If Sega Actually Made a new console....

[nathanallan]

Naves, love your avatar!

[mrbigreddog]

Is it to late to put a tiny little slot for GG games?

That's cause you can't see the BACK of the console!

mrbigreddog, what the heck is G Factor (on the box pic)?? Never heard of that one.

The "G-Factor" they are referring to is the Yobo "Factor 5" game console, as it came with a 5-in-1 multicart of homebrew games, and one of them has lightgun support.

[fatboy]

Well, I know I'm in the minority on this one, so don't totally bite My head off, but I hate it when console developers try to turn their systems into "All in one" devices. If You want internet, word processing, multimedia, emulation, Etc, Etc, get a computer, I don't care if it's Windows, Mac, or Linux, get a computer. The entire point of a dedicated game console is, well, GAMES. You should just be able to turn the system on and play, no firmware updates, no compatibility problems, just play.
In the rare, impossible event that SEGA returned to the console hardware biz, they should do just as they always did, and base the system on their current arcade hardware. This is why we all became SEGA nuts in the first place, right? Because that copy of Outrun You just got for Your new Genesis played almost like the arcade machine You pumped all of Your allowance into, Like how that copy of Mar Matrix You got for Your dreamcast subjects You to the same masochistic bullet-hell you get in the arcades.
Throw in a Blue-ray drive since thats the current high-end standard, and that's all.

..... Oh crap, I'm on the soapbox again......

[mrbigreddog]

I think SEGA would have a better angle going with the all in one... Just to jump in there with the Big Boys Right off the bat would be (IMHO) suicide!

[nathanallan]

It's really mystifying why they haven't released a flashback type of game yet-- maybe with built in games, no gimmicks like the motion controller. I would hope they have a clone of Curt Vendel over there, but I guess not.

To me the Zone thing doesn't qualify, as it's nothing like the original, can't (afaik) be modded to accept carts or SD roms. Blaze doesn't work for me either (I think that the general concensus is right along those lines, too) nor do the AtGames stuff. Pretty cool, but still not a winner that makes me want to go down to the store and buy it (or import one or a few).

I don't think it's so hard to have an emulator on a single board computer running some kind of Unix core. If Sega were to go that route, along with adding in solder points to add a cart connector or CD device for the other consoles(Saturn, maybe??), I'd be totally onboard with that.

[mrbigreddog]

It's really mystifying why they haven't released a flashback type of game yet-- maybe with built in games, no gimmicks like the motion controller. I would hope they have a clone of Curt Vendel over there, but I guess not.

Like this?

[kool kitty89]

Well, the original flashback is a rudimentary NOAC based clone with ported VCS and 7800 games iirc. The FB2, however, uses an actual VCS clone ASIC (TIA+RIOT+6507) and also facilitates a cartridge slot. (there's solder points for one on the PCB, and there were 24-pin VCS type connectors availble separate, IDK how that was arranged though) Too bad it didn't have that slot out of the box though.
The fully compatible repro joysticks of the FB2 were nice too. (I don't have a FB/FB2 personally, just a real VCS)

I think there were/are plans for a possible MARIA clone as well, for 7800 functionality.

Does/did Curt Vendel actually work for the new Atari Inc. (Infogrames), I got the impression it was more of a 3rd party/independent thing with licencing/support from Infogrames. (so the comment about Sega having someone like curt with them wouldn't apply as such, unless I'm mistaken)

A big difference of course, is that, unlike the VCS (or 7800), there have been continued true hardware clones on the market (from durring the Genny's lifespan up to now), the difference being that those can't legally offer built-in games (unless licenced by Sega). I'm not entirely sure what Tectoy's situation is, I think they got the rights to the SMS/MD hardware for the region, not sure about game licences though. (Tectoy did have plenty of its own games, so those wouldn't be an issue either way to have built-in) Tec toy continues to produce their own clone ASIC based MDs of course.

[nathanallan]

@mrbigreddog; not quite like that, but that's along the right lines. I have the blue and the red ones, they're okay but offer no options on expansion (which I would really like).

@kool_kitty89; Curt doesn't work for Infogrames as I know, and you are right, he runs Legacy Engineering and right again, he gets perks. What they are specifically I do not know (none of my business, really).

What I'm saying is that Sega can do it right, but seem to have chosen not to up to this point. I mean crap, I'd buy a small set-top something that is in effect a Genesis console, and get extensions that turn it into a Saturn (as an add-on) or Sega CD. It isn't that hard!! People throw away computers that are capable of running great emulation these days!

Come on, Sega, get with the program!!

[N.Saibot]

@mrbigreddog; not quite like that, but that's along the right lines. I have the blue and the red ones, they're okay but offer no options on expansion (which I would really like).

@kool_kitty89; Curt doesn't work for Infogrames as I know, and you are right, he runs Legacy Engineering and right again, he gets perks. What they are specifically I do not know (none of my business, really).

What I'm saying is that Sega can do it right, but seem to have chosen not to up to this point. I mean crap, I'd buy a small set-top something that is in effect a Genesis console, and get extensions that turn it into a Saturn (as an add-on) or Sega CD. It isn't that hard!! People throw away computers that are capable of running great emulation these days!

Come on, Sega, get with the program!!

Come on nathanallan, do you really want another console
from Sega that emulates the past successes? This has no
point, people can emulate at home on their own since, as
you said, everyone owns a computer that is more than capable
of emulating a Mega Drive and many people have dual- or
quadcore CPUs which could, I assume, emulate a Saturn
very good. And the last singlecore CPUs should have enough
speed to emulate the Saturn too.

I think, that after they milked everything out of emulating the
Mega Drive with Firecore and stuff like that, they'll start releasing
Saturn emulators. But it will always remain at an extremely cheap
level, with no such good controllers as the original and with very
small effort. No one will take such a risk and release something,
which is basically an emulator, as a new console. Backwards
compatibility for one generation is a great thing, but releasing a
jack-of-all-trades for the full price of a real console is really pretty
much pointless. No one will ever buy it, if it uses emulation. What
would be the point?

And if a wonder happens and it is somehow compatible through
hardware, only hardcore collectors/fans would possibly buy it. No
one wants to play old games today except us. And I also don't want
old games on new hardware, the old consoles are perfectly capable
of running and emulation works great on PC.

[mrbigreddog]

And if a wonder happens and it is somehow compatible through
hardware, only hardcore collectors/fans would possibly buy it. No
one wants to play old games today except us. And I also don't want
old games on new hardware, the old consoles are perfectly capable
of running and emulation works great on PC.

Come on! How much better are PS1 games on the PS2 and PS3? Higher Res, smooth graphics.... You don't want that for the Saturn? I know I sure do!

[retrospiel]

The success of Wii's Virtual Console is proof that people do want to play classic games.

[mrbigreddog]

The success of Wii's Virtual Console is proof that people do want to play classic games.

Exactly!!!!

[FoxHound]

The success of Wii's Virtual Console is proof that people do want to play classic games.

And on a reliable new system....!
Sega could do it, Make a console that has their own VC store or something that will work with Sega pass.

[Guntz]

But they already have their own games on the VC. They could break away when the Wii2, PS4 and Xbox 720 come out, but right now I don't think the cards are in their favor.

[Deo]

Come on! How much better are PS1 games on the PS2 and PS3? Higher Res, smooth graphics.... You don't want that for the Saturn? I know I sure do!

Panzer Dragoon in sexy 70 inch LED glory surrounded by Bose subwoofers and speakers.