Hop right in and take it for a spin!

If you have access to Japan’s Playstation Home virtual world, be sure to stop by Irem’s area and check out this R-Type exhibit they recently set up. You can look at some of the fighter ships, play a demo game, purchase R-Type games for your PSP or Playstation, or decorate your Home apartment with R-Type ship models.

Segata Sanshiro - one of the best console mascots in history.

Sega Toys manufactured this tribute to the Sega Saturn mascot — the least they could do after he sacrificed his life to save the company’s executives from a missile attack — some time around 1998. Though the packaging has English text like “He Became Legend” scattered around, I don’t think I’ve ever seen this in any North American shop.

The back of the box reads: “SEGATA SANSHIRO is an authority of justice who guides young men to SEGASATURN Do. He hates to things by halves! In pursuit of SEGASATURN Do, he practices asceticism and keeps challenging various things day and night!!”

I want one so I can go forth and challenge various things day and night!

Via GameSetWatch.com.

Satoru Iwata, President, Nintendo Co. Ltd.

Coinciding with the recent release of New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Iwata sits down with the creator of Mario, Shigeru Miyamoto to talk about the mustachioed hero and the design choices that went in to NSMBW.

Shigeru Miyamoto, Senior Managing Director, Nintendo Co. Ltd.; General Manager, EAD

Iwata In this interview, we’re going to talk about New Super Mario Bros. Wii, but rather than diving straight into a discussion of the new title, I’d like to begin by talking about Mario’s roots. There will of course be a lot of readers who know all about this, but I think there are also people who are completely in the dark about how Mario began.

Miyamoto Yes, you’re right.

Iwata Shall we begin by talking about the period of Mario’s initial conception, when he was known as “Jumpman”?

Miyamoto Sure. Now, this is something I’ve been asked about in hundreds of interviews, so I’ll make it quick! (laughs)

Be sure to check out the rest of the interview!

OSV: How were you discovered by Konami? And how was it working for them? I believe you were employed by Konami for 2 years, correct?

Yamashita: So, I was about to graduate from my college and was looking for a job. There was a consultation office of employment opportunities, so I went there. I initially was looking to do hardware designing for musical instruments, but they could not find any of those for females. Then the officer recommended Konami saying “Their music department is looking for someone to work.” I must admit that I did not really know what Konami was, but I gave a shot because it was a music job after all. Konami’s entrance exam was really difficult. If I remember correctly, I think there was like up to the 4th exam. I finally got the job after passing all those tough exams. I was placed into the acoustic effect research lab, and that was when I met the Famicom for the first time. I tried a number of games there. The first project I was assigned to was Akumajou Dracula on Famicom Disk System, or Castlevania in the west. That was also the first composing experience for me.

Recently Chrono put together a guide for Sega’s first international console, the Master System. While it saw excellent sales in South America and Europe, it had a more difficult time in the North American market. Technically superior to Nintendo’s NES, the SMS has quite a few entertaining titles for it and some unique accessories. I pull mine out every once in a while for some Fantasy Zone!

Get your background education about one of Sega’s earliest home consoles!

The first three decades of digital gaming saw a flurry of concepts, technologies, and products that were groundbreaking in their era and still matter today. And the drawings their inventors used to document them in patent filings are a nostalgic, charming blast. Here are thirty-two of those sketches–including ones for some the most successful games ever and a few which I’m not sure ever made it to market at all.

Sleek 80s high-tech design

Check out the rest of the list at technologizer.com.

There will never be another SEGA. While their reign as a first-party has long ended, and the name hardly carries the cachet it once had, the industry owes deep debt to the former giant. An innovator and an unrivaled creative powerhouse, they were perhaps the greatest single developer in gaming history.

While rival Nintendo has shown an unmatched ability to maintain a small handful of blockbuster series, SEGA churned out brilliant original franchises one after another with such frequency they made it seem effortless. Their hit series were practically disposable, because they knew the next one would be just as good. All across the world, from Tokyo, to San Francisco, to Lyon, their studios always bet on the gamble, always took chances, and to their fans, they were always winners.

Unfortunately, SEGA didn’t win many battles in the hardware market. Their history is riddled with mistakes – some that you probably know well, and a few you’ve never heard before, but all of them heartbreaking. Their moment on top was fleeting, lasting just a few years before it all came crashing down. When SEGA retired from the hardware business, it felt like originality and creativity had lost the battle against bigger brand names. SEGA’s way of doing business didn’t pay off, and even as a third party they’ve continued to struggle.

As SEGA’s star has faded, some are quick to whitewash their history; to act as if their success was the fluke and their failure inevitable. It’s natural – the victors always write the history books – but that isn’t the way it happened. This is the story of SEGA; the good, the bad, and the possibilities of what could have been.