Originally Posted by
MasakariPrime
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
