GameFan (originally known as Diehard GameFan ) was a publication started by Tim Lindquist, Greg Off, George Weising, and Dave Halverson in September 1992 that provided coverage of domestic and imported video games . It was notable for its extensive use of game screenshots in its page design, contrasting other U.S. publications at the time. The original magazine ceased publishing in December 2000.
153-491: In April 2010, Halverson relaunched GameFan as a video games and film magazine. However, this relaunch was short-lived and suffered from internal conflicts and low advertising revenue. The idea for the name GameFan came from the Japanese Sega magazine called Megafan . Although it began as an advertising supplement to sell imported video games, primarily from Japan, the small text reviews and descriptions drew attention for
306-435: A manga artist with the short manga Toriko (1984) and earned a runner-up spot in the 10th Annual Tetsuya Chiba Awards held by Young Magazine ( Kodansha ). Afterward, he found work as Katsuhiro Otomo 's assistant. After graduating from college in 1987, Kon authored the single-volume manga Kaikisen (1990) and wrote the script for Otomo's live-action film World Apartment Horror . In 1991, Kon worked in anime for
459-651: A $ 1 billion stock swap whereby Sega would wholly acquire Bandai, was set to form a company known as Sega Bandai, Ltd. Though it was to be finalized in October of that year, it was called off in May after growing opposition from Bandai's mid-level executives. Bandai instead agreed to a business alliance with Sega. As a result of Sega's deteriorating financial situation, Nakayama resigned as Sega president in January 1998 in favor of Irimajiri. Nakayama's resignation may have in part been due to
612-570: A 92% replay rate. While the eight-player Japanese version of the game was released in 1999, the game was reduced to a smaller four-player version due to size issues and released in North America in 2003. The cabinet was too expensive and the game did not entice casual users which are essential to the western arcade market. While the Japanese market retained core players, western arcades had become more focused on casual players, and Sega Amusements Europe,
765-650: A Dreamcast launch game . It was promoted with a large-scale public demonstration at the Tokyo Kokusai Forum Hall . Due to a high failure rate in the manufacturing process, Sega could not ship enough consoles for the Dreamcast's Japanese launch. As more than half of its limited stock had been pre-ordered, Sega stopped pre-orders in Japan. Before the launch, Sega announced the release of its New Arcade Operation Machine Idea (NAOMI) arcade system board , which served as
918-504: A Monitor comic book series, and at that time discussions were underway to make a full-length animated movie to be produced by Dark Moon Productions Inc and DMP Multi-media, a sister company founded by Andrew Spencer and Gary Tucker. The winners of GameFan ' s annual Golden Megawards were chosen by editors. GameFan's original editor-in-chief, Dave Halverson, went on to publish Gamers' Republic , and then Play Magazine (an American video-gaming magazine, not to be confused with
1071-484: A budget of approximately 300 million yen), and centered on the themes of homelessness and abandonment, with a comedic touch worked in. The screenplay was written by Keiko Nobumoto . This work also marked the transition from celluloid animation to digital animation. In 2004, Kon released the 13-episode television series Paranoia Agent , in which Kon revisits the theme of the blending of imagination and reality, as well as working in additional social themes. The series
1224-536: A chance of restarting. The theme of "mixture of fiction and reality" is a keyword that symbolizes Kon Satoshi's works, and he repeatedly depicts the relationship between "fiction and reality" with various approaches in each of his works. In Perfect Blue , Millennium Actress , Paranoia Agent , and Paprika , the boundary between fiction and reality gradually became blurred, and the characters were portrayed as going back and forth between fiction and reality. At first glance, Tokyo Godfathers does not seem to deal with
1377-459: A cheaper alternative to the Sega Model 3 . NAOMI shared technology with the Dreamcast, allowing nearly identical ports of arcade games. The Dreamcast launched in Japan on November 27, 1998. The entire stock of 150,000 consoles sold out by the end of the day. Irimajiri estimated that another 200,000 to 300,000 Dreamcast units could have been sold with sufficient supply. He hoped to sell more than
1530-645: A collaborative gaze in Millennium Actress before arriving at a new type of gaze in Tokyo Godfathers which revels in uncertainty and illusion. Dean DeBlois said, "Satoshi Kon used the hand-drawn medium to explore social stigmas and the human psyche, casting a light on our complexities in ways that might have failed in live action. Much of it was gritty, intense and, at times, even nightmarish. Kon didn't shy away from mature subject matter or live-action sensibilities in his work, and his films will always occupy
1683-602: A computer, the SC-3000. Learning that Nintendo was developing a games-only console , the Famicom , Sega developed its first home video game system, the SG-1000 , alongside the SC-3000. Rebranded versions of the SG-1000 were released in several other markets worldwide. The SG-1000 sold 160,000 units in 1983, which far exceeded Sega's projection of 50,000 in the first year but was outpaced by
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#17328584214951836-487: A decrease in profitability due to the investments required to launch the Dreamcast in Western markets and poor software sales in Japan. At the same time, worsening conditions reduced the profitability of Sega's Japanese arcade business, prompting the closure of 246 locations. Moore became the president and chief operating officer of Sega of America on 8 May 2000. He said the Dreamcast would need to sell 5 million units in
1989-415: A digital format. GameFan would later go on a two-year hiatus, returning in 2015 with a redesigned magazine and website. In February 2015, GameFan simultaneously released issue 10 digitally and on newsstands. The digital version was freely released on Magzter with the use of a promotional code. The magazine went through a complete overhaul, simplifying its layouts and design, most likely in order to have
2142-656: A downturn in the arcade business in the early 1980s, Sega began to develop video game consoles, starting with the SG-1000 and Master System , but struggled against competitors such as the Nintendo Entertainment System . In 1984, Sega executives David Rosen and Hayao Nakayama led a management buyout , with backing from CSK Corporation . In 1988, Sega released the Mega Drive , or the Genesis in North America. The Mega Drive struggled against competition in Japan, but
2295-617: A fascinating middle ground between 'cartoons' and the world as we know it." Kon stated in 2007 that the music of Susumu Hirasawa had been the greatest influence on his expressive style. Kon said that he has learned a lot from Hirasawa's attitude towards music and production, and that he owes a lot of the stories and concepts he creates to his influence. Kon's idea of fractal control of film comes from Susumu Hirasawa, who has applied fractal-generating programs to music production. Hirasawa's lyrics sparked Kon's interest in Jungian psychology and
2448-401: A feature film. By doing so, the completed piece could 100% be that person's work, and I'm OK with that. I also considered about doing a documentary of Kon." However, Maruyama has not completely given up on the production. He says, "If a talented director from overseas is willing to take on the project, it is not entirely without possibility," suggesting that the project is not entirely without
2601-508: A former executive at Sony Computer Entertainment of America, became Sega of America's executive vice president in charge of product development and third-party relations. Stolar was not supportive of the Saturn, believing its hardware was poorly designed. While Stolar had said "the Saturn is not our future" at E3 1997, he continued to emphasize the quality of its games, and later reflected that "we tried to wind it down as cleanly as we could for
2754-597: A four-point plan: cut the price of the Genesis, create a US team to develop games targeted at the American market, expand the aggressive advertising campaigns, and replace the bundled game Altered Beast with Sonic the Hedgehog . The Japanese board of directors disapproved, but it was approved by Nakayama, who told Kalinske, "I hired you to make the decisions for Europe and the Americas, so go ahead and do it." In large part due to
2907-447: A lack of refinement and a sense of passion. Editor profiles featured caricatures drawn by Terry Wolfinger. The anonymized approach allowed certain editors like Dave Halverson to write multiple reviews of the same game under different pseudonyms . GameFan was well known for its extensive coverage of important games and its expansive coverage of emerging interest in anime. Another major feature that separated it from other gaming magazines
3060-554: A matter of months after being diagnosed. Kon died on August 24, 2010, at the age of 46. After his death, Kon was mentioned among the Fond Farewells in Time ' s people of the year 2010. Darren Aronofsky wrote a eulogy to him, which was printed in Satoshi Kon's Animation Works ( 今敏アニメ全仕事 ) , a Japanese retrospective book of his animation career. In November 2010, Madhouse ,
3213-512: A member of the Japanese Animation Creators Association (JAniCA). Following Ohayō , Kon began work on his next film, Dreaming Machine . In May 2010, Kon was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer . Given half a year to live, Kon chose to spend the remainder of his life in his home. Shortly before his death Kon composed a final message, which was uploaded to his blog by his family upon his death. As Kon explained in
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#17328584214953366-608: A member of the Japanese Animation Creators Association (JAniCA). He was a graduate of the Graphic Design department of the Musashino Art University . He is best known for his acclaimed anime films Perfect Blue (1997), Millennium Actress (2001), Tokyo Godfathers (2003), and Paprika (2006), and the TV series Paranoia Agent (2004). He died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 46 on August 24, 2010. Satoshi Kon
3519-420: A million Dreamcast units in Japan by February 1999, but less than 900,000 were sold. The low sales undermined Sega's attempts to build up a sufficient installed base to ensure the Dreamcast's survival after the arrival of competition from other manufacturers. Sega suffered a further ¥42.881 billion consolidated net loss in the fiscal year ending March 1999, and announced plans to eliminate 1,000 jobs, nearly
3672-527: A movie out of only one manga he had ever read, it would be that one. He was also influenced by the New Wave [ ja ] movement in manga started by Otomo and others, and decided to not only read but also draw manga himself in his high school days. He was enlightened by the New Wave's way of overwhelmingly depicting a story in which nothing in particular happens, focusing on a character who could never be
3825-418: A new magazine, Hardcore Gamer . They also began developing strategy guides as a part of their publishing company, DoubleJump Books (later renamed OnionBat Books). The magazine had a run of 36 issues before it began focusing exclusively on its website. The DieHard GameFan name was resurrected by Alex Lucard as a website, Diehard GameFAN , with Halverson's blessing. While the site covers major game releases,
3978-435: A popular form of entertainment among youths across East Asia , laying the foundations for modern selfie culture. By 1997, about 47,000 Purikura machines had been sold, earning Sega an estimated ¥25 billion ( £173 million ) or $ 283,000,000 (equivalent to $ 537,000,000 in 2023) from Purikura sales that year. Various other similar Purikura machines appeared from other manufacturers, with Sega controlling about half of
4131-521: A press release confirming it was considering producing software for the PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance as part of its "new management policy". On January 31, 2001, Sega announced the discontinuation of the Dreamcast after March 31 and the restructuring of the company as a "platform-agnostic" third-party developer. Sega also announced a Dreamcast price reduction to eliminate its unsold inventory, estimated at 930,000 units as of April 2001. This
4284-550: A quarter of its workforce. Before the Western launch, Sega reduced the price of the Dreamcast in Japan by JP¥9,100, effectively making it unprofitable but increasing sales. On August 11, 1999, Sega of America confirmed that Stolar had been fired. Peter Moore , whom Stolar had hired as a Sega of America executive only six months before, was placed in charge of the North American launch. The Dreamcast launched in North America on September 9, 1999, with 18 games. Sega set
4437-453: A record by selling more than 225,132 Dreamcast units in 24 hours, earning $ 98.4 million in what Moore called "the biggest 24 hours in entertainment retail history". Within two weeks, US Dreamcast sales exceeded 500,000. By Christmas, Sega held 31 percent of the US video game market by revenue. On November 4, Sega announced it had sold more than a million Dreamcast units. Nevertheless, the launch
4590-605: A second, faster processor, vastly expanded system memory, a graphics chip that performed scaling and rotation similar to the company's arcade games, and another sound chip. In North America, it was renamed the Sega CD and launched on October 15, 1992, with a retail price of US$ 299. It was released in Europe as the Mega-CD in 1993. The Mega-CD sold only 100,000 units during its first year in Japan, falling well below expectations. Throughout
4743-472: A slight increase in the fiscal year ended March 1997, partly driven by increasing arcade revenue, while outperforming Nintendo during the mid-term period. However, in the fiscal year ending March 1998, Sega suffered its first financial loss since its 1988 listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange as both a parent company and a corporation as a whole. In the company's 1998 year end report, Irimajiri placed
GameFan - Misplaced Pages Continue
4896-722: A suitable director to complete Kon's work. Before his death, the storyboard and script, even part of the keyframe film was already completed. Then I thought, even if someone can mimic Kon's work, it would still be clear that it's only an imitation. For example, if Mamoru Hosoda took the director's position, the completed Dreaming Machine would still be a good piece of work. However, that would make it Hosoda's movie, not Kon's. Dreaming Machine should be Kon's movie, him and only him, not someone else's. That means we cannot and should not "compromise" only to finish it. I spent years to finally reach this hard conclusion. Instead, we should take only Kon's "original concept", and let somebody turn it into
5049-572: Is a Japanese multinational video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Shinagawa , Tokyo . It produces several multi-million-selling game franchises for arcades and consoles , including Sonic the Hedgehog , Angry Birds , Phantasy Star , Puyo Puyo , Super Monkey Ball , Total War , Virtua Fighter , Megami Tensei , Sakura Wars , Persona , and Yakuza . From 1983 until 2001, Sega also developed its own consoles . Having American origins, Sega
5202-549: Is one of the directors greatly influenced by Kon, especially Perfect Blue . In an interview with Kon in 2001, he said that any scene in Requiem for a Dream that seems to be influenced by Perfect Blue is a homage to it, and that he still wants to make a live-action version of Perfect Blue . His 2010 film Black Swan was also pointed out by several critics for its similarity to Perfect Blue , but Aronofsky denied any direct influence. Christopher Nolan 's 2010 film Inception
5355-472: Is one of the world's most prolific arcade game producers and its mascot, Sonic , is internationally recognized. Its name and branding are used for owned or affiliated companies that operate amusement arcades and produce other entertainment products, including Sega Fave; however, these are largely separate ventures. Sega is recognized for its video game consoles, creativity and innovations. In more recent years, it has been criticized for its business decisions and
5508-415: Is suddenly transformed into an unfamiliar world in order to disorient the audience. This is the reason why he insisted on animated films instead of live action. When asked about his interest in female characters, Kon stated that female characters were easier to write because he is not able to know the character in the same way as a male character, and "can project my obsession onto the characters and expand
5661-519: The English publication of the same name), consisting mostly of former GameFan and Gamers' Republic staff members. Gamers' Republic had a run of 35 issues and ceased publication in July 2001 when the dot-com bubble burst. The Play had a more successful run of 97 issues until the publishing company filed for bankruptcy. Tim Lindquist, along with several other members of the original GameFan team, launched
5814-458: The Famicom and lagged behind Nintendo's Super Famicom and the TurboGrafx-16 , made by NEC , in Japanese sales throughout the 16-bit era . For the North American launch, where the console was renamed Genesis, Sega had no sales and marketing organization. After Atari declined an offer to market the console in the region, Sega launched it through its own Sega of America subsidiary. The Genesis
5967-666: The Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and Sonic Team brands for several core franchise entries), Sega Sapporo Studio which mainly provides support for the Tokyo-based development teams as well as handling partial game development, and Atlus (including their R&D divisions, such as P-Studio and Studio Zero respectively) and five development studios in the UK and Europe: Creative Assembly , Sports Interactive , Sega Hardlight , Two Point Studios , and Rovio Entertainment (including Ruby Games). Sega
6120-604: The "Sega!" scream, and holding press events for the education industry. Sega partnered with GE to develop the Sega Model 2 arcade system board, building on 3D technology in the arcade industry at the time. This led to several successful arcade games, including Daytona USA , launched in a limited capacity in late 1993 and worldwide in 1994. Other popular games included Virtua Cop , Sega Rally Championship , and Virtua Fighter 2 . Virtua Fighter and Virtua Fighter 2 became Sega's best-selling arcade games of all time, surpassing their previous record holder Out Run . There
6273-445: The 1980s. Former Sega director Akira Nagai said Hang-On and Out Run helped to pull the arcade game market out of the 1982 downturn and created new genres of video games. With the arcade game market once again growing, Sega was one of the most recognized game brands at the end of the 1980s. In the arcades, the company focused on releasing games to appeal to diverse tastes, including racing games and side-scrollers . Sega released
GameFan - Misplaced Pages Continue
6426-462: The 1994 release of the Atari Jaguar , and that the Saturn would not be available until the next year. As a result, Nakayama decided to have a second console release to market by the end of 1994. Sega began to develop the 32X , a Genesis add-on which would serve as a less expensive entry into the 32-bit era . The 32X would not be compatible with the Saturn, but would play Genesis games. Sega released
6579-463: The 32X on November 21, 1994, in North America, December 3, 1994, in Japan, and January 1995 in PAL territories, and was sold at less than half of the Saturn's launch price. After the holiday season, interest in the 32X rapidly declined. Sega released the Saturn in Japan on November 22, 1994. Virtua Fighter , a port of the popular arcade game, sold at a nearly one-to-one ratio with the Saturn at launch and
6732-600: The 3rd , Case Closed , and Anpanman & Marza Animation Planet , which specializes in CG animation. In May 1940, American businessmen Martin Bromley, Irving Bromberg and James Humpert formed Standard Games in Honolulu , Hawaii. Their aim was to provide coin-operated amusement machines , including slot machines , to military bases as the increase in personnel with the onset of World War II would create demand for entertainment. After
6885-623: The CEO and managing director, while Stewart was named president and LeMaire was the director of planning. Shortly afterward, Sega stopped leasing to military bases and moved its focus from slot machines to coin-operated amusement machines. Its imports included Rock-Ola jukeboxes, pinball games by Williams , and gun games by Midway Manufacturing . Because Sega imported second-hand machines, which required frequent maintenance, it began constructing replacement guns and flippers for its imported games. According to former Sega director Akira Nagai, this led to
7038-449: The Dreamcast as much as expected, as many disappointed consumers continued to wait or purchased a PSone . Eventually, Sony and Nintendo held 50 and 35 percent of the US video game market, while Sega held only 15 percent. CSK chairman Isao Okawa replaced Irimajiri as president of Sega on May 22, 2000. Okawa had long advocated that Sega abandon the console business. Others shared this view; Sega co-founder David Rosen had "always felt it
7191-467: The Famicom. This was in part because Nintendo expanded its game library by courting third-party developers , whereas Sega was hesitant to collaborate with companies with which it was competing in the arcades. In November 1983, Rosen announced his intention to step down as president of Sega Enterprises, Inc. on January 1, 1984. Jeffrey Rochlis was announced as the new president and CEO of Sega. Shortly after
7344-508: The Genesis found success overseas after the release of Sonic the Hedgehog in 1991 and briefly outsold its main competitor, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System , in the US. In 2001, after several commercial failures such as the 32X , Saturn , and Dreamcast , Sega stopped manufacturing consoles to become a third-party developer and publisher, and was acquired by Sammy Corporation in 2004. Sega Holdings Co. Ltd.
7497-638: The Master System and featured a full-color screen, in contrast to the monochrome Game Boy screen. Due to its short battery life, lack of original games, and weak support from Sega, the Game Gear did not surpass the Game Boy, having sold approximately 11 million units. Sega launched the Mega-CD in Japan on December 1, 1991, initially retailing at JP¥ 49,800. The add-on uses CD-ROM technology. Further features include
7650-430: The Master System's successor, the Mega Drive , in Japan on October 29, 1988. The launch was overshadowed by Nintendo's release of Super Mario Bros. 3 a week earlier. Positive coverage from magazines Famitsu and Beep! helped establish a following, with the latter launching a new publication dedicated to the console, but Sega shipped only 400,000 units in the first year. The Mega Drive struggled to compete against
7803-580: The Nihon Goraku Bussan name. Around the same time, David Rosen , an American officer in the United States Air Force stationed in Japan, launched a photo booth business in Tokyo in 1954. This company became Rosen Enterprises, and in 1957 began importing coin-operated games into Japan. In 1965, Nihon Goraku Bussan acquired Rosen Enterprises to form Sega Enterprises, Ltd. Rosen was installed as
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#17328584214957956-462: The North American home console market without Sega games for over a year, with most of its activity in the country coming from arcade divisions. The Saturn lasted longer in some Europe territories and particularly Japan, with it notably outperforming the Nintendo 64 in the latter. Nonetheless, Irimajiri confirmed in an interview with Japanese newspaper Daily Yomiuri that Saturn development would stop at
8109-509: The SNES at release. Nintendo's dollar share of the US 16-bit market dropped from 60% at the end of 1992 to 37% at the end of 1993, Sega claimed 55% of all 16-bit hardware sales during 1994, and the SNES outsold the Genesis from 1995 through 1997. In 1990, Sega launched the Game Gear , a handheld console , to compete against Nintendo's Game Boy . The Game Gear was designed as a portable version of
8262-634: The Saturn an advantage over the PlayStation. At the first Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles on May 11, 1995, Kalinske revealed the release price and that Sega had shipped 30,000 Saturns to Toys "R" Us , Babbage's , Electronics Boutique , and Software Etc. for immediate release. A by-product of the surprise launch was the provocation of retailers not included in Sega's rollout; KB Toys in particular decided to no longer stock its products in response. The Saturn's release in Europe also came before
8415-470: The Sega Enterprises name used in Japan as well as transitioning to the Sega name used globally. Sega stated in a release that this was to display its commitment to its "network entertainment business". On January 23, 2001, Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai Shinbun reported that Sega would cease production of the Dreamcast and develop software for other platforms. After an initial denial, Sega released
8568-420: The US by the end of 2000 to remain viable, but Sega fell short of this goal with some 3 million units sold. Moreover, Sega's attempts to spur Dreamcast sales through lower prices and cash rebates caused escalating financial losses. In March 2001, Sega posted a consolidated net loss of ¥51.7 billion ($ 417.5 million). While the PlayStation 2's October 26 US launch was marred by shortages, this did not benefit
8721-482: The US. Sega was surprised by the success, and for the next two years, the company produced and exported between eight and ten games per year. The worldwide success of Periscope led to a "technological renaissance" in the arcade industry, which was reinvigorated by a wave of "audio-visual" EM novelty games that followed in the wake of Periscope during the late 1960s to early 1970s. However, rampant piracy led Sega to cease exporting its games around 1970. In 1969, Sega
8874-590: The United States, as company revenues rose to $ 214 million. 1979 saw the release of Head On , which introduced the "eat-the-dots" gameplay Namco later used in Pac-Man . In 1981, Sega licensed Frogger , its most successful game until then. In 1982, Sega introduced the first game with isometric graphics , Zaxxon . Following a downturn in the arcade business starting in 1982, Gulf and Western sold its North American arcade game manufacturing organization and
9027-647: The Xbox. As part of the restructuring, nearly one third of Sega's Tokyo workforce was laid off in 2001. 2002 was Sega's fifth consecutive fiscal year of net losses. After Okawa's death, Hideki Sato, a 30-year Sega veteran who had worked on Sega's consoles, became the company president. Following poor sales in 2002, Sega cut its profit forecast for 2003 by 90 percent, and explored opportunities for mergers. In 2003, Sega began talks with Sammy Corporation –a pachinko and pachislot manufacturing company–and Namco. The president of Sammy, Hajime Satomi , had been mentored by Okawa and
9180-400: The animation studio that had previously produced Kon's works, officially announced that they would continue to produce the unfinished "Yumemiru Kikai", and that the animation director Yoshimi Itazu would be acting as the director. According to Takeshi Honda , animator and frequent collaborator with Satoshi Kon, Kon disappeared in the middle of production on the movie. He had not informed most of
9333-527: The appeal of Yasutaka Tsutsui's work is "deviation from common sense." What he learned from Tsutsui was "doubt the framework of common sense." Kon has had a great influence on directors around the world even after his death, and artists and works have been influenced by his realistic visual expression and vivid editing. Kon's influence on foreign filmmakers was more pronounced than in Japan, with directors such as Darren Aronofsky and Guillermo del Toro expressing their support. American filmmaker Aronofsky
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#17328584214959486-471: The aspects I want to describe." With a frame of reference up to Tokyo Godfathers , Susan J. Napier notes that while the theme of performance is the one obvious commonality in his works, she finds that the concept of the male gaze is the more important topic for discussion. Napier shows the evolution of Kon's use of the gaze from its restrictive and negative aspects in Magnetic Rose and Perfect Blue , to
9639-475: The blame for these losses on the failure to transition from the Genesis to the Saturn in North America and Sega Enterprises covering the debts of Sega of America. Shortly before the announcement of the losses, Sega discontinued the Saturn in North America to prepare for the launch of its successor, the Dreamcast , releasing remaining games in low quantities. The decision to discontinue the Saturn effectively left
9792-430: The company developing its own games. The first arcade electro-mechanical game (EM game) Sega manufactured was the submarine simulator Periscope , released worldwide in the late 1960s. It featured light and sound effects considered innovative and was successful in Japan. It was then exported to malls and department stores in Europe and the United States and helped standardize the 25-cent-per-play cost for arcade games in
9945-429: The company survive the third-party transition. He held failed talks with Microsoft about a sale or merger with their Xbox division. According to former Microsoft executive Joachim Kempin , Microsoft founder, Bill Gates , decided against acquiring Sega because "he didn't think that Sega had enough muscle to eventually stop Sony". A business alliance with Microsoft was announced whereby Sega would develop 11 games for
10098-601: The company's console, mobile and PC games on a year-to-year basis until the fiscal year of 2014. In order to drive growth in western markets, Sega announced new leadership for Sega of America and Sega Europe in 2005. Simon Jeffery became president and COO of Sega of America, and Mike Hayes president and COO for Sega Europe. In 2009, Hayes became president of the combined outfit of both Sega of America and Sega Europe, due to Jeffery leaving. Sega sold Visual Concepts to Take-Two Interactive , and purchased UK-based developer Creative Assembly , known for its Total War series . In
10251-494: The consumer." At Sony, Stolar had opposed the localization of certain Japanese PlayStation games that he felt would not represent the system well in North America. He advocated a similar policy for the Saturn, generally blocking 2D arcade games and role-playing games from release, although he later sought to distance himself from this stance. Other changes included a softer image in Sega's advertising, including removing
10404-743: The continued popularity of the Genesis; 16-bit sales accounted for 64 percent of the market in 1995. Despite capturing 43 percent of the US market dollar share and selling more than 2 million Genesis units in 1995, Kalinske estimated that, if prepared for demand, another 300,000 could have been sold. Sega announced that Shoichiro Irimajiri had been appointed chairman and CEO of Sega of America in July 1996, while Kalinske left Sega after September 30 of that year. A former Honda executive, Irimajiri had been involved with Sega of America since joining Sega in 1993. The company also announced that Rosen and Nakayama had resigned from their positions at Sega of America, though both remained with Sega. Bernie Stolar ,
10557-408: The decline of the global arcade industry in the late 1990s, Sega created several novel concepts tailored to the Japanese market. Derby Owners Club was an arcade machine with memory cards for data storage, designed to take over half an hour to complete and costing JP¥500 to play. Testing of Derby Owners Club in a Chicago arcade showed that it had become the most popular machine at the location, with
10710-413: The distribution company for Perfect Blue (Rex Entertainment) went bankrupt. Coincidentally, Kon's next work would also feature a film studio going bankrupt. In 2002, Kon's second film, Millennium Actress , was released to the public. The distribution company for the North American release was DreamWorks-affiliated Go Fish Pictures. The film centers on a retired actress who mysteriously withdraws from
10863-403: The early 1990s, Sega largely continued its success in arcades around the world. In 1992 and 1993, the new Sega Model 1 arcade system board showcased in-house development studio Sega AM2 's Virtua Racing and Virtua Fighter (the first 3D fighting game ), which, though expensive, played a crucial role in popularizing 3D polygonal graphics. In addition, complex simulator equipment like
11016-656: The end of 1998 and games would continue to be produced until mid-1999. With lifetime sales of 9.26 million units, the Saturn is retrospectively considered a commercial failure in much of the world. While Sega had success with the Model 3 arcade board and titles like Virtua Fighter 3 , Sega's arcade divisions struggled in the West during the late 1990s. On the other hand, Sega's arcade divisions were more successful in Asia, with Sega's overall arcade revenues increasing year-on-year throughout
11169-479: The end of 1999 —began to decline as early as January 2000. Poor Japanese sales contributed to Sega's ¥42.88 billion ($ 404 million) consolidated net loss in the fiscal year ending March 2000. This followed a similar loss of ¥42.881 billion the previous year and marked Sega's third consecutive annual loss. Sega's overall sales for the term increased 27.4 percent, and Dreamcast sales in North America and Europe greatly exceeded its expectations. However, this coincided with
11322-569: The entities of Service Games worldwide. The company expanded over the next seven years to include distribution in South Korea , the Philippines , and South Vietnam . The name Sega, an abbreviation of Service Games, was first used in 1954 on a slot machine, the Diamond Star. Due to notoriety arising from investigations by the US government into criminal business practices, Service Games of Japan
11475-724: The entity created to officially distribute and manufacture Sega's machines on the continent after the consolidation of its regional divisions, subsequently decided to develop more games locally that were better suited to western tastes. In 2005, the GameWorks chain of arcades came under the sole ownership of Sega, which previously was shared with Vivendi Universal , and remained under their ownership until 2011. In 2009, Sega Republic , an indoor theme park, opened in Dubai . Sega gradually reduced its arcade centers from 450 in 2005 to around 200 in 2015. Arcade machine sales incurred higher profits than
11628-543: The failure of the merger, as well as Sega's 1997 performance. Stolar became CEO and president of Sega of America. After the launch of the Nintendo 64 in the US during 1996, sales of the Saturn and its games fell sharply in much of the west. The PlayStation outsold the Saturn three-to-one in the US in 1997, and the latter failed to gain a foothold in Europe and Australia, where the Nintendo 64 would not release until March 1997. After several years of declining profits, Sega had
11781-532: The family-friendly GA rating to the more mature rating of MA-13, and the adults-only rating of MA-17. Executive vice president of Nintendo of America Howard Lincoln was quick to point out in the United States congressional hearings in 1993 that Night Trap was not rated at all. Senator Joe Lieberman called for another hearing in February 1994 to check progress toward a rating system for video game violence. After
11934-469: The film with "Kihonteki na story igai wa subete kaeta" ( 基本的なストーリー以外は全て変えた ) —roughly, "Everything but the fundamental story was changed." Much like Kon's previous works, the film focuses on the synergy of dreams and reality. He participated in the TV program Ani*Kuri15 broadcast by NHK in 2007. His one-minute short film Ohayō was aired along with works by Mamoru Oshii, Makoto Shinkai and others. That same year, Kon helped establish and served as
12087-405: The filmmaker whose works and books he had read the most is Akira Kurosawa. As for novels, the works of Ryotaro Shiba , the Japanese historical novelist, had a great impact on Kon in terms of his own relationship with Japan. He was also very much inspired by Haruki Murakami , whose works have been translated into many foreign languages. He had seen the film Blade Runner (1982) before reading
12240-471: The first time as an animator and on background design for the film Roujin Z , which was written by Otomo. He began working around 1992 as a scriptwriter, layout artist and background designer for Magnetic Rose (directed by Koji Morimoto), one of three short films in Katsuhiro Otomo's omnibus Memories (released in 1995). This was the first time he adopted "the fusion of fantasy and reality" as
12393-595: The first two issues, but instead of a MovieFan portion, it would be exclusive content created by Destructoid for the magazine. According to GameFan's official Facebook page, the deal with Destructoid would have allowed for the magazine to be released on a monthly schedule. However, the deal with Destructoid resulted in only one issue of the GameFan/Destructoid magazine ever being released. As of January 2019, there have been no new updates regarding GameFan's overall status. Sega Sega Corporation
12546-512: The game. UFO Catcher was introduced in 1985 and as of 2005 was Japan's most commonly installed claw crane game. In 1986, Sega of America was established to manage the company's consumer products in North America, beginning with marketing the Master System. During Sega's partnership with Tonka, Sega of America relinquished marketing and distribution of the console and focused on customer support and some localization of games. Out Run , released in 1986, became Sega's best selling arcade cabinet of
12699-688: The hearings, Sega proposed the universal adoption of the VRC; after objections by Nintendo and others, Sega took a role in forming the Entertainment Software Rating Board . Sega began work on the Genesis' successor, the Sega Saturn , more than two years before showcasing it at the Tokyo Toy Show in June 1994. According to former Sega of America producer Scot Bayless, Nakayama became concerned about
12852-443: The hero of the chambara film Kurama Tengu , or the great Japanese star Godzilla . The film that directly influenced Millennium Actress is George Roy Hill 's Slaughterhouse-Five (1972). When he was in college, it was not one film that influenced him the most, but the entire body of work of Terry Gilliam , including Time Bandits (1981), Brazil (1985) and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1989). However,
13005-459: The high-profile urban areas of Roppongi and Ikebukuro . In 1993, this success was mirrored in overseas territories with the openings of several large branded entertainment centers, such as Sega VirtuaLand in Luxor Las Vegas . In 1994, Sega generated a revenue of ¥354.032 billion or $ 3,464,000,000 (equivalent to $ 7,121,000,000 in 2023). In 1993, the American media began to focus on
13158-481: The late 1970s, with revenues climbing to over US$ 100 million by 1979. During this period, Sega acquired Gremlin Industries , which manufactured microprocessor -based arcade games, and Esco Boueki, a coin-op distributor founded and owned by Hayao Nakayama . Nakayama was placed in a management role of Sega's Japanese operations. In the early 1980s, Sega was one of the top five arcade game manufacturers active in
13311-427: The late 1990s, but it was not enough to offset the significant declining revenues of Sega's home consumer divisions. Despite a 75 percent drop in half-year profits just before the Japanese launch of the Dreamcast, Sega felt confident about its new system. The Dreamcast attracted significant interest and drew many pre-orders. Sega announced that Sonic Adventure , the first major 3D Sonic the Hedgehog game, would be
13464-457: The latter of which was sold directly through GameFan's online shop. The first two issues of the relaunched GameFan featured a section titled MovieFan, which covered movies, anime, and comics. The first two-thirds of the magazine was devoted to GameFan , and then readers would have to turn the magazine upside down in order to read the MovieFan magazine. As of issue 3, the MovieFan portion of
13617-518: The launch of the Genesis, Sega sought a new flagship line of releases to compete with Nintendo's Mario series. Its new character, Sonic the Hedgehog , went on to feature in one of the best-selling video game franchises in history. Sonic the Hedgehog began with a tech demo created by Yuji Naka involving a fast-moving character rolling in a ball through a winding tube; this was fleshed out with Naoto Ohshima 's character design and levels conceived by designer Hirokazu Yasuhara . Sonic's color
13770-478: The launch of the SG-1000, and the death of company founder Charles Bluhdorn , Gulf and Western began to sell off its secondary businesses. Nakayama and Rosen arranged a management buyout of the Japanese subsidiary in 1984 with financial backing from CSK Corporation , a prominent Japanese software company. Sega's Japanese assets were purchased for $ 38 million by a group of investors led by Rosen and Nakayama. Isao Okawa , head of CSK, became chairman, while Nakayama
13923-478: The licensing rights for its arcade games to Bally Manufacturing in September 1983. Gulf and Western retained Sega's North American R&D operation and its Japanese subsidiary, Sega Enterprises, Ltd. With its arcade business in decline, Sega Enterprises, Ltd. president Nakayama advocated for the company to use its hardware expertise to move into the home consumer market in Japan. This led to Sega's development of
14076-427: The magazine was discontinued, but later issues still featured anime and comic reviews similar to Play . In its second and final issue, MovieFan conducted one of the last known interviews with the late filmmaker Satoshi Kon . The first five issues of the magazine were released on a consistent bi-monthly schedule. However, problems occurred with the magazine's development due to issues with advertising revenue, causing
14229-488: The magazine's new editor-in-chief but resigned shortly after the release of issue 8, stating that it "lacked the necessities to keep food in [his] belly and a roof over [his] head." As of June 2013, GameFan's web presence had been in a mostly inactive state for about a year. Issue 9 was finally made available in February 2013 after missing the holiday 2012 release. This issue was only worked on by two people, Dave Halverson and Greg Orlando. Issues 8 and 9 were only available in
14382-462: The magazines completed on schedule. The size of the print magazine is significantly smaller compared to previous issues. In addition, the GameFan mascot, Monitaur, and logo were redesigned. On May 6, 2015, GameFan announced a partnership with Destructoid to help promote the GameFan brand with collaborations and free subscription offers. The initial plan was to bring back the dual-cover format from
14535-482: The market in 1997. Sega also made forays in the PC market with the 1995 establishment of SegaSoft , which was tasked with creating original Saturn and PC games. From 1994 to 1999, Sega also participated in the arcade pinball market when it took over Data East 's pinball division, renaming it Sega Pinball. In January 1997, Sega announced its intentions to merge with the Japanese toy maker Bandai . The merger, planned as
14688-498: The mature content of certain video games, such as Night Trap for the Sega CD and the Genesis version of Midway's Mortal Kombat . This came at a time when Sega was capitalizing on its image as an "edgy" company with "attitude", and this reinforced that image. To handle this, Sega instituted the United States' first video game ratings system, the Videogame Rating Council (VRC), for all its systems. Ratings ranged from
14841-453: The merger went ahead as both companies were facing difficulties. Satomi said Sega had been operating at a loss for nearly ten years, while Sammy feared stagnation and over-reliance of its highly profitable pachislot and pachinko machine business and wanted to diversify. Sammy acquired the remaining percentages of Sega, completing a takeover . The stock swap deal valued Sega between $ 1.45 billion and $ 1.8 billion. Sega Sammy Holdings
14994-406: The message, he chose not to make news of his rapidly advancing illness public, in part out of embarrassment at how drastically emaciated and ravaged his body had become. The result was that the announcement of his death was met with widespread shock and surprise, particularly given that Kon had shown no signs of illness at relatively recent public events, as the cancer progressed to a terminal state in
15147-518: The moment when landscapes and people that look as if they are real suddenly reveal themselves to be 'fiction' or 'pictures'. His ability to depict a realistic world, which he has demonstrated in order in the films he has participated in as a staff member, such as Otomo's and Oshii's works, is utilized in his own works to most effectively show the drop of "transition from reality to fiction". The world that appears to be real in Kon's works does not remain real, but
15300-543: The more arcade-like experience available on the Genesis, with slogans including "Genesis does what Nintendon't". Since Nintendo owned the console rights to most arcade games of the time, the second part involved creating a library of games which used the names and likenesses of celebrities, such as Michael Jackson's Moonwalker and Joe Montana Football . Nonetheless, Sega had difficulty overcoming Nintendo's ubiquity in homes. Sega of America sold only 500,000 Genesis units in its first year, half of Nakayama's goal. After
15453-411: The motif of "fiction and reality," but it does have a device in which the "fiction" of "miracles and coincidences" is successively introduced into the realistic life of homeless people in Tokyo. Because of the character designs and the way they are expressed, Kon's works seem to be aiming for realism. However, Kon's goal is not to "depict landscapes and people that look as if they are real" but to "depict
15606-507: The movies on video and made it a routine to draw manga based on the setting, format and direction of the scenes. Ninety percent of the films he watched were made in the U.S., and he said that he learned a lot about his own style of visual expression from Hollywood films . However, he was not influenced by any particular film or director, but by everything he had ever seen. For example, Millennium Actress has scenes that borrow images from Kurosawa's Throne of Blood , Yasujiro Ozu 's films,
15759-497: The novel and had not read all of his works, but Philip K. Dick was one of the authors he wanted to read and he became very interested in images of nightmares under his influence. He has been a long-time fan of Yasutaka Tsutsui since before he directed Paprika , and was especially influenced by reading Tsutsui's works intensively when he was around 20 years old. It was such a fundamental influence that even he did not know how or where Tsutsui's work influenced him. According to Kon,
15912-580: The overall market share in North America at the end of 1999. On March 2, 1999, in what one report called a "highly publicized, vaporware -like announcement", Sony revealed the first details of the PlayStation 2 . The same year, Nintendo announced that its next console would meet or exceed anything on the market, and Microsoft began development of its own console, the Xbox . Sega's initial momentum proved fleeting as US Dreamcast sales—which exceeded 1.5 million by
16065-419: The popularity of Sonic the Hedgehog , the Genesis outsold its main competitor, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), in the United States nearly two to one during the 1991 holiday season. By January 1992, Sega controlled 65 percent of the 16-bit console market. Sega outsold Nintendo for four consecutive Christmas seasons due to the Genesis' head start, lower price, and a larger library compared to
16218-441: The previously announced North American date, on July 8, 1995. Within two days of the PlayStation's American launch on September 9, 1995, the PlayStation sold more units than the Saturn. Within its first year, the PlayStation secured over twenty percent of the US video game market. The console's high price point, surprise launch, and difficulty handling polygonal graphics were factors in its lack of success. Sega also underestimated
16371-443: The protagonist of the story. Kon has also said that his drawing style has been influenced by Otomo, as he used to work as Otomo's assistant when he was a manga artist. After entering the animation industry, he was greatly influenced by animators Hiroyuki Okiura , Toshiyuki Inoue , Takeshi Honda , Masashi Ando and art setter Takashi Watabe. He had been watching only live-action films since he started college. He watched most of
16524-418: The public eye at the peak of her career. Having the same estimated budget as Perfect Blue (approximately 120 million yen), Millennium Actress garnered higher critical and financial success than its predecessor and earned numerous awards. The screenplay was written by Sadayuki Murai, who utilized a seamless connection between illusion and reality to create a " Trompe-l'œil kind of film". Millennium Actress
16677-483: The quality of its creative output. Being the entertainment contents division of Sega Sammy Holdings, forming one half of the Sega Sammy Group, Sega also owns a toy and amusement machine company, Sega Fave , which comprises their arcade development and manufacturing divisions that were previously under Sega and two animation studios: TMS Entertainment , which animates, produces, and distributes anime such as Lupin
16830-497: The region, Tectoy . By 2016, the Master System had sold 8 million units in Brazil. During 1984, Sega opened its European division of arcade distribution, Sega Europe. It re-entered the North American arcade market in 1985 with the establishment of Sega Enterprises USA at the end of a deal with Bally. The release of Hang-On in 1985 would prove successful in the region, becoming so popular that Sega struggled to keep up with demand for
16983-506: The region. This was less market share in North America than both Nintendo and Atari , which controlled 80 percent and 12 percent of the market. The Master System was eventually a success in Europe, where its sales were comparable to the NES. As late as 1993, the Master System's active installed user base in Europe was 6.25 million units. The Master System has had continued success in Brazil. New versions continue to be released by Sega's partner in
17136-591: The rights to port games from other developers. To help market the console in North America, Sega planned to sell the Master System as a toy, similar to how Nintendo had done with the Nintendo Entertainment System. Sega partnered with Tonka , an American toy company, to make use of Tonka's expertise in the toy industry. Ineffective marketing by Tonka handicapped sales of the Master System. By early 1992, production had ceased in North America. The Master System sold between 1.5 million and 2 million units in
17289-453: The rotational R360 kept Sega competing with machines by rival arcade companies, including Taito . New official region-specific distributors and manufacturers, including the UK's Deith Leisure, allowed Sega to sell its machines outside of Japan with ease. Sega's domestic operations division also opened hundreds of family-oriented suburban Sega World amusement arcades in Japan during this period, as well as large over-18s "GiGO" facilities in
17442-413: The same name). It was the first film by Kon to be produced by Madhouse , and producer Masao Maruyama invited him because he was impressed in Kon's work on JoJo's Bizarre Adventure . A suspense story centered on a pop idol, Kon was initially unsatisfied with the first script based on the original and requested to make changes to it. With the permission of the original author, Yoshikazu Takeuchi, Kon
17595-636: The same year, Sega Racing Studio was also formed by former Codemasters employees. In 2006, Sega Europe purchased Sports Interactive , known for its Football Manager series. In the console and handheld business, Sega found success in the Japanese market with the Yakuza , Phantasy Star Portable and Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA series. Sega began providing the 3D imaging for Hatsune Miku holographic concerts in 2010. Sega also distributes games from smaller Japanese game developers and sells localizations of Western games in Japan. In 2013, Index Corporation
17748-421: The same year, Hajime Satomi said Sega's activity would focus on its profitable arcade business as opposed to loss-incurring home software development. In 2004, Sega Sammy Holdings , an entertainment conglomerate, was created; Sega and Sammy became subsidiaries of the new holding company, both companies operating independently while the executive departments merged. According to the first Sega Sammy Annual Report ,
17901-449: The site also reviews indie games, much like the original magazine. After the bankruptcy of Fusion Publishing and the closure of Play , Dave Halverson began work on a relaunch of GameFan . The magazine returned to newsstands in April 2010, headed by Halverson and a few key staffers from Play with Rob Duenas serving as the new art director. It was available in both print and digital formats,
18054-499: The sixth issue to be released in August 2011, eight months after issue 5, and with an entirely new editing team, headed by newcomer James Bacon. Issue 7 was assembled by only three people - editor-in-chief Dave Halverson, art director and graphic designer Rob Duenas, and managing editor James Bacon - and was released in December 2011. Soon thereafter Duenas resigned. The reason for his departure
18207-461: The staff on the movie about his pancreatic cancer including producer Masao Maruyama . Maruyama recorded the script to the movie on Kon's deathbed and promised to see the project to completion. However, the project was halted in 2011 due to financial reasons. As of 2013, the completion of Dreaming Machine remains uncertain due to funding difficulties, with only 600 of the 1,500 shots being animated. At Otakon 2012, Madhouse founder Masao Maruyama, who
18360-406: The theme of his work. Kon worked as one of five layout artists on Mamoru Oshii 's Patlabor 2: The Movie in 1993, along with other animated films. He worked as a key animator on episode 2 of the 1993–1994 OVA JoJo's Bizarre Adventure , and he worked as the writer and storyboard artist for episode 5. Kon then worked with Mamoru Oshii on the manga Seraphim: Wings of 266,613,336 , which
18513-416: The title character Monitaur was only drawn for the strip, the rest of the magazine's staff personae appeared as characters. Monitaur's main storylines were his struggles against The Blowmeister , who represented the leadership of rival magazines such as Electronic Gaming Monthly . In 1994, GameFan and two new startups, known as Dark Moon Productions and Dark Moon Comics, entered into an agreement to launch
18666-438: The war, the founders sold Standard Games in 1945, and established Service Games the next year, named for the military focus. After the US government outlawed slot machines in its territories in 1952, Bromley sent employees Richard Stewart and Ray LeMaire to Tokyo to establish Service Games of Japan to provide coin-operated slot machines to US bases in Japan. A year later, all five men established Service Games Panama to control
18819-804: The world proposed to be opened by 2000, however only two, Sega World London and Sega World Sydney , would ultimately materialise in September 1996 and March 1997, respectively. Following on from difficulties faced in setting up theme parks in the United States, Sega established the GameWorks chain of urban entertainment centers in a joint venture with DreamWorks SKG and Universal Studios during March 1997. In 1995, Sega partnered with Atlus to launch Print Club (purikura), an arcade photo sticker machine that produces selfie photos. Atlus and Sega introduced Purikura in February 1995, initially at game arcades, before expanding to other popular culture locations such as fast food shops, train stations, karaoke establishments and bowling alleys. Purikura became
18972-422: The writings of Hayao Kawai , Japan's foremost expert on Jungian psychology, who has psychologically deciphered ancient myths and folktales, which greatly influenced his storytelling and direction. All of Kon's works, from Perfect Blue to the suspended Dreaming Machine , have been inspired by Hirasawa's lyrics and songs. Susumu Hirasawa's "Rotation (LOTUS-2)", which is the theme song of Millennium Actress ,
19125-471: The years of World War II ). The text took the place of one of the paragraphs of one of the sports games reviews. The article discussed a Namco combat flight simulator , Ace Combat , rather than College Football '96 (which was the topic of the article) and was poorly written. GameFan 's official explanation was that a rogue employee had sabotaged the magazine in order to alienate its Japanese audience and fan base. However, later reports indicated that it
19278-549: Was a bit of a folly for them to be limiting their potential to Sega hardware", and Stolar had suggested Sega should have sold the company to Microsoft. In a September 2000 meeting with Sega's Japanese executives and heads of its first-party game studios, Moore and Sega of America executive Charles Bellfield recommended that Sega abandon its console business. In response, the studio heads walked out. Sega announced an official company name change from Sega Enterprises, Ltd. to Sega Corporation effective November 1, 2000, officially dropping
19431-531: Was actually filler text that someone had neglected to remove, and the entire incident was an internal joke that accidentally got printed. An apology (dated August 24, 1995) was published in DieHard GameFan 's October 1995 issue in both English and Japanese, and a further apology appeared in the November 1995 issue. The magazine included a comic strip, The Adventures of Monitaur , an anime-derived series. Although
19584-414: Was allowed to make any changes he wanted, except for keeping the three elements of the novel ("idol," "horror" and "stalker"). The screenplay was written by Sadayuki Murai, who worked in the idea of a blurred border between the real world and imagination. Following Perfect Blue , Kon considered adapting the 1993 Yasutaka Tsutsui novel Paprika into his next film. However, these plans were stalled when
19737-403: Was also a technological arms race between Sega and Namco during this period, driving the growth of 3D gaming. Beginning in 1994, Sega launched a series of indoor theme parks in Japan under a concept dubbed "Amusement Theme Park", including Joypolis parks sited in urban Tokyo locations such as Yokohama and Odaiba . A rapid overseas rollout was planned, with at least 100 locations across
19890-544: Was an avid watcher of anime titles, such as Space Battleship Yamato (1974), Heidi, Girl of the Alps (1974), Future Boy Conan (1978), Galaxy Express 999 (1978) and Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) during his junior and senior high school years, which Japanese anime fans of the time were crazy about. Otomo had a strong influence on him, and his favorite works were Domu: A Child's Dream and AKIRA , especially Domu , which he liked so much that he said if he could make
20043-563: Was born on October 12, 1963. Due to his father's job transfer, Kon's education from the fourth elementary grade up to the second middle-school grade was based in Sapporo . Kon was a classmate and close friend of manga artist Seihō Takizawa. While attending Hokkaido Kushiro Koryo High School , Kon aspired to become an animator. Kon entered the Graphic Design course of the Musashino Art University in 1982. While in college, Kon made his debut as
20196-432: Was chosen to match Sega's cobalt blue logo; his shoes were inspired by Michael Jackson 's boots, and his personality by Bill Clinton 's "can-do" attitude. Nakayama hired Tom Kalinske as CEO of Sega of America in mid-1990, and Katz departed soon after. Kalinske knew little about the video game market, but surrounded himself with industry-savvy advisors. A believer in the razor-and-blades business model , he developed
20349-431: Was created from an abundance of unused ideas for stories and arrangements that Kon felt were good but did not fit into any of his projects. In 2006, Paprika was announced, after having been planned out and materializing for several years. The story centers on a new form of psychotherapy that utilizes dream analysis to treat mental patients. The film was highly successful and earned a number of film awards. Kon summed up
20502-432: Was crucial to the system's early success in Japan. Sega's initial shipment of 200,000 Saturn units sold out on the first day, and it was more popular than the PlayStation , made by Sony , in Japan. In March 1995, Sega of America CEO Tom Kalinske announced that the Saturn would be released in the US on Saturday, September 2, 1995, advertised as " Saturn-day ". Sega executives in Japan mandated an early launch to give
20655-512: Was dissolved on May 31, 1960. On June 3, Bromley established two companies to take over its business activities, Nihon Goraku Bussan and Nihon Kikai Seizō. The two new companies purchased all of Service Games of Japan's assets. Kikai Seizō, doing business as Sega, Inc., focused on manufacturing slot machines. Goraku Bussan, doing business under Stewart as Utamatic, Inc. , served as a distributor and operator of coin-operated machines, particularly jukeboxes . The companies merged in 1964, retaining
20808-448: Was due to an overwhelming workload; Duenas stated that he worked "20 hours a day for two weeks straight and [he was] still short cover art". Despite the stressful working conditions, Duenas harbored no ill will towards Halverson or the magazine, stating that he would have still been willing to contribute with cover illustrations or provide assistance with layouts. Soon after Duenas' departure, Bacon left for reasons unstated. A press release
20961-502: Was established in 2015; Sega Corporation was renamed to Sega Games Co., Ltd., and its arcade, entertainment, and toy divisions separated into other companies. In 2020, Sega Games and Sega Interactive merged to become Sega Corporation. Sega's international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe are headquartered in Irvine, California , and London. Its development studios include their internal research and development divisions (which utilize
21114-581: Was followed by further reductions to clear the remaining inventory. The final manufactured Dreamcast was autographed by the heads of all nine of Sega's first-party game studios, plus the heads of sports game developer Visual Concepts and audio studio Wave Master, and given away with all 55 first-party Dreamcast games through a competition organized by GamePro . Okawa, who had loaned Sega $ 500 million in 1999, died on March 16, 2001. Shortly before his death, he forgave Sega's debts to him and returned his $ 695 million worth of Sega and CSK stock, helping
21267-443: Was founded by Martin Bromley and Richard Stewart as Nihon Goraku Bussan on June 3, 1960. Shortly after, the company acquired the assets of its predecessor, Service Games of Japan . In 1965, it became known as Sega Enterprises, Ltd., after acquiring Rosen Enterprises, an importer of coin-operated games . Sega developed its first coin-operated game, Periscope , in 1966. Sega was sold to Gulf and Western Industries in 1969. Following
21420-656: Was installed as CEO of Sega Enterprises, Ltd. In 1985, Sega began working on the Mark III, a redesigned SG-1000. For North America, Sega rebranded the Mark III as the Master System , with a futuristic design intended to appeal to Western tastes. The Mark III was released in Japan in October 1985. Despite featuring more powerful hardware than the Famicom in some ways, it was unsuccessful at launch. As Nintendo required third-party developers not to publish their Famicom games on other consoles, Sega developed its own games and obtained
21573-550: Was involved in all of Kon's films from Perfect Blue to Paprika and was also his friend and collaborator, stated: "Unfortunately, we still don't have enough money. My personal goal is to get it within five years after his passing. I'm still working hard towards that goal." In July 2015, Maruyama reported that Dreaming Machine remains in production but they are looking for a director to match Kon's abilities and similar vision. In August 2016, Mappa Producer Masao Maruyama said in an interview: "For 4~5 years, I kept searching for
21726-406: Was issued on April 18, 2012, highlighting the supposed future of Paper Planet brands: GameFan and Girls of Gaming . The company planned on increasing its online presence through app development for mobile devices as well as a new GameFan TV online channel. None of these plans would come to fruition except the creation of a YouTube channel. Former Destructoid editor Wesley Ruscher was named
21879-513: Was launched in New York City and Los Angeles on August 14, 1989, and in the rest of North America later that year. The European version of the Mega Drive was released in September 1990. Former Atari executive and new Sega of America president Michael Katz developed a two-part strategy to build sales in North America. The first part involved a marketing campaign to challenge Nintendo and emphasize
22032-439: Was marred by a glitch at one of Sega's manufacturing plants, which produced defective GD-ROMs where data was not properly recorded onto the disc. Sega released the Dreamcast in Europe on October 14, 1999. While Sega sold 500,000 units in Europe by Christmas 1999, sales there slowed, and by October 2000 Sega had sold only about a million units. Though the Dreamcast was successful, Sony's PlayStation still held 60 percent of
22185-538: Was played at Kon's funeral. Kon says that he is influenced by everything he has been exposed to in his life, including writing, painting, music, film, manga, anime, television and theater. He has learned a lot from Osamu Tezuka and Katsuhiro Otomo in manga, Hayao Miyazaki in animation, Akira Kurosawa and many other great Japanese and international directors in film. He was familiarized with Tezuka's manga and animation works such as Astro Boy , The Jungle Emperor and Princess Knight in his childhood. He
22338-432: Was previously asked to be CEO of Sega. On February 13, Sega announced that it would merge with Sammy; however, as late as April 17, Sega was still in talks with Namco, which was attempting to overturn the merger. Sega's consideration of Namco's offer upset Sammy executives. The day after Sega announced it no longer planned to merge with Sammy, Namco withdrew its offer. In 2003, Sato and COO Tetsu Kamaya stepped down. Sato
22491-494: Was purchased by Sega Sammy after going bankrupt. The year before, Sega signed a deal to distribute Atlus titles in Japan. After the buyout, Sega implemented a corporate spin-off with Index. The latter's game assets were rebranded as Atlus , a wholly owned subsidiary of Sega. Satoshi Kon Satoshi Kon ( 今 敏 , Kon Satoshi , October 12, 1963 – August 24, 2010) was a Japanese film director, animator , screenwriter and manga artist from Sapporo , Hokkaido , and
22644-501: Was replaced by Hisao Oguchi, the head of the Sega studio Hitmaker . Moore left Sega in January 2003, feeling that the Japanese executives were refusing to adapt to industry changes, such as the demand for mature games such as Grand Theft Auto III . Hideaki Irie, who had worked at Agetec and ASCII , became the new president and COO of Sega of America in October 2003. In August 2003, Sammy bought 22.4 percent of Sega's shares from CSK, making Sammy into Sega's largest shareholder. In
22797-421: Was sold to the American conglomerate Gulf and Western Industries , although Rosen remained CEO. In 1974, Gulf and Western made Sega Enterprises, Ltd., a subsidiary of an American company renamed Sega Enterprises, Inc. Sega released Pong-Tron , its first video-based game, in 1973. Despite late competition from Taito 's hit arcade game Space Invaders in 1978, Sega prospered from the arcade video game boom of
22950-425: Was structured into four parts: Consumer Business (video games), Amusement Machine Business (arcade games), Amusement Center Business (Sega's theme parks and arcades) and Pachislot and Pachinko Business (Sammy's pachinko and pachislot business). According to an industry survey, as of 2005, sales of arcade machines were up for the previous four years in Japan, while down for nine straight years overseas. In response to
23103-482: Was the first Satoshi Kon film to feature Susumu Hirasawa , of whom Kon was a long-time fan, as composer. In 2003, Kon's third work, Tokyo Godfathers , was announced. The distribution company for the North American release was Sony Pictures-affiliated Destination Films. The film centers on a trio of homeless persons in Tokyo who discover a baby on Christmas Eve and set out to search for her parents. Tokyo Godfathers cost more to make than Kon's previous two films (with
23256-401: Was the high-quality paper used to print it. GameFan 's game screenshots were more colorful and accurate to in-game graphics. In the September 1995 issue of GameFan , an article was printed that contained several derogatory comments about Japanese people (calling them "little Jap bastards", a racially derogatory term that was used to insult Japanese descendants and Japanese Americans during
23409-461: Was written by Oshii and drawn by Kon. The manga was serialized in the monthly anime magazine Animage starting in 1994. However, as the series progressed, the opinions of Kon and Oshii became divided, and the series went on hiatus and ended unfinished. After this work, Kon ended his career as a manga artist and devoted himself to making anime. In 1997, Kon began work on his directorial debut Perfect Blue (based on Yoshikazu Takeuchi 's novel of
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