Playing at the Next Level: A History of American Sega Games

by Ken Horowitz

Overview

Today a multinational video game developer, Sega was the first to break Nintendo's grip on the gaming industry, expanding from primarily an arcade game company to become the dominant game console manufacturer in North America. A major part of that success came from the hard work and innovation of its subsidiary, Sega of America, who in a little more than a decade wrested the majority market share from Nintendo and revolutionized how games were made.

Drawing on interviews with nearly 100 Sega alumni, this book traces the development of the company, revealing previously undocumented areas of game-making history, including Sega's relationship with Tonka, the creation of its internal studios, and major breakthroughs like the Sega Channel and HEAT Network. More than 40 of the company's most influential games are explored in detail.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786499946
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Publication date:	11/04/2016
Pages:	312
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Ken Horowitz is a professor of English and has written about Sega and video games for over a decade for his website, Sega-16, as well as for numerous other websites and magazines. He lives in Puerto Rico.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents




Acknowledgments • ix

Sega History Timeline • x

Preface • 1

The Return of the American Video Game Market • 3

Sega Establishes Itself in America • 6

The Sega/Tonka Alliance • 10

Taking the First Step • 16

Building the American Arm of Software Development • 21

Contracting Third Party Studios • 27

Genesis Does! • 32

Realtime Games Software • 34

Sega Scores a Touchdown • 40

Infogrames • 50

Along Came a Spider • 56

GEMS Shine on the Genesis • 66

ToeJam & Earl Studios • 69

Sega Technical Institute • 77

Changing of the Guard • 87

New Leadership for an Expanding Market • 105

Novotrade International • 108

The Hardware Revolution • 116

Sega Multimedia Studio • 120

Product Development Enters a New Era • 132

The Coming of ­Full-Motion Video Games • 134

BlueSky Software • 145

Westwood Associates • 161

Sega Interactive Development Division • 166

Sega Midwest Studio • 170

Sega Reorganizes Internally • 174

Alpha (Amoeba) Group • 178

Omega Group • 197

Sega Gets Serious About Sports • 215

The Sega Channel • 235

Twice the Bits, Twice the Problems • 244

Sega Saturn Tiger Team • 246

The Winds of Change • 254

SegaSoft • 256

All Good Things… • 273

Full Circle • 280

Works Cited • 283

Index • 291

Editorial Reviews

I recommend...this is a must read”—SEGAbits; “For more than a decade, the author has interviewed many of the programmers, developers, designers and others who worked for Sega of America during its heyday. It is their stories and details of other behind the scenes events that contributed to Sega of America’s success that are the focus of this text.”—Reference Reviews; “Definitely worth a read...a great inside look at the video game industry in the ’90s...a concise, highly-readable documentary of Sega’s story...an eye-opening narrative that testifies to the challenges of making it in the video game industry...much to enjoy...hard-pressed to find a more appropriate and approachable volume”—M. Brandon Robbins, level250geek.

From the Publisher