The simple question, "Did Sega Sell Out?" has been asked of me though emails, people at work, and random people who message me online. The answer to the question could be yes, but it's also no. Let's start out from the beginning, when Sega was at it's top. Sometime after Genesis was released, and it beating the NES with it's power, Nintendo released Super Nintendo. After a big gaming war, Sega wanted to upgrade their Genesis (releasing add-ons) of course, this failed completely. As well as all add-ons did for systems at times. Sega then created a new system entirely. It was the CD based, 32 bit system we know as the Sega Saturn. Unfortunately, shortly after Saturn was released, Playstation hit the market. Alot of Sega fans ran to PSX, after hearing about some of the titles (Resident Evil, Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy are some examples.) and Nintendo's N64 (Ultra 64 at the time) was being prepared. All the fans but a group of devoted Sega fans left to PSX or N64, this REALLY hurting Sega. Even with games like Nights, Dragon Force, Burning Rangers, and Panzer Dragoon, Saturn did horrible. Unfortunately, soon after, Saturn's demise came to be.. also, unfortunately for Sega, their financial problems didn't.

Sega then announced their next gen system, known as project "Dural", based on the Virtua Fighter boss. Later, it was announced as the Dreamcast. The most powerful system to date! Fast loading, bigger CD space, and graphics and sound that put PSX and N64 to shame. Dreamcast did great in it's first few weeks of sale, with great hits like Sonic Adventure and Soul Caliber. Of course, Dreamcast was shadowed by the announcement of Playstation 2. 2

2 years after it's released, it was known that Sega has failed again. Thus, they pulled out of the council wars, and announced they would become a third-party company. Everyone was shocked, to shock to notice that hell had frozen over. Dreamcast's Price dropped and some more hit games (That where under-rated), Dreamcast was still doing bad. Not just the Dreamcast, but so where Sega's arcade games. Sega was loosing money, and fast. Quickly, Sega launched their online network and some more hit games, such a Shenmue, Jet Grind Radio, and Samba De Amigo. Of course, with online gaming around now, they released the hit Phantasy Star Online. PSO not just helped Sega live longer, but also paved the way for the online home system universe, as well as took many hours from people's lives.

Soon after, new systems from Nintendo and Microsoft where on the verge of being released, thus Sega knocking down the price of the Dreamcast to $50, and alot of hit games where being sold for $10. (I can't complain.. I got Jet Grind then.)

The days of Sega VS Nintendo are now over.. what will happen next for Sega? They have already released a few games for Nintendo's GameCube, (Including Sonic!) Microsoft's X-box, and Sony's Playstation 2. Also, with titles on the way, Sega seems to be doing all right. We'll see what Sega can do to stay strong. Of course, with developers like Sonic Team, Smile bit, and AM3, they should do wonderful.

Good Luck Sega! Remember, your true fans will always be with you.

~Rurouni Kaji 3/20/03~