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The impact Digital Pictures had on gaming is still being felt today. Sega-16 had an opportunity for some Q&A with former DP programmer Steve DeFrisco. He was there when FMV games were at their apex, and he now shares his insight on what it was like to work at such an intriguing company.
Working at Sega of America during its heyday offered a chance to see a company on the rise. From the birth of a certain blue hedgehog to the introduction of a CD add-on, there was always something Sega-related in the news. One of the people responsible for ensuring that the company was always in the limelight was Al Nilsen, former head of Sega’s marketing division. During his tenure, he oversaw the birth of Sonic, the creation of Sega Visions, and the much beloved Sega Scream. Sega-16 recently chatted with Mr. Nilsen and got the goods on a bunch of 16-bit morsels of news.
Everyone has their own opinion about the 32X. Love it or hate it, it’s an important piece of Sega’s history. Always looking for the full story, Sega-16 recently interviewed Toshiyasu Morita, a technical director at Sega of America, who was involved with the development and release of the little mushroom. He also had a hand in such titles as Doom 32X and the Genesis classic Zombies Ate My Neighbors.
Fans of Revenge of Shinobi and the Streets of Rage series undoubtably point to the soundtracks of the Genesis classics as a big part of what made them so special. In fact, when you think about famous musical scores on Sega’s little black box, one name comes up more than any other: Yuzo Koshiro. He’s been behind some of gaming’s greatest music for over two decades, and he’s still going strong. Sega-16 managed to track him down recently for a quick interview, where he talked about his work on the Genesis and why Streets of Rage fans are going to be sad pandas for quite some time.
It’s always interesting to get a close look at the inner workings of Sega during its heyday. We’ve spoken to management before, but there’s always plenty more going on behind the scenes that the suits won’t reveal. A great source for this juicy info can be found among game testers, the worker ants of most software publishers. Known as “Game Analysts” at Sega, testers saw all kinds of interesting things happen during the Genesis era, and Sega-16 recently spoke to Tom Byrne, a third party tester during the early ’90s. A big fan of strategy titles, Mr. Byrne gave us some great details on the quality control process for third party titles, and he shares his experiences in our latest interview.