fg
Unicron
Gaming
Posts: 2,927 
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Post by fg on Dec 14, 2018 17:09:19 GMT -5
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_ChannelWhen u think about this, this was about 15 years ahead of its time. Also it gave you the option to test drive new games before they hit shelves. That was cool than and if still is. I heard that Nintendo was going to do the same thing by working with what is now Spectrum cable in 1996 but it fell apart. I am surprised thT the Gaming historian on YouTube and/or the Angry Video Game Nerd on YouTube hasn't reviewed it.
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Paul
Vegeta
Posts: 9,243
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Post by Paul on Dec 14, 2018 17:25:32 GMT -5
Yeah, this was a great idea that was just a bit ahead of its time. Atari and Mattel their own versions of this in the 80's, too.
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Powerline
ALF
I'm a pale imitator of a boy in the sky, with a cap on his head and a knot in his tie
Posts: 1,042
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Post by Powerline on Dec 14, 2018 17:27:43 GMT -5
I actually wrote about this for my old retro gaming blog (took this year off to look for a job and get shit together...now that that's happened I'm considering coming back either in blog form or on Twitch since I now live in a place with decent internet). A big reason it's not been discussed much is a ton of information is either missing or incomplete. Even the game list is changing once in awhile because many of the games on it are ones people just remember, but there's little hard evidence as to what games were/weren't on it. There's a few obvious ones; many first-party games Sega would openly advertise on the service and a few Sega Channel exclusive games that never had an American retail release. But after that, it's a lot of hearsay. Having a true "complete" history of the device with a plethora of information would require a ton of homework...as in, finding things and connecting dots nobody has yet. Here's a link to my post about it: teneightepretro.weebly.com/teneightep---retro-gaming-blog/sega-channel-retrospective |
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Post by Ganon83 on Dec 14, 2018 18:03:05 GMT -5
Gaming Historian talked about it in one of his early episodes, on the Wily Wars
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Paul
Vegeta
Posts: 9,243
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Post by Paul on Dec 14, 2018 18:06:15 GMT -5
Gaming Historian talked about it in one of his early episodes, on the Wily Wars Oh yeah! |
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Post by Tiger Millionaire on Dec 14, 2018 18:15:03 GMT -5
I had it. It hardly ever worked correctly.
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Post by Clash, Never a Meter Maid on Dec 14, 2018 18:31:21 GMT -5
Yes, it was a huge source of fun for me for a couple of summers. Pretty big thrill being able to access more obscure Sega titles and stuff that wasn’t available in the US then.
Gunstar Heroes, Pulseman, Phantasy Star...good times.
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Paul
Vegeta
Posts: 9,243
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Post by Paul on Dec 14, 2018 19:10:08 GMT -5
I had it. It hardly ever worked correctly. That sucks. I would have been really frustrated having this great service and then not having it work. Probably an issue with the cable company's lines.  |
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,361
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Dec 14, 2018 19:38:57 GMT -5
It came out while I was in the Army. So my father borrowed my Genesis and got Sega Channel. IIRC you had to have Time Warner cable. Worked great the few times I got to play it. Got very vague memories of some cousin having the Atari 2600 Gameline service. Which became AOL years later.
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Powerline
ALF
I'm a pale imitator of a boy in the sky, with a cap on his head and a knot in his tie
Posts: 1,042
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Post by Powerline on Dec 14, 2018 21:25:08 GMT -5
I had it. It hardly ever worked correctly. That sucks. I would have been really frustrated having this great service and then not having it work. Probably an issue with the cable company's lines. Exactly what it was. The Sega Channel modem didn't have the ability to reconnect automatically, so if there was even a split second of hiccup in the connection, it kicked you back to the bootup. It didn't require an always-on connection; once your game had downloaded and booted up, the connection would cut off and the modem would just work as a ROM for whatever game you downloaded. But if your connection wasn't squeaky clean, you were rolling the dice the longer you browsed the list of games or looked at things that required the connection (high scores, news, etc.) It came out while I was in the Army. So my father borrowed my Genesis and got Sega Channel. IIRC you had to have Time Warner cable. Worked great the few times I got to play it. Got very vague memories of some cousin having the Atari 2600 Gameline service. Which became AOL years later. Started that way but eventually spread as time went on. The service required a low-latency connection that only a few select providers had, but Time Warner was the BIG one that did. It did force some services to upgrade though, and some companies parlayed their Sega Channel connections for when they'd start providing high-speed internet, because it required the same level of connection. It was also on C-Band satellite dishes. My grandma had one of those and she would get programming guides with ads for the service in it. There even was an actual "Sega Channel", but it was just an ad for the service. Though sometimes it would vary in content. One article I read said some stations would just loop Genesis footage, and that at one point the writer's cable service ran the demo for Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine on a loop for two-weeks, nonstop. |
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Post by arrogantmodel on Dec 15, 2018 10:49:18 GMT -5
Yes, it was a huge source of fun for me for a couple of summers. Pretty big thrill being able to access more obscure Sega titles and stuff that wasn’t available in the US then. Gunstar Heroes, Pulseman, Phantasy Star...good times. Same here. I rarely had problems with mine other than sometimes it took a little longer for a game to come on. But this was ahead of it's time. I'm glad I got to experience it. |
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Post by Clash, Never a Meter Maid on Dec 15, 2018 12:11:56 GMT -5
Yes, it was a huge source of fun for me for a couple of summers. Pretty big thrill being able to access more obscure Sega titles and stuff that wasn’t available in the US then. Gunstar Heroes, Pulseman, Phantasy Star...good times. Same here. I rarely had problems with mine other than sometimes it took a little longer for a game to come on. But this was ahead of it's time. I'm glad I got to experience it. Yeah, I remember if there were issues with the cable signal, it was super hard to get Sega Channel reception. And I'd like have a game of Shadowrun saved and really want to get back to it, but it wouldn't log on. But when it was working, it was addictive. |
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Post by arrogantmodel on Dec 15, 2018 15:10:39 GMT -5
Same here. I rarely had problems with mine other than sometimes it took a little longer for a game to come on. But this was ahead of it's time. I'm glad I got to experience it. Yeah, I remember if there were issues with the cable signal, it was super hard to get Sega Channel reception. And I'd like have a game of Shadowrun saved and really want to get back to it, but it wouldn't log on. But when it was working, it was addictive. Yes! Shadowrun. Haha. |
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