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

The Story of the Fall of Sega

Let me preface everything I'm about to say with a quick tl;dr: If you are a Sega fan and are looking for an interesting history of just how Sega fell so quickly look no further.

Now that that's out of the way let me expand on that thought. This book is an interesting listen, but not an engrossing one. All the time I was listening I couldn't help but compare it to "Console Wars" by Blake Freeman, and often times I felt like this book came up lacking, but then I thought on it for a moment and I came to the real heart of the issue. Console Wars entertains first and informs second while Service Games does just the opposite. If you want a story that dramatizes the rise of Sega by elevating the team responsible to the height of heroes of the industry and does so expertly this is not the book for you, Console Wars is. This book reads like an essay written for a college level business class not a novel.

That last sentence there really describes all of the problems I found with the book perfectly. While I was consistently presented with new factoids about Sega's fall I was rarely entertained by them. The best example of this comes with the amount of time spent discussing the CPUs of all of the consoles. Not a single evolution in the technology is even remotely glossed over, which while very interesting at an academic level, left me thinking get on with it more often than not.

This only leaves one real complaint unsaid: the focus given on Sega's fall versus its rise. The title may lead you to believe this is the complete history of that company we all love and hate, but really it isn't. The first few decades of Sega's history are so sparsely covered when compared to how much time is given to its mistakes it isn't even funny. I know for many the failings of Sega are more interesting than its beginnings but I was left wanting.

Summary time for the time strapped: This book tells the story of Sega's fall in a dry yet interesting matter that glosses over two of the most engrossing aspects of the company: its humble beginnings and the very human story behind the scenes.

Slow moving

Although this book is deeply researched it lacks entertainment value. I found myself getting restless halfway through. Not a terrible book but "Console Wars" is far better.

Pure Greatness

Wow very detailed in the complete history of Sega from beginning to now. It sucks to hear how Sega of Japan killed this company from creating hardware with all thier. stupid desicions and arrogance. Sega was great and i wish they still made consoles. one of the best Video game books ever

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.

Great companion book to Blake Harris' Console Wars

Where does Service Games rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It is amazing if you like video game history

Any additional comments?

Different in tone from Console Wars, which tells the story as a "narrated tale"; Service Games is a strictly factual book full of historical details.
Great Read, I would also recommend: Masters of Doom and The Ultimate History of Video Games

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.

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.

Informational, but repetitive w/ production issues

Okay, disclaimer: I couldn't stand Console Wars. I found the writing to be a little hammy. I wanted a book that read more like a history than a drama, and this one fit that criteria. But it's not perfect.

This book was written with an obvious bias towards Sega. That's not necessarily bad, because the author has an obvious passion for this work.

This isn't one continuous work. Rather, it's several different articles or books mashed together. Therefore, it's rather disjointed and even quite repetitive at time. Repetition is a huge issue, even within sections. The information in this book is good, however, I would have liked if the author brought it all together as a cohesive manuscript.

Performance-wise, there are some weirdly mispronounced names, but I could get passed that after the initial amusement. The production quality is uneven, however, and sometimes the sound would randomly be louder or more quiet between sections. It doesn't make it impossible to listen to, but it's of a lower production quality than I would have expected from an Audible book.

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.

Amateurish at best.

After a couple hours, I'm finally giving up on this audiobook. I've trudged my way to the launch of the Mega Drive / Genesis, and just can't bring myself to go on.

This is an extremely shallow look at Sega's history, focusing almost solely on it's home console platforms (and the associated sales performance and marketing), with only passing mentions of actual games or Sega's arcade division (the primary focus of the company for a large portion of it's history). The author is working with an extremely limited amount of factual information, and rather than do additional research, he simply takes real data (hardware release dates, specifications, and sales numbers) and attempts craft a narrative almost entirely based on assumption that reveals an extremely childish understanding of the subject matter. Multinational corporations are portrayed as singular, emotional beings that are seemingly motivated only to best their hardware rivals, and are often attributed completely historically inaccurate reasoning for business and creative decisions.

I'm going to make the assumption that this book gains SOME depth as it reaches an era were Sega of America became an actual industry force (thereby giving the author access to already existing English-language interviews and such), but I just can't go on with this.

If the author is going to spend the first few chapters of a historical text drawing upon ZERO historical information other than the aforementioned dates and sales data... fabricating a narrative that has no understanding of business or the production of creative products.... and making a singular citation... to an Internet FAQ (I'm not kidding), this book is not worth anyone's time.

If you take the subject of game history at all seriously, or care for your non-fiction to contain real information, DO NOT drop money or a credit on this amateurish product.

An interesting story poorly told

I imagine anyone who finds this book will be looking for an in depth history of Sega. That's what the book provides, but it does so with such amateurish writing as to make it a slog to get through. Sentences are often oddly short, and rarely flow together. The writer also lurches wildly between saying how wonderful everything was going to Sega, to how everything was falling apart. This radical change of outlook may be achieved within a few sentences. The narrator tries his best but the writing is so weak that he often struggles.

I'm also unsure as to how accurate it is. I'm well versed with the technicalities of the various Sega consoles, and factual errors abound in this book. If those areas are incorrect, perhaps others may be too.

This book is very different to Console Wars. That book is largely fictionalised and reads more like a soap opera. For all its faults though, at least it feels like it was written by a professional. By contrast, Service Games is clearly the work of an amateur.

Love SEGA but this isn't their story!

If you're somewhat familiar with SEGA history then this telling of it is jarring. Out of nowhere they introduce the planetary system of consoles barely telling you what the code names are all while talking about the Game Gear and never telling you what the planet name for the console was; (It's Mercury by the way). Also how on earth are we talking about the Game Gear and Sonic before we talk about the Mega Drive/Genesis? The Game Gear came out in 1990 and the Mega Drive/Genesis in 1988. The first Sonic was for the Mega Drive and came out in 1991. Sonic was developed in response to Mario. You'd never get that the way this book portrays events. It's honestly all over the place, seriously frustrating. They even give an odd explaination of the Service Games company origin. It was founded in 1946, why are we starting around the mid 1950's with Rosen who merged with Service Games (aka Nihon Goraku Bussan.) It was Service Games who acquired Rosen's company. It's like we start the book by talking about a completely unrelated company and shoe horn in SEGA after the merger; very confusing writing. While Rosen was key to the company becoming a video game company it didn't start there. Frustrating because I love the subject matter and it's good to have on the in the car. It's such a shame because this seems to be the only book of it's type.

a really fascinating deep dive into Sega

this was really interesting. It focuses mostly on the 90s golden age of Sega, but also talks about the origins and early days enough that you can get an idea of who sega was. it's genuinely fascinating and worth listening to if you have an interest in retro gaming and that world

informative

I learned so much about sega I didn't know and would recommend it to anyone wanting to learn more about the companies past

excellent story, excellent company.

The greatest nostalgic journey I could have asked for, great story, great narration. Thank you.

Very informative and interesting

Unlike other reviewers I really enjoyed this book. The narration isn’t too bad and it’s packed with interesting facts and history.

Anyone with an interest in technology and video games is sure to enjoy. Finished this in just over a week, found it that compelling!