gamer, other general retro-gaming books or in random online articles. However, I don't feel I learned that much from the book after all, at least nothing significant. And what I missed most is the absence of the story of hardware development (but of course this would require real research).
All in all, it seems to me like the author just went online, read whatever he could find and then assembled the book. This, however, as anyone who has done online research knows, is not an easy task. Turning hundreds or thousands of tidbits/clippings into something coherent and distilling the essence of the quagmire is quite hard and in this the book fails.
The book should have been much tighter (and at least 100 pages shorter), much tidier, much deeper, and supervised by a professional editor. I'd like my money back, please...
PS "The word 'genesis' in Hebrew also means 'in the beginning' "... SERIOUSLY?
April 28, 2014
Unfortunately not a particularly good book, largely thanks to pretty poor editing. And to be frank, one has to wonder if it really has ever been seen by an editor's eyes, because the text is so repetitive and contradictory. Points and facts are established and re-established over and over again, the very same quotes appear more than once, and some points raised aren't exactly in line with things mentioned later. For instance, at first 1992 is painted as the beginning of a "golden age" for SEGA, a few pages later it gets called out as the "beginning of the end". And while I kind of get what the author is trying to say here (Meaning: SEGA outreaching itself too quickly and making too many mistakes with long-term effects very early on), it isn't fleshed out very well, if at all. And then there's the lack of footnotes, which makes you question the verifiability of numbers when it comes to sales and statistics - especially since the book is so hard to trust already.
Furthermore it's written from a very American perspective, so you might read the name "Genesis" far more often than "Mega Drive". That alone may not be a problem, the fixation on that particular market however is. In a casual aside you suddenly learn that the Sonic games never were particularly popular in Japan, and all you can do is wonder "Oh? I didn't know? But why is that? Care to elaborate?" without ever getting an explanation. Even worse fares Europe – or least you think so for the first 80% or so of the book. That part of the story gets excluded nearly completely, just to get tacked on with a chapter of its own, in which the whole story of SEGA gets told again, sometimes mentioning and establishing the same facts and events we already know. So why not put all the European stuff into the main text in the first place? What the hell was the point? (By the way, this very section includes one of the book's biggest faux-pas. First it's said that „by the mid-90s the Mega Drive had gained a respectable customer base“. Then, two sentences later, we get told that „in 1996 SEGA finally retired it“ due to low sales. So which one is it, book???)
It's not an awful book, however. It's not unreadable, and if anything it's good to give you an overview of SEGA's history and how it came to be that the company left the console business for good at the beginning of the century. It just has to be met with a bit of caution. Read it when you're interested... or wait for a better one to arrive. (Which will surely come sooner or later anyway.)
Furthermore it's written from a very American perspective, so you might read the name "Genesis" far more often than "Mega Drive". That alone may not be a problem, the fixation on that particular market however is. In a casual aside you suddenly learn that the Sonic games never were particularly popular in Japan, and all you can do is wonder "Oh? I didn't know? But why is that? Care to elaborate?" without ever getting an explanation. Even worse fares Europe – or least you think so for the first 80% or so of the book. That part of the story gets excluded nearly completely, just to get tacked on with a chapter of its own, in which the whole story of SEGA gets told again, sometimes mentioning and establishing the same facts and events we already know. So why not put all the European stuff into the main text in the first place? What the hell was the point? (By the way, this very section includes one of the book's biggest faux-pas. First it's said that „by the mid-90s the Mega Drive had gained a respectable customer base“. Then, two sentences later, we get told that „in 1996 SEGA finally retired it“ due to low sales. So which one is it, book???)
It's not an awful book, however. It's not unreadable, and if anything it's good to give you an overview of SEGA's history and how it came to be that the company left the console business for good at the beginning of the century. It just has to be met with a bit of caution. Read it when you're interested... or wait for a better one to arrive. (Which will surely come sooner or later anyway.)
September 2, 2021
If you're interested in SEGA and its history, this book is as good as they get. I'm certainly not the one to complain about receiving more info than I ever expected were out there. The scope of this project, and amount of research invested into it is just incredible.
October 30, 2020
I don't think I've ever encountered a book more desperately in need of a strict editor than this one.
It says at the beginning, if I can correctly recall that far back, that the book is made up of a series of articles published online. Unfortunately, there's been no attempt to adapt them for this different format. Each chapter feels the need to start with a long, repetitive recap of the general state of the industry and what's happened previously. That make sense if it's being read serially (or in potential isolation) online, but when it's chapter 6 of a book, you can maybe go out on a limb and assume that the reader still remembers what happened in chapter 5.
And this is all on top of the fact that Pettus' writing is needlessly bloated anyway. He doesn't so much make a point but circle continuously around it and is far too keen to include every quote he has, even when he's already paraphrased all useful information from it in narration. I listened to the audiobook rather than the print version (which is a shame, as I could have at least skimmed the bloat in that) and each chapter could easily be about twenty minutes shorter if there was an editor to refine and hack down Pettus' waffling and endless repetition. The amount of times I silently screamed when I heard "but let's back up a minute" yet again...!
The book tends to have each chapter be about a different bit of Sega hardware, with the more important (or messy) ones spreading across multiple chapters. That's not a terrible plan, but it again doesn't help the endless, crushing repetition of information, as chapters continually retread the same period of time, restate the same status quo. A basic chronological approach would have avoided so much of this, making the masses of information easier to digest and even highlighting the absurdity of how many plates Sega had spinning in the mid-90s (and also allowed the clearly late additional chapters covering Europe in depth to be properly integrated into the book, instead of tacked on the end as an afterthought).
That said, the amount of basic factual errors (claiming Rare made Double Dragon and hadn't released anything for a while before Donkey Kong Country) and research that is clearly second hand (Pettus' understanding of Sega's UK TV advertisement of the Mega Drive is greatly flawed) make me wary of taking too much of the information presented here at face value.
There are also lots of mistakes that should have been caught by a proof-reader or proof-listener, depending on whether they're in the core text or a result of the mediocre audiobook narration. Lots of mixed up dates, saying Sony instead of Sega, some basic language snafus and even a couple of instances where the narrator's fluffed up a sentence and taken a second attempt at it without the error being edited out.
All of that combines to make this feel rather amateurish and means it never achieves the authority it strives for.
It says at the beginning, if I can correctly recall that far back, that the book is made up of a series of articles published online. Unfortunately, there's been no attempt to adapt them for this different format. Each chapter feels the need to start with a long, repetitive recap of the general state of the industry and what's happened previously. That make sense if it's being read serially (or in potential isolation) online, but when it's chapter 6 of a book, you can maybe go out on a limb and assume that the reader still remembers what happened in chapter 5.
And this is all on top of the fact that Pettus' writing is needlessly bloated anyway. He doesn't so much make a point but circle continuously around it and is far too keen to include every quote he has, even when he's already paraphrased all useful information from it in narration. I listened to the audiobook rather than the print version (which is a shame, as I could have at least skimmed the bloat in that) and each chapter could easily be about twenty minutes shorter if there was an editor to refine and hack down Pettus' waffling and endless repetition. The amount of times I silently screamed when I heard "but let's back up a minute" yet again...!
The book tends to have each chapter be about a different bit of Sega hardware, with the more important (or messy) ones spreading across multiple chapters. That's not a terrible plan, but it again doesn't help the endless, crushing repetition of information, as chapters continually retread the same period of time, restate the same status quo. A basic chronological approach would have avoided so much of this, making the masses of information easier to digest and even highlighting the absurdity of how many plates Sega had spinning in the mid-90s (and also allowed the clearly late additional chapters covering Europe in depth to be properly integrated into the book, instead of tacked on the end as an afterthought).
That said, the amount of basic factual errors (claiming Rare made Double Dragon and hadn't released anything for a while before Donkey Kong Country) and research that is clearly second hand (Pettus' understanding of Sega's UK TV advertisement of the Mega Drive is greatly flawed) make me wary of taking too much of the information presented here at face value.
There are also lots of mistakes that should have been caught by a proof-reader or proof-listener, depending on whether they're in the core text or a result of the mediocre audiobook narration. Lots of mixed up dates, saying Sony instead of Sega, some basic language snafus and even a couple of instances where the narrator's fluffed up a sentence and taken a second attempt at it without the error being edited out.
All of that combines to make this feel rather amateurish and means it never achieves the authority it strives for.
April 26, 2017
There's a great story to be told about the 90s video game industry and while this is a better effort than Jeff Ryan's Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America, that's a pretty low bar.
It starts quite well and the first half is pretty solid but as it goes on the spelling and grammar mistakes increase, inversely proportional to Sega's success in the market. The effect is therefore of a rabid fanboy, mouth foaming all over the keyboard as he bemoans the dirty tactics of Sony making the Playstation easy to code for or Walmart knocking $50 off the cost of a Dreamcast. It's repetitive, jumps around chronologically in an annoying way, repetitive and short on genuine insight, being entirely reliant on interviews and coverage from the internet. By the time the author starts including his own forum posts from the turn of the century you'll be willing it to be over soon, and mercifully it is.
It starts quite well and the first half is pretty solid but as it goes on the spelling and grammar mistakes increase, inversely proportional to Sega's success in the market. The effect is therefore of a rabid fanboy, mouth foaming all over the keyboard as he bemoans the dirty tactics of Sony making the Playstation easy to code for or Walmart knocking $50 off the cost of a Dreamcast. It's repetitive, jumps around chronologically in an annoying way, repetitive and short on genuine insight, being entirely reliant on interviews and coverage from the internet. By the time the author starts including his own forum posts from the turn of the century you'll be willing it to be over soon, and mercifully it is.
August 27, 2018
To paraphrase Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park; just because someone can do something, doesn’t mean they should. This is a case of someone with their heart in the right place being totally unqualified for the job. This may be the worst edited book I’ve ever seen with rampant repetition, typos, poorly constructed sentences, and conflicting information. It’s almost as if online articles were just dumped onto paper. While there is some valid research and interesting info, it’s buried inside a totally amateurish presentation and in some cases embarrassingly bad final product. I would say that Sega deserves better, but maybe a company with so many failures is just getting what it sowed. Love the games, wish someone competent tackled the history.
November 18, 2015
The content is interesting, but it's not put together well. The text is rambling and goes off on tangents, and it tends to repeat itself often.
Its organization was confusing (which admittedly wasn't helped by Sega's product line). It covered the rise & fall of the genesis, and then the full story Sega CD, and then the 32x, and then the Sega Saturn.
The problem is these devices have overlap in their lifetimes. In the story of Sega CD the first mention of the 32x was how Sega CD affected the 32x sales. "Wait, what? When was it released? When & why was it developed?" I think a straight chronological story, covering all products at once, would've been much more readable.
Its organization was confusing (which admittedly wasn't helped by Sega's product line). It covered the rise & fall of the genesis, and then the full story Sega CD, and then the 32x, and then the Sega Saturn.
The problem is these devices have overlap in their lifetimes. In the story of Sega CD the first mention of the 32x was how Sega CD affected the 32x sales. "Wait, what? When was it released? When & why was it developed?" I think a straight chronological story, covering all products at once, would've been much more readable.
May 4, 2021
To read this book takes AGES, but that shouldn't have stopped an editor from taking a look.
The subject matter is really interesting, and appears well-researched. Unfortunately the book is full of grammatical errors (some quite striking) and does a lot of retreading across the same periods in the company history in almost verbatim fashion, in some cases appearing like an effort to pad the book out.
If you're interested in the subject matter, I'd say it's worth picking this up if you can get it cheap. Otherwise, I'd opt for "Console Wars" instead. Granted, it tells less of the story, but it covers it much more professionally.
The subject matter is really interesting, and appears well-researched. Unfortunately the book is full of grammatical errors (some quite striking) and does a lot of retreading across the same periods in the company history in almost verbatim fashion, in some cases appearing like an effort to pad the book out.
If you're interested in the subject matter, I'd say it's worth picking this up if you can get it cheap. Otherwise, I'd opt for "Console Wars" instead. Granted, it tells less of the story, but it covers it much more professionally.
December 22, 2015
An excellent history of Sega and it's trials and tribulations throughout the home console hardware business. Also, an excellent read for those in business and how to steer clear of some decisions and not others.
December 17, 2019
Me encanta leer libros sobre videojuegos, ya sean sobre su historia o sobre cómo se hacen. De pequeña jugué a unos pocos juegos en Game Gear (en propiedad), Master System II y Mega Drive (prestadas), y más tarde en Dreamcast (en propiedad también): ¿cómo no iba a interesarme un libro sobre la historia de la compañía tras algunas de mis consolas favoritas? (Nota: nunca toqué una NES o SNES, así que sí, supongo que puedo considerarme seguera).
Había escrito una crítica larguísima sobre este libro, pero prefiero resumirlo en puntos a favor y en contra.
A favor:
• Un libro sobre la historia completa de SEGA como fabricante de hardware era muy necesario.
• Información extensa, detallada y contextualizada, sobre todo de Mega Drive en adelante.
• Es un libro fácil de leer y que engancha.
• Edición bonita (tapa dura, papel satinado).
En contra:
• Problemas de redacción, edición y estilo, también en el último capítulo dedicado a SEGA España.
• A veces se repiten las mismas ideas con otras palabras, lo cual hace que el libro sea demasiado extenso.
• El problema más grave: pese a que el autor indica que ha consultado multitud de fuentes, solo menciona algunas de ellas (como SegaWeb o EGM) sin referenciarlas o dar detalles. No hay bibliografía de ningún tipo.
Veredicto:
Pese a sus importantes carencias (sinceramente, si esta es la versión «mejorada y remasterizada», no quiero saber cómo la era la anterior), es una lectura obligada para cualquier persona interesada en la historia de los videojuegos, especialmente si siente un especial interés o cariño por SEGA. También espero que aparezcan otras obras que amplíen y mejoren esta.
Había escrito una crítica larguísima sobre este libro, pero prefiero resumirlo en puntos a favor y en contra.
A favor:
• Un libro sobre la historia completa de SEGA como fabricante de hardware era muy necesario.
• Información extensa, detallada y contextualizada, sobre todo de Mega Drive en adelante.
• Es un libro fácil de leer y que engancha.
• Edición bonita (tapa dura, papel satinado).
En contra:
• Problemas de redacción, edición y estilo, también en el último capítulo dedicado a SEGA España.
• A veces se repiten las mismas ideas con otras palabras, lo cual hace que el libro sea demasiado extenso.
• El problema más grave: pese a que el autor indica que ha consultado multitud de fuentes, solo menciona algunas de ellas (como SegaWeb o EGM) sin referenciarlas o dar detalles. No hay bibliografía de ningún tipo.
Veredicto:
Pese a sus importantes carencias (sinceramente, si esta es la versión «mejorada y remasterizada», no quiero saber cómo la era la anterior), es una lectura obligada para cualquier persona interesada en la historia de los videojuegos, especialmente si siente un especial interés o cariño por SEGA. También espero que aparezcan otras obras que amplíen y mejoren esta.
June 28, 2024
Normalmente un subtítulo aclara el título, en este caso prácticamente define al libro en un ámbito muy concreto de Sega; auge y caída, y es justo lo que nos da. La SMS se encuadra en la pequeña presentación que nos hacen de la compañía y las consolas portátiles prácticamente ni se las menciona.
Tengo que decir que, sin ser experto ni mucho menos, considero que conozco ligeramente lo que se cuenta. Al menos el contexto más básico, ya que incluso lo viví. Aún así, ha habido veces donde me he sentido perdido. Tengo la sensación que hay momentos que pasan por alto y otros que te los explican varias veces en momentos diferentes. Y esto es aún más desconcertante porque te puede decir que X fue un completo desastre, para unas páginas después contarte que X dió un soplo de aire fresco a la industria.
Lo dicho anteriormente se hace aún más evidente de un capítulo a otro. Aún así, o precisamente por esto, es un libro que se presta a no leer de tirón y puede ser interesante ir leyéndolo a trozos, siendo un alivio para los que no tengan tiempo o ganas de devorarlo. Tengo que añadir que, para mi gusto, los capítulos de SEGA Europa y España me han “sobrado” ya que no añaden especialmente nada más allá de algunos nombres y anécdotas.
Sobre el libro en sí, me ha gustado que se apoye con fotografías sin resultar cansinas. El papel y las tapas de mi edición sinceramente me han encantado.
Como conclusión, es un libro que tiene demasiadas pegas para ponerle cinco estrellas. Aún así, la verdad es que no hay mucho más donde rascar para leer algo de esta compañía. Haber hay más, como Console Wars, pero más allá de la propia empresa la temática es muy diferente. Como auge y caída de Sega, no creo que haya nada mejor. Para el que esté interesado en los videojuegos y en los 90’ no puedo más que recomendarle esta lectura.
Tengo que decir que, sin ser experto ni mucho menos, considero que conozco ligeramente lo que se cuenta. Al menos el contexto más básico, ya que incluso lo viví. Aún así, ha habido veces donde me he sentido perdido. Tengo la sensación que hay momentos que pasan por alto y otros que te los explican varias veces en momentos diferentes. Y esto es aún más desconcertante porque te puede decir que X fue un completo desastre, para unas páginas después contarte que X dió un soplo de aire fresco a la industria.
Lo dicho anteriormente se hace aún más evidente de un capítulo a otro. Aún así, o precisamente por esto, es un libro que se presta a no leer de tirón y puede ser interesante ir leyéndolo a trozos, siendo un alivio para los que no tengan tiempo o ganas de devorarlo. Tengo que añadir que, para mi gusto, los capítulos de SEGA Europa y España me han “sobrado” ya que no añaden especialmente nada más allá de algunos nombres y anécdotas.
Sobre el libro en sí, me ha gustado que se apoye con fotografías sin resultar cansinas. El papel y las tapas de mi edición sinceramente me han encantado.
Como conclusión, es un libro que tiene demasiadas pegas para ponerle cinco estrellas. Aún así, la verdad es que no hay mucho más donde rascar para leer algo de esta compañía. Haber hay más, como Console Wars, pero más allá de la propia empresa la temática es muy diferente. Como auge y caída de Sega, no creo que haya nada mejor. Para el que esté interesado en los videojuegos y en los 90’ no puedo más que recomendarle esta lectura.
December 15, 2014
This little jewel is more complete than a lot of books on video game history which have received more attention. That is not my usual bias with regard to books dealing with console game history. With regard to the history of SEGA, Service Games: The Rise and Fall of SEGA (available on Kindle) is far better than my own co-authored effort (High Score: An Illustrated History of Electronic Games) and similar generalist efforts. I found it more useful than Console Wars, even when they overlap.
I was delighted to have my prejudice confirmed that each generation of Japanese console has been sabotaged by an arrogance within the management of the previous top-dog. Although, as with Console Wars, it seemed like the narrative was written according to the memory of Tom Kalinske more than anyone else, the quotations and statistics quoted by Pettus seem more than sufficient to justify my…er…prejudice. I was rather surprised to see that the author was unfamiliar with the Milia Festival on Interactivity (held in Cannes near the first of the year around the turn of the millennium), calling it the Milla trade show (when it was really more of a conference or symposium on interactive software (multimedia) during the two years where I served on the Milia d’ Or jury for games or as a speaker). Nevertheless, I rather enjoyed the quotations from the gaming press where alleged journalists were completely taken in by press conferences and “dog and pony shows” (like Electronic Gaming Monthly’s Crispin Boyer as quoted on the SegaNet – not to be confused with the Sega Network on cable television).
The best part of this history of Sega is that it clearly demonstrates how losing developer support cost hardware companies the “war” (and still does!). Over and over, observers have noticed how arrogantly ignoring one’s developers creates havoc in the hardware’s future. Why did Nintendo beat out a superior PC Engine launch? “…two reasons for NEC's blunder. First, Nintendo had the best of the Japanese third-party software community happily signed up to its restrictive yet lucrative development contracts. Second, NEC's own stable of programmers were not yet up to speed on the full capabilities of their own system.” (p. 46) Indeed, knowing how important EA was to the fast Genesis launch in the U.S., it was surprising that the company failed to grant the following demand from Electronic Arts, as Bernie Stolar noted: “Larry came to me and said, 'Bernie, we'll do Dreamcast games, but we want sports exclusivity.'” (p. 315) Stolar said, “No!” One wonders if that was a critical miss. Gems such as this observation on the 2001 Tokyo Game Show simply have to stand out: “Sega may have had the public ear at the Tokyo Game Show, but Sony had the developers' support.” (p. 342)
I also had never really thought about the depiction of Sonic before. Sonic was simply a ubiquitous symbol of SEGA during the days I was covering the industry and I never asked the obvious question as to why coloration and appearance was so different from a real hedgehog. Like the rest of the universe, I surrendered my disbelief and didn’t realize: “He would be blue because that was the color of Sega's corporate logo. And as a round ball did not offer much visual impact, and quills could not be easily depicted on screen, he was given spiked hair. As he would be a fast character – and hedgehogs are not known for speed – he was given a pair of running shoes.” (pp. 60-61)
I chuckled, remembering how Nintendo double-crossed Sony by contracting them to develop a “Super Disc” drive for the SNES (to have been called SNES PlayStation) and shifted gears to Philips in order to have full control over its use. The war of words cited here should cover the gamut from Nintendo arrogance to Sony’s original naiveté: “"Nintendo believes in a standard – our standard," Yamauchi later said of the affair. Sony saw it differently. "They stabbed us in the back," Olaffson told one of his confidants.” (p. 182). The double-cross proved to be a near-fatal flaw as Sony took their PlayStation to great heights, well over the sales of Sega or Nintendo.
And I had forgotten that pornography helped 3DO survive a little longer than it might have, otherwise: “…a proliferation of Asian adult-themed software would help boost Far East 3DO sales toward respectable levels.” (p. 185)
But I hadn’t forgotten one of the big reasons for the failure of Sega at a time when they should have been killing the market with both legacy software for the Genesis and new releases for the Saturn. "The Japanese are making the decisions for the U.S. market," Kalinske later grumbled, "and they do not know what they are doing." (p. 192) In one sense, Kalinske’s alibi (quoted in other books, as well) is accurate, but even Kalinske wasn’t doing a good job of listening to U.S. developers at the time. Most developers believed that "working around Saturn's architecture" necessitated “a 25% drop in overall system efficiency due to shared resources, mitigating the benefits parallel processing was supposed bring.” (p. 193) The authors cite both Yu Suzuki of Sega and Peter Molyneaux (then, of Bullfrog) as stating that the only way to get comparable performance between the Sega Saturn and the Playstation was to code in pure assembler (p. 193).
And, as for the Dreamcast, “Surreal's Alan Patmore spoke for all in an interview with NextGen when he said, ’...Dreamcast will stick around until PlayStation 2 really makes its mark. I think it'll be the interim system. It's pretty hot right now.’" (p. 341) Once again, we return to the theme that a platform cannot succeed without developer support.
The Kindle version of the book that I have has an expanded section with factoids toward the end. My very favorite is this one: “…the Dreamcast is home to the most expensive-to-produce games made to date. Shenmue and Shenmue 2 cost more than $70 million at the time; Sega would have needed to sell two copies of each game for each Dreamcast sold, just to break even.” (p. 403)
For my purposes, Service Games: The Rise and Fall of Sega, is superior to most books on the subject because it has a sense of balance, not championing one system over another and not using any one source to the detriment of the others.
I was delighted to have my prejudice confirmed that each generation of Japanese console has been sabotaged by an arrogance within the management of the previous top-dog. Although, as with Console Wars, it seemed like the narrative was written according to the memory of Tom Kalinske more than anyone else, the quotations and statistics quoted by Pettus seem more than sufficient to justify my…er…prejudice. I was rather surprised to see that the author was unfamiliar with the Milia Festival on Interactivity (held in Cannes near the first of the year around the turn of the millennium), calling it the Milla trade show (when it was really more of a conference or symposium on interactive software (multimedia) during the two years where I served on the Milia d’ Or jury for games or as a speaker). Nevertheless, I rather enjoyed the quotations from the gaming press where alleged journalists were completely taken in by press conferences and “dog and pony shows” (like Electronic Gaming Monthly’s Crispin Boyer as quoted on the SegaNet – not to be confused with the Sega Network on cable television).
The best part of this history of Sega is that it clearly demonstrates how losing developer support cost hardware companies the “war” (and still does!). Over and over, observers have noticed how arrogantly ignoring one’s developers creates havoc in the hardware’s future. Why did Nintendo beat out a superior PC Engine launch? “…two reasons for NEC's blunder. First, Nintendo had the best of the Japanese third-party software community happily signed up to its restrictive yet lucrative development contracts. Second, NEC's own stable of programmers were not yet up to speed on the full capabilities of their own system.” (p. 46) Indeed, knowing how important EA was to the fast Genesis launch in the U.S., it was surprising that the company failed to grant the following demand from Electronic Arts, as Bernie Stolar noted: “Larry came to me and said, 'Bernie, we'll do Dreamcast games, but we want sports exclusivity.'” (p. 315) Stolar said, “No!” One wonders if that was a critical miss. Gems such as this observation on the 2001 Tokyo Game Show simply have to stand out: “Sega may have had the public ear at the Tokyo Game Show, but Sony had the developers' support.” (p. 342)
I also had never really thought about the depiction of Sonic before. Sonic was simply a ubiquitous symbol of SEGA during the days I was covering the industry and I never asked the obvious question as to why coloration and appearance was so different from a real hedgehog. Like the rest of the universe, I surrendered my disbelief and didn’t realize: “He would be blue because that was the color of Sega's corporate logo. And as a round ball did not offer much visual impact, and quills could not be easily depicted on screen, he was given spiked hair. As he would be a fast character – and hedgehogs are not known for speed – he was given a pair of running shoes.” (pp. 60-61)
I chuckled, remembering how Nintendo double-crossed Sony by contracting them to develop a “Super Disc” drive for the SNES (to have been called SNES PlayStation) and shifted gears to Philips in order to have full control over its use. The war of words cited here should cover the gamut from Nintendo arrogance to Sony’s original naiveté: “"Nintendo believes in a standard – our standard," Yamauchi later said of the affair. Sony saw it differently. "They stabbed us in the back," Olaffson told one of his confidants.” (p. 182). The double-cross proved to be a near-fatal flaw as Sony took their PlayStation to great heights, well over the sales of Sega or Nintendo.
And I had forgotten that pornography helped 3DO survive a little longer than it might have, otherwise: “…a proliferation of Asian adult-themed software would help boost Far East 3DO sales toward respectable levels.” (p. 185)
But I hadn’t forgotten one of the big reasons for the failure of Sega at a time when they should have been killing the market with both legacy software for the Genesis and new releases for the Saturn. "The Japanese are making the decisions for the U.S. market," Kalinske later grumbled, "and they do not know what they are doing." (p. 192) In one sense, Kalinske’s alibi (quoted in other books, as well) is accurate, but even Kalinske wasn’t doing a good job of listening to U.S. developers at the time. Most developers believed that "working around Saturn's architecture" necessitated “a 25% drop in overall system efficiency due to shared resources, mitigating the benefits parallel processing was supposed bring.” (p. 193) The authors cite both Yu Suzuki of Sega and Peter Molyneaux (then, of Bullfrog) as stating that the only way to get comparable performance between the Sega Saturn and the Playstation was to code in pure assembler (p. 193).
And, as for the Dreamcast, “Surreal's Alan Patmore spoke for all in an interview with NextGen when he said, ’...Dreamcast will stick around until PlayStation 2 really makes its mark. I think it'll be the interim system. It's pretty hot right now.’" (p. 341) Once again, we return to the theme that a platform cannot succeed without developer support.
The Kindle version of the book that I have has an expanded section with factoids toward the end. My very favorite is this one: “…the Dreamcast is home to the most expensive-to-produce games made to date. Shenmue and Shenmue 2 cost more than $70 million at the time; Sega would have needed to sell two copies of each game for each Dreamcast sold, just to break even.” (p. 403)
For my purposes, Service Games: The Rise and Fall of Sega, is superior to most books on the subject because it has a sense of balance, not championing one system over another and not using any one source to the detriment of the others.
August 11, 2017
Great book, which gave me a lot of new information and insights, even after reading multiple videogame books that cover much of Sega's vibrant history.
There are in my opinion 2 flaws though;
1. The writing style - Somehow, the entire book feels like I'm reading a giant post on a forum. It's hard to explain, something about the use of words and the structure of sentences. It's also very repetitive at times.
2. The book focuses too much on the fall, and too less on the rise of Sega. Don't misunderstand me, of course the Megadrive/Genesis - it's flagship - is widely covered, but it could definitely be more in my opinion. More, the Dreamcast (and the drama around it) almost covered the complete latter half of the book, going into every detail. As for the Megadrive, the creation of Sonic, it's aggressive marketing, as well as some of the drama (Night Trap, MK etc.) is only vaguely mentioned, not into detail at all. Less Dreamcast/Saturn, more MegaDrive/Genesis!
That said, I did enjoy this book. If you can live with it's flaws, I definitely recommend it!
There are in my opinion 2 flaws though;
1. The writing style - Somehow, the entire book feels like I'm reading a giant post on a forum. It's hard to explain, something about the use of words and the structure of sentences. It's also very repetitive at times.
2. The book focuses too much on the fall, and too less on the rise of Sega. Don't misunderstand me, of course the Megadrive/Genesis - it's flagship - is widely covered, but it could definitely be more in my opinion. More, the Dreamcast (and the drama around it) almost covered the complete latter half of the book, going into every detail. As for the Megadrive, the creation of Sonic, it's aggressive marketing, as well as some of the drama (Night Trap, MK etc.) is only vaguely mentioned, not into detail at all. Less Dreamcast/Saturn, more MegaDrive/Genesis!
That said, I did enjoy this book. If you can live with it's flaws, I definitely recommend it!
July 22, 2018
En esta edición (traducida, mejorada, corregida y remasterizada) podéis encontrar el libro que ha dado la vuelta al mundo por fin en castellano. Es de esos libros que le tienes ganas años y por fin, gracias a los dioses del metal, tras rogar por una traducción, acaba llegando.
Sí es cierto que el libro tiene algún fallo que ya tenía el original, pero han corregido la mayoría. También hay alguna anarquía en cuanto a la forma y la linea que sigue, con el uso de cursivas y demás, pero eso no importa cuando puedes tener TANTA información recogida. Además tenemos un capítulo exclusivo sobre Sega España que es una maravilla. Yo lo he disfrutado como un erizo.
Sí es cierto que el libro tiene algún fallo que ya tenía el original, pero han corregido la mayoría. También hay alguna anarquía en cuanto a la forma y la linea que sigue, con el uso de cursivas y demás, pero eso no importa cuando puedes tener TANTA información recogida. Además tenemos un capítulo exclusivo sobre Sega España que es una maravilla. Yo lo he disfrutado como un erizo.
August 17, 2025
Para todo aficionado del mundo gamer o que haya tenido una consola de Sega, este libro es un autentico periplo de una de las empresas más top del videojuego.
Un viaje que no tiene paragón, algo único y excepcional explicado de forma sublime, con grandes protagonistas que cambiaron el paradigma de los videojuegos y todo ello relatado de forma amena y con pequeños comentarios de cada personaje.
Sega ha dejado un legado digno de mención que ha pasado por todas las fases del éxito y fracaso, pero siempre a la vanguardia arriesgando todo por ser únicos, enfocando todos sus esfuerzos en crear experiencias singulares con ensayo, prueba y error.
Un viaje que no tiene paragón, algo único y excepcional explicado de forma sublime, con grandes protagonistas que cambiaron el paradigma de los videojuegos y todo ello relatado de forma amena y con pequeños comentarios de cada personaje.
Sega ha dejado un legado digno de mención que ha pasado por todas las fases del éxito y fracaso, pero siempre a la vanguardia arriesgando todo por ser únicos, enfocando todos sus esfuerzos en crear experiencias singulares con ensayo, prueba y error.
May 24, 2023
Good book with a lot of interesting facts, but a little repetitive and too long for what it is. Jumps back and forth in time, making it confusing and redundant. Would have benefited from a lot more editing. The afterword says it's a book version of a website or something like that and it shows. It's like 35% away to be a book in it's own. Recommended for hardcore Sega fans and people really interested in retrogaming.
July 22, 2018
He leído la versión mejorada de GamePress y me ha parecido increíble. Un maravilla de datos e Historia pura del Videojuego, pese a que conserva algún que otro fallete del original sin importancia. Versión corregida (en su mayoría), mejorada, remasterizada y aumentada. ¿Sabes el típico libro que siempre dices "ojalá salga en castellano"? Pues este es uno. Indispensable.
November 23, 2020
I was expecting more from this book I think. I grew up with Sega, loved SONIC and recently listened to the "Console Wars" and enjoyed all the reminiscing. This book, though was just missing something from the narration. Lots of facts and info here - but presented "by console type" so there was lots of repitition.
Might be worth a re-read in the future to see if the mood has changed.
Might be worth a re-read in the future to see if the mood has changed.
November 3, 2021
For me this was an enjoyable read with plenty of nostalgia. The subject is probably not going to appeal to everyone, but for those gamers who grew up in the 80's and 90's especially then this is fascinating read...
...unless you owned a Sega Saturn. Prepare to hear about how badly your console performed!
...unless you owned a Sega Saturn. Prepare to hear about how badly your console performed!
September 5, 2022
A great look at the history of Sega. In particular, the deep dive on the 32X and the Saturn was fascinating since most retrospectives on that era kinda gloss over them as just mistakes and quickly move on to the Dreamcast. More academic than something like Console Wars but still very enjoyable.
May 30, 2022
Great book on Segas history
December 10, 2022
Gets very well around Sega, it's history and that of it competitors, but it was a bit confusing chronologically.
May 15, 2015
I enjoyed this book for the most part. It is thoroughly, and very well researched and you definitely get the impression that a lot of time and effort has gone into getting the facts down on the page.
However, there were a number of reasons I have only given this book three stars. The first of these revolves around the fact that I found it a little one-sided and even bias in some areas. The author gives the impression that the U.S. branch of Sega was constantly battling the appalling decisions of Sega Japan. It seems that at every turn, Sega America are cornered into making the decisions that eventually cause the downfall of several systems. This may very well be the overall scenario that panned out, but there are always two sides to every story and this book rarely mentions any other perspective, and I feel it lacks something in the way of balance with regards to this aspect of the story of Sega.
Then there is the writing. Again, for the most part there is little wrong with it and it didn't really detract from my enjoyment of the book. But the author seems to pick and choose from a limited set of stock-phrases - 'the writing was on the wall', instantly comes to mind as he must use this at least twenty times throughout the book (don't hold me to that number). This isn't a big problem, but it does get a little irritating after a while.
My final criticism is probably more of a personal preference, but I felt the author skipped over the Master System too readily. The rest of the book was very thorough, but I felt that this section, which I was interested in learning about, was not quite as in-depth as I would have liked.
If you are a fan of video games and have an interest in learning about the companies involved in the production of the games and systems from the 80's and 90's then I recommend this book to you. Apart from a few criticisms which tainted my enjoyment somewhat, I'm glad I read this book.
However, there were a number of reasons I have only given this book three stars. The first of these revolves around the fact that I found it a little one-sided and even bias in some areas. The author gives the impression that the U.S. branch of Sega was constantly battling the appalling decisions of Sega Japan. It seems that at every turn, Sega America are cornered into making the decisions that eventually cause the downfall of several systems. This may very well be the overall scenario that panned out, but there are always two sides to every story and this book rarely mentions any other perspective, and I feel it lacks something in the way of balance with regards to this aspect of the story of Sega.
Then there is the writing. Again, for the most part there is little wrong with it and it didn't really detract from my enjoyment of the book. But the author seems to pick and choose from a limited set of stock-phrases - 'the writing was on the wall', instantly comes to mind as he must use this at least twenty times throughout the book (don't hold me to that number). This isn't a big problem, but it does get a little irritating after a while.
My final criticism is probably more of a personal preference, but I felt the author skipped over the Master System too readily. The rest of the book was very thorough, but I felt that this section, which I was interested in learning about, was not quite as in-depth as I would have liked.
If you are a fan of video games and have an interest in learning about the companies involved in the production of the games and systems from the 80's and 90's then I recommend this book to you. Apart from a few criticisms which tainted my enjoyment somewhat, I'm glad I read this book.
May 28, 2014
Very enlightening history of Sega, spanning its early days all the way into the swan song of the Dreamcast. I'm no Sega expert, but the author doesn't help his credibility when much of the tone seems to take that of a scolding parent, at times seemingly dressing down Sega and it's executives for their handling of the business or decisions. I was also slightly annoyed that he found it necessary to bash Atari in any way that was even remotely related to. A point on classic consoles.
I appreciate the author's desire to be thorough and exhaustive, but it's a very long read that could have been tightened and condensed by a good editor. Helpful for someone new to Sega's history (like me) but seems far too full of speculation and opinion to serve as the gospel of Sega. Perhaps another book will do that.
I appreciate the author's desire to be thorough and exhaustive, but it's a very long read that could have been tightened and condensed by a good editor. Helpful for someone new to Sega's history (like me) but seems far too full of speculation and opinion to serve as the gospel of Sega. Perhaps another book will do that.
November 1, 2015
A history of SEGA. I was thorn between 3 and 4 stars. In one hand, it was a very enjoyable read, and it shows that it was a work done with a lot of love. In the other hand, the book could have been more polished: typos, sections that repeat information, a bit of amateurish writing...
In any case, I really enjoyed reading about the subject, hence the final score. However, it is hard to recommend the book, unless you are really interested about SEGA and/or videogames.
In any case, I really enjoyed reading about the subject, hence the final score. However, it is hard to recommend the book, unless you are really interested about SEGA and/or videogames.
May 5, 2014
having read a similar book about the history of Nintendo I was really keen to learn more about the background of Sega. really enjoyes reading this with my only criticism being there were a few points where it felt like it was repeating itself.. might just have been me though as I read it while away on a trip!
April 14, 2014
Picked this one up in a Humble Bundle. Extremely well-researched with lots of detail. Enjoyable quick read, especially the late 80s/early 90s console heyday, and then the Saturn/Dreamcast death spiral.
October 14, 2015
Too much repetition and needs proper editing into a cohesive book but still couldn't put it down. Great research and great story. Not only for sega fans!!! A must read for anyone interested in gaming software, hardware or business industry.
November 20, 2014
Schlecht geschrieben, anscheinend nicht lektoriert. Über die Qualität der Recherche kann ich nur spekulieren.
Trauriges Beispiel für Eigenverlag und Crowdfunding.
Trauriges Beispiel für Eigenverlag und Crowdfunding.
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