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[Soul4ger]

Not sure if this has been noted here yet, but the new Arcadia says Sammy put its Sega "division" in charge of Atomiswave development, and of publishing the Guilty Gear franchise.

 

[belgurdo]

Maybe we'll actually see good non-GG fighting games now (translation of future GG games will probably be shit now because Sammy may no longer be localizing, though)

 

[Soul4ger]

I posted this, mainly because I'm curious if this could possibly mean that Sammy wants Sega to focus strictly on Atomiswave, and not develop new arcade hardware independently, if you could call it that.

 

[WarPig]

This was mentioned a while back as part of their whole reorganization deal. Sega's umbrella covers all the arcade development and distribution for the combined entity.

DFS.

 

[Lazy8s]

Atomiswave is aimed at a completely different segment of the arcades: amusement machines that can be operated for a quarter (twenty-five cents) or even less. It's part of a plan to refocus, regrow and also expand the arcade industry to new markets.

Sammy saw how SEGA has continued to succeed in arcades and is seeking to maximize their strengths there. This will only see their commitment to development of new arcade hardware grow. SEGA has always wanted to be back working with their own proprietary platforms ever since their change into a third party forced them to shift, so including Atomiswave, basically their own hardware, development in their plans too was never a problem.

 

[DCharlie]

the thing i REALLY don't get about Atomiswave is that it was designed as a low cost low power solution.

The thing is - Naomi 2 sells for less to retailers.

Um... so.... given that Naomi 2 is >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Atomiswave, how about using the more powerful hardware?

I guess the problem with arcade games themselves (carts/b-boards/soft in Atomis/Naomi's case) is that their value is based on the amount of coin they would be expected to return.

 

[retardboy]

As I've said 100 times, why bother when the Naomi is the same exact thing? So now Sega will have two lines that are the exact same thing? Me no get...

 

[Panajev2001a]

the thing i REALLY don't get about Atomiswave is that it was designed as a low cost low power solution.

The thing is - Naomi 2 sells for less to retailers.

Um... so.... given that Naomi 2 is >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Atomiswave, how about using the more powerful hardware?

I guess the problem with arcade games themselves (carts/b-boards/soft in Atomis/Naomi's case) is that their value is based on the amount of coin they would be expected to return.

Ease of coding I guess: you can simply re-use the Dreamcast SDK as is .

 

[DCharlie]

"Ease of coding I guess: you can simply re-use the Dreamcast SDK as is "

Isn't that also true for the Naomi family though?

 

[Lazy8s]

The majority of arcade machines that SEGA and Sammy supply are to their own amusement centers, so it's not worth supporting distribution at retail without price mark-ups. There's really no strict guidelines to follow for that, so the comparative prices of their arcade boards tend not to reflect manufacturing expense.

Atomiswave manufacturing expense is less mainly because the board is laid out more cost effectively than Naomi.

Dreamcast development experience converts right over to all of those platforms, including Naomi 2 which has a Naomi 1 compatibility mode specifically built in.

 

[Mr_Furious]

One step closer to my prediction:

Sammy = Pachinko (and non gaming businesses)
Sega = Video Games (home and arcade)

You'll see

 

[atomiswave]

and the atomiswave works similar to the Neo-Geo, in other words, you just change the cartridge.

 

[jarrod]

SEGA has always wanted to be back working with their own proprietary platforms ever since their change into a third party forced them to shift, so including Atomiswave, basically their own hardware, development in their plans too was never a problem.

Erm, actually there were plenty of reports to the contrary. In fact Sega's teams not wanting to use Atomiswave was one of the main factors fueling rumors of staff resignations around the Sammy merger. According to people in the know, no one on the creative side of Sega is happy with being shackled to Atomiswave...

 

[DCharlie]

"and the atomiswave works similar to the Neo-Geo, in other words, you just change the cartridge.'

but you can do the same with Naomi 2 B-boards or GD-roms.

 

[Lazy8s]

jarrod:

Erm, actually there were plenty of reports to the contrary. In fact Sega's teams not wanting to use Atomiswave was one of the main factors fueling rumors of staff resignations around the Sammy merger. According to people in the know, no one on the creative side of Sega is happy with being shackled to Atomiswave...

People resign for real reasons like operational turmoil, job insecurity, and personnel conflicts, not for being focused to develop on a slightly older platform (for which they'd still be developing assuming DC had lasted a normal console cycle and for which they still felt had performance headroom) over marginally more powerful machines, especially in Japan's worrysome economy. If console performance was a driving factor, there would have been resignations when the PS2 was focused on over the Xbox. SEGA designers most preferred the huge leaps their new generation hardware provided them throughout the years, but it's really just been about pushing hardware designed by their company and with input taken from they themselves and about keeping it competitive.

 

[segasonic]

huh? sega hasn't done 2D games since almost a decade...

(except on handhelds)

 

[Panajev2001a]

Atomiswave manufacturing expense is less mainly because the board is laid out more cost effectively than Naomi.

DCharlie says that Naomi 2 sells for less than what Atomiswave does. Maybe they have much better profit margins on the Atomiswave boards though so the real cost of the board is lower than Naomi 2.

 

[jarrod]

People resign for real reasons like operational turmoil, job insecurity, and personnel conflicts, not for being focused to develop on a slightly older platform (for which they'd still be developing assuming DC had lasted a normal console cycle and for which they still felt had performance headroom) over marginally more powerful machines, especially in Japan's worrysome economy. If console performance was a driving factor, there would have been resignations when the PS2 was focused on over the Xbox. SEGA designers most preferred the huge leaps their new generation hardware provided them throughout the years, but it's really just been about pushing hardware designed by their company and with input taken from they themselves and about keeping it competitive.

Lazy, I agree with all that but at the same time Sega's teams were definitely ot happy with the move to Atomiswave. It might be a familar switch but it wasn't a desired one. And it's much less than a marginal difference between Atomiswave and Tri-Force/Chihiro. Atomiswave is essentially a PCB based Dreamcast, while TF/Chihiro are a RAM doubled GC/XBox with a range of media connections (PCB. GD-ROM, etc)... it's like fifth as capable.