Game News Obsidian teaming up with Sega

[Spazmo]

Tags: Obsidian Entertainment

That's Obsidian Entertainment, mind you, not that other Ob-thing that's people are flipping out over. So it seems that <a href=http://bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&threadid=65733>Sega will be publishing some new game from Obsidian</a>. There's absolutely no details on what the game is, except that it's an original IP and will be released on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Here's some guy from Sega and Feargus practising their corporate doublespeak:<blockquote>"The development team at Obsidian has 'proven track record' stamped all over it," said Simon Jeffery, President and COO, SEGA of America, Inc. "When SEGA decided to create a fresh and captivating RPG franchise for new generations of hardware, we immediately knew who we wanted to work with."
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"We are excited to be working with a great publisher like SEGA as they are willing and excited to launch new and visionary IP on next generation consoles," said Feargus Urquhart, CEO of Obsidian Entertainment, Inc. "At Obsidian, our focus is to make exceptional games and we see SEGA as a true partner in achieving that goal for our next epic RPG."
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</blockquote>Epic? That's our secret word of the day! Mr. Urquhart, you win a free slam dunk joke!

 

[GameMaster]

Is it just me, or something here smells like a "Sonic-goes-RPG" franchize being born?

 

[Greatatlantic]

Has Sega ever done anything that wasn't arcady? The first thing they did after acquiring a studio renowned for their strategy games was make an action game, and certainly not even a good action game. I'm talking of Spartan: Total Warrior, of course. I seriously doubt anything great is going to come from this, unless some developers who still remember what it was like to create GOOD rpgs from Black Isle sneak some stuff in.

 

[roguefrog]

Whats with SEGA grabbing PC Studios anyway? And not just any PC Studio, but good ones.

 

[Section8]

God I hate corporations that insist their name is always written in all caps. It's just plain old "Sega", you self-important motherfuckers.

 

[Shinan]

Has Sega ever done anything that wasn't arcady?

I don' t know about Sega themselves but they have at least published games like Eastside Hockey Manager and Football Manager lately. (I don't know how arcady these are since I haven't played them myself) Apparently they also have a bunch of Tycoon-like games and city management sims published. As far as RPGs go I don't think they've ever done anything though, apart from JRPGs like Phantasy Star and stuff like that. At least I think they did Phantasy Star.

I guess since they no longer make consoles they might as well become a decent publisher. Seems to me like they've done good so far. Especially with big old ones like Interplay gone and with Atari/inforgrames in financial trouble (they are in trouble right? Or was that just outdated or misunderstood news?)

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

I guess its the new trend of japanese publishers trying to appeal to America like Namco and Sega since there games have always been more popular over here. They dont bring our games over to japan because japanese videogamers are racist faggots.

sega makes RPGs sometimes but not lately. It more the phantasy star online shit and those Sakuraki Tanseia simulation games. It would be funny if obsidian made some anime RPG for them.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

I always wondered about that personally. I never hear about games being developed in the US that go to Japan.

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

I don't remeber a game that ever was, its usually the opposite. Japan makes games for other places, they usually get translated versions of our own games and they do horrible in sales over there.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Why is that? Also, is Fallout at all popular in Japan as it is in the US, Eurpoe, and some of Asia.

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

Its because they are racist faggots and usually don't like our style of games.

Fallout is a very popular game in Japan though, surprisingly. I mean theres a huge PC market in Japan and there is tons of Japanese Fallout fansites. Its just as popular as the regular console RPGs.

 

[Seven]

Its because they are racist faggots and usually don't like our style of games.

Fallout is a very popular game in Japan though, surprisingly. I mean theres a huge PC market in Japan and there is tons of Japanese Fallout fansites. Its just as popular as the regular console RPGs.

So how do these Japanese FO fans feel about Beth and the FO license?

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

They hate the idea because First Person games give them motion sickness.

 

[aweigh]

In japan games like Mortal Kombat, GTA and Halo are virtually unknown. Also, no one over there owns an Xbox/360. They only support their own IP's and companies, and more power to them, it's the right thing to do.

 

[HotSnack]

I wonder what would the japanese find so appealing about FO? Makes you think whether there's a niche group of japanese gamers who complain about the latest RPG has yet another angsty teen - a japanese equivalent of the codex as it were. :shock:

 

[FaranBrygo]

Thinking about how fallout would be made in Japan make me cringe.

 

[Jason]

"japanese videogamers are racist faggots."

Scooper should write videogame textbooks that are later made into a TV mini-series starring Meredith Baxter-Birney and Ed Anser. It will be huge in Turkey and parts of the Mid West.

 

[Volourn]

"Also, no one over there owns an Xbox/360."

Liar.

 

[Naked_Lunch]

r00fles!

 

[Twinfalls]

Thinking about how fallout would be made in Japan make me cringe.

It'd have turn-based combat at least.

Japanese actually have a finer appreciation of things RPG than we might credit them for. Theirs is the only console market in which you can get a PLAYSTATION port of Ultima Underworld (official, not hacked), as well as PS ports of early Wizardrys - complete with Apple vector graphics.

They've got bigger niche markets there in gaming.

 

[DemonKing]

A little while ago this would have made me cringe but through their support of The Total War franchise on PC is encouraging (I'm sure they learned from the Spartan: Total Warrior fiasco).

Of course, given that the project will be a console port I am not that optimistic.

 

[Zomg]

I mean theres a huge PC market in Japan

I thought Japan had no PC gaming market at all outside of porno, which is why they don't play MMORPGs even though all East Asians are genetically programmed to do so. The Chinese and Koreans seem happier to play MMORPGs from cafes.

 

[LaDoushe]

They don't play WoW, but they do play FFXI. Of course, this can be played via console, but is better on PC (like anything). As always, you've gotta think about the most popular things that America exports. They are probably about as stupid as what Japan sends out. The Black Eyed Peas - My Humps comes to mind.

 

[Zomg]

Well, I wasn't basing that on Japan->US PC exports, but on what I've read about their PC market in various places.

 

[Greatatlantic]

Yeah, I've read that as well. Its not that Japanese don't use computers, is that they use Macintoshes. Obviously this is going to keep them from a lot of Western PC games. I think there is also a level of cultural arrogance to the Japanese that tends to think Japanese games are better made then their Western counterparts, and if nothing else have art styles and directions more appealing to that culture. Now, a lot of Western things are popular in Japan, but I can see why GTA wouldn't be one of them.

As for Fallout having a cult following in Japan, I'd have to see that to believe it.