Playing at the Next Level: A History of American Sega Games

Playing at the Next Level presents the history of Sega of America from its founding in 1986 through the end of hardware manufacturing at Sega in 2001. While there are small vignettes on the company 's marketing activities, the vast majority of the book is devoted to game development, providing a fascinating look at how games were designed and programmed during the period. In this way, the book serves as a perfect complement to Blake Harris's fascinating, yet flawed, Console Wars, which is devoted almost entirely to SOA's marketing activities under Tom Kalinske. This book is far more readable than that tome, however, and does not fictionalize the account through artificially constructed dialogue.My only two complaints are minor. First, this is a book largely based on interviews with dozens of Sega executives and first and third party programmers, yet there are no direct quotes to be found anywhere. Thankfully the book is thoroughly cited, however, so you do always know what information came from whom. Second, the book does perpetuate several errors related to Sega's early history. Specifically, the author fails to understand that Sega was, in fact, an American company with a Japanese subsidiary between 1974 and 1984 during most of its ownership by Gulf & Western. He incorrectly notes the sale of Sega's arcade factory to Bally in 1983 as the end of Sega's US operations, when these persisted for two more years. He also identifies Hayao Nakayama as CEO of the company in the early 1980s when he was actually just an executive VP and the firm was run by former Mattel Electronics president Jeff Rochlis. Finally, he states Sega pulled out of North America in 1985, which was actually the year they returned by founding Sega Enterprises USA, an arcade subsidiary that predated SOA by nearly a year. As all of the above is outside the main scope of the book, I list it here merely to be informative. The core of the book is impeccably researched, and these small goofs are not enough to alter my review score.Ken Horowitz has long been the foremost authority on Sega during the 16-bit era, and I am delighted he has contributed such an important work to video game history scholarship.

I found this book while doing research for my podcast. Before I found this book, it was a huge struggle to find an accurate account of Sega's history. There were plenty of articles, YT videos, and other books that gloss over Sega's history, but Ken Horowitz's book is everything I needed.This author interviewed over 100 people to ensure there was an accurate account of Sega of America's history and the development of many games. Not only is this the most detailed account of Sega of America's history, but it is told as an entertaining, cohesive narrative.If you had to take a college level course on Sega's history, this book would be the course required text book.Anyone with a passing interest in video game history NEEDS this book!

If you think you knew everything about SEGA, then be prepared to be surprised by this book. While other books mostly covered about the big events (Sonic 2sday or SOJ vs SOA) this book goes deep beyond that. It covers all of SEGA of America’s product development division including Alpha Group, Omega Group, BlueSky Software, Westwood Associates, Midwest Studio, Multimedia Studio, STI, Novotrade International, and many more. You have some games you love that developed by SEGA of America? You'll love to read how they're being made here and I guaranteed you''ll find some fact that you'll never know before. As for me, I learned something new about my pop idol that I've never knew it before : Michael Jackson is the first person in the U.S. to own a SEGA Genesis. How awesome is that. To sum up, this book is a must read for every SEGA fans, especially if you're the survivor of the 16-bit console wars. :)

Phenomenal book that goes over many American groups and developers involved with Sega. Very interesting read for those interested in more in-depth sega history. Highly recommended!

Wonderfully written book that fully explains the inner workings of Sega of America and things such as why the grid design was incoperated in the master system and Genesis box art in the beginning.

Very thorough and interesting showcase of SEGA's history. If you are at all interested in the behind the scenes of video games, this is a must have.

Meticulously researched and an excellent read. This is the full history of 16-bit era Sega.

Seriously, just buy this book! Mr. Horowitz was the first to get Sega President Tom Kalinske to open up publicly and spill the beans about what happened behind Sega's closed doors.. and he is sharing the best and most relevant of his findings with you. How mighty kind of him! You should thank him by grabbing additional copies of this fine periodical for all your friends and relatives. Heck, you should wallpaper your walls, wrap your frozen fish, and line your bird cage with its pages! Perhaps that may be a bit too much… but you will enjoy reading what Mr. Horowitz has to report, and you’ll learn a thing or two, to boot. Your joystick-clenching fist and button-mashing thumb will thank you. In the end you’ll be happier and the world will be a better place!