Kalinske: Ε3 1995, συνεργασία Sony-Sega που ναυάγησε και άλλα ενδιαφέροντα

[Wally]

Καταπληκτικο κειμενο με εξαιρετικες πληροφοριες

Ξεκινα απο το παραλληλισμο της E3-2013 με αυτη του 1995. Μετα φωτιζει μια πιθανοτητα συνεργασιας της Sony με τη Sega στην προ-PS εποχη. Συνεχιζει με τα συμβαντα στην Ε3, με το αμιμητο του (πρωην δεξιου χεριου του Rice) για τα 299 κτλ

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Two of the biggest names in entertainment went head-to-head at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Both unveiled new video games consoles that would launch against each other in a matter of months.

One company was the current market leader. But it had stumbled en-route to E3, and was on the back foot after a series of poor strategy and business decisions.

And so its rival, the underdog Sony, was able to steal the show in emphatic fashion, with a new machine that was $100 cheaper than its rival.

Meanwhile, Nintendo barely even showed up.

1995

Παραλληλισμοι

Tom Kalinske and Steve Race may not be household names in the games industry today, but back in 1995 they were the industryʼs Don Mattrick and Jack Tretton. Race was the man charged with introducing PlayStation into a sceptical marketplace. Meanwhile, Kalinske – CEO of Sega America – was tasked with launching the Sega Saturn.
“I went to E3 this year and I said to the guys I was walking around with: ʽYou know, this show is kind of back to like it was when we started it,ʼ” Kalinske tells MCV.

Kalinkse για την CES

“And the CES organisers used to put the video games industry way, way in the back. In 1991 they put us in a tent, and you had to walk past all the porn vendors to find us, to find Nintendo and ourselves and the third party licensees.
“That particular year it was pouring rain, and the rain leaked right over our new Genesis system. I was just furious with the way that CES treated the video games industry, and I felt we were a more important industry than they were giving us credit for. So I started planning to get the hell out of CES.”

Μια συνεργασια που δεν εκατσε

"Ken Kutaragi saw what we had and said let's jointly market a single games console – The Sega/Sony hardware system."

They had wanted Nintendo to use some technology that they had, and Nintendo instead chose to work with Philips. That really annoyed Sony. Olaf Olafsson [sony Electronic Publishing President] and Micky Schulhof [President of Sony America] came to my office and said: ʽTom, we really donʼt like Nintendo. You donʼt like Nintendo. We have this little studio down in Santa Monica [imagesoft] working on video games, we donʼt know what to do with it, weʼd like Segaʼs help in training our guys. And we think the optical disc will be the best format.ʼ
“Well I agreed with them, I thought CDs would be the next format as well. But in those days nobody knew how to programme on optical discs. So I said, “Ok. Letʼs combine our efforts. Letʼs finance Imagesoft, and letʼs finance this little developer called Digital Pictures, which seemed to be furthest along in knowing how to programme on optical disc.ʼ And they financed three titles from Digital Pictures and we did as well.

“Next we went to Nakayama [sega President] and the Board at Sega, and they basically turned me down. They said: ʽThatʼs a stupid idea, Sony doesnʼt know how to make hardware. They donʼt know how to make software either. Why would we want to do this?ʼ That is what caused the division between Sega and Sony and caused Sony to become our competitor and launch its own hardware platform.”

“I tried to get the launch date delayed so that we had a reasonable amount of software supporting it,” said Kalinske. “I was not successful in those efforts. I had four years where Sega Japan pretty much let me do whatever I wanted, and then this series of events happened where they didnʼt, and thatʼs why I ended up leaving the company.”

“Sega in the US was never meant to get involved with hardware, we were meant to focus on software. But because I was so concerned about the Saturn during its development, we ended up trying to get the specs revised. I had meeting with the head of Silicon Graphics, and he showed me a new chipset that I thought was perfect for the next video games hardware system. I called the hardware group in Japan and they said it wasnʼt quite good enough. It was too big. It would cost too much.

Having been rejected twice by a games industry it was desperate to work with, Sony went it alone and built an entire business unit dedicated to launching its own console. And the electronics giant began by poaching senior staff from the likes of Sega, including Kalinskeʼs right-hand man, Steve Race.
“He know all our secrets and we didnʼt know any of his. And we were in this very uncomfortable position trying to launch this new hardware system, a system that I didnʼt believe in and didn't like.

"When Sony announced that PlayStation was going to be $299, we said: “Well, gee. We are kinda screwed here arenʼt we?”

 

[Metalcandyman]

Aσε και κανενα θεμα απο το neogaf που να μην το ποσταρεις εδω

 

[Wally]

Ποιο NeoGaf? It is all over the place man!

 

[Stormwatch]

Μα να μην έχουν τον Kaz το 1995, να βγεί να πει 499$ και να τελειώσει το παραμύθι από τότε...

 

[Wally]

Ο Kalinkse τα επιβεβαιωνει σε μια δυνατη φρεσκια συνεντευξη