You should hear what people say about each other where I work! I've heard things that would make a whore blush.
To me in this case there really isn't another word to use which so easily describes that many people buying into a piece of vaporware. In this day and age when so many people especially in crowd funding campaigns have ripped people off of their money, you'd have to be seriously slow on the uptake these days to not see this reeks of a bad idea. I feel sorry for anyone who supported this thing. It's going to end terribly.
@ Thief, This isn't a place where I'm going to police anyone's words. Unless it's a direct insult to someone here then I don't care what people say to each other. It's not on me to worry about yours or anyone else's feelings so stop with the virtue signaling. We're all adults here and this place isn't a "Safe Space" as much as you'd want it to be.
@Mega, I hear a lot of shit at my job also and honestly it doesn't effect me or the people I work with since we all know it's just bullshit. One guy I work with and his friend who see each other all the time usually go with "What's up you son of a bitch?", They laugh about it all the time because it's between them and that's all there is to it. If some people get offended at words so easily all the time like that then take a step back and realize that stuff like that isn't directed at them. Some folks have a hard time disconnecting themselves from wanting to interject their being offended at everything to people.
It's one of the main reasons I'd like to see Social Media take a swan dive into an incinerator. It gives people a voice to get angry and offended at everything.
@Barone, The way the world is going these days I can see that happening. :( lol
Uh oh. The word "retard" is commonly used in engine terminology. I.E. A brake retarder, retard the timing, etc.., Christ almighty people.
Back on topic:
This campaign is so shitty and gimmicky at the same time.
Until this morning they had the Atari VCS™ Onyx Early Bird option time limited up until lunch time but with more than 24,000 units available.
So it should have been ended by now, right?! Wrong. It's still available but now with "Only 189 left". Lol.
By the way, the campaign has already stagnated and didn't even reach 10,000 backers.
It's the internet no one cares about anyone's feelings. Unless it's pictures of kittens.
It's funny how the only bundle to come with a modern controller is slightly less than a PS4 Pro and $40 more than a Switch.
When I saw the Atari VCS/Ataribox first talked about I thought it was a stupid idea that was merely a cynical "retro" cash in on the popularity of Nintendo's rip off shit boxes. Still think the same. As for Sega building consoles again I LOLed I honestly thought that either MrSega or that moron Semmy had hijacked bultje112's account when I saw that thread title. :lol:
And "smoking-retarded" rugs. Which means they are fireproof.
And you don't wanna dare compare the specs of this thing to the PS4 Pro's.
Anyways, I was watching Dreamcastguy and he mentioned something I was thinking but didn't know how to put it into words. The crowd-funding goal was only $100,000, theres no way you can create and sell a console with that low amount of money. This means they already had enough money to fund this project, and the crowd-funding campaign is being used for a different purpose. Maybe they couldn't figure out how to make their own online pre-order store, so they used Indiegogo?
Many companies and even indie devs use IndieGogo and KickStarter as a promotional engine and gauging interest, even when they already have the means to do a project. Essentially free publicity and increased pre-orders. That's what they went for here.
As someone who recognizes the importance of preserving the culture and history of certain brands and also loves what Microsoft have been building with the Xbox ecosystem in terms of integration and backwards compatibility, I'd love to see a new Sega console that leverages those aspects.
Sega as a company is really weird, they fluctuate wildly in terms of feedback - sometimes shrugging their shoulders and not taking opportunities like the response they gave to Watermelon on Pier Solar, sometimes shutting down projects like the Streets of Rage Remake, other times actually leveraging the fan community and ending up with well received ports like Sonic CD and great games like Sonic Mania (both of those from Christian Whitehead + team).
It's completely unrealistic to think Sega will enter in a competition once again with Nintendo, Sony, and MS. But I think a project that takes advantage of their company history, catalog, their fan community, and the popularity of retro gaming would definitely be possible in a specific mold:
A) A new console done by Sega themselves (no more shitty watered down licensed consoles like AtGames stuff) or heavily supervised by them (like the upcoming Retro-Bit stuff), a Sega platform for all their catalog and whoever else wants to publish there (Sega Store, Indies Store, Homebrew section, much like the 360 was structured)
B) Focus on actual hardware implementation and/or perfectly accurate emulation (the recent Compilation released on X1/PS4 isn't bad but it's not great either)
C) Target Xbox 360 specs or something similar which are now sufficiently cheap - enough power to run games either native or emulated without problems (1080p/60) and still target $100-150 retail price
D) Ideally the system would be able to read actual cartridges, Saturn discs and Dreamcast discs even if the console itself wouldn't have the hardware inside (depends on costs), it could act like Xbox BC and download the emulated copy of the game as long as the disc is in the drive
E) Focus on a BC project and team like MS are doing with Xbox - Sega keeps re-releasing the same MD games and a few DC ones, they have so much stuff they can still do with MD, DC, Mega CD, 32X, and specially Saturn-era games, and even some Xbox and PS2 era games
F) That BC team would keep releasing accurate emulated games, and even enhance them whenever possible like Xbox BC
G) Target $0.99-5 for MS, MD, Mega CD, 32X games; $5-10 for Saturn games; $5-15 for DC games; $10-20 for Xbox/PS2/Xbox360/PS3 era games
H) Don't ignore the homebrew community that keeps growing; Support them via a Section in the Store but also for physical releases do officially license/approve them again
Imagine a platform where you could plug in your MD and 32X carts, that reads your Mega CD, Saturn, and Dreamcast discs, where you can digitally buy games like PS2 Shinobi and Nightshade, or Xbox Gunvalkyrie, or home ports like Border Break (which is finally coming out for PS4 in August but JP only), while finally giving a home for all the Sega homebrew stuff, and still enabling others to put their content if they want. A "Sega storefront box" like a Steam Machine or an "Origin Box" if EA ever went that route.
Some of the stuff like actual hardware implementations might be debatable and not cost effective, but I do think something like this would have a market and be profitable. Refresh the concept every few years (like 5 or something) while remaining behind the tech curve to keep costs down (and not act like competition to the big boys). I know I'd love to store my MD and DC if I knew I finally had a platform who could still run my games physically or digitally while being 100% accurate or even enhanced, and having all the new toys integrated (like bluetooth, usb, wireless tech, etc).
Long post and feel free to laugh at the dream :p
This was a very good and well thought out post.
Almost a Tl;Dr post. But I read it all.
Sega could compete with the big boys if they teamed up with a company like Toshiba or Panasonic(even though they still got a bad taste), and became a 1st party developer while the console uses the Sega brand for marketing. But it'd be pointless because modern Sega is a company that has no relevancy, every famous developer at Sega left the company one by one after the company went 3rd party.
Outside of a minority of enthusiasts, the SEGA name has little to no weight anymore. If you want a modular console tho look into the Polymega. http://polymega.com/