TOKYO (Reuters) - The head of Sammy Corp., Japan's biggest maker of slot machines, said on Wednesday it can work with video game maker Sega Corp., in which it became the biggest shareholder this week, to boost its presence in the arcade game market.
Sammy, which also makes pinball-style "pachinko" game machines, agreed to buy 39.1 million shares in Sega, known for its "Sonic the Hedgehog" video games, for 45 billion yen ($420 million) on Monday from information services firm CSK Corp
The two had broken off merger talks in May due to disagreements over management and other integration terms, but Sammy Chief Executive Hajime Satomi said the biggest sticking point was trying to reach an agreement with CSK, Sega's biggest shareholder at the time.
"CSK wanted to do whatever possible to get the highest price for Sega, so it really didn't work out then," Satomi told Reuters in an interview. "But I told CSK to come to me first when it really wanted to unload Sega."
Sammy paid 1,158 yen for each Sega share, a 13 percent premium to Monday's closing price. Shares in Sega had risen more than 70 percent since Sammy pulled out of talks in May.
The new stake will be added to the 100,000 Sega shares, or 0.06 percent of shares outstanding, it acquired in 1999. It is now the biggest shareholder in Sega. Investment bank Goldman Sachs is Sega's third-biggest shareholder with a 3.5 percent stake.
Satomi, who personally holds nearly 25 percent of Sammy's shares, said taking a majority share in Sega was one of many options he had wanted to consider, including possibly setting up a holding company or a full merger.
"I can't imagine this happening, but if our vision does not agree with that of Sega then we might have to consider taking more shares," said Satomi, who categorized his relationship with Sega as friendly.
Satomi said he wanted to join Sega's board of directors as soon as possible and play a role in the video game publisher's management. Separately, sources close to the matter said Satomi would become a board member early next year.
Sammy also develops video games for commercial use, along with its core business of supplying machines for pachinko parlors, which are ubiquitous in Japan and are invariably filled with devotees watching as tiny metal balls whirl around the upright pinball machines.
Players can win or lose money but the government defines it as a form of entertainment, not gambling.
One of the potential benefits from the acquisition of Sega shares, Satomi said, will be in sales of Sammy's "Atomiswave" game machines for arcade use. Sammy plans to use Sega's library titles and branding strength to help the fledgling machines.
Sammy started selling the arcade machines in April and Satomi said the game development costs are significantly less than for existing machines. Atomiswave also allows arcade operators to change unpopular games by switching cartridges.
Shares of Sega fell 5.23 percent on Wednesday to 1,014 yen, while Sammy shares closed down 1.4 percent at 3,530 yen. By comparison, the benchmark Nikkei average fell 2.11 percent.
($1=107.11 Yen)
Hmm... no so sure if this is good or bad... I don't know if Sammy's taking over and telling Sega to do more arcade games on the Atomiswave (which I believe is more designed for 2d than 3d) will be good for Sega... looks like it could hurt Sega's uniqueness and experimental games, for sure... :(
This is the only comic I've created. I may create more in the near future, though, as I had fun with this one. It's the one I made to put in my signature when the whole "put a comic in your signature to annoy GR and OB1, but mostly GR because his connection is utter shite" craze started.
Two Zelda games--Legend of Zelda: Four Swords and The Legend of Zelda: Tetra's Trackers--will now be released as a single title, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Plus.
TOKYO--In the latest edition of Nintendo Dream magazine, Nintendo revealed that it will be releasing The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords and The Legend of Zelda: Tetra's Trackers together on a single disc. The disc, which will be named The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Plus, will also contain a new game called The Legend of Zelda: Shadow Battle.
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords was announced at E3 as one of the two Zelda titles that will take advantage of the GameCube's connectivity with the GBA. Now called The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Adventure, the game uses the TV as the field map, and the GBA display as the action screen when walking into buildings or caves. For players without a GBA, the in-field view will be displayed on a separate window on the TV screen. Up to four players can participate in Hyrule Adventure.
The Legend of Zelda: Tetra's Trackers was the second E3-announced title with GC/GBA connectivity. Now renamed The Legend of Zelda: Navi Trackers, the game will feature a speech navigation system that talks, advising to the player during mini-games such as a stamp rally or bingo. By typing in the player's name before starting out, the speech engine will call the player by name during the game.
The Legend of Zelda: Shadow Battle is a battle-royale survival game, where four different versions of Link will fight each other to the finish. The stages will include a number of tricks that can be used to strategically defeat opponents in the game.
Since the Zelda series has traditionally been a single-player game, the games will also have extensive solo modes. For example, Hyrule Adventure comes with its own storyline, and Navi Trackers will pit a Tingle on a balloon against the player.
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Plus is slated for a February release in Japan.
Quote:December 09, 2003 - News publication Time Magazine recently featured an article in which it dissected Nintendo's game plan, or seeming lack thereof. The magazine criticized Nintendo's short supply of pioneering software and indicated that the company "seems to be suffering from game-development gridlock."
It also dismissed Nintendo's Pac-Man vs., stating; "The fact that the program itself was an update of Pac-Man (which debuted in 1980), however, tended to undercut the message that this was a particularly thrilling innovation."
Nintendo's president Satoru Iwata reiterated the company's feeling that prettier, deeper, online-supported games are not the answer. Time wrote: "Online video games have been a false start so far, Iwata asserts, which is why he has no plans to lead Nintendo in that direction. The current path taken by game developers toward more cinematic graphics, richer story lines and complicated controls is a blind alley that, he says, will only worsen the current 'nothing's new' ennui felt by many consumers."
Iwata pointed once more to simplistic, intuitive software that anybody can play as the way to go.
Time Magazine, meanwhile, suggested that Nintendo's future may be as a third-party software company and not a hardware manufacturer.
Online games have been a "false start"??? Richer graphics and good stories are a bad thing??
With this attitude I don't expect Nintendo to last in the hardware business for much longer. They're more stubborn than ever!
I wonder how Denis Dyack feels about all of this. All of the games he's worked on have had great storylines, with ED being one of the most story-intensive of them all.
*sigh*
You know, I agree with Nintendo that there's not a whole lot of innovation and "newness" any more, but they're certainly not changing that! Every single one of their 2003 GC titles were sequels, and sequels that were little more than graphical updates to their predecessors! The hypocrisy is simply astounding.
I am in the mood for some old fasion console debating that I used to enjoy. I am sure weltall and a few others remeber.
But alot may be surprised to hear that I am a Convert of the xbox,I was a sony fanboy for atleast 3 years now. Alot of xbox fanboys in the past have been biased and dumb but I am hoping to change that.
I am gonna make a few arguements and the rest can give a few comments or contridictions and we can start a debate, Though I guess this will probaily end up as some science vs Religion flame war knowing how things go.
The Xbox is the best of the three consoles in my opinion.
games
it may be true that the Ps2 has the most games and it has always been the arguement that the xbox does not have very many games , But that is untrue.
If you go by Exclusiveness the Xbox out ways the ps2 , Microsoft has made a much stronger effort in 1st and 2nd party support.
Ps2 big crown GTA3 and VC much like many other ps2 sucesses have all been ported so their exclusiveness is pretty shallow .
I must say that Mech assault and starwars KOTOR,Halo,crimson skies and quite many more are alot more exciting then most ps2 exclusives.
Microsofts sports games beat the living shit out of the flimsy 989 ,Unlike other 2nd party sports titles they are a contender agiast EA offerings.
You cant forget MS owns Rare and they will offer a few treats soon enough.
Now lets get down to the basics , Multiplayer is really starting to become a center role in most enjoyment and value in gaming.
The Ps2 is flawed for still only having 2 slots is a backward philosophy when it comes to hardware.
While it is true you can get multi tap but the thing is , It costs money for one and most developers wont support 4 players since most people dont have it.
But having 4 ports is a luxury, This is what makes the xbox the leading contender in multiplayer experience amongst freinds.This was a big factor in why I converted and switch sides.
The Hardrive is another advantage , You dont need crappy memmory cards nore do you need pay for them.
Some games give special options like installing your own music into the games such TH underground. The Hardrive is a joy just like having 4 slots , Its better as part of the body then sold seperately.
Graphically it is better then the ps2 in alot of areas, Though alot is hype but alot of truth if you look by example.The games are better detailed and richer in textures.
After months of bad omens, the end has finally come for the veteran RPG developer.
It looks like role-playing gamers will have a boulder of coal stuffed in their holiday stockings this year, as GameSpot has received reliable reports that Interplay has shut down Black Isle Studios.
While nothing has been confirmed by official sources as of press time, Damien "Puuk" Foletto, a member of BIS' art department, broke the news on the Interplay forums late this afternoon. "Today was my last day at the (former) BIS, as it was for my whole team," he said. To date, Foletto's posts have been one of the most reliable sources of news on the development of Fallout 3 (aka Van Buren) including the departure of his former co-worker J.E. Sawyer.
Black Isle's closure is a sad end for the once-great developer. BIS had a hand in some of the most acclaimed PC RPGs of the late 1990s, including the Fallout and Baldur's Gate series. Recently, though, the studio fell on hard times. Its forthcoming Dungeons & Dragons title, code-named "Jefferson," was canned earlier this year, reportedly a casualty of a legal tangle with D&D rights-holders Wizards of the Coast. A host of top-quality talent has fled the studio, including legendary producer Feargus Urqhart.
However, it looks like the financial woes of BIS' parent Interplay finally did the developer in. Interplay has lost over $20 million so far this year. Its two main holiday releases, the console RPGs Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel and Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II (which was developed by BIS), were pushed back to next January as a result of another legal dispute, this time with distributor VU Games. Interplay's refocusing on console games may have also been a factor in the decision to shutter its more PC-centric subsidiary.
Regardless of the reasons, the closure of BIS will hit many gamers hard. Foletto's final post seemed particularly depressing. "I don't know where I'll end up," he said, "but [people should] know that we were all avid gamers and wanted to make the PC games that not only we wanted to play, but also the fans."
This essentially means Interplay is no more. Black Isle was nearly all of Interplay that was left. There might be a team or two there who weren't Black Isle, but virtually all of their games in recent years were BIS... Haven is the only recent exception I can think of. So Interplay isn't 100% dead -- they still have a few mediocre console development teams left.
(hint: that means they're dead)
Interplay... they've never been a consistently good developer, but their heights have been very, very high. Seeing their slow and inevitable decline over the past couple of years has been very painful... their slide from a major publisher with 15 games a year to one struggling to release two, from successful to bankruptcy, seeing it bought by a multinational company (Titus), seeing its founder leave, seeing the endless lawsuits, losing the Star Trek liscence, losing the Dungeons & Dragons liscence... seeing the leader of BIS leave... and now seeing the one bright light left in the building (really, the only part of the company that matters... oh, sure, they have a console team somewhere, but has Interplay ever been known for great console games?)
It's not RIP yet... but it either will be soon, or we won't care. Without BIS Interplay is nothing. Maybe a publisher for a game or two like Lionheart and developer of the occasional mediocre console game... what a sad and depressing fate for a company with as great a resume of games as Interplay. (once you ignore the bad and mediocre games, which I have no problem in doing...)
BIS... one of the best RPG developers ever. I mean...
Since 1997... one of the best runs of RPGs of all time. Fallout. Fallout 2. Planescape: Torment. Icewind Dale. Icewind Dale II. Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. And significant help in making Bioware's Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II.
Their final legacy will be Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance II... which won't be out for a few months but I'm pretty sure is finished. (Fallout: Blades of Steel wasn't by BIS). (for a Nintendo-related note, neither of those games are coming for Cube, just X-Box and PS2.)
Honestly, the most amazing thing here is that the people at BIS managed to focus on making games at all in the last two-plus years... they didn't finish one, due to losing the D&D liscence and then this, but still... shows something for them. Poor guys... I hope they go work with Fearqus Urquhart or JE Sawyer and make some new games on the level of what they have done before... :( :(
(yes, yes, I know I'm rambling badly... but this just stinks so bad...)
Oh yeah, Interplay sold the extremely-long-in-development (think over five years) Galleon to SC-i and the game is now X-Box only, and will come out next spring.
So that leaves what left that Interplay is making... uhh... BGDA2, BIS's last game, FO: BOS, the bad-looking action-RPGish game... and uh... nothing else...
Interplay is a company built on PC-style RPGs, as well as some of every other genre... they had great adventure games (such as The Last Express), action games (Descent), myriad RPGs, strategy games (such as Conquest of a New World), platformers (like Blizz's Lost Vikings)... so many... and now the company is about as living and worth paying attention to as Sierra's internal development teams. Yeah, they have made plenty of console games before, and published good ones, too... but their greatest strength has always been their Computer RPGs, by far. From the early '90s with things like Dragon Wars to recent ones like Icewind Dale II... and they just threw that all away and trashed their one great remaining team.
"Interplay is console only".
This stinks.
They should change their slogan from "By Gamers, For Gamers" to "By Money-grubbers, For Stupid Console Masses"...
Now all anyone who has ever liked their games can do is look to Obsidian (the name of the studio started by the previous round of people who left Interplay) and hope that they can become a replacement for what is now gone.
Here's to hoping that someone, sometime, will match the sheer brilliance of Planescape Torment. Interplay won't.
![[Image: TCcomic.JPG]](http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~djc46/TCcomic.JPG)
