Sega's Console Wars with Tom Kalinske! - Electric Playground Interview

#Sega #Genesis #GenesisMini
Victor Lucas speaks with the one and only Tom Kalinske, former CEO of Sega America, about his time at the company, ushering in the Sega Genesis and Sega Saturn, and their console war with Nintendo!
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[@sonicsju]

Loved this interview, Tom Kalinske was SEGA's best President & CEO, he gave the company the brass balls to go after the market dominated by Nintendo, its the reason why today we have the games we play and not just the Marios and Zeldas. #Facts

[@camxdidxthat]

sonicsju this is a really great point.

[@MalarkeyMan]

Lol we would still have third parties without Sega

[@atre5763]

Ummm no

[@sonicsju]

@@atre5763 Nintenerd lol

[@hitkid2456]

@@MalarkeyMan But they would still have their exclusivity policy bullshit

[@marklowery863]

It’s crazy how much the video game industry between 1983 and 1999 teaches us about business and delivery a product to consumers.

[@EricHostile]

Thank you for this interview Vic as a Sega kid in the 90s this is heaven!!

[@IRWPD]

The history of videos games is very important to share. Thank you Vic to making this happen.

[@andrewwann1616]

Console wars was a fascinating read, Tom helped change the direction of gaming in the west. An incredible career, people will always be drawn to the Sega years as its just unbelievable what went down.

[@tangreen7267]

Tom Kalinske is the best ! From his work at Mattel, to SOA President, to his charitable work. This GUY was on the cover of every major game magazine back in the day and I'll be looking for signed posters with that picture on it wherever they may be found... Many thanks, Tom, you're a hell of a guy and thank you for doing this interview.

[@PokettoManStar]

30 minutes?! This gon' be good!

[@AwakeByDesignFAN69]

What a legend! Did so much for gaming and sega. I was playing sonic 2 on mega drive when I was 10 and now my kids are playing sonic on switch. So glad they are playing the classics 🎉

[@tincansam96]

Been here since the good ol days of Tech TV!!

[@musclemark2710]

Michael Jackson favorite console of all time is the Sega Genesis!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@aiden79797]

Kalinske is a wise man.

[@ganggreen1983]

This video is absolutely amazing. Thank you for this!

[@ChrisLT]

What a fantastic interview. I read Console Wars, which was super exhaustive, and we still managed to get some good new stories out of Tom. Makes you wonder how many stories from games legends remain untold.

[@paulsmith9192]

@csl316 why he quit after Sega?he could of stayed in the industry

[@corytucker6668]

As a kid born in the 80s and growing up in the early 90s as a sega kid it makes me sad to see him so old now. Those were good old days. I still remember when my dad brought the genesis home for my sister and I for Christmas in 92. Best years growing up playing, toe jam and earl, mortal kombat, chakan, airbusters, and more.

[@The7ifra]

Great Video!! Great Guys!! "That's Awesome"

[@Gary_Hun]

Would give a buck to witness Kalinke's Sonic 2 skills in his game room.

[@BubblegumCrash332]

Tom is the Don Draper of the toy and video game world. What a boss

[@mygamesmyadventures4554]

Good interview & Tom Kalinske is a living legend, such a humble & down to earth sort of a person he is.

[@ReigningSemtex]

Great interview thank you. Could listen to Tom's history with Sega for hours

[@paulsmith9192]

@ReigningSemtex he needed a show answering game questions

[@GameMusic4All]

Great interview!

[@alessiocantarelli7241]

What a humile man! Always mentioning the people who worked with him in this interview and also it seems like he has a lot of stories to tell.

[@CaptAwesumNo1Zone]

Tom Kalinske WAS SEGA of America, had he been in charge of all SEGA worldwide maybe SEGA would still be around like Nintendo is today, making consoles and killing it.

[@CaptAwesumNo1Zone]

Lucky alternate universe

[@buckroger6456]

The 32x was cool but wasn't cool is how fast they killed it off and the games we should have gotten with it. The Saturn was a bad launch for sure. But I feel that the dreamcast was a even worse launch. Dreamcast should of had a dual analog sticks not one. Also Sega should have held back the dreamcast to see what Sony was going to do. I would say Sega's biggest problem came from their success. They launched the genesis early and that got them market share. Sega basically said hey it worked before so let's do it again. Being the first in doesn't always mean success.

[@lazarushernandez5827]

@@buckroger6456 Much more convoluted than just who launched first (which is a very valid point). The Genesis got market share after Kalinske came on board which was in 1990, 2 years after the Megadrive launched in Japan/ 1 year after the US launch. Saturn showed up early because the Megadrive wasn't cutting it in Japan (they were third to the Super Famicom and the PC-Engine) and SoJ was eager to move on to 32 bit. What was bad in the North American market was that the Saturn's early launch alienated a bunch of retailers who didn't get any units to sell, and there wasn't a lot to play in the months between the early release and 'it's originally slated' release date. That the Playstation was less expensive didn't help either. The DCs lack of dual analog sticks was an oversight, Sony released their Dualshock in 97 and later included it with future SKUs. Sega could have done the same, It's a wonder they didn't think about it earlier considering they had Virtual On :Cyber Troopers for the Saturn in 96 which played best with a twin stick controller. Virtual On:Oratorio Tangram was released on DC and the twinstick controller was also available (in Japan), and there were plenty of games that could have benefited from a dual analog like Spawn, Outtrigger, Heavy Metal:Geo Matrix, even Quake 3 Arena and Unreal Tournament. It's like all the ingredients were there but they just didn't piece it together in time.

[@atre5763]

No they wouldn't

[@jonnyelpoiss7]

@@buckroger6456 i agree with the dual stick missing, that was a bad decision. However, the Dreamcast was the best launch in video game history when its been released. That console was killed waaay too fast, and it was due to external factor and their past mistake, like debt and liquidity. That Console made 9 million sales in 20 month, while facing chips shortage at launch, those are way better number than the xbox and gamecube in their first 20 month. And It’s actually more than exceptional considering all the brand damage they had suffered in the 6 years that preceded its launch.

[@AwakeByDesignFAN69]

This man did wonders for Sega back then. He is smart and did well. If Sega Japan listened to his ideas to work with Sony, sega could've still been making consoles today.

[@maroon9273]

Or with sgi

[@supersayianpeter10]

Sega Japan screwed tom with the saturn

[@thebrammerhammer23]

Its a great interview so far, but had to comment before I finished it.

[@Windavinci]

Head of Sega Japan should have listened to him instead of getting jealous of his talent. Legend. Without Tom and how he ran Sega of America the Genesis would have been mediocre worldwide.

[@hitkid2456]

Not in Brazil.

[@Gamevet]

I'm going to link this video to the members of Sega-16.

[@jamesburke2759]

i want to see his game room setup! there has to be so much cool shit in there.

[@Bjoern020184]

I miss Sega Saturn in the shops.

[@Wesley_C]

Mr. Kalinske is a Sega master, my best Sega games are, Crazy Taxi, 18 Wheeler and Genesis Collection.

[@MegaX422]

What is the name of that Batman figure its awesome.

[@realbeetlejuice]

whos the host of this show? he looks so familiar

[@rainehappy7097]

The Genesis Mini was the highest quality Sega product in DECADES.

[@bilbofragns4699]

New drinking game..take a shot every time he says “awesome”

[@paulsmith9192]

He still plays?I wonder what in his collection

[@jincen3306]

SEGA forever

[@paulsmith9192]

@Jin Cen he said he still plays? I wonder what in his collection

[@harounalkanderi5128]

SEGA still does what Nintendon't

[@TheQANinja]

Agreed!

[@atre5763]

The QA Ninja RetroDude! 🤡🤡

[@MalarkeyMan]

Yeah! They make shitty sonic games and that's pretty much it

[@harounalkanderi5128]

@@MalarkeyMan yes my friend, really bad sonic games, I only like the classic sonic and mania, but you are correct, sega is not making good sonic games, which is bothering me.

[@Nobunaga1983]

MalarkeyMan yea Nintendo been making the same two shit games for 30 years Zelda Mario

[@RIFCHE23]

Ahhhh mister Sega for me!!! They not listened him enough... He was against 32x... They send him sega cd when it was finish.... He give to sega Japan all absolutely all advice for situation not become what she is today... They never listen...

[@TheBadtripman]

Sounds like the voice of God

[@Ciderpunk-jj5es]

Wish they had the 'What Nintendon't' mindset when putting the games list for the Mini together. Needs sports games and over the top gore to be perfect.

[@lazarushernandez5827]

I'd imagine some of the sports games would run into licensing issues (John Madden, Joe Montana football, Lasorda baseball, any players who were named in those games etc...). Some of the games on the list could definitely be swapped out for other though.

[@jasonsmith8300]

hes the guy that does the sega scream

[@rainehappy7097]

There's a disgusting story behind that. haha

[@RWL2012]

I don't think it's him.

[@mickael486]

I was 12 years old and MY GUT feeling new better than to buy the Sega CD, 32x, and then the Saturn. I loved my genesis but decided to ask for a SNES after using common sense after the SNES MKII came out and Donkey Kong Country. Sega of America and if Japan weren't on the same page and just tried to milk the success of their genesis\mega drive instead of focusing on their next console that they would actually support without pissing off all the 3rd party developers like they did... they could have been competitors. Dreamcast was a good but it was already too late. Even without the fiasco which were all the bad add-ons and the unfriendly under powered Saturn, Sony was too good and too smart not to fail and to reign supreme. Sony has remained on top since their first Playstation and continues to this day.

[@fizzyfuzz5878]

Judgement Day 4 life

[@pervotheclown2199]

2019 . Sega has their mini on the shelf less than 2 weeks before Wal Mart pulls every unit . Go try to find a Mini Genesis in a Wal Mart and see what happens .

[@buckroger6456]

Maybe Nintendo got to Wal-Mart 🤔

[@adayinforever]

I bought one from Wal-Mart last summer.

[@mikeeone5649]

If only they had stuck with his ideas and not the Japanese branch , Sega would probably be relevant now.

[@tomenza]

Cool! Now do it with no hands, just your forehead, feet, and the drumkit!

[@sconnor-pt4vt]

We could have done without Dr. Robotnick's Bean Machine on the mini. I mean, really, no entry from the Strike series?! Or the Mech Warrior game? Ugh. 😞

[@yellowblanka6058]

I imagine it might have been too much of a pain financially/time wise to secure those particular licenses. I imagine the Genesis Mini will be hacked like the NES/SNES Mini before it so eventually you'll be able to throw whatever games you want on there at least.

[@travissmith8017]

It's already hacked, its just not released to the public yet.

[@yellowblanka6058]

@maltese 84 Probably nothing, it's not like even the original game was earth-shatteringly successful, outside of a few mainstream hits like Tetris, puzzle games have always been more niche. Puyo Puyo would have been slotted into the release schedule instead of Mean Bean Machine.

[@lazarushernandez5827]

@@yellowblanka6058 Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine was likely a marketing response to Dr.Mario on Nintendo.

[@nozomusuzuki7916]

Sega should have stopped being a competitor to Nintendo and Sony. It could have been a successful software company.

[@ciredecgellar8232]

Tom Kalinske is just the guy who failed to market the Saturn properly ...

[@EPN]

Amount to something in your life then see what little it takes to throw cheap shots at people. Be a better human.

[@ciredecgellar8232]

@@EPN You absolutely do not know what I have done or not in my life, then this man is a public figure and a business manager, it is perfectly normal and consistent to judge his action, its successes as it was with the marketing of the Megadrive and its failures as with the Saturn. Especially when it is factual.

[@AJR-zg2py]

No amount of marketing could have saved that turkey. It's release is a textbook example of what happens when you rush your product - how do you market something that doesn't have anything worth to market in a very time-sensitive industry? It was doomed to fail no matter what the marketing team could have done.

[@ciredecgellar8232]

@@AJR-zg2py how do you explain that the console worked in Japan?

[@Windavinci]

Sega Japan didn't follow Tom's advice. He actually advised against releasing the Saturn because he didn't believe it was ready. Releasing it so fast was the head of Sega Japans idea. The guy who apparently didn't like Tom.

[@michaelbernhardt389]

He must love nitendo then if he likes good video games because Sega sucks

[@konvan28]

Cool story bro.

[@Lightblue2222]

Don't be nintarded, Sega was King of the arcade where Nintendo was no where but an old donkey kong machine. As far as 16 bit, take off your blinders. Snes could never have pulled off Sonic 3 or Gunstar Heros, the "blast processing" refers to the underpowered snes. 90% of the games that were on both systems fealt laggy on Nintendo. Snes was great for it's exlusives and mode7 and I freakn love that system too. But no, Tom believed in Sega.

[@TheQANinja]

@@Lightblue2222 realest comment on here!

[@G.L.999]

@@Lightblue2222 SNES could've handled those games with an SA1 Chip in the cartridge. I know your comment is over 2 years old, but I felt the need to respond anyway.

[@MrShibataro]

Great interview!