Sega Nerds

Not just Adult stores JOEI.

When I was in Hamburg a few years ago, they had posters in the streets and at a railway station which had a woman eating/sipping soup, with her breasts out.

And when we went shopping in a big store called Saturn - and we found some lovely CD ROMs full of Porn… which we promptly bought. :)
They weren’t in an adult section or anything… it was kind of surreal for us.

(Don’t know if the rest of Germany is like that though - maybe Hamburg is just a damn cool place)

Also both games are meant to be humerous.

I will admit that MADWORLD does seem more on the dark side of humour (joy from brutal killing) But it’s very cartoony, and clearly not meant to be taken seriously.

House of the Dead on the other hand has always been pretty light hearted. Like Kogen says, you are killing zombies - so it’s not like you are killing humans. And it’s meant to be quite cheesey - like a B-movie.
-I wouldn’t say young kids should play it, but 12 years old and over would be acceptable.

This simply doesn’t make sense on Sega’s part.

The House of The Dead 1, when released in Japan, had to be re-programmed to have the blood in green only… after a horrific incident involving a teenager.

It would make no sense that SoJ is fine changing the color of blood to green, and that SoE wouldn’t.

Oh wait… maybe it’s because they outsourced yet another great series to another team outside of Sega. Another nail in the coffin I’m afraid, unless someone at Sega wakes up, and smells what they’re shoveling.

@ Christopher Price

Sega just released House of the Dead 4 by SEGA-WOW in 2006 and Sega is also working on House of the Dead EX for release in arcades this winter.

This is a side game that will take everything from the other games, tell SOJ why they just don’t get out of arcades. The problem is arcade games don’t work on consoles as well as they used too.

Maybe if Overkill gets one million sold, we can get Secret Level to port House of the Dead 4/EX with extras.

But there Software division is making money back?

It is not so easy to import in Germany.
The post office front desk will ask you what’s the content of the package and then will check a blacklist.
Prepare for some difficulties if your product is in the blacklist.

While I don’t agree with the censorship, I object to the “wtf, porn is okay, but violence isn’t?”

Sex is a natural, healthy and perfectly legal activity. Punching/shooting/disemboweling people is not.

Both should be allowed to be presented in a fictional setting with the appropriate rating, but I’d much rather my kid see a pair of breasts than something like Saw or Hostel.

If only to spare him the monotony of sitting through Hostel. Bleargh.

I don’t get hbow can people don’t understand that 18+ is there for a reason. Whatever, Madworld will be imported in large numbers by name alone. I doubt House of the Dead will, but it all depends the hype it gets…

Chris I’d love to know where you got the figures for SegaSammy being profitable.
Because it’s actually the other way round.

Sega, the games company, is making money. SegaSammy (the parent company) is losing money, due to the arcades and Pachinko sales falling in the last few years.
-I was actually talking to a guy at Sega about this, why with sales of some games being so high, is Sega losing money. And he basically said “People have been getting that wrong, it’s Sega Sammy who is losing money, not Sega.”

–

“Which would make a better console game; House of The Dead 4, or Overkill?
I think anyone that has tried the two, would say HoTD 4 is a vastly superior title.”

So are you telling us that you have actually played Overkill? I’d be shocked if you have - unless you work for Sega or Headstrong Games.

And if you haven’t then your (above) comment is kind of asinine - as you would have no way of knowing if Overkill is good or not.

And regarding Sonic Xtreme - according to everyone who actually played it, it was utter crap - that’s why it didn’t get released.
So better they released Sonic 3D (even if not everyone likes it)

“Outsourcing games to third parties does weaken Sega financially. I wasn’t referring to Secret Level in this regard, I was referring to true third-parties like Headstrong Games (who are making this game).”

-Sorry I hate to point this out, if you go back and read your initial comment on this, you do actually refer Secret Level in that way.
But, I’ll put it down to being a mistake. (So forget it)

“It is however, quite asinine to say that my opinion of an unreleased game is invalid, simply because the game is not out yet.”

Sorry I’ve got to agree with Rohan Black on this one.
You could have an opinion along the lines of:
“This game doesn’t LOOK as good HotD4″
But to go out and say that Overkill is already worse than HotD 4 is kind of crazy.
-Unless, as Rohan said, you have already played Overkill.
Even then you wouldn’t have played the final build (but I guess you could get a half decent idea of whether you like HotD4 more).

People always do that with games though, go out and say “This game is crap” - without even playing it, or way before it’s even released.
Some games I think look terrible, have ended up being pretty damn fun (and vice versa).

You simply cannot know if a game is fun or not unless you actually play it.

Also:

“Finally, let’s put this a bit more real-world, since many of you aren’t in the business. Which would make a better console game; House of The Dead 4, or Overkill?”

Overkill would. And I shall tell you why.

House of the Dead 4 is great in the Arcade because it has been designed for arcade use in mind. Especially down to the guns, which make the game what it is.
In the arcade you have these lovely, chunky UZIs, which feel great to hold and have a good bit of kickback in them.
Sega would have to spend a fortune releasing peripherals to go with the game, to match that experience.

And if you want the full, and proper, House of the Dead 4 experience you have to play on the Special cabinet - which means you sit in a chair, that rotates to face two different screens, shakes and tilts with the action, has full surround sound and air jets to help create a much more vivid and better experience than other arcade games.

There is absolutely no way Sega could recreate any of that in the home.
It’s part of the reason why House of the Dead 3 did so badly on the Xbox, and why it’s not as much fun on the Wii (as the Arcade).
Because in the arcade you have a badass pump-action shotgun to use, and the crappy Xbox lightgun and Wiimote cannot bring the same, satisfying feeling to gamers.

Gone are the days when arcade lightguns were simple bits of plastic - like in the Saturn era, and Sega could happily release slightly lighter (but essentially the same) guns for the console versions of their arcade titles.

It makes much more sense for Sega to actually make the effort and bring a House of the Dead that has been designed specifically for use with the Wii, so that it will work pefectly on the Wii.

House of the Dead 4 may be a better game (I wouldn’t know, having not played Overkill) but it’s, in part, down to the experience the arcade cabinet has to offer.
And that’s something that consoles (epecially the Wii cannot do).

“I didn’t like HoTD 3 on the Xbox, and I didn’t like it on Wii.”

But did you like the game in the arcades? And if so - why?
Because if it is because of the experience the arcade offers, and the fact you are holding a badass shotgun - then perhaps my point is valid.

Would Sega be able to recreate the fun of HotD 4 on the Wii - without the feel and weight of the arcade’s Uzis?

Also - my understanding of House of the Dead: Overkill is that it is MEANT to look washed out. Almost like a crappy VHS tape - to make it more like the Grindhouse movie(s) - so the gamma/colouring will look different to the other games.

I can understand madworld being banned but not house of the dead. The older ones re there and can stil be played it’s pretty much the same game just different story etc

I’m familiar with the technique. However, the problem is it usually fails when implemented in video games. Probably the most horrible implementation of all time was in the game Enter the Matrix, which tried to give the “greenish tint” of the world of the Matrix. All it did though was make the game look like pea soup.

Probably one of the only developers who I have seen use it successfully, is Hideo Kojima. Notice how each of the Metal Gear Solid games use a color toning that matches the period that the game takes place in.

My caution is well-rooted here, games usually wind up looking washed out (as the videos currently indicate), and the gamma then gets screwed up (again, as the videos indicate), and you wind up with a game that leaves you complaining about being unable to see the environment.

Of course, then savvy games (and reviewers) overcorrect the gamma on their TV/monitor sets, and that further washes out the graphics.

Considering this is one of Headstrong’s first titles, I would strongly advise them to get some experience first.

P.S. I just re-read the prior posts, and noted that you called me out yet again on the Secret Level point I made in an earlier post. What I meant when I mentioned SL, was that they weren’t part of the A.M. R&D division. As such, to SoJ, they basically are not a first-party, but more of a second-party. To the balance sheet, they are equally profitable, but to the technical advance level, they are not cooperating with the Japanese brainchild that is the core of Sega’s R&D.

Divisions like Secret Level are a bad investment IMO, when Sega’s Japanese developers are quitting because they find Sega is cutting corners in R&D over there.

And, of course, Headstrong is complete a third-party, meaning Sega has to share profits, in addition to not honing its R&D.

@Shiro

Germany is also the size of Texas and has the same crime rate. You are forgetting that we are a bigger country than you and actually the sales of guns in most states do not affect the crime rate. Population size and strife does.

I mean, look how small of a population managed to cause so much destruction WWII and prior!

I just find it ironic. “Do not shoot fictional people, instead take a gun and kill real people instead. Just like what grandpa use to do. DUTCHLAND!”