The GHZ Forum

But anyway, starting with the Sega Gamers Day two years ago was when I was really struck by a different feeling that was coming from the company with things like Condemned 2. They were games that felt very iconic -- not very traditional Sega, but it felt like the company was building toward a new, "This is the kind of entertainment you can expect from us."

SJ: I would say that's a great observation, and thank you for that. It makes me feel good, because that's absolutely what we set out to achieve. I think that our ability to be successful is really down to being different from the big players. So much product these days is safe and formulaic, and therefore not particularly creative or interesting.

Sega's never really been the company to do that, so we've really tried to not seem like a mini-EA or a mini-Activision or anything like that. Games like Condemned, whilst not being traditionally Sega, we want them to feel like Sega, as part of the new look company.

And with a game like Sonic Unleashed -- this is perhaps too much digging down into one game, but it's still kind of telling a story and trying to make Sonic a different thing than he is, which is just a guy who's blue that goes fast

What about Secret Level?

SJ: Secret Level was a little technology house that was just down the road from us that was a pretty small company. They were building Golden Axe for us anyway, and we decided that we wanted to start an internal studio in North America.

So we went through all the motions of looking to hire studio heads and looking for office space and looking to hire producers. Then we suddenly realized that we've already got 40 people who have got a strong technology background already building a game for us.

It would be way more cost-effective and efficient to build them out, so that's what we did. We acquired them for a pretty small amount of money and built them out. If we hadn't done that, we wouldn't have been able to get Iron Man to market in the timeframe that we did.

Iron Man was qualitatively not what we wanted, but it's a game that was built start to finish in 14 months, and that's in the power of the studio to be in a great position to be building products going forward in a really strong manner.

Do you think that Secret Level can be built into a triple-A studio branch -- maybe you have a different view of them than I do?

SJ: Probably not a triple-A studio, but I think they're absolutely capable, with the right people, of building product that scores in the 80s, absolutely. They're not a Creative Assembly and they never will be a Creative Assembly, but as a work-for-hire studio, they've got some great assets, some really strong technology, a strong tools pipeline, and they're one of Sony's preferred developers on PlayStation 3, because their technology's so good.

And we're absolutely able to make the most of that. I think the design side of the studio... they don't have world-class designers, but they do have world-class technology and world-class art.

Speaking of names, what has happened to Yu Suzuki?

SJ: Last I heard, he was doing some online stuff in China.

He's spearheaded an arcade racing title. Is he just really off in his own world?

SJ: Yeah. He's kind of his own man right now. Every now and again, he'll come up with an idea, and I don't think anything has come out of that yet, but we're still working with him. He's not an employee anymore, but...

I wasn't sure if he was still actually a Sega employee.

SJ: Not as far as I know.

Anonymous wrote:As one of the designers at Secret Level I have to say that Simon Jeffery's statement about us is one of the most shockingly unprofessional things I've ever seen in an interview.

As a group we've been sacrificing our personal lives and health to ship products for Sega. We didn't expect thank yous, but we definitely never expected a slap like that.

There's more I could say about his statements, but I'll hold my tongue because it wouldn't be professional to discuss these things in a public forum.

Green Gibbon! wrote:Indeed, how could any compassionate, decent human being think so lowly of a studio with such an amazing track record.

Green Gibbon! wrote:Indeed, how could any compassionate, decent human being think so lowly of a studio with such an amazing track record.

Segaholic2 wrote:http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_i ... tory=19807

Kotaku wrote:Sega president Simon Jeffery appeared to have misspoke on the employment fate of famed game designer Yu Suzuki when he told Gamasutra that the Outrun creator was no longer employed at the company. Turns out, he is!

I would love for Sega to not be thought of as the Sonic company.

Arcade wrote:Really, who cares? Things like Iron man for the wii made me realize that Sega can still do good games, as long they arent Sonic games and other company forces them to do it right.

Segaholic2 wrote:Jeffery is a cool guy. I like him.

Yami CJMErl wrote:

Arcade wrote:Really, who cares? Things like Iron man for the wii made me realize that Sega can still do good games, as long they arent Sonic games and other company forces them to do it right.

Didn't the Iron Man game get mediocre reviews?

<Shadix> So, as you know, I initially contacted you with regards to Sonic the Hedgehog pioneer Hirokazu Yasuhara. How was it like working with a guy like him?
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<akira3d> Working with Yasuhara-san was great. He laid out the gameplay for one of the bosses that I worked on for Jak 2. He produces these awesome little drawings that have so much character just to illustrate his vision for what is going to happen in the stage.
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<akira3d> I was sad to see him go.
<Shadix> Why did he leave?
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<akira3d> I'm not entirely sure...I know he liked working with us
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<akira3d> But I know he was going to be working with friends he had worked with in the past too
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<Shadix> alright
<jman2050> Sonic Team reorganization?!?!?! (lol)
<Shadix> holy smokes, that question ignited a fire
<jman2050> so I'm up, right?
<akira3d> Uh...he didn't go back to Sega
<Shadix> Yeah
<Shadix> He went to Namco Bandai