Sega
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About
Sega is a Japanese video game company. Founded in 1960, it became known as an arcade game manufacturer, before eventually becoming a home console manufacturer throughout the 80s and 90s where it would compete with the likes of Nintendo. Currently, it is primarily a game developer and publisher known for franchises such as Sonic the Hedgehog, House of the Dead, Yakuza, and Jet Set Radio.
History
Sega was founded on June 3rd, 1960 by American businessmen Martin Bromley and Richard Stewart after the dissolution of the Japanese branch of their coin-op business Service Games, with the name Sega deriving from the combination of the first two letters of the previous business. The company's first arcade game was released in 1966 called Periscope, before entering into electronic arcade games in the 1970s.
Starting in the 1980s, Sega would start producing consoles, starting with the Sega Master System (SG-1000 outside of North America) which was released the same day Nintendo debuted the Famicom in Japan on July 15th, 1983. It was followed up by the release of the Sega Genesis (Sega Mega Drive outside North America) on October 29, 1988. Both consoles competed against Nintendo's 8-bit Famicom and 16-bit Super Famicom (Nintendo Entertainment System [NES] and Super NES in North America), with Sega developing Sonic the Hedgehog as a pack-in title for the Genesis to compete with the Mario series.
Bolstering the company's reputation in North America were also television ads for the company and their games that usually depicted the company as more cool and hip, featured celebrity endorsements, and taking shots at Nintendo, with slogans such as "Genesis Does What Nintendon't" and the term "Blast Processing".
The Genesis would receive two add-ons: the Sega CD which allowed the use of CD-ROM games, and the 32X which allowed the use of 32-bit processing power. However, both failed to sell immensely, with the latter selling comparatively worse to the former. In addition, Sega also produced the handheld Game Gear to compete with Nintendo's Game Boy, though it also did not fare significantly well. Sega would later see decreasing sales for their next two consoles, the Sega Saturn and the Sega Dreamcast, before phasing out console manufacturing entirely to solely focus on game development for other platforms by the early 2000s. The company acts as a publisher and developer to this day and is currently owned by Sega Sammy
Reception
Related Memes
Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic The Hedgehog is a video game franchise, and Sega's most popular series
![breaking Saturne Sega's 32-bit system launches early, surprising gamers, the press and (most importantly) Sony he best kept secret of E became common knowledge on the morning of Thursday, May 11. Tom Kalinske, president and CEO of Sega of America, gleefully announced to an astounded conference that the Saturnday September 2 launch was a decoy, and that "We [Sega] started our roll out yesterday; we're at 1,800 stores around the US and Canada today." NEXT Generation had learned of Sega's Saturn plans a week before the conference (too late to make it into last month's issue). Sony had seemingly learned of its competitors surprise move merely hours before its own "official unveiling" of PlayStation (a shaken Steve Race refused to admit that Sega had SATURI Virtua Cop was promoted as a hot title, with a view making the Saturn version a hit in the fall gained an edge over Sony, but admitted that he was "ecstatic" about the delay of Ultra 64). And joyous gamers stumbled upon Saturns by accident. At $449 (with Virtua Fighter) and $399 for a standalone unit, the retail price is as was expected. NEXT Generation has learned that the retail no profit on the hardware (buying them from Sega direct at $399), and are instead aiming to make a profit on the six games available at launch. While this news makes a future price drop unlikely, the addition of extra bundled games may be Sega's answer to PlayStation's $299 September launch. Sega had little exciting new Saturn software on display - and proud new Saturn owners shouldn't expect Virtua Fighter has been refined for its US launch, removing many of the original's glitches chains carrying the Saturn are making Six Saturn games available at launch too many new games in the near future. Instead Sega relied on Sega Rally, an eight-player arcade Daytona USA link- up, and the shock factor of Saturn's launch to make an impression. The 32X, gasping for a life-giving injection of decent software, was left to suffocate while the Genesis looks set to benefit MeGaire Tt stroke 366 verds 18mpb from a sharp Earthworm Jim-inspired platformer called Vector Man arriving at stores closer to the holiday season. In essence: Sega 1, Sony 0, but this is the first round. More next month on the full Saturn story. Virtua Fighter, Daytona USA, Clockwork Knight, Worldwide Soccer, Pebble Beach Golf Links, and Panzer Dragoon (clockwise from top left) make up Saturn's launch lineup. Imminent releases include Bug!, NHL All-Star Hockey, Virtua Cop, NBA Action, 3D Baseball, BlackFire, and Virtua Racing 17 NEXT GENERATION July 1995](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/list/002/269/825/c93.png "Next Generation story on the Sega Saturn at E3 1995")
