Yu Suzuki: Le Maitre de Sega - Book Review

[Hyo Razuki]

Luck was on my side. I stumbled across the E3 2004 bit. It's on page 491. It's actually not Benjamin, but Remy Louisin aka Trent of Shenmue Master who said Sega had a S3 demo running on Xbox ready for E3 that year. Unfortunately, Remy does not give any source of information, nor does he seem to know why the S3 announcement was cancelled in 2004.

[Amir]

Interesting, while I was going through the Shenmue Master archives after reading this I also found this tidbit from before March 2003:



I wonder if that was actually true? It's hard to imagine Yu Suzuki handing the reins over to anyone when it comes to Shenmue, or Sega wanting to do anything with it without him. Around the same time Suzuki said Shenmue III would go ahead once Sega gave their approval: http://web.archive.org/web/200505260906 ... 25017.html

Only 10 days to go until Berget's book hits Amazon, I'll pick it up for sure.

Also seems Ishikawa thought more Shenmue would come to the original Xbox: "please look forward to more Shenmue games on Xbox." http://www.the-nextlevel.com/features/interviews/am2/ I guess poor sales of Shenmue IIX and the Xbox in Japan meant that never happened. Also interesting to note that he says almost 2 years of work was done on the Saturn version: Hirai said in a 2010 interview that he spent 6 months just on programming, so I'm guessing the rest of the time was planning.

[NeoShredder]

I wonder if that was actually true? It's hard to imagine Yu Suzuki handing the reins over to anyone when it comes to Shenmue, or Sega wanting to do anything with it without him.

Was gonna say, probably a Sega/corporate thing. Like how he came up with a new story for Online, if that game even was his decision in the first place.

[Himuro]

A point of consideration:

Looking it up, Yuji Naka sounds like a complete asshole. So pitting all the blame on Moore seems pretty silly given Naka's previous reputation of giving Sega of America shit and his lack of professionalism.

[Amir]

I mean, it's not like Moore defected to Sony Even Okawa was negotiating with Bill Gates to bring Dreamcast backward compatibility to the Xbox, they ended up disagreeing on including online functionality for these games. Maybe Moore thought bringing Shenmue II to the Xbox would bring it wider exposure? If it had been a success on that console I'm sure we'd all think differently about him today.

[Himuro]

Also, Moore was president of Sega of America.

To pretend he had no qualifications and hypothesize he was given his position at Microsoft, despite his experience, despite his qualifications, for having "sabotaged" the Dreamcast is completely foolish in its paranoia and ignorance of facts. It also comes off nastily as very, very bitter, but worst of all, completely stupid. Moore did not sabotage the Dreamcast, and many executives agreed it was time to hang it up. You have to remember that when Xbox entered the scene, no one thought it'd be successful. So Moore jumping ship to MS shouldn't be seen as taking advantage of the situation.

Now, if he joined Sony, however...

[PacemaŜinobo]

Looking it up, Yuji Naka sounds like a complete asshole.

Accusing Moore of forging the sales figures comes across as unwarranted and unreasonable, true, but do you have specific examples of outright assholery?

[Himuro]

Looking it up, Yuji Naka sounds like a complete asshole.

Accusing Moore of forging the sales figures comes across as unwarranted and unreasonable, true, but do you have specific examples of outright assholery?

Read up on Sonic Xtreme.

Friend told me about it yesterday when I showed him the quote about Peter Moore telling Naka to fuck off.

Naka, apparently had a knack for being a complete and utter dick.

In the case of Sonic, the team struggled and needed to get the game out especially because the Saturn had lagging sales. So they got the engine to Nights. Yuji Naka wrote it. Working at Sega, of course they should have been able to use it. Development for the game was going well and then Naka found out they were using his engine, went to Sega HQ and forced them nix it, and have them start over or he'd quit. Sega HQ balked especially because Naka is photogenic and handsome and a good PR face. Doing so forced them to completely start over, and they were already behind on schedule. The game was cancelled shortly after. There's talk Naka refused to share it with them specifically because Sega Technical Institute were American.

Read more here.

http://www.lostlevels.org/200403/200403-xtreme.shtml

Basically, you can blame Naka for no Sonic on the Saturn. Which lead to even more lagging sales and eventually forced Sega to leave the hardware business.

Also, when Sega was talking about leaving the hardware business, Naka said he'd rather have Sega close its doors completely than quit making hardware.

Naka and Sega of America already had a toiled relationship. You can't blame Moore for hating the fuck. He's a git from all accounts.

Yuji naka was an overrated hack. A highly talented programmer who was put into a producer position without much if any justification and lead one of the most regarded development teams under his lead to absolute ruin.

People credit him to creating Sonic. He didn't. He wasn't the level designer nor he director. Just the programmer. He's a lot like Inafune in that regard: a guy who gets PR and credit for things he never did based purely on name alone.

[Benjamin Berget]

Hello,
if you want my opinion on Peter Moore: I think it is an opportunist who took his pay at Sega, then took his pay at Microsoft.
I thanks Hyo Razuki for his efforts, but he has forgot one important detail to my eyes: I specify in the book that it is Isao Okawa who took the decision to kill the Dreamcast / Sega constructor, and I also presice he was sincerely attached to Sega, him.

And I realize that summed a chapter in 3 or 4 sentences on a forum is not really a good idea... (I talk for myself, not for Hyo Razuki)
I encourage you to refer to my book where everything is explained well, and verifiable.

[LucBu]

I'd agree with you Ben. I don't much mind Moore attacking Naka since I think they're both shallow, like two wild dogs ripping away at each other. However, businessmen like Moore really get to me since they prey on the talent of others and everything is a commodity for them. No respect for the human condition. A bit like Nietzsche's lion but a little disorientated and carried by the strength of others primarily.

[Hyo Razuki]

Sorry Benjamin if I forgot to mention Isao Okawa. I am well aware of it but my post was focussed on Moore so I didn't mention it. I didn't wanna make it sound like you blamed Moore exclusively for Sega leaving the console business.

[Crimson Ryan]

Will the English version have an ebook edition?

[Amir]

Will the English version have an ebook edition?

An ebook edition would be cool, even for the French edition, would save me money on shipping

[Benjamin Berget]

Hello,
I asked my editor if an ebook release was planned, but the answer is "no".

I have no idea of the shipping cost on Amazon or Geeks Line, can someone tell me if they are expensive, stating his country?

(To my surprise, I found typing into Google PDF version of my book on pirate web sites.
They ask your money and you can download all the latest books published.
This is pure scam ! don't put a euro in it : there is absolutely no PDF of my book).

[Amir]

Hello,
I asked my editor if an ebook release was planned, but the answer is "no".

I have no idea of the shipping cost on Amazon or Geeks Line, can someone tell me if they are expensive, stating his country?

(To my surprise, I found typing into Google PDF version of my book on pirate web sites.
They ask your money and you can download all the latest books published.
This is pure scam ! don't put a euro in it : there is absolutely no PDF of my book).

You should tell your publisher about that, maybe it'll put pressure on them to release an official eBook ;) I'm sure they don't want to leave any money on the table, silly of them in this day and age to not consider an eBook.