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Senin, 31 Maret 2008

Console emulator

A console emulator is a program that allows a computer or modern console (cross-console emulation) to emulate a video game console. Emulators are most often used to play older video games on personal computers and modern video game consoles, but they are also used to translate games into other languages, to modify (or hack) existing games, and in the development process of homebrewed demos and new games for older systems.

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[edit] History

By the mid-1990s personal computers had progressed to the point where it was technically feasible to replicate the behavior of some of the earliest consoles entirely through software, and the first unauthorized, non-commercial console emulators began to appear. These early programs were often incomplete, only partially emulating a given system, and often riddled with computer bugs. Because few manufacturers had ever published technical specifications for their hardware, it was left to amateur programmers and developers to deduce the exact workings of a console through reverse engineering. Nintendo's consoles tended to be the most commonly studied, and the most advanced early emulators tended to reproduce the workings of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), and the Game Boy (GB). Programs like Marat Fayzullin's iNES (which emulated the NES) and VirtualGameBoy (GB), the Pasofami (NES) and Super Pasofami (SNES), and VSMC (SNES) were the most popular console emulators of this era. A curiosity was also Yuji Naka's unreleased NES emulator for the Mega Drive, probably the first software emulator running on a console.

Bloodlust Software's NESticle, version x.xx
Bloodlust Software's NESticle, version x.xx

In April 1997, Bloodlust Software released version 0.2 of NESticle. An unannounced and unexpected release, NESticle shocked the nascent console emulation community with its ease of use and unrivaled compatibility with NES ROM images. NESticle arguably[citation needed] provided the catalyst with which console emulation took off: More and more users started experimenting with console emulation, and a new generation of emulators appeared following NESticle's lead. Bloodlust Software soon returned with Genecyst (emulating the Sega Genesis), and others released emulators like Snes9x and ZSNES (SNES). The rise of the console emulation community also opened the door to foreign video games and exposed North American gamers to Nintendo's censorship policies. This rapid growth in the development of emulators in turn fed the growth of the ROM hacking and fan-translation community. The release of projects such as RPGe's English language translation of Final Fantasy V drew even more users into the emulation scene.

[edit] Legal issues

As computers and global computer networks continued to advance and emulator developers grew more skilled in their work, the length of time between the commercial release of a console and its successful emulation began to shrink. Many fifth generation consoles such as the Nintendo 64, the Sony PlayStation, and sixth generation handhelds, such as the Game Boy Advance, saw significant work done toward emulation while still very much in production. This has led to a more concerted effort by console manufacturers to crack down on unofficial emulation. Because the process of reverse engineering is protected in U.S. law, the brunt of this attack has been borne by websites that host ROMs and ISO images. Many such sites have been shut down under the threat of legal action. Alongside of the threat, link rot has occurred at several links without update to the webpages.

Another legal consideration is that many emulators of fifth generation and newer consoles require a dumped copy of the original machine's BIOS in order to function. As this software is a copyrighted work and typically not accessible without specialised hardware, obtaining them generally requires the user to obtain the file illegally.

On the other hand, commercial developers have once again begun to turn to emulation as a means to repackage and reissue their older games on new consoles. Notable examples of this behavior include Square Enix's re-release of several older Final Fantasy titles on the PlayStation, Gameboy Advance, and DS; Sega's collections of Sonic the Hedgehog games. The most recent, and probably the most notable example is Nintendo's Virtual Console, which comes packaged with their new seventh-generation system, the Wii and allows for emulation of NES, SNES, Nintendo 64, Sega Megadrive, TurboGrafx-16, MSX and Neo Geo computer games.

[edit] Other uses

One advantage to ROM images is the potential for ROM hacking: amateur programmers and gaming enthusiasts have produced translations of foreign games, rewritten dialogue within a game, and applied fixes to bugs that were present in the original game. Software that emulates a console may be improved with additional capabilities that the original system did not have, such as anti-aliasing, audio interpolation, save states, online multiplayer options, or the incorporation of cheat cartridge functionality.

Sega Smash Pack 1 and 2 for PC used a Windows port of the emulator KGen.

The Xbox 360 is not natively backwards-compatible with original Xbox games (due to the differing system architectures) and so backwards-compatibility is achieved through an emulator designed by Microsoft. The PlayStation 3 (with the exceptions of the discontinued 60g and 20g versions which are played through physical PS2 and PSX hardware) uses one emulator to run PlayStation games, as well.

The Game Boy Advance rereleases of all NES titles in the Classic NES Series line were emulated.


www.cyrosella.com

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Neo Geo (console)

The Neo Geo is a cartridge-based arcade and home video game system released in 1990 by Japanese game company SNK. The system offered comparatively colorful 2D graphics and high-quality sound. A major platform for arcade games at the time, the system was also available as a costly home console. The two versions of the system were known as the AES (Advanced Entertainment System, the home version) and the MVS (Multi Video System, the arcade version). The Neo Geo was marketed as 24-bit, though it was technically an 8/16/32-bit multiprocessing system.

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[edit] History

Initially, the home system was only available for rent or for use in hotel settings, but SNK quickly began selling the system through stores when customer response indicated that people were willing to spend the money. Compared to the other consoles of the time, the Neo Geo had much better graphics and sound.

The home system featured two CPUs: a 16/32-bit Motorola 68000 main processor running at 12 MHz and an 8-bit ZiLOG Zilog Z80 coprocessor running at 4 MHz. A custom video chipset allowed the system to display 4,096 colors and 380 individual sprites onscreen simultaneously, while the onboard Yamaha 2610 sound chip gave the system 15 channels of sound with seven channels reserved specifically for digital sound effects.

The console was planned to debut at $599 USD and included two joystick controllers and a game (either Baseball Stars or NAM-1975). However, this plan was quickly scrapped and when the system had its national launch, it debuted at $649.99 with two joysticks, a memory card, and a single pack-in game, Magician Lord (the early Neo Geo boxes had a gold sticker announcing the inclusion of Magician Lord over the initially planned choice of two games), this package was known as the "Gold System". The system was also released in a "Silver System" package, which included one joystick controller and did not include a game or memory card. Other games cost $200 and up each. With these "premium" prices though, most gamers weren't able to afford the system and so the console was only accessible to a niche market.

The Neo Geo was driven into cult status partially by changing mainstream tastes, which soon demanded flashy 3D graphics. Even after the console ceased production for the home market, the quality of Neo Geo games kept it alive in arcades, particularly in Japan, where the newest installment of its flagship franchise The King of Fighters caused a stir with every new release.[citation needed]

The last game by SNK for the Neo Geo system, Samurai Shodown V Special, was released on October 19, 2004. SNK decided to abandon the hardware due to the rampant piracy of games built for the system, which SNK believed was partially responsible for its bankruptcy in 2000.[citation needed] SNK ceased to manufacture home consoles by the end of 1997, but software for both formats and arcade hardware was produced for many years after. Measured from the introduction of the arcade hardware in 1990 to the release of the last home cartridge in 2004, the Neo Geo's 14-year official span of support from its manufacturer makes it the second longest-lived arcade or home console system ever produced. Only the Atari 2600, which was supported from 1977 until 1992, had a longer lifespan.

A new cartridge-based game call Last Hope was released for the home console in 2006 by the independent NG:DEV.TEAM, running at 60 fps and showcasing the continued ability of the Neo Geo even sixteen years after its debut. The game features both hand-drawn and CG graphics with transparency and lighting effects as well as a techno soundtrack.

On August 31, 2007, SNK stopped offering maintenance and repairs to Neo Geo home consoles, handhelds, and games.[1] However, they will continue to repair their arcade hardware.

[edit] Emulation

The GameTap subscription service currently includes a Neo Geo emulator and a small library of Neo Geo games.

In February 2007, Nintendo announced on their Japanese website that Neo Geo games would appear on the Wii's Virtual Console in Japan; announcements in April and July confirmed placement on the North American Virtual Console,[2] [3] and on October 1st, a similar announcement was made for the European Virtual Console[4]. NeoGeo games were made available on the Australian and European Virtual Console on October 5th, and North American Virtual Console on October 8th.[5] The first three games released were Fatal Fury: King of Fighters, Art of Fighting, and World Heroes.

NeoGeo games released on the Virtual Console cost 900 Wii Points ($9 USD) in all regions.

[edit] Technical aspects

Each joystick controller was 280mm (width) x 190mm (depth) x 95mm (height) ( 11 x 8 x 2.5 in.) and contained the same four-button layout as the arcade MVS cabinet.

The arcade machines had a memory card system by which a player could save a game to return to at a later time, and remarkably, to be used to continue play on the SNK home console of the same name.

The arcade version of the hardware is often referred to as the "MVS," or Multi Video System (available in 1-slot, 2-slot, 4-slot, and 6-slot variations, the latter being capable of up to six cartridges loaded into one machine), with its console counterpart referred to as the "AES", or Advanced Entertainment System (most likely to distinguish it from the Nintendo Entertainment System, the dominating console on the market at the time).

Neo Geo AES motherboard. Early motherboard revisions such as this one contained daughterboards used to enhance the clarity of the video output.
Neo Geo AES motherboard. Early motherboard revisions such as this one contained daughterboards used to enhance the clarity of the video output.

The programming code is the same on both the MVS and AES hardware. In fact, owners could move EPROMs from one type to the other, and the game would still run. The program specifics for both MVS and AES game options were contained on every game ROM, whether the cartridge was intended for home or arcade use. However, the arcade and home cartridges do have a different pinout. They were designed this way to prevent arcade operators from buying the cheaper home carts and then using them in arcades.

[edit] ROM sizes and startup screens

Specification for ROM size was up to 330 megabits, hence the system displaying "MAX 330 MEGA - PRO GEAR SPEC" upon startup. While no technical specifications were required to display it, some games over 100 megabits followed this screen by displaying an animation proclaiming "The 100 Mega Shock". The original ROM size spec was later enhanced on cartridges with bank switching memory technology, increasing the maximum cartridge size to around 716 Mbit. These new cartridges also caused the system to display "GIGA POWER" upon startup, indicating this enhancement.

[edit] Specifications

[edit] Processor

[edit] Memory

  • Main Memory (used directly by 68K): 64 KB
  • Main Video memory : 74 KB
    • Video Memory: 64 KB
    • Palette Memory : 8 KB
    • Fast Video RAM : 2 KB
  • Sound Memory (used directly by Z80): 2 KB

[edit] Display

  • Display resolution: 320x224 (many games only used the centermost 304 pixels)
  • Color Palette: 65,536
  • Maximum Colors On-Screen: 4,096
  • Maximum Sprites On-Screen: 380
  • Minimum Sprite Size: 1x2
  • Maximum Sprite Size: 16x512
  • Maximum Sprites per scanline: 96
  • Background Layers: 0
  • Aspect ratio: 4:3
  • A/V output: RF, composite video, RGB (with separate 21 pin SCART cable FCG-9).

[edit] Sound

  • Sound CPU: Z80 at 4 MHz
  • Sound hardware: YM2610 at 8 MHz, stereo sounds up to 56 kHz
  • 4 channels FM (4 operators + LFO)
  • 3 PSG
  • 1 noise
  • 7 4-bit ADPCM
  • Work RAM (sound): 2KB
  • Sound ROM 128KB on-board (only less than 32KB used)
  • up to 512KB sound ROM on cartridges

[edit] Power

  • Source: separate DC 5 V(older systems) and DC 9 V adapter (newer systems).
  • Consumption: 8 W older Systems, 5 W newer Systems

[edit] Dimensions

  • Console: 325 mm (width) x 237 mm (depth) x 60 mm (height).
  • Controller: 280 mm (width) x 190 mm (depth) x 95 mm (height).

[edit] Storage

  • Removable Memory Card: 8 KB or 68-pin JEIDA ver.3 spec memory
    • Any 68-pin memory that fits the JEIDA ver.3 spec will work

[edit] Collecting

[edit] Home cartridges

There is a thriving collectors' scene for the Neo Geo home systems, especially the original AES home console. This is mainly because of the limited runs received by cartridges, the massive arcade library available, and the system's reputation as a 2D powerhouse. It is still common even to this day for both Neo Geo consoles and cartridges to fetch extremely high prices on eBay and other auction websites, particularly English versions of cartridges as these were produced in fewer quantities. A handful of the rarest Neo Geo games can sell for well over $1,000 on eBay.[citation needed] This gives the system an almost cult following, as owners see the system as more of an "investment" rather than an ordinary videogame console. This leads to high resale value on most Neo Geo systems and games and makes the console a "must-have" for a number of video game collectors. The most expensive cartridge for the Neo Geo home system is the European-localized version of Kizuna Encounter: there are only four known copies of the game, with the most recently sold copy selling for $12,500 USD. This version of the game contains 2 unlockable and playable characters that have special abilities and weapons.[citation needed]

[edit] Arcade cartridges

Another sub-scene within the Neo Geo collector's market involves the MVS cartridges. Although these were initially designed for arcade use, a strong market has developed around collecting this particular format. The MVS market can be divided into two distinct groups: those who are looking for cheaper alternatives to the expensive rare home carts, and those who are interested in paying premium prices for complete arcade kits.

For those interested primarily in lower prices on rare home games, MVS carts, particularly loose carts or incomplete kits, can offer a cost effective alternative. Most MVS cartridges cost substantially less than their home counterparts. This lower price can be associated with their lack of decoration as most were designed to be installed inside arcade cabinets and lack cartridge artwork or box artwork, the high set-up cost of purchasing the MVS system, and the prevalence of bootleg cartridges. Many of the most common MVS games go for prices between $10-$150.

However, in recent years a growing market has emerged for complete MVS arcade kits. These consist of all the materials that would be initially sent to an arcade operator, including the brown cardboard shipping box (with label), the insert materials to decorate the marqee and arcade cabinet (including separate move lists), warning information, dipswitch settings, in some cases even posters and/or any packing materials. Because many of the items in an MVS kit were designed to be discarded by arcade operators, finding complete arcade kits can be difficult and thus the prices for some complete MVS kits can be quite high.

Because of the conflicting requirements and desires of the two MVS sub-groups, they rarely compete with each other for games.

Counterfeit or bootleg software is regarded in the collectors community as having zero value or very low value. Such software has a reputation for audio and video flaws, and is generally disparaged by fans of the Neo Geo systems. This software is identifiable by visual inspection of the game PCBs, or by comparison of ROM CRC values using a specially designed BIOS.

[edit] Other Neo Geo systems

Several home console systems were created based on the same hardware as the arcade games, as well as two handheld systems under the name Neo Geo Pocket.

[edit] Graphical development

The Neo Geo was particularly notable for its ability to bring arcade-quality graphics directly into the home. As time went on, programmers were able to further tune the games to produce higher quality graphics than previous years and eventually beyond what was initially thought possible for the system.

One of the pack-in games with the original Japanese release was NAM-1975, a side-scrolling shooting game that featured multi-layer scrolling backgrounds. However, the initial Neo Geo games were, graphically speaking, a little less polished than SNK's non-Neo Geo games. By 1991, games like King of the Monsters demonstrated the Neo Geo's ability to produce graphic detail that matched or surpassed contemporary arcade games from the period.

In 1992, SNK's Art of Fighting marked the beginning of a series of 2-D fighting game innovations. This landmark game brought visual graphic damage to the characters' faces when hit, as well as large character sprites in combination with zoom effects to intensify the action. This zoom feature was also used in the following year's Samurai Shodown, whose even more elaborate graphics and gameplay won it Electronic Gaming Monthly's award as the 1993 Game of the Year and launched a successful franchise. The Neo Geo also became known for its shooters, with the first successful title coming with 1994's Aero Fighters 2. The following year's Pulstar managed to up the ante on both graphics and gameplay.

By the mid-1990s, SNK was trying to move onto a new platform, notably the Hyper-64. When the new 3-D system failed to take off, however, SNK found itself still developing games for its old 2-D engine. This led programmers to come up with ways to increase the limits of what was initially thought possible for the system.

Six years after the Neo Geo's initial launch, Nazca surprised the video game industry with Metal Slug. A take from the Contra series, Metal Slug is a run and gun game that featured cartoonish, hyper-active graphics and gameplay that also launched a very successful franchise. Since the Neo Geo was unable to produce the 3-D games that began dominating arcades in the 1990s, SNK focused on mastering the realm of 2-D. With the launch of The Last Blade in 1997, SNK programmers demonstrated that the Neo Geo was still capable of producing artistically rendered graphics to match the gameplay.

While the system became primarily known for its fighting games in the late-1990s, notably the King of Fighters series, 1998's Blazing Star updated the previous Pulstar with more detail. This trend of adding more detail to 2-D environments reached a plateau with 1999's Garou: Mark of the Wolves, an update of the Fatal Fury series, as well as 2000's Metal Slug 3. By the final Neo Geo-based edition of the longstanding King of Fighters series, The King of Fighters 2003, had stagnated to the level that was initially achieved at the turn of the century. In its 14 year lifespan of official support, the programmers for the Neo Geo appeared to bleed out all that the system's hardware was capable of.

[edit] Screenshots

[edit] References

  1. ^ No Love: SNK Stop Neo Geo Support, Kotaku
  2. ^ The Return of the NeoGeo
  3. ^ Virtual Console: NeoGeo Games Coming To Virtual Console, Kotaku
  4. ^ Neo Geo Comes to European Virtual Console
  5. ^ Nintendo of America Wii-kly Update, October 8, 2007

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MAME

MAME is an emulator application designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software, with the intent of preserving gaming history and preventing vintage games from being lost or forgotten. The name is an acronym for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator.

The first public MAME release (0.1) was on February 5, 1997, by Nicola Salmoria. As of version 0.124a, released March 24, 2008, the emulator now supports 3746 unique games and 7031 actual ROM image sets and is growing all the time. However, not all of the games in MAME are currently playable; 871 ROM sets are marked as not working in the current version, and 35 are not actual games but BIOS ROM sets. The project is currently coordinated by Aaron Giles.

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[edit] Design

The MAME core coordinates the emulation of several elements at the same time. These elements replicate the behavior of the hardware present in the original arcade machines. MAME can emulate many different central processing units (CPUs), both in number or types, including processors, audio and video specific chips, integrated circuits, microcontrollers, etc., including the needed elements for them to communicate together such as memory regions, RAM, data buses, peripherals, storage devices, etc. These elements are virtualized so MAME acts as a software layer between the original program of the game, and the platform MAME runs on.

Individual arcade systems are specified by drivers which take the form of C macros. These drivers specify the individual components to be emulated and how they communicate with each other.

[edit] Emulation philosophy

The stated aim of the project is to document hardware, and so MAME takes a somewhat purist view of emulation, prohibiting programming hacks that might make a game run improperly or run faster at the expense of emulation accuracy (see UltraHLE, a project aimed to run games at a playable speed). In MAME every emulated component is replicated down to the smallest level of individual registers and instructions. Consequently, MAME emulation is very accurate (in many cases pixel- and sample-accurate), but system requirements can be high. Since MAME runs mostly older games, a large majority of the games run well on a 2 GHz PC. More modern arcade machines are based on fast pipelined RISC processors, math DSPs, and other devices which are difficult to emulate efficiently. These systems may not run quickly even on the most modern systems available.

The MAME team has not diverged from this purist philosophy to take advantage of 3D hardware available on PCs today. It is a common but incorrect assumption that performance problems are due to some games' use of 3D graphics. However, even with graphics disabled, games using RISC processors and other modern hardware are not emulated any faster. Thus taking advantage of 3D hardware would not speed these games up significantly. In addition, using 3D hardware would make it difficult to guarantee identical output between different brands of cards, or even revisions of drivers on the same card, which goes against the MAME philosophy. Consistency of output across platforms is very important to the MAME team.

[edit] MAME releases

There are several types of MAME release depending on how frequently users wish to update and the level of code maturity each user feels comfortable running:

  • The major releases of MAME occur approximately once a month. These releases are given a version number, e.g. 0.99. The Unix-like numbering scheme is used, i.e. the version after 0.99 is 0.100, which differs from standard decimal numbering. These major releases are the most mature and least frequent, and are aimed at the average computer user who wants to try MAME. An executable version for the current main development platform (currently Microsoft Windows) is released from the MAME Home Page.
  • Smaller, incremental releases are released between major releases. These releases are denoted by a "u" number after the version number of the previous major release, e.g. 0.99u1 is the first development release after major version 0.99. There are usually about 5 new "u" releases in between major releases. These minor releases are not intended for average MAME users. Instead, they are aimed at people who take a close interest in MAME development and have access to compiler tools. The main purpose of the u releases is keeping development code in synchronization among developers. As such, these minor releases are not made officially available as executables. They are released only as source diffs against the most recent major version.
  • For those users who wish to keep up with day-to-day MAME development, the MAME source code is kept on the public Mess.org Subversion server for those who wish to access it. This is intended only for those who have access to compiler tools and feel comfortable building software from source code.

MAME has been ported to many different platforms. The X11 port for Unix-like systems, named XMAME, is currently undergoing a major rewrite and will not have any public releases in the near future. The SDL port is SDLMAME. The discontinued Mac OS X port is named MacMAME Another Mac OS X MAME emulator has started though, called MAME OS X. In addition, different versions of MAME have been ported to many other computers, PDAs, digital cameras and game consoles. Most of these ports, however, are based on very old versions of MAME, and many of them are not under active development anymore.

[edit] Game data

MacMAME under Mac OS X running Progear.
MacMAME under Mac OS X running Progear.
Main article: ROM image

In most arcade machines, the data (consisting of the game program, graphics, sounds, etc.) is stored in read-only memory chips (hence the name "ROM"), although other devices such as cassettes, floppy disks, hard disks, laserdiscs, and compact discs are also used. Most of these devices can be copied to computer files, in a process called "dumping". The resulting files are often generically called ROM images or ROMs regardless of the kind of storage they came from.

To play a particular game, MAME requires a set of files called a ROM set. They contain all the data from the original machine; for legal reasons, however, MAME itself does not include any of these files.

Some arcade machines use analog hardware, including laserdiscs and magnetic tape, to store and playback audio/video data such as soundtracks and cinematics. This data must be ripped and encoded into digital files that can be read by MAME, ordinarily involving lossy compression. Consequently, the digital copy is not a perfect reproduction of the analog source.

MAME uses two different file types for storing ROMs depending on the original medium:

  • The majority of ROM dumps are stored in raw format and contained in ZIP archives, one for each game.
  • For arcade machines which use hard disks or CDs, MAME uses CHD (Compressed Hunks of Data) files which contain the entire contents of the original hard disk, CD or Laserdisc. Due to the large size of these media, the CHD files derived from them also tend to be large.

[edit] Parents and clones

  • Original ROM sets ("parent"): the games which the MAME development team has decided are the "original" versions of each game. Except for the files contained in BIOS ROMs (if needed; see below), the ROM files for these games contain everything those games need to run. The "original" set is generally defined as the most recent revision of the game, and if multiple regional versions are available, the "World" or US revision are used.
  • Clone ROM sets: different versions or variants of the originals. For example, Street Fighter II Turbo is considered a variant of Street Fighter II Champion Edition.
  • BIOS ROM sets: the ROMs in common between all games on various standardized arcade systems (e.g. Neo-Geo). They basically boot the hardware and then allow the regular game software to take over.

[edit] Naming convention

A single supported game is usually referred to as a ROM set. Usually each game will consist of multiple ROM files, each of which represents a single device (usually ROM, but sometimes other devices such as PALs). The MAME developers assign each ROM set an 8-letter name for identification as well as a description associated with that 8-letter name. Examples:

  • Original ROM: hyperpac "Hyper Pacman" - MAME expects all required ROM images in a folder (or ZIP file) called hyperpac.
  • Clone ROM: hyperpcb "Hyper Pacman (bootleg)" - MAME will look in both the parent folder (hyperpac) and the clone folder (hyperpcb) for the files.

Individual ROM files are often named after labels found on the ROM chips and the position they are located on the board in the format "label.position". Sega for example use a standard labeling scheme for all the ROMs found on their arcade boards giving each unique ROM chip a unique label. "mpr12380.b2" is a ROM from the Golden Axe romset. This implies that the rom was labeled "mpr12380" and located in position "b2" on the PCB. By using such a naming scheme it makes it easy to use MAME to identify, and often help repair, non-working PCBs.

The 8-letter identification tags are less standardized and usually left to the discretion of individual developers. Although some standards do exist, the descriptive long names often follow naming conventions set by the original game manufacturers. For example, Sunset Riders by Konami:

  • ssriders "Sunset Riders (4 Players ver EAC)" (This is the parent set, with clones following)
  • ssrdrebd "Sunset Riders (2 Players ver EBD)"
  • ssrdrebc "Sunset Riders (2 Players ver EBC)"
  • ssrdruda "Sunset Riders (4 Players ver UDA)"
  • ssrdreaa "Sunset Riders (4 Players ver EAA)"
  • ssrdruac "Sunset Riders (4 Players ver UAC)"
  • ssrdrubc "Sunset Riders (2 Players ver UBC)"
  • ssrdrabd "Sunset Riders (2 Players ver ABD)"
  • ssrdradd "Sunset Riders (4 Players ver ADD)"
  • ssrdrjbd "Sunset Riders (2 Players ver JBD)"

Konami gave each revision of their later games a very specific and clearly visible version number, from the mid 90s onwards. As these represent an easy way to identify each version of the game, including the region in which it was available and the revision of the code, MAME uses this information to identify each set. UAA is American revision A, while ABD is Asian revision D. For companies where it is less clear sets are often simply labeled as "(set 1)" and "(set 2)". Unreleased games are labeled as "(Prototype)" and non-original versions of games are labeled as "(Bootleg)"

[edit] User interface

Emuloader being used with MAME
Emuloader being used with MAME

Although the main MAME program was once only made available as a command-line application for Microsoft Windows and DOS, there has been a minimalist GUI added to version .118 of the Windows distribution. In addition to the standard GUI there are several popular frontends which allow MAME to be launched from a more familiar graphical environment as well as providing facilities such as auditing ROMs. Additionally, the front ends make available more information about the games themselves, contributing significantly to the experience, such as history information and images of the arcade cabinets.

Some frontends have the sole purpose to launch games and hide the operating system. These frontends are generally used in MAME arcade cabinets, to enhance the illusion that the cabinet is a real arcade machine.

[edit] Legal status of MAME

Owning and distributing MAME itself is legal in most countries, as it is merely an emulator. Some companies (notably Sony) have attempted in court to prevent emulators from being sold, but they have been ultimately unsuccessful.[1] As yet, no legal action has been brought against the MAME team.

The situation regarding ROM images of games is less clear-cut. Most arcade games are still covered by copyright.

Some copyright holders have been indecisive regarding making licensed MAME ROMs available to the public. For example, in 2003 Atari made MAME-compatible ROMs for 27 of its arcade games available through the internet site Star ROMs. However, a status check in March 2006 revealed a reversal of that decision, and the ROMs are no longer being sold there.

Other copyright holders have released games which are no longer commercially viable free of charge to the public. Games including Alien Arena, Gridlee, Robby Roto, Teeter Torture and a number of early games by Exidy have been released by their copyright holders under non-commercial licenses. These games may be downloaded legally from the official MAME web site.

However, the majority of games emulated in MAME at this time are copyrighted but no longer commercially available in any form. The legality of distributing or downloading such games depends greatly upon the laws in each country. Many national copyright laws include language which limits offenses to those which cause material harm to copyright holders. An argument could be made that where a game is no longer being manufactured or sold, this could not be the case.

A peculiar legal situation exists with regard to games which are covered by copyright but whose copyright owner is not aware that he owns the copyright. Such games are termed orphan works. They are covered by copyright but do not make money for anybody. Copyright reformers such as Lawrence Lessig believe that such works no longer have a reason to be copyrighted and should be in the public domain. On January 31, 2006, the United States Copyright Office released the results of its study of this issue.[2]

[edit] MAME license

While MAME is available at no cost, including its source code, it is not free software because commercial use and redistribution are prohibited. That is, its license does not meet the conditions of the Open Source Definition, nor is it "free software" as defined by the Free Software Foundation.

In particular, MAME may be redistributed in source or binary form, either modified or unmodified, but: "Redistributions may not be sold, nor may they be used in a commercial product or activity." The main goal of this is to prevent arcade operators from installing MAME cabinets and profiteering from the works of the original manufacturers of the game.

Also, redistributions of modified versions (derivative works) must include the complete corresponding source code (similar to a copyleft).

There exist, however, a number of derivative versions that violate the license by not releasing the full and complete source code, including multiplayer builds that support the Kaillera server protocol, or others that add newer games.

[edit] MAME cabinets

MAME arcade cabinets are meant to provide the experience of an entire video arcade in one unit. They can come in many different flavors, such as upright cabinets which are the full-size cabinets many people are used to, cocktail cabinets which are similar to tables with a glass top that players look down on to play on, and bar-top machines which are miniature versions of the uprights.

Mame enthusiasts will either build their own cabinets from scratch or they will restore an old second hand cabinet with a computer at it's central core in place of the original circuit boards. When constructing a cabinet in this fashion there are many considerations to be made on the parts and methods of connecting the internal computer components to the external joysticks pushbuttons, monitor and speakers. [3]

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Sega

Sega Corporation (株式会社セガ Kabushiki-kaisha Sega?) is a multinational Japanese (originally American) video game software and hardware development company, and a former home computer and console manufacturer. The company had success with both arcades and home consoles, but on January 24, 2001, formally left the consumer console business[2] and began concentrating on software development for multiple platforms.

Sega's main offices, as well as the main offices of its domestic division, Sega Corporation (Japan), are located in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan. Sega's European division, Sega Europe Ltd., is headquartered in the Chiswick area of London. Sega's North American division, Sega of America Inc., is headquartered in San Francisco, California; having moved there from Redwood City, California in 1999. Until 2000, Sega's official corporate name was Sega Enterprises Ltd..

Contents

[hide]

[edit] History

[edit] Origins and entry into the video game market (1940–1988)

Sega was founded in 1940 as Standard Games (later Service Games) in Honolulu, Hawaii,[3] by Martin Bromely, Irving Bromberg, and James Humpert to provide coin-operated amusements for American servicemen on military bases. Bromely suggested that the company move to Tokyo, Japan in 1951 and in May 1952 "SErvice GAmes of Japan" was registered.

In 1954, another American businessman, David Rosen, fell in love with Tokyo and established his own company, Rosen Enterprises, Inc., in Japan to export art. When the company imported coin-operated instant photo booths, it stumbled on a surprise hit: The booths were very popular in Japan. Business was booming, and Rosen Enterprises expanded by importing coin-operated electro-mechanical games.

Rosen Enterprises and Service Games merged in 1965 to make Sega Enterprises. Within a year, the new company released a submarine-simulator game called Periscope that became a smash-hit worldwide.

In 1969, Gulf+Western purchased Sega, and Rosen was allowed to remain CEO of the Sega division. Under Rosen's leadership, Sega continued to grow and prosper.

In the video game arcades, Sega was known for games such as Zaxxon and Out Run.

Periscope was Sega's first highly successful arcade game.
Periscope was Sega's first highly successful arcade game.

Sega's revenues would hit $214 million by 1982 and in 1983,[citation needed] Sega would release its first video game console, the SG-1000, the first 3D arcade video game, SubRoc-3D, which used a special periscope viewer to deliver individual images to each eye, and the first action-based laserdisc arcade game, Astron Belt.

In the same year, Sega was hit hard by the American video game crash. Hemorrhaging money, Gulf+Western sold the U.S. assets of Sega to famous pinball manufacturer Bally Manufacturing Corporation. The Japanese assets of Sega were purchased for $38 million by a group of investors led by Rosen and Hayao Nakayama, a Japanese businessman who owned a distribution company that had been acquired by Rosen in 1979. Nakayama became the new CEO of Sega, and Rosen became head of its subsidiary in the United States.

In 1984, the multibillion dollar Japanese conglomerate CSK bought Sega, renamed it to Sega Enterprises Ltd., headquartered it in Japan, and two years later, shares of its stock were being traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. David Rosen's friend, Isao Okawa, the chairman of CSK, became chairman of Sega.

In 1986, Sega of America was established to take advantage of the resurgent video game market in the United States.

Sega would also release the Sega Master System and the first Alex Kidd game, who would be SEGA's mascot until 1991 when Sonic the Hedgehog took over. While the Master System was technically superior to the NES[citation needed], it failed to capture market share in North America due to highly aggressive strategies by Nintendo and ineffective marketing by Tonka. However, it did dominate the European and Brazilian markets until Sega discontinued the system in Europe in 1996, and in Brazil in 2000.

[edit] Sega as a Major Console Manufacturer (1990-2001)

[edit] Sega Mega Drive/Genesis

Main article: Sega Mega Drive

With the introduction of the Sega Mega Drive (known as Sega Genesis in North America), and to carry the momentum to the 2nd generation of games, Sega of America, led by Tom Kalinske, launched an anti-Nintendo campaign with slogans such as "Genesis does what Nintendon't." When Nintendo launched its Super Nintendo Entertainment System, in 1991, Sega changed its slogan to "Welcome to the next level".

Sonic the Hedgehog has been Sega's mascot for over sixteen years.
Sonic the Hedgehog has been Sega's mascot for over sixteen years.

In 1991, in order to rival Nintendo to the punch of the upcoming Super Nintendo, Sega re-branded itself with a new game and mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog. With his hip attitude and style, he was marketed to seem "cooler" than Mario, Nintendo's mascot.[citation needed] This shift led to a wider success for the Genesis and would eventually propel Sega to 65% of the market in North America for a brief time.[citation needed] Simultaneously, after much previous delay, Sega released the moderately successful Sega CD as an add-on feature, allowing for extra storage in games due to their CD-ROM format, giving developers the ability to make longer, more sophisticated games, the most popular of which was Sega’s own Sonic CD.[4]

By 1994, Sega had released the Sega 32X in an attempt to upgrade the Mega Drive to the standards of more advanced systems. It sold well initially, but had problems with lack of software and hype about the upcoming Sega Saturn and Sony's Playstation. Within a year, it was in the bargain bins of many stores.[5]

[edit] Sega versus Accolade

In 1992, Sega lost the Sega v. Accolade case, which involved independently produced software for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis console that copied a small amount of Sega's code. The verdict set a precedent that copyrights do not extend to non-expressive content in software that is required by another system to be present in order for that system to run the software [6]. The case in question stems from the nature of the console video game market. Hardware companies often sell their systems at or below cost, and rely on other revenue streams such as in this case, game licensing. Sega was attempting to "lock out" game companies from making Mega Drive/Genesis games unless they paid Sega a fee (something its competition has done in the past). Their strategy was to make the hardware reject any cartridge that did not include a Sega trademark. If an unlicensed company included this trademark in their game, Sega could sue the company for trademark infringement. Though Sega lost this lawsuit, all later Sega systems seemed to incorporate a similar hardware requirement. Also worthy of note was the release of the successful Virtua Racing in the arcades and on the Genesis, among the first 3D games on the market, as well as the release of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, the most successful game Sega ever made,[citation needed] selling six million copies as of June 2006.[7]

[edit] Arcade successes

The 1993 release of Virtua Fighter was widely hailed as one of the greatest achievements in Sega's history.[citation needed] By utilizing their newest arcade cabinet, the Sega Model 1, they managed to create graphics and gameplay that were, at the time, revolutionary, becoming a massive critical success. The game was a smash hit with consumers, spawning four direct sequels, several successful spinoffs, as well as the 3D Fighting genre. It is one of the video games on display at the Smithsonian.

Sega followed that success in 1994 with Daytona USA, an equally impressive game that was the first to connect arcade cabinets together for multiplayer use. The success of Daytona USA would be unparalleled in the history of the arcades, becoming the most profitable game ever released in that medium. Other notable hits of the year would be Yu Suzuki's Virtua Cop, Star Wars Arcade and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles.

Despite their massive advances in the arcades, Sega’s share of the home market plummeted by 1994 to 35%[citation needed] after Nintendo released key franchise titles for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System such as Donkey Kong Country, Star Fox, and Super Metroid,[citation needed] along with an internal shift in focus away from the Genesis to Sega's upcoming Saturn and the release of the Sega 32X,[citation needed] which never achieved commercial success in light of Sega's attention on the forthcoming Saturn. Also in 1994, Sega launched the Sega Channel, a subscription gaming service delivered by local cable companies affiliated with Time-Warner Cable or TCI through which subscribers received a special cartridge adapter that connected to the cable connection. At its peak, the Sega Channel had approximately 250,000 subscribers.[citation needed]

[edit] Sega Saturn

Main article: Sega Saturn

In 1995, Sega released the Sega Saturn (with Virtua Fighter) in the American market, which utilized a 32 bit processor and preceded both the PlayStation and the Nintendo 64. However, poor sales in the West (including the traditional stronghold markets in Europe) led to the console being abandoned within three years.[citation needed] Ironically, it was Sega's only success in its home country of Japan, where it managed to outsell the Playstation well into 1996, and defeated the Nintendo 64.[citation needed] The Saturn library was built heavily on arcade ports, such as two of the Saturn's top selling games;[citation needed] Virtua Fighter 2 and Sega Rally, and platformers, such as Sonic Team's Nights into Dreams... and Burning Rangers. Other notable titles include several titles exclusive to the Japanese market, like Radiant Silvergun and Sakura Taisen, involving fighting games like Last Bronx, rail shooters, such as Panzer Dragoon and The House of the Dead and a few well regarded RPGs; Panzer Dragoon Saga, Grandia, and Shining Force 3.

In 1997, Sega entered into a short-lived merger with Bandai. However it was later called off, citing "cultural differences" between the two companies.[citation needed] Around the same time, Sega announced that the Saturn was not Sega’s future and quickly began moving high profile titles (most notoriously Virtua Fighter 3) over to their upcoming next generation game console, the Dreamcast.[citation needed] Entertainment fun center GameWorks, was founded in 1997 as well as the now defunct Sega World theme parks.

[edit] Sega Dreamcast

Main article: Sega Dreamcast

In 1998, Sega launched the Dreamcast game console, in a novel idea to use off-the-shelf components. The Dreamcast was not only competitive price wise, but it also featured technology that was ahead of its time, such as Tiled rendering, which allowed for massive geometry with little to no performance penalty. An analog modem was also included, allowing gamers to play multi-player games online on a home console for the first time, most notably with Chu Chu Rocket; the first online console game, Phantasy Star Online, the first console-based MMORPG and Alien Front Online, the first console game with online voice chat.

The Dreamcast sold out in the first week in Japan, and it was in such high demand in that region people often camped out to get one. The Western launch was just as successful and earned the distinction of "most successful hardware launch in history,"[citation needed] holding that title until the 2000 launch of the PlayStation 2. The Dreamcast is home to several innovative cult hits of the time,[citation needed] including one of the first cel-shaded title; Jet Set Radio, Sonic Team's rhythm game, Samba de Amigo, and Shenmue, which was among the first "sandbox" games, as well as being the first to employ the now common "QTE" game mechanic. However, despite receiving critical acclaim, these titles failed to garner much public attention in the face of the upcoming Playstation 2 launch.

Faced with debt and competition from Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft, Sega officially discontinued the Dreamcast hardware in 2001.

[edit] Shift to a software manufacturer (2001-2005)

2001 would see a major shift in focus for Sega as it moved out of the console manufacturing business.[2]

The company has since evolved primarily into a platform-agnostic software company, known as a "third-party publisher", that creates games that will launch on a variety of game consoles produced by other companies, many of them former rivals, the first of which was a port of Chu Chu Rocket to Nintendo's Game Boy Advance.

Arcade units are still being produced, first under the Sega NAOMI name, and then with subsequent releases of the Sega NAOMI 2, Sega HIKARU, Sega Chihiro, Triforce (in collaboration with Nintendo and Namco) and the Sega Lindbergh. Sega is the major force in the arcade industry today, controlling a substantial portion of the market.[citation needed].

Despite several early hits as a third party vendor, including Virtua Fighter 4, Sonic Adventure 2 Battle and the new Super Monkey Ball series, Sega fell on hard times, and after the death of CSK founder Isao Okawa in 2001, who spent over US$40 million to help Sega, CSK put Sega on the auction block. The first potential buyer was Japan's Sammy who discussed a merger, but plans fell through. Discussions also took place with Namco, Bandai, Electronic Arts and Microsoft.

In August 2003, Sammy bought the outstanding 22% of shares that CSK had,[citation needed] and Sammy chairman Hajime Satomi became CEO of Sega. With the Sammy chairman at the helm of Sega, it has been stated that Sega's activity will focus on its profit-making arcade business rather than its loss-making home software development. In late December, Sega launched the highly successful Sonic Heroes, the first Sonic game to be on both the Xbox and the PlayStation 2. It is one of the most successful games in Sega's portfolio, selling slightly over 5 million units in its lifetime.[citation needed]

During the middle of 2004, Sammy bought a controlling share in Sega Corporation at a cost of $1.1 billion, creating the new company Sega Sammy Holdings, one of the biggest game manufacturing companies in the world. With the merger, Sega reabsorbed its second party studios and began to reorganize them. Many Sega employees, most notably Tetsuya Mizuguchi, father of Sega Rally and Space Channel 5, walked out in protest.

On January 25, 2005, Sega sold Visual Concepts, a studio Sega dubbed a "1.5" developer, to Take-Two Interactive for $24 million. Sega used the parlance "1.5" as a mid-point of sorts between first-party and second-party developer status: that is, a wholly owned studio that would otherwise be known as a first-party developer, but was outside of internal development teams. Visual Concepts was known for many Sega Sports games including the ESPN NFL Football series, formerly NFL2K. The sale also came with Visual Concept's wholly-owned subsidiary Kush Games. Take Two subsequently announced the start of the publishing label 2K Games because of this purchase.

[edit] Success again (2006-present)

By the end of 2005, Sega experienced strong earnings growth across multiple divisions. Contributing to the company's success were strong pachinko sales[8], and sales of software titles Ryu Ga Gotoku (known as Yakuza outside of Japan), Mushiking, and Sonic the Hedgehog.

In an effort to appeal to western tastes, they partnered with Obsidian Entertainment to develop a new RPG for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.[9] The partnership was the latest in a series of collaborations with western video game studios, including Monolith Productions (Condemned: Criminal Origins), Bizarre Creations (The Club) and Silicon Knights (who have yet to announce their project with Sega). Sega also acquired Sports Interactive and Secret Level. The deal with Sports Interactive was said to be worth GBP 30 million ($52 million);[10] the terms of the Secret Level buyout were not disclosed.[11]

That desire to have a more Western appeal for Sega was shortly followed up by Sega acquiring British developer Sports Interactive after a successful run of publishing Football Manager 2005 and 2006, in which they managed to sell 1.5 million copies,[12] the deal was said to be worth in the region of £30 million ($52 million) by Miles Jacobson, Sports Interactive’s Managing Director.[13] This was, however, not the only developer Sega had acquired, they also purchased American developer Secret Level although the terms of the deal was not disclosed,[14] Secret Level had however begun work before being bought by Sega to “recreate a classic Sega franchise" for the PS3 and Xbox 360 July 2005, which was revealed to be Golden Axe later that year.

While Sega continued its expansion in the West, on May 8, 2006, it was announced Sega of Japan begun helping famed Sega developer and Sonic Team head Yuji Naka (known for being the main programmer for the original Sonic the Hedgehog games and Nights into Dreams...) to start up his own company titled "Prope" (Latin for "beside" and "near future")[15] in which Sega helped provide 10% startup capital[16] and have the option to publish games produced from the studio if they wished to.

Due to the continued success of Sega’s software sales, the company reported on May 17, 2006 a 31% rise in net profits from that of the previous year of the period ending March 31, 2006, being posted at ¥66.2 billion ($577 million), as well as an increase in operating profit growing by 13% from the previous year, being posted at ¥553.2 billion ($4.82 billion)[17] notable titles to have helped Sega increase profits in the West being that of Shadow the Hedgehog (which sold over a million copies)[18] and Sonic Riders, whilst in Japan, games such as Yakuza, Mushi King and Brain Trainer Portable continued to sell strong.

Although Sega seemed poised to continue increasing profits, the company reported a massive drop of 93% profits for the period ending June 30, 2006 compared to the same period last of year. Net income for the company dropped from $98.3 million (a year earlier) to $7.12 million for this period ending as well of total sells dropping from $926.5 million to $809.1 million [1], Sega reported that the decrease in profits was due to no significant big releases by its slot machine division. However, a total of 2.1 million games were sold between the period, 870,000 in the US, 680,000 in Europe and 580,000 in Asia.[citation needed] Despite this, Sega Sammy said that the results were in line with their expectations and did not amend their fully year forecasts.

Despite this, Sega reported in November a massive 52% rise in profits for the periods between April and September 2006, compared to the same period last year.[19] Software sales for the company had also increased with 5.75 million. Of those units, 1.76 million were sold in Japan, 1.59 million in Europe, 2.36 million in the US and 30,000 in other regions.[20] a number of titles were said to have performed well, in particular Super Monkey Ball: Touch & Roll for the Nintendo DS and Football Manager 2006 for the Xbox 360 having sold well. While Sega performed better in 2006, they had slashed their forecasts for the year ending March 2007 by 20% with an anticipated profit of $536.7 million, down from the initial profits of $656.7 million.

Continuing to prepare more games for the Western market, Sega was able to bridge a partnership with New Line Cinema in September to develop a game for the movie tie-in game The Golden Compass [2] and also partnered themselves with Fox to develop two new games based on the Alien franchise.[21] Sega had then assigned critically acclaimed developers Gearbox software to develop a first person shooter and Obsidian Entertainment to develop an RPG based on the popular film franchise, while the platforms are still to be specified, Sega has both titles in pre-production and one of them is set to be released in 2009.[22]

[edit] Recognized company personnel

  • In alphabetical order

Corporate Division

American

Australian

  • Daniel Evans: President of SEGA's Australian operations.
  • Jonathan Clavin: Former SEGA President of Australian Intercontinental Operations (1987-2001)

European

Japanese

  • Hayao Nakayama: Co-Founder, President SOJ (19XX-2001)
  • Isao Okawa: President SOJ 2000 - 2001 (died shortly after Dreamcast was discontinued, forgave the debts Sega owed him and gave the company his $695 million worth of Sega and CSK stock to Sega Corporation.[23]
  • Shoichiro Irimajiri: President SOJ 1998 - 2000
  • Yukawa Hidekazu: Aka Mr. Dreamcast, is the man on the Dreamcast boxes in Japan, and has an appearance in the dreamcast game "What's Shenmue?".

Video Game Hardware Division

Video Game Software Division

  • Toshihiro Nagoshi: Head of NE R&D 1.
  • Mie Kumagai : Head of AM R&D 3, only female studio head.
  • Yuji Naka: Co-creator of company mascot, owns independent studio, 10% funded by Sega.
  • Yu Suzuki: Head of AM Plus R&D (AKA NE R&D 2, DigitalRex).

[edit] In-house studios

Global Entertainment Software R&D, which was led by Yuji Naka until 2006. "GE" currently focuses on developing video games for home consoles.

Department Members From Headed By Notable Titles
G.E. Dept. #1, Sonic Team Akinori Nishiyama Sonic and the Secret Rings, Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, Phantasy Star Universe
G.E Dept. #2 United Game Artists Akira Nishino Feel the Magic: XY/XX, The Rub Rabbits!, Sonic Riders, Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity
Sega Studio USA Sonic Team USA Takashi Iizuka Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic Heroes, Nights: Journey of Dreams
Mobile Content R&D New Studio Kazunari Tsukamoto Brain Trainer Portable
Sega Studio China New Studio Makoto Uchida None as of now

Amusement Software R&D, which currently focus' on the development of games for arcade machines.

Department Members From Headed By Notable Titles
AM.1 R&D WOW Entertainment

+ Overworks

Atsushi Seimiya House of the Dead series, Shinobi series, Sakura Wars series, Phantasy Star series, Skies of Arcadia, Valkyrie of the Battlefield
AM.2 R&D Sega-AM2 Hiroshi Kataoka Virtua Fighter series, Virtua Cop series, Out Run series, Shenmue series, After Burner series, Sword of Vermilion, Daytona USA series
AM.3 R&D Hitmaker + Sega Rosso Mie Kumagai Crazy Taxi series, Virtual On series, Virtua Tennis series, "Initial D Arcade Stage" series
Family Entertainment New Department Hiroshi Uemura Mushiking: King of the Beetles series, Oshare Majo: Love and Berry, Dinosaur King
Sports Design R&D Smilebit Takayuki Kawagoe Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, Let's Make a J-League Pro Soccer Club series, Let's Make a J-League Baseball Team series

New Entertainment R&D, which is led by each department head. "NE" currently focus' on the development of new content for the arcade and home console markets.

Department Members From Headed By Notable Titles
NE.1 R&D Amusement Vision, Ltd.

+ Smilebit

Toshihiro Nagoshi Super Monkey Ball series, Shining Force Neo, Yakuza (Ryū ga Gotoku)
AMPlus R&D Digitalrex Yu Suzuki Psy-Phi, Shenmue Online, Sega Race TV

[edit] Subsidiary studios

Sega began acquiring or founding subsidiary studios in 2005, and they have been the cornerstone of an internal shift within Sega to appeal to a more Western audience.

Department Division Year of purchase/founding Notable Titles
Secret Level Sega of America 2005 Golden Axe: Beast Rider, Iron Man
Sega Racing Studio Sega Europe 2005 Sega Rally Revo
The Creative Assembly Sega Europe 2005 Total War, Total Warrior series
Sports Interactive Sega Europe 2006 Football Manager series
Prope Sega Corporation (Japan) 2006 None as of 2008

[edit] Former Structure Prior to Sammy Merger

Sega of Japan's Studios

InHouse Name Name as Second Party Notable Titles
AM1 R&D WOW Entertainment House of the Dead series, Sega GT series
AM2 R&D Sega-AM2 Virtua Fighter series, Virtua Cop series, Out Run series, Shenmue series, After Burner series, Fighting Vipers series
AM3 R&D Hitmaker Crazy Taxi series, Virtual On series,
AM4 R&D Amusement Vision Daytona USA, Super Monkey Ball series, SpikeOut series
AM5 R&D Sega Rosso Initial D Arcade Stage
AM6 R&D/ (Team Andromeda) Smilebit Panzer Dragoon series, Jet Set Radio series, Let‘s Make a J-League Football Team series
AM7 R&D/ Team Shinobi Overworks Shinobi series, Streets of Rage series, Phantasy Star series, Sakura Taisen series, Skies of Arcadia
AM8 R&D Sonic Team Sonic the Hedgehog series, Nights series, Phantasy Star Online series, Samba de Amigo, Chu Chu Rocket, Burning Rangers
AM9 R&D United Game Artists Sega Rally series, Space Channel 5 series, Rez
WaveMaster WaveMaster Entertainment WaveMaster concentrated on the development of music for various Sega efforts, and as such, is not a studio in the traditional since.

Sega of America's Studios'

Studio Notable Titles
Visual Concepts NFL 2K series, NBA 2K series, Ooga Booga
Sega Technical Institute Sonic The Hedgehog series (with Sonic Team), Comix Zone, Sonic Spinball, The Ooze, Die Hard Arcade (with Sega AM1)
Sega Interactive Eternal Champions series, Star Wars Arcade
SegaSoft SegaSoft developed games for Heat.com, rather than traditional commercial games.
Multimedia Studio The Multimedia Studio concentrated on the development of music for various Sega efforts, and as such, is not a studio in the traditional since.
Sega Studio USA Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, Shadow the Hedgehog, Nights: Journey of Dreams

[edit] Hardware

[edit] Arcade boards

[edit] Consoles

  • Sega SG-1000: Available in limited markets
  • Sega SG-1000 Mark II: Updated version of the SG-1000, includes a keyboard
  • Sega SG-1000 Mark III: Only available in Japan
  • Sega SC-3000: A computer version of the SG-1000
  • Sega SC-3000H: An updated version with more RAM and keyboard (the original keyboard was of the low-end membrane type).
  • Sega Master System: Essentially the SG-1000 Mark III only with a different name and a few minor adjustments
  • Sega Mega Drive: Known as the Sega Genesis in North America due to another company owning the Mega Drive trademark in that region.
  • Sega Mega-CD: Known simply as the Sega CD for the North American market, it allowed CD based games as well as Audio CDs to be played on the Mega Drive.
  • Sega 32X: Hardware update to the Mega Drive allowing 32 bit based games to be played
  • Sega Multi-Mega: a portable CD player with the functionalities of a Sega Mega Drive and Sega Mega CD. Following the Mega ... brands, its name was Multi-Mega in most of the world and Genesis CDX in North America.
  • Sega TeraDrive: A 16-bit PC with an integrated Mega Drive. Came with a Software Development Kit to allow creation of Mega Drive games. The system was only released in Japan.
  • Sega Neptune: A Sega Mega Drive/32X hybrid. It never passed the prototype stage. Only two empty cases are known to exist.
  • Sega Saturn: True 32-bit console
  • Sega Dreamcast: First 128 bit (sixth generation) console, also Sega's last console
  • Sega Pico: an educational gaming system.
  • Amstrad Mega PC: Although not actually produced by Sega themselves, the Mega PC is Amstrad's version of the TeraDrive for European and Australian markets, thus includes electronics for Sega's MegaDrive console built-in.

[edit] Handhelds

[edit] Advertisement campaigns

Sega has had a long history of different slogans and ad campaigns.

Arcade

  • The Arcade Experts. (early 80s)

Sega Master System

  • The challenge will always be there.
  • Major fun and games!
  • Now, there are no limits.
  • Hot hits today! More hits on the way!
  • Do me a favor, plug me into a Sega (talking TV).

Mega Drive/Genesis

  • Genesis does what Nintendon't!
  • Blast Processing
  • The name "Sega!" being composed by a "choir".
  • Welcome To The Next Level.
  • To be this good takes AGES, To be this good takes SEGA.
  • Siga Sega! ("Follow Sega!", used in Brazil during the early 90's)
  • Sega, c'est plus fort que toi ! ('Sega, it's stronger than you!', cult French TV slogan, early 90s)
  • 16 bit arcade graphics!
  • La Ley del Más Fuerte (The Law of the Strongest, Spanish slogan from 1993-94)
  • The more you play with it, the harder it gets.
  • Pirate TV (Britain)
  • Canal Pirata Sega (Spain)

Saturn

  • Welcome to the Real World - Sega Saturn. (Early UK TV slogan)
  • Segata Sanshiro
  • When you have Sega Saturn, nothing else matters.
  • The Game is Never Over (also used in last European Mega Drive commercials.)
  • Peligrosamente real (Dangerously Real. 1st Spanish slogan)
  • The Plaything ad.
  • Nous ne sommes pas sur la même planète ('We are not on the same planet', French slogan in the mid 90s)

Dreamcast

  • It's Thinking. (promotion for Dreamcast)
  • Up to 6 billion players. (early Dreamcast tagline)

Post Dreamcast years (2002 - 2003)

  • The return of the "Sega!" choir.

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