Service Games

The Rise and Fall of SEGA: Enhanced Edition

By: Sam Pettus

Narrated by: Tom Racine

Length: 17 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

Starting with its humble beginnings in the 1950s and ending with its swan-song, the Dreamcast, in the early 2000s, this is the complete history of Sega as a console maker. Before home computers and video game consoles, before the Internet and social networking, and before motion controls and smartphones, there was Sega. Destined to fade into obscurity over time, Sega would help revolutionize and change video games, computers and how we interact with them, and the Internet as we know it. Riding the cutting edge of technology at every step, only to rise too close to the sun and plummet, Sega would eventually change the face of entertainment, but it's the story of how it got there that's all the fun. So take a ride, experience history, and enjoy learning about one of the greatest and most influential companies of all time. Complete with system specifications, feature and marketing descriptions, unusual factoids, and now enhanced Europe-specific details, exclusive interviews, and more make this the definitive history of Sega available. Listen and learn about the company that holds a special place in every gamer's heart. Funded on Kickstarter.

©2013 Sam Pettus (P)2014 Sam Pettus

Great book not only for sega fans.

Too much multiple repetition but still an enthralling story. Might not be that interesting to very young gamers. (Or maybe it will be).

Would be 5 stars if edited properly into a book

Great. Not excellent.

The information was there, and that was entertaining, but the organization felt haphazard. It repeats itself often. You definitely get a feeling that this was pieced together from articles and authors. There is no cohesion. While it does go from
beginning to middle to end, the specific timeline between each "era" moves back and forth seemingly at random. The performance was grating at first. It sounded like a radio announcer trying to act. It's not the same skill. A lot of times it sounded as if the performer was reading copy for a radio commercial. Then there was his pronunciation of Shenmue. Omg. "Shenmuey." It made me want to skip ahead. The funny this is that before we got to that part, and truthfully in some parts afterwards, I was very impressed with his pronunciation of foreign names and words. The director simply didn't do his job on Shenmue. Someone should have corrected him. Having listened to Console Wars, which is a dramatized version of the history of sega, I'd recommend Console Wars over this one. Still, if you are a voracious consumer of video game history, you will not be disappointed.

Bad Record/Edit

The book is fine, if a little repetitive, but the production quality is way lower than I'm used to. From the constant background hiss to the unedited retakes to the way the narrator never pronounced Ken Kutaragi's name the same way twice, it was not a pleasant audiobook experience. Despite the narrator's pleasant voice, I'd have much rather read it the old fashioned way.

SEGA!!!!

Great history of Sega. Very thorough about the start and , rise, and decline of the gaming giant.

Entertaining

A fun listen. If you know how Japanese is supposed to be pronounced, it can be a bit grating at times. Ditto for "Shenmue," but otherwise the narration is engaging and the content enjoyable.

awesome book!

very informative and well written, you can tell the author really studied segas history. fantastic book!

A Journalistic Recounting of Sega's Glory Days

So just to make sure anyone going into this book knows, don't be expecting a entertainment-oriented story like you would get in a book like Console Wars. This is an in-depth, highly detailed account of the history of Sega. It is exhaustive, it is intellectual, and it is exceptionally interesting to hear everything that there is to know about this company's rise and fall during the period of time when it was producing home consoles. As a person who was born a little bit too late to fully appreciate the console wars of the late '80s and into the '90s, but who is still old enough to have had a Sega Genesis as his first console, it's great to have this level of insight into a company that I had so much appreciation for as a kid.

I didn't even know I cared about Sega!

I didn't grow up playing Sega games. I played the Sonic games in my youth, as well as Toejam and Earl, but at other kids' houses. Still, Sega pervades the video game industry whether you played their games, so I remember Panzer Dragoon and the Dreamcast a bit. This book though—it made me CARE.

This is the history you want to hear if you can deal with his Sega Love/Resentment For All Other Consoles

Historical info and facts are all spot on. Makes for a good story. Go in knowing that his opinions all lean towards Sega even when they shouldn’t and you’ll be fine.

Bogged down by repetitiveness and bad editing.

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Definitely a must for those wanting to know the whole story behind Sega's fall. But just understand it seems like an eternity to get there.

What could Sam Pettus have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Better editing, and better flow. Stop telling the reader what is going to happen later in the story (We already know anyway.) and stick to the relevant subject.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Service Games?

The last three chapters in regards to the European gaming scene should have been edited into the story line as they were relevant, and not something tacked on at the end.