I'll just have to put this here. Yes, this is being taught to Japanese schoolchildren! http://www.kotaku.com.au/2012/12/japanese-textbook-gives-sega-the-cold-shoulder/ I remember those days when my stepbrother used to play Sonic and Streets of Rage on the Genesis. I'm sorry, but the shock of this article leaves me with nothing more to add at this time.
Is it right to nitpick a Japanese textbook which has broadly the right idea - more PlayStation consoles were sold than Saturns and Dreamcasts. This is a fact. And nobody cares. The only genuinely interesting thing about that time period was that the Sega Saturn actually sold more units in Japan than the Nintendo 64. Not the case elsewhere.
If it's going to be taught in a textbook to children (dubious enough alone), it should be taught right. So yeah, it is right to nitpick.
My girlfriend has/had a school book on geography, and on the Japan pages it has an image of Crash Bandicoot as an example of video games from Japan..haha.
From the title of this topic and the article itself, I thought something much worse was going to be said.
It doesn't seem like a big deal at all, really. And Kotaku's probably just being Kotaku by making this sound like a big deal.
From the Western perspective, it seems unconscionable gloss over the period where Sega went toe-to-toe with Nintendo during the SNES-Mega Drive era, but I don't think it was like that in Japan. Sega never really gained a significant share of the home market until the Saturn and Dreamcast era, and the end result is what it is.
The japanese have a different view of SEGA than we do. For them SEGA is an arcade company that makes console games, and made niche console hardware.
Exactly. I even theorize that SEGA could only keep going with the console market after the failed SC-1000, SC-3000 and SMS/Mark III because of the big money they got from arcades during the 80's. Also, the Saturn was only successful in Japan because of you know who. (note: he also was the first Kamen Rider)