Game end Joy

Publisher 's Executive Vice President of Marketing offers its take on gear' s new game, second-hand market, the six-week loss and Vita PlayStation Network support.

LOS ANGELES - Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2011 comes to an end today in Los Angeles to make some big announcements were. Nintendo unveiled the Wii-U, Microsoft gave Halo 4 from the shadows and the final name of its latest Sony portable, Vita offered.

Sega 's Alan Pritchard.

One of the largest exhibitors at the fair this year, Sonic was Sega House. The company used to present his stand a number of games, including first-person shooter binary domain, Aliens: Colonial Marines, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games 2012 in London, and others.

GameSpot took Sega 's Executive Vice President of Marketing Alan Pritchard and picked his brain about a number of issues, including Aliens: Colonial Marines for the Wii U, the effect of pre-owned sales on the publisher a way, Bayonetta 2 and much more.

GameSpot : As you've enjoyed this year 's show?

Alan Pritchard I think the show was generally positive. I think many publishers and distributors at E3 the market sought to bring a little life, and I think it 's for publishers in many ways a challenge, because for new formats to kick in. We're waiting 've learned a lot about Nintendo' s and Sony 's plans.

GS Sega recently by Aliens: Colonial Marines for the spring 2012. What does this game for Sega that? And what 's your opinion of his developer Gearbox Software?

The Aliens franchise is important to Sega, says Pritchard.

AP : It's a huge game for us. We had Aliens vs. Predator from Rebellion a couple years ago. I think Gearbox Software and Randy and his team speak for themselves. The quality of products that comes out of that studio is fantastic. I think the energy from [Gearbox CEO] Randy [Pitchford] really says a lot...he's living and breathing this. He's a huge Aliens fan. We've also announced our internal studio Creative Assembly is working on another Aliens property. Aliens is an important franchise and is part of our strategy moving forward. I think we should see a much better performance [with Aliens: Colonial Marines] than we did with Aliens vs. Predator.

GS Aliens: Colonial Marines was during the Wii, Nintendo U sizzle role in 's briefing on Tuesday. Is the game really come to the Wii-U or was it just a prototype?

AP Aliens: Colonial Marines for the Wii U was part of Nintendo 's briefing, that was great. And Sega and Gearbox have the good fortune to be involved with Nintendo from the start. It was a prototype, but we have to play it on the [Wii U] dev kit. We need to learn more about the exact start timing [of the Wii-U] and if there's something about the aliens working for our franchise. Is it something that will be the same? To meet with the other first-and third-party tech demos ... It 's good that we' re part of this thinking for the platform.

Colonial Marines are fighting on the Wii U, at least on a dev kit.

It was interesting that Nintendo didn 't really talk about the Wii [during his briefing], which is obviously a platform that is still important for most third-party publishers.

We have some great titles for the [Wii]. Mario & Sonic is a semi-first-party game, so that its \ 's important for us this year. We left a few Wii games in development, and we have some Wii product in our product roadmap. We have some things future. Like the Wii end up on PS2 in comparison ... I don 't think we know that around. They have potential for further price declines in the sleeve. But it needs new content and a catalog with the new hardware drive. Apparently it is' \ s going to be great for this Christmas, and I think the Wii is a very viable platform by next Christmas.

GS : How about the vita? How does Sega plan to support Sony 's newest portable?

AP : We have Virtua Tennis 4...a launch title whenever that is. Then we have other projects in development, some of which will be launch window titles. And some other stuff for holiday. I think Sega is seeing the Vita as a good opportunity. Sega does well as a publisher at the beginning of platforms. [Virtua Tennis 4] is the only one that we've announced as a launch date title for Vita.

GS : Sega is supporting the Vita with new IP or games based on existing Sega properties?

AP : There 'sa mix of IP and new franchise sequel. We try to get as much use of the Life 's features and functions and to take that into the gameplay, so that we can distinguish it from existing franchises in other formats.

GS : One of the biggest news events of the year has been the six-week-long PlayStation Network outage and the fallout surrounding it. How did this affect Sega? And is Sega's relationship with Sony changed following it?

AP : I don 't think we can make it affecting our relationship, regardless of what we think (laughs). We need to work with Sony. And we have a good relationship with Sony. It has affected us, because if it 's down, we can' t sell games.

Sega 's rapport with Sony PlayStation Network remains unchanged after the loss.

GS : Can a specific monetary value on how the downtime Sega affected?

AP I wouldn '[s t affected us as a percentage or monetary value, how much it \] quote ".

However, digital consoles and download is very important to us. And we 've had great success with Sonic 4 Episode 1 It was the best selling title in its launch month. We 've got Renegade Ops come later this year, and by the time that release is more polished and on PSN have.

Everyone does, the contents of this service was affected. Poor old Sony. It 's been a terrible month for them, being beaten up by the press and what you have. As long as it 's fixed and future-proof in time for our great new releases, then it' s no problem for us.

GS Sony has not apologize enough for the situation during the press conference?

AP : It 'sa difficult, isn' t it? You could dedicated more time to have it, but that 's not what they wanted for their instruction for use. But hold the briefing and said nothing could have been a problem. So they had to say something, and I think it was fine. And I think to take her to leave it behind and move on.

Thor has performed "OK-ish," according to Sega.

GS : Film tie-in games don 't always fare well. What to bring Sega 's thought these games on the market when you consider Sega just Thor: God of Thunder to cool reception?

AP I think the peak time, the golden days of film properties was four or five years when it seemed a kind of product that consumers had a bit more for his appetite. I think, have been fighting movie-licensed properties from a perceived quality perspective.

We have a deal with five titles Marvel four or five years, so we re 'locked into it. It 's just a little unfortunate that the last couple of trips in one stage, been placed on the market, when the movie-licensed products just aren' t so popular. And thus strengthened, we 're very dependent on how the fund performs ... and the quality of the title. I think we 'was a little unhappy have with the quality of some of our previous titles. Thor has done OK-ish, but we have good expectations for Captain America. And it 's had a lot of good feedback on the show.

GSWill Sonic be generations for the Wii released U?

Sonic generations is not likely to appear on the Wii U.

AP : The timing just doesn 't work. Generations published in November this year, and the Wii-U comes next spring / summer. I do think one of the things we don 't have to do to reduce or, where possible, we don' t to port games. I think if it 's become a Sonic game for the Wii-U, it must be built from the ground up. It 's more, that there is a separate stand-alone rate, or in connection with a multi-platform release in the future. But generations bring on a platform six or eight months after we won PS3, 360, release and 3DS probably 't be the best strategy.

GS : The original Bayonetta was well received and sold it for more than a million copies. What are the odds of two Bayonetta see published?

AP We have a good relationship with Platinum Games, and have their next title is anarchy, which comes out during the first half of next year. So that 's all we' \ have announced to date by Platinum Games. We know a lot of people to ask questions, thought it 's doing the right thing, but we haven' t said anything on it.

Bayonetta fans, a sequel still hasn't been confirmed.

GS What are Sega 's thoughts on the effect of pre-owned sales to a publisher? How do these help or hurt your secondhand sales goals?

AP : It 's often a hot topic and also in other areas. It 'sa difficult, I think. It 's clearly a model that' s hardly gone, and it works for certain retailers. I think that some retailers want the ability of linking pre-owned new release and pre-owned sales help drive sales of new releases. From this perspective one might say, there are advantages for publishers. I think there are some positive aspects of promotion. It 's very difficult to determine ... very difficult.

GS : Publishers have been adopted, "project $ 10" systems, with a $ 10 second hand by the owner must be acquired to earn access to all features of the game. Sega has plans to offer something similar in the future?

AP We 've been internally with these discussions, but we don' t have plans to integrate into any more games. But there are a number of discussions that have targeted for a while at Sega. So at some point we have to say maybe a little.

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