I posted my interview with former Sega of America president Tom Kalinske today, and it’s been something of a hit. Even 1up has taken notice! While many people have taken interest in the revelation that Sega and Sony almost developed a 32-bit console together, what really surprised me was Kalinske that finally dispelled the myth that Hayao Nakayama was the root of all Sega’s evil. All the press I’ve ever read, including Sam Pettus’ now-famous SegaBase articles, paint him as the sole villain, when it seems that this wasn’t actually the case. Even Steven Kent, author of The Ultimate History of Video Games maintained that all the problems were Nakayama’s fault, when he spoke to me earlier this year.

Nope, Nakayama apparently was caught between a rock and a hard place, eventually having little choice but to appease his own board of directors. This would explain why he stepped down shortly after Kalinske and Sega founder David Rosen resigned in 1996. Instead of hating the man, I actually feel sorry for him. It must’ve been very hard having to work against a friend, but what else could he have done?

Now that Kalinske, who was #1 on my “to interview” list, has been interviewed, I plan to tackle as much of the Sega of America corporate structure as possible. I’m already in talks with several former staff members, and I’ll hopefully have some more up soon!

I was greeted last week at work with the news that one of my two summer courses had been cancelled due to lack of quorum. That’s nice, since it was the English majors themselves who asked for the class. I volunteered to teach it, and they punked out because there’s no financial aid. God forbid they have to actually pay for their education!

Lol. Wait until they ask me to offer it by contract or via special arrangement………. * evil grin *

Eh, it’s still not so bad. I’m out of work at 10 a.m., and that gives me more time to write. I just recently contacted Curt Vendel, of Atari Museum and Flashback plug-’n-play fame, and we spoke for a bit on his new endeavor, Awesome Arcades. A small company dedicated to manufacturing and selling custom arcade cabs with all sorts of retro goodies available out of the box, it really makes my Mastercard go nuts. Trackball and dual joystick support - it even comes with a lightgun! There’s a buttload of software included, and it’s all upgradeable. Expect a full feature and the interview sometime next week right here on GN.

In Sega-16 news, I scored what could perhaps be considered the Holy Grail of Sega corporate interviews: Tom Kalinske. The man responsible for toppling Nintendo spoke to me yesterday for the better part of an hour, and boy did he ever spill the beans! Lots of info on Sony, Yuji Naka, Sega of Japan, and even the Sega CD - trust me, you don’t want to miss this one whn it goes up this Friday!

It’s weird too, since I wracked my brains for weeks trying to find a way to record the phone conversation without spending hundreds of dollars on software and stuff. It turns out that a $43 digital mini recorder and a $10 suction cup microphone from Radio Shack worked beautifully. I must have listened to the interview a dozen times already!

…Eh, who am I kidding? Like anyone’s going to read this with Candice’s hot friend right below me!

For me, thankfully. Part of the perks of the university schedule is that I only teach Monday - Thursday, even in summer. That means that I only have a four day week, unless there are meetings or other faculty obligations. Since everyone’s gone in summer, I have my Fridays to myself, which means more time for gaming!

I received my copy of Beggar Prince this week, and I am amazed at the quality of the release. A brand-spanking new cartridge, box and manual are testament to the amount of effort that went into this. Even the battery back-up is designed for easy replacement (i.e. no soldering or electric tape required). The game itself is just as great, with an excellent translation and some sweet RPG goodness. I can’t believe I’m playing a new RPG on my Genesis! I’ll have a full review of the game over on Sega-16 sometime in the next two weeks, as I really want to play this one through. If Super Fighter Team can continue to release games of this quality, I will be a dedicated customer. There’s a bunch of Taiwanese RPGs that deserve new life and I’m sure that SFT can play a major part in bringing them stateside.

Amazing, isn’t it? Here I am enjoying a new Sega Genesis game more than the last PS2 game that I played, which was the decidely mediocre Over the Hedge. In almost twenty years time, the licensed platformer has yet to overcome the basic cookie cutter, tie-in mentality that people consistently complain about. Why is it so hard to make a decent licensed game? It’s not impossible, as demonstrated by the superb Chronicles of Riddick on the Xbox. The genre has been less than impressive, and it’s simply inexcusable at this point.

The upside is that my PS2 is literally on fire lately. Aside from Over the Hedge, Chris has been awesome enough to let me review X-Men: The Official Game and Cars. I know that my little daughter is going to love the latter game, given what a big Pixar fan she is. There’s something about talking automobiles that she just can’t seem to get enough of. If I can get her to let me play something else, I should have a lot of free time sucked away with GTA: Liberty City Stories, which I just picked up this week. Nothing like a great budget release to keep things fresh. I’ll be needing it too, since my wife has already confiscated Mario Pinball Land (she’s a Mario freak). It’s not the best example of the genre on the SP (Pinball of the Dead is much better), but it’s still a decent little way to spend some time. It was also cheap at GameStop. :^)

In other news, Sega-16 finally has its staff! Several dedicated individuals stepped forward and expressed their desire to write about Sega’s greatest console. There were a lot of quality submissions, but these guys just stood out:

- Nick Gibson: Associate Editor
- Vince Thornburg: Associate Editor
- Benjamin Galway: Associate Editor
- Dan Riley: Associate Editor

Both Nick and Vince are longtime Sega-16 contributors, and we’re happy as can be to have them aboard full-time. Look for their stuff regularly (Nick has an article tomorrow, actually). Additionally, Steven Kenyon, the man responsible for the site’s awesome new design, has come aboard as web master and our forum’s styles administrator, while Josh Tompkins continues his great work as network administrator. He’s the man who makes Sega-16 possible, keeps it running, and fixes all my noobie boo-boos, and I thank him dearly for it.

Yeah, like no one saw that coming. This may be old hat to some, but this video game quiz is pretty cool. Check out my results:

I am 66% Video Game Addict.

Anyone interested in writing for Sega-16 has until tomorrow at 6:00 p.m., Eastern Time, to submit their application. I’ll be announcing the selected writers on Sunday!