PlayStation 5 Lead Architect Mark Cerny Talks Sega, Michael Jackson And Yuji Naka - Time Extension

The Joebro64 · Jan 29, 2023

Time Extension just published a lengthy interview with Mark Cerny regarding his time at Sega. It’s an interesting read. Not sure if there’s anything that wasn’t known before, but still recommend giving it a read.

Ted909 · Jan 29, 2023

The anecdote about Captain EO influencing the creation of the SegaScope 3-D glasses was new to me - just another one to add to the list of ways in which Jackson was instrumental to numerous Sega works, both directly and indirectly.

As many have already pointed out, his claims about SOA completely rejecting Sonic at first in favour of trying to bring Will Vinton in to show off 'proper' mascot designs are further ammo for the 'they didn't know what they were doing' argument. They genuinely must've looked at the moderate success of Yo Noid and thought that was a good enough solution?

While they're relevant it was nice to see that TE interviewed Michael Katz recently too, giving him the correct credit for starting initiatives at Sega that Kalinske has been attributed for + has tried to take himself on numerous occasions.

David The Lurker · Feb 3, 2023

While Mark Cerny has told the story about SOA rejecting Sonic before, namedropping Will Vinton is a detail that he purposefully avoided in previous interviews. A refresher from how he told the story back in 2006:

Sega-16 interview December 2006 said:

A month or two had passed, and no feedback had arrived from Sega of America’s marketing group, so I asked if they had any comments for the team. I heard, I kid you not, that the characters were “unsalvageable,” that this was a “disaster,” and that “procedures would be put in place to make sure that this sort of thing would never happen again.” These “procedures” included a proposed “top ten list of dos and don’ts” to follow when making products for the American market. Additionally, I was told that the marketing group would be contacting a known character designer (I won’t reveal the name, but it made me cringe at the time) to make a character that showed exactly what the American market needed. Needless to say, this character designer would have been totally inappropriate for the Japanese market. Not that great for the American market either, I suspect.
Click to expand...

It makes you wonder what Sega of America's plan was, and how far they got in this "project" to "educate" Sega of Japan. Clearly, nothing came of it, otherwise we wouldn't be sitting here talking. But...man, what would a video game designed by Will Vinton even look like?

Blue Spikeball · Feb 3, 2023

David The Lurker said:

While Mark Cerny has told the story about SOA rejecting Sonic before, namedropping Will Vinton is a detail that he purposefully avoided in previous interviews. A refresher from how he told the story back in 2006:

Sega-16 interview December 2006 said:

A month or two had passed, and no feedback had arrived from Sega of America’s marketing group, so I asked if they had any comments for the team. I heard, I kid you not, that the characters were “unsalvageable,” that this was a “disaster,” and that “procedures would be put in place to make sure that this sort of thing would never happen again.” These “procedures” included a proposed “top ten list of dos and don’ts” to follow when making products for the American market. Additionally, I was told that the marketing group would be contacting a known character designer (I won’t reveal the name, but it made me cringe at the time) to make a character that showed exactly what the American market needed. Needless to say, this character designer would have been totally inappropriate for the Japanese market. Not that great for the American market either, I suspect.
Click to expand...

It makes you wonder what Sega of America's plan was, and how far they got in this "project" to "educate" Sega of Japan. Clearly, nothing came of it, otherwise we wouldn't be sitting here talking. But...man, what would a video game designed by Will Vinton even look like?
Click to expand...

*facepalm*

Things like that are why I groan whenever people act like SoA's marketing team were such unquestionable geniuses and the sole reason the franchise was a success in the west.

Team Andromeda · Feb 3, 2023

Ted618 said:

While they're relevant it was nice to see that TE interviewed Michael Katz recently too, giving him the correct credit for starting initiatives at Sega that Kalinske has been attributed for + has tried to take himself on numerous occasions.
Click to expand...

Spot on.

Chimes · Feb 3, 2023

David The Lurker said:

But...man, what would a video game designed by Will Vinton even look like?
Click to expand...

You're welcome.

RDNexus · Feb 8, 2023

Why does that sketch seem somewhat familiar to me?
(Hint: Sonic Movie xD)

PlayStation 5 Lead Architect Mark Cerny Talks Sega, Michael Jackson And Yuji Naka - Time Extension

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