Registered: Jul 2000
Location: zanzibar
Posts: 10408

Um, Jingle Jangles....

TOKYO (AP) - Sega Corp. said Wednesday it will stop making its Dreamcast (news - web sites) home video-game machine on March 31, conceding defeat in the console-making business to its Japanese rivals Sony Corp. and Nintendo (news - web sites) Co.

Sega said it will start making games for Sony's PlayStation2 (news - web sites) and Nintendo's Game Boy Advance machines and was in talks to make games for Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox (news - web sites) and Nintendo's Game Cube, which are expected to go on sale later this year. Sega also plans to continue making new games for Dreamcast next year.

Sega's greatest strength is in its software lineup, which includes Sonic the Hedgehog games. Sega said it planned to focus on the software business, including creating games for handheld and Net-linking devices.

As it made the Dreamcast announcement, Sega more than doubled its projected loss estimate to $501 million for the fiscal year ending in March and made clear it was still in trouble.

Sega must get rid of its worldwide Dreamcast inventory of 2 million machines, shouldering costs of about $601 million, Sega chief operating officer Hideki Sato said. Sega was unable to boost sales during the Christmas season, despite slashing prices for the consoles - down to $149 from $199 last fall in the United States.

Dreamcast sales totaled 2.3 million worldwide - about half of its target. Dreamcast sales in the United States totaled 1.35 million - far short of the company's original goal. About 280,000 Dreamcast consoles were sold in Japan. Sega's software sales also suffered as a result, it said.

Sony has sold about 76 million of its original PlayStation consoles worldwide. Nintendo, the maker behind the Mario and Pokemon games, has sold 30 million Nintendo 64 consoles and 105 million Game Boy machines worldwide.

``The world of games is changing, so Sega must change, too,'' said Sato, adding that it no longer made sense to make games for just one machine.

Eiji Maeda, analyst with the Daiwa Institute of Research in Tokyo, said Sega is likely to become profitable in the first half of next fiscal year.

``Sega has great talent in developing software,'' Maeda said. ``And Sega has an edge in developing Internet-linked games.''

Sega said it was setting up a special team headed by Tetsu Kayama, who was named co-chief operating officer Wednesday, to come up with a restructuring plan next month.

Sega said it would not suffer a cash shortage partly because Sega chairman and CEO Isao Okawa was donating $730 million of his own funds to help bail out the company.



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choosy mothers choose evil

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Nanaimo BC, Canada
Posts: 1525

Lots on this story on www.gamers.com and www.dailyradar.com

I think it's cool, we get all the good DC games on PS2!!

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Anger=Red

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: NJ
Posts: 2300

maybe now my ps2 won't...um...fucking SUCK!

long live SEGA. They have served us well.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: industrialand
Posts: 658

quote:

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Originally posted by Spaceboy:
maybe now my ps2 won't...um...fucking SUCK!

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: :noitacoL
Posts: 2327

[b]HAHA! THE DAY IS MINE!

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©RandomnothinG®
I hate everything. FUCK YOU!!!

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Registered: Feb 2001
Location: San Rafael, CA
Posts: 182

I was pissed off when I heard the news but then I realized something... How mad will Sony and Nintendo be when Sega's games sell better than themselves on their own systems? I'm going to laugh my ass off when Sonic outsells Crash and Mario. One day all these new age gamers will realize that the system doesn't mean anything, its all about the games.

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500 posts as Jingle Jangles

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: NJ
Posts: 2300

I don't know if sony will be pissed off. The playstation (and most likely the PS2) are mainly third party platforms. sony simply cannot make good in-house games. With the exception of Syphon Filter and Wild Arms, every Sony made game has been crap. The 989 sports titles...inferior to sega, ea, and walking outside and throwing baseballs at cats. Twisted Metal 3 and 4...I'm still in therapy from them.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: industrialand
Posts: 658

hell yea.
TM3 and 4 were such utter shit.

TM Black is looking damn cool tho.. in a movie I saw, Sweet Tooth transformed into a robot on wheels! =]

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-s.m
I know you best,
better than anyone.

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