Pure Speculation! How would Sega have made 8th gen console?

[Cronozilla]

It's a strange thing to think about because, arguably, Microsoft would not be remotely as dominant as they are now if Sega had stuck around the hardware race.

Based on Sega's past, though, I'd say the hardware would likely be kind of wacky. It usually was. x86 is possible, but I think they might have gone for an ARM architecture maybe ... Sega tended to focus on everyone as a threat and plan that way ... so it wouldn't be unreasonable to think that at this point in time they might have considered mobile just as big a threat as any of the other hardware. Maybe a supped up embedded system from ARM or Samsung that ... wouldn't be the most impressive in the console space, but would boast cross platform playability.

Hell, I wouldn't have really been surprised if they did a combo like system where you took a Sega device off the console and played handheld games on it that you got from your main system.

[Gamerforlife]

I'm curious about the kind of "culture" Sega would have tried to cultivate with its console. For example, Microsoft basically wants its consoles to be dumbed down PCs that cater to the casual market who mostly use their Xbox to watch TV shows and movies and only use it to play video games when those games revolve around shooting people and multi-player death matches. It's like the perfect, college student, frat house console. When the Wii first came out, Nintendo was basically trying to get people who don't actually play games to buy their system while ignoring the interests of actual gamers. It was the system for your grand parents and game hating girlfriend to play

I'm making some gross generalizations here obviously(so don't flame me), but every console does seem to cater more towards a certain type of gamer. Sony's biggest appeal seems to be toward tech obsessed types who love the raw power of the PS3 and Vita, and also gamers with a strong interest in hardcore, old fashioned, Japanese games.

Who would Sega set their sights on?

[J T]

Sega was cool and edgey in the 90s, so they'd most likely be a hipster now. If they were still in the console business they would probably have some new infrared moustache motion controller with bicycle powered battery.

[Xeogred]

It'd have duodecuple processors.

[o.pwuaioc]

It'd have duodecuple processors.

Psh, it'd have a million bit graphics, launching with Seaman 2, Power Stone 3, and a new Gundam. Starting price is $1,000, though. But at least they will have fixed that laser and crazy loud fan.

[Original_Name]

Well to start, we should look at the current state of the industry. I think that the Xbox One signals Microsoft folding their console business into their computer business. It's basically a mutation of a desktop computer, just as the iPad is a mutation of a laptop. Sony, on the other hand, bought the cloud gaming service Gaikai... what exactly this means for their future, I'm not entirely certain, since the PlayStation 4 is going to be the processing behemoth. In any event, some sort of cloud gaming must be in their vision for the future, which would put them in a totally different kind of space where they're essentially just arbitrarily branding their name on a box for profit (which is kind of what Sony and Microsoft did all along anyway). The PC space continues to expand, and I don't think it'll be long until PSN and XBLA are forced into this quasi-open program like Steam is providing where they'll sort of sink into irrelevancy. From there, it's anybody's guess, but I think that in the next decade there will be some victor who's provided the most attractive cloud-gaming conduit.

On the other end we have Nintendo. Gunpei Yokoi's creative philosophy was famously expressed in his mantra "Lateral Thinking with Seasoned Technology" (also translated as "Withered Technology", but that translation is... overly literal). Nintendo has done a tremendous job keeping the legacy of Gunpei Yokoi alive in their endeavors after his departures, and on their honor, I believe that they'll continue to do so.

To be honest, as big-time Sega fan, it was always frustrating for me to see Sega get behind so many cool, off-the-wall innovations and fail while Nintendo endlessly reaped the rewards of obvious progressions or variations on existing concepts. While Sega was busy ripping their brains to shreds working out the trigonometry required for a game like Turbo to little fanfare, Nintendo makes a rather simple game about jumping over barrels to a ceaseless roar of international acclaim. While Sega was busy bleeding their resources dry forging the flagship forays into first-party online console gaming with a DirectLink service that was ignored by most gamers, Nintendo makes a thing that jiggles while you play Starfox 64 and the world is stunned. Sega treads new grounds by facilitating the first console MMORPG, managing to create a cohesive and dynamic community across the lands and languages of the world for a moderately successful title that they may have almost broken even on, Nintendo pushes Game Freak to make another Pokemon game and people do the travelling and fiddling with cables all over the world for them to play with one another.

Of course I'm being tongue-in-cheek here, but Nintendo has a sort of obvious, down-to-earth logic that escapes people like me and the creative powers-that-used-to-be at Sega, but often really catches on with the masses.

Now, let's just say that we got all the big names back in power at Sega, and they fix their internal mess and get their teams restructured much like they were in the Dreamcast era, or better. Maybe they team up with developers and designers who are their creative kin... partnerships with Treasure, Platinum Games, Grasshopper Manufacture, and so on. Let's say Sega really gets on top of things again -- they move past even the obvious Shenmue III, Skies of Arcadia II, and Jet Set Radio Next mentality and get back their initiative that took the most forward-thinking approach to innovating available technologies to deliver the pop culture in a blender/bizarro manga/cartoons in fast-forward/deadly serious/unhinged and irreverent/Paul McCartney/Yoko Ono/scatter-brained/hyper-focused/Akihabara acid trip/Melt-Banana and Boredoms make video games/Eastern/Western/back to basics/post-modern experiences that endeared gamers like me to the company. Going back to that old mentality of throwing out the book of rules and common sense and just making whatever game moved your team that development cycle regardless of the logistics of it all.

...and put it on Nintendo's console. Sega and Nintendo make a perfect yin-yang. You can say that Sega was "just like Nintendo, but didn't have the magic", but I say "I only like Nintendo when they remind me of Sega". The reality is that they're two sides of the same coin -- there's a shared mind space there, but utterly different approaches to realizing those inspirations. Nintendo is evolutionary, Sega was revolutionary. Nintendo and a Sega returned to their prime could feed off of eachother in unbelievable ways. While Nintendo holds down the fort with powerful mainstay franchises and occasionally pulls out an off-the-wall original IP to keep gamers excited, Sega bombards gamers with more fresh IPs than they can keep up with to the extent that seeing a familiar old Sega IP extended is surprising enough to send core fanboys into a frenzy. While Nintendo utilizes their gimmick in a way that is a logical and natural progression of existing gameplay structures, Sega does everything in their power to break every conception you might have had about what waggling and extra screens could do for a game, making up for their inevitable missteps with occasional shining instances of utter game-changing brilliance. Nintendo handles marketing and Sega handles online.

I think that the old guards need to make a stand here: there is an audience for big-budget innovation and there is an audience for traditional hardware with mind-bending gimmicks. Nintendo has deserved their success and despite industry forecasts I think their hardware is here to stay -- and their approach to reviving other developers' games for the 3DS shows that their thinking isn't far off from my own. But, in my dream world, a partnership between them and the real Sega would just be gaming bliss. Hell, maybe they could even get some of those cool experimental developers on the PlayStation Network to come over and join!

[Original_Name]

I type too goddamn much too goddamn fast. Apologies, everyone.

[jinx]

I type too goddamn much too goddamn fast. Apologies, everyone.

Yeah, but I agreed with every word. Beautiful...

Quick, somebody send this to Nintendo/Sega! Maybe this latest partnership to get more Sega exclusives on Nintendo's platforms will help spark something up. Who knows? (Of course I'm just dreaming here, but it's a nice dream)

[CD AGES]

Just look at the other side of their business where Sega has always had better success and see where they are in that area today... the Amusement machine sector.

RingEdge 2.

Also look at the games that currently run on the hardware. Under Night In-Birth, GGXX A core Plus R, and its upcoming sequel, GG Xrd.

I... Love... You... Sega. (group hugs all 25+ Dreamcasts)

[01toubib]

I have talked about this with a friend over and over. There is currently a void in the gaming market. PS2 and Wii are gone. Those were the entry level consoles that sell in bulk. Currently in the market there is no entry level console. If Sega wanted to come back into hardware this would probably be there best time, but the console would have to be an entry priced model and sell in bulk. Sega has all the chips to do it, but after some of the sales disasters they had with there old consoles I bet it would take a lot of convincing to even bring the idea up.