Console wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the battle that defined a generation

By: Harris, Blake J., and Seth Rogen.

The source is a documentation of the corporate rival between Nintendo and Sega. Ranging from the
time Sega was seen as the upstart David to Nintendos Goliath up until the disagreements between Sega
of japan and Sega of America and the paradigm shift with the announcement of the PlayStation. The
topic of this piece of work is relevant to me because SEGA was the last company that went from first
party (making games for their own console) to third party (making games for other company consoles).

Minor, Jordan. "Console Wars: A History of Violence." PC MAG. PC MAG, 11 Nov. 2013. Web. 22 Sept.
2014. <http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2426906,00.asp>.
This article is extremely relative to my research because in simple terms, it is the skeletal structure to
what I am researching for this class. Purposely published at the same time the latest consoles hit the
shelves as a more or less filler article for this website. I use this website to make sure I have all the
consoles in the right order when talking about them.

Super Mario: how Nintendo conquered America, read by Ray Porter

By: Ryan, Jeff.
Portfolio/Penguin
2012
This was an unofficial bibliography of Nintendo primarily focused on Nintendo of America and how the
Japanese company earned its foothold in the American Economy and ultimately thrive within it. The
author also discusses what Nintendo did to itself that may have hampered its opportunities but left
impressions in the industry that have failed to be successfully overshadow. Though an unofficial
bibliography, the amount of dedication put into finding this information cannot be ignored. Even if I
cant use some of the information found in this book for my research, I will still keep in in my mind when
discussing the topic with others.

Pettus, Sam. Service Games: The Rise and Fall of SEGA: Enhanced Color Edition. CreateSpace
Independent Platform, 2013. 480. Print.
This work is relative to my sources as it is the opposite side to Jeff Ryans work when dealing with the
Sega versus Nintendo debate. Only coming to the difference of how Sega fell to obscurity while
Nintendo can still make big things happen. Since most of the material I read relates to Console Wars and
Super Mario, the information is sound. Only difference is the author may have been looking for other
pieces of information from the same resource. Currency for now is not a problem for this source. As it
was published last year and between then and now Sega does not look like it will be making any drastic
changes soon. Authority maybe a problem for this source because the funding source of this book is a
Kickstarter page. In addition when pitching the idea in the kickstarter video the phrase made by fans for

fans is a double edged sword that could mean they have great authority or none whatsoever. The
purpose of this work was two part, entertain and educate. The author believes that the history of Sega
should be shared because it is a significant part of the industrys history as a whole. I will give this source
a 3.9 out of 5 on account of the accountability factor.

All Your History: Nintendo. Perf. Khali Anonymous, Nicholas Werner, Rob Talbert. YouTube, 2012. Film.

This video is relevant to my work because it is another persons perspective on Nintendo. However
unlike Ryans work it focus on the company altogether and not just one smaller division of it. The
information is accurate citing Ryans work as a brief source in one segment. I do feel that there is bias in
this article because it is not a history of the industry but one member of the industry. Currency is
starting to become questionable for this source. So far the only major news coming from Nintendo is
that last quarter was the first quarter they have received a profit from their wares. Authority is once
again put into question. While Machinima is a somewhat known name in the video game community
they are not primarily historians or business analysts. Again the primary purpose of this work is divided
to entertain and educate. While a fan made documentary, it is still considered to me as a documentary. I
will give this a 4 out of 5, while currency and authority are put into question the formatting of this work
is very well done.

PlayStation Story | About | Corporate - SCEA PlayStation History (PlayStation RSS)

http://us.playstation.com/corporate/about/theplaystationstory/

This source is an extremely brief history talking about the history of the PlayStation. Very brief so that
anyone who does not know a thing about the system can understand the game. I will be using this
source VERY sparingly, as it does not go too deep into the information I am searching for.

Kent, Steve L. The Ultimate History of Video Games: From

Story behind the Craze That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World Narrated by Dan Woren.
Roseville, Calif.: Prima Pub., 2001. Print.

This work is a detailed history of videogames and how they affected the rest of the world as a whole.
Starting from the origin of games, pinball and the origin of that all the way up to the latest
breakthroughs of the time. The main thing stopping me from making this a bigger tool in my research is
the issue of currency, this book way out of the 5 year grace period approaching the 15 year of age.

Anthony, Sebastian. Extreme Tech. Ziff Days, 11 June 2014. Web. 26 Sept. 2014.
<http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/184031-sony-wins-e3-2014-microsoft-gambled-on-gamesand-lost>.

This was a news article dedicated for the latest E3 expo in the summer of 2014 as a recap. The overall
synopsis of the article is if you watched E3 that year, this article confirms what the consumers thought
as a whole. The main use of this article is to prove sources for the most recent major development in the
industry.

The Rise and Fall of Sega. Perf. TheGamerFromMars. YouTube. The Punk Effect, 17 July 2012.
Web. 18 Nov. 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkOYW8tZ59o>.
The source is relevant to my work because Sega is a big name in the history of the industry and its
marketing. Focusing on how SEGA rose from a slot machine maker to its fall to obscurity in 2001.
Accuracy is a complete shot in the dark with this piece. While some of the information aligns with
other works there is no citation whatsoever with this. Currency is within the 5 year grace period but
that is irrelevant because the end of the timeline is 2001. Authority is nonexistent in this video
because the narrator has zero reputation. His sponsor punk effect has some influence but not
enough to take this video into total trust. The purpose of this was to give an abridged version of what
Pettus gave in his work. But instead to contribute to the feed of Punk Effect. All in all a 1 and a half
out of five being generous.
I would use this as a cheat sheet to Pettus work because Im certain that is where most if not all the
research material came from.

Top 10 Worst Video Game Consoles. YouTube. WatchMojo.com, 21 Sept. 2013. Web. 18 Nov.
2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7XfaVkIlqo>.
This source is relevant to my research because it is a nice collection of consoles that in the market
floor failed miserably. Ranging from one shot game consoles to bigger names such as SEGA and
Nintendo. I have to give credit to the accuracy of this piece including extremely dated television ads
as well as the price tags at the time. Some of which were the driving factors of certain console
failures. The source is current only just hitting the 1 year old point two months ago. Authority like the
last source is questionable. However WatchMojo does have a bigger reputation, they are not only
focused on video games, and they do entertainment across the spectrum. The purpose of this was
primary just to entertain, then educate unlike most of my other sources. This video was simple feed
fodder to WatchMojo.com. I would give this a 2 out of five on the basis of not contributing too much
to my research.

The main reason I would use this source is because I can use the listed flops as examples of how a
gaming system can fail.

I feel like the evaluation of sources assignment and this assignment should have been assigned
closer together in the semester. Especially since for four sources I basically had to the work from the
first assignment and THEN do the work for this assignment. Out of 10 that is not many sources but
its the fact that the evaluation assignment was assigned early in the semester and this assignment
was given in the last third of the semester. It was the first time I felt like I was backtracking in school
work on the instructors orders.