View Full Version : Sega-16 interviews former SoA president Tom Kalinkse
Not trying to spam, but I thought you guys might want to read this. :)
There's been so much controversy about exactly what went down during the last two years of the Genesis' reign. Many speculate that Sega of Japan deliberately torpedoed its American branch's efforts out of resentment of its massive success. Not that they'd have reason to do so. The Genesis only captured half of the American 16-bit market, lured Yuji Naka away from Japan, and essentially outdid the Mega Drive in every aspect. Hmm, on second thought, they may have been onto something there...
So who do you ask to get all the details and quell the rumors? Why, you go right to the top! Sega-16 recently sat for a spell with former Sega of America president Tom Kalinske, and the wealth of information he had to share was astounding. From the company's internal rivalry to the missed chance Sega had with Sony to develop a joint console and everything in between, Mr. Kalinske shed new light on everything Sega! Want more info? Then check out our exclusive, in-depth interview (http://www.sega-16.com/Interview-%20Tom%20Kalinske.htm) and see how it all went down!
eightbitonline
07-11-2006, 12:14 AM
thank you so much for that!
what a great interview. congrats!
krbrunn
07-11-2006, 12:24 AM
I agree that was a great read. Thanks for that.
poloplayr
07-11-2006, 07:44 AM
simply amazing!!! thanks!
Hutty
07-11-2006, 07:57 AM
Excellent...thanks!
Push Upstairs
07-11-2006, 08:33 AM
That was a great interview.
Confirmed what i was thinking.
LogicalMike
07-11-2006, 02:10 PM
Very informative and a nice read Melf. Keep up the fantastic work.
Pico956
07-11-2006, 02:46 PM
A spanking good read. Thanks for the link!
Damaramu
07-11-2006, 04:05 PM
Awesome interview! Makes me really miss the 90's gaming scene. Man, that was a fun time! 8-)
rbudrick
07-11-2006, 05:40 PM
Fucking awesome interview! I love interviews like that. Well, obviously, I hate the sucky ones, but you know what I mean. ;)
-Rob
Good interview- Thanks!!
Sega Rules!!!
joshnickerson
07-11-2006, 06:57 PM
Great interview!
Thanks everyone!
Oh snap! It's on 1up (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3152075) now!
j_factor
07-12-2006, 12:53 AM
lmao, stupid 1up.
Great interview and good fodder to counter all the fanboys who cling to the notion that SoA is entirely responsible for all the mistakes Sega made.
And :roll: at 1UP. I was going to comment on the interview last night when you first posted about how it's sad that a fansite (no disrespect intended by calling it a fansite either) can show up "real gaming journalism". It was refreshing to see someone speak that bluntly about how things really went down and not something I would ever expect to see on any of the "professional" websites or magazines.
It's interesting, however, to see how different the videogame industry could have been if either company had a little more hindsight.
Foresight, it's foresight you fools! 1UP.... LOL
Tron 2.0
07-12-2006, 02:04 AM
Nice read thanks :)
Emuaust
07-12-2006, 03:59 AM
very nice read, just imagine where we all could be,
Sega Playstation 3: Sony Edition LOL
Zadoc
07-12-2006, 05:03 AM
I think it's a fantastic interview, but I did want to point our that Electronic Arts did not relase the 3DO. :p
krbrunn
07-12-2006, 09:50 PM
It's referenced on Gamespot now too:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6153914.html
suppafly
07-12-2006, 10:24 PM
great read....thx :D
Fighter17
07-12-2006, 10:24 PM
I think it's a fantastic interview, but I did want to point our that Electronic Arts did not relase the 3DO. :p
I told him the same thing, but EA was founded by the same guy who founded 3DO.
And besides, EA supported the system the most.
EA was the principle backer, but it wasn't technically their console. AFAIK, it was done out of the 3DO company, so I've updated the article to reflect that.
lordnikon
07-13-2006, 12:19 AM
Well the Interview got posted on Slashdot (http://games.slashdot.org/games/06/07/12/1917215.shtml). I am pretty angry about the way the person "spun" the title. The guy who posted it at Slashdot has it listed as:
"The Sad Story of Sega's Many Mistakes"
What? The? Hell?
I will never understand why every ingorant moron on the planet tries to flip a story to make it seem like Sega is a horrible failure. The Interview did not give off this impression at all. It gave a lot of insight into the inner workings of sega during multiple time periods, and showed how some of the decisions unfolded. MOST of the interview actually shows how successfull Sega was. How is going from 2% of the market share, to 50% of the market share a mistake?
Why is it that people treat Sega's history as if it were a Madlibs Book (http://us.penguingroup.com/static/packages/us/yreaders/madlibs/fun.html)?
rxdoga
07-13-2006, 01:28 AM
I think it's a fantastic interview, but I did want to point our that Electronic Arts did not relase the 3DO. :p
The EA founder did come up with the idea of 3DO though.
Push Upstairs
07-13-2006, 08:36 AM
I checked out that "spin" on the article on Slashdot.
Lame, as were most of the responses on the page.
I like how some people there are saying that Sega's anti-Nintendo advertising was a bad idea and might not work. WTF? It did work. This is all history, not something being discussed for the future. :D
Push Upstairs
07-13-2006, 05:36 PM
I guess thier teachers never told them that reading is fundamental.
bangtango
07-15-2006, 06:13 PM
I like how some people there are saying that Sega's anti-Nintendo advertising was a bad idea and might not work. WTF? It did work. This is all history, not something being discussed for the future. :D
Those people can be found on that board and not here because they know they'd be in over their head in these parts ;)
Masked Avenger
07-15-2006, 06:49 PM
I like how some people there are saying that Sega's anti-Nintendo advertising was a bad idea and might not work. WTF? It did work. This is all history, not something being discussed for the future. :D
Of course it worked.
If the other side is so convinced the SNES was such a great system in every way, including games, then the only reason Genesis could have caught up with Nintendo in sales is through advertizing.
P.S. Genny games rule.
lordnikon
08-01-2006, 02:40 AM
I like how some people there are saying that Sega's anti-Nintendo advertising was a bad idea and might not work. WTF? It did work. This is all history, not something being discussed for the future. :D
Yea it did work, but the drawback was that it had horrible repurcussions in regards to the mindstate of the average Sega fan. Sega fans have gained a notorious reputation for being some of the most vicious system war console flamers. You do not see many Nintendo fans saying "That game sucks". They are rather indifferent.
I am a diehard Sega fan. However I cannot stand ignorant flaming. It has been something rather hard to deal with. I know people that are still trying to keep the Dreamcast vs PS2 war alive. It is insane. One of my internet friends will not buy a PS2 or play any of it's games... still. After all these years.
The sega.com forums make me litterally want to tear my eyes out and replace them with fire ants. The sheer ignorance is mind boggling, and I still can't understand why so many 12 year olds own Dreamcasts.
Only now is the Sega community beginning to grow out of this, even if it is at a snails pace.
The anti-nintendo ads were a good idea for gaining market share, but I hate what they did for the Sega culture.
Push Upstairs
08-01-2006, 08:48 AM
You do not see many Nintendo fans saying "That game sucks". They are rather indifferent.
Then we must have gone to different sections of the same internet because my experiences have been the exact oppisite.
I've been to places where 90% of the people posting in the board were hardcore Nintendo bias and they went out of thier way to make sure that nothing bad was ever said about Nintendo. Of course they had NO problem insulting any other company and system that didn't have the Nintendo name on it.
I can recall over-exaggerations of the PS2 disc read problems, people bitching about how MS was trying to get a monopoly in the game industry*, and there was a general lack of any respect for non-Nintendo systems.
And the thing about it was that these WEREN'T some offical Nintendo sites.
From my experiences i'd say that any game company fan has the potental to be some flame baters
*Funny how saying the phrase "Well, Nintendo *DID* have a monopoly in the game industry" was simply ignored.
lordnikon
08-01-2006, 04:58 PM
You do not see many Nintendo fans saying "That game sucks". They are rather indifferent.
Then we must have gone to different sections of the same internet because my experiences have been the exact oppisite.
I've been to places where 90% of the people posting in the board were hardcore Nintendo bias and they went out of thier way to make sure that nothing bad was ever said about Nintendo. Of course they had NO problem insulting any other company and system that didn't have the Nintendo name on it.
I can recall over-exaggerations of the PS2 disc read problems, people bitching about how MS was trying to get a monopoly in the game industry*, and there was a general lack of any respect for non-Nintendo systems.
And the thing about it was that these WEREN'T some offical Nintendo sites.
From my experiences i'd say that any game company fan has the potental to be some flame baters
*Funny how saying the phrase "Well, Nintendo *DID* have a monopoly in the game industry" was simply ignored.
Each console scene has flamers. However, with the Sega community, the damage done by those early ads stayed with the community as each console was released. This was in part because Sega kept using this marketing well into the Saturn days.
With the Nintendo scene you don't see the same epidemic that the Sega fans have. People who are fans of the N64 and GameCube are pretty laid back.
There are some extremist flamers out there in the NES crowd, but a majority of this comes from NES fanatic collectors, who don't necessarily play modern games yet still buy everything Nintendo.
I am not saying that other systems don't have flamers. I am merely stating that the Sega community has had a bigger problem with this than other console companies. The ad campaigns sega ran encouraged this, and it directly effected how the average Sega fan reacted to their peers.
Emuaust
08-01-2006, 05:23 PM
Not pointing any fingers here but this sites modern gaming
forum is probably one of the most PRO Nintendo/MS boards
around, Sony sucks is going to fail, Doom for sony.
Its all the time people, all the time.
Anyways Although sega fans are slowly coming out of there,
everything else sucks phase, I dont think the hardcore
Nintendo fans ever will, fanboys follow blindly without question :smash: :monkey:
I play games not consoles. LOL LOL
Kevincal
08-01-2006, 05:46 PM
That's really amazing that Sega had a shot at BOTH the Playstation and the N64 technology before Sony and Nintendo....AND TURNED THEM BOTH DOWN. That's incredible. @_@
Push Upstairs
08-01-2006, 10:05 PM
I am not saying that other systems don't have flamers. I am merely stating that the Sega community has had a bigger problem with this than other console companies. The ad campaigns sega ran encouraged this, and it directly effected how the average Sega fan reacted to their peers.
Every Sega fan i have ever talked to on a semi-regular basis has been pretty laidback and mellow.
On three seperate boards and newsgroups i have found most of the people who love Sega never acted in some flaming, militant way towards other systems.
And Emuaust you are correct, this place it quite anti-Sony.
lordnikon
08-02-2006, 01:37 PM
It was a lot worse in 2003 and 2004 than it is now.
However, at sites like sega.com, dreamcast-scene, dreamcast history, and dcemulation, the flaming is still quite prevelent. Saturn vs ps1 / dreamcast vs ps2 threads get posted regularly. Comparing the 2 logically like we have been doing in the Jaguar vs 32X thread on 3D is fine. However they are still comparing the systems in order to prove sega superiority.
There is a thread now at dcemulation "DC owns PS2 like the good ol' days". Another one at sega.com, "SEGA Loves Sony...gets rid of nintendo"
I just went over to Nintendo.com, and browsed back 10 pages of posts in both the GameCube forum, and their Legacy forum which covers past Nintendo consoles. I can't find any threads that are pitting the Nintendo consoles against other systems. They just talk about nintendo stuff over there.
I think we can say this for sure: Sega's ads had an impact on their fans, and how they voiced their sega pride.
CartCollector
08-02-2006, 02:31 PM
I think the difference between Sega and Nintendo fans is also caused partly by Sega longer producing consoles. So Sega fans hold a grudge against Sony for the decline of Sega, because they think the PlayStation 2 killed the Dreamcast. I'm sure that if the Gamecube had been discontinued around 2003, with no hope of Nintendo ever making a console again, there would be "Gamecube is way better than PS2" threads all over the place.
poopnes
08-02-2006, 02:50 PM
I just went over to Nintendo.com, and browsed back 10 pages of posts in both the GameCube forum, and their Legacy forum which covers past Nintendo consoles. I can't find any threads that are pitting the Nintendo consoles against other systems. They just talk about nintendo stuff over there.
That's because Nintendo doesn't allow discussion of non-Nintendo games/systems. Sad but true (even in PowerOn).
googlefest1
08-02-2006, 03:44 PM
I like how some people there are saying that Sega's anti-Nintendo advertising was a bad idea and might not work. WTF? It did work. This is all history, not something being discussed for the future. :D
Yea it did work, but the drawback was that it had horrible repurcussions in regards to the mindstate of the average Sega fan. Sega fans have gained a notorious reputation for being some of the most vicious system war console flamers. You do not see many Nintendo fans saying "That game sucks". They are rather indifferent.
I am a diehard Sega fan. However I cannot stand ignorant flaming. It has been something rather hard to deal with. I know people that are still trying to keep the Dreamcast vs PS2 war alive. It is insane. One of my internet friends will not buy a PS2 or play any of it's games... still. After all these years.
The sega.com forums make me litterally want to tear my eyes out and replace them with fire ants. The sheer ignorance is mind boggling, and I still can't understand why so many 12 year olds own Dreamcasts.
Only now is the Sega community beginning to grow out of this, even if it is at a snails pace.
The anti-nintendo ads were a good idea for gaining market share, but I hate what they did for the Sega culture.
i guess that all depends on where you were at the time
when i owned a sms and genesis -- it was the nintendo fans flaming thier own passion for thier favorite company by bashing sega -- so that why im saying must be where you were
i have never seen sega groupies starting battles with people carying nintendo equpiment - only the other way around
im guessing in the north east (us) nintendo ruled
and where ever you were nintendo did
nowdays with the internet - all the flamers can get together and amass larger armies making the situation look worse
i think every system has an equal number of laid back fans and foaming at the mouth fanboys
i have met all kinds - on the internet they seem equal - but here in CT i think nintendo fanatics still outnumber laid back fans. The diference is the youngsters getting into new companies. - I actulay witnessed a fight break out between 2 brats over a ps2 Vs Xbox argument
lordnikon
08-02-2006, 04:29 PM
I think the difference between Sega and Nintendo fans is also caused partly by Sega longer producing consoles. So Sega fans hold a grudge against Sony for the decline of Sega, because they think the PlayStation 2 killed the Dreamcast. I'm sure that if the Gamecube had been discontinued around 2003, with no hope of Nintendo ever making a console again, there would be "Gamecube is way better than PS2" threads all over the place.
Yea there are a variety of factors at play. I'm not trying to say that it was only the ads, just that it was a factor. You are right that Dreamcast fans could hold a grudge against the PS2. Another point is that during this Generation Sega's lead mascot was ALL OVER Nintendo consoles. You can get almost every Sonic game ever made on the GameCube right now. So, a lot of diehard GameCube fans love both Sonic and Mario. Whereas a sega fan would still try to defend the Sonic is better than Mario position.
I just went over to Nintendo.com, and browsed back 10 pages of posts in both the GameCube forum, and their Legacy forum which covers past Nintendo consoles. I can't find any threads that are pitting the Nintendo consoles against other systems. They just talk about nintendo stuff over there.
That's because Nintendo doesn't allow discussion of non-Nintendo games/systems. Sad but true (even in PowerOn).
I am aware that Nintendo's forums are focused on Nintendo subject matter. As I browsed through the Legacy Forum at Nintendo.com (which is supposed to only cover classic Nintendo consoles) I came across numerious threads on the Dreamcast, 32X, Sega CD, and even genesis. About 5 or 6 threads, each talking highly of the sega systems. The users were obviously posting offtopic in this forum, but the threads were still there, and were not locked. I don't think there is any moderation in place that specificially removes threads for covering a Nintendo console vs another one.
The Nintendo forums seem to, by nature, focus their discussions only on Nintendo.
Push Upstairs
08-02-2006, 05:44 PM
It was a lot worse in 2003 and 2004 than it is now.
Well, i left that forum of heavy bias and constant postings of "What is your favorite game?" in the fall of 2003. I was already gowing tired of that place but a 20+ page thread including claims of how the number of websites found on a Google search was a good indicator of how many PS2 systems had a DRE problem made me never visit that place or speak it's name ever again.
The Nintendo bias i witnessed was worse in 2003 because that was the last time i had to hear how everything the big N touched was gold, while everything else was inferior.
It also didnt help matter thats locally (non-internet) everyone shit upon Sega systems like they were junk and worthless while holding more value to anything Nintendo related.