60°

Sega Franchises That Deserve a Comeback

We explore the Sega classics that are ripe for revival! From Panzer Dragoon Saga to Virtua Fighter, discover why these legendary games deserve a comeback on next-gen consoles. Dive into a nostalgic journey and see which Sega titles are set to captivate a new generation of gamers in 2024.

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finalboss.io
ZeekQuattro17d ago (Edited 17d ago )

Turned based Phantasy Star and Shinning Force remain at the top of my list of Sega IPs that need to return. At the very least I'd take a Shining Force collection that has 1,2,3, CD and the Game Gear entries.

FinalBoss17d ago

I was hesitant to put these two on. I've personally played more PSO than the RPG version. And shame on me, I don't remember much about Shining Force to talk about it properly.

That said, so many Sega licences deserve their place in this list.

jznrpg15d ago

A new Phantasy Star in the numbered series would be amazing. Shining Force too. But I’d settle on some collections as that’s probably the best we will get

anast17d ago

I don't trust Sega to do a proper comeback. The games will be just remastered and/or monetized to death.

gold_drake16d ago

shining force.

but indont see that happening unfortunately.

410°

It's Time To Stop Giving Xbox Boss Phil Spencer A Pass

Under his leadership, many have lost their jobs and fewer games have made it out the door.

purple10111h ago

people should call for his resignation, he has literally flushed xbox down the toilet.
another 3 studios closed today, thats it now, get out

Tody_ZA10h ago(Edited 10h ago)

Well purple101 you'd have to convince Observer and the other Xbox faithful that these studio closures and the fallout from the acquisitions is a bad thing and a sign of what's to come, and I don't think you're going to do that.

Nobody has managed that feat.

Redgrave9h ago

Obscure and Zeref have been summoned to the floor to give their account of these proceedings.

VenomUK9h ago

I 100% blame 'nice guy Phil' for the death of Xbox. The thing to realise is the Xbox Series S & X are performing WORST in console sales and game sales than the much criticised Xbox One - how can this be?

His two big mistakes were 1-not developing enough exclusives and 2 - always trying to beat PlayStation. If he made more exclusives over his decade reign and not tried to 'win' then classic Xbox would still be here in a profitable third place. Instead he tried a series of different projects to win and he ended up ultimately destroying Xbox by changing its relationship with its most loyal customers. What did he do?

* Phil spent a decade only release new iterations of Halo, Forza and Gears and not investing in creating new first party studios and IP. He mishandled Scalebound and shutdown Lionhead Studios.

* Phil tried Mixer, a streaming channel that could be used to promote Xbox dominance with free giveaways...

* Phil tried to create a streaming service that he regarded as too superior to consider PlayStation and Nintendo as competitors! But would instead compete with Netflix and Google...

* But his worst mistake was Xbox Game Pass - a multi billion dollar investment that could only work if completely dominated the worldwide gaming market - but it didn't. Instead it changed the culture of Xbox gamers so they resented spending on third party games as they were now trained to expect everything for free. Now all the games Microsoft had invested so much in were not only NOT making money from other platforms, as ever, but they were now NOT EVEN making money from Xbox customers.

If Phil Spencer had just concentrated on making new games and not non-stop gimmicks to beat PlayStation, I genuinely believe the Xbox would be an attractive platform with regular exclusives like Halo but with others too that would give it its distinct identity and maintain a profitable existence. Phil's been in charge for over a decade, the blame lays at his feet.

Chevalier2h ago

Nah idiots like those 2 are lost causes. Just look at the idiotic floundering comments already being posted.

amazinglover8h ago

Last MS financial results for FY24 Q2 which is the company's sales data through Dec. 31, 2023. According to the earnings, gaming revenue is up 49% year-over-year.

That doesn't sound like he flushing it down the toilet and that also makes very unlikely he loses his job any time soon.

crazyCoconuts7h ago

Revenue up due to acquisition... Spending 10s of billions for new companies of course revenue is up. They don't tell us profits but they wouldn't be shutting down these divisions if they were in the black. Pretty sure they're shifting so radically because their current state has been an abject failure

Scissorman7h ago

This is 100% due to Activision Blizzard. If that deal had not gone through, Xbox revenue would be flat, which means a game like Starfield failed to move the needle.

rlow16h ago

@crazyCoconuts
While I agree that Phil and team have gone back on their word. Especially the last six years of promises.

But I disagree on your logic about the revenue.
They bought the companies to boost their gaming division revenue. In that regard they were very successful. They are owned by MS so your point is moot.

Lightning773h ago

They made all that money and still doing studio shutdowns...

It's bottomless pit of money MS wants. There's no amount of money MS can make to save their own studios. They're doing it out greed and general incompetence. Calling Phil's head won't mean anything or do anything for MS. They'll still destroy regardless.

Chevalier2h ago

Damn idiots don't know how to read revenue reports. Revenue was due to folding in Activision Blizzard Revenue. They were up 61% due to Activision Blizzard with 62% increase. So they only went up 1% over last year. But idiots going to be idiots thinking Spencer is helping Xbox right now. Lol

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Tacoboto11h ago

Phil needs to go. His time is over. When you oversee layoff after layoff after studio closure after studio closure, it's impossible to keep going forward and have people - employees and fans alike - trust you in any way.

Especially after HiFi Rush hit their metrics. I guess we know what to expect for Ninja Theory next once Hellblade is out, and Machine Games once Indiana's out & Todd Howard focuses back on ES6.

Lightning773h ago(Edited 2h ago)

Ninja Theory won't last after HB2. Because it won't hit some impossible metric in order to be a success at MS.

Expect NT to be gone in a years time also. Where the hells the advertising for Hellblade 2? Another MS issue they do to themselves bunch of clowns.

Tacoboto2h ago

Their first-announced Series game going out like this. Their marketing so far has just been a daily tweet or two the last week.

And now this will overshadow everything up till and through its release. Maybe Ninja Theory will get the same dignity as Tango and bow out with a better PS5 port.

Chevalier2h ago

Hellblade 2 out in 2 weeks and no one will even remember it by the beginning of June

Chevalier2h ago(Edited 2h ago)

Just watch Outer World's 2 also be dead on arrival without Playstation and Nintendo gamers buying that game you can expect Gamepass to kill that IP too. Ditto for making that contract to exclude Playstation gamers from getting Indiana Jones too. Remember how Tomb Raider sales were on Playstation after the 1 year exclusivity? Expect even worse for Indiana Jones too

mastershredder10h ago

It's not just Phil (Phil is just the dumb kid taking the money) and Kotaku is NOT the voice to listen to as shi7 sites like Kotaku helped contribute to modern gaming toxicity and disinformation. Kotaku staff = Much like Phil, and yes need to go.

Moegooner10h ago

MS has been posting record profits, you think they give a crap about games and gamers? Think again.

DOMination-10h ago

What a prat.

People gave him and Matt Booty the benefit of the doubt for a few years due to the mess they inherited but a decade on and all they've done is ruin gaming for everyone.

The only success they've had is MS Flight Simulator which was developed by a third party anyway - and Forza Horizon which by pure coincidence went downhill in quality the second Playground were acquired (imo) and that's all I can think of. Everything else they've touched has been ruined.

It's genuinely staggering how either of these two guys are still there.

Hofstaderman10h ago

Phil didnt even inherit a mess, he was equally responsible for it because he sat on the executive so the kinect and XBONE roadmap vision was also on him. Mattrick was the convenient public scapegoat back then but now theres no one to place the blame on.

Tacoboto10h ago

If they're to keep anyone, I'd hope it would be Sarah Bond. She's at least consistent, constantly doing quick tweets with green emojis where she can, repping the brand, saying the next hardware will be the biggest leap ever (whatever that means).

Phil Spencer openly minimizes Xbox by going out of his way to congratulate competitors and talking about how great playing non-Xbox devices are; if only Xbox had someone that could even pretend to like Xbox for being Xbox.

LoveSpuds10h ago

This is the point I always found frustrating, the whitewashing of Spencers reputation when he got promoted. He was involved in the slide into mediocrity of the 360 generation!

Aloymetal9h ago

The worse is yet to come and their fanbase don't know it yet, someone at MS posted and deleted a tweet saying all their main ''exclusives'' Halo, Forza, Gears etc will be heading to PS soon so grab a front seat ticket and some popcorn and enjoy the show;) The crying will be hilarious.

Notellin9h ago

Yeah he is absolutely responsible for the abysmal state of Xbox. I can't tell Mattrick and Spencer apart at this point. Both have been horrible executives for the Xbox brand.

Lightning772h ago(Edited 2h ago)

Phil's responsible for this generations mess. Phil was the one following orders under Steve Balmer and Don Mattrick.

Don even admitted he messed up on camera with the Xbox documentary

Let's keep the facts straight. Everything currently now is Phil's fault.

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90°

Baldur's Gate 3: Neil Newbon Explains Why Astarion Was a 'Risk'

In an Interview with Game Rant, Neil Newbon discusses the performance choices he made portraying Baldur's Gate 3's Astarion, and why some decisions were risky.

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gamerant.com
80°

Hasbro's $1 billion bet on internal game development

Brendan writes; "Head of digital product development Dan Ayoub tells us about the toy maker's plans to get back in the game."

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gamesindustry.biz