Console wars. Console wars - a unique book by Blake J. harris on the historical confrontation between sega and nintendo

The modern console market is surprisingly diverse and complex! Here we have Nintendo with its unusual approach and philosophy, and various micro-consoles on Android, Steam Box. Corporations Sony and Microsoft competing with each other in teraflops, frame rates and picture resolutions!
Should we forget about various smartphones, which for a long time, albeit with great stretch, can be called "gaming devices"?

In the nineties, of course, it was also interesting: all these bulky things with CD drives, Panasonic, Philips, Atari and so on, but the sixteen-bit era has become a battleground for two gaming systems. SNES against Genesis... Nintendo vs. Sega.
Mario or Sonic? What's better?
Many people associate the beginning of the nineties with this very confrontation. Console Wars, having arisen then, continue to this day.
No wonder that Blake J. Harris(Blake Jay Harris) wrote a book about it, which, it seems, are going to be filmed!

"Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle That Defined a Generation" Is a good hardcover book. It tells the story of the times when Sega pulled us out of the warm, soft and glorious period of the all-encompassing dominance of Nintendo in the interactive entertainment market and plunged gamers into internecine war. The book focuses specifically on Sega, detailing the moment of its formation as a strong adversary, claiming a good market share.

Annotation to the book reads:

In the 1990s, Nintendo dominated the video game market, while Sega was an indecisive company with a few ambitions and ambitions. Everything changed with the arrival in the Sega camp of someone who was poorly versed in video games, but knew a lot about marketing, sales and was ready to act decisively!
Tom kalinske(Tom Kalinske), skillfully using tactics unusual for such a business, as well as the blood, sweat and bold ideas of his newly hired employees, turned the usual rivalry and healthy competition of the two companies into the battle of David and Goliath - an unprincipled battle with Nintendo, the main enemy, has begun!

The fight was merciless, treacherous and brought in colossal profits! In the end, all this resulted in a huge war in its scale, which was raging on all fronts, from school cafeterias and sports grounds, to boardrooms and the US Congress. An unprincipled fight engulfed everything: brother against brother, children and adults, Sonic against Mario and the USA against Japan!

The book is based on over two hundred interviews with former Sega and Nintendo employees.
An amazing story about how Kalinske led a team of doubting losers to the market leader! The humble family man inspired many, turned problems into competitive advantages, eventually creating and launching a giant $ 60 billion production!

The book will be prefaced by movie star Seth Rogan and produced, written and directed by Evan Goldberg.
It is already available for pre-order at amazon.com and will be published on May 13.

Film rights for this book have been purchased Sony pictures back in 2012 and looks to be directed by Scott Rudin. Film scripts are going to be written as well Goldberg and Rogan.
In any case, all this has been written with a pitchfork on the water, because even the book itself has not yet been published. And even if they start filming a movie, we won't see anything earlier than in a year or two - this is still the best case.
One way or another, it will be very interesting to read the book!

"Console Wars" is a term used to refer to periods of intense competition for market share between game console (game console) manufacturers. The winners of these "wars" can be determined in different ways: by the degree of penetration and financial results, or by the affection and the number of fans of the console and its games. The term itself does not imply a "clean" victory: in the console wars it is not decided whether a manufacturer will stay on the market or leave it.

Home computers

• ZX Spectrum vs. Commodore 64

In the UK, Atari's war against Intellivision has never reached the same scale and ramifications as in North America. Instead, the ZX Spectrum vs. Commodore standoff in the mid-1980s was the first such war in Europe. This was due to the fact that magazines about computer games came to a single format, and also with the fact that these computers, to a much greater extent than previous systems, became part of youth culture. The Commodore 64 was generally much more technically advanced than the Spectrum, but it tended to sell for twice the price.

Deposits from 50 rubles to 10,000 thousand at 50% per day, the project works for less than a day (which means that it will pay regularly for a few more days). Don't miss your chance ...

• BBC Micro and Apple vs. ZX Spectrum and C64: rich and poor

At the same time as the standoff between Spectrum and the C64, there was another conflict, where both computers opposed the BBC Micro, other Acorn computers, and Apple computers. BBC Micro was educational oriented, supported by a series of BBC television programming and school supplies. The ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 were more game-oriented. The trend was that the cheaper Spectrum / C64s were mainly owned by children from working-class families, while the more expensive BBC Micro, Acorn and Apple were bought for children from wealthy families. In addition, Acorn computers and some BBC models (notably the BBC Master series) found their niche as business computers: being compatible with teletext, more expensive machines were better suited for this role. In total, about 1.5 million BBC Micro cars were produced. ZX Spectrum sales reach 1 million in first 17 months; in total, more than 5 million ZX Spectrum were sold (counting all models, including +2 and +3, but not counting numerous clones).

The struggle for this market segment was featured in the BBC documentary Micro Men.

• Amiga vs. Atari ST

The Amiga vs. Atari ST confrontation took place in the late 1980s. In the UK and France, where ST was relatively stronger compared to other countries, the war continued into the early 1990s. After all, Amiga sales significantly surpassed ST sales even in the UK. The Amiga had better graphics and sound, and a built-in double-sided drive. The ST was cheaper and had a built-in MIDI port. Many early games were first developed for the ST and then simply ported to the Amiga using the same code and graphics, but with a reworked sound.

8-bit era

• NES vs. SEGA Master System

During the so-called 8-bit era, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) spread to North America and Japan (like the Famicom), in part due to the earlier release and in part due to Nintendo sanctioning developers who released their games. for other systems if those games have already been released on the NES. This worked and stifled support for the SEGA Master System from game developers, resulting in a competitive edge. However, the Master System outperformed the NES in Europe and Brazil. In Australia, the Master System was also initially in the lead, but lost ground after the NES was marketed under the Mattel brand.

An excerpt from a book about the confrontation between two corporations

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In December 2015, Blake J. Haris's book "Console Wars" was published in Russian, which tells the story of the confrontation between two giants of the console industry - Nintendo and Sega. The editorial staff of the "Games Market" section publishes an excerpt from one of the chapters of the work with the permission of the White Apple publishing house.

On Christmas Day 1992, Nintendo faced the same problem that many shy, pimpled teens face: The company just wasn't cool. And like these uninteresting teenagers, she was trying to do something cool (like buying a baseball team) that only annoyed everyone. The root cause of this trouble was Sega, whose wicked, poignant "Welcome to the Next Level" ad campaign branded Nintendo a scary purple not (not cool, not fashionable, not interesting to anyone over ten years old).

Recognizing the pervasiveness of these ads and their perfect harmony with modern pop culture, Nintendo employees realized that the mass perception of their company had radically changed. But if one of them still cherished the hope that Sega was just a fashion fad and temporary whim, then such thoughts disappeared after a presentation from Market Data Corporation (MDC).

Growth is slowing down, ”the MDC representative repeated somewhat wearily, as if for the hundredth time. “Of course, the recession is part of this slowdown, but our research points to other factors as well.

Earlier this year, as a trend reversal began, NOA commissioned MDC to study the rapidly changing landscape of the video game industry. The agency recruited nearly eight hundred families into the market research and scrutinized gamer addictions, as employees of Goodby, Berlin & Silverstein did earlier.

Children who have a Nintendo console still play a lot, ”continued an MDC spokesman. - About 2.3 hours a day, but among those we interviewed there are those whose attitude towards Nintendo can be defined as "lack of engagement." This increasing apathy can also be the cause ...

Let me guess, ”interrupted Peter Maine. - The reason for the slowdown in growth?

Yes, the representative replied. “And the answer we’ve heard many times and which explains the aforementioned feeling of apathy is that playing Nintendo consoles… I’m quoting,“ this is not cool ”.

Hey, I have a thought, ”interrupted Bill White. - Maybe we should also put a pair of sunglasses in every Super Nintendo box?

After a wave of chuckles, the representative continued his speech:

We asked each of the respondents to rate all consoles currently on sale on different points. Sega came out on top in many respects, including aspects such as image, price and technology. But Nintendo came out on top in terms of fun, emotion, and game selection.

Here Arakawa nodded, not because it was a ray of hope for him, but because it was the only thing that mattered. The gameplay ruled over everything, and everything else was husk. If he had expressed his opinion out loud, none of those present would have objected to such logic, but they would not agree that the so-called husk does not matter. A few years ago, Peter Maine coined the expression "Play is the main thing," and he still believed that was the case, but no one could deny that the Sega hiss was a game-changer. And the biggest change - at least from Nintendo's point of view - is that Sega has turned this confrontation into a war of style against content.

To anyone unfamiliar with the video game industry, it seemed like Nintendo couldn't help but kick back. In fact, many were even confused to see that Nintendo was not responding in any way to Sega's actions in public. After all, the company had people, products, and financial resources to redefine, or at least renew, the Nintendo brand for a new generation. This didn’t mean they had to start filming ads as trendy as Sega's, run them in prime time, or promise millions to take them to the “next level,” but Nintendo could run a campaign to remind the world of that fun. , which was supposed to provide this newest level. The company could also develop a game that would kill Sonic, just as Sega created the killer Mario a long time ago.

And if Nintendo had planned to continue using Mario, then maybe she could change his appearance a little (in 1990, the company arranged plastic surgery for him so that he did not look like a typical Italian; so why not now dress him in ripped jeans , For example)? Many believed that Sega had cornered Nintendo, but there were a million different ways the company could have avoided that fate. For example, she brought to market Mario Paint, a groundbreaking game with a computer mouse included, a game that was a high-tech art program, not just dumb family coloring pictures by numbers. As Nintendo's market share declined, it became easy to make these kinds of criticisms, but there was a main reason Nintendo didn’t respond to the way Sega portrayed it: Sega was basically right.

Nintendo was indeed the video game equivalent of Disney. Not only with cute characters and family values, but also this magical sense of nostalgia that even kids could experience. And just like Disney and Mickey Mouse, Nintendo and Mario weren't cool anymore - simply because the belief was ingrained in the public mind that they weren't really cool anymore. They were thought to be fun, ageless, and magical, but these important strengths turned into disadvantages when it came to teens and adults. If Nintendo had stayed the way it is, then it would have lost this growing part of the market, but if it wanted to develop, then there was a risk of losing its identity. As a result, Nintendo faced a simple dilemma: approval or adaptation.

Our research is by no means conclusive, ”said the bad news messenger from Market Data Corporation. “But it, like nothing else, indicates that Nintendo needs to implement new strategies in order to maintain a dominant position in the market.

While this comment smelled strongly of evidence, it seemed to many to be a sign of concern. Each of those present had their own view of how Nintendo should develop, and each secretly hoped that right now everyone else in this room would understand how correct his opinion was.

Naturally, Arakawa wanted to continue to follow the chosen course. Tilden (Gail Tilden, former Nintendo VP of Brand Management - ed.) agreed with him, although she believed that it was possible to take advantage of the iconic Nintendo intellectual property. Maine agreed with Tilden on the essentials, but was thinking on a more serious scale. He believed that the video game industry was increasingly reminiscent of the film industry, and wanted to make large-scale launches of Nintendo blockbusters. The Leo Burnett advertisers wanted to reinvent the bicycle simply because they are advertisers and all advertisers want to do it. Last but not least, White did not want to answer Sega on the merits; rather, he would rather do what they did, but only do it much better. He wanted Nintendo to grow aggressively and become something like Sega, and believed there was no better proof of the changing market tastes than looking at the company's 1992 bestseller list:

1. Street Fighter II - 1,300,000 copies.
2. Legend of Zelda - 1,000,000 copies.
3. Super Mario Kart - 550,000 copies.
4. Mario Paint - 550,000 copies.
5. TMNT: Turtles in Time - 350,000 copies.
6. Madden Football - 350,000 copies.
7. NCAA Basketball - 250,000 copies.
8. Play Action Football - 250,000 copies.
9. Super Star Wars - 150,000 copies.
10. NHLPA Hockey - 150,000 copies.

The main Nintendo game in 1992 was a fighting game, and although there was no blood and violence in it, there was nothing Disney in it (in the haduken Ryu or a hundred blows by I. Honda). Of these top ten games, only five were created by the company itself (suggesting that other companies did far better at capitalizing on consumer tastes), four of them were sports (which Nintendo tended to shy away from this year, but this year they finally managed to reach an agreement with Electronic Arts after Trip Hawkins unexpectedly left the company). The effectiveness of Sega's advertising campaign served as further proof that a new marketing approach is essential to continued success (if you watch any sporting event, you will notice that even market leaders like McDonald's and Coca-Cola are constantly reinventing themselves). Come on, - thought White angrily. - Sega has begun to butt even with Nintendo, - so now is the best moment to roll out their most powerful guns. "

", Last year released in our country" Game Over: How Nintendo Conquered the World" and " Play! History of Video Games», Gladly informs that already in December 2015 the third book on the history of the gaming industry, officially translated into Russian, will go on sale in Russia, “ Console wars» Blake J. Harris... It is for this work that a documentary about the historical confrontation between Japanese manufacturers will soon be released. Sega and Nintendo in the international arena in the nineties, filmed Sony .

The foreword to the Russian edition of "Console Wars" was written by a well-known journalist Valery Korneev, in 1995-2009. - editor of periodicals " Video Ass Dendy», « Great Dragon», « Official PlayStation Russia», « Country of Games», « Anime Guide».

CONSOLE WARS: SEGA, NINTENDO AND A GENERATION DEFINED BATTLE

“Who, God have mercy, might be interested in that six-year period in the video game industry?” Asks former Sega of America president Tom Kalinsky. But, as it turned out, this very moment turned out to be a turning point. When an outsider (Sega) challenged an almost absolute monopolist (Nintendo). When new rules of conduct, marketing strategies and many of the things that define the face of the video game industry today were invented. 600 fascinating pages of battles, battles, confrontation and everything that for the average gamer is behind the scenes of the play called the video game industry.

In 1990, Nintendo was effectively the absolute monopoly in the video game industry. Sega, which specialized in slot machine games, was a shaky company with big ambitions and even more ambitious characters.

However, everything changed radically with the arrival of Tom Kalinsky, the former head Mattel, who did not understand anything about video games, but perfectly understood how to fight an unequal battle. His unconventional tactics, coupled with the bold ideas of his non-conformist employees, completely changed Sega and led to a full-fledged battle with Nintendo, as if echoing the biblical story of David and Goliath. But then few people could have foreseen that Sega's success would raise many new enemies and, most importantly, further strengthen Nintendo.

The war was relentless, relentless, and high-stakes. This global corporate war was fought at once on several fronts: in the apartments of ordinary people, on school grounds, on boards of directors, and even in the US Congress. This was the type of conflict where you don't feel sorry for anyone, when a brother rebelles against a brother, children against adults, Sonic against Mario, and the United States against Japan.

Based on over two hundred interviews with former Sega and Nintendo employees, The Console Wars tells the story of how Tom Kalinski miraculously transformed an outsider into a market leader. In his book, Blake J. Harris explores war, strategy, and combat, exploring how exactly what is happening has changed the face of popular culture forever. In essence, The Console Wars is the story of how a humble family man with exceptional imagination and a gift for turning problems into competitive advantage inspired a team of outsiders to battle a giant, resulting in a $ 60 billion industry going to live.

Console Wars is a gripping saga of an epic competition for hearts that has made millions of players the warriors of the joystick and the light gun.

site

Thanks to Blake J. Harris for a thriller that allows us to understand in detail what kind of drama was going on overseas while Russian businessmen practiced cloning the antique eight-bit.

Valery Korneev

With Console Wars, Harris did for video games what Homer did for the Trojan War and Norman Mailer for World War II — he brought people and battles to life.

________________________________

More information about the book can be obtained in the groups of the publishing house on the VKontakte social network (

(game consoles). The winners of these "wars" can be determined in different ways: by the degree of penetration and financial results, or by the affection and the number of fans of the console and its games. The term itself does not imply a "clean" victory: in the console wars it is not decided whether a manufacturer will stay on the market or leave it.

Home computers

In the UK, Atari's war against Intellivision has never reached the same scale and ramifications as in North America. Instead, the ZX Spectrum vs. Commodore standoff in the mid-1980s was the first such war in Europe. This was due to the fact that magazines about computer games came to a single format, and also with the fact that these computers, to a much greater extent than previous systems, became part of youth culture. The Commodore 64 was generally much more technically advanced than the Spectrum, but it tended to sell for twice the price.

• BBC Micro and Apple vs. ZX Spectrum and C64: rich and poor

At the same time as the standoff between Spectrum and the C64, there was another conflict, where both computers opposed the BBC Micro, other Acorn computers, and Apple computers. BBC Micro was educational oriented, supported by a series of BBC television programming and school supplies. The ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 were more game-oriented. The trend was that the cheaper Spectrum / C64s were mainly owned by children from working-class families, while the more expensive BBC Micro, Acorn and Apple were bought for children from wealthy families. In addition, Acorn computers and some BBC models (notably the BBC Master series) found their niche as business computers: being compatible with teletext, more expensive machines were better suited for this role. In total, about 1.5 million BBC Micro cars were produced. ZX Spectrum sales reach 1 million in first 17 months; in total, more than 5 million ZX Spectrum were sold (counting all models, including +2 and +3, but not counting numerous clones).

The struggle for this market segment was featured in the BBC documentary Micro Men.

The Amiga vs. Atari ST confrontation took place in the late 1980s. In the UK and France, where ST was relatively stronger compared to other countries, the war continued into the early 1990s. After all, Amiga sales significantly surpassed ST sales even in the UK. The Amiga had better graphics and sound, and a built-in double-sided drive. The ST was cheaper and had a built-in MIDI port. Many early games were first developed for the ST and then simply ported to the Amiga using the same code and graphics, but with a reworked sound.

8-bit era

• NES vs. SEGA Master System

During the so-called 8-bit era, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) spread to North America and Japan (like the Famicom), in part due to the earlier release and in part due to Nintendo sanctioning developers who released their games. for other systems if those games have already been released on the NES. This worked and stifled support for the SEGA Master System from game developers, resulting in a competitive edge. However, the Master System outperformed the NES in Europe and Brazil. In Australia, the Master System was also initially in the lead, but lost ground after the NES was marketed under the Mattel brand.

Worldwide sales:

First handheld devices

• Nintendo Game Boy and Game Boy Color vs. Sega Game Gear and Atari Lynx

In this confrontation, the Nintendo Game Boy left the Sega Game Gear and Atari Lynx far behind to become one of the most successful consoles in history. In general, this victory is due to the longer battery life, lower price and wider third-party support, despite the fact that the Game Gear and Lynx had a color screen. Nintendo continued to research and released the Game Boy Pocket with the first truly black and white screen, and later the Game Boy Color with almost complete backward compatibility.

Worldwide sales:

16-bit era

• Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES, Super Famicom) vs. Sega Mega Drive / Genesis

The "16-bit era" is mostly known for the rivalry between the Sega Mega Drive (known as the Sega Genesis in North America for trademark reasons) and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) (known as the Super Famicom in Japan). Sega Mega Drive came out about two and a half years earlier than the SNES, and its first few years were quite successful, and after the introduction of the Sonic the Hedgehog series, the console sold even better. However, even the later released the first Mortal Kombat from the Midway company with cruel and bloody gameplay could not save Sega from final defeat.

Worldwide sales:

In Russia and the CIS, numerous clones of Sega Mega Drive were sold in huge quantities (according to unofficial data, about 30 to 1 against the original ones), as well as millions of pirated copies of game cartridges. The original SNES also practically did not enter the Russian market (it could only be purchased in large cities where the Stipler company was able to open branches), had a very high price for a set-top box ($ 130-135), and as a result was practically not in demand, on a par with the original Mega Drive.

32-bit era

• Sega Saturn vs. PlayStation vs. Nintendo 64

The "32-bit era" was marked by the emergence of consoles from Sony and a breakthrough in the gaming industry for their consoles. Nintendo's next-generation console, the Nintendo 64, has fallen victim to an engineering flaw - expensive and aging cartridges. Sega Saturn, due to the desire of the management to release the set-top box before its competitor from Sony, an extremely unsuccessful marketing move with the release of the set-top box in the USA and Europe, high cost compared to competitors ($ 400 versus $ 300 from Sony and $ 200 from Nintendo), innovative engineering decisions, lack of CPU power, and the reluctance of third-party developers to master complex architectures have completely failed.

Worldwide sales:

Sixth generation

• Sega Dreamcast vs. PlayStation 2 vs. Nintendo GameCube vs. Xbox

The sixth generation was a watershed moment for the world of video games. Sega's somewhat unsuccessful marketing policy for its new console, active pressure from Sony, put an end to the life of Sega consoles. Nintendo's reluctance to use the popular DVD format and replace it with smaller, smaller mini-DVDs has also alienated a number of buyers. The Xbox has become Microsoft's test of whether they can enter the consoles market. PlayStation 2, due to popular solutions, attracting a huge number of developers, has become the undisputed leader in the sixth generation of consoles, as well as the best-selling console in history.

Worldwide sales:

Seventh generation

• Wii vs Xbox 360 vs PlayStation 3

The consoles from Sony and Microsoft turned out to be, in essence, a natural development of the ideas laid down in the previous generation. Nintendo took a different route with the revolutionary Wii Remote controller. The unusual solution was designed to attract a new audience, previously not interested in video games. However, fans of "traditional" button controls tend to find Wii games too casual.

Worldwide sales:

• Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance vs. PlayStation Portable

While Nintendo and Sony initially tried to avoid competing in the handheld console market, it was clear that the Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable would create a new field for console warfare. At E3 2006, Nintendo made a statement that Nintendo DS sales exceeded PSP sales - and this was taken as a declaration of a new confrontation.

Worldwide sales:

Notes (edit)

1. How the BBC Micro helped conquer the world
2. Consolidated Sales Transition by Region (unspecified) (PDF). Nintendo.28 July 2011. Retrieved July 28, 2011. Archived March 27, 2012.
3. Pricey. Mega Drive sales figures - an update (unspecified) ... Retrieved January 2, 2010. Archived February 26, 2012.
4. PlayStation® Cumulative Production Shipments of Hardware ｜ CORPORATE INFORMATION ｜ Sony Computer Entertainment Inc Archived May 24, 2011.