How come Kalinske wasn't good for Sega? The way I heard in documentaries he was the reason the Genesis took off against the snes and soj fucking him over was what caused their downfall.
To Be This Good - An Alternate History of SEGA, Sonic the Hedgehog, and the Console Wars
- Thread starter TheDoofusUser
- Start date
Apparently he wasn't good with the money and he was the one who wanted the 32X over the Saturn which was a huge mistake. SEGA's entire console history was them punching themselves in the groin numerous times.
oh..........
Why not have NEC/SNK become the competitor? I mean, it'd be a Japanese company giving an global company some competition, so....
Or we could use Microsoft's MSX and make a earlier Xbox out of that.
SNK might not see the use. They started video game consoles in the 1990s otl but it was mainly because SEGA started with their consoles in the 80s, opening up a potential challenger for Nintendo. Without that initial early challenge, a company like SNK has no reason to get involved in the niche and risky console business. Meanwhile, on Microsoft's part, they never wanted Xbox and to enter Consoles, considering it a bad idea altogether. They only reluctantly did so, and I see no reason why that distaste for the idea does go away ittl.
wait until we reach the 2000s but the challenger will appear around that time.
Chapter II : Speaking with the Board and The Disaster Game
New
December 18th, 1981
Neil was slightly trembling as he waited to be called on for his meeting with SEGA's board of directors. This was a meeting that was long overdue after months of delays and rescheduling throughout the last two years as constant events got in the way of him speaking with the people who, for all intents and purposes, owned SEGA. By the end of 1979, he had been able to sign an agreement with the companies that he was in talks with to produce parts of the console that would allow for SEGA to make the consoles and name it and only give away a small portion of its profits to the other companies until they had the proper experience and team to do it. Then, with that settled, Roland focused on getting the eight game licenses and after long talks with all the IP owners, he would finally achieve what was needed with the final one being Martin Scorsese giving the Godfather in October. At the same time, Cliff gave the Board Sonic the Hedgehog and the other original SEGA game ideas and while they didn't like it, they did somewhat approve of it and when reports of the successful licensing came in, they gave Roland to grow his team from a pathetic twelve to a strong and robust forty-five and with the console figured out, as well as graphical capacity, Roland placed Miyamoto in command of game design and had multiple people organized for the games with notes and stuff being written down. His hope was for a 1983 release, but judging by how difficult some of the games were being, he might have to delay it all to a 1985 release though.
"Neil Roland?" He looked up to see a young secretary, a young brunette with blue eyes that was probably in her late twenties, that was staring at him from a door. "The board will speak with you now." Neil nodded before standing up from his chair and following the secretary to the room with SEGA's board. As the woman left him alone in front of the door that had the name of the company on it. Neil took a few calming breaths to steel his nerves before knocking on the door.
"Come in." Came Cliff's voice. Neil grabbed the handle and twisted it, entering the room with a loud creak before shutting it behind him. Then he saw the nine individuals in business attire sitting before him and looking at him curious. There was Clifford Wolfe, the Chairman of SEGA for six years at this point and somewhat of a friend to Neil, flanked by eight other individuals dressed in the same attire. The director of SEGA Gaming Studios, as Neil's branch had been titled last year, gulped audibly in anticipation as this meeting would determine if he still had a job and if the board was truly happy with what he had planned. "Neil, it's great to see you again. How's Phil?" Cliff started off with a friendly tone, bringing up Neil's three year old son Phil, who was the light of his life and had given him motivation to work harder on this project. Neil smiled at the attempt to lessen the tension.
"He's doing good. Making me and Melinda proud each day at how much he grows and learns." A nod as Clifford took in the information before he began to speak.
"That's good to know, but I think we both already know what this meeting is about. How goes the progress for SEGA Games?" He asked while raising a brow at Roland, who gave a shrug in reply.
"I mean, it's going pretty smoothly in my opinion, though I wish we could be given more resources and manpower for this. Games are going along just fine, Sonic is looking really good and we think he'll be a smash hit, we've created some decent story ideas for Tale of Emilia and Kranzel that gamers could get invested into, and I've gotten the licenses to all the IP owners for the titles that we haven't made. I inked an agreement, the last one, with Scorcese a few months ago to make a Godfather film." Neil spoke candidly, hoping that none of them would realize that he was avoiding the big, and important, elephant in the room on purpose so he wouldn't have to explain why he wasn't bringing it u-
"And what of the console?" one of the directors asked and Neil visibly sagged. Yeah, he was afraid of that, the whole console thing. Bringing that up and talking about it was not something he was looking forward to.
"That...is going places." Neil tried to regain his cool and nerves so he could speak more on the console. "We already have three name ideas for it when we officially unveil it and announce its release date when given approval and we already have scripts for the marketing team as well as a basic design for the console, which is this." He then gave each of the Directors, and Cliff, a paper that had the basic design of the console they wanted on it. "I think it will go quite well with families and gamers." He hoped that was the extent of their questioning.
Sadly, it wasn't meant to be. "And what of the pricing?" another director asked, hands clasped together while holding his chin in them. Neil sighed and braced himself for the worse.
"We were hopeful at the start, but as we put more resources into it and made new tech, as well as making new tech, we're thinking the most likely price will have to be $400 if we want to break even." the moment his answer finished, the room not only went dead silent, it also got extremely chilly and Neil visibly shuddered as the entire board looked at him furiously.
Cliff cleared his throat, causing Neil to flinch, before speaking. "Neil, you do know the 2600 is at least $190, right?" A nod. "And what is 400 when 190 is subtracted from it?"
"...210, sir."
"Why does our console cost $210 more than the 2600, which we're competing against?"
"I mean, the technology a-a-a-" A slam on the table ended Neil's stuttering and caused him to jump.
"That doesn't mean anything!" The director who had done said action barked angrily. "that amount will severely hurt our bottom lines and families will be less willing to buy it!"
"Well, I said it is the most likely price, it doesn't have to be the final price." Silence before Clifford began to whisper with the other directors. After a few minutes, the huddle broke as the discussion ended and Clifford looked up to him.
"Neil, I'm using up the last of my good will here. The board and I agree that we should give you to March of 1985 to find a way to lower the price of the console or we'll can it and start from scratch. Don't waste this opportunity." Clifford spoke strictly and sternly, directing a harsh point in Neil's direction to emphasize his point. "You've done good for this so far over these last few years but a big mistake can end that. After this, the board will consider you a lost cause if you don't fix it, understood?"
Neil nodded. "Yes, sir! Thank you sir! I promise you won't regret this, none of you will!" And with that, he was waved off and Neil began to head to the team to tell them the news. His team lived another day, barely.
December 3rd, 1982
"I got one!" In came the voice of a team member who Neil had sent out to purchase the latest game to come out for the Atari, E. T. the video game. Based on Spielberg's movie, the game was all on the shelves and had the team, and the board, worried if this would lead to Atari being truly undefeatable. They already had an Atari 2600, so now they just needed the game to test it out. Neil just had a gut feeling that this game was going to be totally awful, just a hunch. If proven wrong though, well, there goes SEGA gaming. The team member took out the game and popped it into the Atari to begin playing it...and almost immediately, the problems started. The constant pits, the disorienting movements, the lack of anything from the movie outside of a vague similarity. It was all awful."This...this is going to hurt the industry, really, really badly." Miyamoto said in a thick Japanese accent as he watched the gameplay as the playing team member cursed and yelled at the game for falling into a pit for the umpteenth time. Neil couldn't help but nod his head in agreement, grateful that his contracts had been ironclad and so none of the people he has signed with could legally leave them until 1987 at the latest.
"Bright side, I don't think Atari will be a threat to our console." He cheekily responded and Miyamoto chuckled in response. Thankfully, this would convince the board that he was moving on the right path and give him a few more years to plan out the idea and develop it so that they come out clean and polished. "$250 says this was made in three months."
"¥40,000 says it was made in seven weeks." The two shared the bet, one that would ultimately be paid in full in 2015, long after the aftermath of E. T. In the moment, however, they were just basking in the soon to come victory as years of patience, planning, and hard work would hopefully pay off in the end.
Is that a subtle nod to Ren & Stimpy, as well as THE KINGFISH's TL of the same name? More specifically in-name?
Nah, I'm on a couple discord servers with @TheDoofusUser, and he liked some of the ideas and energy I was throwing around in his Sega vs Nintendo console wars game. Then he asked me for some ideas for this timeline, and I spat some out and told him any idea I have in the Sega vs Nintendo game that he liked he could use so long as I get a mention.
I like being an ideas guy and once I get my brain juices boiling I can pump them out.
Like, the other night I was listening to music and came up with a great ape themed vigilante organization called the great ape mafia with unique street names for 25 individual ape or monkey themed vigilantes and names for their individual sub-teams.
It's something of a gift, some bald guy in a wheelchair tried to offer me a place at his school for special youths, but I had to turn him down.
Last edited: