This is SEGA TEST (1996) - Sega of America Game Tester training video

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[@highdesertcougarcluboforeg7308]

This is Conan Tigard. I worked in SEGA test for 3½ years. I tested hundreds of games and led 16 products through the test cycles. It was fun and exhausting at the same time. When I started in '91, we had about 16 testers. When I left in '95, we had about 180 testers. We were open 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. This was during the heyday of SEGA. During the Christmas rush, which started in the end of summer, we generally worked 80+ hours a week. It was not easy. It was great to see everyone in this video again. I hope all are doing well.

[@GrayFoxGamingHD]

Thanks for sharing :)

[@AdmiralBison]

Oh man. I can’t imagine what it was like and you were there during Sega’s legendary era. I read the book ‘Console Wars’ so many times - Tom Kaliskinski, Rayo, EBVB, White, Neilsen, so many staff and Sonic Tuesday etc... I hope they turn the book into a multi episode tv series with special bonus features interviewing many of you today.

[@highdesertcougarcluboforeg7308]

@@AdmiralBison It was fun...and a lot of hard work. The Christmas rush was nuts. 12+ hour days, sometimes 16 hours. Then back at it again the next day. Crazy times...good memories. Conan

[@highdesertcougarcluboforeg7308]

It sure was. But it was worth it to put out "almost" bug-free games.

[@skunker666]

Question! My boss worked for Sega in the game testing area in the 90s, and gave me a pair of black and orange Sega gloves. I was wondering if anyone else remembers using these or if there are still some out there? I know it's a weird question haha

[@corytucker6668]

This is awesome, I miss this era. Sega made my childhood amazing. So many great memories. Im glad I still have my genesis, saturn, and dreamcast 💙SEGA

[@GrayFoxGamingHD]

Thanks for stopping by :)

[@marcusmatthews8255]

Dang. A lot of my co-workers from my Sega days at the office in Redwood Shores‼️

[@MrLuvlingo]

I worked at SEGA, as a tester, from 93-94, when SEGA hit a billion in sales. Unfortunately the lawyers required they clean out the contractors every so often, in order to prevent having to give us full benefits. I tell you something, no one asked for benefits, and if not for that clear out, I would have stayed there too long, maybe until the company practically failed thanks to the overbearing hardware sales requirements of the Japanese arm. But my pay has gone skyward since then, I own a house here in Silicon Valley. There was a firm foundation given for writing bugs, this video doesn't show this, there was a document (they called it redlining, if I recall correctly). Testing games was great fun, and finding bugs is still a big part of my development job. So in a way, it's a good thing the bean counters canned everyone, and from what I understand (talking with one Dianna Boundy), the only reason I had an opportunity was that a previous crew was also canned. I am not going to glorify SEGA's test department, it was poorly run. There was an evening when a producer came in, shouting at the top of his lungs, (just before the big layoff, no one in test knew about, that tester must stay, he needs to pay rent to me.) That was the low point, right there. Numerous sick jokes were also played no credit to the management style of Steve Patterson. Let me tell, you I will always call it as it is, and I don't play politics. But because of that, no way could I be allowed to stay in that test department, I don't pinch or handout cigarrettes. But I thank God, for everyday I have in software development, and I thank God for idiots that ran SEGA, thank you for firing me and the whole crew that spring season. Without that firing, I would probably have stayed on for a minute or longer than I did.

[@GrayFoxGamingHD]

wow.wonderfull games coming out that company but the way they treated emplooyes seems bad. Tom Kalinske had all sorts great viable plans for the Sega Saturn , but the Japanese arm messed all up and im afraid that was the beggining of the end for Sega. Sorry you had to go trough such a bad experience over there. Thanks for sharing.

[@MrLuvlingo]

@@GrayFoxGamingHD If they hadn't layed off the crew, I probably would have stayed for a few years. That would have stymied my career, and probably burnt me out. And it wouldn't be the work, it would be because of the management at SEGA. Like I said, they knew months before the layoff, they were going to lay people off. They gave very short notice. And what's bad about that beside the fact that it is dirty. Is the fact that people were actually depending on SEGA to make the rent. At my current company (been there for the last 20 years, also in Redwood City), no one would ever play sick jokes or try to get someone canned. And if someone did, management would be on them like white on rice, and they would hit the street. And to ensure that, we are all grilled once a year company policy in regard to professional conduct. But this has a lot to do with the management style at SEGA of America. And it was in important lesson for me. Don't take contract jobs if you can get permanent job. Don't work with personnel companies, they don't care about you. And look for companies that care about hiring people who can work well with others. There was a lawsuit later, in early 2000's settled by SEGA for ~600k. Involving massive discrimination in the SEGA test department. There was a statement made (and you can read it on the net) about testers being thought of as disposable (I am probably paraphrasing). Most people won't have any sympathy, no none was needed in my case. It was a blessing to be layed off from SEGA. I went to work for SONY and started making 6 figures as a software developer (not in games, but in the entertainment field).

[@austinreed7343]

This was likely made shortly before the fall of STI and its replacement with SegaSoft.

[@TheVGhunter]

I feel like i literally got the job at Sega after watching this. So surreal to see it was like this during the 90's.

[@GrayFoxGamingHD]

good stuff

[@falksi3182]

Big kudos to these chaps for making sure we got top quality with some of the best games ever made. The SEGA execs may have been bellends, but those people who were the soul of SEGA like those filmed here will forever be legends. Fuck Nintendo.

[@5uxxo2]

Back when games where actually tested... Nowadays it feels like we're paying to be the testers...

[@GrayFoxGamingHD]

SuXXoR indeed.

[@AndrijaJovanovicakica]

I feel you, I work as a tester but on mobile, and man do we have STANDARDS for mobile games, shit doesnt get past us and must not passed on but on other consoles, fuck it!

[@MrLuvlingo]

And here is another important thing about the layoff that I was in at SEGA. It was a sick thing. I remember one dear girls crying her eyes out when she learned about the layoff (they gave us only a few days notice). And you can blame Steve Patterson and Kalinske for that. And he is free to comment here with counter information, account for it brother. So people needed to pay rent and they loved their jobs, and SEGA manage took sick advantage of it. By not giving at least 2 weeks notice, it tells you everything about the mentality of that company. And they knew they were going to do a layoff. They could have given everyone 2 months notice. But Steve Patterson, Tom Kalinske kept their mouths shut, and that shows one thing about them, money tops all.

[@creativecatproductions]

You were one of the testers at SEGA in the 90s? That’s amazing!

[@thegameshowgame9107]

They had the black stunner guns! Almost too much to say about this video. It’s extremely neat to see this stuff

[@TonyRose]

Acknowledge the A-Team van in the parking lot in the first minute of the video

[@kdrewtabb]

This is cool to see. I didn't show up until 97.

[@creativecatproductions]

The cast of clerks worked at SEGA….hilarity ensued?

[@yank3656]

thanks for sharing Gray Fox

[@GrayFoxGamingHD]

Thanks for watching :)

[@chrishalsall188]

I know I couldn’t do it. I love gaming but when I have the freedom to do what I want for as long or as short as I want. To be told to play the same level of a game, over and over and over and over and over again just in slightly different ways for days on end doesn’t sound like fun. I’m sure as they were all young and ambitious they were prepared to put the long hours in for not much money to move up in the company but it would have driven me insane.

[@Eastcoastskateboard1]

this is so dope. Hi8 is the shit.

[@Thegamingground]

I would have signed up for this job xD

[@GrayFoxGamingHD]

+The Gaming Ground Same here.

[@Thegamingground]

Getting paid to play games 40-60 hours per week, that works for me :P

[@Beerlover2007]

You're not playing games, You're testing. You're looking for any various issues that may have been caused by programming errors. It's such a tedious and mind-numbing job. Pick your favourite film then pick your favourite scene from that film then watch that favourite scene over and over and over again. That is pretty much game testing. It looks great on paper but in reality. It's such a boring job.

[@Thegamingground]

Beerlover2007 I grasped the basic idea of the job while watching the video. So, yeah. I was thinking about the teen me that worked as a paperboy. I think this job would have been better, and by the looks of it. You could rise in rangs as well (if you were any good at your job).

[@DJTwenty2020]

Great upload but at 9:04 two guns shooting but only in one player mode ha 😁

[@joeb2588]

Sega was a shit show in 96. too many skus, bad decisions , and a parent company in Japan , literally not caring about your division. I dreamed of working at Sega but I would have only wanted to do it with the Master System, and maybe a few years into Genesis.

[@GrayFoxGamingHD]

Another tale how arogance can kill a company.

[@joeb2588]

@@GrayFoxGamingHD IF SOJ and SOA worked together like NOJ and NOA, Sega would be killing it right now instead of working on "Sonic 5000, or Sonic barbeques a hot dog".

[@retrospiel]

With NOA and NOJ there was LESS independence for NOA. NOA was tasked with localizing Japanese stuff, while SOA wanted to do stuff cheaper locally.

[@tubz2394]

pp poo poo check

[@NotNachu]

Pp