Service Games cover art

Service Games

The Rise and Fall of SEGA: Enhanced Edition

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Service Games

By: Sam Pettus
Narrated by: Tom Racine
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About this listen

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 20th Century Americas Modern United States Technology Video Game Marketing

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All stars
Most relevant  
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!

Very informative and interesting

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

informative

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

excellent story, excellent company.

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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

a really fascinating deep dive into Sega

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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.

An interesting story poorly told

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The sega story is an amazing story but this book is not the way to absorb it. I gave it two hours but it couldn’t hold my attention. Boring narration and absolutely no storytelling skill in the writing. Not recommended.

Reader is like a lecturer of a boring topic

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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.

Love SEGA but this isn't their story!

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