Sega Does what Nintendon't

Not all of you may remember the old 90's war between Sega and Nintendo. But many gamers do. Back in those days you used to see countess debates of who was better and what the benefits were to each. It was during those days that Sega started its ad campaign "what Nintendon't Sega Does". The message was simply that Sega provided gamers with experiences that Nintendo refused to.

Years later, Sega has fallen out of the hardware market and is a software publisher only. Already Sega has found a sort of kinship with their former competitor. While Sega may have had the more mature market segment back in the 90's they ultimately lost out to Sony (and later Microsoft). Sega's properties seem to find a home on Nintendo's consoles where people who enjoy Mario also hold an interest for his old rival Sonic.

Sega, like most third parties, has put forth many efforts to gain greater recognition on the Wii. While they have supported the system with the expected family friendly titles like Sonic and Super Monkey Ball. Lately they seem to have taken a new stance with the system. It is popular belief among gamers that the Wii is a system that doesn't offer much to the core gamer and that Nintendo is not interested in appeasing this market base. Thus Sega is now attempting to please this large market segment by publishing more "core" titles.

Witnessed in the fresh development of Sega's house of the dead series as well as the publishing of more niche titles such as Madworld. Sega is attempting to reach out to the 18-30 male audience typically interested in Sony or Microsoft's system and ignored by Nintendo. Sega also jumped on the opportunity to publish games for developer High Voltage once their game, "the Conduit" started to gain recognition in the core gamer groups.

What excites me most about Sega's recent moves is they also seem to hold a certain understanding that it will take time to rebuild "core" audience. Many of the early adapters who bought the Wii, moved on and shelved the system once they felt taht it did not have enough to offer them. Often developers and gamers look for a definitive ap (like Halo) to real in an audience to a hardware platform. But truth be told competition this generation is too high for it to happen. One game can never change the tides this late in the game, but a large library of titles usually can.

Sega's titles are turning a profit albeit moderate, but it fills a much needed niche on the Wii system. I believe that with the launch of more potentially wide appealing products such as "the Conduit" and next year with High Voltage's other shooter "the Grinder", Sega will have most likely found their stride.

What Sega really needs to do now though is get the word out to the public and to the teenagers and young males that don't necessarily follow news on the Wii. I would actually recommend bringing back their old tag line and showing a full montage of their future offerings. Sega has gotten much positive feedback in the review sector but if they wish to accelerate their success into further sales they will need an inventive marketing campaign. One that will show buyers that they can enjoy both Wii Sports and the latest brawlers.

Nintendo always responds to press and consumer complaints about lack of deep titles on Wii by stating that we should look to third parties. But in a world were most third parties are only providing the Wii with shovelware, Nintendo needs to be more specific. I recommend they point to Sega as one of the top dogs for "mature" titles on Wii. Thus as Sega moves forward with their strategy, I'd wish Nintendo could find some ways to coordinate with them as it would be mutually benificial.