Should I continue this TL?

  • Yes

    Votes: 10 90.9%
  • No (Redo it)

    Votes: 1 9.1%
  • Other

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    11
  • Poll closed .
February 1998
February 1998

The Ultra kept chugging along with more additions to its library. The main ones include of Xenogears, Battletoads 3D, and 1080° Snowboarding.
Xenogears is a 3D RPG directed by Tetsuya Takahashi and released by Square. It follows Fei Fong Fong and other freedom fighters as they fight a corrupt system on Soraya (after Takahashi’s wife’s pen name; Soraya Saga), a planet raging with war. They also uncover the truth behind the mystical forces in their world.
The game hints at it being set in a post-apocalyptic future in which humans were forced to colonize other worlds due to multiple causes including pollution.
The game has 65 chapters (including an epilogue) in total.
It faced controversy due to sensitive religious issues, and was almost never released in North America.
Battletoads 3D is a 3D beat ‘em up game by Rare, and the sixth title in the Battletoads franchise. The Dark Queen is at it again and has now captured Rash and Professor T. Bird. It is up to you to travel the world, find them, and save them.


The 3DO company also got around to releasing a new Gex title, Gex 2: Enter the Gecko for the M2 (which had been released in September of 1997). It was one of the M2’s only major games.
Though not groundbreaking, it was a decent game and got decent scoring, averaging around 67% at best.
The M2’s time was seeming to run out, with 3DO starting to run out of revenue and its games getting generally poor reviews and sales, it seemed the end was nigh.


In a surprise turn of events, JTS (who was running out of cash) sold the Atari intellectual property to Namco for $7.5 million.


SEGA also debuted their new console, the Blackbelt, for a price of $300. It launched with the titles of Panzer Dragoon Saga, Bug Three!, and a port of Virtual Fighter 3 among others.
Panzer Dragoon Saga revolves around Edge, a young mercenary and defected private, as he battles an empire with the help of his dragon companion, Andro. Along the way, Edge encounters a strange girl from a vanished civilization. It blended the series’ previous shooting elements into a 3D RPG. Though it was not a perfect mix of the two.
It was praised generally for its graphics, gameplay, story, and music. And went head-to-head with Xenogears, in the fight for sales. It generally got high scores, getting a 90% from GameRanks*.
Bug Three involves Bug, who’s now a movie director, directing a mystery movie, when suddenly all of his actors disappear. It’s up to you to find them and find out who kidnapped them. The game is a 3D open-world platformer with five main worlds/“sets” (with three sub-worlds in each). In the four of the main worlds you find the four missing actors. And in the final world is the game’s main boss.
Two of the worlds include of Selva Angeles and Kingston Flies.
The first world is Selva Angeles, a Terminator-based jungle world in which you have to save actor Linda Hamuli from the Chameleonator.
The second world is Kingston Flies, a Gremlins-based world in which you have to save actor Zach Glossagan from the Red Gremlants.
The last world is Overgrown Manor, not based around any specific movie but played off of classic horror movie tropes. Its boss is a large bat, Drucas, you have to find a way to clog its ears so it falls down allowing you to attack. After defeating it, you learn that Drucas kidnapped your actors because they wanted to use them for their own movies. At the end, Bug hires Drucas as a writer for his movie, combining both of his and Drucas’ ideas together.
In the video game credits, it is revealed that their movie was a critical hit.
The game generally gets good reviews, averaging around 79%. It went head-to-head with Gex 2: Enter the Gecko in terms of sales, easily beating it.
The Blackbelt was generally well received, but was criticized for a low amount of launch titles. It sold over 1.5 million units in its first month. The future looked bright for Bandai-SEGA.
_____
*GameRanks is OTL GameRankings.
 
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Wow February was a nice and packed month, with two games seems become all time classic and several games would be hits in their consoles alongside the launch a new console who seems goes pretty well.

Loved the more complete Xenogears and got surprise with a new battletoads, seems would bea fun title.

M2 is just holding it but seems might not be enought.

Loved Sega new games for Blackbelt, hope that can start to grow a fanbase slowly.
 
Thanks!
Yeah, M2 is holding on, but it might not last.

Thanks! There's a good chance it will. I have some surprises in store involving it. But, most of them might not appear until much later.
 
Blackbelt's Hardware and Development
Blackbelt's Hardware and Development

The Blackbelt was SEGA's rise back to power. After an era of decline (1994-1997) with the 32X and Saturn, things were finally looking up with Bandai acquiring the company and the release of the new console.

CPU: PowerPC 603e @225MHz
GPU: 3DFx Voodoo 2, Voodoo Banshee @90MHz
Sound: Yahama YMS225
Memory: 16 MB RAM
Media: DGB-ROM (2 GB)

Development began in 1995, following the Saturn's poor market performance of 9 million units sold. In 1997, Shoichiro Irimajiri (future president of SEGA of Japan) enlisted the help of Tatsuo Yamamoto of IBM to lead an 11-man team in the development of the system. Using Yamamoto's group preferred chipset (of a PowerPC CPU and 3DFx GPU), Bandai-SEGA started a potential partnership with 3DFx for GPUs of future consoles, potentially keeping the 3D GPU company afloat.
 
That is a pretty good CPU and the GPU was a fine for the time(3DFX otl dropped the ball with Otl Voodoo 3, and pretty badly) here if they learned from sega development they can easily make a graphics card to compete against Nvidia and upcoming Ati, plus that DGB-ROM would allow pretty big games itself till DVD comes later. the rest is pretty nice system.

So far good luck sega, maybe with this more divided market you can find a niche later on.
 
I'm thinking that the next update is going to involve computers. Getting a look into what Sony, Phillips, and NEC have planned. How Microsoft and Apple are doing and maybe their reactions (?).
The Microsoft antitrust case doesnt start until May...
BeOS doesn't get sold until 2001...
FireFox isn't until 2002...
Anything else I should cover?
 
They may not have much time to really consider it. As you say, the antitrust business with Microsoft won't start until later this year and they're likely gearing up for it. Apple is at this point, IIRC, in shambles from a leadership perspective. Really, if any of the new players were smarter, they should've approached Jobs about partnering with NeXT for one of their platforms...

The problem is that after a certain point it's all diminishing returns. Industries can only sustain products that are alike for so long before they begin consolidating into a core number of participants. If you look at OTL, the big three OS's - Windows, Mac, and Linux - all fill different, specific niches.

That said, I've always wondered what the computer industry would like in a TL where Microsoft is broken up and Apple goes bankrupt in the late '90s. Can't believe no one's ever done one either, so far as I know.
 
Coming up NeXT
Coming up NeXT


It’s been a year since Apple declared bankruptcy. A year since its creator picked up its remains.
Following the bankruptcy of Apple, Steve Jobs loaning some money from Bill Gates bought most of its assets and merged them into NeXT. Many of Apple’s former employees were invited to join the company (including Jonathan Ive), many graciously accepted.
The company was getting ready to release a new desktop computer system, the NeXTGen (shortened to ‘Gen’ by consumers), planned to use a PowerPC 750 for its CPU.
Another version of the NeXTGen was also being made. While the original Gen was to be a desktop computer, this one was to be an all-in-one styled system, making it smaller and easier to use.
Where one company falls, another takes its place.

Microsoft didn’t seem to be in a good position. They were running out of luck. They were the targets of an upcoming antitrust law case in the US, that could break them up. And it seemed like the other side was winning.
By loaning money to Steve Jobs for NeXT, Gates had hoped he could muscle Microsoft through the case in one piece. But, it looked like the opposite was happening.
While the antitrust law case was just getting started in the US, another was brewing in the EU thanks to Sun.
Time was running out for Microsoft, and their falling would have drastic effects on the computer industry.


Apple’s fall had created a power vacuum, who would replace them? NeXT? Sony? NEC? Philips?
With the death of Apple, Sony began work on a revision to the Major. Sony EduSoft was almost done with Project ASTEROIDS, now known as Aster the Asteroid and planned to release it in May of 1998. Sony was pushing for the Major to be a major gaming platform, achieving what the PlayStation couldn’t.
NEC had their eyes on Be, Inc. and were ready to make a move, the Turbo needed a OS system and it was going to get one. Nintendo was almost ready to release their first edutainment title for the system, Mario Returns Home.
Philips on the other hand, was taking a long time to develop a new Amiga system. Instead of making a classic desktop computer, they were making a labtop.
 
March 1998
March 1998

The Ultra’s ever-expanding library kept growing, with the addition of Parasite Eve, Bushido Blade 2, and Quake.
After the success of Bushido Blade 2, Square strengthened its hold on LightWeight, buying another 9% stake in the company.


After close relations for the last couple of months, Bandai-Sega buys a 10% stake in tri-Ace and a 15% stake in Game Arts in order to get a better hold on RPGs.
The Blackbelt gained another RPG, Phantasy Star: Second Gaiden. SEGA developed it with co-operation of tri-Ace. Following the crash of the Valiant, a ship that holds a city of 3,000 on the planet of Makia, only 1,000 live (initially), it is up to you (playing as the protagonist Tamura) to get you and the survivors off the planet alive. The planet is filled with many dangers including super giant monsters (Kaijantes) that you have to fight off using fighter ships manned by androids. The story advances through various missions (25 in total).
The game starts off in Makia’s orbit, the Valiant is flying around the planet, hoping to use its gravity to its advantage. Suddenly, an asteroid comes into close contact range of the Valiant. The captain sees it and tries to active the thrusters, but its too late. The asteroid hits the thrusters, damaging them and sending the ship downward. The captain activates Emergency Landing mode, sending all residents to their residences. The doors are locked, and they are ordered to put on suits in case the atmosphere is unbreathable.
After a few minutes, the ship crashes with much of its underside demolished. The survivors break through the air locks and jump out. Suddenly, one of the first Kaijante encountered comes out and destroys the rest of the ship.
After days of exploring the planet, and numerous more Kaijante attacks, the remaining crew and cast of 250 manages to call for help through an abandoned old base hooked up to radio antennae. The games ends off with you, Tamura, and the rest of the survivors being evacuated off onto a nearby ship.
Some of the notable characters of the cast include:
  • Opus - Captain of the Valiant, eventually is fatally wounded during the first Kaijante attack. (His death is eventually called one of the most heartbreaking deaths in gaming history)
  • Lieutina - The lieutenant of the Valiant Police Force, leads the surviving police officers. She eventually becomes temporary captain.
  • Izun - A female Newman Valiant Police Officer, becomes Lieutina’s 2nd in command.
  • Croww - A male Newman, head of the Valiant’s science branch. Opus’ main advisor.
  • Mesod - She is one of the few surviving doctors of the Valiant.
  • Kisal - She is the main operator of the Valiant.
  • Anymed - He is the main mechanic of the Valiant.
  • Yonu - The ship’s AI, downloaded onto a handheld computer by Opus.
  • Hyperion - Android, chef of one of the Valiant’s cafeterias.
 
Woah that new Phantasy Star Gaiden was pretty nice idea and would open a more traditional one later on, nice idea buddy and nice move from sega to show how Blackbelt is not a saturn repeat.
 
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